Essays: on the Nature and Immutability of Truth, in Opposition to Sophistry and Scepticism: On Poetry and Musick, as They Affect the Mind; on Laughter, and Ludicrous Composition; on the Utility of Classical Learning, Volume 6Hopkins & Earle, 1809 |
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Page 8
... we must attend , not only to the habitual temper , but also to the present passions , and even to the age of the speaker . Nor should we overlook his intellectual peculiarities . If his thoughts be con- fused or 8 Part II . ON POETRY.
... we must attend , not only to the habitual temper , but also to the present passions , and even to the age of the speaker . Nor should we overlook his intellectual peculiarities . If his thoughts be con- fused or 8 Part II . ON POETRY.
Page 13
... present doctrine . I say , then , that language is natural , when it is suited to the supposed condition and circum- stances of the speaker . Now , in history , the speaker is no other than the historian himself ; who claims the ...
... present doctrine . I say , then , that language is natural , when it is suited to the supposed condition and circum- stances of the speaker . Now , in history , the speaker is no other than the historian himself ; who claims the ...
Page 31
... present . This I would infer from the very uncom- mon merit of some of their late poets , particularly Boileau and La Fontaine , who , in their respec- tive departments , will continue to be imitated , when the present modes of French ...
... present . This I would infer from the very uncom- mon merit of some of their late poets , particularly Boileau and La Fontaine , who , in their respec- tive departments , will continue to be imitated , when the present modes of French ...
Page 40
... present use , must increase the ambiguity of language , which in every tongue is greater than it ought to be , and which would seem to be more detri- mental to eloquence and even to literature , than the in- troduction of many new words ...
... present use , must increase the ambiguity of language , which in every tongue is greater than it ought to be , and which would seem to be more detri- mental to eloquence and even to literature , than the in- troduction of many new words ...
Page 42
... present age , however conversant in this dialect , would naturally express himself in it on any interesting emergence ; or , supposing this natural to the antiquarian , it would never appear so to the common hearer or reader . A mixture ...
... present age , however conversant in this dialect , would naturally express himself in it on any interesting emergence ; or , supposing this natural to the antiquarian , it would never appear so to the common hearer or reader . A mixture ...
Common terms and phrases
absurdity admiration Æneid agreeable allusions ancient appear Aristophanes Aristotle attended beauty burlesque character Cicero classick authors clown comick composition criticks Demosthenes dialect dignity and meanness Dryden Dunciad effect elegant emotion English Ennius epick expression fancy genius give grammar Greece Greek Greek and Latin Greeks and Romans guage harmony hexameter Homer Horace Hudibras human ideas Iliad imitate improved incongruity Juvenal language Latin laugh laughable laughter learning less Livy mankind manners ment Milton mind modern moral natural never numbers object occasion Ovid Paradise Lost passage passions peculiar perhaps person philosophers phrases pleasing Plutarch poem poet poetical poetry Pope prose publick Quintilian reader reason remarks rhyme ridiculous sentiments similitude smile solemn sort sound speak speaker style sublime superiour supposed Tacitus taste thing thought tion tongue translation tropes and figures tural variety vers verse Virg Virgil whereof wit and humour words
Popular passages
Page 68 - And, to deal plainly, I fear I am not in my perfect mind. Methinks I should know you and know this man; Yet I am doubtful; for I am mainly ignorant What place this is, and all the skill I have Remembers not these garments; nor I know not Where I did lodge last night. Do not laugh at me; For, as I am a man, I think this lady To be my child Cordelia.
Page 204 - He gained from heaven ('twas all he wished) a friend. No farther seek his merits to disclose, Or draw his frailties from their dread abode, (There they alike in trembling hope repose) The bosom of his father and his God.
Page 68 - Pray, do not mock me : I am a very foolish fond old man, Fourscore and upward, not an hour more nor less; And, to deal plainly, I fear I am not in my perfect mind. Methinks I should know you, and know this man; Yet I am doubtful: for I am mainly ignorant What place this is; and all the skill I have Remembers not these garments; nor I know not Where I did lodge last night.
Page 214 - Give me leave. Here lies the water; good: here stands the man ; good : if the man go to this water and drown himself, it is, will he, nill he, he goes; mark you that; but if the water come to him and drown him, he drowns not himself: argal, he that is not guilty of his own death shortens not his own life. 2. CLO. But is this law? 1. CLO. Ay, marry, is't; crowner's quest law. 2. CLO. Will you ha
Page 183 - ... wisdom is a fox, who, after long hunting, will at last cost you the pains to dig out; it is a cheese, which, by how much the richer, has the thicker, the homelier, and the coarser coat; and whereof, to a judicious palate...
Page 178 - For, wit lying most in the assemblage of ideas, and putting those together with quickness and variety wherein can be found any resemblance or congruity, thereby to make up pleasant pictures and agreeable visions in the fancy...
Page 113 - Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth Unseen, both when we wake, and when we sleep. All these with ceaseless praise his works behold Both day and night : how often from the steep Of echoing hill or thicket have we heard Celestial voices to the midnight air, Sole, or responsive each to other's note, Singing their great Creator...
Page 364 - Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; .and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention.
Page 143 - The sun had long since, in the lap Of Thetis, taken out his nap, And, like a lobster boil'd, the morn From black to red began to turn...
Page 138 - The passion of laughter is nothing else but sudden glory arising from some sudden conception of some eminency in ourselves, by comparison with the infirmity of others, or with our own formerly...