A History of English Dramatic Literature to the Death of Queen Anne, Volume 2

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Macmillan and Company, 1875

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Page 300 - CALANTHA'S DIRGE. [ From the Broken Heart. ] Glories, pleasures, pomps, delights and ease. Can but please Outward senses, when the mind Is untroubled, or by peace refined. Crowns may flourish and decay, Beauties shine, but fade away. Youth may revel, yet it must Lie down in a bed of dust.
Page 77 - Shakspeare have neither child of their own, nor seem to be descended from any parent. They are foul Anomalies, of whom we know not whence they are sprung, nor whether they have beginning or ending. As they are without human passions, so they seem to be without human relations. They come with thunder and lightning, and vanish to airy musiC. This is all we know of them. Except Hecate, they have no names ; which heightens their mysteriousness.
Page 229 - Hence, all you vain delights, As short as are the nights, Wherein you spend your folly : There's nought in this life sweet If man were wise to see't, But only melancholy, O sweetest Melancholy...
Page 590 - To mind the inside of a book is to entertain one's self with the forced product of another man's brain. Now I think a man of quality and breeding may be much amused with the natural sprouts of his own.
Page 203 - All, all of a piece throughout ; Thy chase had a beast in view : Thy wars brought nothing about ; Thy lovers were all untrue. 'Tis well an old age is out, And time to begin a new.
Page 161 - Beaumont and Fletcher, of whom I am next to speak, had, with the advantage of Shakespeare's wit, which was their precedent, great natural gifts improved by study; Beaumont especially being so accurate a judge of plays that Ben Jonson, while he lived, submitted all his writings to his censure, and, 'tis thought, used his judgment in correcting, if not contriving all his plots.
Page 182 - ... scene, before he went off the stage : and then after to come forth a squire, and be made a knight : and that knight to travel between the acts, and do wonders...
Page 588 - This reflection moved me to design some characters which should appear ridiculous not so much through a natural folly (which is incorrigible, and therefore not proper for the stage) as through an affected wit : a wit which, at the same time that it is affected, is also false.
Page 76 - Those originate deeds of blood, and begin bad impulses to men. From the moment that their eyes first meet with Macbeth's, he is spell-bound. That meeting sways his destiny. He can never break the fascination. These witches can hurt the body, those have power over the soul. Hecate in Middleton has a son, a low buffoon : the hags of Shakspeare have neither child of their own, nor seem to be descended from any parent. They are foul anomalies, of whom we know not whence they are sprung, nor whether they...
Page 172 - Understand, therefore, a pastoral to be a representation of shepherds and shepherdesses with their actions and passions, which must be such as may agree with their natures, at least not exceeding former fictions and vulgar traditions...

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