...serious and ludicrous characters, and, in the successive evolutions of the design, sometimes produce seriousness and sorrow, and sometimes levity and laughter....a practice contrary to the rules of criticism will s Be readily allowed ; but there is always an appeal open from criticism to nature. The end of writing...

...sorrow. — Shakespear has united the power of exciting laughter and sorrow — in one composition. That this is a practice contrary to the rules of criticism...criticism to nature. The end of writing is to instruct. — That the mingled drama may convey 98) XII, 6l. 99) L. II, 228. 100) Ra. 125. 101) „Defence of...

...Shakespeare (1768) he mentions the poet's mingling of the tragic and the comic in a single play, saying that " this is a practice contrary to the rules of criticism will be readily allowed," but he adds what is of great significance: "but there is always an appeal open from criticism to nature."...

...he mentions the poet's mingling of the tragic and the comic in a single play, saying that " this i? a practice contrary to the rules of criticism will be readily allowed," but he adds what is of great significance : " but there is always an appeal open from criticism to nature."...

...preachments. As a rule, however, Johnson is fairly reasonable in his demands for moral instruction. "The end of writing is to instruct; the end of poetry is to instruct by pleasing," he declared at the beginning of the Preface. His whole emphasis on the moral effect of art arises from...

...yet more awful, of having turned many to righteousness." 2 In his Preface to Shakespeare, he says : " The end of writing is to instruct; the end of poetry is to instruct by pleasing." And again : " It is always a writer's duty to make the world better." 3 Lord Kames writes strongly...

...Shakespeare (1768) he mentions the poet's mingling of the tragic and the comic in a single play, saying that "this is a practice contrary to the rules of criticism will be readily allowed," but he adds what Is of great significance: "but there is always an appeal open from criticism to nature."...

...read her Johnson, and had obviously profited considerably from it. Accepting his weighty phrase that ' the end of writing is to instruct, the end of poetry is to instruct by pleasing,' she examined her selected plays with a judicial air. To compare Shakespeare to Corneille, as Voltaire...

...be his subject, shews plainly, that he has seen with his own eyes. . .' " But, Johnson also claims, 'The end of writing is to instruct; the end of poetry is to instruct by pleasing.' ** It is to this function of poetry, and to the demonstrated effect of a poem upon its audience, that...

...has brought them together again and in so doing has demonstrated a true dramatic kinship with nature: That this is a practice contrary to the rules of criticism will readily be allowed; but there is always an appeal open from * Nichol Smith, Eighteenth Century Essays,...