Lectures on the English Language |
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Page 5
... thing characteristic , every thing peculiar , in their own constitution , their own posses- sions , their own historic recollections , as conservative ele- ments , as means of resistance against an influence which sought , first , to ...
... thing characteristic , every thing peculiar , in their own constitution , their own posses- sions , their own historic recollections , as conservative ele- ments , as means of resistance against an influence which sought , first , to ...
Page 10
... thing of such vse , as the naturall deliurie of our mind and meaning is . And to saie the truth what rea- son is it ... things which we like of so much , we should neuer by compar- ing haue discerned the better . - Richard Mulcaster ...
... thing of such vse , as the naturall deliurie of our mind and meaning is . And to saie the truth what rea- son is it ... things which we like of so much , we should neuer by compar- ing haue discerned the better . - Richard Mulcaster ...
Page 13
... thing in language , ) the inflections are bald and imperfectly distinguished , and the number of solitary exceptional facts , especially in French , is very great . When I speak of the poverty of French inflections , I am aware I ...
... thing in language , ) the inflections are bald and imperfectly distinguished , and the number of solitary exceptional facts , especially in French , is very great . When I speak of the poverty of French inflections , I am aware I ...
Page 14
... thing to the existing stores of knowledge respecting English philology , and content himself with the humbler and more selfish aim of appropriating and elaborating the material which more fortunate or better - trained European scholars ...
... thing to the existing stores of knowledge respecting English philology , and content himself with the humbler and more selfish aim of appropriating and elaborating the material which more fortunate or better - trained European scholars ...
Page 16
... Things much used inevitably become much worn , and it is one of the most curious phenomena of language , that words are as subject as coin to defacement and abrasion , by brisk circulation . The majority of those who speak any tongue ...
... Things much used inevitably become much worn , and it is one of the most curious phenomena of language , that words are as subject as coin to defacement and abrasion , by brisk circulation . The majority of those who speak any tongue ...
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accent adjective alliteration ancient Anglo-Saxon articulation belonging Ben Jonson Bible century character Chaucer classical common composition compound consonants derived dialect diction dictionary distinct early elements employed England English language English words etymology example expression fact familiar foreign French gender German Gothic Gothic languages grammatical Greek guage Hence Icelandic important inflections influence instances intellectual Italian language Latin Layamon Lecture less letters linguistic literature meaning modern moral nations native noun obsolete occur original Ormulum orthoepy orthography participle particles period persons philological phrase Piers Ploughman plural poetic poetry possessive present primitive printed pronounced pronunciation prose prosody radical reference remarkable respect rhymes Robert of Gloucester Romance roots rule Saxon sense Shakespeare signification sound speak speech strong inflection syllables syntactical syntax thing thought tion tongue translation verb verbal verse vocabulary vowel weak inflection writers written Wycliffe Wycliffite
Popular passages
Page 358 - OF man's first disobedience, and the fruit Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste Brought death into the world, and all our woe, With loss of Eden, till one greater Man Restore us, and regain the blissful seat, Sing, heavenly Muse...
Page 71 - But solemn and sublime ; whom not to offend, With reverence I must meet, and thou retire.' He ended : and the archangel soon drew nigh, Not in his shape celestial, but as man Clad to meet man ; over his lucid arms...
Page 72 - At once on the eastern cliff of Paradise He lights; and to his proper shape returns A seraph wing'd : six wings he wore, to shade His lineaments divine ; the pair that clad Each shoulder, broad, came mantling o'er his breast With regal ornament ; the middle pair Girt like a starry zone his waist, and round Skirted his loins and thighs with downy gold, And colours dipt in heaven; the third his feet Shadow'd from either heel with feather'd mail, Sky-tinctured grain. Like Maia's son he stood, And shook...
Page 630 - Oxford. 13. The directors in each company to be the Deans of Westminster and Chester for that place, and the king's professors in the Hebrew or Greek in either university. 14. These translations to be used when they agree better with the text than the Bishops' Bible: Tindale's, Matthew's, Coverdale's, Whitchurch's, Geneva.
Page 132 - In one corner was a stagnant pool of water, surrounding an island of muck; there were several half-drowned fowls crowded together under a cart, among which was a miserable, crest-fallen cock, drenched out of all life and spirit, his drooping tail matted, as it were, into a single feather, along which the water trickled from his back...
Page 335 - AN EPITAPH ON THE ADMIRABLE DRAMATIC POET W. SHAKESPEARE. WHAT needs my Shakespeare for his honour'd bones The labour of an age in piled stones ? Or that his hallow'd reliques should be hid Under a star-ypointing pyramid...
Page 73 - In courts, at feasts, and high solemnities, Where most may wonder at the workmanship ; It is for homely features to keep home, They had their name thence ; coarse complexions, And cheeks of sorry grain, will serve to ply The sampler, and to tease the housewife's wool. What need a vermeil-tinctured lip for that, Love-darting eyes, or tresses like the morn? There was another meaning in these gifts ; Think what, and be advised : you are but young yet.
Page 90 - Another will say, it wanteth grammar. Nay, truly, it hath that praise, that it wanteth not grammar; for grammar it might have, but it needs it not; being so easy in itself, and so void of those cumbersome differences of cases, genders, moods, and tenses; which, I think, was a piece of the Tower of Babylon's curse, that a man should be put to school to learn his mother tongue. But for the uttering sweetly and properly the conceits of the mind, which is the end of speech, that hath it equally with...
Page 562 - Well I remember the day ! once saved my life in a skirmish; Here in front you can see the very dint of the bullet Fired point-blank at my heart by a Spanish arcabucero. Had it not been of sheer steel, the forgotten bones of Miles Standish Would at this moment be mould, in their grave in the Flemish morasses.
Page 165 - For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind : it hath no stalk: the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up.