The Works of Samuel Johnson, Volume 3Nichols and Son, 1816 - English literature |
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Page 5
... raise laughter from corrupt passions , which are un- worthy of the curiosity of decent readers , and which ought to rest eternally in proper obscurity . Not every thing in this infancy of comedy was excellent , at least it would not ...
... raise laughter from corrupt passions , which are un- worthy of the curiosity of decent readers , and which ought to rest eternally in proper obscurity . Not every thing in this infancy of comedy was excellent , at least it would not ...
Page 19
... raise that laughter by hyper- " boles , which would not arise by a just represen- " tation of things . Plautus is not quite so regular " as Terence in the scheme of his designs , or in the " distribution of his acts , but he is more ...
... raise that laughter by hyper- " boles , which would not arise by a just represen- " tation of things . Plautus is not quite so regular " as Terence in the scheme of his designs , or in the " distribution of his acts , but he is more ...
Page 25
... raise hisses rather than laughter ; that his amours have more impudence than gaiety ; and that he has not so much written for men of understanding , as for minds blackened with envy and corrupted with debauchery . The justifica- tion of ...
... raise hisses rather than laughter ; that his amours have more impudence than gaiety ; and that he has not so much written for men of understanding , as for minds blackened with envy and corrupted with debauchery . The justifica- tion of ...
Page 45
... raising laughter ; for this is merely the work of nature , and must proceed " from genius , with very little help from art or " matter . The Spaniards have a turn to find the ridicule in things much more than we : and the Italians , who ...
... raising laughter ; for this is merely the work of nature , and must proceed " from genius , with very little help from art or " matter . The Spaniards have a turn to find the ridicule in things much more than we : and the Italians , who ...
Page 58
... raising the passions , or the mirth of a great multi- tude . The tragedian has little to do but to reflect upon his own thought , and draw from his heart those sentiments which will certainly make their way to the hearts of others , if ...
... raising the passions , or the mirth of a great multi- tude . The tragedian has little to do but to reflect upon his own thought , and draw from his heart those sentiments which will certainly make their way to the hearts of others , if ...
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Common terms and phrases
adventures Alcibiades amuse ancient appear Aristophanes Athenians Athens beauty censure CHAP character comedy comick considered Cratinus danger delight desire discovered easily endeavoured envy equally Eschylus Eupolis Euripides evil expect eyes favour fear felicity Floretta folly fortune genius give Greek Greek comedy happiness happy valley honour hope human imagination imitation Imlac inquire justly kind knowledge labour laugh learned less likewise Lilinet live mankind manner Menander ment merriment mind misery Moliere mountains nation nature Nekayah ness never NUMB observed once opinion OVID passed passions Pekuah perhaps perpetual Plato Plautus pleased pleasure Plutarch poet praise present prince PRINCE OF ABISSINIA princess publick racter Rasselas reason ridicule scarcely sentiments Socrates solitude sometimes Sophocles success suffered suppose surely taste terrour Thespis thing thought Tibullus tion tragedy tragick truth virtue weary wish writers
Popular passages
Page 301 - 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 388 - I will not undertake to maintain, against the concurrent and unvaried testimony of all ages, and of all nations. There is no people, rude or learned, among whom apparitions of the dead are not related and believed. This opinion, which perhaps prevails as far as human nature is diffused, could become universal only by its truth : those, that never heard of one another, would not have agreed in a tale which nothing but experience can make credible. That it is doubted by single cavillers, can very little...
Page 330 - He must divest himself of the prejudices of his age or country ; he must consider right and wrong in their abstracted and invariable state ; he must disregard present laws and opinions, and rise to general and transcendental truths, which will always be the same...
Page 364 - The prince soon found that this was one of the sages whom he should understand less as he heard him longer. He therefore bowed and was silent; and the philosopher, supposing him satisfied and the rest vanquished, rose up and departed with the air of a man that had co-operated with the present system.
Page 128 - Just in the gate and in the jaws of hell, Revengeful Cares and sullen Sorrows dwell, And pale Diseases, and repining Age, Want, Fear, and Famine's unresisted rage; Here Toils, and Death, and Death's half-brother, Sleep, Forms terrible to view, their sentry keep; With anxious Pleasures of a guilty mind, Deep Frauds before, and open Force behind; The Furies' iron beds; and Strife, that shakes Her hissing tresses and unfolds her snakes.
Page 424 - Praise, said the sage, with a sigh, is to an old man an empty sound. I have neither mother to be delighted with the reputation of her son, nor wife to partake the honours of her husband.
Page 110 - The gates of hell are open night and day ; Smooth the descent, and easy is the way : But, to return, and view the cheerful skies — In this the task and mighty labour lies.
Page 300 - Johnson wrote it, that with the profits he might defray the expense of his mother's funeral, and pay some little debts which she had left. He told Sir Joshua Reynolds, that he composed it in the evenings of one week, sent it to the press in portions as it was written, and had never since read it over.
Page 309 - The old man was surprised at this new species of affliction, and knew not what to reply, yet was unwilling to be silent. "Sir," said he, " if you had seen the miseries of the world, you would know how to value your present state." " Now," said the prince, " you have given me something to desire ; I shall long to see the miseries of the world, since the sight of them is necessary to happiness.
Page 354 - He had now learned the power of money, and made his way by a piece of gold to the inner apartment, where he found the philosopher in a room half darkened, with his eyes misty, and his face pale. " Sir, said he, you are come at a time when all human friendship is useless ; what I suffer cannot be remedied, what I have lost cannot be supplied. My daughter, my only daughter, from whose tenderness I expected all the comforts of my age, died last night of a fever.