The British Prose Writers...J. Sharpe, 1819 - British prose literature |
From inside the book
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Page 28
... Lord Monboddo , at whose house I have had the honour to be more than once . There has not been any thing nearly like her , in all the combinations of beauty , grace , and goodness , the great Creator has formed , since Milton's Eve on ...
... Lord Monboddo , at whose house I have had the honour to be more than once . There has not been any thing nearly like her , in all the combinations of beauty , grace , and goodness , the great Creator has formed , since Milton's Eve on ...
Page 29
... lord , certainly deserves my very grateful acknowledg- ments ; but your patronage is a bounty peculiarly suited to my feelings . I am not master enough of the etiquette of life to know whether there be not some impropriety in troubling ...
... lord , certainly deserves my very grateful acknowledg- ments ; but your patronage is a bounty peculiarly suited to my feelings . I am not master enough of the etiquette of life to know whether there be not some impropriety in troubling ...
Page 30
... lord Eglinton , with ten guineas , by way of subscription for two copies of my next edition . The word you object to in the mention I have made of my glorious countryman and your immor- tal ancestor , is indeed borrowed from Thomson ...
... lord Eglinton , with ten guineas , by way of subscription for two copies of my next edition . The word you object to in the mention I have made of my glorious countryman and your immor- tal ancestor , is indeed borrowed from Thomson ...
Page 37
... LORD , Edinburgh , 1787 . I WANTED to purchase a profile of your lordship , which I was told was to be got in town : but I am truly sorry to see that a blundering painter has spoiled a " human face divine . " The enclosed stan- zas I ...
... LORD , Edinburgh , 1787 . I WANTED to purchase a profile of your lordship , which I was told was to be got in town : but I am truly sorry to see that a blundering painter has spoiled a " human face divine . " The enclosed stan- zas I ...
Page 38
... lord , if you think the verses have intrinsic merit , to tell the world how much I have the honour to be Your lordship's highly indebted , and ever grateful humble servant . XVI . TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN . MY LORD , THE honour your ...
... lord , if you think the verses have intrinsic merit , to tell the world how much I have the honour to be Your lordship's highly indebted , and ever grateful humble servant . XVI . TO THE EARL OF BUCHAN . MY LORD , THE honour your ...
Common terms and phrases
acquaintance Allan Allan Ramsay Allan Water Ayrshire ballad bard beautiful bonnie called character charming Coila compliments composed copy CUNNINGHAM dare dear sir Dumfries DUNLOP earl of Glencairn Edinburgh Ellisland enclosed fancy father favour favourite feelings Fintry follies fortune friendship genius gentleman give glorious hand happy heart Heaven honest hope House of Stuart human humble idea Jenny Geddes justice kind lady late letter look lord Mauchline meet merit mind miserable Miss muse native never night noble o'er obliged opinion perhaps pleased pleasure poem poet poetic poetry poor present pretty pride reason rhyme Rob Morris ROBERT BURNS Robert Fergusson Scotland Scots Scottish sentiment soul spirit stanzas Tarbolton taste tell thee thing THOMSON thou thought tion tune verses wish worth wretch write young
Popular passages
Page 113 - Go fetch to me a pint o' wine, An' fill it in a silver tassie ; That I may drink before I go A service to my bonnie lassie : The boat rocks at the pier o...
Page 116 - JEolian harp, passive, takes the impression of the passing accident; or do these workings argue something within us above the trodden clod? I own myself partial to such proofs of those awful and important realities: a God that made all things, man's immaterial and immortal nature, and a world of weal or woe beyond death and the grave.
Page 68 - Come, go to, I will be wise!" I read farming books; I calculated crops; I attended markets; and, in short, in spite of the devil, and the world, and the flesh, I believe I should have been a wise man; but the first year, from unfortunately buying bad seed, the second from a late harvest, we lost half our crops. This overset all my wisdom, and I returned "like the dog to his vomit, and the sow that was washed, to her wallowing in the mire.
Page 57 - In my infant and boyish days, too, I owed much to an old woman who resided in the family, remarkable for her ignorance, credulity, and superstition. She had, I suppose, the largest collection in the country of tales and songs concerning devils, ghosts, fairies, brownies, witches, warlocks, spunkies, kelpies, elf-candles, dead-lights, wraiths, apparitions, cantraips, giants, enchanted towers, dragons, and other trumpery.
Page 65 - I staid, I did nothing but craze the faculties of my soul about her, or steal out to meet her; and the two last nights of my stay in the country, had sleep been a mortal sin, the image of this modest and innocent girl had kept me guiltless.
Page 77 - The stars shall fade away, the sun himself Grow dim with age, and Nature sink in years, But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth, Unhurt amidst the war of elements, The wreck of matter, and the crush of worlds.
Page 60 - In short, she, altogether unwittingly to herself, initiated me in that delicious passion, which, in spite of acid disappointment, gin-horse prudence, and book-worm philosophy, I hold to be the first of human joys, our dearest blessing here below...
Page 57 - I was a good deal noted for a retentive memory, a stubborn sturdy something in my disposition, and an enthusiastic idiot piety. I say idiot piety, because I was then but a child. Though it cost the schoolmaster some thrashings, I made an excellent English scholar ; and by the time I was ten or eleven years of age, I was u critic in substantives, verbs, and particles.
Page 57 - This cultivated the latent seeds of poetry, but had so strong an effect on my imagination, that to this hour, in my nocturnal rambles, I sometimes keep a sharp lookout in suspicious places; and though nobody can be more sceptical than I am in such matters, yet it often takes an effort of philosophy to shake off these idle terrors.
Page 69 - I resolved to publish my poems. I weighed my productions as impartially as was in my power ; I thought they had merit; and it was a delicious idea that I should be called a clever fellow, even though it should never reach my ears...