Anecdotes of Polite Literature ...G. Burnet, 1764 - Literature |
Common terms and phrases
abſurd abuſe Addiſon admirable Alcman almoſt alſo anſwer beautiful beſt bookſeller C'eſt cauſe celebrated character characteriſtic Charles Dryden compoſed compoſitions contain defire deſcription diſplay Dryden Dunciad Eclogues Engliſh excellent expoſe expreſſive faid fame fatire firſt fome foul fublime fuch fuperior genius himſelf houſe Houyhnhnms Hudibras humour imitation inſtances intereſt juſt juſtly language laſt Lord Lord Halifax Lord Harvey Lordſhip maſterly merit miniſter moſt muſic muſt never numbers obſerved paffions painting paſſage paſſion pastoral perſon pieces pleaſe pleaſure poem poet poetic poetry Pope Pope's praiſe preſent publiſhed purpoſe racter Rambler reſpect ribaldry ridicule riſe ſaid ſame ſatire ſays ſcarce ſcribblers ſecond ſenſe ſerve ſet ſeveral ſhall ſhe ſhepherds ſhines ſhort ſhould ſhow ſmall ſome ſon ſpeaks ſpecies ſpirit ſpoke ſtile ſtill ſtrain ſtrokes ſubject ſuch ſuppoſe taſte theſe lines thing thoſe thro tranflation univerſally uſe vaſt Verſe whoſe writings wrote
Popular passages
Page 84 - Me, let the tender office long engage To rock the cradle of reposing age, With lenient arts extend a mother's breath, Make languor smile, and smooth the bed of death; Explore the thought, explain the asking eye, And keep a while one parent from the sky ! On cares like these, if length of days attend, May Heaven, to bless those days, preserve my friend!
Page 173 - In the worst inn's worst room, with mat half-hung, The floors of plaster, and the walls of dung, On once a flock-bed, but repair'd with straw, With tape-tied curtains, never meant to draw, The George and Garter dangling from that bed Where tawdry yellow strove with dirty red, Great Villiers lies — alas!
Page 53 - And born to write, converse, and live with ease: Should such a man, too fond to rule alone, Bear, like the Turk, no brother near the throne...
Page 54 - Who but must laugh if such a man there be ? Who would not weep if Atticus were he?
Page 165 - Lo! at the Wheels of her Triumphal Car, Old England's Genius, rough with many a Scar, Dragg'd in the Dust! his Arms hang idly round, His Flag inverted trails along the ground! Our Youth, all liv'ry'd o'er with foreign Gold, Before her dance; behind her crawl the Old!
Page 36 - 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 long; But in the course of one revolving moon Was chymist, fiddler, statesman, and buffoon ; Then all for women, painting, rhyming, drinking, Besides ten thousand freaks that died in thinking.
Page 167 - Thus with each gift of nature and of art, And wanting nothing but an honest heart ; Grown all to all, from no one vice exempt; And most contemptible to shun contempt...
Page 36 - Besides ten thousand freaks that died in thinking. Blest madman, who could every hour employ With something new to wish or to enjoy ! Railing and praising were his usual themes, And both, to show his judgment, in extremes : So over violent or over civil That every man with him was God or Devil.
Page 13 - This piece was received with greater applause than was ever known. Besides being acted in London sixtythree days without interruption, and renewed the next season with equal applause, it spread into all the great towns of England; was played in many places to the thirtieth and fortieth time ; at Bath and Bristol fifty, &c.
Page 34 - If his grace and his wit improve both proportionably, he will hardly find that he has gained much by the change he has made, from having no religion, to choose one of the worst.