Essays of Joseph Addison

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Macmillan, 1885 - 377 pages
 

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Page 377 - THE FAIRY BOOK ; the Best Popular Fairy Stories. Selected and rendered anew by the Author of
Page xi - It was said of Socrates, that he brought Philosophy down from Heaven to inhabit among Men ; and I shall be ambitious to have it said of me, that I have brought Philosophy out of Closets and Libraries, Schools and Colleges, to dwell in Clubs and Assemblies, at Tea-tables, and in Coffee-houses.
Page 12 - I AM always very well pleased with a country Sunday, and think, if keeping holy the seventh day were only a human institution, it would be the best method that could have been thought of for the polishing and civilizing of mankind. It is certain the country people would soon degenerate into a kind of savages and barbarians, were there not such frequent returns of a stated time, in which the whole village meet together with their best faces, and in their cleanliest habits, to converse with one another...
Page 176 - I observed some with scimitars in their hands, and others with urinals, who ran to and fro upon the bridge, thrusting several persons on trapdoors which did not seem to lie in their way, and which they might have escaped had they not been thus forced upon them. ' The genius seeing me indulge myself in this melancholy prospect, told me I had dwelt long enough upon it : "Take thine eyes off the bridge," said he, " and tell me if thou yet seest anything thou dost not comprehend." Upon looking up,
Page 174 - He then led me to the highest pinnacle of the rock, and placing me on the top of it, ' Cast thy eyes eastward,' said he, ' and tell me what thou seest.' ' I see,' said I, ' a huge valley, and a prodigious tide of water rolling through it.' ' The valley that thou seest,' said he. ' is the Vale of Misery, and the tide of water that thou seest is a part of the great tide of eternity.
Page 173 - As I looked upon him he applied it to his lips, and began to play upon it. The sound of it was exceeding sweet, and wrought into a variety of tunes that were inexpressibly melodious, and altogether different from any thing I had ever heard. They put me in mind of those heavenly airs that are played to the departed souls of good men upon their first arrival in Paradise, to wear out the impressions of their last agonies, and qualify them for the pleasures of that happy place.
Page 3 - HAVING often received an invitation from my friend Sir Roger de Coverley to pass away a month with him in the country, I last week accompanied him thither, and am settled with him for some time at his country-house, where I intend to form several of my ensuing speculations. Sir Roger...
Page 173 - Mirza," which I have read over with great pleasure. I intend to give it to the public when I have no other entertainment for them; and shall begin with the first vision, which I have translated word for word as follows : — " On the fifth day of the moon, which according to the custom of my forefathers...
Page 14 - ... reprimand to the person that is absent. The chaplain has often told me, that upon a catechising day, when sir Roger has been pleased with a boy that answers well, he has ordered a bible to be given him next day for his encouragement; and sometimes accompanies it with a flitch of bacon to his mother.
Page 294 - THERE is not so variable a thing in nature as a lady's head-dress: within my own memory I have known it rise and fall above thirty degrees. About ten 'years ago it shot up to a very great height, insomuch that the female part of our species were much taller than the men. (a) The women were of such an enormous stature, that we appeared as grasshoppers before them.

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