The Critical and Miscellaneous Prose Works of John Dryden: Now First Collected: with Notes and Illustrations; an Account of the Life and Writings of the Author, Grounded on Original and Authentick Documents; and a Collection of His Letters, the Greater Part of which Has Never Before Been Published, Volume 3T. Cadell, jun. and W. Davies, 1800 |
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Page 9
... leave conjectures on a subject so incer- tain , and to write somewhat more authentick of this poet . That he frequented the court of Augustus , and was well received in it , is most undoubted : all his poems bear the character of a ...
... leave conjectures on a subject so incer- tain , and to write somewhat more authentick of this poet . That he frequented the court of Augustus , and was well received in it , is most undoubted : all his poems bear the character of a ...
Page 10
... leaving the imitation of nature , and the cooler dictates of his judgment , for the false applause of fancy . Yet he seems to have found out this imperfection in his riper age ; for why else should be complain that his Meta- morphoses ...
... leaving the imitation of nature , and the cooler dictates of his judgment , for the false applause of fancy . Yet he seems to have found out this imperfection in his riper age ; for why else should be complain that his Meta- morphoses ...
Page 18
... leave his reader at a gaze . So wild and ungovernable a poet cannot be translated literally ; his genius is too strong to bear a chain , and Sampson - like he shakes it off . A genius so ele- vated and unconfined as Mr. Cowley's , was ...
... leave his reader at a gaze . So wild and ungovernable a poet cannot be translated literally ; his genius is too strong to bear a chain , and Sampson - like he shakes it off . A genius so ele- vated and unconfined as Mr. Cowley's , was ...
Page 33
... leaving so much to be imagined by the reader , can never be translated as he ought , in any modern tongue . To make him copious , is to alter his character ; and to translate him line for line , is impossible ; because the Latin is ...
... leaving so much to be imagined by the reader , can never be translated as he ought , in any modern tongue . To make him copious , is to alter his character ; and to translate him line for line , is impossible ; because the Latin is ...
Page 35
... leave his commentators , it may be I understand him better : at least I writ without consulting them in many places . But two particular lines in Mezentius and Lausus , I cannot so easily excuse . They are indeed remotely allied to ...
... leave his commentators , it may be I understand him better : at least I writ without consulting them in many places . But two particular lines in Mezentius and Lausus , I cannot so easily excuse . They are indeed remotely allied to ...
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Common terms and phrases
action admirable Æneas Æneid afterwards amongst ancient appear Aristotle Augustus Augustus Cæsar beauty better betwixt Boccace Cæsar called Casaubon character Chaucer commendation confess copy criticks Dido Discourse Dryd Dryden Earl Eclogues endeavoured English Ennius epick poem errour excellent expression father fault French genius Georgick give given Grecians Greek hero heroick Homer honour Horace Iliad imitated invention JOHN DRYDEN judge judgment Julius Cæsar Jupiter Juvenal kind language Latin learned least lived Livius Andronicus Lord Lordship Lucian Lucilius Lucretius Lycortas manner master modern nature never noble numbers observed opinion original Ovid painter passage passions perfect Persius persons Petrarch pleased pleasure poet poetry Polybius Pope praise Preface publick reader reason Roman Rome satire Satyrs Segrais sense shew sort speak suppose Theocritus things thought tion tragedy translation Turnus verse Virgil virtue wholly words write written
Popular passages
Page 214 - With charm of earliest birds; pleasant the sun, When first on this delightful land he spreads His orient beams, on herb, tree, fruit, and flower...
Page 214 - When first on this delightful land he spreads His orient beams, on herb, tree, fruit, and flower, Glist'ring with dew; fragrant the fertile earth After soft showers ; and sweet the coming on Of grateful evening mild...
Page 629 - Tis sufficient to say, according to the proverb, that here is God's plenty. We have our forefathers and great grand-dames all before us, as they were in Chaucer's days: their general characters are still remaining in mankind, and even in England, though they are called by other names than those of Monks, and Friars, and Canons, and Lady Abbesses, and Nuns; 'for mankind is ever the same, and nothing lost out of nature, though everything is altered.
Page 214 - But neither breath of morn, when she ascends With charm of earliest birds; nor rising sun On this delightful land; nor herb, fruit, flower, Glistering with dew; nor fragrance after showers; Nor grateful evening mild; nor silent night With this her solemn bird; nor walk by moon, Or glittering starlight, without thee is sweet.
Page 607 - Tales, their humours, their features, and the very dress, as distinctly as if I had supped with them at the Tabard in Southwark.
Page 187 - How easy it is to call rogue and villain, and that wittily 1 but how hard to make a man appear a fool, a blockhead, or a knave, without using any of those opprobrious terms...
Page 650 - I shall say the less of Mr. Collier, because in many things he has taxed me justly; and I have pleaded guilty to all thoughts and expressions of mine, which can be truly argued of obscenity, profaneness, or immorality, and retract them. If he be my enemy, let him triumph ; if he be my friend, as I have given him no personal occasion to be otherwise, he will be glad of my repentance.
Page 189 - In the first rank of these did Zimri stand, A man so various that he seemed to be Not one, but all mankind's epitome : Stiff in opinions, always in the wrong, Was everything by starts and nothing...
Page 595 - What judgment I had, increases rather than diminishes; and thoughts, such as they are, come crowding in so fast upon me that my only difficulty is to choose or to reject, to run them into verse or to give them the other harmony of prose...
Page 627 - I shall think fit hereafter, to describe another sort of Priests, such as are more easily to be found than the Good Parson; such as have given the last Blow to Christianity in this Age, by a Practice so contrary to their Doctrine.