 | Oliver Goldsmith - 1853 - 380 pages
...himself: see an instance given on the subject of writing fables in character, when he tells Johnson, •If you were to make little fishes talk, they would talk like vhales.' — 1>. vol. ii. p. 220. more foolish when he had not a pen in his hand, nor more wise when... | |
 | Oliver Goldsmith - Natural history - 1854 - 614 pages
...fishes." Just then, observing that Dr. Johnson was shaking his sides and laughing, he immediately added, " why, Dr. Johnson, this is not so easy as you seem...little fishes talk, they would talk like whales." * The following is given by Boswell, as an instance of robust sophistry : — " Once, when I was pressing... | |
 | Oliver Goldsmith - Irish Literature (in English) - 1854 - 348 pages
...he observed Johnson shaking his sides with laughter ; upon which he smartly proceeded, " Why, Doctor Johnson, this is not so easy as you seem to think...little fishes talk, they would talk like WHALES."* At another time, f when he and Johnson were in Westminster Abbey, the former observed, " Forsi tan... | |
 | John Forster - 1854 - 572 pages
...observed Johnson shaking his sides and laughing, •whereupon he made this home thrust. " Why, Mr. Johnson, " this is not so easy as you seem to think...little fishes talk, they would talk like WHALES."* This was giving Johnson what Garrick called a forcible " versible ; " and Dryden describes his own... | |
 | William Collins - English poetry - 1854 - 430 pages
...sides and roll about with laughter. The comment of Goldsmith was inimitably apt and telling. " Why, Mr. Johnson, this is not so easy as you seem to think...little fishes talk, they would talk like WHALES." He was excitable, and, when excited, destitute of self control. This temperament brought him into numerous... | |
 | Washington Irving - 1858 - 336 pages
...fishes." Just then observing that Dr. Johnson was shaking his sides and laughing, he immediately added, " Why, Dr. Johnson, this is not so easy as you seem...fishes talk, they would talk like whales." Johnson, in fact, was spoiled by being the oracle of the circle in which he moved. He talked as he wrote, for... | |
 | Earl Philip Henry Stanhope Stanhope - Great Britain - 1858 - 420 pages
...chanced to be discussing the composition of fables, Goldsmith cried, with equal truth and aptness, " Why, Dr. Johnson, this is not so easy as you " seem to think ; for, if you had to write a fable upon " fishes, you would make all your little fishes talk like "whales!"* As poets... | |
 | James Boswell - Hebrides (Scotland) - 1860 - 960 pages
...birds. The skill," continued he, " consists in making them talk like little fishes." While he indulged himself in this fanciful reverie, he observed Johnson...little fishes talk, they would talk like WHALES." " Glow-worm * lying in the garden saw a candle in a neighbouring palace, — and complained of the... | |
 | William Collins, Thomas Gray, Oliver Goldsmith - English poetry - 1860 - 422 pages
...sides and roll about with laughter. The comment of Goldsmith was inimitably apt and telling. " Why, Mr. Johnson, this is not so easy as you seem to think...little fishes talk, they would talk like WHALES." He was excitable, and, when excited, destitute of self control. This temperament brought him into numerous... | |
 | Oliver Goldsmith, Thomas Babington Macaulay Baron Macaulay - 1862 - 328 pages
...birds. The skill (continued he) consists in making them talk like little fishes.' While he indulged himself in this fanciful reverie, he observed Johnson...little fishes talk, they would talk like whales.', During this argument, Goldsmith sat in restless agitation, from a wish to get in and shine. Finding... | |
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Why, Dr. Johnson, this is not so easy as you seem to think; for if you were to make little fishes talk, they would talk like WHALES. 
