The novels of Tobias Smollett. To which is prefixed, a memoir of the life of the author [by sir W. Scott, Volume 3

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Page 92 - By heaven, methinks it were an easy leap, To pluck bright honour from the pale-faced moon, Or dive into the bottom of the deep, Where fathom-line could never touch the ground, And pluck up drowned honour by the locks...
Page 182 - I see and distinguish objects as they are discerned and described by other men. I reason without prejudice, can endure contradiction, and, as the company perceives, even bear impertinent censure without passion or resentment. I quarrel with none but the foes of virtue and decorum, against whom I have declared perpetual war, and them I will every where attack as the natural enemies of mankind.
Page 270 - The perfect and uninterrupted felicity of the knight and his endearing consort diffused itself through the whole adjacent country, as far as their example and influence could extend. They were admired, esteemed, and applauded, by every person of taste, sentiment, and benevolence ; at the same time beloved, revered, and almost adored, by the common people, among whom they suffered not the merciless hand of indigence or misery to seize one single sacrifice.
Page 42 - ... bed in his arms, deposited it in the attitude of a person who sleeps at his ease ; then he extinguished the light, took possession of the place from whence the body had been removed, and, holding a pistol ready cocked in each hand, waited for the sequel with that determined purpose which is often the immediate production of despair. About midnight he heard the sound of feet ascending the ladder ; the door was softly opened ; he saw the shadow of two men stalking towards the bed, a dark...
Page 43 - ... the saints, crossing herself with as much devotion as if she had been entitled to the particular care and attention of Heaven. Nor did her anxiety abate when she was undeceived in this her supposition, and understood it was no phantom, but the real substance of the stranger ; who, without staying to upbraid her with the enormity of her crimes, commanded her, on pain of immediate death, to produce his horse ; to which being conducted, he set her...
Page 4 - Let me not, therefore, be condemned for having chosen my principal character from the purlieus of treachery and fraud, when I declare my purpose is to set him up as a beacon for the benefit of the unexperienced and unwary, who, from the perusal of these memoirs, may learn to avoid the manifold snares with which they are continually surrounded in the paths of life; while those who hesitate on the brink of iniquity may be terrified from plunging into that irremediable gulf, by surveying the deplorable...
Page 4 - The impulses of fear, which is the most violent and interesting of all the passions, remain longer than any other upon the memory...
Page 355 - ... but be that as it may, since I am satisfied of its real worth and identity, the transmutation is of small consequence; for I will order it to be repaired in the first village where we can find a blacksmith, in such a manner as to be unexcelled, nay even unequalled, by that which Vulcan forged and finished for the god of war : meanwhile...
Page 4 - A novel is a large diffused picture, comprehending the characters of life, disposed in different groups, and exhibited in various attitudes, for the purposes of an uniform plan, and general occurrence, to which every individual figure is subservient.
Page 42 - ... being unshrouded, directed their aim to the supposed sleeper ; and he that held it thrust a poniard to his heart. The force of the blow made a compression on the chest, and a sort of groan issued from the windpipe of the defunct...

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