A History of Eighteenth Century Literature (1600-1780). |
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... less com- manding . The first and by far the most arduous duty of the writer was to make a rough plan of his work , selecting and excluding names , determining the relative value of each , and deciding what proportion of the space at ...
... less com- manding . The first and by far the most arduous duty of the writer was to make a rough plan of his work , selecting and excluding names , determining the relative value of each , and deciding what proportion of the space at ...
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... less . But , on the whole , I have striven to be conservative in taste . Where my judgment has differed on important questions from that of preceding critics , I have been slow to suppose that I could be right and they wrong . But it ...
... less . But , on the whole , I have striven to be conservative in taste . Where my judgment has differed on important questions from that of preceding critics , I have been slow to suppose that I could be right and they wrong . But it ...
Page 3
... less than one hundred and fifty years . For that space of time the couplet took the same almost universal position as the vehicle for expression in verse that the rhyme royal had taken in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries . In this ...
... less than one hundred and fifty years . For that space of time the couplet took the same almost universal position as the vehicle for expression in verse that the rhyme royal had taken in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries . In this ...
Page 14
... less brilliant writers selected the form of political satire for Dryden , that the Scriptural tissue thrown as a light veil over the story was suggested by an anonymous tract , called Naboth's Vineyard , in 1679 , and that the very name ...
... less brilliant writers selected the form of political satire for Dryden , that the Scriptural tissue thrown as a light veil over the story was suggested by an anonymous tract , called Naboth's Vineyard , in 1679 , and that the very name ...
Page 16
... less often read at present , although it is much shorter , and shows no less ability . Dr. Johnson's criticism of it still holds good . " It is now [ 1780 ] not much read , nor perhaps generally understood ; yet , a slight acquaintance ...
... less often read at present , although it is much shorter , and shows no less ability . Dr. Johnson's criticism of it still holds good . " It is now [ 1780 ] not much read , nor perhaps generally understood ; yet , a slight acquaintance ...
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Common terms and phrases
Absalom and Achitophel Addison admirable appeared beauty became Berkeley blank verse brilliant Burke called career cents character charm close Colley Cibber comedy complete Congreve criticism death Defoe drama dramatist Dryden Dunciad edition eighteenth century England English literature English poetry essays extraordinary famous French friends genius Gibbon Goldsmith grace Gray heroic couplet Horace Walpole Hume humour imitated intellectual Johnson Lady language less letters literary live London Lord lyric manner merit Molière nature never novel odes Oroonoko pamphlet passages passion perhaps period philosophical pieces Pindaric play poem poet poetic poetry political Pope Pope's prose published reader rhyme Richardson romantic satire scarcely Shaftesbury Shakespeare Smollett Steele style success Swift taste Tatler thee Thomson thou thought tion Tom Jones tragedy Tristram Shandy volume W. W. SKEAT Whig writings written wrote Wycherley
Popular passages
Page 233 - How sleep the Brave who sink to rest By all their country's wishes blest! When Spring, with dewy fingers cold, Returns to deck their hallowed mould, She there shall dress a sweeter sod Than Fancy's feet have ever trod. By fairy hands their knell is rung; By forms unseen their dirge is sung; There Honor comes, a pilgrim gray, To bless the turf that wraps their clay; And Freedom shall awhile repair, To dwell a weeping hermit there!
Page 125 - Thy hand, great Anarch ! lets the curtain fall ; And universal Darkness buries All.
Page 229 - Live while you live, the Epicure would say, And seize the pleasures of the present day. Live while you live, the sacred Preacher cries, And give to God each moment as it flies.
Page 290 - The notice which you have been pleased to take of my labours, had it been early, had been kind ; but it has been delayed till I am indifferent, and cannot enjoy it ; till I am solitary, and cannot impart it ; till I am known, and do not want it. I hope it is no very cynical asperity not to confess obligations where no benefit has been received, or to be unwilling that the public should consider me as owing that to a patron, which Providence has enabled me to do for myself.
Page 294 - The busy day, the peaceful night, Unfelt, uncounted, glided by: His frame was firm — his powers were bright, Though now his eightieth year was nigh. Then with no fiery throbbing pain, No cold gradations of decay, Death broke at once the vital chain, And freed his soul the nearest way.
Page 340 - Sae true his heart, sae smooth his speech, His breath like caller air ; His very foot has music in't • As he comes up the stair, — And will I see his face again? And will I hear him speak ? I'm downright dizzy wi...
Page 121 - And the green turf lie lightly on thy breast : There shall the morn her earliest tears bestow, There the first roses of the year shall blow ; While angels with their silver wings o'ershade The ground, now sacred by thy reliques made.
Page 60 - A man so various that he seemed to be Not one, but all mankind's epitome : Stiff in opinions, always in the wrong, Was everything by starts and nothing long; But in the course of one revolving moon Was chymist, fiddler, statesman, and buffoon ; Then all for women, painting, rhyming, drinking, Besides ten thousand freaks that died in thinking.
Page 231 - Whoe'er has travelled life's dull round, Where'er his stages may have been, May sigh to think he still has found The warmest welcome— at an inn.
Page 322 - Those poets who owe their best fame to his skill Shall still be his flatterers, go where he will; Old Shakespeare receive him with praise and with love, And Beaumonts and Bens be his Kellys above.