The British Essayists;: The worldJ. Johnson, J. Nichols and son, R. Baldwin, F. and C. Rivington, W. Otridge and son, W.J. and J. Richardson, A. Strahan, R. Faulder, ... [and 40 others], 1808 |
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Common terms and phrases
acquaintance amongst appear assure beauty behaviour BELPHEGOR Berkshire called champaign character CLARINDA confess considered correspondents Cuckold desire doubt dress drinking endeavour entertainment Epaminondas eyes Farinelli fashion father favour Fitz-Adam folly fortune gentlemen give happy happy hero HEARER heart hint honour hope humble servant husband imagine improve labours lady language late least less letter link-boy lived look lord Luke Hansard mankind manner master means ment mind mistress moral nature ne exeat neral ness never obliged observed occasion opinion paper particular passion perhaps person Plato pleasure polite present pretty racter readers reason received romantic love rusal seems Senesino shew silence elemental sure surprized talked TASTE tell thing thought THURSDAY tincture tion told town transubstanti TRUNCHEON truth tural turn virtue whole wine woman words XXVII
Popular passages
Page 258 - ... dictator. Upon this principle, I give my vote for Mr. Johnson to fill that great and arduous post. And I hereby declare, that I make a total surrender of all my rights and privileges in the English language, as a free-born British subject, to the said Mr. Johnson, during the term of his dictatorship. Nay, more ; I will not only obey him like an old Roman, as my dictator, but, like a modern Roman, I will implicitly believe in him as my Pope, and hold him to be infallible while in the chair, but...
Page 256 - ... perfection as any one man could do. The plan of it, which he published some years ago, seems to me to be a proof of it. Nothing can be more rationally imagined, or more accurately and elegantly expressed. I therefore recommend the previous perusal of it to all those who intend to buy the dictionary, and who, I suppose, are all those who can afford it. The celebrated dictionaries of the Florentine and French academies owe their present size and perfection to very small beginnings. Some private...
Page 247 - The handcuff's and fetters in which the hero commonly appears at the end of the second, or the beginning of the third act, indicate captivity, and when properly jingled to a pathetic piece of recitativo upon quest!
Page 205 - The doctor good-humouredly thanked the colonel for the hint, and promised him to communicate it to his friends at Oxford, where, he owned, that he had seen many a good glass of port spilt for want of it. Sir Tunbelly almost smiled, sir George laughed, and the whole company, some how or other, applauded this elegant piece of raillery.
Page 202 - He is an admirable scholar, and I really believe has all Horace by heart; I know he has him always in his pocket. His red face, inflamed nose, and swelled legs, make him generally thought a hard drinker by those who do not know him; but I must do him the justice to say, that I never saw him disguised with liquor in my life.
Page 185 - ... lusts ; as if they were not made of the same materials with their masters, or to breathe the same air, or to die under the same conditions. It is worthy observation (continues he) that the most imperious masters over their own servants, are at the same time the most abject slaves to the servants of other masters. I will not distinguish a servant by his office, but by his manners; the one is the work of fortune, the other of virtue.
Page 215 - The former keeps his head clear, the latter his body in health. It is not from himself that he runs, but to his acquaintance, a synonymous term for his friends. Internally safe, he seeks no sanctuary from himself, no intoxication for his mind. His penetration makes him discover and divert himself with the follies of mankind, which his wit enables him to expose with the truest ridicule, though always without personal offence. Cheerful abroad, because happy at home, and thus happy, because virtuous.
Page 257 - It must be owned, that our language is, at present, in a state of anarchy, and hitherto, perhaps, it may not have been the worse for it. During our free and open trade, many words and expressions have been imported, adopted, and naturalized from other languages, which have greatly enriched our own. Let it still preserve what real strength and beauty it may have borrowed from others; but let it not, like the Tarpeian maid, be overwhelmed and crushed by unnecessary ornaments.
Page 208 - To be sure,' said the colonel : ' What add rout they made about the repeal of the Jew-bill, for which nobody cared one farthing ! But by the way (continued he) I think every body has done eating, and therefore had not we better have the dinner taken away, and the wine set upon the table ?' To this the company gave an unanimous Ay. While this was doing, I asked my friend, with seeming seriousness, whether no part of the dinner was to be served up again, when the wine should be set upon the table...
Page 262 - Not contented with enriching our language by words absolutely new, my fair countrywomen have gone still farther, and improved it by the application and extension of old ones to various and very different significations. They take a word and change it, like a guinea into shillings for pocket-money, to be employed in the several occasional purposes of the day. For instance, the adjective vast, and its adverb vastly, mean anything, and are the fashionable words of the most fashionable people.