Boswell's Life of Johnson: LifeClarendon Press, 1887 - Authors, English |
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Page 1
... Church History is disgraced by twelve particular dedications . It was an expedient to procure dedication fees ; for publishing books by sub- scription was an art not yet dis- covered . ' The price of the dedica- tion of a play was , he ...
... Church History is disgraced by twelve particular dedications . It was an expedient to procure dedication fees ; for publishing books by sub- scription was an art not yet dis- covered . ' The price of the dedica- tion of a play was , he ...
Page 35
... Church library was the largest , he answered , ' All - Souls library is the largest we have , except the Bodleian . ' ' Aye , ( said the King , ) that is the publick library . ' His Majesty enquired if he was then writing any thing . He ...
... Church library was the largest , he answered , ' All - Souls library is the largest we have , except the Bodleian . ' ' Aye , ( said the King , ) that is the publick library . ' His Majesty enquired if he was then writing any thing . He ...
Page 40
... Church ' . This the King said he was sorry to hear . The conversation next turned on the Philosophical Trans- actions , when Johnson observed , that they had now a better method of arranging their materials than formerly . ' Aye ...
... Church ' . This the King said he was sorry to hear . The conversation next turned on the Philosophical Trans- actions , when Johnson observed , that they had now a better method of arranging their materials than formerly . ' Aye ...
Page 45
... church in an uncommon degree , and my dis- tress has had very little intermission . ... This day it came into my mind to write the history of my melan- choly . On this I purpose to deliber- ate ; I know not whether it may not too much ...
... church in an uncommon degree , and my dis- tress has had very little intermission . ... This day it came into my mind to write the history of my melan- choly . On this I purpose to deliber- ate ; I know not whether it may not too much ...
Page 53
... Church of ' The advancement had been very rapid . ' When Dr. Robertson's career commenced , ' writes Dugald Stewart in his Life of that historian ( p . 157 ) , ' the trade of authorship was un- known in Scotland . ' Smollett , in ...
... Church of ' The advancement had been very rapid . ' When Dr. Robertson's career commenced , ' writes Dugald Stewart in his Life of that historian ( p . 157 ) , ' the trade of authorship was un- known in Scotland . ' Smollett , in ...
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Common terms and phrases
admiration Aetat Anec April April 15 asked authority Baretti Beauclerk Beggar's Opera believe BENNET LANGTON Boswell's Hebrides Burke called character church compliments conversation Corsica Court Croker DEAR SIR dined Doctor Doctor of Medicine doubt edition England English favour Garrick gentleman George III give Goldsmith happy honour hope Horace Walpole humble servant Hume humour JAMES BOSWELL John Johnson King lady Langton laugh learning Letters of Boswell Lichfield live London Lord Bute Lord Monboddo manner March March 21 Memoirs mentioned mind nation never observed opinion Oxford Paoli passage perhaps Piozzi Letters pleased pleasure poem Pope publick published reason Reynolds says Scotch Scotland seems Sept shewed Sir Joshua speak Streatham suppose talked tell Temple thing thought Thrale tion told wish write written wrote
Popular passages
Page 344 - The greatest part of a writer's time is spent in reading, in order to write: a man will turn over half a library to make one book.
Page 35 - When asked by another friend, at Sir Joshua Reynolds's, whether he made any reply to this high compliment, he answered, " No, Sir. When the king had said it, it was to be so. It was not for me to bandy civilities with my sovereign.
Page 366 - It was at Rome, on the 15th of October 1764, as I sat musing amidst the ruins of the Capitol, while the barefooted friars were singing vespers in the temple of Jupiter,* that the idea of writing the decline and fall of the city first started to my mind.
Page 5 - The style of Dryden is capricious and varied; that of Pope is cautious and uniform. Dryden obeys the motions of his own mind; Pope constrains his mind to his own rules of composition. Dryden is sometimes vehement and rapid; Pope is always smooth, uniform, and gentle.
Page 166 - Goldsmith's Life of Parnell2 is poor ; not that it is poorly written, but that he had poor materials ; for nobody can write the life of a man, but those who have eat and drunk and lived in social intercourse with him.
Page 319 - I wondered to hear him say of " Gulliver's Travels," " When once you have thought of big men and little men, it is very easy to do all the rest.
Page 86 - Shakespeare it is commonly a species. It is from this wide extension of design that so much instruction is derived. It is this which fills the plays of Shakespeare with practical axioms and domestic wisdom. It was said of Euripides that every verse was a precept; and it may be said of Shakespeare that from his works may be collected a system of civil and economical prudence.
Page 42 - Prologue to his play, with the hopes of which he had been flattered; but it was strongly suspected that he was fretting with chagrin and envy at the singular honour Dr. Johnson had lately enjoyed. At length, the frankness and simplicity of his natural character prevailed. He sprung from the...
Page 327 - He attacked Gray, calling him " a dull fellow." BOSWELL : " I understand he was reserved, and might appear dull in company ; but surely he was not dull in poetry." JOHNSON : " Sir, he was dull in company, dull in his closet, dull every where.' He was dull in a new way, and that made many people think him GREAT. He was a mechanical poet.
Page 121 - Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, he said, was the only book that ever took him out of bed two hours sooner than he wished to rise.