Synopses & Reviews
This collection, spanning four centuries of English wit, wisdom, and common sense, contains the thoughts of a number of renowned masters of the essay. From Francis Bacon--the English author who reputedly imported the genre from France, to literary critic, mystery writer, and social commentator G. K. Chesterton, more than twenty writers express their views on such subjects as walking, writing, traveling, sleeping, pets, friends, and childhood.
Included among the literary offerings are "Sir Roger de Coverley at Spring-Garden" by Joseph Addison, "A Meditation Upon a Broomstick" by Jonathan Swift, Samuel Johnson's "Dick Minim the Critic," as well as compositions by Oliver Goldsmith, Charles Lamb, D. H. Lawrence, Virginia Woolf, George Bernard Shaw, and other noted authors.
The works are presented chronologically and original publication dates are given where available.
Synopsis
English essays spanning four centuries are featured in this very affordably priced volume. Included are such classics as Bacon's "On Love" and "Of Ambition"; Addison's "A Vision of Justice"; Goldsmith's "National Prejudices"; Lamb's "The Superannuated Man"; Chesterton's "A Defence of Nonsense"; Swift's "A Modest Proposal"; plus works by Belloc, Hazlitt, Steele, and others.
Synopsis
Essays spanning 4 centuries reflect the wit, wisdom, and common sense of a number of distinguished English writers. Included are Addison's "Sir Roger de Coverley at Spring-Garden," Swift's "A Meditation Upon a Broomstick," Johnson's "Dick Minim the Critic," plus compositions by Oliver Goldsmith, Charles Lamb, D. H. Lawrence, Virginia Woolf, George Bernard Shaw, and others.
Synopsis
Essays spanning 4 centuries reflect the wit, wisdom, and common sense of a number of distinguished English writers. Includes works by Addison, Swift, Johnson, Goldsmith, Lamb, Woolf, Shaw, and others.
About the Author
Bob Blaisdell is professor of English at the City University of New York's Kingsborough Community College and the editor of twenty-two Dover literature and poetry collections.
Table of Contents
Francis Bacon
Of Love
Of Cunning
Of Ambition
Of Gardens
Thomas Fuller
The Good Schoolmaster
Owen Feltham
On Dreams
Abraham Cowley
Of Myself
Jonathan Swift
A Meditation on a Broomstick, According to the Style and Manner of the Hon. Robert Boyle's Meditations
A Modest Proposal
Joseph Addison
Sir Roger de Coverley at Spring-Garden
The Tory Fox-Hunter
Meditations in Westminster Abbey
Richard Steele
Jack Lizard
Recollections of Childhood
Samuel Johnson
Dick Minim the Critic
Spring
Sir Joshua Reynolds
Art Connoisseurs
Oliver Goldsmith
The Character of an Important Trifler, Beau Tibbs
The Character of the Trifler Continued: with That of His Wife, His House, and Furniture
National Prejudice
James Boswell
Passionate Love
Parents and Their Children
Charles Lamb
Mrs. Battle's Opinions on Whist
A Bachelor's Complaint of the Behaviour of Married People
The Superannuated Man
Old China
William Hazlitt
On Familiar Style
On Going a Journey
Leigh Hunt
A Few Thoughts on Sleep
Getting Up on Cold Mornings
William Makepeace Thackeray
Tunbridge Toys
Charles Dickens
Lying Awake
Anthony Trollope
A Walk in a Wood
John Ruskin
The Clouds Are There
John Addington Symonds
Personal Style
W. H. Hudson
Her Own Village
Dandy: A Story of a Dog
Alice Meynell
Fellow Travellers with a Bird
The UnreadyRichard Jefferies The July Grass
Augustine Birrell
Book-Buying
Robert Louis Stevenson
Notes on the Movements of Young Children
George Bernard Shaw
On Pleasure Bent
G. K. Chesterton
A Defence of Skeletons
A Defence of Nonsense
Twelve Men
Virginia Woolf
Hours in a Library
D. H. Lawrence
Adolf