Letters on the Study and Use of History |
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Page 6
... first rank in learning , and to whom the whole tribe of fcholars bow with reverence . A man must be as indif- ferent as I am to common cenfure or ap- probation , to avow a thorough contempt for the whole business of these learned lives ...
... first rank in learning , and to whom the whole tribe of fcholars bow with reverence . A man must be as indif- ferent as I am to common cenfure or ap- probation , to avow a thorough contempt for the whole business of these learned lives ...
Page 27
... first is given in a fuperior degree . But fuch ex- amples are very rare : and when they hap- pen , it will be ftill true , that they would have had fewer blemishes , and would have come nearer to the perfection of pri- vate and public ...
... first is given in a fuperior degree . But fuch ex- amples are very rare : and when they hap- pen , it will be ftill true , that they would have had fewer blemishes , and would have come nearer to the perfection of pri- vate and public ...
Page 33
... first im- preffions , and to acquire our first habits , in a fcene where images of virtue and vice are continually reprefented to us in the colors that belong properly to them , before we enter on another fcene , where virtue and vice ...
... first im- preffions , and to acquire our first habits , in a fcene where images of virtue and vice are continually reprefented to us in the colors that belong properly to them , before we enter on another fcene , where virtue and vice ...
Page 34
... goes on , and concludes , " that fince the first of thefe ways expofes us to << << cc ( c great labor and peril , whilft the fe- " cond works the fame good effect , and << " is attended by no evil circumstance , every " is 34 LETTER II .
... goes on , and concludes , " that fince the first of thefe ways expofes us to << << cc ( c great labor and peril , whilft the fe- " cond works the fame good effect , and << " is attended by no evil circumstance , every " is 34 LETTER II .
Page 37
... first , as to men ; we fee them at their whole length in hiftory , and we fee them generally there through a medium less partial at least than that of experi- ence for I imagine , that a whig or a tory , whilst those parties fubfifted ...
... first , as to men ; we fee them at their whole length in hiftory , and we fee them generally there through a medium less partial at least than that of experi- ence for I imagine , that a whig or a tory , whilst those parties fubfifted ...
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Common terms and phrases
affiftance againſt againſt France allies almoſt Auftria becauſe cafe cauſe CHARLES the fecond circumſtances confequences courſe crown defign defire Dutch emperor England eſtabliſhed Europe faid fame favour fecurity feemed ferve feven fhall fhew fide fign fince firſt fome foon French ftate ftrength ftudy fubject fucceffion fuccefs fuch fufficient fupported fure fyftem grand alliance greateſt himſelf hiſtory houſe of Auſtria houſe of Bourbon increaſed inftance intereft king of France king of Spain laft laſt leaſt lefs LEWIS the fourteenth lord lordſhip Low Countries meaſure minifters monarchy moſt muſt nation neceffary obferve occafion oppoſed ourſelves paffed paffions party peace PHILIP pleaſure poffeffion preſent pretenfions prince purpoſe queen racters raiſed reaſon refpect ſay ſeveral ſhall ſhe ſhort ſhould ſome Spaniſh ſpeak ſpirit ſtate ſtill ſtudy of hiſtory ſuch thefe themſelves theſe thofe thoſe thouſand fix hundred thouſand ſeven hundred tion treaty treaty of Utrecht uſe whilſt whole
Popular passages
Page 61 - ... disastrous campaigns, we saw every scene of the war full of action. All those wherein he appeared, and many of those wherein he was not then an actor — but abettor, however, of their action — were crowned with the most triumphant success. I take with pleasure this opportunity of doing justice to that great man, whose faults I knew, whose virtues I admired, and whose memory, as the greatest general and as the greatest minister that our country or perhaps any other has produced, I honour.
Page 17 - The reason of this judgment, which I quote from one of Seneca's epistles in confirmation of my own opinion, rests, I think, on this; that when examples are pointed out to us...
Page 29 - There is scarce any folly or vice more epidemical among the sons of men, than that ridiculous and hurtful vanity by which the people of each country are apt to prefer themselves to those of every other; and to make their own customs, and manners, and opinions, the standards of right and wrong, of true and false.
Page 198 - I may say so, of undefiled reason ? Is it not worth our while to approve or condemn, on our own authority, what we receive in the beginning of life on the authority of other men, who were not then better able to judge for us, than we are now to judge for ourselves?
Page 143 - Bodin's pupil, resolves to read all, will not have time, no nor capacity neither, to do any thing else. He will not be able to think, without which it is impertinent to read; nor to act, without which it is impertinent to think. He will assemble materials with much pains, and purchase them at much expense.
Page 186 - Till this happen, the profession of the law will scarce deserve to be ranked among the learned professions ; and whenever it happens, one of the vantage grounds, to which men must climb, is metaphysical, and the other historical knowledge.
Page 12 - There is no need of saying how this passion grows, among civilized nations, in proportion to the means of gratifying it : but let us observe that the same principle of nature directs us as strongly, and more generally as well as more early, to indulge our own curiosity, instead of preparing to gratify that of others.
Page 247 - There is no part of the world from whence we may not admire those planets which roll like ours, in different orbits, round the same central sun; from whence we may not discover an object still more stupendous, that army of fixed stars hung up in the immense space of the universe; innumerable suns, whose beams enlighten and cherish the unknown worlds which roll...
Page 185 - I might instance in other professions the obligation men lie under of applying themselves to certain parts of History; and I can hardly forbear doing it in that of the Law, — in its nature the noblest and most beneficial to mankind, in its abuse and debasement the most sordid and the most pernicious. A lawyer now is nothing more (I speak of ninetynine in a hundred at least...
Page 48 - ... of those who govern or are governed in them, will incline to think, that if the scales can be brought back by a war, nearly, though not exactly, to the point they were at before this...