The Spectator, Volume 4J. Tonson, 1729 - English essays |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 27
Page 10
... Reasons , but at the fame Time fhe cannot look as if the loved ; her Eye is full of Sorrow , and Relu- ⚫ & tance fits in a Tear , while the offering of the Sacrifice is performed in what we call the Marriage Ceremony . • Do you never ...
... Reasons , but at the fame Time fhe cannot look as if the loved ; her Eye is full of Sorrow , and Relu- ⚫ & tance fits in a Tear , while the offering of the Sacrifice is performed in what we call the Marriage Ceremony . • Do you never ...
Page 14
... Reason I think there is nothing in the World fo tiresome as the Works of thofe Criticks , who write in a pofitive Dogmatick Way , without either Language , Genius or Imagination . If the Reader would fee how the best of the Latin ...
... Reason I think there is nothing in the World fo tiresome as the Works of thofe Criticks , who write in a pofitive Dogmatick Way , without either Language , Genius or Imagination . If the Reader would fee how the best of the Latin ...
Page 28
... Reasons why Providence may have im- planted in our Mind fuch a Principle of Action . I have in the next Place fhewn from many Confiderations , first , that Fame is a Thing difficult to be obtained , and easily loft ; Secondly , that it ...
... Reasons why Providence may have im- planted in our Mind fuch a Principle of Action . I have in the next Place fhewn from many Confiderations , first , that Fame is a Thing difficult to be obtained , and easily loft ; Secondly , that it ...
Page 29
... Reasons , Be- cause no other Being can make a right Judgment of us , and esteem us according to our Merits ; and Because we can procure no confiderable Benefit or Advantage from the Efteem and Approbation of any other Being . IN the ...
... Reasons , Be- cause no other Being can make a right Judgment of us , and esteem us according to our Merits ; and Because we can procure no confiderable Benefit or Advantage from the Efteem and Approbation of any other Being . IN the ...
Page 37
... Reason , and what all Men fhould confent to . In this latter Acceptation of the Phrafe , it is no great Wonder People err fo much against it , fince it is not every one who is poffeffed of it , and there are fewer , who against common ...
... Reason , and what all Men fhould confent to . In this latter Acceptation of the Phrafe , it is no great Wonder People err fo much against it , fince it is not every one who is poffeffed of it , and there are fewer , who against common ...
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Action Admirer Æneid Affembly againſt agreeable alfo Anfwer Beauty becauſe befides Behaviour Cafe Character Circumftances Confideration Converfation Criticks defcribed Defcription Defign Defire Difcourfe difcover Drefs Enville Fable faid fame Favour feems feen felf felves feve feveral fhall fhew fhort fhould fince firft firſt fome fomething fometimes foon Fortune fpeak Friend ftill fuch fufficient fuppofe give greateſt Happineſs Heart himſelf Homer Honour Houfe Houſe humble Servant ibid Iliad infert juft kind Lady laft lefs likewife look Love Mankind manner Marriage Milton Mind moft moſt muft muſt Nature neceffary Number obferved Occafion Ovid Paffage paffed Paffion Paradife Loft particular Perfon Place pleafed pleaſe Pleaſure Poem Poet poffible prefent publick racter raiſe Reader Reafon reprefented Senfe Sentiments ſeveral ſhe SPECTATOR thefe themſelves theſe thing thofe thoſe Thoughts tion uſe Virg Virgil Virtue whofe Woman World young
Popular passages
Page 154 - English, a glowing bold expression, and to turn it into ridicule by a cold ill-natured criticism. A little wit is equally capable of exposing a beauty, and of aggravating a fault; and though such a treatment of an author naturally produces indignation in the mind of an understanding reader, it has however its effect among the generality of those whose hands it falls into; the rabble of mankind being very apt to think that every thing which is laughed at, with any mixture of wit, is ridiculous in...
Page 15 - ... gently blows, And the smooth stream in smoother numbers flows ; But when loud surges lash the sounding shore, The hoarse rough verse should like the torrent roar. When Ajax strives some rock's vast weight to throw, The line too labours, and the words move slow : Not so when swift Camilla scours the plain, Flies o'er th' unbending corn, and skims along the main.
Page 148 - The dervise told them he intended to take up his night's lodging in that caravansary. The guards let him know, in a very angry manner, that the house he was in was not a caravansary, but the king's palace. It happened that the king himself passed through the gallery during this debate, and smiling at the...
Page 67 - ... for preserving of this unity of action they follow them in the disposition of the poem. Milton, in imitation of these two great poets, opens his Paradise Lost with an infernal council plotting the fall of man, which is the action he proposed to celebrate...
Page 202 - Lucian relates concerning this river, viz. that this stream, at certain seasons of the year, especially about the feast of Adonis, is of a bloody colour ; •which the heathens looked upon as proceeding from a kind of sympathy in the river for the death of Adonis, who was killed by a wild boar in the mountains out of which this stream rises.
Page 112 - I shall show more at large in another paper ; though considering how all the poets of the age in which he writ were infected with this wrong way of thinking, he is rather to be admired that he did not give more into it, than that he did sometimes comply with the vicious taste which still prevails so much among modern writers.
Page 148 - Tartary, being arrived at the town of Balk, went into the king's palace by mistake, as thinking it to be a public inn or caravansary. Having looked about him for some time, he entered into a long gallery, where he laid down his wallet, and spread his carpet, in order to repose himself upon it, after the manner of the eastern nations. He had not been long in this posture before he was discovered by some of the guards, who asked him what was his business in that place?
Page 281 - In short, as the critics have remarked, that in those poems, wherein shepherds are actors, the thoughts ought always to take a tincture from the woods, fields, and rivers...
Page 112 - I have before said, these are rather to be imputed to the simplicity of the age in which he lived, to which I may also add, of that which he described, than to any imperfection in that divine poet.
Page 281 - O thou that, with surpassing glory crown'd, Look'st from thy sole dominion, like the god Of this new world, at whose sight all the stars Hide their diminish'd heads, to thee I call, But with no friendly voice, and add thy name, 0 sun, to tell thee how I hate thy beams, That bring to my remembrance from what state 1 fell, how glorious once above thy sphere...