theme,metaphor,work_id,dictionary,provenance,id,created_at,updated_at,reviewed_on,comments,text,context
"","It may cost one ""more struggling than may easily be believed, utterly to conquer his Reluctance, and to banish away every Degree of Humanity from his Mind""",4730,"","Searching ""conque"" and ""mind"" in HDIS (Prose)",12496,2004-09-23 00:00:00 UTC,2009-09-14 19:37:03 UTC,,"","When his Mind was thoroughly fatigued, and worn out with the Horrours which the approaching Fate of the poor Wretch, who lay under a Sentence, which he had iniquitously brought upon him, had suggested. Sleep promised him Relief; but this Promise was, alas! delusive. This certain Friend to the tired Body, is often the severest Enemy to the oppressed Mind. So at least it proved to Wild, adding visionary to real Horrours, and tormenting his Imagination with Fantoms too dreadful to be described. At length starting from these Visions, he no sooner recovered his waking Senses than he cry'd out: ""I may yet prevent this Catastrophe. It is not too late to discover the whole."" He then paused a Moment: But Greatness instantly returning to his Assistance, checked the base Thought, as it first offered itself to his Mind. He then reasoned thus coolly with himself: ""Shall I, like a Child, or a Woman, or one of those mean Wretches, whom I have always despised, be frightened by Dreams and visionary Phantoms, to sully that Honour which I have so difficulty acquired, and so gloriously maintained! Shall I, to redeem the worthless Life of this silly Fellow, suffer my Reputation to contract a Stain, which the Blood of Millions cannot wipe away! Was it only that the few, the simple Part of Mankind, should call me a Rogue, perhaps I could submit; but to be for ever contemptible to the PRIGS, as a Wretch who wanted Spirit to execute my Undertaking, can never be digested. What is the Life of a single Man? Have not whole Armies and Nations been sacrificed to the Humour of ONE GREAT MAN? Nay, to omit that first Class of Greatness, the Conquerors of Mankind, how often have Numbers fallen, by a fictitious Plot, only to satisfy the Spleen, or perhaps exercise the Ingenuity of a Member of that second Order ofGreatness the Ministerial! What have I done then? Why, I have ruined a Family, and brought an innocent Man to the Gallows. I ought rather to weep, with Alexander, that I have ruined no more, than to regret the little I have done."" He at length, therefore, bravely resolved to consign over Heartfree to his Fate, though it cost him more struggling than may easily be believed, utterly to conquer his Reluctance, and to banish away every Degree of Humanity from his Mind, these little Sparks of which composed one of those Weaknesses, which we lamented in the opening of our History.
(pp. 312-5)",""
"","""Pleasure and Pride, by nature mortal foes, / At war eternal which in man shall reign, / By Wit's address, patch up a fatal peace, / And hand in hand lead on the rank debauch, / From rank refined to delicate and gay.""",7407,"",Reading,20473,2013-06-10 19:21:55 UTC,2013-06-10 19:21:55 UTC,,"","Wit dares attempt this arduous enterprise.
Since joys of Sense can't rise to Reason's taste,
In subtle Sophistry's laborious forge
Wit hammers out a reason new, that stoops
To sordid scenes, and greets them with applause.
Wit calls the Graces the chaste zone to loose,
Nor less than a plump god to fill the bowl;
A thousand phantoms, and a thousand spells,
A thousand opiates scatters to delude,
To fascinate, inebriate, lay asleep,
And the fool'd mind delightfully confound.
Thus that which shock'd the Judgment, shocks no more;
That which gave Pride offence, no more offends.
Pleasure and Pride, by nature mortal foes,
At war eternal which in man shall reign,
By Wit's address, patch up a fatal peace,
And hand in hand lead on the rank debauch,
From rank refined to delicate and gay.
Art, cursed Art! wipes off the' indebted blush
From Nature's cheek, and bronzes every shame.
Man smiles in ruin, glories in his guilt,
And Infamy stands candidate for praise.
(ll. 25-46, pp. 117-8 in CUP edition)",Night the Fifth
"","""And therefore his suffering himself notwithstanding to be governed by them, shows that he hath too much neglected or misapplied his natural talent, and willingly submitted to the tyranny of those lusts and passions, over which nature had furnished him with abilities to have secured an easy conquest.""",7409,Empire,Reading,20538,2013-06-11 22:12:40 UTC,2013-06-11 22:12:51 UTC,,"","It is ill judged (though very common) to be less ashamed of a want of temper than understanding. For it is no real dishonour or fault in a man to have but a small ability of mind, provided be hath not the vanity to set up for a genius (which would be as ridiculous, as for a man of small strength and stature of body to set up for a champion), because this is what he cannot help. But a man may in a good measure correct the fault of his natural temper, if he be well acquainted with it, and duly watchful over it.-— And therefore to betray a prevailing weakness of temper, or an ungoverned passion, diminishes a man's reputation much more than to discover a weakness of judgment or understanding.-—But what is most dishonourable of all is, for a man at once to discover a great genius and an ungoverned mind. Because that strength of reason and understanding he is master of gives him a great advantage for the government of his passions. And therefore his suffering himself notwithstanding to be governed by them, shows that he hath too much neglected or misapplied his natural talent, and willingly submitted to the tyranny of those lusts and passions, over which nature had furnished him with abilities to have secured an easy conquest.
(I.vi, pp. 52-3)","Part I, Chapter VI"