Blair's Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles-lettres |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 13
Page 4
... beauties , which are the highest , of eloquence and poetry . Q. What are the characters of good Taste ? A. Delicacy and correctness . Q. What does Delicacy of Taste respect ? A. The perfection of that natural sensibilì- ty on which Taste .
... beauties , which are the highest , of eloquence and poetry . Q. What are the characters of good Taste ? A. Delicacy and correctness . Q. What does Delicacy of Taste respect ? A. The perfection of that natural sensibilì- ty on which Taste .
Page 12
... highest in- stances of the sublime ? A. The Sacred Scriptures . Q. What descriptions in the Scriptures ex- cel in the sublime ? A. The descriptions of the Deity . * He stood and measured the earth : he beheld , " and drove asunder the ...
... highest in- stances of the sublime ? A. The Sacred Scriptures . Q. What descriptions in the Scriptures ex- cel in the sublime ? A. The descriptions of the Deity . * He stood and measured the earth : he beheld , " and drove asunder the ...
Page 16
... highest pleasure to the imagination ? A. Beauty . Q. How is the emotion which it raises , dis- tinguished from that of sublimity ? A. It is of a calmer kind ; more gentle and soothing ; extends to a greater variety of ob- jects ; and ...
... highest pleasure to the imagination ? A. Beauty . Q. How is the emotion which it raises , dis- tinguished from that of sublimity ? A. It is of a calmer kind ; more gentle and soothing ; extends to a greater variety of ob- jects ; and ...
Page 21
... highest astonishment ; but , like the expanse of the firmament , it has be- come familiar , and we behold it without won- der . Q. How may we form the best idea of its origin ? A. By contemplating the circumstances of mankind in their ...
... highest astonishment ; but , like the expanse of the firmament , it has be- come familiar , and we behold it without won- der . Q. How may we form the best idea of its origin ? A. By contemplating the circumstances of mankind in their ...
Page 33
... highest degree ? A. The Greek . Q. What is the flexibility of the English ? A. Inferior to the Italian , but highly repu- table . Q. In what has it been thought most de- fective ? A. In harmony of sound . Q. Is it so to an extreme ? A ...
... highest degree ? A. The Greek . Q. What is the flexibility of the English ? A. Inferior to the Italian , but highly repu- table . Q. In what has it been thought most de- fective ? A. In harmony of sound . Q. Is it so to an extreme ? A ...
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
action Addison Æneid ages agreeable ancient animated Aristotle attention beauty blank verse book of Job Cæsar character chiefly Cicero clear colours Comedy composition concise connexion correct Dean Swift Demosthenes didactic dignity discourse distinct distinguished Dryden effect elegant Eloisa to Abelard eloquence eminent employed English epic poem Epic Poetry excel expression favourable figure French genius give grandeur Greek hearers Herodotus historian ideas Iliad imagination Imitation ject kind language Livy Lyric Poetry manner ment Metaphors Milton mind modern moral narration nature ness never object Orator ornament passion pastoral perspicuity philosophical pleasures poet poetical poetry Polybius preacher principal propriety pulpit racter renders ride to town Roman rule scenes sense sentence sentiments sermons simplicity sound speak speaker speech spirit strength style sublime Tacitus Taste Theocritus thing thought Thucidydes tion Tragedy unity Verb versation verse Virgil Whence words writing
Popular passages
Page 46 - Me miserable ! which way shall I fly Infinite wrath, and infinite despair? Which way I fly is Hell; myself am Hell; And, in the lowest deep, a lower deep Still threatening to devour me opens wide, To which the Hell I suffer seems a Heaven.
Page 47 - Earth felt the wound, and Nature, from her seat Sighing through all her works, gave signs of woe, That all was lost.
Page 140 - A man of a polite imagination is let into a great many pleasures that the vulgar are not capable of receiving. He can converse with a picture, and find an agreeable companion in 'a statue. He meets with a secret refreshment in a description, and often feels a greater satisfaction in the prospect of fields and meadows, than another does in the possession.
Page 134 - Our sight is the most perfect and most delightful of all our senses. It fills the mind with the largest variety of ideas, converses with its objects at the greatest distance, and continues the longest in action without being tired or satiated with its proper enjoyments. The sense of feeling can indeed give us a notion of extension, shape, and all other ideas that enter at the eye, except colours ; but at the same time it is very much straitened and confined in its operations to the number, bulk,...
Page 140 - He meets with a secret refreshment in a description, and often feels a greater satisfaction in the prospect of fields and meadows than another does in the possession. It gives him, indeed, a kind of property in every thing he sees, and makes the most rude uncultivated parts of nature administer to his pleasures: so that he looks upon the world, as it were, in another light, and discovers in it a multitude of charms that conceal themselves from the generality of mankind.
Page 141 - There are indeed but very few who know how to be idle and innocent, or have a relish of any pleasures that are not criminal; every diversion they take is at the expense of some one virtue or another, and their very first step out of business is into vice or folly.
Page 142 - ... as the mind, and not only serve to clear and brighten the imagination, but are able to disperse grief and melancholy, and to set the animal spirits in pleasing and agreeable motions. For this reason Sir Francis Bacon, in his Essay upon Health,' has not thought it improper to prescribe to his reader a poem or a prospect, where he particularly dissuades him from knotty and subtile disquisitions, and advises him to pursue studies that fill the mind with splendid and illustrious objects, as histories,...
Page 141 - A man should endeavour, therefore, to make the sphere of his innocent pleasures as wide as possible, that he may retire into them with safety, and find in them such a satisfaction as a wise man would not blush to take.
Page 39 - I shall detain you now no longer in the demonstration of what we should not do, but straight conduct you to a hill-side, where I will point you out the right path of a virtuous and noble education ; laborious indeed at the first ascent, but else so smooth, so green, so full of goodly prospect, and melodious sounds on every side, that the harp of Orpheus was not more charming-.
Page 14 - He, above the rest In shape and gesture proudly eminent, Stood like a tower. His form had yet not lost All her original brightness, nor...