The Works of Samuel Johnson, Ll. D.: Containing Adventurer and RasselasJ. Haddon, 1820 - English literature |
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Page 4
... force upon my pre- sent subject . Though ridicule , which is the business of comedy , be not less uniform in all times , than the passions which are moved by tragic compositions ; yet , if diversity of manners may sometimes disguise the ...
... force upon my pre- sent subject . Though ridicule , which is the business of comedy , be not less uniform in all times , than the passions which are moved by tragic compositions ; yet , if diversity of manners may sometimes disguise the ...
Page 5
... force of argument , we had never been told of the Trojan war . On the other side , Aristophanes is an author more considerable than one would imagine . The history of Greece could not pass over him , when it comes to touch upon the ...
... force of argument , we had never been told of the Trojan war . On the other side , Aristophanes is an author more considerable than one would imagine . The history of Greece could not pass over him , when it comes to touch upon the ...
Page 21
... force from his power of copying . His Misanthrope is , in my opi " nion , the most complete , and likewise the most " singular character that has ever appeared upon the “ stage : but the disposition of his comedies is always " defective ...
... force from his power of copying . His Misanthrope is , in my opi " nion , the most complete , and likewise the most " singular character that has ever appeared upon the “ stage : but the disposition of his comedies is always " defective ...
Page 34
... force and fire . Whether they are right , or no , is another question ; all that I mean to advance is , that we are to fix it as a conclusion , that comic authors Who must grow obsolete with the modes of life , if 3 34 A DISSERTATION ON ...
... force and fire . Whether they are right , or no , is another question ; all that I mean to advance is , that we are to fix it as a conclusion , that comic authors Who must grow obsolete with the modes of life , if 3 34 A DISSERTATION ON ...
Page 38
... force of time . The Muse of Moliere has almost made both of them forgotten , and would still be walking the stage , if the desire of novelty did not in time make us weary of that which we have too frequently admired . Those who have ...
... force of time . The Muse of Moliere has almost made both of them forgotten , and would still be walking the stage , if the desire of novelty did not in time make us weary of that which we have too frequently admired . Those who have ...
Common terms and phrases
ADVENTURER amuse ancient appear Aristophanes Athenians Athens Banquo beauty Cawdor censure CHAP character comedy comic common considered Cratinus delight desire died hereafter discovered easily elegance endeavoured equally Euripides evil expected eyes favour fear felicity folly fortune gain genius give golden blood gratified Greek comedy happiness honour hope hour human imagine Imlac kind king knowledge labour lady learned less likewise live look Macbeth mankind manner Menander ment mind misery Moliere murder nature Nekayah ness never NOTE observed once opinion passage passed passions Pekuah perfect spy perhaps phanes Plautus pleased pleasure Plutarch poet present prince princess racter Rasselas reader reason rest scarcely SCENE sense sentiments Shakespeare shew Socrates solitude sometimes suffered supposed surely taste Terence thee Theocritus thing thou thought Tibullus tion tragedy truth ulmo virtue witchcraft witches writers
Popular passages
Page 126 - She should have died hereafter ; There would have been a time for such a word. To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day To the last syllable of recorded time, And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death.
Page 113 - Can such things be, And overcome us like a summer's cloud, Without our special wonder ? You make me strange Even to the disposition that I owe, When now I think you can behold such sights, And keep the natural ruby of your cheeks, When mine is blanch'd with fear.
Page 295 - YE who listen with credulity to the whispers of fancy, and pursue with eagerness the phantoms of hope ; who expect that age will perform the promises of youth, and that the deficiencies of the present day will be supplied by the morrow ; attend to the history of Rasselas, prince of Abyssinia.
Page 97 - This guest of summer, The temple-haunting martlet, does approve, By his loved mansionry, that the heaven's breath Smells wooingly here. No jutty, frieze, Buttress, nor coign of vantage, but this bird Hath made his pendent bed and procreant cradle. Where they most breed and haunt, I have observed, The air is delicate.
Page 103 - Pale Hecate's offerings; and wither'd murder, Alarum'd by his sentinel, the wolf, Whose howl's his watch, thus with his stealthy pace, With Tarquin's ravishing strides, towards his design Moves like a ghost. Thou sure and firm-set earth, Hear not my steps which way they walk, for fear Thy very stones prate of my whereabout And take the present horror from the time, Which now suits with it.
Page 323 - Whatever be the reason, it is commonly observed that the early writers are in possession of nature, and their followers of art; that the first excel in strength and invention, and the latter in elegance and refine•icnt.
Page 96 - Than wishest should be undone. Hie thee hither, That I may pour my spirits in thine ear; And chastise with the valour of my tongue All that impedes thee from the golden round, Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem To have thee crown'd withal.
Page 310 - Sir, said he, you have seen but a small part of what the mechanic sciences can perform. I have been long of opinion, that instead of the tardy conveyance of ships and chariots, man might use the swifter migration of wings ; that the fields of air are open to knowledge, and that only ignorance and idleness need crawl upon the ground.
Page 312 - ... easily conceive with what pleasure a philosopher, furnished with wings, and hovering in the sky, would see the earth, and all its inhabitants, rolling beneath him, and presenting to him successively, by its diurnal motion, all the countries within the same parallel. How must it amuse the...
Page 415 - DISORDERS of intellect," answered Imlac, " happen much more often than superficial observers will easily believe. Perhaps, if we speak with rigorous exactness, no human mind is in its right state. There is no man whose imagination does not sometimes predominate over his reason, who can regulate his attention wholly by his will, and whose ideas will come and go at his command.