theme,metaphor,work_id,dictionary,provenance,id,created_at,updated_at,reviewed_on,comments,text,context
"","""O truly royal! who behold the law, / And rule of beings in your Maker's mind; / And thence, like limbecs, rich ideas draw, / To fit the levelled use of humankind.""",3635,"","Reading. Found again in Marshall Brown's ""Romanticism and Enlightenment"" in The Cambridge Companion to British Romanticism, ed. Stuart Curran (Cambridge UP, 1993), 32.
",9434,2004-01-26 00:00:00 UTC,2011-12-17 19:49:06 UTC,2011-04-19,"Wikipedia: ""Technically, the alembic is the lid with a tube attachment (the capital or still-head), which is placed on top of a flask, the cucurbit, containing the material to be distilled, but the word is often used to refer to the entire distillation apparatus."" ","This I foretell from your auspicious care,
Who great in search of God and nature grow;
Who best your wise Creator's praise declare,
Since best to praise His works is best to know.
O truly royal! who behold the law,
And rule of beings in your Maker's mind;
And thence, like limbecs , rich ideas draw,
To fit the levelled use of humankind.
(p. 53, ll. 657-664)
",Apostrophe to the Royal Society
"","""But, when arrived at last to human race, / The Godhead took a deep considering space; / And, to distinguish man from all the rest, / Unlocked the sacred treasures of his breast; / And mercy mixt with reason did impart, / One to his head, the other to his heart; / Reason to rule, but mercy to forgive; / The first is law, the last prerogative.""",3829,"","Searching ""rule"" and ""reason"" in HDIS",9861,2004-06-10 00:00:00 UTC,2011-04-26 17:04:29 UTC,2011-04-26,"•AMBIGUOUS. What rules what here? (Does reason rule the self or does it rule others?)
• On a second reading I'm not sure this is ambiguous.","One portion of informing fire was given
To brutes, the inferior family of heaven.
The smith divine, as with a careless beat,
Struck out the mute creation at a heat;
But, when arrived at last to human race,
The Godhead took a deep considering space;
And, to distinguish man from all the rest,
Unlocked the sacred treasures of his breast;
And mercy mixt with reason did impart,
One to his head, the other to his heart;
Reason to rule, but mercy to forgive;
The first is law, the last prerogative.
And like his mind his outward form appeared,
When, issuing naked to the wondering herd,
He charmed their eyes; and, for they loved, they feared.
Not armed with horns of arbitrary might,
Or claws to seize their furry spoils in fight,
Or with increase of feet to o'ertake them in their flight;
Of easy shape, and pliant every way,
Confessing still the softness of his clay,
And kind as kings upon their coronation day;
With open hands, and with extended space
Of arms, to satisfy a large embrace.
Thus kneaded up with milk, the new-made man
His kingdom o'er his kindred world began;
Till knowledge misapplied, misunderstood,
And pride of empire, soured his balmy blood.
Then, first rebelling, his own stamp he coins;
The murderer Cain was latent in his loins;
And blood began its first and loudest cry,
For differing worship of the Deity.
Thus persecution rose, and farther space
Produced the mighty hunter of his race.
Not so the blessed Pan his flock increased,
Content to fold them from the famished beast:
Mild were his laws; the sheep and harmless hind
Were never of the persecuting kind.
Such pity now the pious pastor shows,
Such mercy from the British Lion flows,
That both provide protection from their foes.
",""
"","A man may keep the ""precious relics of the divine image from utter defacement, retaining somewhat of his primitive worth and integrity.""",6235,"","Reading G. A. J. Rogers ""Locke, Newton, and the Cambridge Platonists on Innate Ideas."" JHI 40:2 (1979), 191-205. p. 192. ",16522,2005-03-22 00:00:00 UTC,2014-03-10 21:20:37 UTC,,"","God our parent hath stamped on our nature some lineaments of himself, whereby we resemble him; he hath implanted in our souls some roots of piety towards him; into our frame he hath inserted some propensions to acknowledge him, and to affect him; the which are excited and improved by observing the manifest footsteps of divine power, wisdom, and goodness, which occur in the works of nature and providence; to preserve and cherish these is very commendable; a man thereby keeping precious relics of the divine image from utter defacement, retaining somewhat of his primitive worth and integrity; declaring that by ill usage he hath not quite shattered or spoiled his best faculties and inclinations.",""
"","""In pleasure some their glutton souls would steep; / But found their line too short, the well too deep; / And leaky vessels which no bliss could keep.",7132,"",Reading,19352,2011-12-17 20:24:12 UTC,2011-12-17 20:25:03 UTC,,"","Dim, as the borrow'd beams of moon and stars
To lonely, weary, wand'ring travellers,
Is reason to the soul; and as on high,
Those rolling fires discover but the sky
Not light us here; so reason's glimmering ray
Was lent not to assure our doubtful way,
But guide us upward to a better day.
And as those nightly tapers disappear
When day's bright lord ascends our hemisphere
So pale grows reason at religion's sight:
So dies, and so dissolves in supernatural light.
Some few, whose lamp shone brighter, have been led
From cause to cause, to Nature's secret head;
And found that one first principle must be:
But what, or who, that Universal He;
Whether some soul incompassing this ball
Unmade, unmov'd; yet making, moving all;
Or various atoms' interfering dance
Leapt into form (the noble work of chance;)
Or this great all was from eternity;
Not even the Stagirite himself could see;
And Epicurus guess'd as well as he:
As blindly grop'd they for a future state;
As rashly judg'd of Providence and Fate:
But least of all could their endeavours find
What most concern'd the good of human kind.
For happiness was never to be found;
But vanish'd from 'em, like enchanted ground.
One thought content the good to be enjoy'd:
This, every little accident destroy'd:
The wiser madmen did for virtue toil:
A thorny, or at best a barren soil:
In pleasure some their glutton souls would steep;
But found their line too short, the well too deep;
And leaky vessels which no bliss could keep.
Thus anxious thoughts in endless circles roll,
Without a centre where to fix the soul:
In this wild maze their vain endeavours end:
How can the less the greater comprehend?
Or finite reason reach infinity?
For what could fathom God were more than He.
(ll. 1-41)",""
"","""Indeed, one may compare the nerves of the machine I am describing with the pipes in the works of these fountains, its muscles and tendons with the various devices and springs which serve to set them in motion, its animal spirits with the water which drives them, the heart with the source of the water, and the cavities of the brain with the storage tanks.""",3623,"",Reading,19553,2012-01-30 21:01:08 UTC,2012-01-30 21:01:08 UTC,,"","Now in the same proportion as the animal spirits enter the cavities of the brain, they pass from there into the pores of its substance, and from these pores into the nerves. And depending on the varying amounts which enter (or merely tend to enter) some nerves more than others, the spirits have the power to change the shape of the muscles in which the nerves are embedded, and by this means to move all the limbs. Similarly you may have observed in the grottos and fountains in the royal gardens that the mere force with which the water is driven as it emerges from its source is sufficient to move various machines, and even to make them play certain instruments or utter certain words depending on the various arrangements of the pipes through which the water is conducted.
Indeed, one may compare the nerves of the machine I am describing with the pipes in the works of these fountains, its muscles and tendons with the various devices and springs which serve to set them in motion, its animal spirits with the water which drives them, the heart with the source of the water, and the cavities of the brain with the storage tanks. Moreover, breathing and other such activities which are normal and natural to this machine, and which depend on the flow of the spirits, are like the movements of a clock or mill, which the normal flow of water can render continuous. External objects, which by their mere presence stimulate its sense organs and thereby cause them to move in many different ways depending on how the parts of its brain are disposed, are like visitors who enter the grottos of these fountains and unwittingly cause the movements which take place before their eyes. For they cannot enter without stepping on certain tiles which are so arranged that if, for example, they approach a Diana who is bathing they will cause her to hide in the reeds, and if they move forward to pursue her they will cause a Neptune to advance and threaten them with his trident; or if they go in another direction they will cause a sea-monster to emerge and spew water onto their faces; or other such things according to the whim of the engineers who made the fountains. And finally, when a rational soul is present in this machine it will have its principal seat in the brain, and reside there like the fountain-keeper who must be stationed at the tanks to which the fountain's pipes return if he wants to produce, or prevent, or change their movements in some way.",""
"","""Here's Cavities, says one; and here, says he, / Is th' Seat of Fancy, Judgment, Memory: / Here, says another, is the fertile Womb, / From whence the Spirits Animal do come, / Which are mysteriously ingender'd here, / Of Spirits from Arterious Blood and Air: / Here, said a third, Life made her first approach, / Moving the Wheels of her Triumphant Coach.""",7229,"","Searching ""animal"" and ""spirits"" in HDIS (Poetry)",19723,2012-04-27 16:38:47 UTC,2012-04-27 16:39:00 UTC,,"","We view'd the Kitchin call'd Ventriculus,
Then pass'd we through the space call'd Pylorus;
And to the Dining-Room we came at last,
VVhere the Lactæans take their sweet repast.
From thence we through a Drawing-room did pass,
And came where Madam Jecur busie was;
Sanguificating the whole Mass of Chyle,
And severing the Cruoral parts from bile:
And when she's made it tolerably good,
She pours it forth to mix with other Blood.
This and much more we saw, from thence we went
Into the next Court, by a small ascent:
Bless me, said I, what Rarities are here!
A Fountain like a Furnace did appear,
Still boyling o'er, and running out so fast,
That one shou'd think its Efflux cou'd not last;
Yet it sustain'd no loss as I cou'd see,
VVhich made me think it a strange Prodigie.
Come on, says Harvey, don't stand gazing here,
But follow me, and I thy doubts will clear.
Then we began our Journey with the Blood,
Trac'd the Meanders of its Purple flood.
Thus we through many Labyrinths did pass,
In such, I'm sure, Old Dædalus ne'er was;
Sometimes i'th' Out-works, sometimes i'th' first Court;
Sometimes i'th' third these winding streams wou'd sport
Themselves; but here methought I needs must stay,
And listen next to what the Artists say:
Here's Cavities, says one; and here, says he,
Is th' Seat of Fancy, Judgment, Memory:
Here, says another, is the fertile Womb,
From whence the Spirits Animal do come,
Which are mysteriously ingender'd here,
Of Spirits from Arterious Blood and Air:
Here, said a third, Life made her first approach,
Moving the Wheels of her Triumphant Coach:
Hold there, said Harvey, that must be deny'd,
'Twas in the deaf Ear on the dexter side.
Then there arose a trivial small dispute,
Which he by Fact and Reason did confute:
Which being ended, we began again
Our former Journey, and forsook the Brain.
And after some small Traverses about,
We came to th' place where we at first set out:
Then I perceiv'd how all this Magick stood
By th' Circles of the circulating Blood,
As Fountains have their Waters from the Sea,
To which again they do themselves conveigh.
But here we find great Lower by his Art,
Surveying the whole Structure of the Heart:
Welcome, said he, sweet Cousin, are you here,
Sister to him whose Worth we all revere?
But ah, alas, so cruel was his Fate,
As makes us since almost our Practice hate;
Since we cou'd find out nought in all our Art,
That cou'd prolong the motion of his Heart.
",""
"","""These, when we have taken a full survey of them, and their several modes, and the Compositions made out of them, we shall find to contain all our whole stock of Ideas; and that we have nothing in our Minds, which did not come in, one of these two ways.""",3866,"","Searching ""stock"" in EEBO-TCP",24313,2014-07-28 15:14:13 UTC,2014-07-28 15:14:13 UTC,,"","§. 5. The Understanding seems to me, not to have the least glimmering of any Ideas, which it doth not receive from one of these two: Eternal Objects furnish the Mind with the Ideas of sensible qualities, which are all those different perceptions they produced in us: And the Mind furnishes the Understanding with Ideas of its own Operations. These, when we have taken a full survey of them, and their several modes, and the Compositions made out of them, we shall find to contain all our whole stock of Ideas; and that we have nothing in our Minds, which did not come in, one of these two ways. Let any one examine his own Thoughts, and throughly search into his Understanding, and then let him tell me, Whether all the original Ideas he has there, are any other than of the Objects of his Senses, or of the Operations of his Mind, considered as Objects of his Reflection: and how great a mass of Knowledge soever he imagines to be lodged there, he will, upon taking a strict view, see that he has not any Idea in his Mind, but what one of those two have imprinted; though, perhaps, with infinite variety compounded and enlarged, by the Understanding, as we shall see hereafter.
(II.i.5, p. 38)",""
"","""Let any one examine his own Thoughts, and throughly search into his Understanding, and then let him tell me, Whether all the original Ideas he has there, are any other than of the Objects of his Senses, or of the Operations of his Mind, considered as Objects of his Reflection: and how great a mass of Knowledge soever he imagines to be lodged there, he will, upon taking a strict view, see that he has not any Idea in his Mind, but what one of those two have imprinted; though, perhaps, with infinite variety compounded and enlarged, by the Understanding, as we shall see hereafter.""",3866,Impressions,Searching in EEBO-TCP,24314,2014-07-28 15:15:41 UTC,2014-07-28 15:15:54 UTC,,"","§. 5. The Understanding seems to me, not to have the least glimmering of any Ideas, which it doth not receive from one of these two: Eternal Objects furnish the Mind with the Ideas of sensible qualities, which are all those different perceptions they produced in us: And the Mind furnishes the Vnderstanding with Ideas of its own Operations. These, when we have taken a full survey of them, and their several modes, and the Compositions made out of them, we shall find to contain all our whole stock of Ideas; and that we have nothing in our Minds, which did not come in, one of these two ways. Let any one examine his own Thoughts, and throughly search into his Understanding, and then let him tell me, Whether all the original Ideas he has there, are any other than of the Objects of his Senses, or of the Operations of his Mind, considered as Objects of his Reflection: and how great a mass of Knowledge soever he imagines to be lodged there, he will, upon taking a strict view, see that he has not any Idea in his Mind, but what one of those two have imprinted; though, perhaps, with infinite variety compounded and enlarged, by the Understanding, as we shall see hereafter.
(II.i.5, p. 38)",""
"","""Learning ought to be infus'd into the Scholar like spirits into a Bottle, by little and little, for whosoever attempts to pour in all at once, may in all likelihood spill a great part, and in a great measure fill the Vessel with Wind and Air.""",8131,"","Reading Sean Silver's The Mind is a Collection: Case Studies in Eighteenth-Century Thought (Philadelphia: Penn Press, 2015), 275n.",24864,2016-03-11 16:37:40 UTC,2016-03-11 16:38:14 UTC,,"","The Jesuits certainly are well worthy our imitation in this particular: Nor is there any Art by which they create themselves a greater interest in the Countries where the live, than that by which they undertake the Education of Youth. They who are deputed for this Employment, are not of the meanest quality; they are usually Gentlemen, Men of mature years, and such who have been well vers'd, not only in Ancient Authors, but in the Practice and Conversation of men, and in the methods of business: Their way is, by familiarity and softness to insinuate into the Affections of the Scholar, and to draw him on to diligence rather by hopes, then to whip him forwards by Punishments and Fear: And yet where Negligence makes Correction a duty, they do it rather by inflicting some light disgrace, than by Corporal chastisement, a thing opprobrious to Nature, and which rather dulls than quickens the capacities of Youth. One thing they practice frequently which is really of wonderful use, and that is, their accustoming their Schollars to Act their Parts in Plays. This inures them to a Manlike speech, and to a steedy Spirit and Address. I like Tragedy better than Comedy, where the Argument commonly is light, and is such as requires much of the Buffoon, whereas the former being great and Masculine, will be sure to leave a Tincture of something Noble upon the Mind of him who personates the Hero. Learning ought to be infus'd into the Scholar like spirits into a Bottle, by little and little, for whosoever attempts to pour in all at once, may in all likelihood spill a great part, and in a great measure fill the Vessel with Wind and Air. The Vessels 'tis true which have the streightest Necks will not so readily receive the Liquour, but then they will preserve what they once receive with much more certainty and lastingness of spirit. 'Tis so many times in the capacities of Youth: they who can receive any impression like the Virgin-wax, will as easily suffer a defacement unless it be hardned and matur'd by Time: whereas others who are hard to be wrought upon like Steel, retain the Images which are Engraven on them with much more beauty and perpetuity.
(pp. 23-5)",Of Erudition. CHAP. III.
"","The understanding ""must examine, range, and dispose of the bank which is laid up in the Memory; but it must be sure to make distinction between the sober and well collected heap, and the extravagant Idea's, and mistaken Images, which there it may sometimes light upon.""",8134,"",Reading,24888,2016-04-06 19:07:28 UTC,2016-04-06 19:07:35 UTC,,"","In both these the middle wayes are to be taken, nothing is to be omitted, and yet every thing to pass a mature deliberation: No Intelligence from Men of all Professions, and quarters of the World, to be slighted, and yet all to be so severely examin'd, that there remain no room for doubt or instability; much rigour in admitting, much strictness in comparing and above all, much slowness in debating, and shyness in determining, is to be practised. The Understanding is to order all the inferiour services of the lower Faculties; but yet it is to do this only as a lawful Master, and not as a Tyrant. It must not incroach upon their Offices, nor take upon it self the employments which belong to either of them. It must watch the irregularities of the Senses, but it must not go before them, or prevent their information. It must examine, range, and dispose of the bank which is laid up in the Memory; but it must be sure to make distinction between the sober and well collected heap, and the extravagant Idea's, and mistaken Images, which there it may sometimes light upon. So many are the links, upon which the true Philosophy depends, of which, if anyone be loose, or weak, the whole chain is in danger of being dissolv'd; it is to begin with the Hands and Eyes, and to proceed on through the Memory, to be continued by the Reason; nor is it to stop there, but to come about to the Hands and Eyes again, and so, by a continual passage round from one Faculty to another, it is to be maintained in life and strength, as much as the body of man is by the circulation of the blood through the several parts of the body, the Arms, the Fat, the Lungs, the Heart, and the Head.",The Preface