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Samuel Johnson's Essays

Category Archives: The Rambler

No. 168. Poetry debased by mean expressions. An example from Shakespeare.

October 26, 1751

—Decipit Frons prima multos: rara mens intelligit, Quod interiore condidit cura angulo. PHÆDRUS, Lib. iv. Fab. i. 5.   The tinsel …

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No. 167. The marriage of Hymenæus and Tranquilla.

October 22, 1751

Candida perpetuo reside, Concordia, lecto, Tamque pari semper sit Venus æqua jugo. Diligat illa senem quondam: sed et ipsa marito, …

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No. 166. Favour not easily gained by the poor.

October 19, 1751

Semper, eris pauper si pauper es, Aemiliane: Dantur opes nullis nunc nisi divitibus. MART. Lib. v. Ep. xxxi.   Once poor, …

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No. 165. The impotence of wealth. The visit of Scrotinus to the place of his nativity.

October 15, 1751

 [Greek: Aen neos, alla penaes nun gaeron, plousios eimi O monos ek panton oiktros en amphoterois, Os tote men chraesthai …

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No. 164. Praise universally desired. The failings of eminent men often imitated.

October 12, 1751

Vitium, Gaure, Catonis habes. MART. Lib. ii. Ep. lxxxix. 2.   Gaurus pretends to Cato’s fame; And proves—by Cato’s vice, his …

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No. 163. The mischiefs of following a patron.

October 8, 1751

Mitte superba pati fastidia, spemque caducam Despice; vive tibi, nam moriere tibi. SENECA.   Bow to no patron’s insolence; rely On …

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No. 162. Old men in danger of falling into pupilage.

October 5, 1751

Orbus es, et locuples, et Bruto consule natus, Esse tibi veras credis amicitias? Sunt veræ: sed quas juvenis, quas pauper …

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No. 161. The revolutions of a garret.

October 1, 1751

[Greek: Oiae gar phullon geneae, toiaede kai Andron.] HOM. Il. [Greek: T.]   Frail as the leaves that quiver on the …

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No. 160. Rules for the choice of associates.

September 28, 1751

—Inter se convenit ursis. JUV. Sat. xv. 164.   Beasts of each kind their fellows spare; Bear lives in amity with …

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No. 159. The nature and remedies of bashfulness.

September 24, 1751

Sunt verba et voces, quibus hunc lenire dolorem Possis, et magnuum morbi deponere partem. HOR. Ep. Lib. i. 34.   The …

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