Johnsoniana: Life, Opinions, and Table-talk of Doctor JohnsonA. Boot, 1884 - 319 pages |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 41
Page 6
... England are too rich ; so that learning does not flourish in them as it would do if those who teach had smaller salaries , and depended on their assiduity for a great part of their income . JOHNSON . " Sir , the very reverse of this is ...
... England are too rich ; so that learning does not flourish in them as it would do if those who teach had smaller salaries , and depended on their assiduity for a great part of their income . JOHNSON . " Sir , the very reverse of this is ...
Page 9
... England . I would not put a boy to him , whom I intended for a man of learning : but for the sons of citizens , who are to learn a little , get good morals , and then go to trade , he may do very well . " Boswell once asked him whether ...
... England . I would not put a boy to him , whom I intended for a man of learning : but for the sons of citizens , who are to learn a little , get good morals , and then go to trade , he may do very well . " Boswell once asked him whether ...
Page 18
... England and Scotland , which were once two kingdoms , were now one : —and Sir Fletcher Norton did not seem to know that there were such publications as the Reviews . " J III . MAN . OHNSON and an Irish gentleman 18 JOHNSONIANA .
... England and Scotland , which were once two kingdoms , were now one : —and Sir Fletcher Norton did not seem to know that there were such publications as the Reviews . " J III . MAN . OHNSON and an Irish gentleman 18 JOHNSONIANA .
Page 32
... England was obliged to us for gardeners , almost all their good gardeners being Scotchmen : JOHNSON . Why , sir , that is because gardening is much more necessary amongst you than with us , which makes so many of your people learn it ...
... England was obliged to us for gardeners , almost all their good gardeners being Scotchmen : JOHNSON . Why , sir , that is because gardening is much more necessary amongst you than with us , which makes so many of your people learn it ...
Page 33
... England . The effect which it had upon Johnson was to produce this pleasant observation to Mr. Seward , to whom he lent the book : This fellow must be a blockhead . They don't know how to go about their abuse . Who will read a five ...
... England . The effect which it had upon Johnson was to produce this pleasant observation to Mr. Seward , to whom he lent the book : This fellow must be a blockhead . They don't know how to go about their abuse . Who will read a five ...
Common terms and phrases
answered appeared asked Beauclerk believe better blank verse Boswell mentioned Boswell talked character church Colley Cibber common consider conversation David Garrick Dictionary dine drinking eminent England English exclaimed expressed fellow Garrick genius gentleman give Goldsmith happy honour human humour instance Jacobite JOHNSON king king of Prussia lady Langton language laugh learning Lichfield literary live London lord Lord Bute lord Chesterfield Lord Mansfield lord Monboddo madam mankind manner marriage means merit mind moral nation nature never observed occasion once opinion Pembroke college perhaps pleased poem poet poetry poor Pope praise pretty woman religion remarked replied Scotch Scotland Sir Joshua Sir Joshua Reynolds speak strong suppose sure tell thing thought Thrale tion told truth verses Whig wine wish woman wonder words write wrong
Popular passages
Page 260 - If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.
Page 194 - I believe, Sir, you have a great many. Norway, too, has noble wild prospects; and Lapland is remarkable for prodigious noble wild prospects. But, Sir, let me tell you, the noblest prospect which a Scotchman ever sees, is the high road that leads him to England!
Page 287 - Of genius, that power which constitutes a poet; that quality without which judgment is cold, and knowledge is inert; that energy which collects, combines, amplifies, and animates; the superiority must, with some hesitation, be allowed to Dryden.
Page 30 - 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 83 - 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 286 - In his Night Thoughts he has exhibited a very wide display of original poetry, variegated with deep reflections and striking allusions, a wilderness of thought, in which the fertility of fancy scatters flowers of every hue and of every odour. This is one of the few poems in which blank verse could not be changed for rhyme but with disadvantage.
Page 287 - If the flights of Dryden therefore, are higher, Pope continues longer on the wing. If of Dryden's fire the blaze is brighter, of Pope's the heat is more regular and constant. Dryden often surpasses expectation, and Pope never falls below it. Dryden is read with frequent astonishment, and Pope with perpetual delight.
Page 84 - They, whose narrow minds are contracted to the consideration of some one particular pursuit, view it only through that medium. A politician thinks of it merely as the seat of government in its different departments ; a grazier, as a vast market for cattle ; a mercantile man, as a place where a prodigious deal of business is done upon 'Change ; a...
Page 16 - All knowledge is of itself of some value. There is nothing so minute or inconsiderable, that I would not rather know it than not. In the same manner, all power, of whatever sort, is of itself desirable. A man would not submit to learn to hem a ruffle...
Page 287 - Pope had, in proportions very nicely adjusted to each other, all the qualities that constitute genius. He had Invention, by which new trains of events are formed, and new scenes of imagery displayed, as in the Rape of the Lock; and by which extrinsick and adventitious embellishments and illustrations are connected with a known subject, as in the Essay on Criticism...