When Croft's "Life of Dr. Young" was spoken of as a good
imitation of Dr. Johnson's style, "No, no," read more

When Croft's "Life of Dr. Young" was spoken of as a good
imitation of Dr. Johnson's style, "No, no," said he, "it is not a
good imitation of Johnson; it has all his pomp without his force;
it has all the nodosities of the oak, without its strength; it
has all the contortions of the sibyl, without the inspiration."

And, after all, it is style alone by which posterity will judge
of a great work, for an author read more

And, after all, it is style alone by which posterity will judge
of a great work, for an author can have nothing truly his own but
his style.

Fashion is more usually a gentle progression of revisited ideas.

Fashion is more usually a gentle progression of revisited ideas.

Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.

Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.

A good model can advance fashion by ten years.

A good model can advance fashion by ten years.

Squinting upon the lustre
Of the rich Rings which on his fingers glistre;
And, snuffing with a read more

Squinting upon the lustre
Of the rich Rings which on his fingers glistre;
And, snuffing with a wrythed nose the Amber,
The Musk and Civet that perfum'd the chamber.

The gloomy comparisons of a disturbed imagination, the melancholy
madness of poetry without the inspiration.

The gloomy comparisons of a disturbed imagination, the melancholy
madness of poetry without the inspiration.

Neat, not gaudy.

Neat, not gaudy.

We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.

We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.