A Critical Dissertation on the Nature and Principles of Taste |
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Page xiii
... rendering my meaning , and the opinions which I have laboured to establish , clearly understood . That I have been right at all times is more than I can presume to assert ; but , right or wrong , I apprehend my readers will be at no ...
... rendering my meaning , and the opinions which I have laboured to establish , clearly understood . That I have been right at all times is more than I can presume to assert ; but , right or wrong , I apprehend my readers will be at no ...
Page 2
... render our ideas of taste as fixed and per- manent , nor would it longer be pronounced that volatile and airy faculty which will not endure the chains of a definition , and which stands for a different idea in different minds . Beauty ...
... render our ideas of taste as fixed and per- manent , nor would it longer be pronounced that volatile and airy faculty which will not endure the chains of a definition , and which stands for a different idea in different minds . Beauty ...
Page 9
... render it less disposed to yield to them , though we extend our knowledge , and become better acquainted with these ex- citing causes . As the qualities of beauty are among the causes which affect our natural sensi- bility , it must ...
... render it less disposed to yield to them , though we extend our knowledge , and become better acquainted with these ex- citing causes . As the qualities of beauty are among the causes which affect our natural sensi- bility , it must ...
Page 13
... rendered more penetrating and acute . Nothing can place this truth in a clearer light , than the revived ardour and enthu- siasm which we feel on resuming some favourite study which we had long neglected . He who unremittingly applies ...
... rendered more penetrating and acute . Nothing can place this truth in a clearer light , than the revived ardour and enthu- siasm which we feel on resuming some favourite study which we had long neglected . He who unremittingly applies ...
Page 15
... rendered still more difficult by an involution of clauses and of arguments , were so many and so great , and my determination , at the same time , not to desist till I became acquainted with the illustrious Ro- man , was so fixed and ...
... rendered still more difficult by an involution of clauses and of arguments , were so many and so great , and my determination , at the same time , not to desist till I became acquainted with the illustrious Ro- man , was so fixed and ...
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Common terms and phrases
acquainted admiration admit adopt Æneid affected agreeable Angelo appear argument authority Bernini blank verse cause cerning character choly circumstances common feeling conclusions correct courser criticism delight discern discover discussion distinct doubt elegant emotion equally error excite existence expression exquisite faculty false fashion forms founded genius give habit Homer Hudibras ideas of beauty ignorant Iliad imagination imitation impression influence intellectual judgment Knight knowledge less Lord Kames Madame de Staël manner matters of taste melan ment Milton mind nature necessarily never object of taste observed obvious opinion original Ossian painting passage passion perceive perception perfect philosophy pleasing pleasure poetry poets Pope possess present principles of taste produce prove Ptolemy qualities of beauty racter reason refined Rembrandt render rience Satan says scepticism sensation sense sensibility sentiment shew shewn Sir Joshua Reynolds style sublime suppose tain Theramene thing thought tion true truth tural Virgil writers
Popular passages
Page 107 - Yes ! let the rich deride, the proud disdain, These simple blessings of the lowly train, To me more dear, congenial to my heart, One native charm, than all the gloss of art...
Page 202 - Sometimes with secure delight The upland hamlets will invite, When the merry bells ring round, And the jocund rebecks sound To many a youth, and many a maid, Dancing in the chequered shade; And young and old come forth to play On a sunshine holiday...
Page 330 - Me miserable ! which way shall I fly Infinite wrath, and infinite despair? Which way I fly is Hell; myself am Hell; And, in the lowest deep, a lower deep Still threatening to devour me opens wide, To which the Hell I suffer seems a Heaven.
Page i - First follow Nature, and your judgment frame By her just standard, which is still the same: Unerring Nature, still divinely bright, One clear, unchanged, and universal light, Life, force, and beauty, must to all impart, At once the source, and end, and test of Art. Art from that fund each just supply provides; Works without show, and without pomp presides: In some fair body thus th...
Page 56 - It is the cause, it is the cause, my soul — Let me not name it to you, you chaste stars ! — It is the cause.
Page 156 - O my soul's joy ! If after every tempest come such calms, May the winds blow till they have waken'd death ! And let the labouring bark climb hills of seas, Olympus-high ; and duck again as low As hell's from heaven ! If it were now to die, 'Twere now to be most happy ; for, I fear, My soul hath her content so absolute, That not another comfort like to this Succeeds in unknown fate.
Page 141 - THAT HE HAD A HEAD TO CONTRIVE, A TONGUE TO PERSUADE, AND A HAND TO EXECUTE ANY MISCHIEF.
Page 333 - The other shape, If shape it might be call'd, that shape had none Distinguishable in member, joint, or limb, Or substance might be call'd that shadow seem'd, For each seem'd either ; black it stood as night, Fierce as ten furies, terrible as hell, And shook a dreadful dart ; what seem'd his head The likeness of a kingly crown had on.
Page 315 - Its gaudy colours spreads on every place ; The face of nature we no more survey, All glares alike, without distinction gay ; But true expression, like th' unchanging sun, Clears and improves whate'er it shines upon ; It gilds all objects, but it alters none.
Page 243 - Or seeks his wat'ring in the well-known flood, To quench his thirst, and cool his fiery blood : He swims luxuriant in the liquid plain, And o'er his shoulder flows his waving mane : He neighs, he snorts, he bears his head on high; Before his ample chest the frothy waters fly.