History of English Literature, Volume 2Holt & Williams, 1871 - English literature |
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Page 1
... . Lack of general ideas in this age and this stamp of mind - Dryden's transla . tions - Adaptations - Imitations - Tales and letters - Faults - Merits- VOL . II . A Gravity of his character , brilliancy of his inspiration , -THE CLASSIC.
... . Lack of general ideas in this age and this stamp of mind - Dryden's transla . tions - Adaptations - Imitations - Tales and letters - Faults - Merits- VOL . II . A Gravity of his character , brilliancy of his inspiration , -THE CLASSIC.
Page 3
... letters . I find the same inclination and the same signs in the remainder of his life , private or public . He regularly spends his mornings in writing or reading , then dines with his family . His reading was that of a man of culture ...
... letters . I find the same inclination and the same signs in the remainder of his life , private or public . He regularly spends his mornings in writing or reading , then dines with his family . His reading was that of a man of culture ...
Page 4
... letters ; he criticised novelties - Racine's last tragedy , Blackmore's heavy epic , Swift's first poems ; slightly vain , praising his own writings , to the extent of saying that no one had ever composed or will ever compose a finer ...
... letters ; he criticised novelties - Racine's last tragedy , Blackmore's heavy epic , Swift's first poems ; slightly vain , praising his own writings , to the extent of saying that no one had ever composed or will ever compose a finer ...
Page 5
... letters heard or believed , and the mind enters compulsorily upon a track when it is the only one that can conduct it to its goal . Dryden entered upon it spontaneously . In his second production , ' the abundance of well - ordered ...
... letters heard or believed , and the mind enters compulsorily upon a track when it is the only one that can conduct it to its goal . Dryden entered upon it spontaneously . In his second production , ' the abundance of well - ordered ...
Page 27
... letters , satires , translations and imita- tions , this is the field on which logical faculties and the art of writing find their best occupation . Before descending into it , and observing their work , it will be as well to study more ...
... letters , satires , translations and imita- tions , this is the field on which logical faculties and the art of writing find their best occupation . Before descending into it , and observing their work , it will be as well to study more ...
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Popular passages
Page 282 - I STOOD in Venice, on the Bridge of Sighs ; A palace and a prison on each hand : I saw from out the wave her structures rise As from the stroke of the enchanter's wand : A thousand years their cloudy wings expand Around me, and a dying Glory smiles O'er the far times, when many a subject land Look'd to the winged Lion's marble piles, Where Venice sate in state, throned on her hundred isles...
Page 246 - Now stir the fire, and close the shutters fast, Let fall the curtains, wheel the sofa round, And while the bubbling and loud hissing urn Throws up a steamy column, and the cups That cheer but not inebriate, wait on each, So let us welcome peaceful evening in.
Page 103 - It was said of Socrates, that he brought Philosophy down from Heaven, to inhabit among Men; and I shall be ambitious to have it said of me, that I have brought Philosophy out of Closets and Libraries, Schools and Colleges, to dwell in Clubs and Assemblies, at Tea-Tables and in CoffeeHouses.
Page 204 - This day, black Omens threat the brightest Fair, That e'er deserv'da watchful spirit's care; Some dire disaster, or by force, or slight; But what, or where, the fates have wrapt in night. Whether the nymph shall break Diana's law, Or some frail China jar receive a flaw; Or stain her honour or her new brocade; Forget her pray'rs, or miss a masquerade; Or lose her heart, or necklace, at a ball; Or whether Heav'n has doom'd that Shock must fall.
Page 521 - Breathing like one that hath a weary dream. Full-faced above the valley stood the moon; And like a downward smoke, the slender stream Along the cliff to fall and pause and fall did seem. A land of streams! some, like a downward smoke, Slow-dropping veils of thinnest lawn, did go; And some thro' wavering lights and shadows broke, Rolling a slumbrous sheet of foam below.
Page 43 - Now strike the golden lyre again: A louder yet, and yet a louder strain ! Break his bands of sleep asunder And rouse him like a rattling peal of thunder. Hark, hark ! the horrid sound Has raised up his head : As awaked from the dead, And amazed he stares around. Revenge, revenge...
Page 528 - TEARS, idle tears, I know not what they mean, Tears from the depth of some divine despair Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes, In looking on the happy Autumn-fields, And thinking of the days that are no more. Fresh as the first beam glittering on a sail, That brings our friends up from the underworld, Sad as the last which reddens over one That sinks with all we love below the verge ; So sad, so fresh, the days that are no more.
Page 33 - Of these the false Achitophel was first: A name to all succeeding ages cursed. For close designs, and crooked counsels fit; Sagacious, bold, and turbulent of wit: Restless, unfixed in principles and place; In power unpleased, impatient of disgrace. A fiery soul, which working out its way, Fretted the pigmy body to decay: And o'er informed the tenement of clay.
Page 147 - I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London that a young, healthy child well nursed is, at a year old, . a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee or a ragout.
Page 361 - Now, what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else.