theme,metaphor,work_id,dictionary,provenance,id,created_at,updated_at,reviewed_on,comments,text,context
"","""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.""",7541,Inhabitants,Reading; text from DocSouth,21667,2013-07-11 21:18:41 UTC,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)",""
"","""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.""",7541,Court and Inhabitants,Reading; text from DocSouth,21676,2013-07-11 21:28:55 UTC,2013-07-11 21:29:08 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)","Vol. I, letter xxxii"
"","""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.""",7541,Inhabitants and Throne,Reading; text from DocSouth,21680,2013-07-11 21:35:00 UTC,2013-07-11 21:35:00 UTC,,"[fixing ""fees"" for ""sees""]","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)
","Vol. I, letter xli"
"","""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.""",7541,Inhabitants,Reading; text from DocSouth,21697,2013-07-11 21:57:07 UTC,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)","Vol. II, letter xliii"