Thank you for visiting SNEWPapers!
Sign up free
Literary
November 25, 1799
Jenks's Portland Gazette
Portland, Cumberland County, Maine
What is this article about?
Excerpt discussing Maupertuis's essay on the advantages of illness, quoting Dr. Johnson on French literature and Maupertuis's reflections from personal experience, including an anecdote about the king of Prussia finding amusement in simple tasks during sickness.
Clipping
OCR Quality
95%
Excellent
Full Text
MAUPERTUIS.
"A Frenchman," said Dr. Johnson, "can write upon any thing,"* Maupertuis has an Essay upon the Advantages of being Sick. He says that in some illnesses there are real advantages, capable to console us, capable to procure us real pleasures. "I speak," says he, "after my own experience;" and relates some reflections which a long and desperate disorder of the breast gave him. "I knew," adds he, "a very respectable person, who inhabited a very large house, which however he thought too little for him, reduced by an illness like mine humbly to occupy one of the smallest rooms of it, made an agreeable occupation for himself of arranging a collection of prints which he had; and this man who used to have his head full of the greatest objects that interested all Europe, found great amusement in a little thing humbly capable of amusing a child in health; and this was the great king of Prussia."
* "It is with the literature of the French," says Dr. Johnson, "as with their meat; it is not very excellent, but they know very well how to cook it."
"A Frenchman," said Dr. Johnson, "can write upon any thing,"* Maupertuis has an Essay upon the Advantages of being Sick. He says that in some illnesses there are real advantages, capable to console us, capable to procure us real pleasures. "I speak," says he, "after my own experience;" and relates some reflections which a long and desperate disorder of the breast gave him. "I knew," adds he, "a very respectable person, who inhabited a very large house, which however he thought too little for him, reduced by an illness like mine humbly to occupy one of the smallest rooms of it, made an agreeable occupation for himself of arranging a collection of prints which he had; and this man who used to have his head full of the greatest objects that interested all Europe, found great amusement in a little thing humbly capable of amusing a child in health; and this was the great king of Prussia."
* "It is with the literature of the French," says Dr. Johnson, "as with their meat; it is not very excellent, but they know very well how to cook it."
What sub-type of article is it?
Essay
Satire
What themes does it cover?
Moral Virtue
What keywords are associated?
Maupertuis
Essay
Sickness Advantages
Dr Johnson
King Prussia
French Literature
Literary Details
Title
Maupertuis.
Subject
Essay Upon The Advantages Of Being Sick
Key Lines
"A Frenchman," Said Dr. Johnson, "Can Write Upon Any Thing,"
"I Speak," Says He, "After My Own Experience;"
"I Knew," Adds He, "A Very Respectable Person... And This Was The Great King Of Prussia."
* "It Is With The Literature Of The French," Says Dr. Johnson, "As With Their Meat; It Is Not Very Excellent, But They Know Very Well How To Cook It."