The British Prose Writers...J. Sharpe, 1819 - British prose literature |
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Page 9
... poor insignificant devil , unnoticed and unknown , stalking up and down fairs and markets , when I happen to be in them , reading a page or two of mankind , and " catching the manners living as they rise , " whilst the men of business ...
... poor insignificant devil , unnoticed and unknown , stalking up and down fairs and markets , when I happen to be in them , reading a page or two of mankind , and " catching the manners living as they rise , " whilst the men of business ...
Page 16
... poor indolent devil he has left behind him . There is a noble sublimity , a heart - melting ten- derness , in some of our ancient ballads , which show them to be the work of a masterly hand ; and it has often given me many a heart ...
... poor indolent devil he has left behind him . There is a noble sublimity , a heart - melting ten- derness , in some of our ancient ballads , which show them to be the work of a masterly hand ; and it has often given me many a heart ...
Page 17
... poor rustic bard unknown , pays this sym- pathetic pang to your memory ! Some of you tell us , with all the charms of verse , that you have been unfortunate in the world - unfortunate in love he too has felt the loss of his little ...
... poor rustic bard unknown , pays this sym- pathetic pang to your memory ! Some of you tell us , with all the charms of verse , that you have been unfortunate in the world - unfortunate in love he too has felt the loss of his little ...
Page 21
... poor bard dances with rapture , when those , whose character in life gives them a right to be polite judges , honour him with their approbation . Had you been thoroughly acquainted with me , Madam , you could not have touched my darling ...
... poor bard dances with rapture , when those , whose character in life gives them a right to be polite judges , honour him with their approbation . Had you been thoroughly acquainted with me , Madam , you could not have touched my darling ...
Page 55
... poor au- thor wrote them under some twitching qualms of conscience , arising from suspicion that he was doing what he ought not to do : a predicament he has more than once been in before . I have not the most distant pretensions to ...
... poor au- thor wrote them under some twitching qualms of conscience , arising from suspicion that he was doing what he ought not to do : a predicament he has more than once been in before . I have not the most distant pretensions to ...
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...