work_id,theme,provenance,created_at,text,reviewed_on,id,comments,metaphor,dictionary,updated_at,context
3866,"","Reading. Found again searching ""mind"" and ""mirror"" in Past Masters. See also Jonathan Miller, On Reflection (London: National Gallery Publications, 1998), 207.",2003-09-06 00:00:00 UTC,"In this Part, the Understanding is meerly passive; and whether or no, it will have these Beginnings, and as it were materials of Knowledge, is not in its own Power. For the Objects of our Senses, do, many of them, obtrude their particular Ideas upon our minds, whether we will or no: And the Operations of our minds, will not let us be without, at least some obscure Notions of them. No Man, canbe wholly ignorant of what he does, when he thinks. These simple Ideas, when offered to the mind, the Understanding can no more refuse to have, nor alter, when they are imprinted, nor blot them out, and make new ones in it self, than a mirror can refuse, alter, or obliterate the Images or Ideas, which, the Objects set before it, do therein produce. As the Bodies that surround us, do diversly affect our Organs, the mind is forced to receive the Impressions; and cannot avoid the Perception of those Ideas that are annexed to them.
(II.i.25)",,9949,"•INTEREST. IMPORTANT METAPHOR. I've included thrice: Mirror, Imprint, Blot.
•""The passivity of the understanding""","""These simple Ideas, when offered to the mind, the Understanding can no more refuse to have, nor alter, when they are imprinted, nor blot them out, and make new ones in it self, than a mirror can refuse, alter, or obliterate the Images or Ideas, which, the Objects set before it, do therein produce.""","Impressions, Mirror, and Writing",2014-07-29 15:15:29 UTC,II.i.25.
3866,"","Found again searching ""stamp"" in Past Masters",2003-09-15 00:00:00 UTC,"Concerning the several degrees of lasting, wherewith Ideas are imprinted on the Memory, we may observe, That some of them have been produced in the Understanding, by an Object affecting the Senses once only, and no more than once: Others, that have more than once offer'd themselves to the Senses, have yet been little taken notice of; the Mind, either heedless, as in Children, or otherwise employ'd, as in Men, intent only on one thing, not setting the stamp deep into it self. And in some, where they are set on with care and repeated impressions, either through the temper of the Body, or some other default, the Memory is very weak: In all these cases, Ideas in the Mind, quickly fade, and often vanish quite out of the Understanding, leaving no more footsteps or remaining Characters of themselves, than Shadows do flying over fields of Corn; and the Mind is as void of them, as if they never had been there.
(II.x.4)",,9961,"•Part of this passage appears in Johnson's Dictionary as an illustration of the ""Stamp ... 2. A mark set on any thing; impression.""","""[I]n some, where they are set on with care and repeated impressions, either through the temper of the Body, or some other default, the Memory is very weak""",Impression,2009-09-14 19:34:36 UTC,II.x.4
3866,"","Reading; found again, reading P. B. Wood, “Hume, Reid, and the Science of Mind” in Hume and Hume’s Connexions, ed. M.A. Stewart and J.P. Wright (University Park: The Pennsylvania State UP, 1994), 130.",2003-09-15 00:00:00 UTC,"Thus the Ideas, as well as Children, of our youth, often die before us: And our Minds represent to us those Tombs, to which we are approaching; where though the Brass and Marble remain, yet the Inscriptions are effaced by time, and the Imagery moulders away. The pictures drawn in our Minds, are laid in fading Colours; and if not sometimes refreshed, vanish and disappear. How much the Constitution of our Bodies, and the make of our animal Spirits, are concerned in this; and whether the Temper of the Brain make this difference, that in some it retains the Characters drawn on it like Marble, in others like Free-stone, and in others little better than Sand, I shall not here enquire, though it may seem probable, that the Constitution of the Body does sometimes influence the Memory; since we oftentimes find a Disease quite strip the Mind of all its Ideas, and the flames of a Fever, in a few days, calcine all those Images to dust and confusion, which seem'd to be as lasting, as if graved in Marble.
(II.x.5)",2012-01-28,9966,"•This is a metaphorically rich chapter! Even more entries follow this paragraph!
• Calcine and engraving? Is this a mixed metaphor? Does this make sense? Yes, it looks like it... Marble can be calcined. But then, why the as if?
•OED gives for calcine: ""1. v.t. a Reduce by roasting or burning to quicklime or a similar friable substance or powder""
","""I shall not here enquire, though it may seem probable, that the Constitution of the Body does sometimes influence the Memory; since we oftentimes find a Disease quite strip the Mind of all its Ideas, and the flames of a Fever, in a few days, calcine all those Images to dust and confusion, which seem'd to be as lasting, as if graved in Marble.""",Impressions and Writing,2012-01-30 20:00:58 UTC,II.x.5
3866,"",Reading,2003-09-15 00:00:00 UTC,"Concerning the several degrees of lasting, wherewith Ideas are imprinted on the Memory, we may observe, That some of them have been produced in the Understanding, by an Object affecting the Senses once only, and no more than once: Others, that have more than once offer'd themselves to the Senses, have yet been little taken notice of; the Mind, either heedless, as in Children, or otherwise employ'd, as in Men, intent only on one thing, not setting the stamp deep into it self. And in some, where they are set on with care and repeated impressions, either through the temper of the Body, or some other default, the Memory is very weak: In all these cases, Ideas in the Mind, quickly fade, and often vanish quite out of the Understanding, leaving no more footsteps or remaining Characters of themselves, than Shadows do flying over fields of Corn; and the Mind is as void of them, as if they never had been there.
(II.x.4)",,9977,"•The retention of ideas. I've included twice
•Part of this passage appears in Johnson's Dictionary as an illustration of the ""Stamp ... 2. A mark set on any thing; impression.""","""Concerning the several degrees of lasting, wherewith Ideas are imprinted on the Memory, we may observe, That some of them have been produced in the Understanding, by an Object affecting the Senses once only, and no more than once: Others, that have more than once offer'd themselves to the Senses, have yet been little taken notice of; the Mind, either heedless, as in Children, or otherwise employ'd, as in Men, intent only on one thing, not setting the stamp deep into it self.""",Impression,2011-09-13 14:30:39 UTC,II.x.4.
3873,"","Searching ""thought"" and ""impression"" in HDIS (Poetry)",2005-05-20 00:00:00 UTC,"Permit me now Dear Strephon, to relate,
The Tricks and Wiles of Whores of Second Rate;
The Play-house Punks, who in a loose Undress,
Each Night receive some Cullies soft Address;
Reduc'd perhaps to the last poor half Crown,
A tawdry Gown and Petticoat put on,
Go to the House, where they demurely sit
Angling for Bubbles, in the noisy Pit:
Not Turks by Turbants, Spaniards by their Hats,
Nor Quakers by Diminutive Cravats
Are better known, than is the Tamdry Crack
By Vizor-Mask, and Rigging on her Back:
The Play-house is their place of Traffick, where
Nightly they sit, to sell their Rotten Ware;
Tho' done in silence and without a Cryer,
Yet he that bids the most, is still the Buyer;
For while he nibbles at her Am'rous Trap,
She gets the Mony, but he gets the Clap.
Intrencht in Vizor Mask they Giggling sit,
And throw designing Looks about the Pit,
Neglecting wholly what the Actors say,
'Tis their least business there to see the Play:
But if some unexperienc'd Youth by chance,
Bestows upon 'em an obliging Glance,
And in his Rustick manner offers Love,
These slow Advances, they know how t'improve;
Like Stubborn Towns, when first they view the Foe,
Some signs of vigorous Resistance show,
Till prest too hard by their opponent Fate,
Make Terms, and freely then Capitulate.
So these at first appear too nice and coy,
And scorn the kind pretences of the Boy;
Laugh loud to show their Wit, and in the Strife,
Act Modesty and Vertue to the Life.
Th' unthinking Lad more fond by distance grown,
Bears up his Thoughts, and briskly pushes on,
Till they at last contented to comply,
(As overcome by Importunity)
Accept a Coach (still Maskt and in Disguise)
Whilst he with his new gotten Female Prize
To Tavern hastning, where a Splendid Treat,
Opens his Eyes and quickly shews the Cheat;
Their Seeming Vertue off with Mask is thrown,
And they appear True Women of the Town.
If Dancing, Singing, Swearing, Impudence,
Can make Impressions upon easie sense,
And She, he thought a Goddess just before,
Now proves an Errant Rampant true bred VVhore:
And in the Height of VVine, if he's but willing
Will soon unrig her self, for one poor Shilling.
These sights his lustful Fever serve to cure,
Or else like Oyl to Fire, inflame it more;
So doubly flusht with VVine and Love at last,
Their fatal Kindness he attempts to tast:
Fatal indeed, but too too often prove,
These stollen snatches of unlawful Love;
Delusions charm his reason for a while,
And ev'ry thing about him seems to smile;
Pleas'd with the Raptures of his new found Bliss,
Fancies there is no other Paradice:
But sober Reason must at last take place,
And he, tho' late, perceives his own disgrace;
For when he lay intranc'd in Celia's Lap,
He little thought 'twould terminate in Clap:
So finds the total Sum of all his gains
Are Saffold's Pills, to Cure all sorts of Pains.",,10030,"","""Dancing, Singing, Swearing, Impudence, / Can make Impressions upon easie sense""",Impression,2009-09-14 19:34:39 UTC,""
3866,"","Reading Arthur A. Cash, ""The Sermon in Tristram Shandy."" ELH 31:4 (1964): 399.",2012-06-12 20:34:32 UTC,"12. Thirdly, probabilities, which cross men's appetites and prevailing passions, run the same fate. Let ever so much probability hang on one side of a covetous man's reasoning, and money on the other; it is easy to foresee which will outweigh. Earthly minds, like mud-walls, resist the strongest batteries: And though perhaps sometimes the force of a clear argument may make some impression, yet they nevertheless stand firm, and keep out the enemy truth, that would captivate or disturb them. Tell a man passionately in love, that he is jilted; bring a score of witnesses of the falsehood of his mistress, it is ten to one but three kind words of hers shall invalidate all their testimonies, Quod volumus, facile credits; What suits our wishes, is forwardly believed; is, I suppose, what every one hath more than once experimented: And though men cannot always openly gainsay or resist the force of manifest probabilities that make against them, yet yield they not to the argument. Not but that it is the nature of the understanding constantly to close with the more probable side; but yet a man hath a power to suspend and restrain its inquiries, and not permit a full and satisfactory examination, as far as the matter in question is capable, and will bear it to be made. Until that be done, there will be always these two ways left of evading the most apparent probabilities.
(IV.xx.12)",,19792,"","""Earthly minds, like mud-walls, resist the strongest batteries: And though perhaps sometimes the force of a clear argument may make some impression, yet they nevertheless stand firm, and keep out the enemy truth, that would captivate or disturb them.""",Empire and Impressions,2012-06-12 20:34:32 UTC,IV.xx.12
7474,"",Searching in C-H Lion,2013-06-18 13:43:53 UTC,"FAGEL
'Tis known you no Instructions want,
Nor does your God like Vertue need Directions
Let every Man of us altho remember
No common Cause we wear upon Swords,
Let each but think that on his single Valour
Depends the Glory or the Fall of Mons
Eternal Honour or perpetual Slav'ry,
If helps to Valour we should stand in need,
Let us reflect upon the breach of Oaths,
Truces and Edicts sign'd by treacherous French,
Let's think of Phillipsburg, Spire, Worms, and other
Once famous Towns, now heaps of Dirt and Ruines,
Let this within our minds form such impressions
Of French Civility that we may never
Listen to Overtures of tame Surrender.
(I.i, p. 3)",,20916,"","""If helps to Valour we should stand in need, / Let us reflect upon the breach of Oaths, / Truces and Edicts sign'd by treacherous French, / Let's think of Phillipsburg, Spire, Worms, and other / Once famous Towns, now heaps of Dirt and Ruines, / Let this within our minds form such impressions / Of French Civility that we may never / Listen to Overtures of tame Surrender.""",Impressions,2013-06-18 13:44:12 UTC,"Act I, Scene i"
3866,"",Reading; text from EEBO-TCP,2013-09-17 17:11:23 UTC,"§. 1. Though God has given us no innate Ideas of himself; though he has stamped no original Characters in our Minds, wherein we may read his Being: yet having furnished us with those Faculties, our Minds are endowed with, he hath not left himself without witness: since we have Sense, Perception, and Reason, and cannot want a clear proof of him, as long as we carry our selves about us. Nor can we justly complain of our Ignorance in this great Point, since he has so plentifully provided us with the means to discover, and know him, so far as is necessary to the end of our Being, and the great concernment of our Happiness. But though this be the most obvious Truth that Reason discovers; and though its Evidence be (if I mistake not) equal to mathematical Certainty: yet it requires Thought and Attention; and the Mind must apply its self to a regular deduction of it from some unquestionable parts of our Knowledge, or else we shall be as uncertain, and ignorant of this, as of other Propositions, which are in themselves capable of clear Demonstration. To shew therefore, that we are capable of knowing, certainly knowing that there is a God, and how we come by it, I think we need look no farther than our selves, and that undoubted Knowledge we have of our own Existence.
(IV.x.1, p. 312 in 1690 ed.)",,22774,"","""Though God has given us no innate Ideas of himself; though he has stamped no original Characters in our Minds, wherein we may read his Being: yet having furnished us with those Faculties, our Minds are endowed with, he hath not left himself without witness: since we have Sense, Perception, and Reason, and cannot want a clear proof of him, as long as we carry our selves about us.""",Impressions and Writing,2013-09-17 17:11:23 UTC,""
7945,"",Reading (in the British Library),2014-06-22 03:08:34 UTC,"III. We may fetch an Argument of the Wisdom and Providence of God from the convenient situation and disposition of the Parts and Members of our Bodies: They are seated most conveniently for Use, for Ornament, and for mutual Assistance. First, for Use; So we see the Senses of such eminent Use for our well-being, situate in the Head, as Sentinels in a Watch-Tower, to receive and conveigh to the Soul the impressions of external Objects. Sensus autem interpretes ac nutii rerum in capite tanquam in arce mirifice ad usus necessarios & facti & collati sunt. Cic. de Nat. Deorum. [...]
(p. 157)",,24084,"","""First, for Use; So we see the Senses of such eminent Use for our well-being, situate in the Head, as Sentinels in a Watch-Tower, to receive and conveigh to the Soul the impressions of external Objects""",Impressions and Inhabitants,2014-06-22 03:08:34 UTC,""
3866,"",Searching in EEBO-TCP,2014-07-28 15:15:41 UTC,"§. 5. The Understanding seems to me, not to have the least glimmering of any Ideas, which it doth not receive from one of these two: Eternal Objects furnish the Mind with the Ideas of sensible qualities, which are all those different perceptions they produced in us: And the Mind furnishes the Vnderstanding with Ideas of its own Operations. These, when we have taken a full survey of them, and their several modes, and the Compositions made out of them, we shall find to contain all our whole stock of Ideas; and that we have nothing in our Minds, which did not come in, one of these two ways. Let any one examine his own Thoughts, and throughly search into his Understanding, and then let him tell me, Whether all the original Ideas he has there, are any other than of the Objects of his Senses, or of the Operations of his Mind, considered as Objects of his Reflection: and how great a mass of Knowledge soever he imagines to be lodged there, he will, upon taking a strict view, see that he has not any Idea in his Mind, but what one of those two have imprinted; though, perhaps, with infinite variety compounded and enlarged, by the Understanding, as we shall see hereafter.
(II.i.5, p. 38)",,24314,"","""Let any one examine his own Thoughts, and throughly search into his Understanding, and then let him tell me, Whether all the original Ideas he has there, are any other than of the Objects of his Senses, or of the Operations of his Mind, considered as Objects of his Reflection: and how great a mass of Knowledge soever he imagines to be lodged there, he will, upon taking a strict view, see that he has not any Idea in his Mind, but what one of those two have imprinted; though, perhaps, with infinite variety compounded and enlarged, by the Understanding, as we shall see hereafter.""",Impressions,2014-07-28 15:15:54 UTC,""