The Biographical Treasury: A Dictionary of Universal Biography

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Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, 1854 - Biography - 925 pages
 

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Page 7 - Whoever wishes to attain an English style, familiar but not coarse, and elegant but not ostentatious, must give his days and nights to the volumes of Addison...
Page 405 - ... temples ; not to make accurate measurements of the remains of ancient grandeur, nor to form a scale of the curiosity of modern art ; not to collect medals, or collate manuscripts: but to dive into the depths of dungeons; to plunge into the infection of hospitals ; to survey the mansions of sorrow and pain ; to take the...
Page 332 - Wolstoncroft," authoress of a "Vindication of the Rights of Woman," whose congenial mind in politics and morals, and whose noble spirit he ardently admired. He had lived with her some time before their marriage ; and in her "Memoirs" he says, "the principal motive for complying with the ceremony, was the circumstance of Mary's being in a state of pregnancy.
Page 210 - Roman historian, who wrote the history of Alexander the Great in ten books, the first two of which are lost. The exact period in which he flourished is not known ; for though his style would indicate that he lived in one of the best periods of the Latin language, no writer of any earlier date than the 12th century has made any mention of him.
Page 266 - He immortalised hit ñamo by hi« books on geometry. In which he digested all the propositions of the eminent geometricians who preceded him, as Thaïes, Pythagoras, and others. Ptolemy became his pupil, and his school was so famous, that Alexandria continued for ages the great university for mathematicians. His "Elements...
Page 127 - Turks in 17i!9; till, rising by degrees, he, in 1794, obtained the "command of Warsaw and the administration of Poland. In 1805 he commanded the left wing of the army at the battle of Austerlitz, which advanced while the centre and right wing were beaten; but, after the battle of Pultusk, he was superseded by Bennigscn.
Page 78 - ... beauty of description, and power of imagination, it far surpasses all European imitations; and bears such marks of originality, that those who have visited the East will find some difficulty in believing it to be more than a translation. As an Eastern tale, even Rasselas must bow before it; his 'Happy Valley' will not bear a comparison with the 'Hall of Eblis.
Page 411 - He composed a general history of England, from the earliest accounts to the death of king Stephen, in 1154, in eight books, which have been published by sir Henry Savilc.
Page 361 - ... keep her a visitor at the palace. It was there that she imbibed a violent passion for England's naval hero, then commanding the "Agamemnon ;" and, from that period, she became the companion of Nelson, to whom she was sometimes useful as a political agent. After the victory of Aboukir, when the conqueror was received in Naples with extravagant rejoicings, Lady Hamiltor was the heroine of the crowd, and ac? companied the slave of her charms wherever he went. To her advice is attributed the ignominious...
Page 400 - There is no learning that this man hath not searched into, nothing too hard for his understanding : this man, indeed, deserves the name of an author: his books will get reverence by age, for there is in them such seeds of eternity, that if the rest be like this, they shall last till the last fire shall consume all learning.

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