text,updated_at,metaphor,created_at,context,theme,reviewed_on,dictionary,comments,provenance,id,work_id
"According to Mr. Locke, the soul is a mere rasa tabula, an empty recipient, a mechanical blank. According to Plato, she is an ever-written tablet, a plenitude of forms, a vital and intellectual energy. On the former system, she is on a level with the most degraded natures, the receptacle of material species, and the spectator of delusion and non-entity. Hence, her energies are nothing but somnolent perceptions, and encumbered cogitations; of all her knowledge terminated in sense, and her science in passion. Like a man between sleeping and waking, her visions are turbid and confused, and the phantoms of a material night, continually glide before her drowsy eye. But on the latter system, the soul is the connecting medium of an intelligible and sensible nature, the bright repository of all middle forms, and the vigilant eye of all cogitative reasons. Hence she is capable of rousing herself from the sleep of a corporeal life, and emerging from this dark Cimmerian land, into the regions of light and reality. At first, indeed, before she is excited by science, she is oppressed with lethargy, and clouded with oblivion; but in proportion as learning and enquiry stimulate her dormant powers, she wakens from the dreams of ignorance, and opens her eye to the irradiations of wis- [end page xxxi] dom. On Mr. Locke's system, the principles of science and sense are the same, for the energies of both originate from material forms, on which they are continually employed. Hence, science is subject to the flowing and perishable nature of particulars; and if body and its attributes were destroyed, would be nothing but a name. But on the system of Plato, they differ as much as delusions and reality; for here the vital, permanent, and lucid nature of ideas is the fountain of science; and the inert, unstable, and obscure nature of sensible objects, the source of sensation. On Mr. Locke's system, body may be modified into thought, and become an intelligent creature; it may be subtilized into life, and shrink, by its exility, into intellect. On that of Plato, body can never alter its nature by modification, however, it may be rarefied and refined, varied by the transposition of its part, or tortured by the hand of experiment. In short, the two systems may be aptly represented by the two sections of a line, in Plato's Republic. In the ancient, you have truth itself, and whatever participates of the brightest evidence and reality: in the modern, ignorance, and whatever belongs to obscurity and shadow. The former fills the soul with intelligible light, breaks her lethargic fetters, and elevates her to the principle of things; the latter clouds the intellectual eye of the soul, by increasing her oblivion, strengthens her corporeal bands, and hurries her downwards into the dark labyrinths of matter.
(pp. xxxi-xxxii)",2009-09-14 19:43:05 UTC,"""But on the system of Plato, they differ as much as delusions and reality; for here the vital, permanent, and lucid nature of ideas is the fountain of science; and the inert, unstable, and obscure nature of sensible objects, the source of sensation.""",2006-10-13 00:00:00 UTC,"","",,"",•Taylor seems like quite a character. See ODNB.,Searching in ECCO,15225,5705
"According to Mr. Locke, the soul is a mere rasa tabula, an empty recipient, a mechanical blank. According to Plato, she is an ever-written tablet, a plenitude of forms, a vital and intellectual energy. On the former system, she is on a level with the most degraded natures, the receptacle of material species, and the spectator of delusion and non-entity. Hence, her energies are nothing but somnolent perceptions, and encumbered cogitations; of all her knowledge terminated in sense, and her science in passion. Like a man between sleeping and waking, her visions are turbid and confused, and the phantoms of a material night, continually glide before her drowsy eye. But on the latter system, the soul is the connecting medium of an intelligible and sensible nature, the bright repository of all middle forms, and the vigilant eye of all cogitative reasons. Hence she is capable of rousing herself from the sleep of a corporeal life, and emerging from this dark Cimmerian land, into the regions of light and reality. At first, indeed, before she is excited by science, she is oppressed with lethargy, and clouded with oblivion; but in proportion as learning and enquiry stimulate her dormant powers, she wakens from the dreams of ignorance, and opens her eye to the irradiations of wis- [end page xxxi] dom. On Mr. Locke's system, the principles of science and sense are the same, for the energies of both originate from material forms, on which they are continually employed. Hence, science is subject to the flowing and perishable nature of particulars; and if body and its attributes were destroyed, would be nothing but a name. But on the system of Plato, they differ as much as delusions and reality; for here the vital, permanent, and lucid nature of ideas is the fountain of science; and the inert, unstable, and obscure nature of sensible objects, the source of sensation. On Mr. Locke's system, body may be modified into thought, and become an intelligent creature; it may be subtilized into life, and shrink, by its exility, into intellect. On that of Plato, body can never alter its nature by modification, however, it may be rarefied and refined, varied by the transposition of its part, or tortured by the hand of experiment. In short, the two systems may be aptly represented by the two sections of a line, in Plato's Republic. In the ancient, you have truth itself, and whatever participates of the brightest evidence and reality: in the modern, ignorance, and whatever belongs to obscurity and shadow. The former fills the soul with intelligible light, breaks her lethargic fetters, and elevates her to the principle of things; the latter clouds the intellectual eye of the soul, by increasing her oblivion, strengthens her corporeal bands, and hurries her downwards into the dark labyrinths of matter.
(pp. xxxi-xxxii)",2011-05-27 14:11:28 UTC,"""The former [Platonic philosophy] fills the soul with intelligible light, breaks her lethargic fetters, and elevates her to the principle of things; the latter [Lockean philosophy] clouds the intellectual eye of the soul, by increasing her oblivion, strengthens her corporeal bands, and hurries her downwards into the dark labyrinths of matter.""",2006-10-13 00:00:00 UTC,"","",2011-06-26,Fetters,"•Taylor seems like quite a character. See ODNB.
•I've included four times: Light, Fetters, Eye, Bands",Searching in ECCO,15226,5705
"1. Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure. It is for them alone to point out what we ought to do, as well as to determine what we shall do. On the one hand the standard of right and wrong, on the other the chain of causes and effects, are fastened to their throne. They govern us in all we do, in all we say, in all we think: every effort we can make to throw off our subjection, will serve but to demonstrate and confirm it.
In words a man may pretend to abjure their empire: but in reality he will remain subject to it all the while. The principle of utility†1 recognizes this subjection, and assumes it for the foundation of that system, the object of which is to rear the fabric of felicity by the hands of reason and of law. Systems which attempt to question it, deal in sounds instead of sense, in caprice instead of reason, in darkness instead of light. But enough of metaphor and declamation: it is not by such means that moral science is to be improved.
(p. 11)
",2009-09-14 19:43:07 UTC,"""Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure.""",2005-05-03 00:00:00 UTC,I.ii.1. Of the Principle of Utility,"",,"","",Searching in Past Masters ,15241,5713
"1. Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure. It is for them alone to point out what we ought to do, as well as to determine what we shall do. On the one hand the standard of right and wrong, on the other the chain of causes and effects, are fastened to their throne. They govern us in all we do, in all we say, in all we think: every effort we can make to throw off our subjection, will serve but to demonstrate and confirm it.
In words a man may pretend to abjure their empire: but in reality he will remain subject to it all the while. The principle of utility†1 recognizes this subjection, and assumes it for the foundation of that system, the object of which is to rear the fabric of felicity by the hands of reason and of law. Systems which attempt to question it, deal in sounds instead of sense, in caprice instead of reason, in darkness instead of light. But enough of metaphor and declamation: it is not by such means that moral science is to be improved.
(p. 11)
",2009-09-14 19:43:07 UTC,"""In words a man may pretend to abjure their empire [pain and pleasure]: but in reality he will remain subject to it all the while""",2005-05-03 00:00:00 UTC,I.ii.1. Of the Principle of Utility,"",,"","•INTEREST: Metaphor and declamation are not ""such means"" that will improve moral science.",Searching in Past Masters ,15242,5713
"But this unrighteous traffick in human blood is not more destructive to those concerned, in it, than disgraceful to the religion they profess, and so the nation which tolerates their crimes. By their means the holy name of Jesus is blasphemed, and an invincible obstacle thrown in the way, to hinder the glorious Gospel of Christ from being received by these Heathens. Darkness is not more opposite to light than the principles of this traffick to the spirit of Christianity. That commands us ""to preach good tidings unto the meek;"" but these men deliberately withhold from their Slaves all rational instruction, and all religious improvement. The Prince of Peace sends us ""to bind up the broken-hearted;"" but these men bow down their fellow-creatures by oppression, and ""regard not the cry of the poor destitute."" The spirit of the Gospel ""proclaims liberty to the captive, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound:"" but these men rivet the chains of slavery; ""the iron enters into the Negro's soul,"" while while his mind is left in all the darkness of ignorance, without one ray of those comforts which Christianity affords, to strengthen with patience, and to animate with hope, them that endure affliction, suffering wrongfully.
(pp. 22-4)",2013-09-23 18:14:52 UTC,"""The spirit of the Gospel 'proclaims liberty to the captive, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound:' but these men rivet the chains of slavery; 'the iron enters into the Negro's soul,' while while his mind is left in all the darkness of ignorance, without one ray of those comforts which Christianity affords, to strengthen with patience, and to animate with hope, them that endure affliction, suffering wrongfully.""",2011-08-01 20:23:11 UTC,"","",,Fetters and Metal,"",Searching in Google Books,19083,7060
"It would not be to the present purpose, even if I had the means and materials, which I have not, to enter into the private life of Mr. Gainsborough. The history of his gradual advancement, and the means by which he acquired such excellence in his art, would come nearer to our purpose and wishes, if it were by any means attainable; but the flow progress of advancement is in general, imperceptible to the man himself who makes it; it is the consequence of an accumulation of various ideas, which his mind has received, he does not, perhaps, know how or when. Sometimes indeed it happens, that he may be able to mark the time, when from the sight of a picture, a passage in an author, or a hint in conversation, he has received, as it were, some new and guiding light, something like inspiration, by which his mind has been expanded, and is morally sure that his whole life and conduct has been affected by that accidental circumstance. Such interesting accounts we may however sometimes obtain from a man, who has acquired an uncommon habit of self-examination, and has attended to the progress of his own improvement.
(pp. 5-6)",2013-07-25 15:59:59 UTC,"""Sometimes indeed it happens, that he may be able to mark the time, when from the sight of a picture, a passage in an author, or a hint in conversation, he has received, as it were, some new and guiding light, something like inspiration, by which his mind has been expanded, and is morally sure that his whole life and conduct has been affected by that accidental circumstance.""",2013-07-25 15:59:59 UTC,"","",,"","",Reading,22072,7574
"It would not be to the present purpose, even if I had the means and materials, which I have not, to enter into the private life of Mr. Gainsborough. The history of his gradual advancement, and the means by which he acquired such excellence in his art, would come nearer to our purpose and wishes, if it were by any means attainable; but the flow progress of advancement is in general, imperceptible to the man himself who makes it; it is the consequence of an accumulation of various ideas, which his mind has received, he does not, perhaps, know how or when. Sometimes indeed it happens, that he may be able to mark the time, when from the sight of a picture, a passage in an author, or a hint in conversation, he has received, as it were, some new and guiding light, something like inspiration, by which his mind has been expanded, and is morally sure that his whole life and conduct has been affected by that accidental circumstance. Such interesting accounts we may however sometimes obtain from a man, who has acquired an uncommon habit of self-examination, and has attended to the progress of his own improvement.
(pp. 5-6)",2013-07-25 16:00:53 UTC,"""The history of his gradual advancement, and the means by which he acquired such excellence in his art, would come nearer to our purpose and wishes, if it were by any means attainable; but the flow progress of advancement is in general, imperceptible to the man himself who makes it; it is the consequence of an accumulation of various ideas, which his mind has received, he does not, perhaps, know how or when.""",2013-07-25 16:00:53 UTC,"","",,"","",Reading,22073,7574
"The purity of his intentions, and the uprightness of his principles--the transcript before you will sufficiently establish;--it is a mental mirror, in which you behold the features of the writer's mind, as distinctly as a looking glass reflects, to a young beauty, her cheek of roses, and her eye of fire. That he was popular as to courage and resolution, is plain from a formal petition sent to Parliament by the inhabitants of Portsmouth, praying that Sir William Waller might be made their Governor.
That he had a mind capable of the tenderest impressions, and alive to all the charms of love, appears, from this, that he never lived unmarried. Three times he exulted in the flowery hymeneal chain; and speaks of each Lady with exalted fondness and affection. But those, alas! were days in which the connubial passion was the only one tolerated!
(p. 98)",2013-08-22 22:02:57 UTC,"""The purity of his intentions, and the uprightness of his principles--the transcript before you will sufficiently establish;--it is a mental mirror, in which you behold the features of the writer's mind, as distinctly as a looking glass reflects, to a young beauty, her cheek of roses, and her eye of fire.""",2013-08-15 23:18:04 UTC,"","",,Mirror,"","Searching ""mind"" and ""mirror"" in ECCO-TCP",22162,7585
"I do not exhort you to reason yourself into tranquillity. We must first pray, and then
labour; first implore the blessing of God, and those means which he puts into our hands. Cultivated ground has few weeds; a mind occupied by lawful business, has little room for useless regret.
(p 192)
",2013-10-12 04:26:45 UTC,"""Cultivated ground has few weeds; a mind occupied by lawful business, has little room for useless regret.""",2013-10-12 04:26:45 UTC,"Letter CCLVII. To Mrs. Thrale (April 5, 1781)
","",,"","","Searching ""mind"" in Google Books",22935,7702
"2. There is a second, which either is, or ought to be, deemed of importance, considered in a political light. I mean, the dreadful effects of this trade upon the minds of those who are engaged in it. There are, doubtless, exceptions; and I would, willingly, except myself. But in general, I know of no method of getting money, not even that of robbing for it upon the highway, which has so direct a tendency to efface the moral sense, to rob the heart of every gentle and humane disposition, and to harden it, like steel, against all impressions of sensibility.
(p. 9)",2014-01-11 15:28:23 UTC,"""But in general, I know of no method of getting money, not even that of robbing for it upon the highway, which has so direct a tendency to efface the moral sense, to rob the heart of every gentle and humane disposition, and to harden it, like steel, against all impressions of sensibility.""",2014-01-11 15:25:35 UTC,"","",,"Fetters, Impressions, and Writing","","Reading Adam Hochschild, Bury the Chains (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2005), 131. Found again in Bohls and Duncan, Travel Writing, 1700-1830, pp. 191-2.",23328,7782