LESLIE STEPHEN: ENGLISH THOUGHT in 18TH C./ RARE 1881

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/ RARE 1881 HISTORY OF ENGLISH THOUGHT IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. BY LESLIE STEPHEN. VOLUME II ONLY OF A TWO-VOLUME SET.London: Smith, Elder, & Co., 1881. Second Edition. Very Scarce. A nice copy of this very scarce and fascinating book. Published more than 125 years ago, this book is now long out of print and very scarce. Such a nice copy is not likely to come up for sale again soon on ebay. From the Text: "Pope is the typical representative of the poetical spirit of the day. He may or may not be regarded as the intellectual superior of Swift or Addison; and the most widely differing opinions may be formed of the intrinsic merits of his poetry. The mere fact, however, that his poetical dynasty was supreme to the end of the century proved that, in some sense, he is a most characteristic product. Nor is it hard to see the main sources of his power. Pope had at least two great poetical qualities. He was amongst the most keenly sensitive of men, and he had an almost unique felicity of expression, which has enabled him to coin more proverbs than any writer since Shakespeare. Sensitive, it may be said, is a polite word for morbid, and his felicity of phrase was more adapted to coin epigrams than poetry. The controversy is here irrevelant. Pope, whether, as I should say, a true poet, or, as some have said, only the most sparkling of rhymesters, read more

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