The Poetical Works of John DrydenBell and Daldy, 1866 - 313 pages |
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Absalom and Achitophel acted Æneid Annus Mirabilis appear arts beautiful Belgian bold character Charles Charles II courage court crown death dedication design'd Dorset Duchess Duke of Guise Duke of York Dutch Earl Elkanah Settle enemies English Erasmus eyes fame fate father favour fight fire flames fleet foes forc'd fortune friends genius Georgic Gilbert Pickering grace haste heaven heroic Holland honour Jebusites JOHN DRYDEN Johnson king king's labour Lady laureate letter lines Lord Malone mighty Mitford monarch Monmouth Mulgrave muse nature never noble Northamptonshire o'er Orig Ovid play plot poem poet poet's poetry praise preface prince printed probably prologue published Queen reign religion rhyme rise Rochester royal satire says Scott seem'd seems Shaftesbury ships Sir Robert Howard soul success thou thought throne tion Tonson translation verse Virgil wind write written
Popular passages
Page 117 - He sought the storms ; but, for a calm unfit, Would steer too nigh the sands to boast his wit. Great wits are sure to madness near allied And thin partitions do their bounds divide...
Page 130 - 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 131 - For, spite of him, the weight of business fell On Absalom and wise Achitophel: Thus, wicked but in will, of means bereft, He left not faction, but of that was left.
Page civ - 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 134 - His neck was loaded with a chain of gold ; During his office treason was no crime ! The sons of Belial had a glorious time ; For Shimei, though not prodigal of pelf, Yet lov'd his wicked neighbour as himself. When two or three were gather'd to declaim Against the monarch of Jerusalem, Shimei was always in the midst of them...
Page 116 - Pleased with the danger, when the waves went high, He sought the storms ; but, for a calm unfit, Would steer too nigh the sands to boast his wit.
Page 131 - Then all for women, painting, rhyming, drinking, 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. In squandering wealth was his peculiar art ; Nothing went unrewarded but desert, Beggared by fools whom still he found too late, He had his jest, and they had...
Page li - Yet fame deserved, no enemy can grudge; The statesman we abhor, but praise the judge. In Israel's courts ne'er sat an Abethdin With more discerning eyes, or hands more clean; Unbribed, unsought, the wretched to redress, Swift of despatch, and easy of access.
Page 42 - The composition of all poems is, or ought to be, of wit; and wit in the poet, or Wit writing (if you will give me leave to use a school-distinction), is no other than the faculty of imagination in the writer, which, like a nimble spaniel, beats over and ranges through the field of memory, till it springs the quarry it hunted after; or, without...
Page 117 - Refuse his age the needful hours of rest? Punish a body which he could not please, Bankrupt of life, yet prodigal of ease ? And all to leave what with his toil he won To that unfeathered two-legged thing, a son. Got, while his soul did huddled notions try, And born a shapeless lump, like anarchy.