work_id,theme,provenance,created_at,text,reviewed_on,id,comments,metaphor,dictionary,updated_at,context
6795,"",Reading,2011-02-10 17:09:34 UTC,"And sure, I shall not need many words to persuade you to close with this Proposal. The very offer is a sufficient inducement; nor does it need the set-off's of Rhetorick to recommend it, were I capable, which yet I am not, of applying them with the greatest force. Since you cannot be so unkind to your selves, as to refuse your real Interest; I only entreat you to be so wise as to examine wherein it consists; for nothing is of worser consequence than to be deceiv'd in a matter of so great concern. 'Tis as little beneath your Grandeur as your Prudence, to examine curiously what is in this case offer'd you; and to take care that cheating Hucksters don't impose upon you with deceitful Ware. This is a matter infinitely more worthy your Debates, than what Colours are most agreeable, or whats the Dress becomes you best? Your Glass will not do you half so much service as a serious reflection on your own Minds; which will discover Irregularities more worthy your Correction, and keep you from being either too much elated or depress'd by the representations of the other. 'Twill not be near so advantagious to consult with your Dancing-master as with your own Thoughts, how you may with greatest exactness tread in the Paths of Vertue, which has certainly the most attractive Air, and Wisdom the most graceful and becoming Meen: Let these attend you, and your Carriage will be always well compos'd, and ev'ry thing you do will carry its Charm with it. No solicitude in the adornation of your selves is discommended, provided you employ your care about that which is really your self; and do not neglect that particle of Divinity within you, which must survive, and may (if you please) be happy and perfect when it's unsuitable and much inferiour Companion is mouldring into Dust. Neither will any pleasure be denied you, who are only desir'd not to catch at the Shadow and let the Substance go. You may be as ambitious as you please, so you aspire to the best things; and contend with your Neighbours as much as you can, that they may not out-do you in any commendable Quality. Let it never be said, that they to whom preeminence is so very agreeable, can be tamely content that others shou'd surpass them in this, and precede them in a better World! Remember, I pray you, the famous Women of former Ages, the Orinda's of late, and the more Modern D'acier and others, and blush to think how much is now, and will hereafter be said of them, when you your selves (as great a Figure as you make) must be buried in silence and forgetfulness! Shall your Emulation fail there only where it is commendable? Why are you so preposterously humble, as not to contend for one of the highest Mansions in the Court of Heav'n? Believe me Ladies, this is the only Place worth contending for; you are neither better nor worse in your selves for going before, or coming after now; but you are really so much the better, by how much the higher your station is in an Orb of Glory. How can you be content to be in the world like Tulips in a Garden, to make a fine shew and be good for nothing; have all your Glories set in the grave, or perhaps much sooner? What your own sentiments are, I know not, but I cannot without pity and resentment reflect, that those Glorious Temples on which your kind Creator has bestow'd such exquisite workmanship, shou'd enshrine no better than Egyptian Deities; be like a garnish'd Sepulchre, which for all it's glittering, has nothing within but Emptiness or Putrifaction! What a pity it is, that whilst your Beauty casts a lustre round about, your Souls which are infinitely more bright and radiant (of which if you had but a clear Idea, as lovely as it is, and as much as you now value it, you wou'd then despise and neglect the mean Case that encloses it) shou'd be suffer'd to overrun with Weeds, lye fallow and neglected, unadorn'd with any Grace! Altho the Beauty of the Mind is necessary to secure those Conquests which your Eyes have gain'd; and Time that mortal Enemy to handsome Faces, has no influence on a lovely Soul, but to better and improve it. For shame, let us abandon that Old, and therefore one wou'd think, unfashionable employment of pursuing Butterflies and Trifles! No longer drudge on in the dull beaten road of Vanity and Folly, which so many have gone, before us; but dare to break the enchanted Circle that custom has plac'd us in, and scorn the vulgar way of imitating all the Impertinencies of our Neighbours. Let us learn to pride our selves in something more excellent than the invention of a Fashion: And not entertain such a degrading thought of our own worth, as to imagin that our Souls were given us only for the service of our Bodies, and that the best improvement we can make of these, is to attract the eyes of men. We value them too much, and our selves too little, if we place any part of our worth in their Opinion; and do not think our selves capable of Nobler Things than the pitiful Conquest of some worthless heart. She who has opportunities of making an interest in Heav'n, of obtaining the love and admiration of God and Angels, is too prodigal of her Time, and injurious to her Charms, to throw them away on vain insignificant men. She need not make her self so cheap, as to descend to Court their Applauses; for at the greater distance she keeps, and the more she is above them, the more effectually she secures their esteem and wonder. Be so generous then Ladies, as to do nothing unworthy of you; so true to your Interest as not to lessen your Empire, and depreciate your Charms. Let not your Thoughts be wholly busied in observing what respect is paid you, but a part of them at least, in studying to deserve it. And after all, remember, that Goodness is the truest Greatness, to be wise for your selves, the greatest Wit, and that Beauty the most desirable, which will endure to Eternity.
(pp. 6-16)",,18131,"","""What your own sentiments are, I know not, but I cannot without pity and resentment reflect, that those Glorious Temples on which your kind Creator has bestow'd such exquisite workmanship, shou'd enshrine no better than Egyptian Deities; be like a garnish'd Sepulchre, which for all it's glittering, has nothing within but Emptiness or Putrifaction!""",Rooms,2011-02-10 17:09:53 UTC,""
7370,"",Reading,2013-04-02 02:26:19 UTC,"[...] I believe it would shame their Choice, if they duly consider'd what Empty Toys they pursu'd, and preferr'd before this Solid and Substantial Good. PHILOSOPHY, truly such, and rightly understood, is far from being such a Frightful Thing as their Imagination paints it; being only Plain, Natural Reason, Polish'd, Better'd and Elevated by Art and Reflexion: So that they who check at the Knowledge of Philosophy, ought, with much better Reason, find fault with the Teaching Persons of Quality to Sing, Dance or Play on the Lute: Unless they think it very Prudent, and Expedient, to give our Voice, Feet and Fingers the best Advantages we can, to perform their Actions artificially, and exactly; but, that 'tis a very Needless Folly to perfect the Knowing Power of our Soul; and wondrous Wise, to let it still doze on sluggishly, in its Home-spun Native Rudeness, and lie wholly Uncultivated. Nay, such Gentlemen would be much offended their Houses should not be clean Swept, and Garnish'd; yet, they are not, in the least, concern'd, that Cobwebs should hang in the Windows of their Intellect, and Dusty Ignorance dim and blear the Sight of the Noble Inhabitant.",,20080,"","""Nay, such Gentlemen would be much offended their Houses should not be clean Swept, and Garnish'd; yet, they are not, in the least, concern'd, that Cobwebs should hang in the Windows of their Intellect, and Dusty Ignorance dim and blear the Sight of the Noble Inhabitant.""",Inhabitants and Rooms,2013-04-02 02:26:19 UTC,""
7370,"",Reading,2013-04-02 02:50:10 UTC,"43 First then, 'tis so certainly known, that Similitudes do not use quadrare per omnia, or, (as they say,) run on four Feet, that it is grown Proverbial; which lays a great prejudice upon that Way in common. 2. Similitudes drawn from Material Things, to Immaterial, are particularly liable to this Defect. They may, indeed, oft times, serve to illustrate some Truth, as fit Metaphors to sute with our Fancy; but then they presuppose the Truth, which they are to illustrate, to be known some other Way. Whence, unless this be done first, all they can do is to explicate we know not what, which destroys the nature of an Explication; for, Explications are not intended to put the Truth of the Point, but suppose it. 3. All the Actions of our Soul are, or ought to be Rational; and have a Dependence on one another, by the way of Reason gathering Subsequent Truths from those which preceded. Now, I think, 'tis impossible to be contested by any Man who has read Cartesius's Meditations, but that his Discourses which anteceded his finding out this First Principle of his, are reducible to this Enthymem; [For these and these Reasons, there can no Certainty be had, as to Speculative Knowledges, by any Information had from Outward Objects affecting the Senses; therefore, it ought to be sought for in some Interiour Act of our Mind, which is most Comprehensive and Peculiar to it,] which he concieved was Cogitation; and thence he laid this First Principle: [Cogito ergo sum] Which being so, it follows necessarily, that the Laying this for his First Principle, depended on the Goodness of the Reasons he had, why our Senses were not to be trusted, nor could give us our First Notions; whence, by reflecting on their Metaphysical Verity, we might have those Self-evident, and First Truths, of ours. This, I say, was evidently the Tenour of his Discourse; because, did not those Reasons of his, against the Sufficiency of our Senses to give us this Information, conclude; but that, notwithstanding all those Reasons could prove, the Senses might still imprint on our Mind those First Notions, his Consequent would not have follow'd: Nor, could he have had any Ground for recurring to the Interiour Act of Cogitation, for his First Principle, in regard it had been given to his Hand by means of the Senses, as was now declar'd. 4. It being then evident, that the Substance of those antecedent Discourses was summ'd up in the Enthymem now mention'd, 'tis manifest, that this Explication of yours falters in the main Particular, in which it ought to sute, and resemble. For, in case those Impressions on our Mind could have been made by means of the Senses, as aforesaid; then those Impressions, or Notions, being the Immediate Foundation, on which is built all our Knowledge, could not be call'd, or resembl'd to Rubbish; nor compar'd to a Hole, to lay the Foundation; for, the Holes were already made in those Inlets, our Senses; which were Pervious to the Effluviums affecting the Seat of Knowledge; and thence, the Soul. So that your Similitude is, in effect, the Begging the whole Question; and can have no Force at all, but by our Granting it; which, I see plainly, we shall never have Reason to do. Rather, unless this Petitio Principii (which is tacitly involv'd in this Parallel) be yielded by us, or prov'd by you, it makes against your selves. For, by Denying all such certain Information from the Senses, you will be found, not to remove the Rubbish, in order to lay the Foundation; but, to stop up the Way to the laying any; and, to damm up all the Holes, by which the Materials could come into our Minds, where only such a Foundation could have been laid. At least, you see, your Explication amounts to nothing; and, that your Similitude is lame in all its Legs, and has not one Sure Foot to stand on. Which will, I hope, sufficiently inform others, that this Way of Explicating, so mightily affected by Cartesius, and his Followers, is utterly Insignificant. I shall hope too, that this Paper will light into the hands of some Readers, who are so Intelligent, as to discern, that this Explicative Way is taken up, to avoid the Way of Rigorous Proof; which is so Unfriendly to a Doctrine that wants Principles.
(pp. 94-8)",,20091,INTEREST. REVISIT. META-METAPHORICAL.,"""For, in case those Impressions on our Mind could have been made by means of the Senses, as aforesaid; then those Impressions, or Notions, being the Immediate Foundation, on which is built all our Knowledge, could not be call'd, or resembl'd to Rubbish; nor compar'd to a Hole, to lay the Foundation; for, the Holes were already made in those Inlets, our Senses; which were Pervious to the Effluviums affecting the Seat of Knowledge; and thence, the Soul.""",Throne,2013-04-02 02:50:10 UTC,""
7452,"","Searching ""mind"" in Project Gutenberg e-text.
",2013-06-17 17:38:27 UTC,"A Disappointment in Love is more hard to get over than any other; the Passion itself so softens and subdues the Heart, that it disables it from struggling or bearing up against the Woes and Distresses which befal it. The Mind meets with other Misfortunes in her whole Strength; she stands collected within her self, and sustains the Shock with all the Force which is natural to her; but a Heart in Love has its Foundations sapped, and immediately sinks under the Weight of Accidents that are disagreeable to its Favourite Passion.",,20864,"","""The Mind meets with other Misfortunes in her whole Strength; she stands collected within her self, and sustains the Shock with all the Force which is natural to her; but a Heart in Love has its Foundations sapped, and immediately sinks under the Weight of Accidents that are disagreeable to its Favourite Passion.""","",2013-06-17 17:38:27 UTC,""
7470,"",Reading,2013-06-17 20:05:40 UTC,"The Pineal Gland, which many of our Modern Philosophers suppose to be the Seat of the Soul, smelt very strong of Essence and Orange-flower Water, and was encompassed with a kind of Horny Substance, cut into a thousand little Faces or Mirrours, which were imperceptible to the naked Eye, insomuch that the Soul, if there had been any here, must have been always taken up in contemplating her own Beauties.",,20898,"","""The Pineal Gland, which many of our Modern Philosophers suppose to be the Seat of the Soul, smelt very strong of Essence and Orange-flower Water, and was encompassed with a kind of Horny Substance, cut into a thousand little Faces or Mirrours, which were imperceptible to the naked Eye, insomuch that the Soul, if there had been any here, must have been always taken up in contemplating her own Beauties.""",Inhabitants and Mirror and Rooms and Throne,2013-06-17 20:05:40 UTC,""
7470,"",Reading,2013-06-17 20:07:59 UTC,"We observed a long Antrum or Cavity in the Sinciput, that was filled with Ribbons, Lace and Embroidery, wrought together in a most curious Piece of Network, the Parts of which were likewise imperceptible to the naked Eye. Another of these Antrums or Cavities was stuffed with invisible Billet-doux, Love-Letters, pricked Dances, and other Trumpery of the same Nature. In another we found a kind of Powder, which set the whole Company a Sneezing, and by the Scent discovered it self to be right Spanish. The several other Cells were stored with Commodities of the same kind, of which it would be tedious to give the Reader an exact Inventory.",,20899,"","""We observed a long Antrum or Cavity in the Sinciput, that was filled with Ribbons, Lace and Embroidery, wrought together in a most curious Piece of Network, the Parts of which were likewise imperceptible to the naked Eye. Another of these Antrums or Cavities was stuffed with invisible Billetdoux, Love-Letters, pricked Dances, and other Trumpery of the same Nature. In another we found a kind of Powder, which set the whole Company a Sneezing, and by the Scent discovered it self to be right Spanish. The several other Cells were stored with Commodities of the same kind, of which it would be tedious to give the Reader an exact Inventory.""",Rooms and Writing,2013-06-17 20:07:59 UTC,""
7470,"",Reading,2013-06-17 20:10:47 UTC,"When we had thoroughly examined this Head with all its Apartments, and its several kinds of Furniture, we put up the Brain, such as it was, into its proper Place, and laid it aside under a broad Piece of Scarlet Cloth, in order to be prepared, and kept in a great Repository of Dissections; our Operator telling us that the Preparation would not be so difficult as that of another Brain, for that he had observed several of the little Pipes and Tubes which ran through the Brain were already filled with a kind of Mercurial Substance, which he looked upon to be true Quick-Silver.",,20901,"","""When we had thoroughly examined this Head with all its Apartments, and its several kinds of Furniture, we put up the Brain, such as it was, into its proper Place, and laid it aside under a broad Piece of Scarlet Cloth, in order to be prepared, and kept in a great Repository of Dissections.""",Rooms,2013-06-17 20:10:47 UTC,""
7945,"",Reading (in the British Library),2014-06-22 03:10:16 UTC,"[...] 2. The Brain, which is the principle of all Sense and Motion, the Fountain of the Animal Spirits, the Chief Seat and Palace Royal of the Soul; upon whose security depends whatever Privilege belongs to us as Sensitive or Rational Creatures. This, I say, being the prime and immediate Organ of the Soul, from the right constitution whereof proceeds the quickness of Apprehension, acuteness of Wit, solidity of Judgment, method and order of Invention, strength and power of Memory; which if once weakened and disordered [End Page 160] there follows nothing but Confusion and Disturbance in our Apprehensions, Thoughts, and Judgments, is environed round about with such a potent Defence, that it must be amighty Force indeed that is able to injure it
(160-1)",,24085,"","""The Brain, which is the principle of all Sense and Motion, the Fountain of the Animal Spirits, the Chief Seat and Palace Royal of the Soul; upon whose security depends whatever Privilege belongs to us as Sensitive or Rational Creatures.""",Rooms,2014-06-22 03:10:16 UTC,""
7986,"","Reading Joanna Picciotto, Labors of Innocence in Early Modern England. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2010), 261.",2014-07-28 16:04:13 UTC,"Nay, though we can give you no sensible eviction of it, Why may not all those long filaments of which the substance of the Brain, Spinal Marrow, and Nerves consists, be tubulous and hollow; so that the Animal-Spirits may be channelled through them, as the bloud through the Veins and Arteries? I am sure, we see by Observation xxxi. and L. what infinitely small filaments and vessels there are in Animals, and yet all tubulous and perforated; so that the suddain inflation of all those capillary threads or pipes, may serve for Motion of the Body, and the constant though flower filtration of the Spirits through their Coats and Cylindrical Membranes may serve for Sensation. So that it seems, this Cottage of Clay, with all its Furniture within it, was but made in subserviency to the Animal Spirits; for the extraction, separation, and depuration of which, the whole Body, and all the Organs and Utensils therein are but instrumentally contrived, and preparatorily designed. Just as the Chymical Elaboratory with all its Furnaces, Crucibles, Stills, Retorts, Cucurbits, Matrats, Bolt-heads, Pelicans, &c. were made for no other end by the ingenious Chymist, than for the extraction and depuration of his Spirits and Quintessences (which he draws from those Bodies he deals with) in the obtainment of which he hath come to the ultimate design of his indeavours.
(pp. 66-67)",,24326,"","""So that it seems, this Cottage of Clay, with all its Furniture within it, was but made in subserviency to the Animal Spirits; for the extraction, separation, and depuration of which, the whole Body, and all the Organs and Utensils therein are but instrumentally contrived, and preparatorily designed. Just as the Chymical Elaboratory with all its Furnaces, Crucibles, Stills, Retorts, Cucurbits, Matrats, Bolt-heads, Pelicans, &c. were made for no other end by the ingenious Chymist, than for the extraction and depuration of his Spirits and Quintessences (which he draws from those Bodies he deals with) in the obtainment of which he hath come to the ultimate design of his indeavours.""","",2014-07-28 16:04:13 UTC,""
7986,"","Reading Joanna Picciotto, Labors of Innocence in Early Modern England. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2010), 261.",2014-07-28 16:06:47 UTC,"Thus are the Phaenomena of Sense and Motion best salved, whilst we are awake; now what happens when we sleep, is a matter of further enquiry: Some have defined Sleep to be a migration of all the Spirits out of the Brain, into the exteriour parts of the Body; whereas by our former Observations, it may rather seem to the contrary; that is, The retraction of the Spirits into the Brain, or at least a restagnation of them in the nervous parts, does (till Nature being recruited by a new supply and regeneration of them in the Brain) direct them into the Spinal Marrow and Nerves, which being replenished with them again, they run their current as before; so the whole Animal thereby is made capable of feeling the Impulses of any external object whatever (which we call, Walking) and during this Interval and Non-tearm of sensation (for so we may without a Complement call Sleep) why may not the Soul be retracted, and wholly intent upon, and busied about, her Vegetative and Plastical Operations? So that when she has locked up the doors of this Laboratory the Body, she may be busie in augmenting, repairing, and regenerating all the Organs and Utensils within, and painting and plaistring the Walls without. This I am sure we observe to be the greatest part of her obscure employment in the Womb, where the Embryo for the most part sleeps, whilst the Soul is in full exercise of her Plastick and Organo-Poïetical Faculty.
(pp. 70-71)",,24328,"","""So that when she has locked up the doors of this Laboratory the Body, she may be busie in augmenting, repairing, and regenerating all the Organs and Utensils within, and painting and plaistring the Walls without.""",Rooms,2014-07-28 16:06:47 UTC,""