Lectures on the English Comic Writers: Delivered at the Surry Institution |
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Page 4
... sort of convulsive and involuntary movement , occasioned by mere surprise or con- trast ( in the absence of any more serious emotion ) , before it has time to reconcile its belief to contra- dictory appearances . If we hold a mask ...
... sort of convulsive and involuntary movement , occasioned by mere surprise or con- trast ( in the absence of any more serious emotion ) , before it has time to reconcile its belief to contra- dictory appearances . If we hold a mask ...
Page 7
... there is nothing to throw us back upon our former expectation , and renew our wonder at the event a second time . The second sort , that is , the ludicrous arising out of the improbable or dis- tressing ON WIT AND HUMOUR .
... there is nothing to throw us back upon our former expectation , and renew our wonder at the event a second time . The second sort , that is , the ludicrous arising out of the improbable or dis- tressing ON WIT AND HUMOUR .
Page 8
... sort , or the ridiculous arising out of absurdity as well as improbability , that is , where the defect or weakness is of a man's own seeking , is the most refined of all , but not always so plea- sant as the last , because the same ...
... sort , or the ridiculous arising out of absurdity as well as improbability , that is , where the defect or weakness is of a man's own seeking , is the most refined of all , but not always so plea- sant as the last , because the same ...
Page 16
... as if nothing of the sort had happened to him , the idea of his late disaster and present self - complacency struck him so powerfully , that , unable to resist the im- pulse , he flung himself back in the pulpit ,. 16 ON WIT AND HUMOUR .
... as if nothing of the sort had happened to him , the idea of his late disaster and present self - complacency struck him so powerfully , that , unable to resist the im- pulse , he flung himself back in the pulpit ,. 16 ON WIT AND HUMOUR .
Page 19
... sort in the Thousand and One Nights , which are an inexhaustible mine of comic humour and invention , and which , from the manners of the East which they describe , carry the principle of callous indifference in a jest as far as it can ...
... sort in the Thousand and One Nights , which are an inexhaustible mine of comic humour and invention , and which , from the manners of the East which they describe , carry the principle of callous indifference in a jest as far as it can ...
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Common terms and phrases
absurdity admirable affectation amusing appearance beautiful Beggar's Opera Ben Jonson better Brass burlesque Caleb Williams character colour comedy common Congreve Conscious Lovers delightful Dick Don Quixote dramatic elegance Encyclopædia Epicene equal excellent eyes face Falstaff fancy farce feeling folly genius Gil Blas give grace heart Hogarth Hudibras human idea imagination imitation instance interest invention kind Lady laugh lively look Lord lover ludicrous manners ment metaphysical poets Millamant mind moral nature ness never novel object observation original painted passion person play pleasure poet poetry pretensions racter Rake's Progress reason refinement ridiculous romantic satire scene School for Scandal seems sense sentiment serious Shakspeare Shakspeare's shew sort Spectator spirit stage story style Tartuffe Tatler thee thing thou thought tion Tom Jones truth turn vice Volpone whole wife words Wycherley
Popular passages
Page 41 - The hedge-sparrow fed the cuckoo so long, That it had its head bit off by its young.
Page 45 - ... sometimes it lurketh under an odd similitude ; sometimes it is lodged in a sly question, in a smart answer, in a quirkish reason, in a shrewd intimation, in cunningly diverting or cleverly retorting an objection ; sometimes it is couched in a bold scheme of speech, in a tart irony, in a lusty hyperbole, in a startling metaphor, in a plausible reconciling of contradictions, or in acute nonsense...
Page 86 - I'll change All that is metal, in my house, to gold : And early in the morning will I send To all the plumbers and the pewterers, And buy their tin and lead up ; and to Lothbury For all the copper. Sur. What, and turn that too ? Mam. Yes, and I'll purchase Devonshire and Cornwall, And make them perfect Indies ! You admire now ? Sur. No, faith. Mam. But when you see th...
Page 98 - tis my outward soul, Viceroy to that, which then to heaven being gone, Will leave this to control And keep these limbs, her provinces, from dissolution.
Page 24 - The sun had long since, in the lap Of Thetis, taken out his nap, And, like a lobster boil'd, the morn From black to red began to turn...
Page 139 - Come, then, the colours and the ground prepare; Dip in the rainbow, trick her off in air; Choose a firm cloud before it fall, and in it Catch, ere she change, the Cynthia of this minute.
Page 98 - Gave to thy growth, thee to this height to raise, And now dost laugh and triumph on this bough, Little think'st thou That it will freeze anon, and that I shall Tomorrow find thee fall'n, or not at all.
Page 46 - ... an affected simplicity, sometimes a presumptuous bluntness giveth it being : sometimes it riseth only from a lucky hitting upon what is strange : sometimes from a crafty wresting obvious matter to the purpose: often it consisteth in one knows not what, and springeth up one can hardly tell how. Its ways are unaccountable and inexplicable, being ansv/erable to the numberless rovings of fancy and windings of language.
Page 105 - Why so pale and wan, fond lover? Prithee, why so pale? Will, when looking well can't move her, Looking ill prevail? Prithee, why so pale? Why so dull and mute, young sinner? Prithee, why so mute? Will, when speaking well can't win her, Saying nothing do 't?
Page 238 - 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.