The Works of Samuel Johnson, Volume 9Nichols, 1816 - English literature |
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Page 13
... performances of Cowley and Milton be compared ( for May I hold to be superior to both ) , the advantage seems to lie on the side of Cowley . Milton is generally content to express the thoughts of the ancients in their language ; Cowley ...
... performances of Cowley and Milton be compared ( for May I hold to be superior to both ) , the advantage seems to lie on the side of Cowley . Milton is generally content to express the thoughts of the ancients in their language ; Cowley ...
Page 54
... performance of the work . Sacred History has been always read with sub- missive reverence , and an imagination overawed and controlled . We have been accustomed to acquiesce in the nakedness and simplicity of the authen- tic narrative ...
... performance of the work . Sacred History has been always read with sub- missive reverence , and an imagination overawed and controlled . We have been accustomed to acquiesce in the nakedness and simplicity of the authen- tic narrative ...
Page 74
... performance was not his own , but that he had bought it of a vicar for forty pounds . The same attempt was made to rob Addison of his Cato , and Pope of his Essay on Criticism . In 1647 , the distresses of the royal family required him ...
... performance was not his own , but that he had bought it of a vicar for forty pounds . The same attempt was made to rob Addison of his Cato , and Pope of his Essay on Criticism . In 1647 , the distresses of the royal family required him ...
Page 89
... last dramatick performance at either University was The Grateful Fair , written by Christopher Smart , and re- presented at Pembroke College , Cambridge , about 1747. R. " which , unless he took with a conscience that MILTON . 89.
... last dramatick performance at either University was The Grateful Fair , written by Christopher Smart , and re- presented at Pembroke College , Cambridge , about 1747. R. " which , unless he took with a conscience that MILTON . 89.
Page 96
... performance , on the man who has- tens home , because his countrymen are contending for their liberty , and , when he reaches the scene of action , vapours away his patriotism in a private boarding - school . This is the period of his ...
... performance , on the man who has- tens home , because his countrymen are contending for their liberty , and , when he reaches the scene of action , vapours away his patriotism in a private boarding - school . This is the period of his ...
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Common terms and phrases
Absalom and Achitophel admired Æneid afterwards appears beauties blank verse censure character Charles Charles Dryden composition Comus considered Cowley criticism death defend delight Denham diction dramatick Dryden Duke Earl elegance English epick excellence fancy favour friends genius Heaven heroick honour hope Hudibras images imagination imitation Jacob Tonson John Dryden Juvenal kind King known labour Lady language Latin learning lines Lord Lord Conway Lord Roscommon Milton mind nature never NIHIL numbers opinion Paradise Lost Paradise Regained Parliament passions performance perhaps perusal Philips Pindar play pleasure poem poet poetical poetry pounds praise preface produced publick published racters reader reason relates remarks reputation rhyme satire says seems sent sentiments shew sometimes Sprat style supposed thee thing thou thought tion tragedy translation truth Tyrannick Love verses versification Virgil virtue Waller words write written wrote
Popular passages
Page 91 - ... that by labour and intent study, which I take to be my portion in- this life, joined with the strong propensity of nature, I might perhaps leave something so written to after-times, as they should not willingly let it die.
Page 77 - O could I flow like thee, and make thy stream My great example, as it is my theme! Though deep, yet clear, though gentle, yet not dull, Strong without rage, without o'er-flowing full.
Page 382 - DEYDEN may be properly considered as the father of English criticism, as the writer who first taught us to determine upon principles the merit of composition. Of our former poets, the greatest dramatist wrote without rules, conducted through life and nature by a genius that rarely misled, and rarely deserted him. Of the rest, those who knew the laws of propriety had neglected to teach them.
Page 413 - From harmony, from heavenly harmony This universal frame began: From harmony to harmony Through all the compass of the notes it ran, The diapason closing full in Man.
Page 150 - We drove a-field, and both together heard What time the gray-fly winds her sultry horn, Battening our flocks with the fresh dews of night, Oft till the star that rose at evening bright Toward heaven's descent had sloped his westering wheel.
Page 257 - There needs no more be said to extol the excellence and power of his wit, and pleasantness of his conversation, than that it was of magnitude enough to cover a world of very great faults; that is, so to cover them, that they were not taken notice of to his reproach; viz.
Page 169 - The want* of human interest is always felt. Paradise Lost is one of the books which the reader admires and lays down, and forgets to take up again. None ever wished it longer than it is. Its perusal is a duty rather than a pleasure. We read Milton for instruction, retire harassed and overburdened, and look elsewhere for recreation ; we desert / our master, and seek for companions.
Page 433 - I am as free as nature first made man, Ere the base laws of servitude began, When wild in woods the noble savage ran.
Page 150 - Among the flocks and copses and flowers appear the heathen deities, Jove and Phoebus, Neptune and jEolus, with a long train of mythological imagery, such as a college easily supplies. Nothing can less display knowledge, or less exercise invention, than to tell how a shepherd has lost his companion, and must now feed his flocks alone, without any judge of his skill in piping ; and how one god asks another god what has become of Lycidas, and how neither god can. tell. He who thus grieves will excite...
Page 75 - But whither am I stray'd ? I need not raise Trophies to thee from other men's dispraise : Nor is thy fame on lesser ruins built, Nor needs thy juster title the foul guilt Of Eastern kings, who, to secure their reign, Must have their brothers, sons, and kindred slain.