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Samuel Johnson's Essays

~ republished 260 years later

Samuel Johnson's Essays

Category Archives: The Idler

No. 83. Scruple, Wormwood, Sturdy and Gentle.

November 17, 1759

I have at last begun what I have long wished at an end, and find it more easy than I expected to continue my narration.

No. 82. The true idea of beauty.

November 10, 1759

From what has been said, it may be inferred, that the works of nature, if we compare one species with another, are all equally beautiful.

No. 81. Indian’s speech to his countrymen.

November 3, 1759

Many years and ages are supposed to have been thus passed in plenty and security; when, at last, a new race of men entered our country from the great ocean.

No. 80. Ladies’ journey to London.

October 27, 1759

That every day has its pains and sorrows is universally experienced, and almost universally confessed, but every day has likewise its pleasures.

No. 79. Grand style of painting.

October 20, 1759

Your acceptance of a former letter on painting gives me encouragement to offer a few more sketches on the same subject.

No. 78. Steady, Snug, Startle, Solid and Misty

October 13, 1759

There was a select set, supposed to be distinguished by superiority of intellects, who always passed the evening together.

No. 77. Easy writing.

October 6, 1759

To require from any author many pieces of easy poetry, would be indeed to oppress him with too hard a task.

No. 76. False criticisms on painting.

September 29, 1759

I was much pleased with your ridicule of those shallow criticks, whose judgment, though often right as far as it goes, yet reaches only to inferior beauties

No. 75. Gelaleddin of Bassora.

September 22, 1759

In the time when Bassora was considered as the school of Asia, and flourished by the reputation of its professors and the confluence of its students

No. 74. Memory rarely deficient.

September 15, 1759

The true art of memory is the art of attention.

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Samuel Johnson's Collected Essays




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