Discourses on Various Subjects: Read Before Literary and Philosophical SocietiesLongman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1852 - 276 pages |
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Discourses on Various Subjects: Read Before Literary and Philosophical ... Samuel Bailey No preview available - 2018 |
Common terms and phrases
amongst analogy animal appears astronomer Bacon beautiful bodies Calendar causes changes circumstances combination of ideas common defalcation difficulty DISCOURSE Dugald Stewart earth effect of wit electric fluid elucidation employed English language example existence explain express external object facts Gregorian Calendar Hierocles Horace Walpole Hudibras human mind hypothesis illustration images induction ingenious ingenuity displayed inquiry instance invention Julius Cæsar kind knowledge language laughable light Lord Lord Bacon Lord Macclesfield ludicrous Mammoth matter meaning namely nature nerves observe occasion optic optic nerves perception perspective projections pheno phenomena phenomenon philosophers physical investigation picture Political Economy present principles produced qualities question rays relevant remarkable result retina says scarcely seen sense Siberia similar solid object sound species stances striking stroke of wit substances suppose surprise theory thing tion truth vernal equinox vision whole witty words writers
Popular passages
Page 242 - The sun had long since, in the lap Of Thetis, taken out his nap, And, like a lobster boil'd, the morn From black to red began to turn...
Page 247 - The character of the reputed ancestors of some men has made it possible for their descendants to be vicious in the extreme without being degenerate. Those of your Grace, for instance, left no distressing examples of virtue even to their legitimate posterity, and you may look back with pleasure to an illustrious pedigree in which heraldry has not left a single ;gooil quality upon record to insult or upbraid you*.
Page 257 - But when wit is combined with sense and information ; when it is softened by benevolence, and restrained by strong principle ; when it is in the hands of a man who can use it and despise it. who can be witty and something much letter than witty, who loves honour, justice, decency, good-nature, morality, and religion, ten thousand times better than wit ; wit is then a beautiful and delightful part of our nature.
Page 170 - There are seven windows in the head: two nostrils, two eyes, two ears, and a mouth; so in the heavens there are two favorable stars, two unpropitious, two luminaries, and Mercury alone undecided and indifferent. From which and many other similar phenomena of nature, such as the seven metals, etc., which it were tedious to enumerate, we gather that the number of planets is necessarily seven.
Page 148 - ... and seldom sincerely to give a true account of their gift of reason to the benefit and use of men: as if there were sought in knowledge a couch whereupon to rest a searching and restless spirit; or a terrace for a wandering and variable mind to walk up and down with a fair prospect; or a tower of state, for a proud mind to raise itself upon; or a fort or commanding ground, for strife and contention; or a shop, for profit or sale; and not a rich storehouse for the glory of the Creator and the...
Page 242 - Fill'd with the face of heaven, which, from afar, Comes down upon the waters ; all its hues, From the rich sunset to the rising star, Their magical variety diffuse : And now they change ; a paler shadow strews Its mantle o'er the mountains ; parting day Dies like the dolphin, whom each pang imbues With a new colour as it gasps away, The last still loveliest, till — 'tis gone — and all is gray.
Page 170 - There are seven windows given to animals in the domicile of the head, through which the air is admitted to the tabernacle of the body, to enlighten, to warm, and to nourish it...
Page 257 - There is no more interesting spectacle than to see the effects of wit upon the different characters of men, than to observe it expanding caution, relaxing dignity, unfreezing coldness — teaching age, and care, and pain, to smile — extorting reluctant gleams of pleasure from melancholy, and charming even the pangs of grief. It is pleasant to observe how...
Page 148 - For men have entered into a desire of learning and knowledge, sometimes upon a natural curiosity and inquisitive appetite ; sometimes to entertain their minds with variety and delight ; sometimes for ornament and reputation ; and sometimes to enable them to victory of wit and contradiction; and most times for lucre and profession ; and seldom sincerely to give a true account of their gift of reason, to the benefit and use of men...
Page 257 - ... grief. It is pleasant to observe how it penetrates through the coldness and awkwardness of society, gradually bringing men nearer together, and, like the combined force of wine and oil, giving every man a glad heart and a shining countenance. Genuine and innocent wit like this, is surely the flavour of the mind!