The Infirmities of Genius Illustrated by Referring the Anomalies in the Literary Character to the Habits and Constitutional Peculiarities of Men of Genius, Volume 1 |
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Page 5
... frequently made the subject of biography ; but of all are they least fitted for that sort of microscopic biography which consists in the exhibition of the minute details of life . The Pytho- ness , we are told , was but a pitiable ...
... frequently made the subject of biography ; but of all are they least fitted for that sort of microscopic biography which consists in the exhibition of the minute details of life . The Pytho- ness , we are told , was but a pitiable ...
Page 9
... frequent termination of the literary career ; ) — who can deny that the sufferer has , in a great measure , drawn the evil on himself , but who will not admit that his in- firmities of mind and body are entitled to indulgence and THE ...
... frequent termination of the literary career ; ) — who can deny that the sufferer has , in a great measure , drawn the evil on himself , but who will not admit that his in- firmities of mind and body are entitled to indulgence and THE ...
Page 16
... frequently the only gifts he had to offer , when the popular stomach had need of something more substantial . A famished tailor , to very little purpose , acquires a smattering of geometry ; a butcher , of algebra ; or any others of the ...
... frequently the only gifts he had to offer , when the popular stomach had need of something more substantial . A famished tailor , to very little purpose , acquires a smattering of geometry ; a butcher , of algebra ; or any others of the ...
Page 76
... frequently predicted that he would die on a Thursday , but the prediction was not accomplished . Some of the following brief accounts of the closing scene of men of genius , may tend to illustrate the pre- ceding observations , and to ...
... frequently predicted that he would die on a Thursday , but the prediction was not accomplished . Some of the following brief accounts of the closing scene of men of genius , may tend to illustrate the pre- ceding observations , and to ...
Page 84
... frequently Pallentes morbi , luctus , curæque laborque Et metus , et malesuada fames , et turpis egestas Terribiles visu formæ.- - But it would be absurd , as well as unjust , to attribute the misfortunes of literary men to the conduct ...
... frequently Pallentes morbi , luctus , curæque laborque Et metus , et malesuada fames , et turpis egestas Terribiles visu formæ.- - But it would be absurd , as well as unjust , to attribute the misfortunes of literary men to the conduct ...
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Common terms and phrases
apoplexy appears application attack attention authors bard biographer bodily body Boswell brain Burns Byron cause CHAPTER character choly constitution CONTINUED Cowper death dejection depression disease disorder dramatists dying dyspepsia effects electricity enthusiasm epilepsy errors evil excessive excitement exercise exertion feelings friends genius gloom Goethe habits heart Hippocrates human hypochondria imagination infirmities influence insanity irritability James Johnson Johnson labour Lady laudanum letters literary living longevity Lope de Vega Lord Lord Byron madness malady melan melancholy ment Metastasio mind misery monomania moral natural philosophers nature nerves nervous energy ness never observation occasion opinion pain passion perhaps period Petrarch philosophers physician poet poetry Pope port wine produced pursuits reason religion religious Salvator Rosa says Scott SIR WALTER SCOTT speaking spirits stomach studious sufferings symptoms temper thing thought tion told truth vigour weary Wilson Philip wonder words writing
Popular passages
Page 13 - How small , of all that human hearts endure , That part which laws or kings can cause or cure.
Page 142 - An educated man stands, as it were, in the midst of a boundless arsenal and magazine, filled with all the weapons and engines which man's skill has been able to devise from the earliest time ; and he works, accordingly, with a strength borrowed from all past ages. How different is his state who...
Page 224 - Yet must I think less wildly : — I have thought Too long and darkly, till my brain became, In its own eddy boiling and o'erwrought, A whirling gulf of phantasy and flame : And thus, untaught in youth my heart to tame, My springs of life were poison'd.
Page 51 - The eclipse of Nature spreads my pall, — The majesty of darkness shall Receive my parting ghost ! This spirit shall return to Him That gave its heavenly spark; Yet think not, Sun, it shall be dim When thou thyself art dark! No ! it shall live again, and shine In bliss unknown to beams of thine, By him recall'd to breath, Who captive led captivity, Who robb'd the grave of Victory, — And took the sting from Death...
Page 124 - Every thing about his character and manners was forcible and violent ; there never was any moderation. Many a day did he fast, many a year did he refrain from wine : but when he did eat, it was voraciously ; when he did drink wine, it was copiously. He could practise abstinence, but not temperance.
Page 62 - In time some particular train of ideas fixes the attention, all other intellectual gratifications are rejected, the mind, in weariness or leisure, recurs constantly to the favourite conception, and feasts on the luscious falsehood whenever she is offended with the bitterness of truth.
Page 228 - In England, five years ago, I had the same kind of hypochondria, but accompanied with so violent a thirst, that I have drank as many as fifteen bottles of soda-water in one night, after going to bed...
Page 116 - I ventured to tell him, that I had been, for moments in my life, not afraid of death; therefore I could suppose another man in that state of mind for a considerable space of time. He said, 'he never had a moment in which death was not terrible to him.
Page 72 - Of the great number to whom it has been my painful professional duty to have administered in the last hours of their lives, I have sometimes felt surprised that so few have appeared reluctant to go to " the undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveller returns.
Page 119 - ... reason to disentangle him. This was his anxious care, to go out or in at a door' or passage, by a certain number of steps from a certain point, or at least so as that either his right or his left foot, (I am not certain which,) should constantly make the first actual movement when he came close to the door or passage. Thus I conjecture : for I have, upon innumerable occasions, observed him suddenly stop, and then seem to count his steps with...