The Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets;: Pope. Pitt. Thomson. Watts. A. Philips. West. Collins. Dyer. Shenstone. Young. Waller. Akenside. Gray. LytteltonC. Bathurst, J. Buckland, W. Strahan, J. Rivington and Sons, T. Davies, T. Payne, L. Davis, W. Owen, B. White, S. Crowder, T. Caslon, T. Longman, ... [and 24 others], 1781 - 503 pages |
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Page 4
... to write by imi- tating printed books ; a fpecies of penman- fhip in which he retained great excellence through his whole life , though his ordinary hand was not elegant . When When he was about eight , he was placed in 4 POPE .
... to write by imi- tating printed books ; a fpecies of penman- fhip in which he retained great excellence through his whole life , though his ordinary hand was not elegant . When When he was about eight , he was placed in 4 POPE .
Page 7
... he completed with little other incitement than the defire of excellence . His primary and principal purpose was to be a poet , with which his father accidentally B 4 con- concurred , by propofing subjects , and obliging him to POPE . 7.
... he completed with little other incitement than the defire of excellence . His primary and principal purpose was to be a poet , with which his father accidentally B 4 con- concurred , by propofing subjects , and obliging him to POPE . 7.
Page 29
... excellence . Those performances , which strike with wonder , are combinations of skilful genius with happy cafualty ; and it is not likely that any feli- city , like the discovery of a new race of pre- ternatural agents , fhould happen ...
... excellence . Those performances , which strike with wonder , are combinations of skilful genius with happy cafualty ; and it is not likely that any feli- city , like the discovery of a new race of pre- ternatural agents , fhould happen ...
Page 47
... excellence and difficulty of this great work , it must be very defirable to know how it was performed , and by what gradations it ad- vanced to correctnefs . Of fuch an intellec- tual process the knowledge has very rarely been ...
... excellence and difficulty of this great work , it must be very defirable to know how it was performed , and by what gradations it ad- vanced to correctnefs . Of fuch an intellec- tual process the knowledge has very rarely been ...
Page 97
... equally neglected ; and those of Walsh seem written as exercises , and were never sent to any living mistress or friend . Pope's epiftolary excellence had an open VOL . IV . H field ; field ; he had no English rival , living or Р О Р Е. 97.
... equally neglected ; and those of Walsh seem written as exercises , and were never sent to any living mistress or friend . Pope's epiftolary excellence had an open VOL . IV . H field ; field ; he had no English rival , living or Р О Р Е. 97.
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Common terms and phrases
Addiſon addreffed afterwards againſt almoſt anſwer appear aſked becauſe beſt Bolingbroke cenfure character compofition confequence confiderable confidered criticiſm criticks curiofity deferved defign defire diſcovered Dryden Dunciad eaſily eaſy Effay elegance Engliſh epitaph Eſſay fafe faid fame fatire favour fays fecond feems fenfe fent fentiments fhall fhew fhould firft firſt folicited fome fomething fometimes foon friendſhip ftudies fubject fuccefs fuch fuffered fufficient fuppofed furely greateſt higheſt himſelf honour houſe Iliad increaſe kindneſs laft laſt leaſt lefs Letters Lord Lyttelton Mallet mind moſt muſt never Night Thoughts numbers obferved occafion paffages paffed paffion Paftorals paſs perfons perfuaded perhaps Pindar pleaſed pleaſure poem poet poetical poetry Pope Pope's praiſe prefent profe publick publiſhed purpoſe raiſed reader reaſon ſay ſeems ſhe ſome ſtage ſtate ſtudy thefe theſe thofe Thomſon thoſe thouſand tion tranflation unkle uſed verfe verfion verſes whofe whoſe wiſh write written Young
Popular passages
Page 143 - His legs were so slender, that he enlarged their bulk with three pair of stockings, which were drawn on and off by the maid; for he was not able to dress or undress himself, and neither went to bed nor rose without help.
Page 172 - Pope had only a little, because Dryden had more ; for every other writer since Milton must give place to Pope ; and even of Dryden it must be said, that, if he has brighter paragraphs, he has not better poems.
Page 120 - Who but must laugh if such a man there be ? Who would not weep if Atticus were he?
Page 142 - Most of what can be told concerning his petty peculiarities was communicated by a female domestic of the Earl of Oxford, who knew him perhaps after the middle of life. He was then so weak as to stand in perpetual need of female attendance; extremely sensible of cold, so that he wore a kind of fur doublet under a shirt of a very coarse warm linen with fine sleeves.
Page 166 - Of composition there are different methods. Some employ at once memory and invention, and, with little intermediate use of the pen, form and polish large masses by continued meditation, and write their productions only when, in their own opinion, they have completed them.
Page 438 - Malloch to English Mallet, without any imaginable reason of preference which the eye or ear can discover. What other proofs he gave of disrespect to his native country, I know not ; but it was remarked of him, that he was the only Scot whom Scotchmen did not commend.
Page 324 - He now (about 1744) came to London a literary adventurer, with many projects in his head, and very little money in his pocket.
Page 485 - In the character of his Elegy I rejoice to concur with the common reader; for by the common sense of readers uncorrupted with literary prejudices, after all the refinements of subtilty and the dogmatism of learning, must be finally decided all claim to poetical honours.
Page 123 - If the whole may be estimated by this specimen, which seems to be the production of Arbuthnot, with a few touches perhaps by Pope, the want of more will not be much lamented; for the follies which the writer ridicules are so little practised, that they are not known...
Page 291 - But his devotional poetry is, like that of others, unsatisfactory. The paucity of its topics enforces perpetual repetition, and the sanctity of the matter rejects the ornaments of figurative diction. It is sufficient for Watts to have done better than others what no man has done well.