Morality of Fiction: Or, An Inquiry Into the Tendency of Fictitious Narratives, with Observations on Some of the Most Eminent

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Mundell, 1805 - 174 pages
 

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Page 171 - THE curfew tolls the knell of parting day, The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea, The plowman homeward plods his weary way, And leaves the world to darkness and to me. Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight, And all the air a solemn stillness holds, Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight, And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds...
Page 166 - Vice, for vice is necessary to be shown, should always disgust; nor should the graces of gaiety, or the dignity of courage, be so united with it, as to reconcile it to the mind : wherever it appears, it should raise hatred by the malignity of its practices, and contempt by the meanness of its stratagems : for while it is supported by either parts or spirit, it will be seldom heartily abhorred.
Page 173 - With vain attempt. Him the Almighty Power Hurled headlong flaming from the ethereal sky, With hideous ruin and combustion, down To bottomless perdition, there to dwell In adamantine chains and penal fire, Who durst defy the Omnipotent to arms.
Page 164 - It is therefore not a sufficient vindication of a character, that it is drawn as it appears, for many characters ought never to be drawn ; nor of a narrative, that the train of events is agreeable to observation and experience, for that observation which is called knowledge of the world will be found much more frequently to make men cunning than good.
Page 172 - He spoke, and awful bends his sable brows ; Shakes his ambrosial curls, and gives the nod ; The stamp of fate, and sanction of the god : 685 High heaven with trembling the dread signal took, And all Olympus to the centre shook.
Page 163 - But if the power of example is so great, as to take possession of the memory by a kind of violence, and produce effects almost without the intervention of the will, care ought to be taken, that, when the choice is unrestrained, the best examples only should be exhibited ; and that which is likely to operate so strongly, should not be mischievous or uncertain in its effects.
Page 163 - It is justly considered as the greatest excellency of art, to imitate nature; but it is necessary to distinguish those parts of nature, which are most proper for imitation: greater care is still required in representing life, which is so often discoloured by passion, or deformed by wickedness.
Page 164 - The purpose of these writings is surely not only to show mankind, but to provide that they may be seen hereafter with less hazard ; to teach the means of avoiding the snares which are laid by Treachery for Innocence, without infusing any wish for that superiority...

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