The General Biographical Dictionary:: Containing an Historical and Critical Account of the Lives and Writings of the Most Eminent Persons in Every Nation; Particularly the British and Irish; from the Earliest Accounts to the Present Time..

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J. Nichols and Son [and 29 others], 1812 - Biography

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Page 163 - 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 ostentations, must give his days and nights to the volumes of Addison.
Page 163 - 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. Addison never deviates from his track to snatch a grace; he seeks no ambitious ornaments, and tries no hazardous innovations.
Page 67 - Abney, who received him into his house; where, with a constancy of friendship and uniformity of conduct not often to be found, he was treated for thirty-six years with all the kindness that friendship could prompt, and all the attention that respect could dictate.
Page 163 - It was apparently his principal endeavour to avoid all harshness and severity of diction ; he is therefore sometimes verbose in his transitions and connexions, and sometimes descends too much to the language of conversation ; yet if his language had been less idiomatical, it might have lost somewhat of its genuine anglicism. What he attempted, he performed ; he is never feeble, and he did not wish to be...
Page 389 - Recherches sur la précession des equinoxes et sur la nutation de l'axe de la terre, dans le système Newtonien.
Page 32 - George was the more plausible preacher, Robert the greater scholar; George the abler statesman, Robert the deeper divine; gravity did frown in George, and smile in Robert.
Page 424 - The Historie of that wise and Fortunate Prince, Henrie of that Name the Seventh, King of England. With that famed Battaile, fought betweene the sayd King Henry and Richard the third named Crookbacke, upon Redmoore neere Bosworth.
Page 157 - Arbiter elegantiarum, a judge of propriety, was yet wanting, who should survey the track of daily conversation and free it from thorns and prickles, which teaze the passer, though they do not wound him.
Page 60 - ... giving his orders with that coolness and perspicuity, which had ever marked his character, till long after the action was over, when he fainted through weakness and loss of blood. Were it permitted...
Page 162 - Addison, for whom he did not want respect, had very diligently endeavoured to reclaim him ; but his arguments and expostulations had no effect. One experiment, however, remained to be tried: when he found his life near its end, he directed the young Lord to be called; and when he desired, with great tenderness, to hear his last injunctions, told him, I have sent for you that you may see how a Christian can die.

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