The Spectator, 4. köideTonson, 1738 |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 41
Page 4
... indeed without Offence , to Your felf , obferve , that You excel the reft of Mankind in the leaft , as well as the greatest Endowments . Nor were it a Cir- cumstance cumstance to be mentioned , if the Graces and Attractions The Dedication .
... indeed without Offence , to Your felf , obferve , that You excel the reft of Mankind in the leaft , as well as the greatest Endowments . Nor were it a Cir- cumstance cumstance to be mentioned , if the Graces and Attractions The Dedication .
Page 13
... greatest Wits that ever were produced in one Age , lived together in fo good an Understanding , and cele- brated one another with fo much Generofity , that each of them receives an additional Luftre from his Contempo- raries , and is ...
... greatest Wits that ever were produced in one Age , lived together in fo good an Understanding , and cele- brated one another with fo much Generofity , that each of them receives an additional Luftre from his Contempo- raries , and is ...
Page 20
... greatest Abilities are most fired with Am- bition : And that on the contrary , mean and narrow Minds are the leaft actuated by it ; whether it be that a Man's Senfe of his own Incapacities makes him despair of coming at Fame , or that ...
... greatest Abilities are most fired with Am- bition : And that on the contrary , mean and narrow Minds are the leaft actuated by it ; whether it be that a Man's Senfe of his own Incapacities makes him despair of coming at Fame , or that ...
Page 22
... greatest Character . A folid and fubftantial Greatnefs of Soul looks down with a generous Neglect on the Cenfures and Applaufes of the Multitude , and places a Man beyond the little Noife and Strife of Tongues . Accordingly we find in ...
... greatest Character . A folid and fubftantial Greatnefs of Soul looks down with a generous Neglect on the Cenfures and Applaufes of the Multitude , and places a Man beyond the little Noife and Strife of Tongues . Accordingly we find in ...
Page 26
... greatest Actions of a celebrated Perfon labour under this Difadvantage , that however surprising and extraor◅ dinary they may be , they are no more than what are ex- pected from him ; but on the contrary , if they fall any thing below ...
... greatest Actions of a celebrated Perfon labour under this Difadvantage , that however surprising and extraor◅ dinary they may be , they are no more than what are ex- pected from him ; but on the contrary , if they fall any thing below ...
Common terms and phrases
Action admired ¯neid againſt agreeable alfo Anſwer Beauty becauſe befides Behaviour Cafe Character Circumftances confider Confideration Converfation Criticks defcribed Defcription Defign Defire Difcourfe difcovered Drefs Enville Fable faid fame feems feen felf felves feveral fhall fhew fhort fhould fince firft firſt fome fomething fometimes foon Fortune fpeak Friend ftill fuch fufficient give greateſt Happineſs himſelf Homer Honour Houfe Houſe humble Servant ibid Iliad juft kind Lady laft laſt lefs likewife Loft look Love Mafter Mankind manner Marriage Meaſure Milton Mind Miſtreſs moft moſt muft muſt Nature neceffary Number obferved Occafion Paffage paffed Paffion Paradife particular Perfon Place pleafing pleaſe Pleaſure Poem Poet poffible prefent publick racter raiſe Reader Reaſon Reflexion reprefented ſelf Senfe ſeveral ſhall ſhe ſpeak SPECTATOR thefe themſelves theſe thing thofe thoſe Thoughts tion underſtand uſe Virgil Virtue whofe Woman World young
Popular passages
Page 67 - Roman empire, has described the birth of its great rival, the Carthaginian commonwealth : Milton, with the like art in his poem on the fall of man, has related the fall of those angels who are his professed enemies.
Page 70 - Besides, it was easier for Homer and Virgil to dash the truth with fiction, as they were in no danger of offending the religion of their country by it. But as for Milton, he had not only a very few circumstances upon which to raise his poem, but was also obliged to proceed with the greatest caution in every thing that he added out of his own invention.
Page 134 - The great masters in composition know very well that many an elegant phrase becomes improper for a poet or an orator, when it has been debased by common use. For this reason the works of ancient authors, which are written in dead languages, have a great advantage over those which are written in languages that are now spoken. Were there any mean phrases or idioms in Virgil...
Page 205 - Being, he frequently confesses his omnipotence, that being the perfection he was forced to allow him, and the only consideration which could support his pride under the shame of his defeat. Nor...
Page 110 - ... other particulars as may not properly fall under any of them. This I thought fit to...
Page 235 - Death produces those monsters and hell-hounds which from time to time enter into their mother, and tear the bowels of her who gave them birth. These are the terrors of an evil conscience, and the proper fruits of Sin, which naturally rise from the apprehensions of Death.
Page 137 - Y, when it precedes a vowel. This, and some other innovations in the measure of his verse, has varied his numbers in such a manner, as makes them incapable of satiating the ear, and cloying the reader, which the same uniform measure would certainly have done, and which the perpetual returns of rhyme never fail to do in long narrative poems.
Page 88 - There is in these several characters of Homer, a certain dignity as well as novelty, which adapts them in a more peculiar manner to the nature of an heroic poem. Though at the same time, to give them the greater variety, he has described a Vulcan, that is a buffoon among his gods, and a Thersites among his mortals.
Page 112 - I shall show more at large in another paper ; though considering how all the poets of the age in which he writ were infected with this wrong way of thinking, he is rather to be admired that he did not give more into it, than that he did sometimes comply with the vicious taste which still prevails so much among modern writers.
Page 151 - A battle or a triumph are conjunctures in which not one man in a million is likely to be engaged; but when we see a person at the point of death, we cannot forbear being attentive to every thing he...