The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL. D.G. Walker ... [and 9 others], 1820 |
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Page 4
... force upon my pre- sent subject . Though ridicule , which is the business of comedy , be not less uniform in all times , than the passions which are moved by tragic compositions ; yet , if diversity of manners may sometimes disguise the ...
... force upon my pre- sent subject . Though ridicule , which is the business of comedy , be not less uniform in all times , than the passions which are moved by tragic compositions ; yet , if diversity of manners may sometimes disguise the ...
Page 5
... force of argument , we had never been told of the Trojan war . On the other side , Aristophanes is an author more considerable than one would imagine . The history of Greece could not pass over him , when it comes to touch upon the ...
... force of argument , we had never been told of the Trojan war . On the other side , Aristophanes is an author more considerable than one would imagine . The history of Greece could not pass over him , when it comes to touch upon the ...
Page 21
... force from his 66 66 power of copying . His Misanthrope is , in my opi- ❝nion , the most complete , and likewise the most " singular character that has ever appeared upon the 66 stage : but the disposition of his comedies is always ...
... force from his 66 66 power of copying . His Misanthrope is , in my opi- ❝nion , the most complete , and likewise the most " singular character that has ever appeared upon the 66 stage : but the disposition of his comedies is always ...
Page 34
... force and fire . Whether they are right , or no , is another question ; all that I mean to advance is , that we are to fix it as a conclusion , that comic authors must grow obsolete with the modes of life , if 3 34 A DISSERTATION ON THE.
... force and fire . Whether they are right , or no , is another question ; all that I mean to advance is , that we are to fix it as a conclusion , that comic authors must grow obsolete with the modes of life , if 3 34 A DISSERTATION ON THE.
Page 38
... force of time . The Muse of Moliere has almost made both of them forgotten , and would still be walking the stage , if the desire of novelty did not in time make us weary of that which we have too frequently admired . Those who have ...
... force of time . The Muse of Moliere has almost made both of them forgotten , and would still be walking the stage , if the desire of novelty did not in time make us weary of that which we have too frequently admired . Those who have ...
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Common terms and phrases
ADVENTURER amuse ancient appear Aristophanes Athens Banquo beauty censure CHAP character comedy common considered danger delight desire died hereafter discovered easily elegance endeavoured equally Eupolis Euripides evil expected eyes favour fear felicity folly fortune friends gain genius give gratified Greek comedy happiness happy valley honour hope hour human imagine Imlac inquire kayah kind knowledge labour learned less likewise live look Macbeth mankind manner Menander ment mind misery Moliere nature Nekayah ness never observed once opinion passage passed passions Pekuah perhaps perpetual phanes Plautus pleased pleasure Plutarch poet praise present prince PRINCE OF ABISSINIA princess racter Rasselas reader reason rest scarcely scene sentiments Serenus Shakespeare shew Socrates solitude sometimes success suffered supposed surely taste Theocritus thing thou thought Tibullus tion tragedy truth ulmo virtue writers
Popular passages
Page 98 - Come, you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, And fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full Of direst cruelty...
Page 130 - She should have died hereafter ; There would have been a time for such a word. To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day To the last syllable of recorded time, And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death.
Page 299 - YE who listen with credulity to the whispers of fancy, and pursue with eagerness the phantoms of hope ; who expect that age will perform the promises of youth, and that the deficiencies of the present day will be supplied by the morrow ; attend to the history of Rasselas, prince of Abyssinia.
Page 329 - But the knowledge of nature is only half the task of a poet; he must be acquainted likewise with all the modes of life. His character requires that he estimate the happiness and misery of every condition; observe the power of all the passions in all their combinations, and trace the changes of the human mind as they are modified by various institutions and accidental influences of climate or custom, from the spriteliness of infancy to the despondence of decrepitude.
Page 149 - Just in the gate, and in the jaws of hell, Revengeful Cares and sullen Sorrows dwell, And pale Diseases, and repining Age, Want, Fear, and Famine's unresisted rage; Here Toils, and Death, and Death's half-brother, Sleep, (Forms terrible to view) their sentry keep; With anxious Pleasures of a guilty mind, Deep Frauds before, and open Force behind; The Furies' iron beds; and Strife, that shakes Her hissing tresses, and unfolds her snakes.
Page 353 - I have found, said the prince, at his return to Imlac, a man who can teach all that is necessary to be known, who, from the unshaken throne of rational fortitude, looks down on the scenes of life changing beneath him. He speaks, and attention watches his lips. He reasons, and conviction closes his periods. This man shall be my future guide: I will learn his doctrines, and imitate his life." "Be not too hasty, said Imlac, to trust, or to admire, the teachers of morality: they discourse like angels,...
Page 98 - Than wishest should be undone. Hie thee hither, That I may pour my spirits in thine ear; And chastise with the valour of my tongue All that impedes thee from the golden round, Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem To have thee crown'd withal.
Page 360 - ... sometimes ashamed to think that I could not secure myself from vice, but by retiring from the exercise of virtue, and begin to suspect that I was rather impelled by resentment than led by devotion into solitude. My fancy riots in scenes of folly, and I lament that I have lost so much, and have gained so little. In solitude, if I escape the example of bad men, I want likewise the counsel and conversation of the good. I have been long comparing the evils with the advantages of society, and resolve...
Page 121 - Fillet of a fenny snake, In the cauldron boil and bake; Eye of newt and toe of frog, Wool of bat and tongue of dog, Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting, Lizard's leg and howlet's wing, For a charm of powerful trouble, Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
Page 442 - The prince desired a little kingdom, in which he might administer justice in his own person, and see all the parts of government with his own eyes ; but he could never fix the limits of his dominion, and was always adding to the number of his subjects. Imlac and the astronomer were contented to be driven along the stream of life without directing their course to any particular port.