The British Essayists, Volume 12Alexander Chalmers J. Johnson, 1808 - English essays |
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Page 94
... affected a certain air of getting me alone , and talking with a mighty profusion of passionate words , how I am not to be resisted longer , how irresistible his wishes are , and the like . As long as I have been acquainted with him , I ...
... affected a certain air of getting me alone , and talking with a mighty profusion of passionate words , how I am not to be resisted longer , how irresistible his wishes are , and the like . As long as I have been acquainted with him , I ...
Page 114
... affected himself with what he so passionately recommends to others . Violent gesture and vociferation naturally shake the hearts of the ignorant , and fill them with a kind of religious hor- ror . Nothing is more frequent than to see ...
... affected himself with what he so passionately recommends to others . Violent gesture and vociferation naturally shake the hearts of the ignorant , and fill them with a kind of religious hor- ror . Nothing is more frequent than to see ...
Page 115
... affected by the bare reading of it , how much more they would have been alarmed , had they heard him ac- tually throwing out such a storm of eloquence ? How cold and dead a figure , in comparison of these two great men , does an orator ...
... affected by the bare reading of it , how much more they would have been alarmed , had they heard him ac- tually throwing out such a storm of eloquence ? How cold and dead a figure , in comparison of these two great men , does an orator ...
Page 121
... affects the palate . Accord- ingly we find there are as many degrees of re- finement in the intellectual faculty as in the sense which is marked out by this common denomina- tion . I knew a person who possessed the one in so great a ...
... affects the palate . Accord- ingly we find there are as many degrees of re- finement in the intellectual faculty as in the sense which is marked out by this common denomina- tion . I knew a person who possessed the one in so great a ...
Page 122
... affected by the same thought which presents itself in a great writer , from what he is when he finds it delivered by a person of an ordinary genius ; for there is as much difference in apprehending a thought clothed in Cicero's language ...
... affected by the same thought which presents itself in a great writer , from what he is when he finds it delivered by a person of an ordinary genius ; for there is as much difference in apprehending a thought clothed in Cicero's language ...
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Common terms and phrases
acquaintance admired Æneid æther affected agreeable Ann Boleyn appear arise atheists attended beautiful behaviour behold body called Callisthenes cerned character charms cheerfulness Cicero colours consider conversation CORNELIUS NEPOS creature Cynthio dæmons delight desire discourse endeavour entertainment eyes fancy fault favour Fidelio Flavia gentleman give Gloriana grace hand happy heart honour humble servant humour ideas Iliad imagination innocence James Miller July 14 JUNE Jupiter kind lady letter live look lover mankind manner matter Menippus ment mind nature neral never objects observed occasion OVID paper particular pass passions Pentheus perfection persons pitch the bar pleased pleasure poet poetry present racter reader reason received reflections secret Sempronia sense sight Sir Roger soul SPECTATOR spirits taste temper thing thought tion town VIRG Virgil virtue whole woman women words writing young
Popular passages
Page 2 - Mirth is short and transient, cheerfulness fixed and permanent. Those are often raised into the greatest transports of mirth, who are subject to the greatest depressions of melancholy; on the contrary, cheerfulness, though it does not give the mind such an exquisite gladness, prevents us from falling into any depths of sorrow. Mirth is like a flash of lightning that breaks through a gloom of clouds, and glitters for a moment; cheerfulness keeps up a kind of day-light in the mind, and fills it with...
Page 72 - I rightly conceived your meaning; and if, as you say, confessing a truth indeed may procure my safety, I shall with all willingness and duty perform your command.
Page 137 - Thus we see that every different species of sensible creatures has its different notions of beauty, and that each of them is most affected with the beauties of its own kind. This is no where more remarkable than in birds of the same shape and proportion, where we often see the male determined in his courtship by the single grain or tincture of a feather, and never discovering any charms but in the colour of its species.
Page 132 - Besides, the pleasures of the imagination have this advantage, above those of the understanding, that they are more obvious, and more easy to be acquired. It is but opening the eye, and the scene enters.
Page 130 - Our sight seems designed to supply all these defects, and may be considered as a more delicate and diffusive kind of touch, that spreads itself over an infinite multitude of bodies, comprehends the largest figures, and brings into our reach some of the most remote parts of the universe.
Page 136 - We are indeed so often conversant with one set of objects, and tired out with so many repeated shows of the same things, that whatever is new or uncommon contributes a little to vary human life, and to divert our minds, for a while, with the strangeness of its appearance. It serves us for a kind of refreshment, and takes off from that satiety we are apt to complain of, in our usual and ordinary entertainments.
Page 73 - ... shame ; then shall you see either mine innocency cleared, your suspicion and conscience satisfied, the ignominy and slander of the world stopped, or my guilt openly declared.
Page 132 - ... flow from the ideas of visible objects, when the objects are not actually before the eye, but are called up into our memories, or formed into agreeable visions of things that are either absent or fictitious. The pleasures of the imagination, taken in the full extent, are not so gross as those of sense, nor so refined as those of the understanding.
Page 271 - When the soul is hovering in the last moments of its separation, when it is just entering on another state of existence, to converse with scenes, and objects, and companions, that are altogether new, — what can...
Page 56 - When God hath shower'd the earth: so lovely seem'd That landscape: and of pure, now purer air Meets his approach, and to the heart inspires Vernal delight and joy, able to drive All sadness but despair: Now gentle gales Fanning their odoriferous wings, dispense Native perfumes, and whisper whence they stole Those balmy spoils.