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 appear assure beauty behaviour BELPHEGOR Berkshire called champaign character CLARINDA confess considered correspondents Cuckold desire doubt dress drink endeavour entertainment Epaminondas eyes fair band Farinelli fashion father favour Fitz-Adam folly fortune French frequently gentlemen give happy HEARER heart highwayman hint honour hope horses break humble servant husband imagine kind lady language late least less letter link-boy lived look lord Luke Hansard mankind manner master means ment mind moral nature 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 town transubstanti TRUNCHEON truth turn virtue whole wine wish woman words XXVII young
Popular passages
Page 95 - And when it was day, certain of the Jews banded together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul.
Page 256 - ... 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 no...
Page 245 - The handcuffs and fetters in which the hero commonly appears at the end of the second, or the beginning of the third...
Page 258 - PS I hope that none of my courteous readers will upon this occasion be so uncourteous, as to suspect me of being a hired and interested puff of this work ; for I most solemnly protest, that neither Mr. Johnson, nor any person employed by him, nor any bookseller or booksellers concerned in the success of it, have ever offered me the usual compliment of a pair of gloves or a bottle of wine; nor has even Mr.
Page 255 - The time for discrimination seems to be now come. Toleration, adoption, and naturalization, have run their lengths. Good order and authority are now necessary. But where shall we find them, and at the same time the obedience due to them"? We must have recourse to the old Roman expedient in times of confusion, and choose a dictator. Upon this principle I give my vote for Mr. Johnson to fill that great and arduous post.
Page 201 - ... rubbed off. He considered the critical knowledge of the Greek and Latin words, as the utmost effort of the human understanding, and a glass of good wine in good company, as the highest pitch of human felicity. Accordingly he passes his mornings in reading the classics, most of which he has long had by heart, and his evenings in drinking his glass of good wine, which, by frequent filling, amounts at least to two, and often to three bottles a day.
Page 30 - And that which should accompany old age, As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends, I must not look to have ; but, in their stead, Curses, not loud but deep, mouth-honour, breath, Which the poor heart would fain deny, and dare not.
Page 108 - I shall conclude this essay with observing, that those who make religion to consist in the contempt of this world and its enjoyments, are under a very fatal and dangerous mistake. As life is the gift of Heaven, it is religion to enjoy it. He therefore who can be happy in himself, and who contributes all that is in his power towards the happiness of others (and none but the virtuous can so be and so do) answers most effectually the ends of his creation, is an honour to his nature, and a pattern to...
Page 204 - The master of the house was immediately sent for up, examined, and treated as a criminal. Sir Tunbelly reproached him with the...
Page 257 - They will now be undeceived and encouraged. There are many hints and considerations relative to our language, which I should have taken the liberty of suggesting to Mr. Johnson, had I not been convinced that they have equally occurred to him: but there is one, and a very material one it is, to which perhaps he may not have given all the necessary attention. I mean the genteeler part of our language...