The Works of John Dryden: Now First Collected in Eighteen Volumes, Volume 6

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A. Constable & Company, 1821

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Page 230 - For honour travels in a strait so narrow Where one but goes abreast: keep, then, the path; For emulation hath a thousand sons, That one by one pursue : if you give way, Or hedge aside from the direct forthright, Like to an enter'd tide they all rush by And leave you hindmost ; Or, like a gallant horse fall'n in first rank, Lie there for pavement to the abject rear, O'errun and trampled on...
Page 126 - Yet man, vain man, would with his short-lined plummet Fathom the vast abyss of heavenly justice. Whatever is, is in its causes just, Since all things are by fate. But purblind man Sees but a part o' th' chain, the nearest links, His eyes not carrying to that equal beam That poises all above.
Page 197 - E'en wondered at because he dropt no sooner; Fate seemed to wind him up for fourscore years; Yet freshly ran he on ten winters more, Till, like a clock worn out with eating Time, The wheels of weary life at last stood still.
Page 257 - Shakspeare; no man ever drew so many characters, or generally distinguished 'em better from one another, excepting only Jonson. I will instance but in one to show the copiousness of his intention; it is that of Caliban, or the monster, in the Tempest. He seems there to have created a person which was not in nature, a boldness which, at first sight, would appear intolerable...
Page 265 - As in a theatre, the eyes of men, After a well-graced actor leaves the stage, Are idly bent on him that enters next, "Ibid., 11.
Page 230 - As fast as they are made, forgot as soon As done: perseverance, dear my lord, Keeps honour bright: to have done, is to hang Quite out of fashion, like a rusty mail In monumental mockery.
Page 241 - Accordingly, I new-modelled the i plot, threw out many unnecessary persons, improved those characters which were begun and left unfinished, as Hector, Troilus, Pandarus, and Thersites, and added that of Andromache. After this, I made, with no small trouble, an order and connection of all the scenes; removing them from the places where they were inartificially set...
Page 230 - High birth, vigor of bone, desert in service, Love, friendship, charity, are subjects all To envious and calumniating time. One touch of nature makes the whole world kin, — That all, with one consent, praise new-born gawds, Though they are made and moulded of things past...
Page 265 - Richard ; no man cried, God save him; No joyful tongue gave him his welcome home : But dust was thrown upon his sacred head ; Which with such gentle sorrow he shook off, — His face still combating with tears and smiles, The badges of his grief and patience ; — That had not God, for some strong purpose, steel'd The hearts of men, they must perforce have melted, And barbarism itself have pitied him.
Page 10 - Disertissime Romuli nepotum, quot sunt quotque fuere, Marce Tulli, quotque post aliis erunt in annis, gratias tibi maximas Catullus agit pessimus omnium poeta, tanto pessimus omnium poeta, quanto tu optimus omnium patronus.

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