Well! I am for Ariosto against Tasso; though I would rather praise Aristo's poetry than his poem.
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I wish our clever young poets would remember my homely definitions of prose and poetry; that is, prose = words in their best order;—poetry = the best words in the best order.
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I conceive Origen, Jerome, and Augustine to be the three great fathers in respect of theology, and Basil, Gregory Nazianzen, and Chrysostom in respect of rhetoric.
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Rhenferd possessed the immense learning and robust sense of Selden, with the acuteness and wit of Jortin.
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Jacob Behmen remarked, that it was not wonderful that there were separate languages for England, France, Germany, &c.; but rather that there was not a different language for every degree of latitude. In confirmation of which, see the infinite variety of languages amongst the barbarous tribes of South America.
July 20. 1827.