Johnson's Lives of the British poets completed by W. Hazlitt, Volume 21854 |
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Page 4
... tion in verse . Whatever instructions he might have had from his master , Jonson , he certainly , by his own natural parts , improved to a great height ; and at last became not many parasangs inferior to him in fame , by diverse noted ...
... tion in verse . Whatever instructions he might have had from his master , Jonson , he certainly , by his own natural parts , improved to a great height ; and at last became not many parasangs inferior to him in fame , by diverse noted ...
Page 6
... first attempts , when he was only ten years old , was an ode in remem- brance of Master William Shakespeare . This is a remarkable produc- tion for one so young , and one who lived 6 LIVES OF THE BRITISH POETS . Davenant, Sir William,
... first attempts , when he was only ten years old , was an ode in remem- brance of Master William Shakespeare . This is a remarkable produc- tion for one so young , and one who lived 6 LIVES OF THE BRITISH POETS . Davenant, Sir William,
Page 7
Samuel Johnson. tion for one so young , and one who lived not only to see Shakespeare set aside , but to contribute with some degree of activity to that instance of depraved taste . Davenant was educated at the grammar- school of All ...
Samuel Johnson. tion for one so young , and one who lived not only to see Shakespeare set aside , but to contribute with some degree of activity to that instance of depraved taste . Davenant was educated at the grammar- school of All ...
Page 11
... tion on which , in Latin and English verse , was made by the poet's friend Peter Hausted , of Cambridge . He appears to have been a man of the greatest good - humour , and a facetious companion : his poems abound with wit ; and , though ...
... tion on which , in Latin and English verse , was made by the poet's friend Peter Hausted , of Cambridge . He appears to have been a man of the greatest good - humour , and a facetious companion : his poems abound with wit ; and , though ...
Page 14
... tion ; being intended to comprise the whole time which men usually spend in literature , from their entrance upon grammar , till they pro- ceed , as it is called , masters of arts . And in his discourse On the likeliest Way to remove ...
... tion ; being intended to comprise the whole time which men usually spend in literature , from their entrance upon grammar , till they pro- ceed , as it is called , masters of arts . And in his discourse On the likeliest Way to remove ...
Common terms and phrases
Absalom and Achitophel admired afterwards ANDREW MARVELL appears beauties Ben Jonson better called censure character Charles Charles Dryden church College comedy court Cowley criticism Davenant death delight diction died dramatic Dryden Duke Earl elegance English Essay excellence fancy father favour genius heroic honour Hudibras imitation John Dryden Johnson kind king labour lady language Latin learning lines lived London Lord Lord Roscommon Matthew Prior Milton mind nature never numbers observed occasion opinion Otway Oxford Paradise Lost passions performance perhaps pieces Pindaric play pleasure poem poet poetical poetry Pope praise preface produced prose published queen reader reason relates remarks reputation rhyme Richard Brome satire says seems sentiments sometimes Sprat supposed thing thou thought tion Tom D'Urfey tragedy tragi-comedy translation verses versification Virgil virtue Westminster Westminster Abbey Westminster School words write written wrote
Popular passages
Page 85 - O could I flow like thee, and make thy stream My great example, as it is my theme! Though deep, yet clear, though gentle, yet not dull, Strong without rage, without o'er-flowing full.
Page 21 - Memory and her siren daughters, but by 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 141 - A man so various that he seemed to be Not one, but all mankind's epitome : Stiff in opinions, always in the wrong, Was everything by starts and nothing long ; But in the course of one revolving moon Was chymist, fiddler, statesman, and buffoon ; Then all for women, painting, rhyming, drinking, Besides ten thousand freaks that died in thinking.
Page 110 - To move, but doth if th' other do. And, though it in the centre sit, Yet, when the other far doth roam, It leans and hearkens after it, And grows erect as that comes home. Such wilt thou be to me, who must Like th
Page 195 - Blest above; So when the last and dreadful hour This crumbling pageant shall devour, The trumpet shall be heard on high, The dead shall live, the living die, And Music shall untune the sky!
Page 89 - I found everywhere there (though my understanding had little to do with all this); and by degrees with the tinkling of the rhyme and dance of the numbers, so that I think I had read him all over before I was twelve years old, and was thus made a poet as immediately as a child is made an eunuch.
Page 34 - Englishmen being far northerly, do not open our mouths in the cold air wide enough to grace a southern tongue; but are observed by all other nations to speak exceeding close and inward; so that to smatter Latin with an English mouth, is as ill a hearing as law French.
Page 205 - I am as free as Nature first made man, \ Ere the base laws of servitude began, [• When wild in woods the noble savage ran.
Page 19 - Let not our veneration for Milton forbid us to look with some degree of merriment on great promises and small performance, on the man who hastens home because his countrymen are contending for their liberty, and, when he reaches the scene of action, vapours away his patriotism in a private boardingschool 3.
Page 100 - Nor was the sublime more within their reach than the pathetic, for they never attempted that comprehension and expanse of thought which at once fills the whole mind, and of which the first effect is sudden astonishment, and the second rational admiration. Sublimity is produced by aggregation, and littleness by dispersion. Great thoughts are always general, and consist in positions not limited by exceptions, and in descriptions not descending to minuteness.