text,updated_at,metaphor,created_at,context,theme,reviewed_on,dictionary,comments,provenance,id,work_id
"He's a thing wholly consisting of Extreams--A Head, Fingers and Toes; for what his industrious Toes do tread, his ready Fingers do write, his running Head dictating. But to describe him more exactly, He is is made up of a large Head and Ears, some Beams, and most immoderate Tongue, Toes and Fingers; a very Carrier or Foot-post will draw him from any Company that has not been abroad, (excepting always his dear Iris, for she is ever new) meerly because he's a sort of a Traveller: But a Dutch Post ravishes him, and the meer Superscription of a Letter (thô there's ne're a Bill in't) from Boston, Italy, or France, sets him up like a Top, Colen or Germany makes him spin--(and without Whipping too, there's the wonder) and at seeing the word Universe, America, Flanders, or the Holy Land, thô but on the Title of a Book, he's ready to break Doublet, let fall Breeches, (in a civil way ) and overflow the room with all those Wonderments have surpriz'd him in these flourishing Countreys. If he has no Latin or Greek, he makes it up with abundant scraps of Italian, Spanish, French and Dutch, and thô he has little more knowledge in any of 'em than Comestato? Parlez vous? or How vare ye Min-heer? and can hardly buy a Sallat in one Language, or a Herring in t'other; yet when he comes home, he passes with himself and others like him, for a monstrous learned Creature, a Native of every Countrey under Heaven, whereas indeed he's a meer Babylonian, he confounds all Languages, but speaks none, and is so careful to jumble together the Gibberish of other Countreys, that he almost forgets his own Mother Tongue, as the Roman Orator did his Name, only the Writing the History of his Travels makes him remember it agen. All his Discourse is shap'd into a Traveling Garb, and is the same with his Manners and Haviour, looking as if 'twas contriv'd to make Mourners merry. He's all the strange shapes round the Maps put together--one Legg a Hungarian, t'other a Pole; one piece of him a Turk, and the next a Tartar or Moscovite; but if you look on his Face, you'd swear he's a Laplander--so much has Travelling, Wind, Sun and Rain discoulour'd it and alter'd it: However chast his Body may be, his Mind is extreamly prolifick; his thoughts are a perfect Seraglio, and he, like a great Turk, begets thousands of little Infants--Remarks, Fancys, Fantasticks, Crochets and Whirligigs, on his wandring Intellect, and when once begot, they must be bred--so out he turns 'em into the wide World to shift for themselves, after he has put a few black and white Raggs about 'em to cover their Nakedness: But to look upon 'em when they once get abroad--to see how hugely they favour their Father: Do but view 'em all over, and--Here's that will cure your Corns, Gout, Chollick, and what you please; or as the most excellent Saffold--'Twill cure every cureable Disease: (You have heard of the Monkey that cured the Cardinal:) Undo the Colledge, and break Apothecarys Hall, as easily as one of their Glasses. There's no Man who for his sake wou'd n't neglect any thing but Business, that is to say, wou'd not be glad of his Company, when he has nothing else to do:--He'll ask you how you do; where you have been; what News; how is't; if you have Travelled; and above all, (when Publish'd) How you like his Rambles; han't they a fine Frontispiece--Ay, a very fine one; there's Art--there's Thought--well--and then for the Uerses before it, I say Coriat's Book was but a Horn-book to't--they no more deserve to be compared together than Pilgrims Progress and Burton's Wonderments; and so he would Ramble on to the End of the Chapter, did not you out of Civility give him a gentle tweak by the Nose, or kick on the Shins, and ask him whether he knew what he was talking of? Yet as good let him alone, for if you get him out of this Impertinency, he'll ramble into a thousand more, rather than want the Humanity of vexing you--but then such courteous ones they'll be (for he's the very Pink of Courtesie) that ye can't for your Teeth find in your Heart to be angry with him. If he chances to be Shipwrackt, he can't be angry with the Sea or Winds; Nay, is rather pleas'd with 'em, for giving him opportunity to describe a Storm more lively, and tell the World what direful Dangers he escaped, when he swum ashore like a Cæsar, with his Sword in one hand, and his Commentaries in t'other. He's averse to nothing that has Motion in't, and for a Lowse, he dearly loves such a painful Fellow-Traveller, who Rambles over his Microcosm, or lesser World, as he the greater--nibling and sucking here and there, whenever he finds any thing agreeable to his Palate. He's generally for Foot-service, and thinks that much more brave than the Horse, scorning to ride upon four Hoofs, when Nature has given him ten Toes to support him. But if he should be forc'd into such Circumstances, by the surbating his Feet, he envies those happier Criminals who have their Leggs ty'd under their Horses belly, and thinks the most commodious way of riding is with his Face toward the Tayl, for then he can't see any danger 'till he's past it. Other People are for walking with a Horse in their Hand, he's o' the contrary, for riding with his Staff in his Hand, or rather Walking with a Horse between his Leggs, for his Feet still move at the same rate as if they touch'd the ground, and were imployed in their own natural motion.
(pp. 9-14)",2013-06-18 18:10:01 UTC,"""However chast his Body may be, his Mind is extreamly prolifick; his thoughts are a perfect Seraglio, and he, like a great Turk, begets thousands of little Infants--Remarks, Fancys, Fantasticks, Crochets and Whirligigs, on his wandring Intellect, and when once begot, they must be bred--so out he turns 'em into the wide World to shift for themselves, after he has put a few black and white Raggs about 'em to cover their Nakedness.""",2013-06-18 18:04:09 UTC,The Impartial Character of a Rambler. ,"",,Inhabitants,"",C-H Lion,20947,7476
" Ca'ndish and Drake, rub off! avaunt! be gone!
A greater Traveller now's approaching on:
You for one way at once did well 'tis true,
But his Inventions far more strange and new,
At once he forward goes and backwards too!
Whilst his dull Body's for New-England bound,
His Soul (in Dreams) trots all the World around;
But Cunning Men and Conjurers use this Trade,
Who still as Stocks have Sea and Land survey'd;
Nor think he writes more than he saw, thô he
Use Authors to refresh his Memorie;
And Trav'llers have you know Authoritie.
If Fame and thee as who dares doubt, speak true,
No mortal Wight cou'd ever him outdo;
No wandring Christian; No, nor wandring Jew,
Vesputius, Madoc, Cortes, Captain Smith,
Lithgow, or whom Achates travel'd with,
Whoever round the Earths vast Circle ran,
Coryat or Cabot, Hanno or Magellan;
By Horse or Foot, or Ship, how e're they've gone,
Whether Dutch Vander, or Castilian Don,
None sure, none over-went thee yet, Friend John!
And see how on the Black'nd shore attends
Thy looseing Bark a shole of weeping Friends:
Weeping, or what's far worse, the sad surprize,
And Grief for thy Departure froze their Eyes.
He that can cry or roar finds some relief,
But nothing kills like the dry silent grief.
",2013-06-18 20:50:02 UTC,"""Whilst his dull Body's for New-England bound, / His Soul (in Dreams) trots all the World around.""",2013-06-18 20:50:02 UTC,"","",,"","",C-H Lion,20948,7476
"Be it therefore known to all men by these presents, that I Don John Hard-name (you'll hear more on't if you have patience to read further) Citizen and, &c. of London, being now arriv'd to the precise 30th. Year of my Life, that time when the gaities of Fancy being workt off, the Judgment begins to Burnish, and a Man comes to years of Discretion, if ever he will be so:--Wandring one Evening thro' a Cypress Grove--(I won't be positive, it might be Hazle, but t'other sounds better) revolving in my rambling Brain the Varietyes of Human Affairs, happen'd i' the Drove of Thoughts, that swarm'd up and down my Noddle to reflect on my own self (Sir, Your Humble Servant) and what strange checquered Fortunes had filled the Lines of my Horoscope; I followed my self in my busy Imagination from my Cradle to my Grave, in all my Rises and Falls, my Ups and Downs, and heres and theres and every where's, and upon the whole sincerely protest unto thee, O judicious, gentle, courteous Reader, that after the severest Investigation both of History and Experience, I can no where find my Parallel, and am apt now to believe what I thought too much my Friends have sometimes bin pleas'd to Complement me with, that I was indeed an Original.
(I, 1-2)",2013-06-18 20:53:27 UTC,"""Wandring one Evening thro' a Cypress Grove--(I won't be positive, it might be Hazle, but t'other sounds better) revolving in my rambling Brain the Varietyes of Human Affairs, happen'd i' the Drove of Thoughts, that swarm'd up and down my Noddle to reflect on my own self (Sir, Your Humble Servant) and what strange checquered Fortunes had filled the Lines of my Horoscope.""",2013-06-18 20:53:27 UTC,"","",,Animals,"",C-H Lion,20949,7476
"But again I won't forestall ye, tho' really the matter presses, and my pregnant Brain labours with so many painful pangs to be obstetricated, that I verily fear I shall burst before I come to disgorge it thro' my fruitful Quill, to avoid which I'll Ramble on as fast as I can scamper thro' this Porch, which yet I must tell ye, if t'were a Mile long, wond'n't be bigger than the House at the end on't.
(I, 2)",2013-06-18 20:54:59 UTC,"""But again I won't forestall ye, tho' really the matter presses, and my pregnant Brain labours with so many painful pangs to be obstetricated, that I verily fear I shall burst before I come to disgorge it thro' my fruitful Quill, to avoid which I'll Ramble on as fast as I can scamper thro' this Porch, which yet I must tell ye, if t'were a Mile long, wond'n't be bigger than the House at the end on't.""",2013-06-18 20:54:59 UTC,"","",,"","",C-H Lion,20950,7476
"As for the pretty little Virtues of Comity and Urbanity, this furnishes you to a miracle, for have you a mind to divert either your self or Friend with the most pleasant and agreeable entertainment, a Mans Jaws must be made of Iron, and fastn'd as close to one another, as if 'twere done with the Pins of a Shop-window, if what's here enclosed, don't now and then wrench 'em asunder, and discover not only the Teeth in his Head, but the very grin of his Soul; and such an Intellectual Tehe, as will force the very Heart to be--it self for Joy, and the Blood flow out at such an immoderate rate, as 't wou'd be almost impossible to hold fast any thing else. Tho' o' the other side he'll meet with passages, that tho' they mayn't spoil, will yet temper his Mirth, and as the Egyptians had (and they were cunning old Fellows) a Deaths-head in the midst of his Dainties.
(I, pp. 5-6)",2013-06-18 20:55:55 UTC,"""As for the pretty little Virtues of Comity and Urbanity, this furnishes you to a miracle, for have you a mind to divert either your self or Friend with the most pleasant and agreeable entertainment, a Mans Jaws must be made of Iron, and fastn'd as close to one another, as if 'twere done with the Pins of a Shop-window, if what's here enclosed, don't now and then wrench 'em asunder, and discover not only the Teeth in his Head, but the very grin of his Soul; and such an Intellectual Tehe, as will force the very Heart to be--it self for Joy, and the Blood flow out at such an immoderate rate, as 't wou'd be almost impossible to hold fast any thing else.""",2013-06-18 20:55:55 UTC,"","",,"","",C-H Lion,20951,7476
"It has been said of Accomplished Persons, that they have Read Men as well as Books; and why is there not as great a Commendation belongs to those who have Travell'd Books as well as Men, and brought thence the Gold and precious Jewels, leaving 'em still, as the Bee the Flower, to return to the Metaphor already used, not a jot the worse for wearing. For the gay Feathers I have taken, they may as well call one of the Indian Princes Atabalipa and Montezuma, an Owl, Jay, or Magpy, who borrow Feathers indeed from the Birds to Adorn themselves in their most Royal Robes.--But alas, the Art is all--materiam superabat opus--'Tis the placing 'em, and ordering 'em in such delicate Lights and Shades, that only makes 'em so inimitably Beautiful and Lovely, even so--but I'll spare the t'other Leg o' the Comparison--and let the Reader never trust me more if I desire him to go with me any further than to this next Stile, and then wee'll part, for I scorn to use him like a Quaker, with his false-bottomed Sermons, who Concludes 40 times over, but will never have done. I say I've but one little tiney favour to beg, and then--and that is--that he'd maturely Weigh, Swallow, Chew the Cud, and soundly digest this following first Book, before he throw it out agen, for should he make too much hast, and too greedily read it over, as 'tis to be fear'd the pleasantness and rarity on't, will tempt him to be Ravenous, why then 'twill only cause Crudities in the Maw of his Soul, and the next Volume coming upon him before he has concocted this, and turned it into Life, Blood, and Nourishment, they'll only one confound another, and either nauseate or choak him.
(I, p. 7)",2013-06-18 20:57:47 UTC,"""I say I've but one little tiney favour to beg, and then--and that is--that he'd maturely Weigh, Swallow, Chew the Cud, and soundly digest this following first Book, before he throw it out agen, for should he make too much hast, and too greedily read it over, as 'tis to be fear'd the pleasantness and rarity on't, will tempt him to be Ravenous, why then 'twill only cause Crudities in the Maw of his Soul, and the next Volume coming upon him before he has concocted this, and turned it into Life, Blood, and Nourishment, they'll only one confound another, and either nauseate or choak him.""",2013-06-18 20:57:47 UTC,"","",,"","",C-H Lion,20952,7476
"What's other Mens Recreation is his business, and yet he makes rather a pleasure of a Toyl, than a Toyl of a pleasure; for tho' he Rambles with all his might, (as when he rides every part of him works) yet the more pain, the more content; and the Fatigues he meets with in all, give such an odd sort of a pleasure, as a Boar has when scrubbing his brawny Back against a Tree, or an Irish man scratching where it itches. I told you he Rambles with all his might, and 'tis true enough, for he sets his Heart upon't, and there's not one particle of his Body, nor immaterial Snip of his Soul, but Rambles as fast as his Legs, nay, some much faster.
(I, p. 14)",2013-06-18 20:59:01 UTC,"""I told you he Rambles with all his might, and 'tis true enough, for he sets his Heart upon't, and there's not one particle of his Body, nor immaterial Snip of his Soul, but Rambles as fast as his Legs, nay, some much faster.""",2013-06-18 20:59:01 UTC,"","",,"","",C-H Lion,20953,7476
"What shou'd I tell you of his Soul, since his Body is the very Picture on't, and if you know one, you can't miss o' t'other among a thousand: 'Tis like Gresham-Colledge, or the Anatomy-School at Leyden, hung round with a thousand Knick-knacks that rambled thither, some of 'em half the World over--But what pains he takes to show 'em all, and does it with as much Decorum and gravity as the old Fellow used to show the Tombs at Westminster; so that in his own words, his ill Luck lies not so much in being a Fool, as in being put to such Pain to express it to the World--But shou'd the Frollick go round, and all the World write a Book of their Lives and Rambles, as he has done, he'll ask one civil Question--Who wou'd be Fool then? To summe up all his Character in two Words, He is--
(pp. 19-20)",2013-06-18 21:01:45 UTC,""What shou'd I tell you of his Soul, since his Body is the very Picture on't, and if you know one, you can't miss o' t'other among a thousand: 'Tis like Gresham-Colledge, or the Anatomy-School at Leyden, hung round with a thousand Knick-knacks that rambled thither, some of 'em half the World over.""",2013-06-18 21:01:45 UTC,"","",,"","",C-H Lion,20955,7476
"After his first Ramble--] First, and not first--for even before this, I Rambled from the Beginning of the World, if not a great deal sooner. The Essences of things are eternal, as the Learned say, and my first Ramble was indeed out of Essence into Existence, from a Being in my Causes, into actual Being.
But not to mount the Argument above my Readers Head, lest I should crack both that and my own--Let it suffice, that my Soul for ought I know, has been Rambling the best part of this 6000 Years, if those are in the right on't who hold the Præexistence, and that all Souls were made at once.
However--for my Body, I can make Affidavit on't--that 't has been Rambling so long and so far before my Soul stumbled upon't, that I lose the Track, and can go no further. All matter is in motion, and therefore perpetually chang'd and alter'd--now in how many shapes that little handful which makes up my Souls Luggage, has been formerly dress'd, I'll promise you, I'll not undertake to tell ye.
(p. 27)",2013-06-18 21:04:29 UTC,"""Let it suffice, that my Soul for ought I know, has been Rambling the best part of this 6000 Years, if those are in the right on't who hold the Præexistence, and that all Souls were made at once.",2013-06-18 21:04:29 UTC,"","",,"","",C-H Lion,20956,7476
"After his first Ramble--] First, and not first--for even before this, I Rambled from the Beginning of the World, if not a great deal sooner. The Essences of things are eternal, as the Learned say, and my first Ramble was indeed out of Essence into Existence, from a Being in my Causes, into actual Being.
But not to mount the Argument above my Readers Head, lest I should crack both that and my own--Let it suffice, that my Soul for ought I know, has been Rambling the best part of this 6000 Years, if those are in the right on't who hold the Præexistence, and that all Souls were made at once.
However--for my Body, I can make Affidavit on't--that 't has been Rambling so long and so far before my Soul stumbled upon't, that I lose the Track, and can go no further. All matter is in motion, and therefore perpetually chang'd and alter'd--now in how many shapes that little handful which makes up my Souls Luggage, has been formerly dress'd, I'll promise you, I'll not undertake to tell ye.
(p. 27)",2013-06-18 21:05:33 UTC,"""All matter is in motion, and therefore perpetually chang'd and alter'd--now in how many shapes that little handful which makes up my Souls Luggage, has been formerly dress'd, I'll promise you, I'll not undertake to tell ye.""",2013-06-18 21:05:33 UTC,"","",,"","",C-H Lion,20957,7476