Lexiphanes, a Dialogue: Imitated from Lucian, and Suited to the Present Times. Being an Attempt to Restore the English Tongue to Its Antient Purity. And to Expose the Affected Style of Our English Lexiphanes, the Rambler ...

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J. Williams, 1774 - English language - 185 pages

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Page 14 - Another cause of the gaiety and sprightliness of the dwellers in garrets is probably the increase of that vertiginous motion, with which we are carried round by the diurnal revolution of the earth. The power of agitation upon the spirits is well known; every man has felt his heart lightened in a rapid vehicle, or on a galloping horse ; and nothing is plainer, than that he who towers to the fifth story, is whirled through more space by every circumrotation, than another that grovels upon the ground-floor.
Page 15 - I would propofe, that there fhould be a cavern dug, and a tower erected, like thofe which Bacon defcribes in Solomon's houfe, for the expanfion and concentration of underftanding, according to the exigence of different employments, or conftitutions. Perhaps fome that fume away in meditations upon time and fpace in the tower, might compofe tables of intereft at a certain depth; and he that upon level ground ftagnates in...
Page 15 - ... or creeps in narrative, might, at the height of half a mile, ferment into merriment, sparkle with repartee, and froth with declamation.
Page 179 - 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 81 - Through life and death to dart his piercing eye, With thoughts beyond the limit of his frame ; But that the Omnipotent might send him forth, In sight of mortal and immortal powers, As on a boundless theatre, to run The great career of justice...
Page 114 - I have laboured to refine our language to grammatical purity, and to clear it from colloquial barbarisms, licentious idioms, and irregular combinations. Something, perhaps, I have added to the elegance of its construction, and something to the harmony of its cadence.
Page i - Being an attempt to restore the English tongue to its ancient purity, and to correct, as well as expose, the affected style, hard words, and absurd phraseology of many late writers, and particularly of our English Lexiphanes, the Rambler.
Page 84 - Spun from the cobweb fashion of the times To hide the feeling heart ? Then Nature speaks Her genuine language, and the words of men, Big with the very motion of their souls, Declare with what accumulated force The impetuous nerve of passion urges on The native weight and energy of things.
Page 80 - But still the rage Of dire Ambition and gigantic Power, From public aims and from the busy walk Of civil Commerce, drove the bolder train Of penetrating Science to the cells, Where studious Ease consumes the silent hour In shadowy searches and unfruitful care. Thus from their guardians torn, the tender arts Of mimic Fancy and harmonious Joy...
Page 82 - Th' applauding fmile of heav'n ? Elfe wherefore burns In mortal bofoms this unquenched hope, That breathes from day to day fublimer things. And mocks pofleflion ? wherefore darts the mind, With fuch refiftlefs ardour to embrace Majeftic forms ; impatient to be free, Spurning the grofs controul of wilful might ; Proud of the ftrong contention of her toils ; Proud to be daring ? CRITICK.

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