The Works of Oliver Goldsmith: Biographies. Reviews. Animated Nature. Cock Lane ghost. Vida's game of chess. Letters. Index

Front Cover
John Murray, 1854 - 1 pages
 

Selected pages

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

Popular passages

Page 318 - On a rock whose haughty brow Frowns o'er old Conway's foaming flood, Robed in the sable garb of woe, With haggard eyes the poet stood; (Loose his beard, and hoary hair Stream'd, like a meteor, to the troubled air) And with a master's hand, and prophet's fire, Struck the deep sorrows of his lyre.
Page 318 - This pencil take (she said), whose colours clear Richly paint the vernal year: Thine, too, these golden keys, immortal Boy! This can unlock the gates of Joy; Of Horror that, and thrilling Fears, Or ope the sacred source of sympathetic Tears.
Page 226 - Of all men, Goldsmith is the most unfit to go out upon such an inquiry ; for he is utterly ignorant of such arts as we already possess, and consequently could not know what would be accessions to our present stock of mechanical knowledge. Sir, he would bring home a grinding barrow, which you see in every street in London, and think that he had furnished a wonderful improvement.
Page 318 - King ! their hundred arms they wave, Revenge on thee in hoarser murmurs breathe ; Vocal no more since Cambria's fatal day, To high-born Hoel's harp, or soft Llewellyn's lay.
Page 178 - Signed, sealed, published, and declared, by the said testator, as and for his last will and testament, in the presence of OLIVER PRICE.
Page 275 - Whatever is fitted in any sort to excite the ideas of pain and danger, that is to say, whatever is in any sort terrible, or is conversant about terrible objects, or operates in a manner analogous to terror, is a source of the sublime; that is, it is productive of the strongest emotion which the mind is capable of feeling.
Page 86 - This picture, placed these busts between, Gives satire all its strength : Wisdom and Wit are little seen, But Folly at full length.
Page 222 - There taught us how to live; and (oh! too high The price for knowledge) taught us how to die.
Page 141 - ... antiquated words and phrases, but have indulged themselves in the most licentious transpositions, and the harshest constructions, vainly imagining that the more their writings are unlike prose the more they resemble poetry; they have adopted a language of their own, and call upon mankind for admiration. All those who do not understand them are silent, and those who make out their meaning are willing to praise, to show they understand.
Page 418 - Above all things, let him never touch a romance or novel ; these paint beauty in colours more charming than nature, and describe happiness that man never tastes. How delusive, how destructive are those pictures of consummate bliss ! They teach the youthful mind to sigh after beauty and happiness which never existed ; to despise the little good which fortune has mixed in our cup, by expecting more than she ever gave...

Bibliographic information