The British Essayists: Rambler |
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able acquaintance advantage appearance attention beauty believe called cause character common condition consider continued conversation danger desire discover easily effects employed endeavour equally excellence expected eyes favour fear feel folly force fortune frequently future gain genius give given hands happen happiness heart honour hope hour human imagination interest Johnson kind knowledge known labour ladies learning least less live look mankind means ment mind misery nature necessary neglect never objects observed once opinion ourselves pain passed passions performance perhaps persons pleased pleasure praise present produce reason received regard rest says seems seldom short sometimes soon success suffer sufficiently sure tell thing thought thousand tion turn universal virtue wish write young
Popular passages
Page xlviii - ... devout prayer to that eternal Spirit who can enrich with all utterance and knowledge, and sends out his seraphim, with the hallowed fire of his altar, to touch and purify the lips of whom he pleases...
Page 319 - All joy or sorrow for the happiness or calamities of others is produced by an act of the imagination, that realizes the event however fictitious, or approximates it however remote, by placing us, for a time, in the condition of him whose fortune we contemplate; so that we feel, while the deception lasts, whatever motions would be excited by the same good or evil happening to ourselves.
Page xxxvii - Johnson: one, in particular, praised his impartiality ; observing, that he dealt out reason and eloquence, with an equal hand to both parties. " That is not quite true," said Johnson ; " I saved appearances tolerably well; but I took care that the WHIG DOGS should not have the best of it.
Page 84 - The gates of hell are open night and day ; Smooth the descent, and easy is the way : But, to return, and view the cheerful skies — In this the task and mighty labour lies.
Page 347 - Obidah paused for a time, and began to consider whether it were longer safe to forsake the known and common track ; but remembering that the heat was now in its greatest violence, and that the plain was dusty and uneven, he resolved to pursue the new path, which he supposed only to make a few meanders, in compliance with the varieties of the ground, and to end at last in the common road. Having thus calmed his solicitude, he renewed his pace, though he suspected he was not gaining ground.
Page 17 - ... more particularly delighted, are such as exhibit life in its true state, diversified only by accidents that daily happen in the world, and influenced by passions and qualities which are really to be found in conversing with mankind. This kind of writing may be termed not improperly the comedy of romance, and is to be conducted nearly by the rules of comic poetry.
Page 350 - ... yet remains one effort to be made : that reformation is never hopeless , nor sincere endeavours ever unassisted } that the wanderer may at length return, after all his errors} and that he who implores strength and courage from above, shall find danger and difficulty give way before him . Go now , my son , to thy repose ; commit thyself to the care of Omnipotence ; and when the morning calls again to toil, begin anew thy journey and thy life .
Page 223 - There is certainly no greater felicity, than to be able to look back on a life usefully and virtuously employed ; to trace our own progress in existence, by such tokens as excite neither shame nor sorrow.
Page 33 - Tis thine alone to calm the pious breast With silent confidence and holy rest; From thee, great God, we spring, to thee we tend, Path, motive, guide, original, and end.
Page 74 - Nothing is more unjust, however common, than to charge with hypocrisy him that expresses zeal for those virtues which he neglects to practice; since he may be sincerely convinced of the advantages of conquering his passions, without having yet obtained the victory...
Bibliographic information
| Title | The British Essayists: Rambler Volume 16 of The British Essayists, James Ferguson Volume 16 of The British Essayists: With Prefaces, Biographical, Historical, and Critical, James Ferguson |
| Editor | James Ferguson |
| Contributor | James Ferguson |
| Edition | 2 |
| Publisher | J. Richardson and Company, 1823 |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |