Macaulay, it must be noted, exaggerated persistently the poverty of Johnson's pedigree, the squalor of his early married life, the grotesqueness of his entourage in Fleet Street, the decline and fall from complete virtue of Mrs Thrale, the novelty and success of the Dictionary, the complete failure of the Shakespeare and the political tracts.   anvd [Please select]

The grotesqueness of the situation--his youthful protégé striving to raise his flagging spirits--came home to Peter Gross even in that moment of suffering and brought a rueful smile to his lips.   anvd [Please select]

The broad shaft of sunlight had crept backward, away from it, leaving the canvas unobtrusive, no longer harshly evident either in violence of colour or grotesqueness of form.   anvd [Please select]