Microcosm. General index |
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Page 3
My ambition , I hope , is not illaudable ; and if an apology is necessary for so
early an attempt , I can plead the great examples both of ancient and modern
learning : Virgil and Pope produced their Pastorals long before the one became
the ...
My ambition , I hope , is not illaudable ; and if an apology is necessary for so
early an attempt , I can plead the great examples both of ancient and modern
learning : Virgil and Pope produced their Pastorals long before the one became
the ...
Page 11
An undertaking of this kind could not surely fail of success ; especially in an age
like this , when attempts of a much more arduous nature are every day presented
to our notice : when pigs are brought to exercise all the functions of rationality ...
An undertaking of this kind could not surely fail of success ; especially in an age
like this , when attempts of a much more arduous nature are every day presented
to our notice : when pigs are brought to exercise all the functions of rationality ...
Page 119
On the contrary , we shall find , that all our attempts to prescribe bounds to the
activity of this so powerful agent , will end only ... an idea of the infinitude of
sovereign authority , and servile obedience , could have given birth to such an
attempt .
On the contrary , we shall find , that all our attempts to prescribe bounds to the
activity of this so powerful agent , will end only ... an idea of the infinitude of
sovereign authority , and servile obedience , could have given birth to such an
attempt .
Page 156
If I should attempt to account for this effect , I would refer it to two causes ; the one
, as they tend to inspire us with melancholy and mortifying ideas of human nature
itself ; and the other as they bring home a painful truth to the bosom of almost ...
If I should attempt to account for this effect , I would refer it to two causes ; the one
, as they tend to inspire us with melancholy and mortifying ideas of human nature
itself ; and the other as they bring home a painful truth to the bosom of almost ...
Page 180
Nay , he has even attempted a higher excellence , and undertaken to model the
worn - out trifles of Anacreon and ... of that eccentricity which is allowable in true
genius alone , is in any thing below mediocrity , like an attempt at the bold ...
Nay , he has even attempted a higher excellence , and undertaken to model the
worn - out trifles of Anacreon and ... of that eccentricity which is allowable in true
genius alone , is in any thing below mediocrity , like an attempt at the bold ...
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Popular passages
Page 249 - What he attempted, he performed ; he is never feeble, and he did not wish to be energetic ; he is never rapid, and he never stagnates. His sentences have neither studied amplitude, nor affected brevity ; his periods, though not diligently rounded, are voluble and easy. Whoever wishes to attain an English style, familiar but not coarse, and elegant but not ostentatious, must give his days and nights to the volumes of Addison, HUGHES.
Page 249 - His prose is the model of the middle style ; on grave subjects not formal, on light occasions not grovelling ; pure without scrupulosity, and exact without apparent elaboration ; always equable and always easy, without glowing words or pointed sentences.
Page 169 - Let others better mould the running mass Of metals, and inform the breathing brass, And soften into flesh, a marble face ; Plead better at the bar ; describe the skies, And when the stars descend, and when they rise.
Page 85 - All on a summer's day." I cannot leave this line without remarking that one of the Scribleri, a descendant of the famous Martinus, has expressed his suspicions of the text being corrupted here, and proposes instead of " all on " reading " alone ", alleging, in favour of this alteration, the effect of solitude in raising the passions.
Page 184 - Yet all these were, when no man did them know; Yet have from wisest ages hidden beene: And later times things more unknowne shall show. Why then should witlesse man so much misweene That nothing is, but that which he hath scene?
Page 135 - With dust dishonour'd, and deform'd with gore. As the young olive, in some sylvan scene, Crown'd by fresh fountains with eternal green, Lifts the gay head, in snowy flowrets fair, And plays and dances to the gentle air; When lo ! a whirlwind from high heaven invades The tender plant, and...
Page 68 - I saw them under a green mantling vine That crawls along the side of yon small hill, Plucking ripe clusters from the tender shoots ; Their port was more than human, as they stood : I took it for a...
Page 81 - I too am not entirely destitute of abilities of this kind ; but that by possessing a decent share of critical discernment, and critical jargon, I am capable of becoming a very tolerable commentator. For the proof of which, I shall rather prefer calling the attention of my readers to an object, as yet untreated of by any of my immediate predecessors, than venture to throw in my observations on any work which has before passed the ordeal of frequent examination. And this I shall do for two reasons...
Page 81 - I to take occasion to shew that I too am not entirely destitute of abilities of this kind; but that by possessing a decent share of critical discernment, and critical jargon, I am capable of becoming a very tolerable commentator. For the proof of which, I shall rather prefer calling the attention of my readers to an ob°ject, as yet untreated of by any of my immediate...
Page 91 - Thus have I industriously gone through the several parts of this wonderful work ; and clearly proved it, in .every one of these parts, and in .all of them together, to be a due and proper epic poem ; and to have as good a right to that title, from its adherence to prescribed rules, as any of the celebrated master-pieces of antiquity. And here I cannot help again lamenting, that by not knowing the name of the author, I am unable to twine...
Bibliographic information
| Title | Microcosm. General index Volume 45 of The British Essayists: With Prefaces, Historical and Critical, Lionel Thomas Berguer |
| Author | Lionel Thomas Berguer |
| Publisher | T. and J. Allman, 1823 |
| Original from | the New York Public Library |
| Digitized | 5 Mar 2007 |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |