Boswell's Life of Johnson: Including Boswell's Journal of a Tour of the Hebrides, and Johnson's Diary of A Journey Into North Wales, Volume 1 |
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Page xv
When the variety and the number of my notes are considered , when it is known
that a great many of the authors I do not myself possess , but that they could only
be examined in the Bodleian or the British Museum , it will be seen that the ...
When the variety and the number of my notes are considered , when it is known
that a great many of the authors I do not myself possess , but that they could only
be examined in the Bodleian or the British Museum , it will be seen that the ...
Page 80
... scholar enough to peruse its contents , set his heart at rest ; and not thinking to
enquire whether there were any English books written on the subject , followed
his usual amusements and considered his conscience as lightened of a crime .
... scholar enough to peruse its contents , set his heart at rest ; and not thinking to
enquire whether there were any English books written on the subject , followed
his usual amusements and considered his conscience as lightened of a crime .
Page 144
I may here observe , that Johnson appeared to me to undervalue Paul Whitehead
upon every occasion when he was mentioned , and , in my opinion , did not do
him justice ; but when it is considered that Paul Whitehead was a mem . ber of a ...
I may here observe , that Johnson appeared to me to undervalue Paul Whitehead
upon every occasion when he was mentioned , and , in my opinion , did not do
him justice ; but when it is considered that Paul Whitehead was a mem . ber of a ...
Page 151
... criticising the settlement of colonies , as it is considered by the poet and the
politician , seems to be criticising himself . “ The politician , when he considers
men driven into other countries for shelter , and obliged to retire to forests and
deserts ...
... criticising the settlement of colonies , as it is considered by the poet and the
politician , seems to be criticising himself . “ The politician , when he considers
men driven into other countries for shelter , and obliged to retire to forests and
deserts ...
Page 168
A.D. 1739 . from himself ; this disposition he considered as the disease of his
mind , which nothing cured but company . ' One instance of his absence and
particularity , as it is characteristick of the man , may be worth relating . When he
and I ...
A.D. 1739 . from himself ; this disposition he considered as the disease of his
mind , which nothing cured but company . ' One instance of his absence and
particularity , as it is characteristick of the man , may be worth relating . When he
and I ...
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Popular passages
Page 305 - The notice which you have been pleased to take of my labours, had it been early, had been kind; but it has been delayed till I am indifferent, and cannot enjoy it; till I am solitary, and cannot impart it; till I am known, and do not want it. I hope it is no very cynical asperity not to confess obligations where no benefit has been received, or to be unwilling that the public should consider me as owing that to a patron which Providence has enabled me to do for myself.
Page 261 - Whoever wishes to attain an English style, familiar but not coarse, and elegant but not ostentatious, must give his days and nights to the volumes of Addison...
Page 481 - I was drest, and found that his landlady had arrested him for his rent, at which he was in a violent passion. I perceived that he had already changed my guinea, and had got a bottle of Madeira and a glass before him. I put the cork into the bottle, desired he would be calm, and began to talk to him of the means by which he might be extricated. He then told me that he had a novel ready for the press, which he produced to me. I looked into it and saw its merit; told the landlady I...
Page 304 - I waited in your outward rooms, or was repulsed from your door ; during which time I have been pushing on my work through difficulties, of which it is useless to complain, and have brought it at last to the verge of publication without one act of assistance, one word of encouragement, or one smile of favour. Such treatment I did not expect, for I never had a patron before. " The shepherd in Virgil grew at last acquainted with Love, and found him a native of the rocks.
Page 304 - Is not a patron, my lord, one who looks with unconcern on a man struggling for life in the water, and, when he has reached ground, encumbers him with help? The notice which you have been pleased to take of my labours, had it been early, had been kind ; but it has been delayed till I am indifferent, and cannot enjoy it; till I am solitary, and cannot impart it; till I am known, and do not want it.
Page 303 - I might boast myself le vainqueur du vainqueur de la terre, that I might obtain that regard for which I saw the world contending, but I found my attendance so little encouraged that neither pride nor modesty would suffer me to continue it.
Page 451 - When a man eminently virtuous, a Brutus, a Cato, or a Socrates, finally sinks under the pressure of accumulated misfortune, we are not only led to entertain a more indignant hatred of vice, than if he...
Page 524 - He thinks in a peculiar train, and he thinks always as a man of genius; he looks round on Nature and on Life with the eye which Nature bestows only on a poet...
Page 235 - Somebody talked of happy moments for composition, and how a man can write at one time and not at another. "Nay," said Dr Johnson, "a man may write at any time if he will set himself doggedly to it.
Page 460 - I'd as lief pray with Kit Smart as any one else. Another charge was, that he did not love clean linen ; and I have no passion for it.