Johnson's Life of Dryden, with intr. and notes by F. Ryland

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Página 85 - From harmony, from heavenly harmony This universal frame began ; When Nature underneath a heap Of jarring atoms lay, And could not heave her head, The tuneful voice was heard from high, Arise, ye more than dead. Then cold and hot and moist and dry In order to their stations leap, And Music's power obey. From harmony, from heavenly harmony, This universal frame began : From harmony to harmony Through all the compass of the notes it ran, The diapason closing full in Man.
Página 142 - tis all a cheat, Yet, fooled with hope, men favour the deceit ; Trust on, and think to-morrow will repay ; To-morrow's falser than the former day ; Lies worse ; and, while it says we shall be blest With some new joys, cuts off what we possest.
Página xxi - There was therefore before the time of Dryden no poetical diction, no system of words at once refined from the grossness of domestic use, and free from the harshness of terms appropriated to particular arts.
Página 102 - No, there is a necessity in Fate, Why still the brave bold man is fortunate; He keeps his object ever full in sight, And that assurance holds him firm and right; True, 'tis a narrow way that leads to bliss, \ But right before there is no precipice ; \ Fear makes men look aside, and so their footing miss...
Página 65 - Every thing is excused by the play of images and the sprightliness of expression. Though all is easy, nothing is feeble ; though all seems careless, there is nothing harsh ; and though since his earlier works more than a century has passed, they have nothing yet uncouth or obsolete.
Página 103 - When he describes the Supreme Being as moved by prayer to stop the Fire of London, what is his expression? A hollow crystal pyramid he takes, In firmamental waters dipt above, Of it a broad extinguisher he makes, And hoods the flames that to their quarry strove.
Página 42 - The Guardian Angels of Kingdoms were machines too ponderous for him to manage ; and therefore he rejected them as Dares did the whirlbats of Eryx when they were thrown before him by Entellus.
Página 128 - All things are hush'd as Nature's self lay dead, The mountains seem to nod their drowsy head : The little birds in dreams their songs repeat, And sleeping flowers beneath the night dews sweat. Even lust and envy sleep...
Página 74 - And as the Indies were not found before Those rich perfumes which from the happy shore The winds upon their balmy wings convey'd, Whose guilty sweetness first their world betray'd ; So by your counsels we are brought to view A new and undiscover'd world in you.
Página 49 - There are men whose powers operate only at leisure and in retirement, and whose intellectual vigour deserts them in conversation ; whom merriment confuses, and objection disconcerts ; whose bashfulness restrains their exertion, and suffers them not to speak till the time of speaking is past ; or whose attention to their own character makes them unwilling to utter at hazard what has not been considered, and cannot be recalled.

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