Letters from a Father to His Son: Letters ... written in the years 1792 and 1793. 3d ed. 1796J. Johnson, 1796 |
Common terms and phrases
affertion affociations againſt almoſt ancient beauties becauſe beſt cafe caſe caufes cauſe character Circe circumſtances claffes compariſon confequence confiderable courſe defign defire diftinctions diſcover effential Engliſh eſtabliſhed exerciſe exift exiſt faid falfe fame fects feems felves fenfe fentiments fhall fhould fimilar fimple firft firſt fociety fome fource fpecies fpirit ftate fubject fuch fufficient fuperior fuppofed fupported fure fyftem happineſs hiftory higheſt himſelf ideas impreffions inftance inftruction intereſts itſelf kind leaſt lefs LETTER LETTER mankind meaſure mind moft moral moſt muft muſt myſelf nature neceffary neral novelty obfervations objects occafion opinions oppofite ourſelves paffions perfons philofophers pleaſe pleaſure poet poffefs poffible prefent preferve principles profeffion purpoſe queſtion racter reaſon refpect reſembling ſcarcely ſcene ſenſe ſeparate ſhall ſome ſpecies ſtate ſtory ſtudy ſuppoſed tafte taſte thefe themſelves theſe thing thofe thoſe tion tranflation truth ture underſtanding univerfal uſe whofe writers
Popular passages
Page 164 - So modest plainness sets off sprightly wit : For works may have more wit than does them good, As bodies perish through excess of blood.
Page 163 - Something, whofe truth convinc'd at fight, we find, That gives us back the image of our mind.
Page 273 - I will not undertake to maintain against the concurrent and unvaried testimony of all ages, and of all nations. There is no people, rude or learned, among whom apparitions of the dead are not related and believed. This opinion, which, perhaps, prevails as far as human nature is diffused, could become universal only by its truth: those, that never heard of one another, would not have agreed in a tale which nothing but experience can make credible. That it is doubted by single cavillers can very little...
Page 154 - Let fuch teach others who themfelves excel, And cenfure freely who have written well. But furely both thefe are very falfe notions ; for nothing feems to be more a matter of acquirement than the habit of judging accurately on works...
Page 227 - I may justly lay to the words of this excellent person ; for the pursuit of truth hath been my only care, ever since I first understood the meaning of the word. For this, I have forsaken all hopes, all friends, all desires, which might bias me, and hinder me from driving right at what I aimed.
Page 338 - ... and difguft come much more frequently in the way of women than of men. To them belong all offices about the weak, the fick, and the dying. When the houfe becomes a fcene of wretchednefs from any caufe, the man often runs abroad, the woman muft ftay at home and face the worft.
Page 295 - ... is it not enough to open a fource of copious and cheap amufement, which tends to harmonize the mind, and elevate it to worthy conceptions of nature and its author? If I offer a man...
Page 155 - Nature to all things fix'd the limits fit, And wifely curb'd proud man's pretending wit. As on the land while here the ocean gains, In other parts it leaves wide fandy plains...
Page 340 - And surely if we are to pause before any action, it should be before one on which " all the colour of remaining life
Page 334 - But all these being in themselves unamiable qualities, it is less necessary to guard against the possessors of them. They generally render even beauty unattractive ; and no charm but that of fortune is able to overcome the repugnance they excite. How much more fatal than even folly they are to all domestic felicity, you have probably already seen enough of the matrimonial state to judge.