The Works of the English Poets: PrefacesH. Hughs, 1781 |
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Page 24
... Spectator ; a feries of effays of the fame kind , but written with lefs levity , upon a more regular plan , and publifhed daily . Such an un- dertaking fhewed the writers not to dif truft their own copioufnefs of materials or facility ...
... Spectator ; a feries of effays of the fame kind , but written with lefs levity , upon a more regular plan , and publifhed daily . Such an un- dertaking fhewed the writers not to dif truft their own copioufnefs of materials or facility ...
Page 25
... Spectator , in one of the first papers , fhewed the political tenets of its authors ; but a refolution was foon taken of courting general ap- probation by general topicks , and fub- jects on which faction had produced no diverfity of ...
... Spectator , in one of the first papers , fhewed the political tenets of its authors ; but a refolution was foon taken of courting general ap- probation by general topicks , and fub- jects on which faction had produced no diverfity of ...
Page 26
Samuel Johnson. be read by the Queen , it was reprinted in the Spectator . To teach the minuter decencies and inferior duties , to regulate the practice of daily converfation , to correct those depravities which are rather ridiculous ...
Samuel Johnson. be read by the Queen , it was reprinted in the Spectator . To teach the minuter decencies and inferior duties , to regulate the practice of daily converfation , to correct those depravities which are rather ridiculous ...
Page 27
... Spectator , if the writers for the theatre are excepted , England had no mafters of common life . No writers had yet undertaken to reform either the favageness of neglect , or the impertinence of civility ; to teach who when to speak ...
... Spectator , if the writers for the theatre are excepted , England had no mafters of common life . No writers had yet undertaken to reform either the favageness of neglect , or the impertinence of civility ; to teach who when to speak ...
Page 30
... Spectator had the fame ten- dency they were publifhed at a time when two parties , loud , restless , and violent , each with plaufible declarations , and each perhaps without any diftinct termination of its views , were agitating the ...
... Spectator had the fame ten- dency they were publifhed at a time when two parties , loud , restless , and violent , each with plaufible declarations , and each perhaps without any diftinct termination of its views , were agitating the ...
Common terms and phrases
Addifon afterwards againſt Arians becauſe beft Blackmore Cato caufe cenfure character compofitions confidered converfation criticiſm critick defign defire Dennis difcovered Dryden eafily Effay elegance faid fame fatire fays fecond feems feen felf fent fentiments feve fhall fhew fhewn fhort fhould fimile fince fingle firft firſt fome fometimes foon friends ftand ftile ftudies fubject fucceffion fuch fuffer fupplied fuppofed fure genius guards himſelf houſe inftruction intereft Juba Juba's kindneſs king laft laſt leaft lefs likewife lord lord chamberlain lord Halifax mafter Marcia moft moſt muft muſt nature neceffary never obferved occafion paffage paffion pafs perfon perhaps pleaſe pleaſure poem poet poetical poetry Pope praife praiſe prefent preferve profe publick publiſhed purpoſe racter raiſed reader reafon ſcenes ſeems Sempronius Spectator Spence ſtage Steele Syphax Tatler thefe theſe thofe thoſe thought Tickell tion topicks tragedy tranflated uncon uſed verfes verfion verſe Whig whofe write
Popular passages
Page 155 - He copies life with so much fidelity that he can be hardly said to invent : yet his exhibitions have an air so much original that it is difficult to suppose them not merely the product of imagination.
Page 82 - was particular in this writer, that when he had taken his resolution or made his plan for what he designed to write, he would walk about a room and dictate it into language with as much freedom and ease as any one could write it down, and attend to the coherence and grammar of what he dictated.
Page 90 - No greater felicity can genius attain, than that of having purified intellectual pleasure, separated mirth from indecency, and wit from licentiousness; of having taught a succession of writers to bring elegance and gaiety to the aid of goodness; and, if I may use expressions yet more awful, of having turned many to righteousness.
Page 75 - He taught us how to live; and, oh! too high The price of knowledge, taught us how to die.
Page 156 - As a teacher of wisdom, he may be confidently followed. His religion has nothing in it enthusiastic or superstitious: he appears neither weakly credulous, nor wantonly sceptical; his morality is neither dangerously lax, nor impracticably rigid. All the enchantment of fancy, and all the cogency of argument, are employed to recommend to the reader his real interest, the care of pleasing the Author of his being.
Page 149 - It is not uncommon for those who have grown wise by the labour of others to add a little of their own, and overlook their masters. Addison is now despised by some who perhaps would never have seen his defects but by the lights which he afforded them.
Page 150 - That general knowledge which now circulates in common talk was in his time rarely to be found. Men not professing learning were not ashamed of ignorance, and in the female world any acquaintance with books was distinguished only to be censured.
Page 157 - ... always equable, and always easy, without glowing words or pointed sentences. Addison never deviates from his track to snatch a grace; he seeks no ambitious ornaments, and tries no hazardous innovations. His page is always luminous, but never blazes in unexpected splendour.
Page 68 - ... reign ; an act of authority violent enough, yet certainly legal, and by no means to be compared with that contempt of national right with •which, some time afterwards, by the instigation of whiggism, the commons, chosen by the people for three years, chose themselves for seven.
Page 61 - The marriage, if uncontradicted report can be credited, made no addition to his happiness ; it neither found them nor made them equal. She always remembered her own rank, and thought herself entitled to treat with very little ceremony the tutor of her son.