Letters ... written between the years 1784 and 1807 [ed. by A. Constable].1811 |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 44
Page 8
... pleasures it will afford you . The new , the strange enthusiasm about Animal Magnetism , has seized her violently . She fervently assures me , that it is a great , important discovery in the powers of nature ; capable of being highly ...
... pleasures it will afford you . The new , the strange enthusiasm about Animal Magnetism , has seized her violently . She fervently assures me , that it is a great , important discovery in the powers of nature ; capable of being highly ...
Page 19
... , and dispositions , esteemed , and interesting to me as yours , offer me pleasures which I am obliged to decline . Your last letter , like your former , gratified me by its kindness and amused me by its wit . LETTER 111 . 19 Rev Berwick,
... , and dispositions , esteemed , and interesting to me as yours , offer me pleasures which I am obliged to decline . Your last letter , like your former , gratified me by its kindness and amused me by its wit . LETTER 111 . 19 Rev Berwick,
Page 32
... pleasure of being known to that gentleman , when he spoke to the public in such warm praise of my writings , either personally or by letter . He fanned her fires with the breath of ingenious , generous , classical , and From Cowley's ...
... pleasure of being known to that gentleman , when he spoke to the public in such warm praise of my writings , either personally or by letter . He fanned her fires with the breath of ingenious , generous , classical , and From Cowley's ...
Page 43
... pleasure of waiting upon you . Greatly as I admired Johnson's talents , and revered his knowledge , and formidable as I felt the powers to be of his witty sophistry , yet did a certain quickness of spirit , and zeal for the repu- tation ...
... pleasure of waiting upon you . Greatly as I admired Johnson's talents , and revered his knowledge , and formidable as I felt the powers to be of his witty sophistry , yet did a certain quickness of spirit , and zeal for the repu- tation ...
Page 47
... pleasure in every proof of their continuance . Your sonnet is strikingly in the manner of Milton's sonnets , —to me scarcely less dear than his longer compositions . * The following is the sonnet alluded to , written by Mr Stevens . To ...
... pleasure in every proof of their continuance . Your sonnet is strikingly in the manner of Milton's sonnets , —to me scarcely less dear than his longer compositions . * The following is the sonnet alluded to , written by Mr Stevens . To ...
Contents
203 | |
205 | |
208 | |
212 | |
219 | |
221 | |
225 | |
228 | |
51 | |
53 | |
58 | |
61 | |
67 | |
78 | |
82 | |
88 | |
90 | |
95 | |
101 | |
109 | |
113 | |
117 | |
121 | |
124 | |
127 | |
129 | |
136 | |
137 | |
139 | |
141 | |
144 | |
146 | |
148 | |
150 | |
152 | |
154 | |
157 | |
160 | |
161 | |
166 | |
168 | |
172 | |
175 | |
178 | |
182 | |
189 | |
195 | |
198 | |
231 | |
235 | |
236 | |
242 | |
245 | |
247 | |
250 | |
255 | |
260 | |
262 | |
263 | |
270 | |
272 | |
279 | |
283 | |
288 | |
290 | |
293 | |
298 | |
301 | |
309 | |
314 | |
317 | |
319 | |
326 | |
329 | |
331 | |
333 | |
336 | |
343 | |
344 | |
351 | |
359 | |
367 | |
370 | |
374 | |
381 | |
392 | |
395 | |
Common terms and phrases
Adieu admired amidst appears bard beautiful blank verse Cary charming compositions confess critical dear delight Dr Johnson Dryden Eartham elegance Eloisa to Abelard eloquence Epic Poetry excellence express Eyam fame fancy father favour feel genius Gentleman's Magazine give glow grace gratified Gray happiness Hayley Hayley's heart HERBERT CROFT honour hope ideas imagination ingenious interest Italian poetry Johnson Knowles Lady language late leisure less LETTER Lichfield literary living Lucy Porter Lycidas lyric Milton mind Miss Monody muse nature never numbers opinion passages Petrarch Pindar Piozzi pleasure poem poet poetic poetry Pope powers praise present prose recollect rhyme Shakespeare shew sister Solihul sonnet Sophia speak spirit style sublime superior sure sweet talents taste thing thou tion verse vulgarism Weston Whalley WILLIAM HAYLEY wish wonder word writings youth
Popular passages
Page 128 - So sinks the day-star in the ocean bed, And yet anon repairs his drooping head, And tricks his beams, and with new spangled ore Flames in the forehead of the morning sky...
Page 303 - LAWRENCE ! of virtuous father virtuous son, Now that the fields are dank, and ways are mire, Where shall we sometimes meet, and by the fire Help waste a sullen day, what may be won From the hard season gaining ? Time will run On smoother, till Favonius re-inspire The frozen earth, and clothe in fresh attire The lily' and rose, that neither sow'd nor spun.
Page 162 - Tis night, and the landscape is lovely no more ; I mourn, but, ye woodlands, I mourn not for you ; For morn is approaching, your charms to restore, Perfumed with fresh fragrance, and glittering with dew: Nor yet for the ravage of winter I mourn ; Kind nature the embryo blossom will save. But when shall spring visit the mouldering urn ! O, when shall it dawn on the night of the grave...
Page 267 - For patience, sovereign o'er transmuted ill; For faith, that, panting for a happier seat. Counts death kind Nature's signal of retreat. These goods for man the laws of Heaven ordain, These goods He grants, who grants the power to gain ; With these celestial Wisdom calms the mind, And makes the happiness she does not find.
Page 346 - imp their eagle wings," a delighted spectator and auditor of their efforts. It was here, that Miss Molly Aston was frequently a visitor in the family of her brother-in-law, and probably amused herself with the uncouth adorations of the...
Page 321 - So much the rather thou, celestial Light, Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers Irradiate ; there plant eyes, all mist from thence Purge and disperse, that I may see and tell Of things invisible to mortal sight.
Page 103 - Johnson had always a metaphysic passion for one princess or other: first, the rustic Lucy Porter, before he married her nauseous mother; next, the handsome, but haughty, Molly Aston; next, the sublimated, methodistic, Hill Boothby, who read her bible in Hebrew; and, lastly, the more charming Mrs. Thrale, with the beauty of the first, the learning of the second, and with more worth than a bushel of such sinners and such saints. It is ridiculously diverting to see the old elephant forsaking his nature...
Page 303 - The lily and rose, that neither sowed nor spun. What neat repast shall feast us, light and choice, Of Attic taste, with wine, whence we may rise. To hear the lute well touched, or artful voice Warble immortal notes and Tuscan air ? He who of those delights can judge, and spare To interpose them oft, is not unwise.
Page 103 - This last and long-enduring passion for Mrs. Thrale was, however, composed equally, perhaps, of cupboard love, Platonic love, and vanity tickled and gratified, from morn to night, by incessant homage. The two first ingredients are certainly oddly heterogeneous ; but Johnson, in religion and politics, in love and in hatred, was composed of such opposite and contradictory materials, as never before met in the human mind. This is the reason why folk are never weary of talking, reading, and writing about...
Page 58 - Shocked at the unfeeling rudeness he thus recorded of himself, I replied, that I was surprised any person should obtrude their writings upon his attention; adding, that if I could write as well as Milton or Gray, I should think the best fate to be desired for my compositions was exemption from his notice. I expected a sharp sarcasm in return, but he only rolled his large head in silence. Johnson told me once, " he would hang a dog that read the ' Lycidas