The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D., Volume 1Talboys & Wheeler, 1826 |
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Page v
... labours , concurs in di- recting me to you , as the person to whom the following work should be inscribed . If there be a pleasure in celebrating the distinguished merit of a contemporary , mixed with a certain degree of vanity , not ...
... labours , concurs in di- recting me to you , as the person to whom the following work should be inscribed . If there be a pleasure in celebrating the distinguished merit of a contemporary , mixed with a certain degree of vanity , not ...
Page ix
... labour and anxious attention with which I have col- lected and arranged the materials of which these volumes are composed , will hardly be conceived by those who read them with careless facility . The stretch of mind and prompt ...
... labour and anxious attention with which I have col- lected and arranged the materials of which these volumes are composed , will hardly be conceived by those who read them with careless facility . The stretch of mind and prompt ...
Page xii
... labour , I do not wish to conceal : but whatever doubts I at any time entertained , have been entirely removed by the very favourable re- ception with which it has been honoured . That reception has excited my best exertions to render ...
... labour , I do not wish to conceal : but whatever doubts I at any time entertained , have been entirely removed by the very favourable re- ception with which it has been honoured . That reception has excited my best exertions to render ...
Page xxiii
... their example . Whe- ther Boswell's production of every minute and trivial incident , affecting the subject of his labours , was the result of a weak and ill regulated mind , as it has been charged to be , is not viii PREFATORY NOTICE .
... their example . Whe- ther Boswell's production of every minute and trivial incident , affecting the subject of his labours , was the result of a weak and ill regulated mind , as it has been charged to be , is not viii PREFATORY NOTICE .
Page 3
... labours , I must acknowledge , exhibit a farrago , of which a consi- derable portion is not devoid of entertainment to the lovers of literary gossiping ; but besides its being swelled out with long unnecessary extracts from various ...
... labours , I must acknowledge , exhibit a farrago , of which a consi- derable portion is not devoid of entertainment to the lovers of literary gossiping ; but besides its being swelled out with long unnecessary extracts from various ...
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acknowl acquainted admiration afterwards Anecdotes appears believe bishop bishop of Salisbury bookseller BOSWELL Burney Cave character conversation dear sir death Dictionary Dodsley edition eminent endeavour English Essay excellent father favour Garrick gave Gentleman's Magazine give Goldsmith happy heard Hector honour hope house of Stuart humble servant Johnson Joseph Warton kind king labour lady Langton language late Latin learned letter Lichfield literary lived London lord Chesterfield Lucy Porter MALONE manner master mentioned merit mind mother never obliged observed occasion opinion Oxford paper person pleased pleasure poem poet praise Preface publick published Rambler remarkable reverend Richard Savage Robert Dodsley Samuel Johnson Savage Shakspeare sir John Hawkins sir Joshua Reynolds spirit supposed talk thing Thomas Warton thought tion told translation truth verses Warton William wish write written wrote
Popular passages
Page 173 - The notice which you have been pleased to take of my labours, had it been early, had been kind; but it has been delayed till I am indifferent, and cannot enjoy it; till I am solitary, and cannot impart it; till I am known, and do not want it. I hope it is no very cynical asperity not to confess obligations where no benefit has been received, or to be unwilling that the public should consider me as owing that to a patron, which Providence has enabled me to do for myself.
Page 172 - ... Seven years, my Lord, have now passed since I waited in your outward rooms, or was repulsed from your door; during which time I have been pushing on my work through difficulties, of which it is useless to complain, and have brought it, at last, to the verge of publication without one act of assistance, one word of encouragement, or one smile of favour. Such treatment I did not expect, for I never had a Patron before. The shepherd in Virgil grew at last acquainted with Love, and found him a native...
Page 172 - I had done all that I could; and no man is well pleased to have his all neglected, be it ever so little. Seven years, my Lord, have now passed since I waited in your outward rooms or was repulsed from your door...
Page 202 - Excise. A hateful tax levied upon commodities, and adjudged not by the common judges of property, but wretches hired by those to whom excise is paid.
Page 173 - Having carried on my work thus far with so little obligation to any favourer of learning, I shall not be disappointed though I should conclude it, if less be possible, with less ; for I have been long wakened from that dream of hope, in which I once boasted myself with so much exultation, " My Lord, " Your Lordship's most humble " Most obedient servant,
Page 281 - Scotland," which I used in the sense of being of that country ; and, as if I had said that I had come away from it, or left it, retorted, "That, sir, I find, is what a very great many of your countrymen cannot help.
Page 121 - Somebody talked of happy moments for composition, and how a man can write at one time and not at another. "Nay," said Dr Johnson, "a man may write at any time if he will set himself doggedly to it.
Page 332 - Here lies our good Edmund, whose genius was such, We scarcely can praise it, or blame it too much; Who, born for the universe, narrow'd his mind, And to party gave up what was meant for mankind.
Page 241 - ... to maintain, against the concurrent and unvaried testimony of all ages, and of all nations. There is no people, rude or learned, among whom apparitions of the dead are not related and believed. This opinion, which perhaps prevails as far as human nature is diffused, could become universal only by its truth : those, that never heard of one another, would not have agreed in a tale which nothing but experience can make credible. That it is doubted by single cavillers, can very little weaken the...
Page 205 - If a man does not make new acquaintance as he advances through life, he will soon find himself left alone. A man, sir, should keep his friendship in constant repair.