A History of English Literature: In a Series of Biographical Sketches |
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Page v
... scenes of vanished author - life , and to trace the chief steps by which a green leaf has become a printed volume . For , to know something of the dress our books have worn at various times , and the stuff of which the older ones were ...
... scenes of vanished author - life , and to trace the chief steps by which a green leaf has become a printed volume . For , to know something of the dress our books have worn at various times , and the stuff of which the older ones were ...
Page 18
... scene of triumph came . His touch on the " wood of joy " had power alike to rouse the fiery passions of the warriors or soothe their ruffled moods . He related the deeds of dead heroes , or sung the praise of their living descendants ...
... scene of triumph came . His touch on the " wood of joy " had power alike to rouse the fiery passions of the warriors or soothe their ruffled moods . He related the deeds of dead heroes , or sung the praise of their living descendants ...
Page 22
... scenes they described , it is perhaps the most valuable inheritance we have received from the native literature of our Saxon forefathers . A romance founded on the story of Apollonius of Tyre , -King Alfred's Will , -some Laws and ...
... scenes they described , it is perhaps the most valuable inheritance we have received from the native literature of our Saxon forefathers . A romance founded on the story of Apollonius of Tyre , -King Alfred's Will , -some Laws and ...
Page 40
... scenes , in which the old minstrel was most at home , to the quiet gloom of monastic life , and see what literary work went on within those thick oaken doors , studded with heavy nails , whose hinges creaked out but a churlish welcome ...
... scenes , in which the old minstrel was most at home , to the quiet gloom of monastic life , and see what literary work went on within those thick oaken doors , studded with heavy nails , whose hinges creaked out but a churlish welcome ...
Page 56
... scenes at the shrine , the tales of the return , the wind - up supper , are all untold . Two of the stories -the Tale of Melibeus and the Persones Tale — are in prose , and afford a very favourable specimen of Chaucer's power in that ...
... scenes at the shrine , the tales of the return , the wind - up supper , are all untold . Two of the stories -the Tale of Melibeus and the Persones Tale — are in prose , and afford a very favourable specimen of Chaucer's power in that ...
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Common terms and phrases
Addison afterwards amid Anglo-Saxon appeared Archbishop of Canterbury beauty became Bible born brilliant called Cambridge century CHAPTER character Charles chief chiefly Church College coloured court death died dramatic Dublin Earl early Edinburgh Edinburgh Review England English poetry Essays Faerie Queene fame father finest France genius gentle heart Henry History honour Illustrative extract James John John Milton King Lady land Latin letters literary lived London Lord Milton mind minstrels night noble novel novelist Oxford paper Paradise Lost picture play poem poet poet's poetic poetry political poor prose published Puritan Queen reign ROGER ASCHAM romance round royal scene Scotland Scottish Shakspere song SPECIMEN spent story style Supplementary List sweet Tatler Thomas Thomas Fuller thought took tragedy translation Trinity College University of Edinburgh verse wife WILLIAM words writer written wrote young
Popular passages
Page 210 - The other shape, If shape it might be called that shape had none Distinguishable in member, joint or limb; Or substance might be called that shadow seemed; For each seemed either; black it stood as night, Fierce as ten furies, terrible as Hell, And shook a dreadful dart; what seemed his head The likeness of a kingly crown had on...
Page 211 - Hail, horrors ! hail, Infernal world ! and thou, profoundest Hell, Receive thy new possessor ! one who brings A mind not to be changed by place or time. The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.
Page 212 - No sooner had the Almighty ceased but — all The multitude of Angels, with a shout Loud as from numbers without number, sweet As from blest voices, uttering joy — Heaven rung With jubilee, and loud hosannas filled The eternal regions.
Page 379 - It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then the dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision.
Page 243 - That every man with him was God or devil. In squandering wealth was his peculiar art; Nothing went unrewarded but desert. Beggared by fools, whom still he found too late ; He had his jest, and they had his estate.
Page 190 - For so have I seen a lark rising from his bed of grass, and soaring upwards, singing as he rises, and hopes to get to heaven, and climb above the clouds : but the poor bird was beaten back with the loud sighings of an eastern wind, and his motion made irregular and inconstant — descending more at every breath of the tempest, than it could recover by the...
Page 243 - He sought the storms ; but, for a calm unfit, Would steer too nigh the sands to boast his wit.
Page 227 - I' th' middle of his speech, or cough, H' had hard words ready to show why, And tell what rules he did it by ; Else, when with greatest art he spoke, You'd think he talked like other folk.
Page 447 - Who gave you your invulnerable life, Your strength, your speed, your fury, and your joy, Unceasing thunder and eternal foam ? And who commanded — and the silence came — Here let the billows stiffen, and have rest...
Page 149 - Yet his real power is not shown in the splendour of particular passages, but by the progress of his fable and the tenor of his dialogue ; and he that tries to recommend him by select quotations will succeed like the pedant in Hierocles, who, when he offered his house to sale, carried a brick in his pocket as a specimen.