The Works of John Dryden: Now First Collected in Eighteen Volumes, Volume 9

Front Cover
A. Constable & Company, 1821

From inside the book

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

Popular passages

Page 222 - A daring pilot in extremity, Pleased with the danger, when the waves went high, He sought the storms; but, for a calm unfit, Would steer too nigh the sands to boast his wit. * Great wits are sure to madness near allied, And thin partitions do their bounds divide ; JOHN DRYDEN Else, why should he, with wealth and honour blest, Refuse his age the needful hours of rest?
Page 234 - He laughed himself from Court ; then sought relief By forming parties, but could ne'er be chief : For spite of him, the weight of business fell On Absalom and wise Achitophel...
Page 234 - Not one, but all mankind's epitome : Stiff in opinions, always in the wrong, Was everything by starts and nothing long ; But in the course of one revolving moon Was chemist, fiddler, statesman, and buffoon ; Then all for women, painting, rhyming, drinking, Besides ten thousand freaks that died in thinking. Blest madman, who could every hour employ With something new to wish or to enjoy...
Page 86 - Holland fleet, who, tir'd and done, Stretch'd on their decks like weary oxen lie; Faint sweats all down their mighty members run, (Vast bulks, which little souls but ill supply). In dreams they fearful precipices tread, Or, shipwreck'd, labour to some distant shore : Or, in dark churches, walk among the dead; They wake with horror, and dare sleep no more.
Page 49 - And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty...
Page 217 - Michal, of royal blood, the crown did wear, A soil ungrateful to the tiller's care : Not so the rest ; for several mothers bore To god-like David several sons before : But since like slaves his bed they did ascend, No true succession could their seed attend.
Page 275 - Of mimic'd statesmen and their merry king. No wit to flatter left of all his store! No fool to laugh at, which he valued more. There, victor of his health, of fortune, friends, And fame, this lord of useless thousands ends.
Page 217 - Promiscuous use of concubine and bride ; Then Israel's monarch after heaven's own heart, His vigorous warmth did variously impart To wives and slaves ; and wide as his command, Scatter'd his Maker's image through the land.
Page 270 - A man so various, that he seem'd to be Not one, but all mankind's epitome...
Page 222 - In friendship false, implacable in hate, Resolved to ruin or to rule the state...

Bibliographic information