Johnsoniana.. |
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Common terms and phrases
advantage allow answered appeared asked believe better body Boswell called character church common consider conversation doubt drinking effect England equally expressed Garrick give given Goldsmith happy head hear heard human instance Italy John JOHNSON judge keep kind king knew knowledge known lady land language laugh learning less literary live London look lord maintained manner master mean mentioned merit mind moral nature never object observed occasion once opinion particular perhaps person pleased poor principles produced published question reason remark respect Scotland seemed showed society soon speak spirit suppose sure talk tell thing thought tion told travels true truth wish wonder write written wrong
Popular passages
Page 34 - An historian ! My dear Sir, you surely will not rank his compilation of the Roman History with the works of other historians of this age ?
Page 109 - Sir, if you wish to have a just notion of the magnitude of this city, you must not be satisfied with seeing its great streets and squares, but must survey the innumerable little lanes and courts. It is not in the showy evolutions of buildings, but in the multiplicity of human habitations which are crowded together, that the wonderful immensity of London consists.
Page 54 - ... notion that a woman of spirit should use her lover like a dog. So, sir, at first she told me that I rode too fast, and she could not keep up with me ; and, when I rode a little slower, she passed me, and complained that I lagged behind. I was not to be made the slave of caprice ; and I resolved to begin as I meant to end. I therefore pushed on briskly, till I was fairly out of her sight. The road lay between two hedges, so I was sure she could not miss it ; and I contrived that she should soon...
Page 16 - Majesty with profound respect, but still in his firm manly manner, with a sonorous voice, and never in that subdued tone which is commonly used at the levee and in the drawing-room.
Page 40 - Madness frequently discovers itself merely by unnecessary deviation from the usual modes of the world. My poor friend Smart showed the disturbance of his mind by falling upon his knees and saying his prayers in the street, or in any other unusual place. Now although, rationally speaking, it is greater madness not to pray at all, than to pray as Smart did, I am afraid there are so many who do not pray, that their understanding is not called in question.
Page 7 - have the rod to be the general terror to all, to make them learu, than tell a child, if you do thus, or thus, you will be more esteemed than your brothers or sisters. The rod produces an effect which terminates in itself. A child is afraid of being whipped — and gets his task — and there's an end on't; whereas, by exciting emulation, and comparisons of superiority, you lay the foundation of lasting mischief: you make brothers and sisters hate each other.
Page 161 - I believe they might be good beings; but they were not fit to be in the University of Oxford. A cow is a very good animal in the field; but we turn her out of a garden.
Page 28 - Would you eat your dinner that day, Sir ?" JOHNSON. " Yes, Sir ; and eat it as if he were eating with me. Why, there's Baretti, who is to be tried for his life to-morrow, friends have risen up for him on every side; yet if he should be hanged, none of them will eat a slice of plum-pudding the less. Sir, that sympathetic feeling goes a very little way in depressing the mind.
Page 162 - A man who has not been in Italy is always conscious of an inferiority, from his not having seen what it is expected a man should see. The grand object of traveling is to see the shores of the Mediterranean.
Page 167 - ... supposing your arguments to be -weak and inconclusive. But, Sir, that is not enough. An argument which does not convince yourself may convince the judge to whom you urge it ; and if it does convince him, why, then, Sir, you are wrong, and he is right.
Bibliographic information
| Title | Johnsoniana.. Volume 16 of British prose writers Volumes 1-2 of Johnsoniana, James Boswell Volumes 1-2 of Johnsoniana: From Boswell's Life of the Great Lexicographer and Moralist, James Boswell |
| Author | James Boswell |
| Publisher | John Sharpe, 1820 |
| Original from | Oxford University |
| Digitized | 2 Oct 2006 |
| Length | 178 pages |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |