Critical and Miscellaneous Essays, Volume 1Weeks, Jordan & Company, 1840 - English essays |
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Page 15
... whole was wrapped up in an envelope , superscribed To Mr. Skinner , Merchant . ' On examination , the large manuscript proved to be the long lost Essay on the Doctrines of Christianity , which , according to Wood and Toland , Milton ...
... whole was wrapped up in an envelope , superscribed To Mr. Skinner , Merchant . ' On examination , the large manuscript proved to be the long lost Essay on the Doctrines of Christianity , which , according to Wood and Toland , Milton ...
Page 25
... whole superincumbent mass with its own heat and radiance . It is not our intention to attempt anything like a com- plete examination of the poetry of Milton . The public has long been agreed as to the merit of the most remarkable ...
... whole superincumbent mass with its own heat and radiance . It is not our intention to attempt anything like a com- plete examination of the poetry of Milton . The public has long been agreed as to the merit of the most remarkable ...
Page 26
... whole effect is destroyed . The spell loses its power ; and he who should then hope to conjure with it , Iwould find himself as much mistaken as Cassim in the Arabian tale , when he stood crying , ' Open Wheat , ' ' Open Barley , ' to ...
... whole effect is destroyed . The spell loses its power ; and he who should then hope to conjure with it , Iwould find himself as much mistaken as Cassim in the Arabian tale , when he stood crying , ' Open Wheat , ' ' Open Barley , ' to ...
Page 38
... whole in ambiguity . He has doubtless by so doing laid himself open to the charge of inconsisten- cy . But , though philosophically in the wrong , we cannot but believe that he was poetically in the right . This task , which almost any ...
... whole in ambiguity . He has doubtless by so doing laid himself open to the charge of inconsisten- cy . But , though philosophically in the wrong , we cannot but believe that he was poetically in the right . This task , which almost any ...
Page 42
... whole rabble of Satyrs and Goblins . If ever despondency and asperity could be excused in any man , it might have been excused in Milton . But the strength of his mind over- came every calamity . Neither blindness , nor gout , nor age ...
... whole rabble of Satyrs and Goblins . If ever despondency and asperity could be excused in any man , it might have been excused in Milton . But the strength of his mind over- came every calamity . Neither blindness , nor gout , nor age ...
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Popular passages
Page 56 - Many politicians of our time are in the habit of laying it down as a self-evident proposition, that no people ought to be free till they are fit to use their freedom.
Page 137 - Partridge, with a contemptuous sneer; "why, I could act as well as he myself. I am sure if I had seen a ghost I should have looked in the very same manner, and done just as he did.
Page 73 - It is, to borrow his own majestic language, " a sevenfold chorus of hallelujahs and harping symphonies.
Page 31 - But now my task is smoothly done: I can fly, or I can run Quickly to the green earth's end, Where the bowed welkin slow doth bend, And from thence can soar as soon To the corners of the moon. Mortals, that would follow me, Love Virtue; she alone is free. She can teach...
Page 227 - The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
Page 21 - ... human actions, it is by no means certain that it would have been a good one. It is extremely improbable that it would have contained half so much able reasoning on the subject as is to be found in the Fable of the Bees.
Page 21 - fine frenzy " which he ascribes to the poet, — a fine frenzy doubtless, but still a frenzy. Truth, indeed, is essential to poetry ; but it is the truth of madness. The reasonings are just; but the premises are false. After the first suppositions have been made...
Page 255 - In favour and pre-eminence, yet fraught With envy against the Son of God, that day...
Page 23 - And, as the magic lantern acts best in a dark room, poetry effects its purpose most completely in a dark age. As the light of knowledge breaks in upon its exhibitions, as the outlines of certainty become more and more definite, and the shades of probability...
Page 26 - Milton cannot be comprehended or enjoyed unless the mind of the reader co-operate with that of the writer. He does not paint a finished picture or play for a mere passive listener. He sketches, and leaves others to fill up the outline. He strikes the key-note, and expects his hearer to make out the melody.