The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, Esq: Containing All His Original Poems, Tales, and Translations ... |
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Page vii
... hope and pray , it may defcend to late pofterity : and your flourishing youth , and that of your excellent Duchefs , are happy omens of my wish . 1 It is obferved by Livy and by others , that fome of the nobleft Roman families retained ...
... hope and pray , it may defcend to late pofterity : and your flourishing youth , and that of your excellent Duchefs , are happy omens of my wish . 1 It is obferved by Livy and by others , that fome of the nobleft Roman families retained ...
Page xx
... hope I have translated closely enough , and given them the fame turn of verfe which they had in the original ; and this , I may say with- out vanity , is not the talent of every poet : he who has arrived the nearest to it , is the ...
... hope I have translated closely enough , and given them the fame turn of verfe which they had in the original ; and this , I may say with- out vanity , is not the talent of every poet : he who has arrived the nearest to it , is the ...
Page xxii
... hope the beft , that they will not be condemned ; but if they fhould , I have the ex- cufe of an old gentleman , who mounting on horse- back before fome ladies , when I was prefent , got up fomewhat heavily , but defired of the fair ...
... hope the beft , that they will not be condemned ; but if they fhould , I have the ex- cufe of an old gentleman , who mounting on horse- back before fome ladies , when I was prefent , got up fomewhat heavily , but defired of the fair ...
Page xxiv
... hope , I am right in court , without renouncing my other right of self- defence , where I have been wrongfully accufed , and my fenfe wire - drawn into blafphemy or bawdry , as it has often been by a religious lawyer , in a late ...
... hope , I am right in court , without renouncing my other right of self- defence , where I have been wrongfully accufed , and my fenfe wire - drawn into blafphemy or bawdry , as it has often been by a religious lawyer , in a late ...
Page xliii
... hope to mollify the fullen bridegroom . She takes her topicks from the benefits of poverty , the advantages of old age and uglinefs , the vanity of youth , and the filly pride of ancestry and titles with- out inherent virtue , which is ...
... hope to mollify the fullen bridegroom . She takes her topicks from the benefits of poverty , the advantages of old age and uglinefs , the vanity of youth , and the filly pride of ancestry and titles with- out inherent virtue , which is ...
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Common terms and phrases
againſt Arcite arms Baucis and Philemon becauſe befides beſt betwixt blood breaft caft cauſe Chanticleer Chaucer cloſe cry'd Cymon dame death defire earth eaſe ev'n ev'ry eyes fafe faid fair fame fate fear feas fecond fecret feem'd feeming feen fenfe fent fhade fhall fhould fhun fide fight fince fing fire firft firſt flain flames fome foon forc'd forrow foul ftill ftood fubject fuch fure fword grace heart heav'n himſelf honour huſband Jove juft king knight laft laſt leaſt lefs loft lord lov'd maid mind moft moſt muft muſt myſelf numbers nymph o'er Ovid paffion pafs Palamon Pirithous pleas'd pleaſe pleaſure poet pow'r prefent prepar'd purſue racter reaſon refolv'd reft reſt ſhall ſhe ſpeak ſpoke ſpread ſtill ſtood Synalepha Thebes thee Thefeus themſelves theſe thofe thoſe thou thought thro tranflation uſe Virgil whofe wife words wou'd youth
Popular passages
Page xxxii - Tis true, I cannot go so far as he who published the last edition of him; for he would make us believe the fault is in our ears, and that there were really ten syllables in a verse where we find but nine; but this opinion is not worth confuting; 'tis so gross and obvious an error that common sense (which is a rule in everything but matters of faith and revelation) must...
Page xxxi - In the first place, as he is the father of English poetry, so I hold him in the same degree of veneration as the Grecians held Homer or the Romans Virgil...
Page xliii - tis in him to right Boccace. I prefer, in our countryman, far above all his other stories, the noble poem of Palamon and Arcite, which is of the epic kind, and perhaps not much inferior to the Ilias, or the JEneis.
Page xxxv - The matter and manner of their tales and of their telling are so suited to their different educations, humours, and callings, that each of them would be improper in any other mouth.
Page xxviii - Both of them built on the inventions of other men ; yet since Chaucer had something of his own, as The Wife of Bath's Tale, The Cock and the Fox, which I have translated, and some others, I may justly give our countryman the precedence in that part; since I can remember nothing of Ovid which was wholly his. Both of them understood the manners; under which name I comprehend the passions, and in a larger sense, the descriptions of persons, and their very habits.
Page xl - ... when the reason ceases for which they were enacted. As for the other part of the argument, that his thoughts will lose of their original beauty by the innovation of words; in the first place, not only their beauty, but their being is lost, where they are no longer understood, which is the present case.
Page 211 - ... poesie is of so subtle a spirit, that in pouring out of one language into another, it will all evaporate ; and if a new spirit be not added in the transfusion, there will remain nothing but a caput mortuum...
Page xxxii - We can only say that he lived in the infancy of our poetry, and that nothing is brought to perfection at the first. We must be children before we grow men. There was an Ennius, and in process of time a Lucilius, and a Lucretius, before Virgil and Horace; even after Chaucer there was a Spenser, a Harrington, a Fairfax, before Waller and Denham were in being; and our numbers were in their nonage till these last appeared.
Page 19 - And know'st thou not, no law is made for love? Law is to things which to free choice relate; Love is not in our choice, but in our fate; Laws are but positive; love's power, we see, Is Nature's sanction, and her first decree.
Page 70 - Since every man who lives is born to die, And none can boast sincere felicity, With equal mind what happens let us bear, Nor joy nor grieve too much for things beyond our care. Like pilgrims to th' appointed place we tend ; The world's an inn, and death the journey's end.