Specimens of English Prose Writers: From the Earliest Times to the Close of the Seventeenth Century, with Sketches, Biographical and Literary ... |
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Page 34
... Cheke . wrote a letter to this haughty and overbearing prelate , in which he
contended , that the true sounds of the letters had been changed in the last
barbarous ages , and that it was therefore better to mend that barbarity than to
follow it .
... Cheke . wrote a letter to this haughty and overbearing prelate , in which he
contended , that the true sounds of the letters had been changed in the last
barbarous ages , and that it was therefore better to mend that barbarity than to
follow it .
Page 45
ty , then ye take all hope away from yours , to come to any better estate than you
now leave them . And as many mean men ' s children come honestly up , and are
great succour to all their stock , so should none be hereafter holpen by you .
ty , then ye take all hope away from yours , to come to any better estate than you
now leave them . And as many mean men ' s children come honestly up , and are
great succour to all their stock , so should none be hereafter holpen by you .
Page 56
And the rather to set out this folly , I will add here such a letter as William Sommer
himself , could not make a better for that purpose , - devised by a Lincolnshire
man for a void benefice . “ This point he illustrates with other familiar and
pleasant ...
And the rather to set out this folly , I will add here such a letter as William Sommer
himself , could not make a better for that purpose , - devised by a Lincolnshire
man for a void benefice . “ This point he illustrates with other familiar and
pleasant ...
Page 63
And again , such a man is an excellent fellow , saith one , he can speak the
tongues well , he plays of instruments few men better , he feigneth to the lute
marvellous sweetly , he endites excellently : but for all this , the more is the pity ,
he hath ...
And again , such a man is an excellent fellow , saith one , he can speak the
tongues well , he plays of instruments few men better , he feigneth to the lute
marvellous sweetly , he endites excellently : but for all this , the more is the pity ,
he hath ...
Page 90
And as for the Latin or Greek tongue , every thing is so excellently done in them ,
that none can do better : in the English tongue , contrary , every thing in a manner
so meanly , both for the matter and handling , that no man can do worse .
And as for the Latin or Greek tongue , every thing is so excellently done in them ,
that none can do better : in the English tongue , contrary , every thing in a manner
so meanly , both for the matter and handling , that no man can do worse .
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according afterwards Anatomy of Melancholy ancient appear beginning better bishop body born brought called cause Christ Christians Chronicle church collection College common contained continued court death desire died divers divine doth edition Elizabeth England English friars give hand hath Henry Holinshed honour Italy James John kind king knowledge land language Latin learning likewise live London lord manner Mary matter mean mind nature never observed opinion original persons present prince printed published queen reason reign religion Scripture shew sometimes sort sound speak taken thee thereof things thou thought tion translated true truth unto volume wherein whole write written
Popular passages
Page 332 - ... a couch whereupon to rest a searching and restless spirit ; or a terrace for a wandering and variable mind to walk up and down with a fair prospect ; or a tower of state for a proud mind to raise itself upon ; or a fort or commanding ground for strife and contention ; or a shop for profit or sale ; and not a rich storehouse for the glory of the creator and the relief of man's estate.
Page 155 - But he cometh to you with words set in delightful proportion, either accompanied with, or prepared for, the wellenchanting skill of music; and with a tale, forsooth, he cometh unto you, with a tale which holdeth children from play, and old men from the chimney-corner...
Page 329 - Execrabilis ista turba, quae non novit legem^] for the winning and persuading of them, there grew of necessity in chief price and request eloquence and variety of discourse, as the fittest and forciblest access into the capacity of the vulgar sort.
Page 292 - My lord, when I lost the freedom of my cell, which was my college, yet I found some degree of it in my quiet country parsonage ; but I am weary of the noise and oppositions of this place, and indeed God and nature did not intend me for contentions, but for study and quietness.
Page 420 - In style, to consider what ought to be written and after what manner, he must first think and excogitate his matter, then choose his words and examine the weight of either, then take care in placing and ranking both matter and words, that the composition be comely, and to do this with diligence and often.
Page 484 - ... Equity is a roguish thing : for law we have a measure, know what to trust to ; equity is according to the conscience of him that is chancellor, and as that is larger or narrower, so is equity. "Tis all one as if they should make the standard for the measure we call a foot...
Page 156 - ... with a tale, forsooth; he cometh unto you, with a tale, which holdeth children from play and old men from the chimney-corner; and, pretending no more, doth intend the winning of the mind from wickedness to virtue ; even as the child is often brought to take most wholesome things by hiding them in such other as have a pleasant taste...
Page 151 - ... comfort ; here a shepherd's boy piping, as though he should never be old : there a young shepherdess knitting, and withal singing, and it seemed that her voice comforted her hands to work, and her hands kept time to her voice-music.
Page 331 - It seems to me that Pygmalion's frenzy is a good emblem or portraiture of this vanity ; for words are but the images of matter, and except they have life of reason and invention, to fall in love with them is all one as to fall in love with a picture.
Page 422 - Custom is the most certain mistress of language, as the public stamp makes the current money. But we must not be too frequent with the mint, every day coining. Nor fetch words from the extreme and utmost ages; since the chief virtue of a style is perspicuity, and nothing so vicious in it as to need an interpreter.
Bibliographic information
| Title | Specimens of English Prose Writers: From the Earliest Times to the Close of the Seventeenth Century, with Sketches, Biographical and Literary ... Volume 2 of Specimens of English Prose Writers: From the Earliest Times to the Close of the Seventeenth Century, with Sketches, Biographical and Literary, George Burnett |
| Author | George Burnett |
| Publisher | Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, 1807 |
| Original from | the New York Public Library |
| Digitized | 7 Nov 2006 |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |