The British Essayists: Lounger

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C. and J. Rivington, 1823 - English essays

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Page 230 - Nature bestows only on a poet ; the eye that distinguishes in every thing presented to its view, whatever there is on which imagination can delight to be detained, and with a mind that at once comprehends the vast, and attends to the minute. The reader of the " Seasons" wonders that he never saw before what Thomson shows him, and that he never yet has felt what Thomson impresses.
Page 228 - Though gods assembled grace his towering height, Than what more humble mountains offer here, Where, in their blessings, all those gods appear. See Pan with flocks, with fruits Pomona crown'd, Here blushing Flora paints th...
Page 140 - L'empire de la femme est un empire de douceur, d'adresse et de complaisance; ses ordres sont des caresses, ses menaces sont des pleurs.
Page 123 - ... in morals, as in theology, we might not improperly denominate good works. In morals, as in religion, there are not wanting instances of refined sentimentalists, who are contented with talking of virtues which they never practise, who pay in words what they owe in actions; or perhaps, what is fully as dangerous, who open their minds to impressions which never have any effect upon their conduct, but are considered as something foreign to and distinct from it.
Page 13 - Whitlocke talks of one Milton, as he calls him, a blind man, who was employed in translating a treaty with Sweden into Latin.
Page 123 - That sickly sort of refinement creates imaginary evils and distresses, and imaginary blessings and enjoyments, which embitter the common disappointments, and depreciate the common attainments of life. This affects the temper doubly, both with respect to ourselves and others; with respect to ourselves, from what we think ought to be our lot; with regard to others, from what we think ought to be their sentiments.
Page 166 - But in that violence, in that tyranny of dominion, with which love is invested in many of our tragedies, it overbears every virtue and every duty. The obligations of justice and of humanity sink before it. The king, the chief, the patriot, forgets his people, his followers, and his country; while parents and children mention the dearest objects of natural attachment only to lead them in the triumph of their love. It is the business of tragedy to exhibit the passions, that is, the weaknesses of men.
Page 296 - I was early in life introduced into the society of many persons of the first distinction. At their tables I acquired a taste for good living, which I came to consider as the first of all enjoyments ; but possessing no fortune, this passion might have proved a curse instead of a blessing, had I not happily discovered a method of gratifying it, at once easy and agreeable. By my intercourse with the great, I soon discovered that it was in my power to give, in return for the dainties of their table,...
Page 16 - It was some time before I was able to find out who he was, till at last my friend Mr S • informed me he was a very worthy relation of his, who had not been in town above twice these forty years; that an accidental piece of business had lately brought him from his house in the country, and he had been prevailed on to look on the ladies of Edinburgh at two or three public places before he went home again, that he might...
Page 18 - I have not the honour of their acquaintance,' I replied ; ' but some of them I presume from the cockades in their hats — ' — ' You do not say so,

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