Curiosities of Literature, Volume 2J. Murray, 1823 |
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acrostics ancient anecdote appears Aristotle asses asses ears astrologer beautiful bishop blunder Bouts-rimés called century character Charles Charles II church composed controversy court curious custom Daniel Heinsius discovered divine dress Duke Duke of Burgundy Elizabeth emperors extravagant eyes fashion father favour folly France French give given gloves gold grave hair hand Henry VIII honour illustrious ingenious inquisition Jesuit king lady learned length Leo Allatius letters literary lively Lord majesty manner Marforio metempsychosis Mignard modern monarch monks never Nominalists notices observes occasion painted Pasquin passion Perizonius person Peter Bales Philip philosopher Plato play poems poet poetical Pope present prince published Puttenham queen racter reader reign relics ridiculous Roman ruffes Saint satire says Scaliger Scioppius singular taste thing tion translated treatise verses vicar of Bray wear wigs word writer written wrote
Popular passages
Page 227 - at the Mount of St Mary's, in the stony stage where I now stand, I have brought you some fine biscuits, baked in the oven of charity, carefully conserved for the chickens of the church, the sparrows of the spirit, and the sweet swallows of salvation.
Page 226 - I will take hold of the boughs thereof: now also thy breasts shall be as clusters of the vine, and the smell of thy nose like apples; And the roof of thy mouth like the best wine for my beloved, that goeth down sweetly, causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak.
Page 220 - Elias Ashmole writes in his diary — " May 13, 1653. E 2 My father Backhouse (an astrologer who had adopted him for his son, a common practice with these men) lying sick in Fleet-street, over against St. Dunstan's church, and not knowing whether he should live or die, about eleven of the clock, told me in syllables the true matter of the philosopher's stone, which he bequeathed to me as a legacy.
Page 201 - THE Iliad of Homer in a nutshell, which Pliny says that Cicero once saw, it is pretended might have been a fact, however to some it may appear impossible. .ZElian notices an artist who wrote a distich in letters of gold, which he enclosed in the rind of a grain of corn.
Page 219 - Congenial to the avarice of the human heart, it was studied in China, as in Europe, with equal eagerness and equal success. The darkness of the middle ages ensured a favourable reception to every tale of wonder; and the revival of learning gave new vigour to hope, and suggested more specious arts to deception. Philosophy, with the aid of experience, has at length banished the study of alchymy ; and the present age, however desirous of riches, is content to seek them by the humbler means of commerce...
Page 151 - Modeste en ma couleur, modeste en mon séjour, Franche d'ambition, je me cache sous l'herbe ; Mais si, sur votre front, je puis me voir un jour, La plus humble des fleurs sera la plus superbe.
Page 235 - Tom Nash, who loved to push the ludicrous to its extreme, in his amusing invective against the classical Gabriel Harvey, tells us that " he had writ verses in all kinds ; in form of a pair of gloves, a pair of spectacles, and a pair of pot-hooks,
Page 107 - I am an Englishman, and naked I stand here, Musing in my mind what raiment I shall wear For now I will wear this, and now I will wear that. And now I will wear I cannot tell what.
Page 83 - In Greenland the women colour their faces with blue and yellow. However fresh the complexion of a Muscovite may be, she would think herself very ugly if she was not plastered over with paint. The Chinese must have their feet as diminutive as those of the...
Page 222 - In the nineteenth century the transmutation of metals will be generally known and practised. Every chemist and every artist will make gold; kitchen utensils will be of silver, and even gold, which will contribute more than any thing else to prolong life, poisoned at present by the oxides of copper, lead, and iron, which we daily swallow with our food.