The Works of Samuel Johnson.LL.D..: Philological tracts. Political essays. Miscellaneous essaysT. Longman, B. White and Son, B. Law, J. Dodsley, H. Baldwin, J. Robson, J Johnson, C. Dilly, T. Vernor, G. G. J. and J. Robinson, T. Cadell, J. Nichols, R. Baldwin, N. Conant, P. Elmsly, F. and C. Rivington, T. Payne, W. Goldsmith, R. Faulder, Leigh and Sotheby, G. Nicol, J. Murray, A. Strahan, W. Lowndes, T. Evans, W. Bent, S. Hayes, G. and T. Wilkie, T. and J. Egerton, W. Fox, P. M.'Queen, Ogilvie and Speale, Darton and Harvey, G. and C. Kearsley, W. Millar, B. C. Collins, and E. Newbery., 1792 |
From inside the book
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Page 1
... Plays Account of the Harleian Library Page 3 31 68 77 141 -- 171 Effay on the Origin and Importance of Fugitive Pieces 184 Account of the Life of Benvenuto Cellini - 195 198 View of the Controverfy between Croufaz and War- burton ...
... Plays Account of the Harleian Library Page 3 31 68 77 141 -- 171 Effay on the Origin and Importance of Fugitive Pieces 184 Account of the Life of Benvenuto Cellini - 195 198 View of the Controverfy between Croufaz and War- burton ...
Page 69
... played . They were immediately copied for the actors , and multiplied by tranfcript after transcript , vitiated by the blunders of the penman , or changed by the affectation of the player ; perhaps enlarged to introduce a jeft , or ...
... played . They were immediately copied for the actors , and multiplied by tranfcript after transcript , vitiated by the blunders of the penman , or changed by the affectation of the player ; perhaps enlarged to introduce a jeft , or ...
Page 78
... plays its power , and has nothing to hope or fear from the flux of years ; but works tentative and experimental must be estimated by their proportion to the general and collective ability of man , as it is discovered in a long ...
... plays its power , and has nothing to hope or fear from the flux of years ; but works tentative and experimental must be estimated by their proportion to the general and collective ability of man , as it is discovered in a long ...
Page 81
... plays of Shakespeare with practical axioms and domeftick wisdom . It was faid of Euripides , that every verse was a precept ; and it may be faid of Shakespeare , that from his works may be collected a system of civil and economical ...
... plays of Shakespeare with practical axioms and domeftick wisdom . It was faid of Euripides , that every verse was a precept ; and it may be faid of Shakespeare , that from his works may be collected a system of civil and economical ...
Page 83
... play , or from the tale , would be equally deceived . Shakespeare has no heroes ; his fcenes are occupied only by men , who act and speak as the reader thinks that he should himself have spoken or acted on the fame occafion : even where ...
... play , or from the tale , would be equally deceived . Shakespeare has no heroes ; his fcenes are occupied only by men , who act and speak as the reader thinks that he should himself have spoken or acted on the fame occafion : even where ...
Common terms and phrases
affiftance againſt almoſt becauſe beſt caufe cauſe cenfure confidered criticiſm criticks curiofity cuſtom defign defire deftroyed diſcovered eafily eafy eaſy endeavoured English eſtabliſhed fafe faid fame fatire fays fecond feems feldom fenfe fent fentiments fettled fhall fhew fhewn fhips fhould fince firft firſt fome fometimes foon fpeech French ftand ftate ftill ftrength ftudies fubject fuccefs fuch fuffered fufficient fupply fuppofe furely greateſt happineſs Harleian library himſelf hiſtory increaſed inferted inftruction intereft itſelf juft king labour laft language laſt learning leaſt lefs likewife moft moſt muft muſt myſelf nation nature neceffary neceffity obfcure obferved occafion ourſelves paffages paffed paffions perhaps play pleafing pleaſe pleaſure poet Pope Portugueſe praiſe prefent preferved publick publiſhed purpoſe queftion raiſed reader reafon reft ſcenes ſcience ſeem Shakespeare ſhe ſtate ſtudy thefe themſelves theſe thofe thoſe thouſand tion underſtand uſe whofe words writers
Popular passages
Page 111 - ... whether from all his successors more maxims of theoretical knowledge or more rules of practical prudence can be collected than he alone has given to his country.
Page 64 - If the changes that we fear be thus irresistible, what remains but to acquiesce -with silence, as in the other insurmountable distresses of humanity ? It remains that we retard what we cannot repel, that we palliate what we cannot cure.
Page 86 - It is objected that by this change of scenes the passions are interrupted in their progression, and that the principal event, being not advanced by a due gradation of preparatory incidents, wants at last the power to move which constitutes the perfection of dramatic poetry.
Page 131 - I have always suspected that the reading is right, which requires many words to prove it wrong; and the emendation wrong, that cannot without so much labour appear to be right.
Page 91 - He carries his persons indifferently through right and wrong, and at the close dismisses them without further care, and leaves their examples to operate by chance. This fault the barbarity of his age cannot extenuate, for it is always a writer's duty to make the world better, and justice is a virtue independent on time or place.
Page 88 - Brabantio's window, without injury to the scheme of the play, though in terms which a modern audience would not easily endure; the character of Polonius is seasonable and useful ; and the Gravediggers themselves may be heard with applause.
Page 133 - Notes are often necessary, but they are necessary evils. Let him that is yet unacquainted with the powers of Shakespeare and who desires to feel the highest pleasure that the drama can give read every play from the first scene to the last, with utter negligence of all his commentators. When his fancy is once on the wing, let it not stoop at correction or explanation.
Page 134 - Particular passages are cleared by notes, but the general effect of the work is weakened. The mind is refrigerated by interruption ; the thoughts are diverted from the principal subject; the reader is weary, he suspects not why; and at last throws away the book which he has too diligently studied.
Page 97 - The objection arising from the impossibility of passing the first hour at Alexandria and the next at Rome, supposes that when the play opens the spectator really imagines himself at Alexandria and believes that his walk to the theatre has been a voyage to Egypt, and that he lives in the days of Antony and Cleopatra.
Page 125 - ... attention, its bulk is to be enlarged by rage and exclamation: That to which all would be indifferent in its original state, may attract notice when the fate of a name is appended to it.