Phœnixiana; or Sketches and burlesques, by John Phœnix [ed. by J.J. Ames].

Front Cover
D. Appleton, 1856 - 274 pages

From inside the book

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

Popular passages

Page 26 - Old Mother Hubbard Went to the cupboard, To get her poor dog a bone: But when she got there The cupboard was bare, And so the poor dog had none.
Page 113 - Darkened so, yet shone Above them all the Archangel: but his face Deep scars of thunder had intrenched, and care Sat on his faded cheek, but under brows Of dauntless courage, and considerate* pride Waiting revenge.
Page 86 - How sharper than a serpent's thanks it is to have a toothless child," as Pope beautifully remarks in his Paradise Lost. One individual characterized my letter as "ad — d burlesque.
Page 76 - Ligeia ! Ligeia ! My beautiful one! Whose harshest idea Will to melody run, O! is it thy will On the breezes to toss? Or, capriciously still, Like the lone Albatross,* Incumbent on night • (As she on the air) To keep watch with delight On the harmony there?
Page 47 - ... Pike County, consisting of seven families, with forty-six wagons, each drawn by thirteen oxen ; each family consists of a man in butternut-colored clothing driving the oxen ; a wife in butternut-colored clothing riding in the wagon, holding a butternut baby, and seventeen butternut children...
Page 114 - We rose, and with an unfaltering voice said: "Well, Judge, how do you do?" He made no reply, but commenced taking off his coat. We removed ours, also our cravat. ******** ******** The sixth and last round, is described by the pressman and compositors, as having been fearfully scientific. We held "the Judge" down over the Press by our nose (which we had inserted between his teeth for that purpose), and while our hair was employed in holding one of his hands, we held the other in our left, and with...
Page 33 - ' or ' 'She is perfectly beautiful; ' ' — descriptions which, to one who never saw her, are no descriptions at all, for among thousands of women he has seen, probably no two are equally beautiful ; and as to a perfectly beautiful woman, he knows that no such being was ever created, unless by...
Page 34 - ... in all except that of the Flathead Indians of Puget Sound, which consists of but forty-six words, mostly nouns ; but to the constant use of which exists the objection, that nobody but that tribe can understand it. And as their literary and scientific advancement is not such as to make a residence among them, for a man of my disposition, desirable, I have abandoned the use of their language, in the belief that for me it is hyas.
Page 34 - ... student and lover of the exact sciences these inaccuracies of expression, this inability to understand exactly how things are, must be a constant source of annoyance; and to one who like myself, unites this turn of mind to an ardent love of truth, for its own sake — the reflection that the English language does not enable us to speak the truth with exactness, is peculiarly painful.
Page 37 - Having gazed on this for a few moments in mute astonishment, —during which the Professor took a glass of brandy and water, and afterwards a mouthful of tobacco, — I turned to him and requested an explanation. "Why," said he, "it's very simple; the number 12 is the maximum, 1 the minimum ; for instance, you are as benevolent as a man can be — therefore I mark you, Benevolence, 12. You have little or no self-esteem — hence I place you, Self-esteem, ^. You've scarcely any credulity, — don't...

Bibliographic information