theme,metaphor,work_id,dictionary,provenance,id,created_at,updated_at,reviewed_on,comments,text,context
"","""And the mind's poor infirmities dash'd from their throne, / Forgetting the weakness that lives in their own.""",5658,Throne,"Searching ""mind"" and ""throne"" in HDIS (Poetry)",15111,2004-07-12 00:00:00 UTC,2013-11-19 02:22:49 UTC,2011-07-20,"","But hapless is he, who, to Folly a minion,
Will yield up his senses to take her opinion:
'Tis fretting the mind her caprice to obey,
When the merit of yesterday's doubted to-day;
For those men whom our sires have lauded, with pride
Their sons have assail'd, and defil'd, and decry'd:
And the mind's poor infirmities dash'd from their throne,
Forgetting the weakness that lives in their own.
--E'en Hayley weaves verse in Antipathy's loom,
To murder the guardians of Warburton's Tomb!
He wounds, unabash'd, the repose of the dead,
And the laurel, once sacred, demands from the head;
As Prejudice, like a vile gypsy sits jaded,
Untwisting that texture which Honor had braided.
(First Part, Mrs. Siddons, p. 31, ll. 251-258)","First Part, Mrs. Siddons"
"","""She can conquer a heart--that she wants sense to keep.""",5658,"","Searching ""conque"" and ""heart"" in HDIS (Poetry)",15112,2005-02-14 00:00:00 UTC,2011-07-20 16:35:45 UTC,2011-07-20,"","No wonder that wit she can forcibly feel,
Who's liv'd with Thalia long since en famille;
Pray Fate that she long may be sportive on earth,
The prop of burlettas, and, mistress of mirth;
Of female comedians an excellent sample;
Of Abigail singers the first great example!
But, bid her beware of too great an indulgence
Of tricks, that but mar her dramatic refulgence;
Or, if prais'd by the million, grow sick of the cause
That led her to fame, and matur'd their applause;
Lest she find, like some brides who such errors must weep,
She can conquer a heart--that she wants sense to keep,
Those airs which to practise in Lucy she's just in,
If seen in all parts, will make all parts disgusting:
Bid her temper that strong constitutional pertness,
And call upon Reason to bound her alertness.
",""
"","""For spells may be said to exist in that tone, / Whose graces can conquer all hearts--but her own.""",5658,"","Searching ""conque"" and ""heart"" in HDIS (Poetry)",15113,2005-02-14 00:00:00 UTC,2011-07-20 16:36:39 UTC,2011-07-20,"","Its anodyne powers the sick'ning make cheery,
And tears off the chain from the mind of the weary;
By her soft, blissful sonnets, all bosoms inspiring,
Even Spleen grows diseas'd--and, Despair lies expiring.
As the lark chaunts at sun-rise his diurnal pray'r,
All her loud liquid notes charge the babbling air;
The sounds were not sweeter when Thebes' famous wall
Obey'd the soft magic of Harmony's call;
For spells may be said to exist in that tone,
Whose graces can conquer all hearts--but her own.
Cecilia thus warbled the heaven-fraught line,
For her song was ador'd ere the nymph was divine.",""
Dualism,"""So poignant a mind in a vulgariz'd shell,/ Resembles a bucket of gold in a well; / 'Tis like Ceylon's best spice in a rude-fashion'd jar, / Or Comedy coop'd in a Dutch man of war.""",5658,Metal,"Searching ""mind"" and ""gold"" in HDIS (Poetry)",15114,2005-05-27 00:00:00 UTC,2011-06-20 16:33:37 UTC,2011-06-20,"•I've included twice: Metal and Uncategorized
• Reviewed 2009-03-05
• I've nowconsolidated 3 entries in one.
","Mrs. WEBB.
Like a lusty old Sybil, who rambles elate,
With a raven-ton'd voice, to anticipate Fate;
Mark Webb, like a whale, bear her fatness before her,
As the sprats of the Drama for mercy implore her;
Her high-garnish'd phiz give young Pleasantries birth,
And her well-fed abdomen's a mountain of mirth:
See the coarse-hewn old Dowager's mix'd with the rest,
Like a piece of brown dowlas near lace from Trieste;
And darts her huge beak for the prizes and pickings,
As an overgrown hen amidst delicate chickens:
Impertinent Doubts run to measure her size,
While Temperance looks at her frame with surprise.
Her airs are as harsh as a Brighthelmstone dipper,
And loosely assum'd like a pantaloon's slipper;
Tho' base without force, like the oath of a harlot,
Or the impudent grin of a shoulder-deck'd varlet.--
This mould of the fair sex is true female stuff,
And warm at the heart, tho' her--manners are rough:
Like Queen Bess she disdains the resistance of man,
And knocks down a peer with the end of her fan;
Old Care knits his brows to coerce and impale her,
And eyes her with hatred, but dare not assail her.
For social contumely cares not a fig,
For if none call her great, all the world swears she's big.
She's a beef-lin'd adherent to thundering Rage,
And a prop of vast import to Wit and the stage;
But Bards have too potently season'd her song,
Which like garlic in soup makes the pottage too strong:
For by playing old furies so apt and so often,
No human device can the habitude soften;
Thus an exotic sapling we frequently see,
When engrafted by Art, become part of the tree.--
So poignant a mind in a vulgariz'd shell,
Resembles a bucket of gold in a well;
'Tis like Ceylon's best spice in a rude-fashion'd jar,
Or Comedy coop'd in a Dutch man of war.",""
"","A mind may be like ""clear amber, conden'd by stagnation,"" it may exhibit ""the dirt it imbib'd in formation""",5658,"","Posted to C18-L Listserv by Nora Nachumi under Subject: ""ungender'd abortions""",15118,2005-06-22 00:00:00 UTC,2009-09-14 19:42:49 UTC,,"","her mind like clear amber, conden'd by stagnation,
Exhibits the dirt it imbib'd in formation:
Like ungender'd abortions, her plays have annoy'd;
Which are born, see the light, and, when seen, are destroy'd.",""
"","""Like a beggar at law, whom no barrister blesses, / His mind lacks an agent to plead its distresses; / All his muscles rebel 'gainst judicious controul""",5658,Court,"Searching ""mind"" and ""barrister"" in HDIS (Poetry)",15119,2005-08-24 00:00:00 UTC,2009-09-14 19:42:49 UTC,,"","Tho' his strong understanding is blest with profundity,
His face mars its force by a stupid rotundity;
It was form'd to accomplish less amiable uses,
And wine, by a smile, every maid--but the Muses;
Too fastuous for exquisite passion's digression,
Too fair for a hero, too round for expression;
Like a beggar at law, whom no barrister blesses,
His mind lacks an agent to plead its distresses;
All his muscles rebel 'gainst judicious controul,
And his face gives the lie to a sensible soul.
His fears to do less than enough, never quit him,
His cloaths in the gentleman ne'er seem to fit him:
With rant he too often disgusts the beholders,
And offends by continually writhing his shoulders.
But his faults like the stones of the pavement decay,
When quick dropping springs wear the surface away.
",""
"","""Oh! I'm sick to the soul, to see Music alone, / Stretch her negligent length on the Drama's gay throne; / Where Muses more honor'd by Wisdom should sit, / To adorn the heart's mirror, and fashion our wit""",5658,"","Searching ""heart"" and ""mirror"" in HDIS (Poetry)",15120,2005-11-21 00:00:00 UTC,2009-09-14 19:42:49 UTC,,"","In opposing the follies and vice of the stage,
I must stand as a mark for the arrows of Rage;
Proscrib'd from those douceurs enjoy'd by that crowd,
Who are mean without merit, and servile tho' loud;
If I fall by Resentment, effecting my plan,
I hope when I'm martyr'd, to fall--like a man.--
Oh! I'm sick to the soul, to see Music alone,
Stretch her negligent length on the Drama's gay throne;
Where Muses more honor'd by Wisdom should sit,
To adorn the heart's mirror, and fashion our wit.
Let the Wench have her place, as a Wench worth respecting,
But to wound her old sisters, is base and affecting:
As all the high orders of Science deplore,
That their use is neglected, and influence is o'er.--
Tho' obedient Shields charms the ear by his skill,
He exalts his meek name, by resigning his will.
And Linley pens canzonets Pleasure holds dear,
Tho' Pensiveness dims every note with a tear;
But Arnold steps forward with colossal stride,
To command in the van, and diminish their pride;
Unabash'd he disports with the Orphean lyre,
As Judgment and Harmony temper his fire;
While the spirit of Handel, with rapture imprest,
Thinks the doomsday is o'er, and it flits mid the bless'd.",""
"","""The Muses, tho' coy to the rest of mankind, / Ran jocund to light the vast caves of [Shakespeare's] mind""",5658,"","Searching ""mind"" and ""cave"" in HDIS (Poetry)",15121,2006-01-18 00:00:00 UTC,2009-09-14 19:42:49 UTC,,"","E'en that august Bard must my senses resign,
Imperial Shakespeare, supreme and divine.
As the clay of his frame lay benumb'd in a dream,
On the violet-clad bank of smooth Avon's clear stream,
The Genius of Albion defended his slumbers,
Lest Guilt should obtrude, and disjoint his sweet numbers:
The Muses, tho' coy to the rest of mankind,
Ran jocund to light the vast caves of his mind;
Bore his harp to Minerva, who marshall'd its sound,
And hung Fancy's elegant symbols around;
As the sacred minstrel imbib'd in his thought,
All that Destiny will'd, or that Heaven had wrought;
With his keen mental eye Nature's source to discern,
Pass'd o'er the dread fence of Mortality's bourn;
Presum'd thro' the mists of Tartarean gloom,
And hail'd the lean Fates at their ominous loom;
Dash'd the horrors he saw with his spell working pen,
Then awoke with the scroll to raise wonder mid men.--
But should I lament in prophetic despair,
Should my song be replete with the axioms of care;
When a Star in the East, all resplendently rises,
Which Phoebus illumines, and Excellence prizes?
Its appearance proclaims that Offence is suppress'd,
That Candour shall govern, and Talents be bless'd:
So in Bethlem the light 'midst the peasantry shone,
And gave to Hope's bosom sweet transports unknown;
Its radiant beam waken'd Raptures within,
And promis'd Redemption from Sadness and Sin.--
--May no mean narrow maxims oppose its progression,
May no sinister tyrants enchain the profession;
May its influence be broad as the realms of the day,
Where Wit, without insult, may offer his lay;
May its members be brilliant in wish and in action,
May theit deeds give the lie to the page of detraction;
May the lovely Pierides temper their fire,
And point out those chords on the Orphean lyre,
By which the young Thracian subdu'd the wild throng,
And forc'd savage Nature to melt at his song.
May its base by the wealthy and wise be supported,
May its firmest adherents be cherish'd and courted;
May the smiles of Morality shield its good name,
And the pen of bright Genius consign it to Fame!",""
"","Books are ""Food chiefly for the mind""",5707,"",HDIS,15231,2003-12-30 00:00:00 UTC,2009-09-14 19:43:06 UTC,,"•First printed in Gentleman's Magazine, lix, 1789, 163-4","He, entering at the study door,
Its ample area 'gan explore;
And something in the wind
Conjectured, sniffing round and round,
Better than all the books he found,
Food chiefly for the mind.
(ll. 37-42, p. 31)",""
"","""Pale Fear, and all her haggard train, / That generate and nurture pain, / And each unwelcome mental guest, / Lay dormant in the human breast.""",5723,Inhabitants,Searching in HDIS (Poetry),15253,2004-06-22 00:00:00 UTC,2012-01-12 21:00:50 UTC,2012-01-12,•DNB BIO. Pseudonym Anthony Pasquin. Wit and satirist of his day. Studied engraving. 1786 adopts pseudonym. Success with Poems (1789). Published pamphlets as anti-Foxite Whig. Villified by Tory enemy William Gifford in The Baviad and Maeviad (1797). Poverty. Lawsuit unsuccessful. Flees to America. Edits and publishes the Columbian Gazette. Works as itinerant painter. Edits more papers. Switches from supporting Hamilton to supporting Jefferson. Back in England 1806. Probably dies in America.
,"In such an age, a guileless twain,
Roger and Sue, illum'd the plain;
Unbred in academic schools,
They follow'd Reason and her rules;
In all the paths of prudence trod,
And lov'd their friend, and fear'd their God.
Then Freedom rov'd the mountain's side,
And Innocence was all their pride;
No sadd'ning love-lorn maiden then,
Bemoan'd the perfidy of men;
For Virtue bless'd the rural throng,
Inform'd their hearts, and fed their song.
No vicious tenets broke their rest,
(Like missives from the peevish east,
Blighting the wholesome rip'ning ear)
Or laid the basis of a tear.
The dirty passions of the mind,
Were then subdu'd, controul'd, confin'd;
Pale Fear, and all her haggard train,
That generate and nurture pain,
And each unwelcome mental guest,
Lay dormant in the human breast;
No Cypress then deform'd the brow,
Or mourning willow noted woe;
Or broken oaths made maids forlorn,
For Woe and Vice were then unborn;
Their lives unchoak'd with baneful weeds,
Pass'd in a change of worthy deeds;
The sacred commerce fixt and known,
Supreme delight was all their own.
",""