text,updated_at,metaphor,created_at,context,theme,reviewed_on,dictionary,comments,provenance,id,work_id
"Every particular finite extension, which may possibly be the object of our thought, is an idea existing only in the mind, and consequently each part thereof must be perceived. If therefore I cannot perceive innumerable parts in any finite extension that I consider, it is certain they are not contained in it: but it is evident, that I cannot distinguish innumerable parts in any particular line, surface, or solid, which I either perceive by sense, or figure to my self in my mind: wherefore I conclude they are not contained in it. Nothing can be plainer to me, than that the extensions I have in view are no other than my own ideas, and it is no less plain, that I cannot resolve any one of my ideas into an infinite number of other ideas, that is, that they are not infinitely divisible. If by finite extension be meant something distinct from a finite idea, I declare I do not know what that is, and so cannot affirm or deny any thing of it. But if the terms extension, parts, and the like, are taken in any sense conceivable, that is, for ideas; then to say a finite quantity or extension consists of parts infinite in number, is so manifest a contradiction, that every one at first sight acknowledges it to be so. And it is impossible it should ever gain the assent of any reasonable creature, who is not brought to it by gentle and slow degrees, as a converted Gentile to the belief of transubstantiation. Ancient and rooted prejudices do often pass into principles: and those propositions which once obtain the force and credit of a principle, are not only themselves, but likewise whatever is deducible from them, thought privileged from all examination. And there is no absurdity so gross, which by this means the mind of man may not be prepared to swallow.
(Part I, §124, p. 98)",2013-06-10 18:24:15 UTC,"""Ancient and rooted prejudices do often pass into principles: and those propositions which once obtain the force and credit of a principle, are not only themselves, but likewise whatever is deducible from them, thought privileged from all examination. And there is no absurdity so gross, which by this means the mind of man may not be prepared to swallow.""",2004-02-18 00:00:00 UTC,"","",,"","•Republished in 1734 in London. Editor uses this second edition.
•The adjective ""rooted"" inflects the proposition. Garden metaphor here too? REVISIT.
",Past Masters,10636,4138
"Ulysses sleeping on his couch they bore,]
There is nothing in the whole Odyssey that more shocks our reason than the exposing Ulysses asleep on the shores by the Phæacians : ""The passage (says Aristotle in his Poetics ) where Ulysses is landed in Ithaca , is so full of absurdities, that they would be intolerable in a bad Poet; but Homer has conceal'd them under an infinity of admirable beauties, with which he has adorn'd all that part of the Odyssey ; these he has crowded together, as so many charms to hinder our perceiving the defects of the story:"" Aristotle must be allow'd to speak with great judgment; for what probability is there that a man so prudent as Ulysses , who was alone in a vessel at the discretion of strangers, should sleep so soundly, as to be taken out of it, carried with all his baggage on shore, and the Phæacians should set sail, and he never awake? This is still more absurd, if we remember that Ulysses has his soul so strongly bent upon his country; Is it then possible, that he could be thus sunk into a lethargy, in the moment when he arrives at it? ""However (says Mons. Dacier in his reflections upon Aristotle's Poetics )Homer was not ashamed of that Absurdity, but not being able to omit it, he used it to give Probability to the succeeding story: It was necessary for Ulysses to land alone, in order to his concealment; if he had been discover'd, the suitors would immediately have destroy'd him, if not as the real Ulysses , yet under the pretext of his being an impostor; they would then have seiz'd his dominions, and married Penelope : Now if he had been waked, the Phæacians would have been obliged to have attended him, which he could not have deny'd with decency, nor accepted with safety: Homer therefore had no other way left to unravel his fable happily: But he knew what was absurd in this method, and uses means to hide it; he lavishes out all his wit and address, and lays together such an abundance of admirable Poetry, that the mind of the Reader is so enchanted, that he perceives not the defect; he is like Ulysses lull'd asleep, and knows no more than that Heroe, how he comes there. That great Poet first describes the ceremony of Ulysses taking leave of Alcinous , and his Queen Arete ; then he sets off the swiftness of the vessel by two beautiful comparisons; he describes the Haven with great exactness, and adds to it the description of the cave of the Nymphs; this last astonishes the Reader, and he is so intent upon it, that he has not attention to consider the absurdity in the manner of Ulysses's landing: In this moment when he perceives the mind of the Reader as it were intoxicated with these beauties, he steals Ulysses on shore, and dismisses the Phæacians; all this takes up but eight verses. And then lest the Reader should reflect upon it, he immediately introduces the Deities, and gives us a Dialogue between Jupiter and Neptune . This keeps up still our wonder, and our Reason has not time to deliberate; and when the dialogue is ended, a second wonder succeeds, the bark is transform'd into a rock: This is done in the sight of the Phæacians , by which method the Poet carries us a-while from the consideration of Ulysses , by removing the scene to a distant Island; there he detains us 'till we may be suppos'd to have forgot the past absurdities, by relating the astonishment of Alcinous at the sight of the prodigy, and his offering up to Neptune , to appease his anger, a sacrifice of twelve bulls. Then he returns to Ulysses who now wakes, and not knowing the place where he was, (because Minerva made all things appear in a disguised view) he complains of his misfortunes, and accuses the Phæacians of infidelity; at length Minerva comes to him in the shape of a young shepherd, &c. Thus this absurdity, which appears in the fable when examin'd alone, is hidden by the beauties that surround it: this passage is more adorn'd with fiction, and more wrought up with a variety of poetical ornaments than most other places of the Odyssey . From hence Aristotle makes an excellent observation. All efforts imaginable (says that Author) ought to be made to form the fable rightly from the beginning; but if it so happen that some places must necessarily appear absurd, they must be admitted, especially if they contribute to render the rest more probable: but the Poet ought to reserve all the ornaments of diction for these weak parts: The places that have either shining sentiments or manners have no occasion for them; a dazling expression rather damages them, and serves only to eclipse their beauty.
(Bk. XIII)",2013-06-10 18:34:14 UTC,"""[T]his last astonishes the Reader, and he is so intent upon it, that he has not attention to consider the absurdity in the manner of Ulysses's landing: In this moment when [Homer] perceives the mind of the Reader as it were intoxicated with these beauties, he steals Ulysses on shore, and dismisses the Phæacians; all this takes up but eight verses.""",2003-10-26 00:00:00 UTC,Book XIII,"",2006-09-19,"","•The mind is also ""enchanted"" in this passage. Interesting disquisition on the probable and the concealment of absurdity under poetic beauties.","HDIS; found again searching ""as it were"" and ""mind"" in HDIS (Poetry)",11525,4382
"Must these like empty shadows pass,
Or forms reflected from a glass?
Or mere chimeras in the mind,
That fly, and leave no marks behind?
Does not the body thrive and grow
By food of twenty years ago?
And, had it not been still supplied,
It must a thousand times have died.
Then who with reason can maintain
That no effects of food remain?
And is not virtue in mankind
The nutriment that feeds the mind;
Upheld by each good action past,
And still continued by the last?
Then, who with reason can pretend
That all effects of virtue end?
(p. 480, ll. 51-66)",2011-01-04 16:54:58 UTC,"""And is not virtue in mankind / The nutriment that feeds the mind; / Upheld by each good action past, / And still continued by the last?""",2003-10-21 00:00:00 UTC,"","",2010-01-04,"","","Reading Melinda Alliker Rabb's ""'Soft Figures' and 'a Pastes of Composition Rare': Pope, Swift, and Memory"" in SECC vol. 19, p. 189.",11606,4406
"I here appeal to the reader whether, as our author confesseth this to have been his first fault in medling with Schoolmen; he is not bound in conscience to keep his promise, that it shall be the last of the kind. To induce him to be as good as his word, I shall observe to him; that men of sence in the present age are already surfeited of treatises full of curtailed, perverted, mistranslated, misapplyed and impertinent quotations: and begin to nauseate them, as temperate and sober men do the dishes that are served up with a very little substantial food; but stuffed with forcemeats, and brimful of unwholesom and pernicious sauces. Nothing is more void of real improvement and instruction to the mind, and more fulsom, than heaps of quotations, and tedious disquisitions what opinions such and such men were of, in relation to matters properly determinable only by right reason and Scripture; and inquiries how far they at first maintained those opinions, or how far they receded from them afterwards. Whereas the stating any of those opinions of importance distinctly and fairly; explaining them clearly and fully; and producing the best reasons and arguments for or against them either from our selves or others, with that brevity and perspicuity which may save men the irksome trouble of frequently raking over a large dunghill before they find one jem; would be of real service to mankind in general, as well as to the more polite part of them in particular.
(pp. 163-4)",2013-06-10 18:38:19 UTC,"""Nothing is more void of real improvement and instruction to the mind, and more fulsom, than heaps of quotations, and tedious disquisitions what opinions such and such men were of, in relation to matters properly determinable only by right reason and Scripture.""",2004-02-17 00:00:00 UTC,Browne attacks Berkeley's theory of language,"",,"","•Much of the metaphor is preloaded, as it were, in the preceding sentence. There are two metaphors here then: quotation is food and the mind digests.",Reading Alciphron: In Focus,11832,4503
"'Lo! damn'd to wealth, at what a gross expense
They purchase disappointment, pain, and shame.
Instead of hearty hospitable cheer,
See! how the hall with brutal riot flows;
While in the foaming flood, fermenting, steep'd,
The country maddens into party rage.
Mark! those digraceful piles of wood and stone;
Those parks and gardens, where, his haunts betrimm'd,
And nature by presumptuous art oppress'd,
The woodland genius mourns. See! the full board
That steams disgust, and bowls that give no joy;
No truth invited there, to feed the mind;
Nor wit, the wine-rejoicing reason quaffs.
Hark! how the dome with insolence resounds,
With those retain'd by vanity to scare
Repose and friends. To tyrant fashion, mark!
The costly worship paid, to the broad gaze
Of fools. From still delusive day to day,
Led an eternal round of lying hope,
See! self-abandon'd, how they roam adrift,
Dash'd o'er the town, a miserable wreck!
Then to adore some warbling eunuch turn'd,
With Midas' ears they crowd; or to the buzz
Of masquerade unblushing: or, to show
Their scorn of nature, at the tragic scene
They mirthful sit, or prove the comic true.
But, chief, behold! around the rattling board,
The civil robbers ranged; and e'en the fair,
The tender fair, each sweetness laid aside,
As fierce for plunder as all-licensed troops
In some sack'd city. Thus dissolved their wealth,
Without one generous luxury dissolved,
Or quarter'd on it many a needless want,
At the throng'd levee bends the venal tribe;
With fair but faithless smiles each varnish'd o'er,
Each smooth as those that mutually deceive,
And for their falsehood each despising each;
Till shook their patron by the wintry winds,
Wide flies the wither'd shower, and leaves him bare.
O far superior Afric's sable sons,
By merchant pilfer'd, to these willing slaves!
And rich, as unsqueezed favourite, to them,
Is he who can his virtue boast alone!
(Part V, ll. 157-99, pp. 131-2)",2013-06-10 18:39:43 UTC,"""See! the full board / That steams disgust, and bowls that give no joy; / No truth invited there, to feed the mind; / Nor wit, the wine-rejoicing reason quaffs.""",2003-12-01 00:00:00 UTC,"","",,"","",HDIS,12000,4566
"You have, in my Opinion, raised a good presumptive Argument from the increasing Appetite the Mind has to Knowledge, and to the extending its own Faculties, which cannot be accomplished, as the more restrained Perfection of lower Creatures may, in the Limits of a short Life. I think another probable Conjecture may be raised from our Appetite to Duration it self, and from a Reflection on our Progress through the several Stages of it: We are complaining, as you observe in a former Speculation, of the Shortness of Life, and yet are perpetually hurrying over the Parts of it, to arrive at certain little Settlements, or imaginary Points of Rest, which are dispersed up and down in it.",2013-06-17 18:43:12 UTC,"""You have, in my Opinion, raised a good presumptive Argument from the increasing Appetite the Mind has to Knowledge, and to the extending its own Faculties, which cannot be accomplished, as the more restrained Perfection of lower Creatures may, in the Limits of a short Life.""",2013-06-17 18:43:12 UTC,"","",,"","","Searching ""mind"" in Project Gutenberg e-text.
",20880,7462
"This holds equally true as to time; and I most earnestly recommend to you the care of those minutes and quarters of hours, in the course of the day, which people think too short to deserve their attention; and yet, if summed up at the end of the year, would amount to a very considerable portion of time. For example: you are to be at such a place at twelve, by appointment; you go out at eleven, to make two or three visits first; those persons are not at home, instead of sauntering away that intermediate time at a coffeehouse, and possibly alone, return home, write a letter, beforehand, for the ensuing post, or take up a good book, I do not mean Descartes, Malebranche, Locke, or Newton, by way of dipping; but some book of rational amusement and detached pieces, as Horace, Boileau, Waller, La Bruyere, etc. This will be so much time saved, and by no means ill employed. Many people lose a great deal of time by reading: for they read frivolous and idle books, such as the absurd romances of the two last centuries; where characters, that never existed, are insipidly displayed, and sentiments that were never felt, pompously described: the Oriental ravings and extravagances of the ""Arabian Nights,"" and Mogul tales; or, the new flimsy brochures that now swarm in France, of fairy tales, 'Reflections sur le coeur et l'esprit, metaphysique de l'amour, analyse des beaux sentimens', and such sort of idle frivolous stuff, that nourishes and improves the mind just as much as whipped cream would the body. Stick to the best established books in every language; the celebrated poets, historians, orators, or philosophers. By these means (to use a city metaphor) you will make fifty PER CENT. Of that time, of which others do not make above three or four, or probably nothing at all.
(II.clxxxiv, pp. 334-5, February 5, O. S. 1750)",2013-06-21 18:12:48 UTC,"""Many people lose a great deal of time by reading: for they read frivolous and idle books, such as the absurd romances of the two last centuries; where characters, that never existed, are insipidly displayed, and sentiments that were never felt, pompously described: the Oriental ravings and extravagances of the 'Arabian Nights,' and Mogul tales; or, the new flimsy brochures that now swarm in France, of fairy tales, 'Reflections sur le coeur et l'esprit, metaphysique de l'amour, analyse des beaux sentimens', and such sort of idle frivolous stuff, that nourishes and improves the mind just as much as whipped cream would the body.""",2013-06-21 18:12:48 UTC,"","",,"","","Searching ""mind"" In PGDP",21110,5452
"THERE is something so amazingly grand--so stupendously affecting--in the contemplating the works of the Divine Architect, either in the moral, or the intellectual world, that I think one may rightly call it the cordial of the soul--it is the physic of the mind-- and the best antidote against weak pride--and the supercilious murmurings of discontent.--Smoaking my morning pipe, the friendly warmth of that glorious planet the sun--the leniency of the air--the chearful glow of the atmosphere--made me involuntarily cry, ""Lord, ""what is man, that thou in thy mercy ""art so mindful of him! or what the son ""of man, that thou so parentally carest ""for him!"" David, whose heart and affections were naturally of the first kind (and who indeed had experienced blessings without number) pours fourth the grateful sentiments of his enraptured soul in the sweetest modulations of pathetic oratory;--the tender mercies of the Almighty are not less to many of his creatures--but their hearts--unlike the royal disposition of the shepherd King, are cold, and untouched with the sweet ray of gratitude.--Let us, without meanly sheltering our infirmities under the example of others--perhaps worse taught--or possessed of less leisure for self-examination--let us, my dear M----, look into ourselves--and by a critical examination of the past events of our lives, fairly confess what mercies we have received--what God in his goodness hath done for us--and how our gratitude and praise have kept pace in imitation of the son of Jesse.--Such a research would richly pay us--for the end would be conviction--so much on the side of miraculous mercy--such an unanswerable proof of the superintendency of Divine Providence, as would effectually cure us of rash despondency--and melt our hearts--with devotional aspirations--till we poured forth the effusions of our souls in praise and thanksgiving.--When I sometimes endeavour to turn my thoughts inwards, to review the power or properties the indulgent all-wise Father has endow'd me with, I am struck with wonder and with awe--worm, poor insignificant reptile as I am, with regard to superior beings--mortal like myself.--Amongst, and at the very head of our riches, I reckon the power of reflection:--Where? where, my friend, doth it lie?--Search every member from the toe to the nose--all--all ready for action--but all dead to thought--it lies not in matter--nor in the blood--it is a party, which though we feel and acknowledge, quite past the power of definition--it is that breath of life which the Sacred Architect breathed into the nostrils of the first man--image of his gracious Maker--and let it animate our torpid gratitude--it rolls on, although diminished by our cruel fall, through the whole race--""We are fearfully and wonderfully made,"" &c. &c. were the sentiments of the Royal Preacher upon a self-review--but had he been blessed with the full blaze of the Christian dispensation--what would have been his raptures?--the promise of never, never-ending existence and felicity, to possess eternity--""glorious dreadful thought!""--to rise, perhaps, by regular progression from planet to planet--to behold the wonders of immensity--to pass from good to better--increasing in goodness--knowledge--love--to glory in our Redeemer--to joy in ourselves--to be acquainted with prophets, sages, heroes, and poets of old times--and join in symphony with angels.--And now, my friend, thou smilest at my futile notions--why preach to thee?--For this very good and simple reason, to get your thoughts in return.--You shall be my philosopher--my Mentor--my friend;--you, happily disengaged from various cares of life and family, can review the little world of man with steadier eye, and more composed thought, than your friend, declining fast into the vale of years, and beset with infirmity and pain.--Write now and then, as thought prompts, and inclination leads--refute my errors--where I am just give me your plaudit.--Your welfare in truly dear in my sight--and if any man has a share in my heart, or commands my respect and esteem, it is I---- M----.
(I.xliv, pp. 123-7; pp. 87-9)
",2013-07-11 21:37:53 UTC,"""There is something so amazingly grand--so stupendously affecting--in the contemplating the works of the Divine Architect, either in the moral, or the intellectual world, that I think one may rightly call it the cordial of the soul--it is the physic of the mind--and the best antidote against weak pride--and the supercilious murmurings of discontent.""",2013-07-11 21:37:53 UTC,"Vol. I, letter xliv","",,"","[fixing OCR error: ""all-wife,"" ""fight""]",Reading; text from DocSouth,21682,7541
"It is with sincere pleasure I hear you have a lucrative establishment--which will enable you to appear and act with decency--your good sense will naturally lead you to proper oeconomy--as distant from frigid parsimony, as from a heedless extravagancy--but as you may possibly have some time to spare upon your hands for necessary recreation--give me leave to obtrude my poor advice.--I have heard it more than once observed of fortunate adventurers--they have come home enriched in purse--but wretchedly barren in intellects--the mind, my dear Jack, wants food--as well as the stomach--why then should not one wish to increase in knowledge as well as money?--Young says--""Books are fair Virtue's advocates, and friends""--now my advice is--to preserve about 20 l. a year for two or three seasons--by which means you may gradually form a useful, elegant, little library--suppose now the first year you send the order--and the money to your father--for the following books--which I recommend from my own superficial knowledge as useful.--A man should know a little of Geography--History, nothing more useful, or pleasant.
(II.i, pp. 7-8; pp. 132-3 in Carretta)",2013-07-11 21:50:16 UTC,"""I have heard it more than once observed of fortunate adventurers--they have come home enriched in purse--but wretchedly barren in intellects--the mind, my dear Jack, wants food--as well as the stomach--why then should not one wish to increase in knowledge as well as money?""",2013-07-11 21:50:16 UTC,"","",,"","",Reading; text from DocSouth,21691,7541
"[...] Your Memory, and Understanding too
Will still acquire new Strength, by reading slow.
The Traveller, who o'er the Country flies,
Few rural Beauties, with Discernment, spies;
Objects, that pass so swift, confound the Mind,
And no distinct Impression leave behind.
Some Readers read too much, as Gluttons eat,
These Flatulence produce, and those Conceit;
If you, by reading much, would Knowledge gain,
Think, while you read, or you will read in vain;
You'll be no wiser than a Parrot taught
To speak, if you still read, without a Thought [...]
(p. 72)",2013-10-28 19:09:09 UTC,"""Some Readers read too much, as Gluttons eat, / These Flatulence produce, and those Conceit; / If you, by reading much, would Knowledge gain, / Think, while you read, or you will read in vain.""",2013-10-28 19:09:09 UTC,"","",,"",Flatulence!,ECCO,23104,7743