English Fiction from the Fifth to the Twentieth CenturyCentury Company, 1912 - 445 pages |
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admirable adventures ancient Anglo-Saxon Arthur battle beautiful become Beowulf British Cædmon Castle characters Charlemagne Charles Charles Dickens Charlotte Brontë charm Chaucer Christian Cynewulf death declared deeds Defoe Dickens doubtless early earth eighteenth century Elizabeth Gaskell England English fiction English Literature Euphues Euphuism Exeter Book fame famous French gained Gawain genius George Eliot heart hero History Hrothgar human humor Hygelac ideal Jane Austen King King Arthur knight lady land Layamon legend literary lived London Lord lover married master mighty mingling minstrel modern moral narrative nature ness never Norman novel novelists passion plot poem poet poetry popular possessed prose readers realistic Richardson romance Saxon scenes Scott Scyld sentiment social song soul spirit Stopford Brooke story story-telling tale tell Thackeray theme things thou tion Tom Jones traits true truth vivid warriors Widsith woman women writers wrote young
Popular passages
Page 44 - And thou oppos'd, being of no woman born, Yet I will try the last. Before my body I throw my warlike shield : lay on, Macduff ; And damn'd be him that first cries,
Page 255 - YE who listen with credulity to the whispers of fancy, and pursue with eagerness the phantoms of hope; who expect that age will perform the promises of youth, and that the deficiencies of the present day will be supplied by the morrow ; attend to the history of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia.
Page 258 - no more silver than your saucepan." — " And so," returned she, " we have parted with the colt, and have only got a gross of green spectacles, with copper rims and shagreen cases. A murrain take such trumpery ! The blockhead has been imposed upon, and should have known his company better." — " There, my dear," cried 1, " you are wrong : he should not have known them at all.
Page 187 - As I WALKED through the wilderness of this world, I lighted on a certain place where was a Den, and I laid me down in that place to sleep: and as I slept I dreamed a dream. I dreamed, and behold, I saw a man clothed with rags, standing in a certain place, with his face from his own house, a book in his hand, and a great burden upon his back.
Page 211 - ... when I behold a lump of deformity and diseases both in body and mind, smitten with pride, it immediately breaks all the measures of my patience; neither shall I be ever able to comprehend how such an animal and such a vice could tally together.
Page 284 - That young lady had a talent for describing the involvements and feelings and characters of ordinary life, which is to me the most wonderful I ever met with. The Big Bow-wow strain I can do myself like any now going ; but the exquisite touch, which renders ordinary commonplace things and characters interesting, from the truth of the description and the sentiment, is denied to me.
Page 352 - MAY I join the choir invisible Of those immortal dead who live again In minds made better by their presence : live In pulses stirred to generosity, In deeds of daring rectitude, in scorn For miserable aims that end with self. In thoughts sublime that pierce the night like stars, And with their mild persistence urge man's search To vaster issues.
Page 212 - I cannot but conclude the bulk of your natives to be the most pernicious race of little odious vermin, that nature ever suffered to crawl upon the surface of the earth.
Page 211 - As soon as I entered the house, my wife took me in her arms and kissed me, at which, having not been used to the touch of that odious animal for so many years, I fell in a swoon for almost an hour.
Page 254 - He shall not drop," said my uncle Toby, firmly. " A-well-o'day, do what we can for him," said Trim, maintaining his point ; " the poor soul will die." " He shall not die, by G — ," cried my uncle Toby. The accusing spirit, which flew up to heaven's chancery with the oath, blushed as he gave it in ; and the recording angel, as he wrote it down, dropped a tear upon the word, and blotted it out for ever.