Memoirs of the Latter Years of the Right Honourable Charles James Fox

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R. Phillips, 1812 - Great Britain - 536 pages

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Page 256 - Around my fire an evening group to draw, And tell of all I felt and all I saw; And, as a hare whom hounds and horns pursue Pants to the place from whence at first she flew, I still had hopes, my long vexations past, Here to return - and die at home at last.
Page 81 - Industrious habits in each bosom reign, And industry begets a love of gain. Hence all the good from opulence that springs, With all those ills superfluous treasure brings, Are here display'd.
Page 329 - My chief objection (I mean that to the character of /Eneas) is, of course, not so much felt in the three first books ; but afterwards he is always either insipid or odious, sometimes excites interest against him, and never for him.
Page 273 - We continued our reading of Johnson's Lives of the Poets. How often at midnight, as he listened with avidity, and made the remarks that occurred, he apologized to me for keeping me from my rest, but, still delighted with our reading, would say, " Well, you may go on a little more," as I assured him that I liked the reading aloud. At these times he would defend Johnson, when I blamed his severity and unwillingness to allow, and incapacity to appreciate, poetical merit, — would refer me to his life...
Page 284 - His last moments are thus described : " The scene which followed was worthy of the illustrious name of Fox. As his breathing became painfully difficult he no longer spoke ; but his looks, his countenance, gradually assumed a sublime yet tender air. He seemed to regret leaving Mrs Fox solitary and friendless ; and, as he fixed his eyes repeatedly upon her, threw into them such an expression of consolation as looked supernatural : there was also in it a tender gratitude which breathed unutterable thanks,...
Page 33 - ... at his literary studies, in which the Greek poets bore a principal part. A frugal but plentiful dinner took place at three, or halfpast two, in summer, and at four in winter ; and a few glasses of wine were followed by coffee. The evening was dedicated to walking and conversation till tea-time, when reading aloud in history commenced, and continued till near ten. A light supper of fruit, pastry, or something very trifling, finished the day; and at half-past ten the family were gone to rest.
Page 318 - Blackstone over and over again ; and if so, pray tell me whether you agree with me in thinking his style of English the very best among our modern writers ; always easy and intelligible ; far more correct than Hume, and less studied and made up than Robertson.
Page 256 - He looked around him the last day he was there with a farewell tenderness that struck me very much. It was the place where he had spent his youthful days. Every lawn, garden, tree, and walk, were viewed by him with peculiar affection. He pointed out its beauties to me, and in particular showed me a green lane or avenue, which his mother, the late lady Holland, had made by shutting up a road.
Page 256 - The tone of melancholy with' which that book commences, was pleasing to his mind : he appeared relieved, and to forget his uneasiness and pains ; but I felt this recurrence' to Virgil as a mournful omen of a great attack upon his system, and that he was already looking to abstract himself from noise, and tumult, and politics. Henceforth his illness rapidly increased, and was pronounced a dropsy ! I have reason to think that he turned his thoughts very soon to retirement at St. Anne's Hill, as he...
Page 329 - One thing which delights me in the Iliad and Odyssey, and of which there is nothing in Virgil, is the picture of manners, which seem to be so truly delineated. The times in which Homer lived undoubtedly gave him a great advantage in this respect ; VOL.

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