id,comments,provenance,dictionary,created_at,reviewed_on,work_id,theme,context,updated_at,metaphor,text
10781,•INTEREST. RICH passage. I've cut and pasted the whole book for study.,Searching in HDIS (Poetry),Empire and Inhabitants,2005-05-17 00:00:00 UTC,,4167,"",Book VII,2013-08-07 14:35:43 UTC,"""When she to foreign Objects Audience gives, / Their Strokes and Motions in the Brain perceives, / As these Perceptions we Ideas name, / From her own Pow'r and active Nature came, / So when discern'd by Intellectual Light, / Her self her various Passions does excite, / To Ill her Hate, to Good her Appetite: /
To shun the first, the latter to procure, / She chuses Means by free Elective Pow'r.""","Objects, which thro' the Senses make their Way,
And just Impressions to the Soul convey,
Give her Occasion first her self to move,
And to exert her Hatred, or her Love.
Ideas, which to some impulsive seem,
Act not upon the Mind, but That on them.
When she to foreign Objects Audience gives,
Their Strokes and Motions in the Brain perceives,
As these Perceptions we Ideas name,
From her own Pow'r and active Nature came,
So when discern'd by Intellectual Light,
Her self her various Passions does excite,
To Ill her Hate, to Good her Appetite:
To shun the first, the latter to procure,
She chuses Means by free Elective Pow'r.
She can their various Habitudes survey,
Debate their Fitness, and their Merit weigh,
And while the Means suggested she compares,
She to the Rivals This or That prefers.
(VII, ll. 446-464, pp. 338-9)
"
17086,"• I've included thrice: Eye, Ray, Echo",Reading,"",2007-06-27 00:00:00 UTC,2007-06-27,6440,"","",2009-09-14 19:48:59 UTC,"""But when a monad has organs that are adjusted in such a way that, through them, there is contrast and distinction among the impressions they receive, and consequently contrast and distinction in the perceptions that represent them [in the monads] (as, for example, when the rays of light are concentrated and act with greater force because of the shape of the eye's humors), then this may amount to sensation, that is, to a perception accompanied by memory--a perception of which there remains an echo long anough to make itself heard on occasion.""","4. Each monad, together with a particular body, makes up a living substance. Thus, there is not only life everywhere, joined to limbs or organs, but there are also infinite degrees of life in monads, some dominating more or less over others. But when a monad has organs that are adjusted in such a way that, through them, there is contrast and distinction among the impressions they receive, and consequently contrast and distinction in the perceptions that represent them [in the monads] (as, for example, when the rays of light are concentrated and act with greater force because of the shape of the eye's humors), then this may amount to sensation, that is, to a perception accompanied by memory--a perception of which there remains an echo long anough to make itself heard on occasion. Such a living thing is called an animal, as its monad is called a soul. And when this soul is raised to the level of reason, it is something more sublime, and it is counted among the minds, as I will soon explain.
(p. 208)"
18907,"",Reading,"",2011-07-18 18:40:50 UTC,,4353,"","",2011-07-18 18:40:50 UTC,"""But quickly Dying, [reason] forsakes us soon, / Like Morning Stars, that never stay till Noon.""","UNHAPPY Man! Who thro' successive Years
From early Youth to Life's last Childhood Errs;
No sooner Born, but proves a Foe to Truth;
For Infant Reason is o'er power'd in Youth:
The Cheats of Sense will half our Learning share;
And Pre-Conceptions all our Knowledge are.
Reason, 'tis true, shou'd over Sense Preside,
Correct our Notions, and our Judgment Guide;
But false Opinions, rooted in the Mind,
Hoodwink the Soul, and keep our Reason Blind.
Reason's a Taper, which but faintly burns,
A languid Flame that glows and dyes by Turns;
We see't a while, and but a little Way,
We Travel by its Light as Men by Day.
But quickly Dying, it forsakes us soon,
Like Morning Stars, that never stay till Noon.
(pp. 3-4)"
20835,"",Searching in Project Gutenberg,Mirror,2013-06-17 15:59:11 UTC,,7447,"","",2013-06-17 15:59:11 UTC,"""And then lastly, there are others, (represented by those Glasses, in our last comparison) in which the impressions of this Spirit are visible, and such we reckon all sorts of Animals. But then, as these smooth and polish'd Bodies which are of the same figure with the Sun [i.e. Spherical] do receive the Rays in a more plentiful manner than any other whatsoever, so also do some Animals receive the Influence of that Spirit more than others, because they are more like to that Spirit and are form'd after his Image: such is Man particularly, which is hinted before where 'tis said that God made Man after his own Image.""","§ 6. On the other hand, those who affirm that Hai Ebn Yokdhan was produced in that Island without Father and Mother [18], tell us, that in that island, in a piece of Low ground, it chanc'd that a certain Mass of Earth was so fermented in some period of Years, that the four qualities, viz. Hot, Cold, Dry, Moist, were so equally mix'd, that none of 'em prevail'd over the other; and that this Mass was of a very great Bulk, in which, some parts were better and more equally Temper'd than others,and consequently fitter for Generation; the middle part especially, which came nearest to the Temper of Man's Body. This Matter being in a fermentation, there arose some Bubbles by reason of its viscousness, and it chanc'd that in the midst of it there was a viscous Substance with a very little bubble in it, which was divided into two with a thin partition, full of Spirituous and Aerial Substance, and of the most exact Temperature imaginable. That the Matter being thus dispos'd, there was, by the Command of God, a Spirit infus'd into it; which was join'd so closely to it, that it can scarce be separated from it even so much as in thought; which did as constantly influence this Mass of matter as the Sun do's the World. Now there are some Bodies from whence we perceive no Reflection of Light, as the thin Air: others from which we do but imperfectly; such are thick Bodies which are not smooth (but there is a difference in these, and the difference of their Colours arises from the different manner of their Reception of the Rays); and from others we receive the Reflection in the highest degree, as from Bodies which are smooth and polish'd, as Looking-Glasses and the like; so that those Glasses when ground after a particular manner will Collect so much Light as to kindle a Fire. So that Spirit which comes by the Command of God, do's at all times act upon all Creatures, in some of which notwithstanding, there appears no Impression of it, but the reason of that is, because of their Incapacity into whom it is infus'd; of which kind are things inanimate which are fitly represented in this similitude, by the thin Air. There are another sort again; in which there does appear something of it, as Vegetables and the like, which are represented by the thick Bodies we mention'd, which are not polish'd. And then lastly, there are others, (represented by those Glasses, in our last comparison) in which the impressions of this Spirit are visible, and such we reckon all sorts of Animals. But then, as these smooth and polish'd Bodies which are of the same figure with the Sun [i.e. Spherical] do receive the Rays in a more plentiful manner than any other whatsoever, so also do some Animals receive the Influence of that Spirit more than others, because they are more like to that Spirit and are form'd after his Image: such is Man particularly, which is hinted before where 'tis said that God made Man after his own Image[19]. "
21967,"",C-H Lion,"",2013-07-22 04:23:14 UTC,,7553,"","Act IV, scene iii",2013-07-22 04:23:14 UTC,"""A Beam of Hope, / Strikes thro' my Soul, like the first Infant Light, / That glanc'd upon the Chaos.""","ARTAXERXES.
A Beam of Hope,
Strikes thro' my Soul, like the first Infant Light,
That glanc'd upon the Chaos; if we reach
The open City, Fate may be ours again;
But oh whate're Success or Happiness
Attend my Life, still fair unhappy Maid,
Still shall thy Memory be my Grief and Honour,
On one fix'd Day in each returning Year,
Cypress and Myrtle for thy Sake I'll wear,
Ev'n my Amestris thy hard Fate shall mourn,
And with fresh Roses Crown thy Virgin urn.
Till in Elysium blest thy gentle Shade
Shall own my Vows of Sorrow justly paid.
(IV.iii, p. 54)"
21969,"Pagination screwy in C-H LionFixing what looked like typo: ""snuk"" to ""sunk"". The misspelling is in the original",C-H Lion,"",2013-07-22 04:30:54 UTC,,7553,"","Act V, scene ii",2013-07-22 04:30:54 UTC,"""And all fires those that lighted up my Soul / Glory and bright Ambition languish now, / And leave me dark and gloomy as the Grave.""","ARTAXERXES.
'Tis past, 'tis past;
[Lying down.]
And all fires those that lighted up my Soul
Glory and bright Ambition languish now,
And leave me dark and gloomy as the Grave.
Oh thou soft dying sweetness!--Shall I Rage
And Curse my self? Curse ev'n the God's?--Oh no;
I am the Slave of Fate, and bow beneath
The load that presses me; am sunk to Earth
And ne're shall rise again; here will I sit
And gaze 'till I am nothing.
(V.ii, p. 65)
"
22016,"",C-H Lion,"",2013-07-25 03:32:18 UTC,,7565,"","Act III, scene i",2013-07-25 03:32:18 UTC,"""Oh Seofrid! do'st thou not wonder much, / And pity my weak Temper, when thou seest me / Thus in a Moment chang'd from Hot to Cold, / My active Fancy glowing now with Hopes, / Anon thus drooping; Death in my pale Visage, / My Heart, and my chill Veins, all freezing with Despair.""","ARIBERT.
Still to this Place
My Heart inclines, still hither turn my Eyes,
Hither my Feet unbidden find their way.
Like a fond Mother from her dying Babe
Forc'd by officious Friends, and Servants Care,
I linger at the Door, and wish to know,
Yet dread to hear the Fate of what I Love.
Oh Seofrid! do'st thou not wonder much,
And pity my weak Temper, when thou seest me
Thus in a Moment chang'd from Hot to Cold,
My active Fancy glowing now with Hopes,
Anon thus drooping; Death in my pale Visage,
My Heart, and my chill Veins, all freezing with Despair.
(III.i, pp. 22-3)"
22717,"",Reading,"",2013-09-11 21:29:05 UTC,,4024,"","",2013-09-11 21:29:05 UTC,"""Now I would gladly be informed how it is possible to account for such imaginations as these in particular men, without recourse to my phenomenon of vapours ascending from the lower faculties to overshadow the brain, and there distilling into conceptions, for which the narrowness of our mother-tongue has not yet assigned any other name beside that of madness or frenzy.""","Let us next examine the great introducers of new schemes in philosophy, and search till we can find from what faculty of the soul the disposition arises in mortal man of taking it into his head to advance new systems with such an eager zeal in things agreed on all hands impossible to be known; from what seeds this disposition springs, and to what quality of human nature these grand innovators have been indebted for their number of disciples, because it is plain that several of the chief among them, both ancient and modern, were usually mistaken by their adversaries, and, indeed, by all, except their own followers, to have been persons crazed or out of their wits, having generally proceeded in the common course of their words and actions by a method very different from the vulgar dictates of unrefined reason, agreeing for the most part in their several models with their present undoubted successors in the academy of modern Bedlam, whose merits and principles I shall further examine in due place. Of this kind were Epicurus, Diogenes, Apollonius, Lucretius, Paracelsus, Des Cartes, and others, who, if they were now in the world, tied fast and separate from their followers, would in this our undistinguishing age incur manifest danger of phlebotomy, and whips, and chains, and dark chambers, and straw. For what man in the natural state or course of thinking did ever conceive it in his power to reduce the notions of all mankind exactly to the same length, and breadth, and height of his own? Yet this is the first humble and civil design of all innovators in the empire of reason. Epicurus modestly hoped that one time or other a certain fortuitous concourse of all men’s opinions, after perpetual jostlings, the sharp with the smooth, the light and the heavy, the round and the square, would, by certain clinamina, unite in the notions of atoms and void, as these did in the originals of all things. Cartesius reckoned to see before he died the sentiments of all philosophers, like so many lesser stars in his romantic system, rapt and drawn within his own vortex. Now I would gladly be informed how it is possible to account for such imaginations as these in particular men, without recourse to my phenomenon of vapours ascending from the lower faculties to overshadow the brain, and there distilling into conceptions, for which the narrowness of our mother-tongue has not yet assigned any other name beside that of madness or frenzy. Let us therefore now conjecture how it comes to pass that none of these great prescribers do ever fail providing themselves and their notions with a number of implicit disciples, and I think the reason is easy to be assigned, for there is a peculiar string in the harmony of human understanding, which in several individuals is exactly of the same tuning. This, if you can dexterously screw up to its right key, and then strike gently upon it whenever you have the good fortune to light among those of the same pitch, they will by a secret necessary sympathy strike exactly at the same time. And in this one circumstance lies all the skill or luck of the matter; for, if you chance to jar the string among those who are either above or below your own height, instead of subscribing to your doctrine, they will tie you fast, call you mad, and feed you with bread and water. It is therefore a point of the nicest conduct to distinguish and adapt this noble talent with respect to the differences of persons and of times. Cicero understood this very well, when, writing to a friend in England, with a caution, among other matters, to beware of being cheated by our hackney-coachmen (who, it seems, in those days were as arrant rascals as they are now), has these remarkable words, Est quod gaudeas te in ista loca venisse, ubi aliquid sapere viderere. For, to speak a bold truth, it is a fatal miscarriage so ill to order affairs as to pass for a fool in one company, when in another you might be treated as a philosopher; which I desire some certain gentlemen of my acquaintance to lay up in their hearts as a very seasonable innuendo.
(pp. 80-1 in OUP ed.)"