A dictionary of biography

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Page 8 - Whoever wishes to attain an English style, familiar but not coarse, and elegant but not ostentatious, must give his days and nights to the volumes of Addison...
Page 348 - ... to dive into the depths of dungeons, to plunge into the infection of hospitals, to survey the mansions of sorrow and pain, to take the gauge and dimensions of misery, depression and contempt, to remember the forgotten, to attend to the neglected, to visit the forsaken, and to compare and collate the distresses of all men in all countries.
Page 177 - Upon the whole, there was in this man something that could create, subvert, or reform ; an understanding, a spirit, and an eloquence, to summon mankind to society, or to break the bonds of slavery asunder, and to rule the wilderness of free minds with unbounded authority ; something that could establish or overwhelm empire, and strike a blow in the world that should resound through the universe.
Page 30 - I take my subjects money when I want it, without all this formality in parliament ? The bishop of Durham readily answered, God forbid, Sir, but you should ; you are the breath of our nostrils : whereupon the king turned and said to the bishop of Winchester, well, my lord, what say you ? Sir, replied the bishop, I have no skill to judge of parliamentary cases.
Page 273 - Ford was of the first order of poets. He sought for sublimity, not by parcels, in metaphors or visible images, but directly where she has her full residence, in the heart of man; in the actions and sufferings of the greatest minds.
Page 557 - THERE are no colours in the fairest sky So fair as these. The feather, whence the pen Was shaped that traced the lives of these good men, Dropped from an Angel's wing.
Page 424 - Think of a genius not born in every country, or every time ; a man gifted by nature with a penetrating aquiline eye ; with a judgment prepared with the most extensive erudition ; with an herculean robustness of mind, and nerves not to be broken with labour ; a man who could spend twenty years in one pursuit.
Page 148 - From the time of hie recall, he possessed almost absolute power at Geneva ; and he exerted himself vigorously in establishing the presbyterian form of" church government. He died in 1564. The most remarkable of his tenets is, that of predestination to eternal happiness or misery by the absolute decree of God! Calvin was a learned and pious man, of eminent talents, but of an arrogant and persecuting spirit; and his conduct to Servetus, whom he brought tn the stake, has fixed an indelible stain upon...
Page 18 - B. c. 323, in the thirtythird year of his age, and the thirteenth of his reign. His remains were interred at Alexandria. The praise of valour, military genius, extensive views, a love of learning, and, occasionally, noble feelings, must be awarded to Alexander...
Page 476 - Hut the sun of Ralegh set when Elizabeth died. Her successor was prejudiced against him, and a pretext was soon found, or made, for his ruin. In 1603 he was brought to trial, on a charge of treason, and was condemned to death. He was, however, not executed, but was confined for twelve years in the Tower, during which period he wrote his History of the World. In 1616 he was not only released, but was intrusted with the command of an expedition to Guiana. It failed, however, and on his return he was...

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