The Table Talker: Or, Brief Essays on Society and Literature, Volume 2

Front Cover
W. Pickering, 1840 - English essays

From inside the book

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

Popular passages

Page 197 - Dreams, books, are each a world; and books, we know, Are a substantial world, both pure and good: Round these, with tendrils strong as flesh and blood, Our pastime and our happiness will grow.
Page 262 - But man is a noble animal, splendid in ashes, and pompous in the grave, solemnizing nativities and deaths with equal lustre, nor omitting ceremonies of bravery in the infamy of his nature.
Page 102 - Set in a note-book, learn'd and conn'd by rote, To cast into my teeth. O, I could weep My spirit from mine eyes ! There is my dagger, And here my naked breast ; within, a heart Dearer than Plutus...
Page 207 - Pleased with the danger, when the waves went high, He sought the storms ; but for a calm unfit, Would steer too nigh the sands to boast his wit. Great wits are sure to madness near allied And thin partitions do their bounds divide...
Page 40 - While sea-born gales their gelid wings expand To winnow fragrance round the smiling land. But small the bliss that sense alone bestows, And sensual bliss is all the nation knows. In florid beauty groves and fields appear, Man seems the only growth that dwindles here. Contrasted faults through all his manners reign ; Though poor, luxurious ; though submissive, vain ; Though grave, yet trifling; zealous, yet untrue; And even in penance planning sins anew.
Page 71 - Alas ! — how light a cause may move Dissension between hearts that love ! Hearts that the world in vain had tried, And sorrow but more closely tied ; That stood the storm, when waves were rough, Yet in a sunny hour fall off. Like ships that have gone down at sea, When heaven was all tranquillity...
Page 208 - In the first rank of these did Zimri stand ; A man so various, that he seem'd to be Not one, but all mankind's epitome...
Page 13 - But where to find that happiest spot below, Who can direct, when all pretend to know? The shudd'ring tenant of the frigid zone Boldly proclaims that happiest spot his own...
Page 3 - To build, to plant, whatever you intend. To rear the column, or the arch to bend, To swell the terrace, or to sink the grot; In all, let nature never be forgot.

Bibliographic information