work_id,theme,provenance,created_at,text,reviewed_on,id,comments,metaphor,dictionary,updated_at,context
5452,"","Searching ""mind"" in PGDP",2013-06-21 18:14:38 UTC,"DEAR FRIEND: I am now two letters in your debt, which I think is the first time that ever I was so, in the long course of our correspondence. But, besides that my head has been very much out of order of late, writing is by no means that easy thing that it was to me formerly. I find by experience, that the mind and the body are more than married, for they are most intimately united; and when the one suffers, the other sympathizes. 'Non sum qualis eram': neither my memory nor my invention are now what they formerly were. It is in a great measure my own fault; I cannot accuse Nature, for I abused her; and it is reasonable I should suffer for it.
(LONDON, April 25, 1758)",,21112,"","""I find by experience, that the mind and the body are more than married, for they are most intimately united; and when the one suffers, the other sympathizes.""",Inhabitants,2013-06-21 18:14:38 UTC,""
5452,"","Searching ""reason"" in PGDP",2013-06-21 18:21:10 UTC,"Voltaire sent me, from Berlin, his 'History du Siecle de Louis XIV. It came at a very proper time; Lord Bolingbroke had just taught me how history should be read; Voltaire shows me how it should be written. I am sensible that it will meet with almost as many critics as readers. Voltaire must be criticised; besides, every man's favorite is attacked: for every prejudice is exposed, and our prejudices are our mistresses; reason is at best our wife, very often heard indeed, but seldom minded. It is the history of the human understanding, written by a man of parts, for the use of men of parts. Weak minds will not like it, even though they do not understand it; which is commonly the measure of their admiration. Dull ones will want those minute and uninteresting details with which most other histories are encumbered. He tells me all I want to know, and nothing more. His reflections are short, just, and produce others in his readers. Free from religious, philosophical, political and national prejudices, beyond any historian I ever met with, he relates all those matters as truly and as impartially, as certain regards, which must always be to some degree observed, will allow him; for one sees plainly that he often says much less than he would say, if he might. He hath made me much better acquainted with the times of Lewis XIV., than the innumerable volumes which I had read could do; and hath suggested this reflection to me, which I have never made before—His vanity, not his knowledge, made him encourage all, and introduce many arts and sciences in his country. He opened in a manner the human understanding in France, and brought it to its utmost perfection; his age equalled in all, and greatly exceeded in many things (pardon me, Pedants!) the Augustan. This was great and rapid; but still it might be done, by the encouragement, the applause, and the rewards of a vain, liberal, and magnificent prince. What is much more surprising is, that he stopped the operations of the human mind just where he pleased; and seemed to say, ""Thus far shalt thou go, and no farther."" For, a bigot to his religion, and jealous of his power, free and rational thoughts upon either, never entered into a French head during his reign; and the greatest geniuses that ever any age produced, never entertained a doubt of the divine right of Kings, or the infallibility of the Church. Poets, Orators, and Philosophers, ignorant of their natural rights, cherished their chains; and blind, active faith triumphed, in those great minds, over silent and passive reason. The reverse of this seems now to be the case in France: reason opens itself; fancy and invention fade and decline.
(III.ccxviv, [p. 256 in Roberts ed., LONDON, April 13, O. S. 1752)",,21114,"","""Voltaire must be criticised; besides, every man's favorite is attacked: for every prejudice is exposed, and our prejudices are our mistresses; reason is at best our wife, very often heard indeed, but seldom minded.""",Inhabitants,2013-06-21 18:23:39 UTC,""
7541,"",Reading; text from DocSouth,2013-07-11 21:18:41 UTC,"It is, my dear M----, the same with the rest of our passions;--we have Reason given us for our rudder--Religion is our sheet anchor--our fixed star Hope--Conscience our faithful monitor--and Happiness the grand reward;--we all in this manner can preach up trite maxims:--ask any jackass the way to happiness--and like me they will give vent to picked up common-place sayings--but mark how they act--why just as you and I do--content with acknowledging a slight acquaintance with Wisdom, but ashamed of appearing to act under her sacred guidance.--You do me much more honor than I deserve, in wishing to correspond with me--the balance is entirely in your favor--but I fancy you were under the malady of your country, hypp'd for want of fresh air and exercise--so sitting in a pensive attitude, with lack-lustre eye, and vacant countenance--the thought obtruded on your fancy to give Sancho a letter--and after a hard conflict 'twixt laziness and inclination--the deed was done.--I verily believe you commit errors--only for the sake of handsomely apologizing for them, as tumblers oft make slips to surprize beholders with their agility in recovering themselves.--I saw Mr. B---- last night--who by the way I like much--the Man I mean--and not the Genius (tho' of the first rate)--he chatted and laughed like a soul ignorant of evil. He asked about a motley creature at----. I told him with more truth than wit--that you was hypp'd.--I enclose you a proof print:--and how does Mad. M----, &c. &c.? Is Miss S---- better.--Is Mrs. H----, Mrs. T----, Mrs. H----. Lord preserve me! what in the name of mischief have I to do with all this combustible matter? Is it not enough for me that I am fast sliding down the vale of years? Have not I a gout? six brats, and a wife?--Oh! Reason, where art thou? you see by this how much easier it is to preach than to do--but stop--we know good from evil; and, in serious truth, we have powers sufficient to withstand vice, if we will choose to exert ourselves. In the field, if we know the strength and situation of the enemy, we place out-posts and centinels--and take every prudent method to avoid surprize. In common life we must do the same;--and trust me, my honest friend, a victory gained over passion, immorality, and pride, deserves Te Deums, better than those gained in the fields of ambition and blood.--Here's letter for letter, and so farewell, [...]
(I.vii, pp. 23-5)",,21667,"","""It is, my dear M----, the same with the rest of our passions;--we have Reason given us for our rudder--Religion is our sheet anchor--our fixed star Hope--Conscience our faithful monitor--and Happiness the grand reward;--we all in this manner can preach up trite maxims.""",Inhabitants,2013-07-11 21:18:41 UTC,""
7541,"",Reading; text from DocSouth,2013-07-11 21:28:55 UTC,"THERE is something inexpressibly flattering in the notion of your being warmer--from the idea of your much obliged friend's caring for you;--in truth we could not help caring about you--our thoughts travelled with you over night from Bond Street to the Inn.--The next day at noon--""Well, now she's above half way--alas! no, she will not get home till Saturday night--I wonder what companions she has met with--there is a magnetism in good-nature which will ever attract its like--so if she meets with beings the least social--but that's as chance wills!""--Well, night arrives--and now our friend has reached the open arms of parental love--excess of delightful endearments gives place to tranquil enjoyments--and all are happy in the pleasure they give each other.--Were I a Saint or a Bishop, and was to pass by your door, I would stop, and say, Peace be upon this dwelling!--and what richer should I leave it?--for I trust where a good man dwells, there peace makes its sweet abode.--When you have read Boffuet, you will find at the end, that it was greatly wished the learned author had brought the work down lower--but I cannot help thinking he concluded his design as far as he originally meant.--Mrs. Sancho thank Heaven, is as well as you left her, and your godson thrives--he is the type of his father--fat--heavy--seepy--but as he is the heir of the noble family, and your godson, I ought not to disparage him.--The Dutchess of K---- is so unwell, that she has petitioned for a longer day--they say that her intellects are hurt;--tho' a bad woman, she is entitled to pity.--Conscience, the high chancellor of the human breast, whose small still voice speaks terror to the guilty--Conscience has pricked her--and, with all her wealth and titles, she is an object of pity.--Health attend you and yours!--Pleasure of course will follow.--Mrs. Sancho joins me in all I say, and the girls look their assent.--I remain--God forgive me! I was going to conclude, without ever once thanking you for your goodness in letting us hear from you so early--there is such a civil coldness in writing, a month perhaps after expectation has been snuffed out, that the very thought is enough to chill friendship--but you, like your sister Charity, as Thomson sweetly paints her (smiling thro' tears), delight in giving pleasure, and joy in doing good.--And now farewell--and believe us in truth, our dear Miss L----'s [...]
(I.xxxii, pp. 87-90; pp. 69-70 in Carretta)",,21676,"","""Conscience, the high chancellor of the human breast, whose small still voice speaks terror to the guilty--Conscience has pricked her--and, with all her wealth and titles, she is an object of pity.""",Court and Inhabitants,2013-07-11 21:29:08 UTC,"Vol. I, letter xxxii"
7541,"",Reading; text from DocSouth,2013-07-11 21:35:00 UTC,"ZOUNDS! if alive--what ails you? if dead--why did you not send me word?--Where's my Tristram?--What, are all bucks alike?--all promise and no--but I won't put myself in a passion--I have but one foot and no head-- go-to--why, what a devil of a rate dost thou ride at anathematizing and reprobating poor--! pho! thou simpleton--he deserves thy pity--and whoever harbours a grain of contempt for his fellow creatures--either in the school of poverty or misfortune--that Being is below contempt--and lives the scorn of men--and shame of devils.--Thou shalt not think evil of----; nor shall he, either by word or thought, dispraisingly speak or think of M----.
In regard to thy N----, thou art right--guard her well--but chiefly guard her from the traitor in her own fair breast, which, while it is the seat of purity and unsullied honor--fancies its neighbours to be the same--nor sees the serpent in the flowery foliage--till it stings--and then farewell sweet peace and its attendant riches.
(I.xli, pp. 108-9; p. 80 in Carretta)
",,21680,"[fixing ""fees"" for ""sees""]","""In regard to thy N----, thou art right--guard her well--but chiefly guard her from the traitor in her own fair breast, which, while it is the seat of purity and unsullied honor--fancies its neighbours to be the same--nor sees the serpent in the flowery foliage--till it stings--and then farewell sweet peace and its attendant riches.""",Inhabitants and Throne,2013-07-11 21:35:00 UTC,"Vol. I, letter xli"
7541,"",Reading; text from DocSouth,2013-07-11 21:57:07 UTC,"No! you have not the least grain of genius--alas! description is a science--a man should in some measure be born with the knack of it.--Poor blundering M--, I pity thee--once more I tell thee--thou art a bungler in every thing--ask the girls else.--You know nothing of figures--you write a wretched hand--thou hast a nonsensical style--almost as disagreeable as thy heart--thy heart, though better than thy head--and which I wish from my soul (as it now is) was the worst heart in the three kingdoms--thy heart is a silly one--a poor cowardly heart--that would shrink at mere trifles--though there were no danger of fine or imprisonment:--for example--come, confess now--could you lie with the wife of your friend? could you debauch his sister? could you defraud a poor creditor? could you by gambling rejoice in the outwitting a novice of all his possessions?--No! why then thou art a silly fellow--incumbered with three abominable inmates;--to wit--Conscience--Honesty--and Good-nature--I hate thee (as the Jew says) because thou art a Christian.
(II.xliii pp. 104-5; pp. 183-4 in Carretta)",,21697,"","""No! why then thou art a silly fellow--incumbered with three abominable inmates;--to wit--Conscience--Honesty--and Good-nature--I hate thee (as the Jew says) because thou art a Christian.""",Inhabitants,2013-07-11 21:57:07 UTC,"Vol. II, letter xliii"