work_id,theme,provenance,created_at,text,reviewed_on,id,comments,metaphor,dictionary,updated_at,context
5088,Momus Glass,Reading,2009-09-14 19:38:59 UTC,"If the fixture of Momus' glass, in the human breast, according to the proposed emendations of that arch-critick, had taken place,--first, This foolish consequence would certainly have followed,--That the very wisest and the very gravest of us all, in one coin or other, must have paid window-money every day of our lives.
And, secondly, That had said glass been there set up, nothing more would have been wanting, in order to have taken a man's character, but to have taken a chair and gone softly, as you would to a dioptrical bee-hive, and look'd in,--view'd the soul stark naked;--observ'd all her motions,--her machinations;--traced all her maggots from their first engendering to their crawling forth;--watched her loose in her frisks, her gambols, her capricios; and after some notice of her more solemn deportment, consequent upon such frisks, &c.--then taken your pen and ink and set down nothing but what you have seen, and could have sworn to:--But this is an advantage not to be had by the biographer in this planet.""
(I.xxiii, Norton, p. 52)",2013-04-14,13687,"Reviewed 2013-04-14: discovered missing text in the middle of the quote. What the fuck?
Reviewed 2011-09-23
Reviewed 2004-11-18
•borrowed from later, now deleted entry:
Maggots?!
The OED gives for maggot, n1:
2. a. A whimsical, eccentric, strange, or perverse notion or idea. Now arch. and regional .
a1625 J. F LETCHER Women Pleas'd III .iv, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Eeeeee2 v/1, Are not you mad my friend?.. Have not you Maggots in your braines? c1645 J. H OWELL Epistolæ Ho-Elianæ (1688) II. 328 There's a strange Magot hath got into their Brain. 1680 DRYDEN Kind Keeper V.i. 57 What new Maggot's this? you dare not sure be jealous! 1685 S. W ESLEY (title )Maggots: Or, Poems on several subjects. a1692 T. S HADWELL Volunteers (1693) V.i. 51 M. G. Bl. Ha Fellow, what dost thou mean by a Maggot? Hop. Sir, a little Concern of mine in my way, alittle whim, or so sir. 1717 M. P RIOR Alma I.400 Your Horace owns, he various writ, As wild or sober maggots bit. 1784 R. B URNS Commonplace Bk. Aug., One who spends the hours..with Ossian, Shakspeare,..&c.; or, as the maggot takes him, a gun, a fiddle, or a song to make or mend. 1802 J. W OLCOT Pitt & Statue in Wks. (1812) IV. 501 Soon as a maggot crept into my head I caught a stump of pen and put it down. 1816 SCOTT Antiquary III. ix. 90 For a' the nonsense maggots that ye whiles take into your head, ye are the maist wise and discreet o' a' our country gentles. 1898 D. C. M URRAY Tales 255 She's got some maggot in her head about being loved for her own sake. 1928 D. L. S AYERS Lord Peter views Body 208 One o' these 'ere sersiety toffs wiv a maggot fer old books. 1957 G. H EYER Sylvester xvi. 180 'My love,' I said..'You've got a maggot in your Idea-pot.' ","""That had said glass been there set up, nothing more would have been wanting, in order to have taken a man's character, but to have taken a chair and gone softly, as you would to a dioptrical bee-hive, and look'd in,--view'd the soul stark naked;--observ'd all her motions,--her machinations;--traced all her maggots from their first engendering to their crawling forth;--watched her loose in her frisks, her gambols, her capricios; and after some notice of her more solemn deportment, consequent upon such frisks, &c.""",Animals and Optics,2013-04-14 20:54:57 UTC,"Vol. 1, Chap. 23"
5302,"",Searching in HDIS (Poetry),2005-07-18 00:00:00 UTC,"If to conceive how any thing can be
From shape extracted and locality
Is hard; what think you of the Deity;
His Being not the least relation bears,
As far as to the human mind appears,
To shape, or size, similitude, or place,
Cloath'd in no form, and bounded by no space.
Such then is God, a spirit pure refin'd
From all material dross, and such the human mind.
For in what part of essence can we see
More certain marks of immortality
Ev'n from this dark confinement with delight
She looks abroad, and prunes herself for flight;
Like an unwilling inmate longs to roam
From this dull earth, and seek her native home.",2013-06-04,14257,•I've included twice: Inmate and Bird,"""Ev'n from this dark confinement with delight / She [the mind] looks abroad, and prunes herself for flight; / Like an unwilling inmate longs to roam / From this dull earth, and seek her native home.""",Animals and Inhabitants and Rooms,2013-06-04 15:47:23 UTC,""
7236,"","Searching ""soul"" and ""bird"" in HDIS (Poetry)",2012-04-27 20:43:48 UTC,"As when the greedy fowler's snare
The birds by providence elude,
Our souls are rescu'd from despair,
And their free flight renew'd.",2013-06-04,19733,"","""As when the greedy fowler's snare / The birds by providence elude, / Our souls are rescu'd from despair, / And their free flight renew'd.""",Animals,2013-06-04 15:21:42 UTC,""
7499,"",C-H Lion (Poetry); confirmed in ECCO.,2013-07-02 15:29:40 UTC,"LI
Thus Heaven enlarged his soul in riper years.
For Nature gave him strength, and fire, to soar,
On Fancy's wing, above this vale of tears;
Where dark cold-hearted sceptics, creeping, pore
Through microscope of metaphysic lore:
And much they grope for truth, but never hit.
For why? their powers, inadequate before,
This art preposterous renders more unfit;
Yet deem they darkness light, and their vain blunders wit.
(Bk I, p. 19, ll. 451-459; cf. p. 27 in 1771 ed.)",,21402,"","""Thus Heaven enlarged his soul in riper years. / For Nature gave him strength, and fire, to soar, / On Fancy's wing, above this vale of tears.""",Animals,2014-03-11 03:21:40 UTC,Book I
7499,"",C-H Lion,2013-07-02 15:41:15 UTC,"LV
Enraptured by the Hermit's strain, the Youth
Proceeds the path of Science to explore.
And now, expanding to the beams of Truth,
New energies, and charms unknown before,
His mind discloses: Fancy now no more
Wantons on fickle pinion through the skies;
But, fix'd in aim, and conscious of her power,
Sublime from cause to cause exults to rise,
Creation's blended stores arranging as she flies.
(Bk II, p. 42, ll. 487-495)",,21411,"","""Fancy now no more / Wantons on fickle pinion through the skies; / But, fix'd in aim, and conscious of her power, / Sublime from cause to cause exults to rise, / Creation's blended stores arranging as she flies.""",Animals,2013-07-02 15:41:15 UTC,Book II
7501,"",C-H Lion (Poetry); confirmed in ECCO.,2013-07-02 15:59:15 UTC,"All cold the hand, that soothed Woe's weary head!
And quench'd the eye, the pitying tear that shed!
And mute the voice, whose pleasing accents stole,
Infusing balm, into the rankled soul!
O Death, why arm with cruelty thy power,
And spare the idle weed, yet lop the flower!
Why fly thy shafts in lawless error driven!
Is Virtue then no more the care of Heaven!---
But peace, bold thought! be still my bursting heart!
We, not Eliza, felt the fatal dart.
Scaped the dark dungeon does the slave complain,
Nor bless the hand that broke the galling chain?
Say, pines not Virtue for the lingering morn,
On this dark wild condemn'd to roam forlorn?
Where Reason's meteor-rays, with sickly glow,
O'er the dun gloom a dreadful glimmering throw?
Disclosing dubious to th' affrighted eye
O'erwhelming mountains tottering from on high,
Black billowy seas in storm perpetual toss'd,
And weary ways in wildering labyrinths lost.
O happy stroke, that bursts the bonds of clay,
Darts through the rending gloom the blaze of day,
And wings the soul with boundless flight to soar,
Where dangers threat, and fears alarm no more.
(p. 51, ll. 63-85)",,21418,"","""O happy stroke, that bursts the bonds of clay, / Darts through the rending gloom the blaze of day, / And wings the soul with boundless flight to soar, / Where dangers threat, and fears alarm no more.""","",2014-03-10 22:02:26 UTC,""
7642,"",Searching in ECCO-TCP,2013-08-22 22:30:21 UTC,"YE generous Britons, sons of fair renown,
With mute attention deign to lend an ear:
As late reclin'd beneath a spreading oak,
Musing intent on Albion's happy isle;
A sudden slumber gently seal'd my eyes,
And wrapt my wearied limbs in soft repose;
Excursive Fancy wing'd her agile flight
Thro' the aerial mansions of the world;
Instant appear'd, portray'd upon my mind,
The fair Urania, clad in candid robe;
And bright around; in beauteous order rang'd,
A crowd of Britons rising to my view;
A gentle murmur, first, distinct was heard—
The Goddess wav'd her wand—a pause ensued—
Silent in expectation now they sat,
When thus her sentiments she mildly spoke:
(IX, p. 113)",,22538,"","A sudden slumber gently seal'd my eyes, / And wrapt my wearied limbs in soft repose; / Excursive Fancy wing'd her agile flight / Thro' the aerial mansions of the world; / Instant appear'd, portray'd upon my mind, / The fair Urania, clad in candid robe; / And bright around",Animals,2013-08-22 22:30:21 UTC,""
6428,"",Reading,2014-01-10 21:29:05 UTC,"Fuyez ceux qui, sous prétexte d’expliquer la nature, sèment dans les coeurs des hommes de désolantes doctrines, & dont le scepticisme apparent est cent fois plus affirmatif & que le ton décidé de leurs adversaires. Sous te qu’eux seuls sont éclairés, vrais, de bonne impérieusement à leurs décisions tranchantes, et prétendent nous donner pour les vrais principes des choses les inintelligibles systèmes qu’ils ont bâtis dans leur imagination. Du reste, renversant, détruisant, foulant aux pieds tout ce que les hommes respectent, ils ôtent aux affligés la dernière consolation de leur misère, aux puissants & aux riches le seul frein de leurs passions; ils arrachent du fond des coeurs le remords du crime, l’espoir de la vertu, & se vantent encore d’être les bienfaiteurs du genre humain. jamais, disent-ils, la vérité n’est nuisible aux hommes. Je le crois comme eux, &, c’est, à mon avis, une grande preuve que ce qu’ils enseignent n’est pas la vérité.
(IV, p. 330 in Everyman)",,23327,"","""Du reste, renversant, détruisant, foulant aux pieds tout ce que les hommes respectent, ils ôtent aux affligés la dernière consolation de leur misère, aux puissants & aux riches le seul frein de leurs passions; ils arrachent du fond des coeurs le remords du crime, l’espoir de la vertu, & se vantent encore d’être les bienfaiteurs du genre humain.""",Animals,2014-01-10 21:29:05 UTC,"Book IV, Creed of the Savoyard Curate"
7839,"",ECCO-TCP,2014-03-12 16:27:36 UTC,"ABRA.
Wake my Harp! to melting Measures,
Pour thy softest, sweetest Treasures,
Such as lift the Thoughts on high;
'Till the rapt Soul, Earth forsaking,
Heaven-ward it's Flight is taking,
On the Wings of Harmony.
(I.i, p. 4)",,23643,"","""Wake my Harp! to melting Measures, / Pour thy softest, sweetest Treasures, / Such as lift the Thoughts on high; / 'Till the rapt Soul, Earth forsaking, / Heaven-ward it's Flight is taking, / On the Wings of Harmony.""","",2014-03-12 16:27:36 UTC,"Act I, scene i"
5216,"",Reading,2014-08-28 20:48:11 UTC,"But, after Fancy's eagle-flights were o'er,
And heav'n-illumin'd Genius could no more;
Thus, conscious all his best essays how vain,
Might the rapt bard conclude his humble strain.
""O great Original of life, and good,
""And excellence! how little understood!
""From first to last unchangeably the same!
""I AM--thy dread unutterable name!
""Eternal King of kings! Almighty Pow'r!
""On whom depends Creation ev'ry hour,
""Depends for support, beauty, order, life,
""Else one vast scene of elemental strife!
""Oh! pardon (angels fail alike with me)
""This impotent attempt to sing of Thee!
""How shall a worm Omnipotence address;
""Range its confin'd ideas, or express?
""To Thee can languid mortal praise extend?
""Or infinite thought finite comprehend?
""Yet, though retir'd on high from human sight
""In mansions unapproachable of light;
""Though angels thy creative footsteps trace
""Through all the vast immensity of space;
""If Majesty Supreme can stoop so low,
""Or on a worthless worm a look bestow;
""Oh be Thou ever, merciful and kind,
""As Virtue finds Thee, present to my mind;
""From sudden weighty trials to secure,
""Which Nature is too feeble to endure;
""Or, if permitted, that, without a tear,
""Reason assisted may their pressure bear.
""To Thee, before the first approach of light,
""Dispels the congregated gloom of night,
""Or welcome slumbers close my willing eyes,
""May, like pure incense, my devotions rise.
""If Fortune her proud favours should bestow,
""And life's full cup with blessings overflow;
""In Thee alone may I expect to find
""An equable and unelated mind.
""But if Heav'n's boon is a depress'd estate,
""And poverty is my appointed fate;
""May the pert tongue of Discontent refrain,
""If it would boldly venture to complain.
(pp. 67-68, ll. 167-208)",,24413,"","""But, after Fancy's eagle-flights were o'er, / And heav'n-illumin'd Genius could no more; / Thus, conscious all his best essays how vain, / Might the rapt bard conclude his humble strain.""",Animals,2014-08-28 20:48:11 UTC,""