The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. |
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Common terms and phrases
Æneid againſt anſwer appears becauſe cauſe cenfured character Charles Dryden compofition confeffed confidered converfation Cowley criticiſm critick defign defire diſcovered dramatick Dryden eafily Earl elegance Engliſh excellence fafe faid fame fatire fays fecond feems feldom fenfe fent fentiments fhall fhew fhould fince firft firſt fome fomething fometimes foon ftill ftudies ftyle fubject fuch fuffered fufficiently fupplied fuppofed fure genius heroick Hiftory himſelf houſe Hudibras itſelf John Dryden King labour laft language laſt learning leaſt lefs Lord meaſure Milton mind moft moſt muft muſt nature neceffary never NIHIL numbers obferved occafion paffages paffed paffions Paradife Loft perfon perhaps pleaſe pleaſure poem poet poetical poetry praife praiſe prefent profe publick publiſhed purpoſe raiſed reaſon reprefented rhyme ſeems ſtudy thefe themſelves theſe thing thofe thoſe thou thought thouſand tion tragedy tranflation univerfally uſe verfe verfification verſes Virgil Waller whofe whoſe write written
Popular passages
Page 100 - ... devout prayer to that eternal Spirit who can enrich with all utterance and knowledge, and sends out his seraphim, with the hallowed fire of his altar, to touch and purify the lips of whom he pleases...
Page 394 - They have not the formality of a settled style, in which the first half of the sentence betrays the other. The clauses are never balanced, nor the periods modelled : every word seems to drop by chance, though it falls into its proper place. Nothing is cold or languid : the whole is airy, animated, and vigorous; what is little, is gay ; what is great, is splendid.
Page 77 - Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer, And without sneering, teach the rest to sneer; Willing to wound and yet afraid to strike, Just hint a fault and hesitate dislike; Alike...
Page 19 - If the father of criticism has rightly denominated poetry, an imitative art, these writers will, without great wrong, lose their right to the name of poets for they cannot be said to have imitated any thing; they neither copied nature nor life; neither painted the forms of matter, nor represented the operations of intellect.
Page 275 - The topics of devotion are few, and being few are universally known ; but, few as they are, they can be made no more ; they can receive no grace from novelty of sentiment, and very little from novelty of expression.
Page 28 - On a round ball A workman that hath copies by, can lay An Europe, Afric, and an Asia, And quickly make that, which was nothing, all, So doth each tear, Which thee doth wear, A globe, yea world by that impression grow, Till thy tears mixt with mine do overflow This world, by waters sent from thee, my heaven dissolved so.
Page 387 - To judge rightly of an author, we must transport ourselves to his time, and examine what were the wants of his contemporaries, and what were his means of supplying them.
Page 159 - The song of Comus has airiness and jollity ; but, what may recommend Milton's morals as well as his poetry, the invitations to pleasure are so general, that they excite no distinct images of corrupt enjoyment, and take no dangerous hold on the fancy.
Page 417 - From harmony, from heavenly harmony, This universal frame began : When Nature underneath a heap of jarring atoms lay, And could not heave her head, The tuneful voice was heard from high. Arise ye more than dead. Then cold and hot, and moist and dry, In order to their stations leap, And music's power obey. From harmony, from heavenly harmony, This universal frame began : From harmony to harmony Through all the compass of the notes it ran, The diapason closing full in man.
Page 276 - Whatever is great, desirable, or tremendous, is comprised in the name of the Supreme Being. Omnipotence cannot be exalted ; infinity cannot be amplified ; perfection cannot be improved.