The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL. D.Nichols and Son, 1801 |
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Page 13
... danger of that variation , which , to fome of the most common , has already happened ; fo that the words wound and wind , as they are now frequently pronounced , will not rhyme to found and mind . It is to be remarked , that many words ...
... danger of that variation , which , to fome of the most common , has already happened ; fo that the words wound and wind , as they are now frequently pronounced , will not rhyme to found and mind . It is to be remarked , that many words ...
Page 43
... danger of mistake , by confulting the verb . Obfolete words are admitted when they are found in authors not obfolete , or when they have any force or beauty that may deferve revival . As compofition is one of the chief characteristicks ...
... danger of mistake , by confulting the verb . Obfolete words are admitted when they are found in authors not obfolete , or when they have any force or beauty that may deferve revival . As compofition is one of the chief characteristicks ...
Page 53
... danger of cenfure from the mul- tiplicity than paucity of examples ; authorities will fometimes feem to have been accumulated without neceffity or ufe , and perhaps fome will be found , which might , without lofs , have been omitted . E ...
... danger of cenfure from the mul- tiplicity than paucity of examples ; authorities will fometimes feem to have been accumulated without neceffity or ufe , and perhaps fome will be found , which might , without lofs , have been omitted . E ...
Page 59
... danger from ignorance , and in things cafy from confidence ; the mind , afraid of greatness , and dif- dainful of littleness , haftily withdraws herself from painful fearches , and paffes with fcornful rapidity over tasks not adequate ...
... danger from ignorance , and in things cafy from confidence ; the mind , afraid of greatness , and dif- dainful of littleness , haftily withdraws herself from painful fearches , and paffes with fcornful rapidity over tasks not adequate ...
Page 73
... danger left peculiarities fhould be mistaken for corruptions , and paffages re- jected as unintelligible , which a narrow mind happens not to understand . All All the former criticks have been fo much em- ployed THE WORKS OF SHAKESPEARE .
... danger left peculiarities fhould be mistaken for corruptions , and paffages re- jected as unintelligible , which a narrow mind happens not to understand . All All the former criticks have been fo much em- ployed THE WORKS OF SHAKESPEARE .
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Common terms and phrases
affiftance againſt almoſt arife becauſe beſt caufes cauſe cenfure coaft confidered criticifm criticks curiofity defign defire difcovered diftinct eafily eafy endeavoured English fafe faid fame fatire fcenes fcience fecond feems feldom fenfe fent fentiments fettled fhall fhew fhewn fhips fhould fince fingle firft firſt fome fometimes foon fpeech French ftand ftate ftill ftrength ftudies fubjects fuch fuffered fufficient fuperiority fupply fuppofed fupport furely happineſs Harleian library hiftory himſelf increaſed inferted inftruction intereft juft king labour laft language laſt learned leaſt lefs likewife moft moſt muft muſt nation nature neceffary neceffity obfcure obferved occafion ourſelves paffages paffions pafs perfons perhaps play pleafing pleaſe pleaſure poet Pope praife praiſe prefent preferved publick publiſhed purpoſe queftion raiſed reader reafon reft reprefented Shakespeare ſhall ſtate thefe themſelves theſe things thofe thoſe tion underſtand uſe weft whofe words writers
Popular passages
Page 138 - He was the man who of all modern, and perhaps ancient poets, had the largest and most comprehensive soul. All the images of nature were still present to him, and he drew them not laboriously, but luckily : when he describes anything, you more than see it, you feel it too.
Page 83 - Shakespeare, that his drama is the mirror of life; that he who has mazed his imagination in following the phantoms which other writers raise up before him, may here be cured of his delirious ecstasies by reading human sentiments in human language; by scenes from which a hermit may estimate the transactions of the world, and a confessor predict the progress of the passions.
Page 109 - Shakespeare, however favoured by nature, could impart only what he had learned; and as he must increase his ideas, like other mortals, by gradual acquisition, he, like them, grew wiser as he grew older, could display life better, as he knew it more, and instruct with more efficacy, as he was himself more amply instructed.
Page 80 - Nothing can please many, and please long, but just representations of general nature. Particular manners can be known to few, and therefore few only can judge how nearly they are copied. The irregular combinations of fanciful invention may delight awhile, by that novelty of which the common satiety of life sends us all in quest; but the pleasures of sudden wonder are soon exhausted, and the mind can only repose on the stability of truth.
Page 64 - I have devoted this book, the labour of years, to the honour of my country, that we may no longer yield the palm of philology, without a contest, to the nations of the continent.
Page 79 - The poet of whose works I have undertaken the revision may now begin to assume the dignity of an ancient, and claim the privilege of established fame and prescriptive veneration. He has long outlived his century, the term commonly fixed as the test of literary merit.
Page 22 - If on a pillory, or near a throne, He gain his prince's ear, or lose his own. Yet soft by nature, more a dupe than wit, Sappho can tell you how this man was bit...
Page 97 - The objection arising from the impossibility of passing the first hour at Alexandria and the next at Rome supposes that, when the play opens, the spectator really imagines himself at Alexandria, and believes that his walk to the theatre has been a voyage to Egypt, and that he lives in the days of Antony and Cleopatra. Surely he that imagines this may imagine more.
Page 64 - If the changes that we fear be thus irresistible, what remains but to acquiesce -with silence, as in the other insurmountable distresses of humanity ? It remains that we retard what we cannot repel, that we palliate what we cannot cure.