When the works of a great writer, who has bequeathed to posterity a lasting legacy, are presented to the world, it is naturally expected that some account of his life should accompany the edition. The reader wishes to know as much as possible of the author. The circumstances that attended him, the features of his private character, his conversation, and the means by which he arose to eminence, become the favourite objects of inquiry. Curiosity is excited; and the admirer of his works is ea...

The story revolves around the character of Rasselas, the prince of Abyssinia (an ancient kingdom in what is now modern-day Ethiopia). Rasselas grows weary of his life of luxury and seclusion in the Happy Valley, a utopian place where he has been confined with other members of the royal family. Despite being surrounded by material comfort, Rasselas feels dissatisfied and longs for a deeper understanding of the meaning of life.Driven by this restlessness, Rasselas and his companions set out ...

The Wit and Wisdom of Samuel JohnsonThis is the world’s best Samuel Johnson quotes collection, including the wittiest and most poignant words from the man known as one of the most quoted men in the English language (second only to Shakespeare).Plus, included is a short biography of the amazing man’s unique and unbelievable life. Johnson is known for his amazing wordplay, his creation of the first ever English dictionary, and his sharp, biting, satiric humor...

THAT praises are without reason lavished on the dead, and that the honours due only to excellence are paid to antiquity, is a complaint likely to be always continued by those, who, being able to add nothing to truth, hope for eminence from the heresies of paradox; or those, who, being forced by disappointment upon consolatory expedients, are willing to hope from posterity what the present age refuses, and flatter themselves that the regard which is yet denied by envy, will be at last besto...

This collection was designed for optimal navigation on eReaders and other electronic devices. All books included in this collection feature a hyperlinked table of contents and footnotes. The collection is complimented by an author biography.Table of ContentsThe Adventurer and Idler 1753-54; 1758-60A Grammar of the English TongueA Journey to the Western Isles of Scotland 1775Lives of the English Poets: Prior, Congreve, Blackmore, Pope 1779-81Lives of the English Poets: Waller, Milton, Cowle...

The story is set in the fictional kingdom of Abyssinia (modern-day Ethiopia) and follows the life of Prince Rasselas, who is a young man of noble birth and has been sheltered within the Happy Valley, a place of luxury and contentment. Despite the seeming perfection of his life, Rasselas is restless and dissatisfied with his existence. He yearns for a life beyond the confines of the valley and wishes to explore the world and seek true happiness.Rasselas, accompanied by his sister Nekayah an...

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), often called "Dr. Johnson", was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, literary critic, sermonist, biographer, editor, and lexicographer. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography calls him «arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history».In his later life Johnson became a celebrity, and following his death he was increasingly seen to have had a lasting effect on literary c...

Beauty in the Ordinary illuminates the spiritual significance and profound beauty of ordinary life. A richly illustrated collection of daily readings and accompanying reflections written by the late Rev. Samuel Johnson Lindamood Jr., Beauty in the Ordinary communicates Big Sam's playful, realistic, humane, and deeply hopeful perspective on modern life. Love and death, forgiveness and friendship, suffering and hope: Lindamood addresses life's ultimate concerns in his frien...

The Complete Works of Samuel JohnsonSamuel Johnson, often referred to as Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor, and lexicographer. Religiously, he was a devout Anglican, and politically a committed Tory.This collection includes the following titles:A Grammar of the English TongueNotes to Shakespeare, Volume III: The TragediesA J...

Thanks to Boswell’s monumental biography of Samuel Johnson, we remember Dr. Johnson today as a great wit and conversationalist, the rationalist epitome and the sage of the Enlightenment. He is more often quoted than read, his name invoked in party conversation on such diverse topics as marriage, sleep, deceit, mental concentration, and patriotism, to generally humorous effect. But in Johnson’s own day, he was best known as an essayist, critic, and lexicographer: a gifted writer possessed o...

William Congreve descended from a family in Staffordshire of so great antiquity, that it claims a place among the few that extend their hue beyond the Norman Conquest, and was the son of William Congreve, second son of Richard Congreve, of Congreve and Stratton. He visited, once at least, the residence of his ancestors; and, I believe, more places than one are still shown in groves and gardens, where he is related to have written his Old Bachelor. Neither the time nor place of his birth is...

Samuel Johnson, born at Lichfield in the year 1709, on the 7th of September Old Style, 18th New Style, was sixty-eight years old when he agreed with the booksellers to write his “Lives of the English Poets.” “I am engaged,” he said, “to write little Lives, and little Prefaces, to a little edition of the English Poets.” His conscience was also a little hurt by the fact that the bargain was made on Easter Eve. In 1777 his memorandum, set down among prayers and meditations, was “29 March, Eas...