text,updated_at,metaphor,created_at,context,theme,reviewed_on,dictionary,comments,provenance,id,work_id
"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)",2013-10-13 15:54:00 UTC,"""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..""",2005-03-21 00:00:00 UTC,"","",,Writing,"3322 VIII, 42 in Works...","Reading S. H. Clark's ""Locke and Metaphor Reconsidered"" in JHI 59:2 (1998), p. 253",8537,3276
"'Twas a sign that this Philosopher believ'd there was a good Stock of Visionary Spirit originally in Human Nature. He was so satisfy'd that Men were inclin'd to see Visions, that rather than they shou'd go without, he chose to make 'em to their hand. Notwithstanding he wou'd not allow the Principles of Religion to be natural, he was forc'd tacitly to allow there was a wondrous Disposition in Mankind towards supernatural Objects; and that if these Ideas were vain, they were yet in a manner innate, or such as Men were really born to, and cou'd hardly by any means avoid. From which Concession a Divine, methinks, might raise a good Argument against him, for the Truth as well as the Usefulness of Religion. But so it is: whether the matter of Apparition be true or false, the Symptoms are the same, and the Passion of equal force in the Person who is Vision-struck. The Lymphatici of the Latins were the Nympholepti of the Greeks. They were Persons said to have seen some Species of Divinity, as either some Rural Deity, or Nymph, which threw them into such Transports as overcame their Reason. The Extasys express'd themselves outwardly in Quakings, Tremblings, Tossings of the Head and Limbs, Agitations, and (as Livy calls them) Fanatical Throws or Convulsions, extemporary Prayer, Prophecy, Singing, and the like. All Nations have their Lymphaticks of some kind or another; and all Churches (Heathen as well as Christian) have had their Complaints against Fanaticism.
(pp. 49-50; pp. 25-6 in Klein) ",2013-07-09 17:00:11 UTC,"""'Twas a sign that this Philosopher believ'd there was a good Stock of Visionary Spirit originally in Human Nature.""",2013-07-09 17:00:11 UTC,Section 6,"",,"","",Reading; text from C-H Lion,21581,7520
"Something there will be of Extravagance and Fury, when the Ideas or Images receiv'd are too big for the narrow human Vessel to contain. So that Inspiration may be justly call'd Divine Enthusiasm: For the Word it self signifies Divine Presence, and was made use of by the Philosopher whom the earliest Christian Fathers call'd Divine, to express whatever was sublime in human Passions. This was the Spirit he allotted to Heroes, Statesmen, Poets, Orators, Musicians, and even Philosophers themselves. Nor can we, of our own accord, forbear ascribing to a noble Enthusiasm, whatever is greatly perform'd by any of These. So that almost all of us know something of this Principle. But to know it as we shou'd do, and discern it in its several kinds, both in ourselves, and others; this is the great Work, and by this means alone we can hope to avoid Delusion. For to judg the Spirits whether they are of God, we must antecedently judg our own Spirit; whether it be of Reason, and sound Sense; whether it be fit to judg at all, by being sedate, cool, and impartial; free of every byassing Passion, every giddy Vapour, or melancholy Fume. This is the first Knowledg and previous Judgment: to understand ourselves, and know what Spirit we are of. Afterwards we may judg the Spirit in others, consider what their personal Merit is, and prove the Validity of their Testimony by the Solidity of their Brain. By this means we may prepare our-selves with some Antidote against Enthusiasm. And this is what I have dar'd affirm is best perform'd by keeping to Good Humour. For otherwise the Remedy itself may turn to the Disease.
(pp. 53-5; pp. 27-8 in Klein)",2013-07-09 17:01:02 UTC,"""Something there will be of Extravagance and Fury, when the Ideas or Images receiv'd are too big for the narrow human Vessel to contain.""",2013-07-09 17:01:02 UTC,Section 7,"",,"","",Reading; text from C-H Lion,21582,7520
"The Question is, Whether this be fair or no? and, Whether it be not just and reasonable, to make as free with our own Opinions, as with those of other People? For to be sparing in this case, may be look'd upon as a piece of Selfishness. We may be charg'd perhaps with wilful Ignorance and blind Idolatry, for having taken Opinions upon Trust, and consecrated in our-selves certain Idol-Notion, which we will never suffer to be unveil'd, or seen in open light. They may perhaps be Monsters, and not Divinitys, or Sacred Truths, which are kept thus choicely, in some dark Corner of our Minds: The Specters may impose on us, whilst we refuse to turn 'em every way, and view their Shapes and Complexions in every light. For that which can be shewn only in a certain Light, is questionable. Truth, 'tis suppos'd, may bear all Lights: and one of those principal Lights or natural Mediums, by which Things are to be view'd, in order to a thorow Recognition, is Ridicule it-self, or that Manner of Proof by which we discern whatever is liable to just Raillery in any Subject. So much, at least, is allow'd by All, who at any time appeal to this Criterion. The gravest Gentlemen, even in the gravest Subjects, are suppos'd to acknowledg this: and can have no Right, 'tis thought, to deny others the Freedom of this Appeal; whilst they are free to censure like other Men, and in their gravest Arguments make no scruple to ask, Is it not ridiculous?
(pp. 60-1; pp. 29-30 in Klein)",2013-07-09 19:28:06 UTC,"""They may perhaps be Monsters, and not Divinitys, or Sacred Truths, which are kept thus choicely, in some dark Corner of our Minds: The Specters may impose on us, whilst we refuse to turn 'em every way, and view their Shapes and Complexions in every light.""",2013-07-09 19:28:06 UTC,"","",,Rooms,"",Reading,21584,4103