text,updated_at,metaphor,created_at,context,theme,reviewed_on,dictionary,comments,provenance,id,work_id
"""What reads my child?"" he cried; ""some tender ""tale
""Of virtuous suff'ring?"" Startled at the voice,
She shut her book, and wiping her warm cheek
Put it away disorder'd. ""Let me see,""
Said Adriano kindly; ""let me see
""What tale has pow'r to wring exhausted grief
""To such a flood of woe!"" He seiz'd the book,
And found it Werter's Sorrows. ""Aye, my child,
""A wretched tale, but not to be believ'd.
""O pestilent example, to describe
""As worthy pity and the fair one's tears
""Deeds by no arguments to be excus'd.
""Who kills himself, involves him in the guilt
""Of foulest murder. True, no written law
""Commands our strict forbearance; but be sure
""The laws of nature are the laws of God;
""And he, who said Thou shalt not murder, made
""This universal law that binds our hands
""From mischief to ourselves. Else why so strong
""The love of being and the fear of death?
""Why stands the tortur'd sick on the grave's brink,
""And trembles to step in? Why linger I,
""Assur'd that nothing painful waits me there?
""'Tis God's decree engrav'd upon the heart
""To make us wait with patience, till he comes,
""Undraws the curtain, and dispels the gloom,
""And takes us to his bosom, and rewards
""Our constancy and truth. That mortal then,
""Who shuns the suff'rance of impending ills,
""Is cowardly and rash. For what more rash
""Than wilfully to spoil a noble work
""God made, and said, let live? What more betrays
""Rank cowardice, than tim'rously to shake
""And fly distracted at a foe's approach?
""Can there be aught more painful, than to lose
""An amiable wife? in one short hour
""To fall from affluence and joy and peace,
""To poverty and grief? Can there be felt
""Heavier misfortune, than to lose a son,
""And find myself a beggar at his death;
""Forc'd into solitude without a friend,
""And only one poor little weeping child
""To be the sad companion of my grief?
""Yet am I living still, and kiss the hand
""That smote me so severely. Tell me not
""That life has pains too heavy to support.
""Look towards Calvary, and learn from thence
""The noblest fortitude is still to bear
""Accumulated ills, and never faint.
""We may avoid them, if we can with honour;
""But, God requiring, let weak man submit,
""And drink the bitter draught, and not repine.
""Had Cato been a Christian, he had died
""By inches, rather than have ta'en the sword
""And fall'n unlike his master.""",2012-04-03 20:56:06 UTC,"""'Tis God's decree engrav'd upon the heart / To make us wait with patience, till he comes, / Undraws the curtain, and dispels the gloom, / And takes us to his bosom, and rewards / Our constancy and truth.""",2005-03-08 00:00:00 UTC,"","",2012-04-03,Writing,"","Searching ""heart"" and ""engrav"" in HDIS (Poetry)",15281,5732
"For, vainly think not, tho' the classic school
Of eloquence hath charm'd thy tranced hours,
That, there, the just--the appropriate model claims
Thine imitative labours. Unconstrain'd,
From equity's intrinsic source, (to all
Perspicuous), and the heart's decisions stamp'd
By Nature's seal, and man's primæval laws,
The immortal champions of the forum drew
Their more persuasive numbers. Short their code,
And simple; wedded to no toil austere;
Nor asking many a lustrum, to devote
The midnight lamp to musing. To combine
The quick varieties of thought; to snatch
From elocution all the heightening grace
Of diction; and amuse the million's eye
By each external impulse; this their boast,
This was their aim. No deep immuring pile
(The science of innumerous tomes) opprest
The mental strength elastic; nor perplex'd
By facts from mazy records, the free flow
Of speech, that never hesitating ran
Thro' easy vein. And while (the rare result
Of letter'd art) the precious volume gave
Its treasures to the few--perhaps no more
Accessible, and barr'd from vulgar gaze;
They bade retentive memory on their mind
Impress each image, in distinctive lines
That mock'd erasure. Hence the pleader, bold
In vigorous thought, and trusting to those powers
Which knew no ready refuge in the means
Of foreign aid, unlock'd with nature's key
The secret springs that agitate the soul!",2009-09-14 19:43:39 UTC,"""[T]he heart's decisions"" may be ""stamp'd / By Nature's seal, and man's primæval laws""",2005-04-17 00:00:00 UTC,"","",,"",•C-H also lists an Oxford edition: Fletcher. Taken from Poems (1806). DNB gives 1785 as earliest edition (although under a different title). ,"Searching ""heart"" and ""seal"" in HDIS (Poetry)",15439,5787
"[...] These just sentiments, it is true, are awakened in us, and strengthened, by early culture and habit, by traditionary notions, by revelation, and by grace: but still the faculty which suggests, or embraces, them is the original gift of the Creator; it is our REASON; and essential part of our Spiritual Being, as vision or taste is of our Animal or Corporeal; which three faculties must be all equally corrupted, or mutilated, before they can cease to distinguish, each in it's receptive office, moral ""good from evil, light from darkness, and sweet from bitter."" The infant mind has been compared to a tabula rasa, or sheet of clean paper: but there is this essential difference, as hath been well observed, between the opposite objects of comparison they are not both equally Indifferent to the inscription which they are to bear: ""upon the tabula or paper you may write what you please; that wormwood is sweet, and sugar is bitter; that gratitude and envy noble; but no art or industry are capable of making those impressions on the mind: she hath predetermined tastes and sentiments, which arise from a source that is beyond experience, custom, or choice."" This [end page 91] can be no other than the Constitution which the Creator hath given her: and these essential tastes and sentiments server her as an immediate rule of action, and as One instrument of discerning their Archetypes in His Allperfect Will. But if you wish to ascend higher, and to ask, what is the rule of action to the Supreme Creator himself; what is the measure of that Sovereign Will which is a Law to the Universe; turn to the beginning of Mr. Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity: which I mention to you, not only for a just and reverent answer to this question, and for the further instruction which those few pages will afford you; but also as an early introduction to that Excellent and Judicious Person: and I hope You will soon be able to apply the saying of Quintilian, ""Ille se profecisse sciat, cui Cicero valde placebit.""
(pp. 91-2)",2009-09-14 19:44:06 UTC,"""The infant mind has been compared to a tabula rasa, or sheet of clean paper: but there is this essential difference, as hath been well observed, between the opposite objects of comparison they are not both equally Indifferent to the inscription which they are to bear.""",2006-10-14 00:00:00 UTC,"",Blank Slate,,Writing,"•I've included twice: Tabula Rasa and Paper
•Cross-reference: All three quotations are cited. The first is Isaiah 5:20, the second is Ussher, Introduction to the Theory of the Human Mind, section 3, the third is Instit. Orator x.1. Napleton takes some light liberties with the quotation from Ussher. ","Searching ""tabula rasa"" in ECCO",15608,5869