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 x
... should bring a kind of contagion along with them , and pollute the happiness which he enjoys , Yet since the perverse tempers of man- kind , fince oppreffion on one fide , and ambition on the other , are sometimes the unavoidable ...
... should bring a kind of contagion along with them , and pollute the happiness which he enjoys , Yet since the perverse tempers of man- kind , fince oppreffion on one fide , and ambition on the other , are sometimes the unavoidable ...
Page xxii
... should , I have the ex- cuse of an old gentleman , who mounting on horse- back before some ladies , when I was present , got up somewhat heavily , but defired of the fair spectators , that they would count fourscore and eight before ...
... should , I have the ex- cuse of an old gentleman , who mounting on horse- back before some ladies , when I was present , got up somewhat heavily , but defired of the fair spectators , that they would count fourscore and eight before ...
Page xxv
... ) Mr. Hobbs , I fay , begins the praise of Homer where he should have ended it . He tells us , that the first beauty of an Epic poem confists in diction , that is , in the choice of words , and harmony of numbers in PREFACE . XXV.
... ) Mr. Hobbs , I fay , begins the praise of Homer where he should have ended it . He tells us , that the first beauty of an Epic poem confists in diction , that is , in the choice of words , and harmony of numbers in PREFACE . XXV.
Page xxx
... should endeavour to raise pity : but instead of this , Ovid is tickling you to laugh . Virgil never made use of fuch machines , when he was moving you to commiferate the death of Dido : he would not de- stroy what he was building ...
... should endeavour to raise pity : but instead of this , Ovid is tickling you to laugh . Virgil never made use of fuch machines , when he was moving you to commiferate the death of Dido : he would not de- stroy what he was building ...
Page xxxiii
... should be pleased to have the greatest wit of those times in his interests , and to be the trum- pet of his praises . Augustus had given him the ex- ample , by the advice of Mecenas , who recommended Virgil and Horace to him ; whose ...
... should be pleased to have the greatest wit of those times in his interests , and to be the trum- pet of his praises . Augustus had given him the ex- ample , by the advice of Mecenas , who recommended Virgil and Horace to him ; whose ...
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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.