A New Biographical Dictionary, of 3000 Cotemporary Public Characters, British and Foreign, of All Ranks and Professions, Volume 2

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G. B. Whittaker, 1825

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Page 404 - He was the author of— Five Discourses, containing certain arguments for and against the reception of Christianity by the ancient Jews and Greeks.
Page 359 - The Gentle Shepherd ;" and though immoderately fond of them, yet (what you will think remarkable in one who hath since dabbled so much in...
Page 360 - Whether my manner of writing it out was new, I know not, but it was not without singularity. Having very little spare time from my flock, which was unruly enough, I folded and stitched a few sheets of paper, which I carried in my pocket.
Page 359 - I could not help regretting deeply that they were not in prose, that every body might have understood them ; or, I thought, if they had been in the same kind of metre with the psalms, I could have borne with them. The truth is, I made exceedingly slow progress in reading them. The little reading that I had learned, I had nearly lost, and the Scottish dialect quite confounded me...
Page 361 - My manner of composing poetry is very different, and, I believe, much more singular. Let the piece be of what length it will, I compose and correct it wholly in my mind, or on a slate, ere ever I put pen to paper; and then I write it down as fast as the A, B, C.
Page 361 - I never write two copies of the same thing. My manner of composing poetry is very different, and, I believe, much more singular. Let the piece be of what length it will, I compose and correct it wholly in my mind, or on a slate...
Page 359 - I got through both works, I found myself much in the same predicament with the man of Eskdalemuir, who had borrowed Bailey's Dictionary from his neighbour. On returning it, the lender asked him what he thought of it.
Page 405 - THE LIVES OF THE SCOTTISH POETS, with Preliminary Dissertations on the Literary History of Scotland, and the early Scottish Drama, by David Irving, AM Two volumes.
Page 359 - Scottish dialect quite confounded me; so that, before I got to the end of a line, I had commonly lost the rhyme of the preceding one ; and if I came to a triplet, a thing of which I had no conception, I commonly read to the foot of the page without perceiving that I had lost the rhyme altogether. I thought the author had been straitened for rhymes, and had just made a part of it do as well as he could without them.
Page 427 - Edinburgh, he engaged actively in the literary societies of that city, and was one of the most conspicuous members of the Speculative Society. At the bar, the success of Mr. Jeffrey was, however, long doubtful, and it was not for many years that he acquired extensive practice. Yet his abilities as an advocate are of the first order. In acuteness, promptness and clearness ; in the art of illustrating, stating and arranging ; in extent of legal knowledge ; in sparkling wit, keen satire, and strong...

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