Aristarchus; Or, The Principles of Composition: Containing a Methodical Arrangement of the Improprieties Frequent in Writing and Conversation: with Select Rules for Attaining to Purity and Elegance of Expression ...

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J. Hearne, 1822 - 396 pages
 

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Page 124 - In the worst inn's worst room, with mat half-hung, The floors of plaster, and the walls of dung, On once a flock-bed, but repair'd with straw, With tape-tied curtains, never meant to draw, The George and Garter dangling from that bed Where tawdry yellow strove with dirty red, Great Villiers lies — alas!
Page 131 - I got on horseback within ten minutes after I got your letter. When I got to Canterbury, I got a chaise for town; but I got wet through before I got to Canterbury, and I have got such a cold as I shall not be able to get rid of in a hurry. I got to the Treasury about noon, but first of all I got shaved and dressed. I soon got into the secret of getting a memorial before the Board, but I could not get an answer then ; however, I got intelligence from the messenger that I should, most likely, get one...
Page 171 - Who wickedly is wise, or madly brave, Is but the more a fool, the more a knave. Who noble ends by noble means obtains, Or failing, smiles in exile or in chains, Like good Aurelius let him reign, or bleed Like Socrates, that man is great indeed. What's fame? a fancied life in others' breath, A thing beyond us, ev'n before our death.
Page 359 - The proper distinction in the use of these particles, is elegantly marked in a passage of Dr. Robertson's History of Scotland. When one of the old Scottish kings was making an inquiry into the tenure by which his nobles held their lands, they started up, and drew their swords; 'By these,' said they, 'we acquired our lands, and with these we will defend them.
Page 22 - The Structure of Language is extremely artificial; and there are few sciences in which a deeper or more refined logic is employed, than in grammar. It is apt to be slighted by superficial thinkers, as belonging to those rudiments of knowledge, which were inculcated upon us in our earliest youth. But what was then inculcated before we could comprehend its principlesi would abundantly repay our study in maturer years ; and to the ignorance of it, must be attributed many of those fundamental defects...
Page 25 - Human Understanding. For some Part of the inestimable Benefit of that Book has, merely on account of its Title, reached to many Thousands more than, I fear, it would have done, had he called it (what it is merely) A Grammatical Essay, or a Treatise on Words, or on Language.
Page 224 - As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so is the Son of man lifted up; that whosoever believeth in him may not perish, but have everlasting life.
Page 22 - The exercise of taste and of sound criticism, is in truth one of the most improving employments of the understanding. To apply the principles of good sense to composition and discourse ; to examine what is beautiful, and why it is so -, to employ ourselves in distinguishing accurately between the specious and the solid, between affected and natural ornament, must...
Page 23 - Whatever the advantages or defects of the English language be, as it is our own language it deserves a high degree of our study and attention, both with regard to the choice of words which we employ, and with regard to the syntax, or the arrangement of those words in a sentence.
Page 9 - If your delight be then in thrones and sceptres, O ye kings of the people, honour wisdom, that ye may reign for evermore.

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