The General Biographical Dictionary:: Containing an Historical and Critical Account of the Lives and Writings of the Most Eminent Persons in Every Nation; Particularly the British and Irish; from the Earliest Accounts to the Present Time..

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J. Nichols and Son [and 29 others], 1814 - Biography

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Page 304 - Never literary attempt was more unfortunate than my Treatise of Human Nature. It fell dead-born from the press, without reaching such distinction, as even to excite a murmur among the zealots.
Page 421 - Things Divine and Supernatural Conceived by Analogy with Things Natural and Human (1733) he asserts that knowledge of God's essence and attributes can bo only " analogical
Page 249 - ... to remember the forgotten, to attend to the neglected, to visit the forsaken, and to compare and collate the distresses of all men in all countries. His plan is original ; and it is as full of genius as it is of humanity. It was a voyage of discovery ; a circumnavigation of charity.
Page 249 - I cannot name this gentleman without remarking, that his labours and writings have done much to open the eyes and hearts of mankind. He has visited all Europe, — not to survey the sumptuousness of palaces, or the stateliness of temples; not to...
Page 29 - A History of English Councils and Convocations, and of the Clergy's sitting in Parliament, in which is also comprehended the History of Parliaments, with an account of our ancient laws.
Page 249 - ... to dive into the depths of dungeons ; to plunge into the infection of hospitals ; to survey the mansions of sorrow and pain ; to take the gage and dimensions of misery, depression, and contempt; to remember the forgotten, to attend to the neglected, to visit the forsaken, and to compare and collate the distresses of all men in all countries.
Page 173 - ... writing it, he would not fear the loss of his labour. The employment detached him from the bustle and hurry of life, the din of politics, and the noise of folly: vanity and vexation flew away for a season, care and disquietude came not near his dwelling. He arose, fresh as the morning to his task ; the silence of the night invited him to pursue it; and he can truly say, that food and rest were not preferred before it. Every Psalm improved infinitely upon his acquaintance with it, and no one gave...
Page 247 - An Account of the principal Lazarettos in Europe ; with various Papers relative to the Plague ! together with further observations on some Foreign Prisons and Hospitals, and additional Remarks on the present state of those in Great Britain and Ireland.
Page 248 - I am not insensible,' he says, ' of the dangers that must attend such a journey. Trusting, however, in the protection of that kind Providence which has hitherto preserved me, I calmly and cheerfully commit myself to the disposal of unerring Wisdom. Should it please God to cut off my life in the prosecution of this design, let not my conduct be uncandidly imputed to rashness or enthusiasm, but to a serious, deliberate conviction that I am pursuing the path of duty, and to a sincere desire of being...
Page 523 - He was the man, who bore his part in all societies with the most even temper and undisturbed hilarity of all the good companions, whom I ever knew. He came into your house at the very moment you had put upon your card ; he dressed himself to do your party honour in all the colours of the jay ; his lace indeed had long since lost its lustre, but his coat had faithfully retained its cut since the .days when gentlemen wore embroidered figured velvets...

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