Will Johnson
Will Johnson
fleeting ridiculous pleasure
The expense is damnable, the position is ridiculous, and the pleasure fleeting.
wise brave prodigies
Fears of the brave and follies of the wise.
jest impression expected
Merriment is always the effect of a sudden impression. The jest which is expected is already destroyed.
exotic entertainment irrational
An exotic and irrational entertainment, which has been always combated, and always has prevailed.
farce civility scene
The reciprocal civility of authors is one of the most risible scenes in the farce of life.
writing generations poet
[The poet] must write as the interpreter of nature and the legislator of mankind, and consider himself as presiding over the thoughts and manners of future generations, as a being superior to time and place.
country cones despots
A country governed by a despot is an inverted cone.
literature common
The richest author that ever grazed the common of literature.
country kings army
But it is evident, that these bursts of universal distress are more dreaded than felt; thousands and ten thousands flourish in youth, and wither in age, without the knowledge of any other than domestic evils, and share the same pleasures and vexations, whether their kings are mild or cruel, whether the armies of their country pursue their enemies or retreat before them.
made familiar new-things
New things are made familiar, and familiar things are made new.
hunting america gentleman
Hunting was the labour of the savages of North America, but the amusement of the gentlemen of England.
nice men hands
Waste cannot be accurately told, though we are sensible how destructive it is. Economy, on the one hand, by which a certain income is made to maintain a man genteelly; and waste, on the other, by which on the same income another man lives shabbily, cannot be defined. It is a very nice thing; as one man wears his coat out much sooner than another, we cannot tell how.
should-have done should
Had I learned to fiddle, I should have done nothing else.
powerful flower writing
The task of an author is, either to teach what is not known, or to recommend known truths by his manner of adorning them; either to let new light in upon the mind, and open new scenes to the prospect, or to vary the dress and situation of common objects, so as to give them fresh grace and more powerful attractions, to spread such flowers over the regions through which the intellect has already made its progress, as may tempt it to return, and take a second view of things hastily passed over, or negligently regarded.