Johnsoniana: Life, Opinions, and Table-talk of Doctor JohnsonA. Boot, 1884 - 319 pages |
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Page 62
... judges , talked a great deal of such nonsense : I suffered him , but I will not suffer you . " BOSWELL . " 6 ' But , sir , does not Rousseau talk such nonsense ? " JOHNSON . " True , sir ; but Rousseau knows he is talking nonsense , and ...
... judges , talked a great deal of such nonsense : I suffered him , but I will not suffer you . " BOSWELL . " 6 ' But , sir , does not Rousseau talk such nonsense ? " JOHNSON . " True , sir ; but Rousseau knows he is talking nonsense , and ...
Page 69
... judge of cookery than any person who has a very tolerable cook , but lives much at home ; for his palate is gradually adapted to the taste of his cook ; whereas , madam , in trying by a wider range I can more exquisitely judge . ' When ...
... judge of cookery than any person who has a very tolerable cook , but lives much at home ; for his palate is gradually adapted to the taste of his cook ; whereas , madam , in trying by a wider range I can more exquisitely judge . ' When ...
Page 72
... excess in it , and therefore , after having been for some time without it , on account of illness I thought it better not to return to it . Every man is to judge for himself , according to the effects which 72 JOHNSONIANA .
... excess in it , and therefore , after having been for some time without it , on account of illness I thought it better not to return to it . Every man is to judge for himself , according to the effects which 72 JOHNSONIANA .
Page 73
... judge for himself , according to the effects which he experiences . One of the fathers tells us , he found fasting made him so peevish that he did not practise it . " Though he often enlarged upon the evil of intoxication , he was by no ...
... judge for himself , according to the effects which he experiences . One of the fathers tells us , he found fasting made him so peevish that he did not practise it . " Though he often enlarged upon the evil of intoxication , he was by no ...
Page 107
... judge of the drunken wit of the dialogue between Iago and Cassio ( the most excellent in its kind ) , when we are quite sober ? Wit is wit , by whatever means it is produced ; and , if good , will appear so at all times . I admit that ...
... judge of the drunken wit of the dialogue between Iago and Cassio ( the most excellent in its kind ) , when we are quite sober ? Wit is wit , by whatever means it is produced ; and , if good , will appear so at all times . I admit that ...
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...