And this will now plainly appear, if, instead of serious and comic, we supply the words duller and dullest; for the comic was certainly duller than anything before shown on the stage, and could be set off only by that superlative degree of dulness which composed the serious.
To say the truth, these soporific parts are so many scenes of serious artfully interwoven, in order to contrast and set off the rest; and this is the true meaning of a late facetious writer, who told the public that whenever he was dull they might be assured there was a design in it.
And the king, putting spurs to his horse, set off to the tent of Lord Leven.
"I see spots of blood on the ground." And he set off to follow the two friends.
They declared the secret of Fairy-than-a-Fairy's royal birth, and the Queen taking the two lovers in her carriage
set off with them for the capital of the kingdom.
Then mounting their horses to the number of four hundred and fifty men, and brandishing their weapons, they
set off along the northern bank of the river, to get ahead of the canoes, lie in wait for them, and take a terrible revenge on the white men.
When the contents of the letter were ascertained, John Thorpe, who had only waited its arrival to begin his journey to London, prepared to
set off. "Well, Miss Morland," said he, on finding her alone in the parlour, "I am come to bid you good-bye." Catherine wished him a good journey.
Then Tarzan
set off toward the north, leading the now thoroughly frightened professor and his secretary.
At the outskirts of the village I left her without even seeing the sort of people who inhabited it, and set off through the growing darkness toward the south.
At last I gave up the search and set off toward Fort Dinosaur.
With that I
set off, undaunted, across the top of the isle, to fetch and carry it back.
D'Artagnan and Planchet did not require twice bidding; they unfastened the two horses that were waiting at the door, leaped upon them, buried their spurs in their sides, and
set off at full gallop.
So at daybreak, on Sunday, Adam
set off. Seth went with him the first mile or two, for the thought of Snowfield and the possibility that Dinah might come again made him restless, and the walk with Adam in the cold morning air, both in their best clothes, helped to give him a sense of Sunday calm.
Porthos released his hand, clapped spurs to his horse, which
set off at a gallop.
Then these cockneys, instead of starting at an easy pace, as a gentleman would do, generally
set off at full speed from the very stable-yard; and when they want to stop, they first whip us, and then pull up so suddenly that we are nearly thrown on our haunches, and our mouths jagged with the bit -- they call that pulling up with a dash; and when they turn a corner they do it as sharply as if there were no right side or wrong side of the road.
