text,updated_at,metaphor,created_at,context,theme,reviewed_on,dictionary,comments,provenance,id,work_id
"The mind of man is at first (if you will pardon the expression) like a tabula rasa, or like wax, which, while it is soft, is capable of any impression, till time has hardened it. And at length death, that grim tyrant, stops us in the midst of our career. The greatest conquerors have at last been conquered by death, which spares none, from the sceptre to the spade.",2013-11-01 15:33:30 UTC,"""The mind of man is at first (if you will pardon the expression) like a tabula rasa, or like wax, which, while it is soft, is capable of any impression, till time has hardened it.""",2005-03-27 00:00:00 UTC,"","",,Impressions and Writing,
•I've included twice: Wax and Tabula Rasa,"Found again reading Maclean's John Locke and English Literature, (1962), p. 33",10542,4093
"HYLAS. I own there is a great deal in what you say. Nor can any one be more intirely satisfied of the truth of those odd consequences, so long as I have in view the reasonings that lead to them. But when these are out of my thoughts, there seems on the other hand something so satisfactory, so natural and intelligible in the modern way of explaining things, that I profess I know not how to reject it.
PHILONOUS. I know not what way you mean.
HYLAS. I mean the way of accounting for our sensations or ideas.
PHILONOUS. How is that?
HYLAS. It is supposed the soul makes her residence in some part of the brain, from which the nerves take their rise, and are thence extended to all parts of the body: and that outward objects by the different impressions they make on the organs of sense, communicate certain vibrative motions to the nerves; and these being filled with spirits, propagate them to the brain or seat of the soul, which according to the various impressions or traces thereby made in the brain, is variously affected with ideas.
PHILONOUS. And call you this an explication of the manner whereby we are affected with ideas?
(Vol ii, pp. 208-9)",2013-09-12 03:59:50 UTC,"""And that outward objects by the different impressions they make on the organs of sense, communicate certain vibrative motions to the nerves; and these being filled with spirits, propagate them to the brain or seat of the soul, which according to the various impressions or traces thereby made in the brain, is variously affected with ideas.""",2004-02-26 00:00:00 UTC,Second Dialogue,Seat of the Soul,,Impressions and Throne,"",Past Masters,10844,4178
"If I have here touch'd a young Lady's Vanity and Levity, it was to show her how beautiful she is without those Blots, which certainly stain the Mind, and stamp Deformity where the greatest Beauties would shine, were they banish'd. I believe every body will join with my Opinion, that the English Ladies are the most accomplish'd Women in the World; that, generally speaking, their Behaviour is so exact, that even Envy itself cannot strike at their Conduct: but even you yourselves must own, that there are some few among you of a different stamp, who change their Gold for Dross, and barter the highest Perfections for the lowest Weaknesses. Would but this latter sort endeavour as much to act like Angels, as they do to look like them, the Men instead of Reproaches, would heap them with Praises, and their cold Indifference would be turn'd to Idolatry. But who can forsake a Fault, till they are convinc'd they are guilty? Vanity is a lurking subtile Thief, that works itself insensibly into our Bosoms, and while we declare our dislike to it, know not 'tis so near us; every body being (as a witty Gentleman has somewhere said) provided with a Racket to strike it from themselves.",2013-05-31 16:16:53 UTC,"""If I have here touch'd a young Lady's Vanity and Levity, it was to show her how beautiful she is without those Blots, which certainly stain the Mind, and stamp Deformity where the greatest Beauties would shine, were they banish'd.""",2005-03-10 00:00:00 UTC,Dedication,"",2011-07-27,Impression and Writing,"•I've included four times: Blot, Stain, Stamp, and Banish","Searching in HDIS (Prose); found again searching ""blot"" and ""mind;"" found again reading.",11482,4370
"Said the ingenious Sir John Denham, who learn'd his Lesson from Experience, and paid the highest Price for't too. Deliver me from Cupid's random Shots, and make my firm Resolution a Racket to repel 'em. I wou'd have all those soft-hearted Ladies that are impress'd like Wax, read Quevedo's Vision of Loving-Fools; I dare say, some of 'em wou'd find their own Characters very fairly display'd: but then the dismal Effects of not loving, to be call'd Ill-natur'd, and an old Maid, who wou'd not rather chuse to be undone, than lie under such scandalous Epithets? I have dwelt a little longer upon this Subject than I shou'd have done, because I think and fearArtander seem'd in his last Letter to lean a little that way. When once we approve of a thing, we implicitly act it; and if you be brought to think a Man happy in a fine Wife, the next Work will be to get one yourself: which, if you do, poor Berina may say she had a Friend; for Artander is lost past Recovery. I desire, in your next, you will either make a generous Confession, or give me some Assurance my Thoughts are ill grounded. I own, I grow impatient to be satisfy'd; for as I make but few Friends, I wou'd not lose them I have. You seem not pleas'd I writ no more last time, but you forget Women always talk more than they write, as Men always write more than they think: Your Sex seldom complain for want of Impertinence from ours, it being one of your chiefest Plagues: However, I did design to have fill'd up the empty Space of this Paper, but am interrupted by two or three Ladies who are just come in, and my Correspondence must give place to the Tea-Table; tho' nothing shall ever interrupt the Friendship of
BERINA.
(pp. 297-8)",2013-06-21 14:29:20 UTC,"""I wou'd have all those soft-hearted Ladies that are impress'd like Wax, read Quevedo's 'Vision of Loving-Fools.'""",2005-03-11 00:00:00 UTC,Letter 15,"",,Impressions,"","Searching in ""heart"" and 'wax"" in HDIS (Prose)",11488,4375
"'Your saying t'other Day there is something wonderful in the Narrowness of those Minds which can be pleased, and be barren of Bounty to those who please them, makes me in pain that I am not a Man of Power: If I were, you should soon see how much I approve your Speculations. In the mean time, I beg leave to supply that Inability with the empty Tribute of an honest Mind, by telling you plainly I love and thank you for your daily Refreshments. I constantly peruse your Paper as I smoke my Morning's Pipe, (tho' I can't forbear reading the Motto before I fill and light) and really it gives a grateful Relish to every Whif; each Paragraph is freight either with useful or delightful Notions, and I never fail of being highly diverted or improved. The Variety of your Subjects surprizes me as much as a Box of Pictures did formerly, in which there was only one Face, that by pulling some Pieces of Isinglass over it, was changed into a grave Senator or a Merry Andrew, a patch'd Lady or a Nun, a Beau or a Black-a-moor, a Prude or a Coquet, a Country 'Squire or a Conjurer, with many other different Representations very entertaining (as you are) tho' still the same at the Bottom. This was a childish Amusement when I was carried away with outward Appearance, but you make a deeper Impression, and affect the secret Springs of the Mind; you charm the Fancy, sooth the Passions, and insensibly lead the Reader to that Sweetness of Temper that you so well describe; you rouse Generosity with that Spirit, and inculcate Humanity with that Ease, that he must be miserably Stupid that is not affected by you. I can't say indeed that you have put Impertinence to Silence, or Vanity out of Countenance; but methinks you have bid as fair for it, as any Man that ever appeared upon a publick Stage; and offer an infallible Cure of Vice and Folly, for the Price of One Penny. And since it is usual for those who receive Benefit by such famous Operators, to publish an Advertisement, that others may reap the same Advantage, I think my self obliged to declare to all the World, that having for a long time been splenatick, ill natured, froward, suspicious, and unsociable, by the Application of your Medicines, taken only with half an Ounce of right Virginia Tobacco, for six successive Mornings, I am become open, obliging, officious, frank, and hospitable.",2013-06-17 17:17:45 UTC,"""This was a childish Amusement when I was carried away with outward Appearance, but you make a deeper Impression, and affect the secret Springs of the Mind; you charm the Fancy, sooth the Passions, and insensibly lead the Reader to that Sweetness of Temper that you so well describe; you rouse Generosity with that Spirit, and inculcate Humanity with that Ease, that he must be miserably Stupid that is not affected by you.""",2013-06-17 17:17:45 UTC,"","",,Impressions,"","Searching ""mind"" in Project Gutenberg e-text.",20859,7449
"Of all the Affections which attend Human Life, the Love of Glory is the most Ardent. According as this is Cultivated in Princes, it produces the greatest Good or the greatest Evil. Where Sovereigns have it by Impressions received from Education only, it creates an Ambitious rather than a Noble Mind; where it is the natural Bent of the Prince's Inclination, it prompts him to the Pursuit of Things truly Glorious. The two greatest Men now in Europe (according to the common Acceptation of the Word Great) are Lewis King of France, and Peter Emperor of Russia. As it is certain that all Fame does not arise from the Practice of Virtue, it is, methinks, no unpleasing Amusement to examine the Glory of these Potentates, and distinguish that which is empty, perishing, and frivolous, from what is solid, lasting, and important. Lewis of France had his Infancy attended by Crafty and Worldly Men, who made Extent of Territory the most glorious Instance of Power, and mistook the spreading of Fame for the Acquisition of Honour. The young Monarch's Heart was by such Conversation easily deluded into a Fondness for Vain-glory, and upon these unjust Principles to form or fall in with suitable Projects of Invasion, Rapine, Murder, and all the Guilts that attend War when it is unjust. At the same time this Tyranny was laid, Sciences and Arts were encouraged in the most generous Manner, as if Men of higher Faculties were to be bribed to permit the Massacre of the rest of the World. Every Superstructure which the Court of France built upon their first Designs, which were in themselves vicious, was suitable to its false Foundation. The Ostentation of Riches, the Vanity of Equipage, Shame of Poverty, and Ignorance of Modesty, were the common Arts of Life: The generous Love of one Woman was changed into Gallantry for all the Sex, and Friendships among Men turned into Commerces of Interest, or mere Professions. While these were the Rules of Life, Perjuries in the Prince, and a general Corruption of Manners in the Subject, were the Snares in which France has Entangled all her Neighbours. With such false Colours have the Eyes of Lewis been enchanted, from the Debauchery of his early Youth, to the Superstition of his present old Age. Hence it is, that he has the Patience to have Statues erected to his Prowess, his Valour, his Fortitude; and in the Softnesses and Luxury of a Court, to be applauded for Magnanimity and Enterprize in Military Atchievements.",2013-06-17 17:22:23 UTC,"""Where Sovereigns have it [love of glory] by Impressions received from Education only, it creates an Ambitious rather than a Noble Mind; where it is the natural Bent of the Prince's Inclination, it prompts him to the Pursuit of Things truly Glorious.""",2013-06-17 17:22:23 UTC,"","",,Impressions,"","Searching ""mind"" in Project Gutenberg e-text. ",20860,7450
"All Men have Follies, which they blindly trace
Thro' the dark Turnings of a dubious Maze:
But few, my Friend, in spite of all their Care,
Retreat betimes from Love's inviting Snare:
The eldest Sons of Wisdom were not free
From the same Failings you condemn in me;
They lov'd, and by that glorious Passion led,
Forgot what Plato and themselves had said:
My Faults, you too severely reprehend,
More like a rigid Censor than a Friend.
You own'd my Delia once divinely fair,
When in the Bud her native Beauties were:
Your Praises did her early Charms confess,
Yet you'd persuade me now to love her less;
Since to her Height of Bloom the Fair is grown,
And every Charm in its full Vigour shown:
Her whole Composure's of so fine a Frame,
Pride cannot hope to mend, nor Envy blame.
My Delia's Words still bear the Stamp of Wit,
Impress'd too plainly to be counterfeit:
Which, with the Weight of massy Reason join'd,
Declare the Strength and Quickness of her Mind;
Her Thoughts are noble, and her Sense refin'd.
Why then, Dear Thirsis, wou'd you strive to move
A Heart like mine from its Commander, Love?
The very last Word of this Poem, will, I dare say, give you a Disrelish for all the rest: I will not byass your Opinion by giving mine, but leave it wholly to a Judgment which cannot err: Let me know in your next how you like it. And pray let me have a little London News: I mean, such as the Tea-Table affords; for the rest, I refer myself to the publick Prints, and expect nothing from Berina, but what she can answer to Justice and Good-nature; and what I may, without a Breach in either, read.
(pp. 284-5)",2013-06-21 14:48:59 UTC,"""My Delia's Words still bear the Stamp of Wit, / Impress'd too plainly to be counterfeit: / Which, with the Weight of massy Reason join'd, / Declare the Strength and Quickness of her Mind; / Her Thoughts are noble, and her Sense refin'd.""",2013-06-21 14:48:59 UTC,"","",,Impressions,"",Searching in C-H Lion,21089,4375
"I now proceed to Memory, which is nothing but the same Imagination acting without the assistance of exterior Objects. To explain this, we must consider that the first Image which an outward Object imprints on our Brain is very slight; it resembles a thin Vapour which dwindles into nothing, without leaving the least track after it. But if the same Object successively offers itself several times, the Image it occasions thereby increases and strengthens itself by degrees, till at last it acquires such a consistency (if I may so call it) as makes it subsist as long as the Machine itself. A Stock of Images having been thus acquired, they each have their respective little Cell or Lodge, where they go and hide. Yet we must not suppose that they are continually in their Retirement; they would become useless if they were so. But on the contrary, great Numbers of them are always going to and fro; and if one of them chances to go by the Cell or Lodge of another which has the least real or imaginary conformity with it, out pops the retired Image, and immediately joins the wandering one. This never so obviously happens, as when a new Image is introduced into the Brain, who as soon as he appears, occasions great Commotions among all the old Inhabitants who either have, or think they have, any resemblance or relation to the new Comers.
(pp. 186-7)",2013-07-08 19:53:17 UTC,"""To explain this, we must consider that the first Image which an outward Object imprints on our Brain is very slight; it resembles a thin Vapour which dwindles into nothing, without leaving the least track after it. But if the same Object successively offers itself several times, the Image it occasions thereby increases and strengthens itself by degrees, till at last it acquires such a consistency (if I may so call it) as makes it subsist as long as the Machine itself. A Stock of Images having been thus acquired, they each have their respective little Cell or Lodge, where they go and hide.""",2013-07-08 19:49:43 UTC,"","",,Impressions and Rooms,"","Reading Dennis Todd's Imagining Monsters (University of Chicago Press, 1995), 137.
",21523,7509