work_id,theme,provenance,created_at,text,reviewed_on,id,comments,metaphor,dictionary,updated_at,context
4416,"","Searching ""empire"" and ""mind"" in HDIS (Drama)",2004-08-11 00:00:00 UTC,"WISEM.
What am I to think? Am I in a Dream? or was this writ in one? Sure, Madness has possessed the World, and Men, like the Limbs of a tainted Body, universally share the Infection. What shall I do! to go, is to encounter a Mad-man, and yet I will. Some strange Circumstances may have wrought this Delusion, which my Presence may dissipate. And, since Love and Jealousie are his Diseases, I ought to pity him, who know by dreadful Experience,
When Love in an impetuous Torrent flows,
How vainly Reason would its Force oppose;
Hurl'd down the Stream, like Flowers before the Wind,
She leaves to Love, the Empire of the Mind.",2012-01-12,11651,"","""When Love in an impetuous Torrent flows, / How vainly Reason would its Force oppose; / Hurl'd down the Stream, like Flowers before the Wind, / She leaves to Love, the Empire of the Mind.""",Empire,2012-01-12 19:14:47 UTC,"Act III, scene xvi"
4730,Soliloquy,HDIS,2004-08-11 00:00:00 UTC,"What shall I do? Shall I abandon myself to a dispirited Despair, or fly in the Face of the Almighty! Surely both are unworthy of a wise Man; for what can be more vain than weakly to lament my Fortune, if irretrievable, or, if Hope remains, to offend that Being, who can most strongly support it: But are my Passions then voluntary? Am I so absolutely their Master, that I can resolve with myself, so far only will I grieve? Certainly no. Reason, however we flatter ourselves, hath not such despotic Empire in our Minds, that it can, with imperial Voice, hush all our Sorrow in a Moment. Where then is its Use? for either it is an empty Sound, and we are deceived in thinking we have Reason, or it is given us to some End, and hath a Part assigned it by the All-wise Creator. Why, what can its Office be, other than justly to weigh the Worth of all Things, and to direct us to that Perfection of human Wisdom, which proportions our Esteem of every Object by its real Merit, and prevents us from over or undervaluing whatever we hope for, we enjoy, or we lose. It doth not foolishly say to us, be not glad, orbe not sorry, which would be as vain and idle, as to bid the purling River cease to run, or the raging Wind to blow. It prevents us only from exulting, like Children, when we receive a Toy, or from lamenting when we are deprived of it. Suppose then I have lost the Enjoyments of this World, and my Expectation of future Pleasure and Profit is for ever disappointed; what Relief can my Reason afford! What, unless it can shew me I had fixed my Affections on a Toy; that what I desired was not, by a wise Man, eagerly to be affected, nor its Loss violently deplored; for there are Toys adapted to all Ages, from the Rattle to the Throne. And perhaps the Value of all is equal to their several Possessors; for if the Rattle pleases the Ears of the Infant, what can the Flattery of Sycophants do more to the Prince. The latter is as far from examining into the Reality and Source of his Pleasure as the former; for if both did, they must both equally despise it. And surely if we consider them seriously, and compare them together, we shall be forced to conclude all those Pomps and Pleasures, of which Men are so fond, and which, through so much Danger and Difficulty, with such Violence and Villany they pursue, to be as worthless Trifles as any exposed to Sale in a Toyshop. I have often noted my little Girl viewing, with eager Eyes, a jointed Baby; I have marked the Pains and Solicitations she hath used, till I have been prevailed on to indulge her with it. At her first obtaining it, what Joy hath sparkled in her Countenance! with what Raptures hath she taken the Possession; but how little Satisfaction hath she found in it! What Pains to work out her Amusement from it! Its Dress must be varied; the Tinsel Ornaments which first caught her Eyes, produce no longer Pleasure; she endeavours to make it stand and walk in vain, and is constrained herself to supply it with Conversation. In a Day's time it is thrown by and neglected, and some less costly Toy preferred to it. How like the Situation of this Child is that of every Man! What Difficulties in the Pursuit of his Desires! What Inanity in the Possession of most, and Satiety in those which seem more real and substantial! The Delights of most Men are as childish and as superficial as that of my little Girl; a Feather or a Fiddle are their Pursuits and their Pleasures through Life, even to their ripest Years, if such Men may be said to attain any Ripeness at all. But let us survey those whose Understandings are of a more elevated and refined Temper, how empty do they soon find the World of Enjoyments worth their Desire or attaining! How soon do they retreat to Solitude and Contemplation, to Gardening and Planting, and such rural Amusements, where their Trees and they enjoy the Air and the Sun in common, and both vegetate with very little Difference between them. But suppose (which neither Honesty nor Wisdom will allow) we could admit something more valuable and substantial in those Blessings, would not the Uncertainty of their Possession be alone sufficient to lower their Price. How mean a Tenure is that at the Will of Fortune, which Chance, Fraud, and Rapine are every Day so likely to deprive us of, and the more likely, by how much the greater Worth our Possessions are of! Is it not to place our Affections on a Bubble in the Water, or a Picture in the Clouds! What Mad-man would build a fine House, or frame a beautiful Garden on Land in which he held so uncertain an Interest. But again, was all this less undeniable, did Fortune, like the Lady of a Manor, lease to us for our Lives; of how little Consideration must even this Term appear? For admitting that these Pleasures were not liable to be torn from us; how certainly must we be torn from them! Perhaps To-morrow,--Nay or even sooner: For as the excellent Poet says,
(pp. 196-201)",,12491,•I've included twice: Current and Wind,"Reason ""doth not foolishly say to us, be not glad, orbe not sorry, which would be as vain and idle, as to bid the purling River cease to run, or the raging Wind to blow""","",2009-09-14 19:37:02 UTC,"Book III, chapter 2"
4812,"",Searching in HDIS (Prose),2005-03-10 00:00:00 UTC,"The Goodness of Allworthy had prevented those Considerations from occurring to himself; yet were they too plausible to be absolutely and hastily rejected, when laid before his Eyes by another. Indeed what Square had said sunk very deeply into his Mind, and the Uneasiness which it there created was very visible to the other; though the good Man would not acknowledge this, but made a very slight Answer, and forcibly drove off the Discourse to some other Subject. It was well, perhaps, for poor Tom, that no such Suggestions had been made before he was pardoned; for they certainly stamped in the Mind of Allworthy the first bad Impression concerning Jones.",,12894,"","""Indeed what Square had said sunk very deeply into his Mind, and the Uneasiness which it there created was very visible to the other""","",2009-09-14 19:37:31 UTC,"Vol. 2, Book 4, Chap. 11"
4812,"",Searching in HDIS (Prose),2006-10-28 00:00:00 UTC,"To say the Truth, this Behaviour ofPartridge was a little inexcusable; but he had not slept off the Effect of the Dose which he swallowed the Evening before; which had, in the Morning, received the Addition of above a Pint of Wine, or indeed rather of Malt Spirits; for the Perry was by no Means pure. Now that Part of his Head which Nature designed for the Reservoir of Drink, being very shallow, a small Quantity of Liquor overflowed it, and opened the Sluices of his Heart; so that all the Secrets there deposited run out. These Sluices were indeed naturally very ill secured. To give the best-natured Turn we can to his Disposition, he was a very honest Man; for as he was the most inquisitive of Mortals, and eternally prying into the Secrets of others, so he very faithfully paid them by communicating, in Return, every thing within his Knowledge.",,12941,
,"""Now that Part of his Head which Nature designed for the Reservoir of Drink, being very shallow, a small Quantity of Liquor overflowed it, and opened the Sluices of his Heart; so that all the Secrets there deposited run out""","",2009-09-14 19:37:34 UTC,"Vol. 4, Book 10, Chap. 5"
4875,"",HDIS,2009-09-14 19:37:43 UTC,"'Mind that, Ladies,' said the Orator, 'you are all the Property of your Husbands ; and of that Property, which, if he is a good Man, he values above all others. It is poisoning that Fountain whence he hath a Right to derive the sweetest and most innocent Pleasure, the most cordial Comfort, the most solid Friendship, and most faithful Assistance in all his Affairs, Wants and Distresses. It is the Destruction of his Peace of Mind , and even of his Reputation. The Ruin of both Wife and Husband, and sometimes of the whole Family, are the probable Consequence of this fatal Injury. Domestic Happiness is the End of almost all our Pursuits, and the common Reward of all our Pains. When Men find themselves for ever barred from this delightful Fruition, they are lost to all Industry, and grow careless of all their wordly Affairs. Thus they become bad Subjects, bad Relations, bad Friends and bad Men. Hatred and Revenge are the wretched Passions which boil in their Minds. Despair and Madness very commonly ensue, and Murder and Suicide often close the dreadful Scene.'
'Thus, Gentlemen and Ladies, you see the Scene is closed. So here ends the first Act-- and thus begins the second.' (IV.x.2)",2004-01-25,13061,"",The passions of hatred and revenge boil in the mind,"",2009-09-14 19:37:43 UTC,""
4875,"",HDIS (Prose),2009-09-14 19:37:43 UTC,"'Well, Madam, we have now taken our Leave of Amelia. I rode a full Mile before I once suffered myself to look back; but now being come to the Top of a little Hill, the last Spot I knew which could give me a Prospect of Mrs. Harris's House, my Resolution failed; I stopt and cast my Eyes backward. Shall I tell you what I felt at that Instant? I do assure you I am not able. So many tender Ideas crowded at once into my Mind, that, if I may use the Expression, they almost dissolved my Heart. And now, Madam, the most unfortunate Accident came first into my Head. This was, that I had in the Hurry and Confusion left the dear Casket behind me. The Thought of going back at first suggested itself; but the Consequences of that were too apparent. I therefore resolved to send my Man, and in the mean time to ride on softly on my Road. He immediately executed my Orders, and after some time, feeding my Eyes with that delicious and yet Heart-felt Prospect, I at last turned my Horse to descend the Hill, and proceeded about a hundred Yards, when, considering with myself, that I should lose no time by a second Indulgence, I again turned back, and once more feasted my Sight with the same painful Pleasure, till my Man returned, bringing me the Casket, and an Account that Amelia still continued in the sweet Sleep I left her. --- I now suddenly turned my Horse for the last time, and with the utmost Resolution pursued my Journey (187-88). ",2004-11-18,13065,•Notice that crowding ideas dissolve the heart. How strangely mixed is this metaphor?,""So many tender Ideas crowded at once into my Mind, that, if I may use the Expression, they almost dissolved my Heart.""","",2013-07-17 04:36:55 UTC,""