The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, Esq: Containing All His Original Poems, Tales, and Translations ...J. and R. Tonson, 1767 |
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Page v
... . Though I am very short of the age of Nestor , yet I have lived to a third genera- tion of your house ; and by your Grace's favour am admitted still to hold from you by the same tenure . 1 I am not vain enough to boast that I A 3 i.
... . Though I am very short of the age of Nestor , yet I have lived to a third genera- tion of your house ; and by your Grace's favour am admitted still to hold from you by the same tenure . 1 I am not vain enough to boast that I A 3 i.
Page xvii
... short successive generations of the virtuous ; and I repeated to myself the same verses , which I had formerly applied to him : Oftendunt terris hunc tantùm fata , nec ultrà esse sinunt . But to the joy not only of all good men , but of ...
... short successive generations of the virtuous ; and I repeated to myself the same verses , which I had formerly applied to him : Oftendunt terris hunc tantùm fata , nec ultrà esse sinunt . But to the joy not only of all good men , but of ...
Page xix
... short in the expence he first intended : he alters his mind as the work proceeds , and will have this or that convenience more , of which he had not thought when he began . So has it happened to me : I have built a house , where I ...
... short in the expence he first intended : he alters his mind as the work proceeds , and will have this or that convenience more , of which he had not thought when he began . So has it happened to me : I have built a house , where I ...
Page xxii
... to run them into verse , or to give them the other har- mony of prose . I have so long studied and practised both , that they are grown into a habit , and become familiar 4 familiar to me . In short , though I may xxii PREFACE .
... to run them into verse , or to give them the other har- mony of prose . I have so long studied and practised both , that they are grown into a habit , and become familiar 4 familiar to me . In short , though I may xxii PREFACE .
Page xxiii
... short , though I may lawfully plead fome part of the old gentleman's excuse ; yet I will referve it till I think I have greater need , and ask no grains of allowance for the faults of this my present work , but those which are given of ...
... short , though I may lawfully plead fome part of the old gentleman's excuse ; yet I will referve it till I think I have greater need , and ask no grains of allowance for the faults of this my present work , but those which are given of ...
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Common terms and phrases
Arcite arms Baucis and Philemon becauſe beſt betwixt blood caſt cauſe Chaucer cloſe courſe cry'd Cymon dame death defire deſcend deſign deſign'd deſpair earth eaſe Engliſh ev'n ev'ry eyes faid fair fame fate fear fide fight fire firſt flain flames fome foon forc'd forrow foul grace heart heav'n honour houſe iſſuing Jove juſt king knight laſt leſs loft lord loſe lov'd maid mind moſt muſt numbers o'er Ovid Palamon paſs perſon Pirithous pleas'd pleaſe pleaſure poet pow'r prepar'd preſent purſue racter reaſon Reſolv'd reſt roſe ſaid ſame ſay ſcarce ſeas ſecond ſecret ſee ſeems ſeen ſenſe ſent ſet ſex ſhade ſhall ſhe ſhore ſhort ſhould ſhun ſkies ſky ſome ſpace ſpeak ſpoke ſpread ſpring ſtand ſtate ſteed ſtill ſtood ſtory ſubject ſuch ſweet ſword Synalepha thee theſe Theseus thoſe thou thought thro tranflation uſe verſe Virgil whoſe wife words wou'd youth
Popular passages
Page xxxii - Tis true, I cannot go so far as he who published the last edition of him; for he would make us believe the fault is in our ears, and that there were really ten syllables in a verse where we find but nine; but this opinion is not worth confuting; 'tis so gross and obvious an error that common sense (which is a rule in everything but matters of faith and revelation) must...
Page xxxi - In the first place, as he is the father of English poetry, so I hold him in the same degree of veneration as the Grecians held Homer or the Romans Virgil...
Page xliii - tis in him to right Boccace. I prefer, in our countryman, far above all his other stories, the noble poem of Palamon and Arcite, which is of the epic kind, and perhaps not much inferior to the Ilias, or the JEneis.
Page xxxv - The matter and manner of their tales and of their telling are so suited to their different educations, humours, and callings, that each of them would be improper in any other mouth.
Page xxviii - Both of them built on the inventions of other men ; yet since Chaucer had something of his own, as The Wife of Bath's Tale, The Cock and the Fox, which I have translated, and some others, I may justly give our countryman the precedence in that part; since I can remember nothing of Ovid which was wholly his. Both of them understood the manners; under which name I comprehend the passions, and in a larger sense, the descriptions of persons, and their very habits.
Page xl - ... when the reason ceases for which they were enacted. As for the other part of the argument, that his thoughts will lose of their original beauty by the innovation of words; in the first place, not only their beauty, but their being is lost, where they are no longer understood, which is the present case.
Page 211 - ... poesie is of so subtle a spirit, that in pouring out of one language into another, it will all evaporate ; and if a new spirit be not added in the transfusion, there will remain nothing but a caput mortuum...
Page xxxii - We can only say that he lived in the infancy of our poetry, and that nothing is brought to perfection at the first. We must be children before we grow men. There was an Ennius, and in process of time a Lucilius, and a Lucretius, before Virgil and Horace; even after Chaucer there was a Spenser, a Harrington, a Fairfax, before Waller and Denham were in being; and our numbers were in their nonage till these last appeared.
Page 19 - And know'st thou not, no law is made for love? Law is to things which to free choice relate; Love is not in our choice, but in our fate; Laws are but positive; love's power, we see, Is Nature's sanction, and her first decree.
Page 70 - Since every man who lives is born to die, And none can boast sincere felicity, With equal mind what happens let us bear, Nor joy nor grieve too much for things beyond our care. Like pilgrims to th' appointed place we tend ; The world's an inn, and death the journey's end.