Common Courtesy in Eighteenth-century English LiteratureIn one of his Idlers, Johnson indicated the problems involved in such an achievement as follows: "As a question becomes more complicated and involved, and extends to a greater number of relations, disagreement of opinion will always be multiplied: not because we are irrational, but because we are finite beings, furnished with different kinds of knowledge, exerting different degrees of attention, one discovering consequences which escape another, none taking in the whole concatenation of causes and effects, and most comprehending but a very small part, each comparing what he observes with a different criterion and each referring it to a different purpose. "Where, then, is the wonder, that they who see only a small part should judge erroneously of the whole? |
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Page 100
... imagine in his turn , as well as [ myself ] . " ' 7 Tristram and any sym- pathetically attentive auditor , that is , will each entertain half of their total communicative system , Tristram enduring his train of ideas and the friend ...
... imagine in his turn , as well as [ myself ] . " ' 7 Tristram and any sym- pathetically attentive auditor , that is , will each entertain half of their total communicative system , Tristram enduring his train of ideas and the friend ...
Page 101
... imagine that my father has stepp'd up stairs to see my mother : -And , to conclude this work of imagination , -let him imagine the doctor wash'd , - rubb'd down , condoled with , -felicitated , —got into a pair of Obadiah's pumps ...
... imagine that my father has stepp'd up stairs to see my mother : -And , to conclude this work of imagination , -let him imagine the doctor wash'd , - rubb'd down , condoled with , -felicitated , —got into a pair of Obadiah's pumps ...
Page 115
... imagine ourselves to hear ; that we modulate the poem by our own disposition , and ascribe to the numbers the effects of the sense . " Like Pope in the Essay on Criticism , he acknowl- edges certain critics who " have struck out such ...
... imagine ourselves to hear ; that we modulate the poem by our own disposition , and ascribe to the numbers the effects of the sense . " Like Pope in the Essay on Criticism , he acknowl- edges certain critics who " have struck out such ...
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Common terms and phrases
acknowledges actually agreement allows apparent argument asserts attention Author believe Berkeley Boswell common sense concern Consider continually conversation course courteous courtesy critics described discourse discussion doubt effect enforces epistle Essay established evident example existence experience explains expression figures finally further give hope human Hylas ideas imagine immediately indicated individual instance intellectual Johnson judgment kind knowledge learned least letter literary Lord matter meaning mind nature never notice objects observed occasion once opinion particular passage passive philosophers poem poet polite Pope Pope's position possible practice present Press question quotes Rambler readers reason recognizes reference remarkable represented respondent seems Shandy share social society sometimes Sterne style suggests things thought throughout tion Toby's topics train Treatise Tristram truth turn uncle understanding universal writing