Lanterna Rally

Author: Samuel Johnson

Publisher: Forgotten Books

Published: 2016-11-23

Total Pages: 756

ISBN-13: 9781334379666

Excerpt from The Works of the English Poets, From Chaucer to Cowper, Vol. 19 of 21: Including the Series Edited, With Prefaces, Biographical and Critical, by Dr. Samuel Johnson; Pope's Homer's Iliad and Odyssey; Dryden's Virgil and Juvenal; Pitt's Virgil's AEneid and Vida's Art of Poetry; Francis's Horace Homer. Is universally allowed to have had the greatest invention of any writer whatever. The praise of judgment Virgil has justly contested with him, and others may have their pretensions as to parti dular excellencies but his invention remains yet unrivalled. Nor is it a wonder if he has ever been' acknowledged the greatest of poets, who most excelled in that which is the very foundation of 'poetryo It is the invention that in different degrees distinguishes all great geniuses: the utmost stretch of human study, learning, and industry, which masters every thing besides, can never attain to thir. It furnishes art with all her materials, and without it, judgment itself can at beast but steal wisely; for art is only like a prudent steward that lives on managing the riches of nature. 'hatever praises may be given to works of judgment, there is not even a single beauty in them to which the invention must not contribute as in the most regular gardens, 'art can only reduce the beauties of nature to more regularity, and such a figure, which the common eye may'better take 'in, and is therefore more entertained with. And perhaps the reason why common critics are inclined to prefer a judicious and methodical genius to a' great 'and fruitful one, is, because they find it easier for themselves to pur sue their observations through an uniform and bounded walk of art, than to comprehend the vast and various extent of nature. Our author's work is a wild paradise, where if we cannot see all the beauties so distinctly as in an ordered garden, it is only because the number of them is infinitely greater. It is like a copious nur sery, ' which contains the seeds and first productions of every kind, out of which. Those who followed him have but selected some particular plants, each according to his fancy, to cultivate and beautify. If some things are too luxuriant, it is owing to the richness of the soil 5 and if others are not arrived to perfection or maturity, it is only because they are over-run and opprest by those of a stronger nature. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."