Critical and historical essays |
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Page 1
... doubt can exist that it is a genuine relic of the great poet . Mr Sumner , who was commanded by his Majesty to edite and translate the treatise , has acquitted himself of his task in a manner honourable to his talents and to his ...
... doubt can exist that it is a genuine relic of the great poet . Mr Sumner , who was commanded by his Majesty to edite and translate the treatise , has acquitted himself of his task in a manner honourable to his talents and to his ...
Page 7
... doubt that this veneration for the Athenian , whether just or not , was injurious to the Samson Agonistes . Had Milton taken Æschy- lus for his model , he would have given himself up to the lyric inspiration , and poured out profusely ...
... doubt that this veneration for the Athenian , whether just or not , was injurious to the Samson Agonistes . Had Milton taken Æschy- lus for his model , he would have given himself up to the lyric inspiration , and poured out profusely ...
Page 13
... doubt that they belong to a man too proud and too sensitive to be happy . Milton was , like Dante , a statesman and a lover ; and , like Dante , he had been unfortunate in ambition and in love . He had survived his health and his sight ...
... doubt that they belong to a man too proud and too sensitive to be happy . Milton was , like Dante , a statesman and a lover ; and , like Dante , he had been unfortunate in ambition and in love . He had survived his health and his sight ...
Page 18
... doubt , were produced by the civil war . They were the price of our liberty . Has the acquisition been worth the sacrifice ? It is the nature of the Devil of tyranny to tear and rend the body which he leaves . Are the miseries of ...
... doubt , were produced by the civil war . They were the price of our liberty . Has the acquisition been worth the sacrifice ? It is the nature of the Devil of tyranny to tear and rend the body which he leaves . Are the miseries of ...
Page 25
... doubt- ing Thomases or careless Gallios with regard to religious subjects , but pas- sionate worshippers of freedom . Heated by the study of ancient literature , they set up their country as their idol , and proposed to themselves the ...
... doubt- ing Thomases or careless Gallios with regard to religious subjects , but pas- sionate worshippers of freedom . Heated by the study of ancient literature , they set up their country as their idol , and proposed to themselves the ...
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absurd admiration appeared army authority Bacon believe Bengal Catholic century character Charles Christian Church Church of England Church of Rome Clive conduct Council Court Crown defend doctrines Dupleix eminent enemies England English Europe evil favour feeling France French Gladstone Hampden Hastings honour House of Bourbon House of Commons human hundred India interest judge King letters liberty lived Long Parliament Lord Lord Byron manner means ment mind minister moral Nabob nation nature never Novum Organum Nuncomar Omichund opinion Parliament party passed persecuted person philosophy Pitt poet poetry political Prince principles produced Protestant Protestantism reason reform reign religion religious respect Revolution Rome scarcely seems Sir James Mackintosh society Southey sovereign Spain spirit statesman strong talents temper Temple thing thought thousand tion took Tories truth Walpole Whigs whole writer
Popular passages
Page 416 - We see in needle-works and embroideries, it is more pleasing to have a lively work upon a sad and solemn ground, than to have a dark and melancholy work upon a lightsome ground : judge therefore of the pleasure of the heart by the pleasure of the eye. Certainly virtue is like precious odours, most fragrant when they are incensed or crushed: for Prosperity doth best discover vice, but Adversity doth best discover virtue.
Page 416 - Yet even in the Old Testament, if you listen to David's harp, you shall hear as many hearse-like airs as carols; and the pencil of the Holy Ghost hath laboured more in describing the afflictions of Job than the felicities of Solomon. Prosperity is not without many fears and distastes; and adversity is not without comforts and hopes.
Page 17 - Oliver Cromwell, his bitterest enemies themselves being judges, destitute of private virtues? And what, after all, are the virtues ascribed to Charles? A religious zeal, not more sincere than that of his son, and fully as weak and narrow-minded, and a few of the ordinary household decencies which half the tombstones in England claim for those who lie beneath them. A good father! A good husband! Ample apologies indeed for fifteen years of persecution, tyranny, and falsehood!
Page 11 - God, the uncreated, the incomprehensible, the invisible, attracted few worshippers. A philosopher might admire so noble a conception : but the crowd turned away in disgust from words which presented no image to their minds. It was before Deity embodied in a human form, walking among men, partaking of their infirmities, leaning on their bosoms, weeping over their graves, slumbering in the manger, bleeding on the cross, that the prejudices of the Synagogue, and the doubts of the Academy, and the pride...
Page 454 - Pleased with the danger, when the waves went high He sought the storms; but, for a calm unfit, Would steer too nigh the sands to boast his wit.
Page 548 - She saw the commencement of all the governments and of all the ecclesiastical establishments that now exist in the world ; and we feel no assurance that she is not destined to see the end of them all.
Page 19 - But the remedy is, not to remand him into his dungeon, but to accustom him to the rays of the sun. The blaze of truth and liberty may at first dazzle and bewilder nations which have become half blind in the house of bondage. But let them gaze on, and they will soon be able to bear it. In a few years men learn to reason. The extreme violence of opinions subsides.
Page 359 - No man ever spoke more neatly, more pressly, more weightily, or suffered less emptiness, less idleness, in what he uttered. No member of his speech but consisted of his own graces. His hearers could not cough or look aside from him without loss. He commanded where he spoke, and had his judges angry and pleased at his devotion. No man had their affections more in his power. The fear of every man that heard him was lest he should make an end.
Page 23 - The Puritans were men whose minds had derived a peculiar character from the daily contemplation of superior beings and eternal interests. Not content with acknowledging, in general terms, an overruling Providence, they habitually ascribed every event to the will of the Great Being, for whose power nothing was too vast, for whose inspection nothing was too minute.
Page 192 - The style of Bunyan is delightful to every reader, and invaluable as a study to every person who wishes to obtain a wide command over the English language. The vocabulary is the vocabulary of the common people. There is not an expression, if we except a few technical terms of theology, which would puzzle the rudest peasant. We have observed several pages which do not contain a single word of more than two syllables. Yet no writer has said more exactly what he meant to say.