work_id,theme,provenance,created_at,text,reviewed_on,id,comments,metaphor,dictionary,updated_at,context
3276,"","Reading S. H. Clark's ""Locke and Metaphor Reconsidered"" in JHI 59:2 (1998), p. 253",2005-03-21 00:00:00 UTC,"I Cannot but think my self beholden to any Occasion that procures me the Honour of a Letter from you. I return my Acknowledgments for those great Expressions of Civilty and Marks of Friendship I receiv'd in yours of the eighth Instant; and wish I had the Opportunity to shew the Esteem I have of your Merit, and the Sense of your Kindness to me, in any real Service. The Desire of your Friend in the inclos'd Letter you sent me, is what of my self I am inclin'd to satisfy: and am only sorry, that so copious a Subject has lost, in my bad Memory, so much of what heretofore I could have said, concerning the Great and Good Man, of whom he enquires. Time, I daily find, blots out apace the little Stock of my Mind, and has disabled me from furnishing all that I would willingly contribute to the Memory of that Learned Man. But give me leave to assure you, that I have not know a fitter Person than he, to be preserv'd as an Example, and propos'd to the Imitation of Men of Letters. [...]
(p. 7)",,8537,"3322 VIII, 42 in Works...","""Time, I daily find, blots out apace the little Stock of my Mind, and has disabled me from furnishing all that I would willingly contribute to the Memory of that Learned Man..""",Writing,2013-10-13 15:54:00 UTC,""
7704,"",Searching in Google Books,2013-10-13 16:01:50 UTC,"[...] You must therefore expect to have me live with you hereafter, with all the Liberty and Assurance of a settled Friendship. For meeting with but few Men in the World whose Acquaintance I find much reason to covet, I make more than ordinary Haste into the Familiarity of a rational Enquirer after, and Lover of Truth, whenever I can light on any such. There are Beauties of the Mind, as well as of the Body, that take and prevail at first sight: And where-ever I have met with this, I have readily surrendered my self, and have never yet been deceiv'd in my Expectation. Wonder not therefore, if having been thus wrought on, I begin to converse with you with as much Freedom as if we had begun, our Acquaintance when you were in Holland; and desire your Advice and Assistance about a second Edition of my Essay, the former being now dispersed. [...]
(p. 10)",,22958,"","""There are Beauties of the Mind, as well as of the Body, that take and prevail at first sight: And where-ever I have met with this, I have readily surrendered my self, and have never yet been deceiv'd in my Expectation.""","",2013-10-13 16:01:50 UTC,""
7707,"",Searching in Google Books,2013-10-13 16:20:40 UTC,"[...] I cannot complain that I have not my Share of Friends of all Ranks, and such, whose Interest, Assistance, Affection, and Opinions too, in fit Cases, I can rely on. But methinks, for all this, there is one Place vacant, that I know no body that would so well fill as your self: I want one near me to talk freely with, De quolibet Ente; to propose to, the Extravagances that rise in my Mind; one with whom I would debate several Doubts and Questions, to see what was in them. Meditating by one's self is like digging in the Mine; it often, perhaps, brings up maiden Earth, which never came near the Light before; but whether it contain any Metal in it, is never so well tried as in Conversation with a knowing judicious Friend, who carries about him the true Touch-stone, which is Love of Truth in a clear-thinking Head. Men of Parts and Judgment the World usually gets hold of, and by a great Mistake (that their Abilities of Mind are lost, if not employ'd in the Pursuit of Wealth or Power) engages them in the Ways of Fortune and Interest, which usually leave but little Freedom or Leisure of Thought for pure disinterested Truth. And such who give themselves up frankly, and in earnest, to the full Latitude of real Knowledge, are not every where to be met with. Wonder not, therefore, that I wish so much for you in my Neighbourhood; I should be too happy in a Friend of your Make, were you within my Reach. But yet I cannot but wish that some Business would once bring you within Distance; and 'tis a Pain to me to think of leaving the World, without the Happiness of seeing you.
(pp. 85-6)",,22961,INTEREST. USE IN ENTRY,"""Meditating by one's self is like digging in the Mine; it often, perhaps, brings up maiden Earth, which never came near the Light before; but whether it contain any Metal in it, is never so well tried as in Conversation with a knowing judicious Friend, who carries about him the true Touch-stone, which is Love of Truth in a clear-thinking Head.""",Metal,2013-10-13 16:20:40 UTC,""
7709,"",Searching in Google Books,2013-10-13 16:44:40 UTC,"I am asham'd to receive so many Thanks for having done so little for a Man who came recommended to me by you. I had so little Opportunity to shew the Civility I would have done to Mr. Burridge, that I should not know how to excuse it to you or him, were not he himself a Witness of the perpetual Hurry I was in all the Time I was then in Town. I doubt not at all of his Performance in the Translation of my Book he has undertaken. He has Understanding, and Latin, much beyond those who usually meddle with such Works: And I am so well satisfied, both of his Ability, and your Care, that the sending me a Specimen, I shall look on as more than needs. As to a Treatise of Morals, I must own to you that you are not the only Persons (you and Mr. Burridge I mean) who have been for putting me upon it; neither have I wholly laid by the Thoughts of it. Nay, I so far incline to comply with your Desires, that I every now and then lay by some Materials for it, as they occasionally occur in the Rovings of my Mind. But when I consider that a Book of Offices, as you call it, ought not to be slightly done, especially by me, after what I have said of that Science in my Essay, Nonumque prematur in annum, is a Rule more necessary to be observed in a Subject of that Consequence, than in any Thing Horace speaks of; I am in doubt whether it would be prudent, in one of my Age and Health, not to mention other Disabilities in me, to set about it. Did the World want a Rule, I confess there could be no Work so necessary, nor so commendable. But the Gospel contains so perfect a Body of Ethicks, that Reason may be excused from that Enquiry, since she may find Man's Duty clearer and easier in Revelation than in her self. Think not this the Excuse of a lazy Man, though it be perhaps of one, who having a sufficient Rule for his Actions, is content therewith, and thinks he may, perhaps, with more Profit to himself, employ the little Time and Strength he has in other Re-searches, wherein he finds himself more in the dark.
(pp. 113-114)",,22964,"","""Nay, I so far incline to comply with your Desires, that I every now and then lay by some Materials for it, as they occasionally occur in the Rovings of my Mind.""","",2013-10-13 16:44:40 UTC,""
7710,"",Searching in Google Books,2013-10-13 16:48:21 UTC,"[...] I never have any Thoughts working in my Head, or any new Project start in my Mind, but my Wishes carry me immediately to you, and I desire to lay them before you. You may justly think this carries a pretty severe Reflection on my Country, or my self, that in it I have not a Friend to communicate my Thoughts with. I cannot much complain of want of Friends to other Purposes: But a Man with whom one can freely seek Truth, without any Regard to old or new, fashionable or not fashionable, but Truth merely for Truth's sake, is what is scarce to be found in an Age; and such an one I take you to be. Do but think then what a Pleasure, what an Advantage it would be to me, to have you by me, who have so much Thought, so much Clearness, so much Penetration, all directed to the same Aim which I propose to my self, in all the Ramblings of my Mind. I, on this Occasion, mention only the Wants that I daily feel, which makes me not so often speak of the other Advantages I mould receive from the Communication of your own Notions, as well as from the Correction of mine. But with this Repining I trouble you too much, and for the Favours I receive from you thank you too little, and rejoice not enough in having such a Friend, though at a distance.
(p. 174)",,22965,"","""Do but think then what a Pleasure, what an Advantage it would be to me, to have you by me, who have so much Thought, so much Clearness, so much Penetration, all directed to the same Aim which I propose to my self, in all the Ramblings of my Mind.""","",2013-10-13 16:48:21 UTC,""
7711,"",Searching in Google Books,2013-10-13 17:26:52 UTC,"[...] For I am in doubt, whether it be fit for me to trouble the Press with any new Matter; or if I did, I look on my Life as so near worn out, that it would be Folly to hope to finish any thing of Moment in the small Remainder of it. I hop'd therefore, as I said, to have seen you, and unravel'd to you that which lying in the Lump unexplicated in my Mind, I scarce yet know what it is my self; for I have often had Experience that a Man cannot well judge of his own Notions, till either by setting them down in Paper, or in discoursing them to a Friend, he has drawn them out, and as it were spread them fairly before, himself. As for Writing, my ill Health gives me little Heart or Opportunity for it; and of seeing you, I begin now to despair: And that which very much adds to my Affliction in the Case, is, that you neglect your own Health on Considerations, I am sure, that are not worth your Health; for nothing, if Expectations were Certainties, can be worth it. I see no likelihood of the Parliament's rising yet this good while; and when they are up, who knows whether the Man you expect to relieve you, will come to you presently, or at all? [...]
(pp. 209-210)",,22966,"","""I hop'd therefore, as I said, to have seen you, and unravel'd to you that which lying in the Lump unexplicated in my Mind, I scarce yet know what it is my self; for I have often had Experience that a Man cannot well judge of his own Notions, till either by setting them down in Paper, or in discoursing them to a Friend, he has drawn them out, and as it were spread them fairly before, himself.""","",2013-10-13 17:26:52 UTC,""
7714,"",Searching in Google Books,2013-10-13 18:37:40 UTC,"The Doctor, concerning whom you enquire of me, had, I remember, when I liv'd in Town, and convers'd among the Physicians there, a good Reputation amongst those of his own Faculty. I can say nothing of his late Book of Fevers, having not read it my self, nor heard it spoke of by others: But I perfectly agree with you concerning general Theories, that they are for the most part but a sort of waking Dreams, with which, when Men have warm'd their own Heads, they pass into unquestionable Truths, and then the ignorant World must be set right by them: Though this be, as you rightly observe, beginning at the wrong End, when Men lay the Foundation their own Fancies, and then endeavour to suit the Phœnomena of Diseases, and the Cure of them, to those Fancies. I wonder, that after the Pattern Dr. Sydenham has set them of a better Way, Men mould return again to that Romance Way of Physick. But I see it is easier and more natural for Men to build Castles in the Air of their own, than to survey well those that are to be found standing. Nicely to observe the History of Diseases, in all their Changes and Circumstances, is a Work of Time, Accurateness, Attention and Judgment; and wherein if Men, through Prepossession or Oscitancy, mistake, they may be convinced of their Error by unerring Nature and Matter of Fact, which leaves less room for the Subtlety and Dispute of Words, which serves very much instead of Knowledge in the learned World, where methinks Wit and Invention has much the Preference to Truth. [...]
(pp. 223-4)",,22969,"","""But I perfectly agree with you concerning general Theories, that they are for the most part but a sort of waking Dreams, with which, when Men have warm'd their own Heads, they pass into unquestionable Truths, and then the ignorant World must be set right by them.""","",2013-10-13 18:37:40 UTC,""