Essay on AddisonSilver, Burdett and Company, 1899 |
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48 cents A. H. WELSH Abbey Addi admired Ambrose Philips appeared biographical Boileau called Cato Catullus character classical cloth College composition death Dryden Duke Edited Encyclopædia Encyclopædia Britannica England English English language Essay on Addison excellent fame favorite France Freeholder French friends genius Godolphin habit Halifax honor house of Bourbon House of Commons house of Hanover humor Iliad Ireland Isaac Bickerstaff Johnson Lancelot Addison letter literary critic literature lively Lord Macaulay Macaulay's Essay Malebranche manner Marlborough mind mirth Miss Aikin modern Latin Montague moral Oxford paper Parliament passages poem poets political Pope Pope's popular praise probably published remarkable Rhetoric ridicule satirist scholar schools seems Soame Jenyns Somers Spectator Steele style Sunderland superior Swift talents taste Tatler theater thou thought Tickell tion Tories Travels Vincent Bourne Virgil virtue Voltaire Warwick Whig party writer written
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Page 63 - like a distressed prince who calls in a powerful neighbour to his aid. I was undone by my auxiliary. When I had once called him in, I could not subsist without dependence on him.
Page 25 - He is taller, by almost the breadth of my nail, than any of his court ; which alone is enough to strike an awe into the beholders.
Page 73 - Spectator must be allowed to be both original and eminently happy. Every valuable essay in the series may be read with pleasure separately ; yet the five or six hundred essays form a whole, and a whole which has the interest of a novel. It must be remembered, too, that at that time no novel, giving a lively and powerful picture of the common life and manners of England, had appeared. Richardson was working as a compositor. Fielding was robbing birds
Page 75 - About three sevenths of the work are his ; and it is no exaggeration to say that his worst essay is as good as the best essay of any of his coadjutors. His best essays approach near to absolute perfection ; nor is their excellence more wonderful than their variety. His invention never seems to flag; nor is he ever under the necessity of repeating himself, or of wearing out a subject. There are no dregs in his wine. He regales us after the fashion of that prodigal nabob who held that there was only...
Page 68 - So effectually, indeed, did he retort on vice the mockery which had recently been directed against virtue, that, since his time, the open .violation of decency has always been considered among us as the mark of a fool.
Page 74 - We have not the least doubt that if Addison had written a novel on an extensive plan, it would have been superior to any that we possess. As it is, he is entitled to be considered not only as the greatest of the English essayists, but as the forerunner of the great English novelists.
Page 59 - He was one of those people whom it is impossible either to hate or to respect. His temper was sweet, his affections Warm, his spirits lively, his passions strong, and his principles weak. His life was spent in sinning and repenting ; in inculcating what was right, and doing what was wrong. In speculation, he was a man of piety and honor ; in practice, he was much of the rake and a little of the swindler.
Page 71 - The Tories carry it among the new members six to one. Mr. Addison's election has passed easy and undisputed ; and I believe if he had a mind to be king, he would hardly be refused.
Page 17 - We trust, however, that this feeling will not betray us into that abject idolatry which we have often had occasion to reprehend in others, and which seldom fails to make both the idolater and the idol ridiculous. A man of genius and virtue is but a man. All his powers cannot be equally developed; nor can we expect from him perfect selfknowledge.
Page 89 - Now there can be no doubt that Pope's plan was most ingenious, and that he afterwards executed it with great skill and success. But does it necessarily follow that Addison's advice was bad ? And if Addison's advice was bad, does it necessarily follow that it was given from bad motives ? If a friend were to ask us whether we would advise him to risk his all in a lottery of which the chances were ten to one against him, we should do our best to dissuade him from running such a risk Even if he were...