An Essay on the Study and Composition of Biography

Cover
G. Garbutt, 1813 - 344 Seiten
 

Ausgewählte Seiten

Andere Ausgaben - Alle anzeigen

Häufige Begriffe und Wortgruppen

Beliebte Passagen

Seite 245 - ... the attainder of his father. He was a man of a very extraordinary person and presence, which drew the eyes of all men upon him, which were more fixed by a wonderful graceful behaviour, a flowing courtesy and civility, and such a volubility of language, as surprised and delighted...
Seite 176 - In a man's letters, you know, Madam, his soul lies naked, his letters are only the mirror of his breast; whatever passes within him is shewn undisguised in its natural process ; nothing is inverted, nothing distorted: you see systems in their elements ; you discover actions in their motives.
Seite 322 - Nature, or in other words, what is particular and uncommon, can be acquired only by experience ; and the whole beauty and grandeur of the art consists, in my opinion, in being able to get above all singular forms, local customs, particularities, and details of every kind.
Seite 322 - But it is not every eye that perceives these blemishes. It must be an eye long used to the contemplation and comparison of these forms ; and which by a long habit of observing what any set of objects of the same kind have in common, has acquired the power of discerning what each wants in particular.
Seite 291 - Detested for his cruelty, he had the art, while he loved or feared Sejanus, to throw a veil over his most depraved and vicious appetites. All restraint being at length removed, he broke out without fear or shame, and during the remainder of his life, hurried away by his own unbridled passions, made his reign one scene of lust and cruelty and horror.
Seite 263 - Herein is the exact difference between the young and the old. The young are not happy but when enjoying pleasure ; the old are happy when free from pain. And this constitution suits with the degrees of animal power which they respectively possess.
Seite 123 - ... and the only way in which we can form this idea, is by supposing ourselves in the same circumstances with him, and conceiving how we should be affected if we were so situated.
Seite 263 - The philosopher, the poet, and the historian, all meet in him. Though the period of which he writes may be reckoned unfortunate for an historian, he has made it afford us many interesting exhibitions of human nature. The relations which he gives of the deaths of several eminent personages, are as affecting as the deepest tragedies. He paints with a glowing pencil ; and possesses, beyond all writers, the talent of painting, not to the imagination merely, but to the heart.
Seite 257 - ... he did not stir abroad, till he had completed his education at home ; for nothing can be more pernicious to a nation, than the necessity of a foreign one...
Seite 156 - It is rarely well executed. They only who live with a man can write his life with any genuine exactness and discrimination ; and few people who have lived with a man know what to remark about him.

Bibliografische Informationen