Mr. Johnson's Preface to His Edition of Shakespear's Plays..J. and R. Tonson, H. Woodfall, J. Rivington, R. Baldwin, L. Hawes, Clark and Collins, T. Longman, W. Johnston, T. Caslon, C. Corbet, T. Lownds, and the executors of B. Dodd., 1765 - 72 من الصفحات |
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الصفحة vii
... scenes which they once illuminated . The ef- fects of favour and competition are at an end ; the tradition of his friendships and his enmities has pe- rifhed ; his works fupport no opinion with argu- ments , nor supply any faction with ...
... scenes which they once illuminated . The ef- fects of favour and competition are at an end ; the tradition of his friendships and his enmities has pe- rifhed ; his works fupport no opinion with argu- ments , nor supply any faction with ...
الصفحة xiii
... scenes , as it extends to all his works , de- ferves more confideration . Let the fact be firft stated , and then examined . Shakespeare's plays are not in the rigorous or cri- tical fenfe either tragedies or comedies , but compo ...
... scenes , as it extends to all his works , de- ferves more confideration . Let the fact be firft stated , and then examined . Shakespeare's plays are not in the rigorous or cri- tical fenfe either tragedies or comedies , but compo ...
الصفحة xiv
... scenes the paffions are interrupted in their progreffion , and that the principal event , being not advanced by a due gradation of preparatory incidents , wants at laft the power power to move , which conftitutes the perfection of ...
... scenes the paffions are interrupted in their progreffion , and that the principal event , being not advanced by a due gradation of preparatory incidents , wants at laft the power power to move , which conftitutes the perfection of ...
الصفحة xvii
... scenes , he seems to produce with- out labour , what no labour can improve . In tragedy he is always ftruggling after fome occafion to be comick , but in comedy he feems to repofe , or to luxuriate , as in a mode of thinking congenial ...
... scenes , he seems to produce with- out labour , what no labour can improve . In tragedy he is always ftruggling after fome occafion to be comick , but in comedy he feems to repofe , or to luxuriate , as in a mode of thinking congenial ...
الصفحة xxi
... scenes he is feldom very fuccessful , when he engages his characters in reciprocations of smartness and conteft of farcafm ; their jefts are com- monly grofs , and their pleafantry licentious ; neither his gentlemen nor his ladies have ...
... scenes he is feldom very fuccessful , when he engages his characters in reciprocations of smartness and conteft of farcafm ; their jefts are com- monly grofs , and their pleafantry licentious ; neither his gentlemen nor his ladies have ...
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abfurdities action againſt arife authour becauſe cafual cenfure comedy comick compofition confeffed confidered conjecture copies corrupted criticiſm criticks curiofity defign defire dialogue difcovered diftinct diligence drama dramatick eafily eafy edition editor emendations endeavoured errour excellence fable fafe faid fame fatisfied faults fcenes feems feldom felect fentiments fhall fhew fhewn fhould filent firft firſt folicitous fome fometimes forrow fpeeches ftage ftand ftate ftudies fubject fuch fuffered fufficient fupply fuppofe fure fyftem hiftories himſelf human imitation impoffible inferted inftruct juſt knowledge labour laft language learning lefs lence likewife mind modes moſt muſt nature neceffary neral numbers obfcure obfervations occafion paffages paffed paffions paſ perfonal perhaps perufal Plautus plays pleaſe pleaſure poet poffible Pope praife praiſed prefent preferved profe publick publiſhed purpoſe raiſed reader reaſon reft reprefented reſtoration ſcenes ſeems Shakespeare ſkill ſtate ſtudy themſelves theſe thofe thoſe thour tion tragedy truth underſtand uſe Voltaire writers
مقاطع مشهورة
الصفحة xxiii - A quibble is the golden apple for which he will always turn aside from his career, or stoop from his elevation. A quibble, poor and barren as it is, gave him such delight that he was content to purchase it by the sacrifice of reason, propriety and truth. A quibble was to him the fatal Cleopatra for which he lost the world, and was content to lose it.
الصفحة xxviii - It is credited, whenever it moves, as a just picture of a real original ; as representing to the auditor what he would himself feel, if he were to do or suffer what is there feigned to be suffered or to be done. The reflection that strikes the heart is not, that the evils before us are real evils, but that they are evils to which we ourselves may be exposed.
الصفحة xliv - He has scenes of undoubted and perpetual excellence ; but perhaps not one play, which, if it were now exhibited as the work of a contemporary writer, would be heard to the conclusion.
الصفحة xxiii - A quibble is to Shakespeare what luminous vapours are to the traveller : he follows it at all adventures ; it is sure to lead him out of his way, and sure to engulf him in the mire.
الصفحة v - THAT praises are without reason lavished on the dead, and that the honours due only to excellence are paid to antiquity, is a complaint likely to be always continued by those, who, being able to add nothing to truth, hope for eminence from the heresies of paradox ; or those, who, being forced by disappointment upon consolatory expedients, are willing to hope from posterity what the present age refuses, and flatter themselves that the regard which is yet denied by envy, will be at last bestowed by...
الصفحة lxx - He was the man who of all modern, and perhaps ancient poets, had the largest and most comprehensive soul. All the images of nature were still present to him, and he drew them not laboriously, but luckily : when he describes anything, you more than see it, you feel it too.
الصفحة xxvi - The objection arising from the impossibility of passing the first hour at Alexandria and the next at Rome supposes that, when the play opens, the spectator really imagines himself at Alexandria, and believes that his walk to the theatre has been a voyage to Egypt, and that he lives in the days of Antony and Cleopatra. Surely he that imagines this may imagine more.
الصفحة xvii - Shakespeare engaged in dramatick poetry with the world open before him ; the rules of the ancients were yet known to few; the publick judgment was unformed; he had no example of such fame as might force him upon imitation, nor criticks of such authority as might restrain his extravagance: he therefore indulged his natural disposition, and his disposition, as Rymer has remarked, led him to comedy.
الصفحة xx - ... in the virtuous a disapprobation of the wicked. He carries his persons indifferently through right and wrong, and at the close dismisses them without further care, and leaves their examples to operate by chance. This fault the barbarity of his age cannot extenuate, for it is always a writer's duty to make the world better, and justice is a virtue independent on time or place.
الصفحة viii - Shakespeare is above all writers, at least above all modern writers, the poet of nature; the poet that holds up to his readers a faithful mirrour of manners and of life. His characters are not modified by the customs of particular places, unpractised by the rest of the world; by the peculiarities of studies or professions, which can operate but upon small numbers; or by the accidents of transient fashions or temporary opinions: they...