Life of William Hickling Prescott |
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affectionate afterwards agreeable Alnwick Castle Bancroft beautiful believe Boston Boston Athenæum Carlisle Castle Howard chapter character Conquest of Mexico Conquest of Peru copy criticism DEAR SIR death dinner DON PASCUAL doubt early Edinburgh Review England English Everett father feel felt Ferdinand and Isabella Gardiner give happy historian honor hope interest Irving kind labor LADY LYELL less letter literary London looked Lord Lord Carlisle Madrid manuscript memoranda MILMAN mind Molière months Morpeth Nahant nature never North American Review occupied once PASCUAL DE GAYANGOS PATRICK FRASER TYTLER Pepperell period person Philip the Second pleasant pleasure Prescott published received remarkable Review says seemed society Spain Spanish spirit studies style summer thing thought Ticknor tion volume WASHINGTON IRVING week whole William WILLIAM HICKLING PRESCOTT write written wrote
Popular passages
Page 284 - The hunting of that day. The stout Earl of Northumberland A vow to God did make, His pleasure in the Scottish woods Three summer days to take; The chiefest harts in Chevy-Chase To kill and bear away.
Page 408 - ON the library wall of one of the most famous writers of America, there hang two crossed swords, which his relatives wore in the great War of Independence. The one sword was gallantly drawn in the service of the king, the other was the weapon of a brave and honored republican soldier. The possessor of the harmless trophy has earned for himself a name alike honored in his ancestors' country and his own, where genius such as his has always a peaceful welcome.
Page 305 - Milton told How the vault of heaven rung When Satan, blasted, fell with his host; — While this, with reverence meet, Ten thousand echoes greet, From rock to rock repeat Round our coast; — While the manners, while the arts, That mould a nation's soul, Still cling around our hearts, — Between let Ocean roll, Our joint communion breaking with the Sun : Yet still from either beach The voice of blood shall reach, More audible than speech, "We are One.
Page 241 - Had the result of that interview been different, — had he distinctly stated, or even vaguely hinted, that it would be as well if I should select some other topic, or had he only sprinkled me with the cold water of conventional and commonplace encouragement, — I should have gone from him with a chill upon my mind, and, no doubt, have laid down the pen at once ; for, as I have already said, it was not that I cared about writing a history, but that I felt an inevitable impulse to write one particular...
Page 45 - ... propose, with what stock I have already on hand, to be a very well-read English scholar; to be acquainted with the classical and useful authors, prose and poetry, in Latin, French, and Italian, and especially in history ; I do not mean a critical or profound acquaintance.
Page 143 - Then, adverting to the terms of Mr. Prescott's handsome acknowledgment in the Preface, to which I had called his attention, he adds : I doubt whether Mr. Prescott was aware of the extent of the sacrifice I made. This was a favorite subject, which had delighted my imagination ever since I was a boy. I had brought home books from Spain to aid me in it, and looked upon it as the pendent to my Columbus.
Page 349 - ... on the extreme point of the ;peninsula, is many miles out at sea. There is more than one printed account of Nahant, which is a remarkable watering-place, from the bold formation of the coast and its exposure to the ocean. It is not a bad place — this sea-girt citadel — for reverie and writing, with the music of the winds and waters incessantly beating on the rocks and broad beaches below. This place is called ' Fitful Head,
Page 240 - Second, but which must, of necessity, traverse a portion of the same ground. My first thought was inevitably, as it were, only of myself. It seemed to me that I had nothing to do, but to abandon at once a cherished dream, and probably to renounce authorship.
Page 398 - Benjamin had three sons, each of whom distinguished himself in the line of life he had chosen. The eldest, James, remained on the family estate at home, and cultivated and managed it. He passed through all the degrees of military rank, from that of an ensign to that of colonel. He represented Groton, for a long period, in the General Court, and was afterwards in the Colonial Governor's Council. At the outbreak of the Revolution, taking the popular side, he became a member of the Provincial Congress...
Page 215 - ... of abstract science and pure' speculation. Undisturbed by external objects, the mind necessarily turns within and concentrates its ideas on any point of investigation with greater intensity and perseverance. It is no uncommon thing, therefore, to find persons setting apart the silent hours of the evening for the purpose of composition, or other purely intellectual exercise.