The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D., Volume 2

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Talboys & Wheeler, 1826

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Page 69 - Looking tranquillity! It strikes an awe And terror on my aching sight; the tombs And monumental caves of death look cold, And shoot a chillness to my trembling heart.
Page 17 - Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it.
Page 41 - ... supposing your arguments to be weak and inconclusive. But sir, that is not enough. An argument which does not convince yourself, may convince the judge to whom you urge it ; and if it does convince him, why then, sir, you are wrong and he is right. It is his business to judge ; and you are not to be confident in your own opinion that a cause is bad, but to say all you can for your client, and then hear the judge's opinion.
Page 5 - Though very poor, may still be very blest ; That trade's proud empire hastes to swift decay, As ocean sweeps the labour'd mole away ; While self-dependent power can time defy, As rocks resist the billows and the sky.
Page 221 - One evening, in a circle of wits, he found fault with me for talking of Johnson as -entitled to the honour of unquestionable superiority. " Sir," said he, "you are for making a monarchy of what should be a republic.
Page 33 - Johnson said, he thought he had already done his part as a writer. " I should have thought so too...
Page 35 - He added, therefore, that Dr. Hill was, notwithstanding, a very curious observer ; and if he would have been contented to tell the world no more than he knew, he might have been a very considerable man, and needed not to have recourse to such mean expedients to raise his reputation.
Page 128 - If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.
Page 181 - ... else that denoted his imbecility. I as much believe that he wrote it, as if I had seen him do it. Sir, had he shown it to any one friend, he would not have been allowed to publish it. He has, indeed, done it very well; but it is a foolish thing well done. I suppose he has been so much elated with the success of his new comedy, that he has thought every thing that concerned him must be of importance to the public.

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