Life and Conversations of Dr. Samuel Johnson: (founded Chiefly Upon Boswell).

Front Cover
Chapman and Hall, 1874 - 441 pages
 

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

Popular passages

Page 65 - Having carried on my work thus far with so little obligation to any favourer of learning, I shall not be disappointed though I should conclude it, if less be possible, with less ; for I have been long wakened from that dream of hope, in which I once boasted myself with so much exultation, " My Lord, " Your Lordship's most humble " Most obedient servant,
Page 390 - The busy day, the peaceful night, " Unfelt, uncounted, glided by ; " His frame was firm, his powers were bright, " Though now his eightieth year was nigh. " Then, with no throbs of fiery pain, " No cold gradations of decay, " Death broke at once the vital chain, " And freed his soul the nearest way.
Page 115 - I believe, Sir, you have a great many. Norway, too, has noble wild prospects ; and Lapland is remarkable for prodigious noble wild prospects. But, Sir, let me tell you the noblest prospect which a Scotchman ever sees is the high road that leads him to England !" ' This unexpected and pointed sally produced a roar of applause.
Page 249 - Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it.
Page 438 - Wealth, my lad, was made to wander, Let it wander as it will ; Call the jockey, call the pander, Bid them come and take their fill. When the bonny blade carouses, Pockets full, and spirits high — What are acres ? what are houses ? Only dirt, or wet or dry. Should the guardian friend or mother, Tell the woes of wilful waste : Scorn their counsel, scorn their pother, — You can hang or drown at last.
Page 112 - I put the cork into the bottle, desired he would be calm, and began to talk to him of the means by which he might be extricated. He then told me that he had a novel ready for the press, which he produced to me. I looked into it, and saw its merit; told the landlady I should soon return, and having gone to a bookseller sold it for sixty pounds. I brought Goldsmith the money, and he discharged his rent, not without rating his landlady in a high tone for having used him so ill.
Page 359 - Poor stuff! No, Sir, claret is the liquor for boys ; port for men ; but he who aspires to be a hero (smiling) must drink brandy.
Page 436 - Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased ; Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow ; Raze out the written troubles of the brain ; And, with some sweet, oblivious antidote, Cleanse the stuffed bosom of that perilous stuff, Which weighs upon the heart ? Doct.
Page 15 - By spending threepence in a coffeehouse, he might be for some hours every day in very good company ; he might dine for sixpence, breakfast on bread and milk for a penny, and do without supper. On clean-shirt-day he went abroad, and paid visits.
Page 259 - Never heed such nonsense,' would be the reply : ' a blade of grass is always a blade of grass, whether in one country or another. Let us, if we do talk, talk about something : men and women are my subjects of inquiry ; let us see how these differ from those we have left behind.

Bibliographic information