The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: Comprehending an Account of His Studies and Numerous Works, in Chronological Order; a Series of His Epistolary Correspondence and Conversations with Many Eminent Persons; and Various Original Pieces of His Composition, Never Before Published. The Whole Exhibiting a View of Literature and Literary Men in Great-Britain, for Near Half a Century, During which He Flourished. In Two Volumes, Volume 2 |
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LibraryThing Review
User Review - keithhamblen - LibraryThing12/22/20 I own the complete set (vol 1-54) and keep them at home on the top west shelf of my office; this includes The Great Conversation (which is volume 1) and The Great Ideas (volumes 2-3, the ... Read full review
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User Review - donbuch1 - LibraryThingThis classic series represents the Western canon not without academic controversy. The latest volumes of the Great Books include some women writers, but they are still definitely underrepresented ... Read full review
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Common terms and phrases
acquaintance admirable affection againſt allow appeared attention authour becauſe believe BOSWELL called character collection common confider converfation DEAR SIR death defire dined Etat faid fame favour feemed fervant fhall fhew fhould firſt fome foon fubject fuch fuppofe fure gave give given hand happy hear heard himſelf honour hope houſe humble Italy JOHNSON kind known lady laft language late learning leave letter live London look Lord manner means mentioned merit mind moſt muſt myſelf natural never obferved obliged occafion once opinion particular perfon perhaps pleaſed pleaſure Poets prefent reaſon received refpect remark ſaid Scotland ſtate talked tell thing thofe thoſe thought Thrale told truth uſed whofe wonderful write written wrote young
Popular passages
Page 350 - After all this it is surely superfluous to answer the question that has once been asked, whether Pope was a poet? otherwise than by asking in return, if Pope be not a poet, where is poetry to be found?
Page 83 - But he has wit too, and is not deficient in ideas, or in fertility and variety of imagery, and not empty of reading; he has knowledge enough to fill up his part. One species of wit he has in an eminent degree, that of escape. You drive him into a corner with both hands; but he's gone, Sir, when you think you have got him — like an animal that jumps over your head. Then he has a great range for wit; he never lets truth stand between him and a jest, and he is sometimes mighty coarse. Garrick is under...
Page 157 - Whatever withdraws us from the power of our senses ; whatever makes the past, the distant, or the future predominate over the present, advances us in the dignity of thinking beings. Far from me and from my friends be such frigid philosophy, as may conduct us indifferent and unmoved over any ground •which has been dignified by wisdom, bravery, or virtue. That man is little to be envied, whose patriotism would not gain force upon the plain of Marathon, or whose piety would not grow warmer among the...
Page 458 - I then wrote a card to Mr. Allen, that I might have a discreet friend at hand to act as occasion should require. In penning this note I had some difficulty ; my hand, I knew not how nor why, made wrong letters.
Page 390 - ... make a portrait of Proteus, or to define the figure of the fleeting air. Sometimes it lieth in pat allusion to a known story, or in seasonable application of a trivial saying, or in forging an apposite tale; sometimes it playeth in words and phrases, taking advantage from the ambiguity of their...
Page 152 - Depend upon it, Sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.
Page 160 - Why, Sir, you find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life ; for there is in London all that life can afford.
Page 235 - Sir, the life of a parson, of a conscientious clergyman, is not easy*. I have always considered a clergyman as the father of a larger family than he is able to maintain. I would rather have Chancery suits upon my hands than the cure of souls. No, Sir, I do not envy a clergyman's life as an easy life ', nor do I envy the clergyman who makes it an easy life.
Page 318 - The King said in council, that the magistrates had not done their duty, but that he would do his own; and a proclamation was published, directing us to keep our servants within doors, as the peace was now to be preserved by force. The soldiers were sent out to different parts, and the town is now at quiet.
Page 253 - All that is really known of the ancient state of Britain is contained in a few pages. We can know no more than what the old writers have told us ; yet what large books have we upon it, the whole of which, excepting such parts as are taken from those old writers, is all a dream, such as Whitaker's
Bibliographic information
| Title | The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: Comprehending an Account of His Studies and Numerous Works, in Chronological Order; a Series of His Epistolary Correspondence and Conversations with Many Eminent Persons; and Various Original Pieces of His Composition, Never Before Published. The ..., Volume 2 The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: Comprehending an Account of His Studies and Numerous Works, in Chronological Order; a Series of His Epistolary Correspondence and Conversations with Many Eminent Persons; and Various Original Pieces of His Composition, Never Before Published. The Whole Exhibiting a View of Literature and Literary Men in Great-Britain, for Near Half a Century, During which He Flourished. In Two Volumes, Sir Joshua Reynolds |
| Author | James Boswell |
| Illustrated by | Sir Joshua Reynolds, James Heath |
| Contributors | Henry Baldwin, Charles Dilly |
| Publisher | Henry Baldwin, 1791 |
| Original from | Oxford University |
| Digitized | 9 Oct 2007 |
| Length | 516 pages |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |