work_id,theme,provenance,created_at,text,reviewed_on,id,comments,metaphor,dictionary,updated_at,context
3537,"",Searching in Past Masters,2006-04-16 00:00:00 UTC,"For example, let the proposed nature be Memory, or that which excites and aids the memory. Constitutive Instances are, order or distribution, which clearly aids the memory; also topics or ""places"" in artificial memory; which may either be places in the proper sense of the word, as a door, angle, window, and the like; or familiar and known persons; or any other things at pleasure (provided they be placed in a certain order), as animals, vegetables; words too, letters, characters, historical persons, and the like; although some of these are more suitable and convenient than others. Such artificial places help the memory wonderfully, and exalt it far above its natural powers. Again, verse is learnt and remembered more easily than prose. From this group of three instances, viz. order, artificial places, and verse, one species of aid to the memory is constituted. And this species may with propriety be called the cutting off of infinity. For when we try to recollect or call a thing to mind, if we have no prenotion or perception of what we are seeking, we seek and toil and wander here and there, as if in infinite space. Whereas if we have any sure prenotion, infinity is at once cut off, and the memory has not so far to range. Now in the three foregoing instances the prenotion is clear and certain. In the first it must be something which suits the order; in the second it must be an image which bears some relation or conformity to the places fixed; in the third, it must be words that fall into the verse; and thus infinity is cut off. Other instances, again, will give us this second species; that whatever brings the intellectual conception into contact with the sense (which is indeed the method most used in mnemonics) assists the memory. Other instances will give us this third species; that things which make their impression by way of a strong affection, as by inspiring fear, admiration, shame, delight, assist the memory. Other instances will give us this fourth species; that things which are chiefly imprinted when the mind is clear and not occupied with anything else either before or after, as what is learnt in childhood, or what we think of before going to sleep, also things that happen for the first time, dwell longest in the memory. Other instances will give us this fifth species; that a multitude of circumstances or points to take hold of aids the memory; as writing with breaks and divisions, reading or reciting aloud. Lastly other instances will give us this sixth species; that things which are waited for and raise the attention dwell longer in the memory than what flies quickly by. Thus, if you read anything over twenty times, you will not learn it by heart so easily as if you were to read it only ten, trying to repeat it between whiles, and when memory failed looking at the book. It appears then that there are six Lesser Forms of aids to the memory; viz. the cutting off of infinity; the reduction of the intellectual to the sensible; impression made on the mind in a state of strong emotion; impression made on the mind disengaged; multitude of points to take hold of; expectation beforehand.",,9124,"","""For when we try to recollect or call a thing to mind, if we have no prenotion or perception of what we are seeking, we seek and toil and wander here and there, as if in infinite space.""","",2013-06-04 15:55:18 UTC,""
3866,"",Reading,2003-09-06 00:00:00 UTC,"In all that great Extent wherein the mind wanders, in those remote Speculations, it may seem to be elevated with, it stirs not one jot beyond those Ideas, which Sense or Reflection have offered for its Contemplation.
(II.i.24)",,9948,"","""In all that great Extent wherein the mind wanders, in those remote Speculations, it may seem to be elevated with, it stirs not one jot beyond those Ideas, which Sense or Reflection have offered for its Contemplation.""","",2011-05-26 03:45:14 UTC,II.i.24
3911,"",Browsing in EEBO,2004-01-08 00:00:00 UTC,"If Man would understand the Excellency of the Soul, as far as it is capable of comprehending it self, let him, after serious Recollection, descend into himself, and search diligently his own Mind, and there he shall find so many admirable Gifts, and excellent Ornaments, that it must needs strike him with Wonder and Amazement, as Reason, Understanding, true Choice, ability of Wit, Memory, and divers other Faculties, that absolutely approve the Soul to be more admirable, than that any should imagine it to be finite, or subject to Annihilation, yet by reason of its many Offices and Operations, whilst in the Body it is specified under sundry dominations. For, as St. Augustine saith, when it enlivens the Body, it is called the Soul; when it gives it knowledge, the judgment, the min[d], when it recall things past, the memory, whilst it discourseth and discerneth reason, whilst it contemplates the Spirit, whilst it is in the sensitive parts of the Senses; and these are the principal Offices, whereby the Soul declares its power, and performs its actions; for placed in the highest part of the Body, and nearest Heaven, it diffuseth or disperseth effectually its force into every Member, not propagated from the Parents, nor mixed with gross matter, but the infused Breath of the Almighty, immediately proceeding from him, nor passing from one to another, as fond and absurdly the Pithagoreans have insinuated in their Opinions about the Transmigration of the Soul; and so vain were they, that they did not only imagine the Souls of deceased Men passed into now-born Infants, but into Beasts also; and from thence it was they forbid the eating of Flesh, and abstained themselves from so doing, lest, as they fondly fancied, they might, as Tertullian records it, Eat their Grand-father in a Calf. But such frivolous and superstitious Notions are to be rejected by Christians, and those true ones observed, which are both reasonable and agreeable to humane Capacities; for Orthodox Divines conclude in general, that the Soul is given to every Infant by Infusion, when he or she is perfected in the Womb, which happens about the 45th day after Conception, especially for Males, that in likelihood will be born at the end of Nine Months, but in Females (who are of a weaker Constitution, and not so soon formed and perfected thro' the defect of heat) not till the Fiftieth day.
(pp. 32-4)",,10113,•Interesting citation of Augustine (by Aristotle! Ha!),"""If Man would understand the Excellency of the Soul, as far as it is capable of comprehending it self, let him, after serious Recollection, descend into himself, and search diligently his own Mind, and there he shall find so many admirable Gifts, and excellent Ornaments.""","",2013-06-11 17:59:32 UTC,""
3866,"",Searching in Past Masters,2011-07-21 15:16:33 UTC,"He that thinks he has a positive idea of infinite space, will, when he considers it, find that he can no more have a positive idea of the greatest, than he has of the least space. For in this latter, which seems the easier of the two, and more within our comprehension, we are capable only of a comparative idea of smallness, which will always be less than any one whereof we have the positive idea. All our positive ideas of any quantity, whether great or little, have always bounds; though our comparative idea, whereby we can always add to the one, and take from the other, hath no bounds: For that which remains either great or little, not being comprehended in that positive idea which we have, lies in obscurity; and we have no other idea of it, but of the power of enlarging the one, and diminishing the other, without ceasing. A pestle and mortar will as soon bring any particle of matter to indivisibility, as the acutest thought of a mathematician; and a surveyor may as soon with his chain measure out infinite space, as a philosopher by the quickest flight of mind reach it, or by thinking comprehend it; which is to have a positive idea of it. He that thinks on a cube of an inch diameter, has a clear and positive idea of it in his mind, and so can frame one of 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, and so on till he has the idea in his thoughts of some thing very little: But yet reaches not the idea of that incomprehensible littleness which division can produce. What remains of smallness, is as far from his thoughts as when he first began; and therefore he never comes at all to have a clear and positive idea of that smallness, which is consequent to infinite divisibility.
(II.xvii.18)",,18957,"","""A pestle and mortar will as soon bring any particle of matter to indivisibility, as the acutest thought of a mathematician; and a surveyor may as soon with his chain measure out infinite space, as a philosopher by the quickest flight of mind reach it, or by thinking comprehend it; which is to have a positive idea of it.""","",2011-07-21 15:16:33 UTC,"Book II, Chap. xvii"
7697,"",EEBO-TCP,2013-10-01 04:04:52 UTC,"[...] Here is no exception upon the Repetition of the Fault, or the Quality of the Provocation. Mr. Dryden to do him right, do's not dispute the Precept. He confesses this is the way to be a Christian: But for all that he should hardly trust him for a Friend. And why so? Because the Italian Proverb says, He that forgives the second time is a Fool. This Lewd Proverb comes in for Authority, and is a piece of very pertinent Blasphemy! Thus in some Peoples Logick one proof from Atheisin, is worth Ten from the New Testament. But here the Poet argues no better than he Believes. For most certainly, a Christian of all others is best qualifyed for Friendship. For He that loves his Neighbour as himself, and carries Benevolence and Good Nature beyond the Heights of Philosophy: He that is not govern'd by Vanity, or Design; He that prefers his Conscience to his Life, and has Courage to Maintain his Reason; He that is thus qualified must be a good Friend; And he that falls short, is no good Christian. And since the Poet is pleas'd to find fault with Christianity, let us examine his own Scheme. Our Minds (says he) are perpetually wrought on by the Temperament of our Bodies, which makes me suspect they are nearer Allyed than either our Philosophers, or School Divines will allow them to be. The meaning is, he suspects our Souls are nothing but Organiz'd Matter. Or in plain English, our Souls are nothing but our Bodies. And then when the Body dies you may guess what becomes of them! Thus the Authorities of Religion are weaken'd, and the prospect of the other World almost shut up. And is this a likely Supposition for Sincerity and good Nature? Do's Honour use to rise upon the Ruines of Conscience? And are People the best Friends where they have the least Reason to be so? But not only the Inclinations to Friendship must Languish upon this Scheme, but the very Powers of it are as it were destroy'd. By this Systeme no Man can say his Soul is his own. He can't be assured the same Colours of Reason and Desire will last. Any little Accident from without may metamorphose his Fancy, and push him upon a new set of Thoughts. Matter and Motion are the most Humorsom Capricious Things in Nature; and withall, the most Arbitrary and uncontroll'd. And can Constancy proceed from Chance, Choice from Fate, and Virtue from Necessity? In short a Man at this rate must be a Friend or an Enemy in spite of his Teeth, and just as long as the Atoms please and no longer. Every Change in Figure and Impulse, must alter the Idea, and wear off the former Impression. So that by these Principles, Friendship will depend on the Seasons, and we must look in the Weather Glass for our Inclinations. But this 'tis to Refine upon Revelation, and grow wiser than Wisdom! [...]
(pp. 67-9)",,22896,"","""He can't be assured the same Colours of Reason and Desire will last. Any little Accident from without may metamorphose his Fancy, and push him upon a new set of Thoughts.""","",2013-10-01 04:04:52 UTC,""
3866,"",Searching in EEBO-TCP,2014-07-28 15:18:49 UTC,"§. 10. These, if they are not all, are at least (as I think) the most considerable of those simple Ideas which the Mind has, and out of which are made all its other knowledge; all which it receives only by the two forementioned ways of Sensation and Reflection. Nor let any one think these too narrow bounds for the capacious Mind of Man to expatiate in, which takes its flight farther than the Stars, and cannot be confined by the limits of the World; that extends its thoughts often even beyond the utmost expansion of Matter, and makes excursions into that incomprehensible Inane. I grant all this, but desire any one to assign any simple Idea, which it received not from one of those Inlets before-mentioned, or any complex Idea not made out of those simple ones. Nor will it be so strange, to think these few simple Ideas sufficient to employ the quickest Thought, or largest Capacity; and to furnish the Materials of all that various Knowledge, and more various Phansies and Opinions of all Mankind, if we consider how many Words may be made out of the various composition of 24 Letters; or if going one step farther, we will but reflect on the variety of combinations may be made, with barely one of these Ideas, viz. Number, whose stock is inexhaustible, and truly infinite. And what a large and immense field, doth Excursion alone afford the Mathematicians?
(II.vii.10, p. 54)",,24316,"","""Nor let any one think these too narrow bounds for the capacious Mind of Man to expatiate in, which takes its flight farther than the Stars, and cannot be confined by the limits of the World; that extends its thoughts often even beyond the utmost expansion of Matter, and makes excursions into that incomprehensible Inane.""","",2014-07-28 15:18:49 UTC,""
8129,"",Reading,2016-02-18 02:38:14 UTC,"Fancy.
The roving, pregnant, busie, teeming sence,
The souls mint. The forge of shapes and dreams,
Commanding Empress of the brain, ubiquitary, faculty.
The immateriall Coyner. That makes a bodilesse Creation.
Bounldesse, restlesse faculty, free from all engagements, digg• without spade, sails without Ships, Flies without wings, builds without charges, fights without bloodshed, in a moment striding from the Center to the circumference of the world, by a kind of omnipotency creating and annihilating things in a moment, and marryng things divorced in nature.",,24806,"","Fancy is ""The roving, pregnant, busie, teeming sence.""","",2016-02-18 02:41:10 UTC,""
8131,"",Reading in EEBO-TCP,2016-03-11 16:26:47 UTC,"Now because we observe in Man some Operations more refin'd, and such as cannot be deriv'd from a meer Sensitive Nature, we are taught to conclude that there is another Principle into which such Operations are resolv'd, which we call a Rational Soul. Indeed, whosoever considers the curious Inventions of Wit, the vast Comprehension and subtile Inferences of the Understanding, the wonderful Sagacity and Prospect of Prudence, the noble Endowments and Speculations of the Mind, the quick Transitions and Successions of Thoughts, together with the Bent and Subserviency of the Passions, in relation to the Circumstances of humane Life: I say, whosoever thinks on these, must readily conclude that the Spring from whence such Motions are deriv'd, must be something more Celestial than that Etherial Spirit which gives Vigor to the Animal Faculties.
(pp. 5-6)",,24857,"","""Indeed, whosoever considers the curious Inventions of Wit, the vast Comprehension and subtile Inferences of the Understanding, the wonderful Sagacity and Prospect of Prudence, the noble Endowments and Speculations of the Mind, the quick Transitions and Successions of Thoughts, together with the Bent and Subserviency of the Passions, in relation to the Circumstances of humane Life: I say, whosoever thinks on these, must readily conclude that the Spring from whence such Motions are deriv'd, must be something more Celestial than that Etherial Spirit which gives Vigor to the Animal Faculties.""","",2016-03-11 16:26:47 UTC,"CHAP. I. Of the Generation of Man, as also of the Animal and Rational Faculties."
8134,"",Reading,2016-04-06 19:02:41 UTC,"Thus all the uncertainty, and mistakes of humane actions, proceed either from the narrowness and wandring of our Senses, from the slipperiness or delusion of our Memory, from the confinement or rashness of our Understanding, so that 'tis no wonder, that our power over natural causes and effects is so slowly improv'd, seeing we are not only to contend with the obscurity and difficulty of the things whereon we work and think, but even the forces of our own minds conspire to betray us.",,24886,"","""Thus all the uncertainty, and mistakes of humane actions, proceed either from the narrowness and wandring of our Senses, from the slipperiness or delusion of our Memory, from the confinement or rashness of our Understanding, so that 'tis no wonder, that our power over natural causes and effects is so slowly improv'd, seeing we are not only to contend with the obscurity and difficulty of the things whereon we work and think, but even the forces of our own minds conspire to betray us.""","",2016-04-06 19:02:50 UTC,The Preface
3866,"",Reading,2018-06-18 14:50:31 UTC,"When the Mind turns its view inwards upon its self, and contemplates its own Actions, Thinking is the first that occurrs; wherein it observes a great variety of Modifications, and thereof frames to it self distinct Ideas. Thus the Perception, or Thought, which actually accompany, and is annexed to any impression on the Body, made by an external Object, it frames a distinct Idea of, which we call Sensation; which is, as it were, the actual entrance of any Idea into the Understanding by the Senses. The same Idea, when it again recurrs without the operation of the like Object on the eternal Sensory, is Remembrance. If it be sought after by the Mind, and with pain and endeavour found, and brought again in view, 'tis Recollection: If it be held there long under attentive Consideration, 'tis Contemplation. When Ideas float in our Mind, without any reflection or regard of the Understanding, it is that which the French call Resvery; our Language has scarce a name for it. When the Ideas that offer themselves, (for as I have observed in another place, whilst we are awake, there will always be a train of Ideas succeeding one another in our Minds,) are taken notice of, and, as it were, registred in the Memory, it is Attention. When the Mind with great earnestness, and of a choice, fixes its view on any Idea, considers it on all sides, and will not be called off by the ordinary sollicitation of other Ideas, it is that we call Intention, or Study. Sleep, without dreaming, is rest from all these; and Dreaming it self, is the perception of Ideas (whilst the outward Senses are stopp'd, so that they receive not outward Objects with their usual quickness,) in the Mind, not suggested by any external Objects, or known occasion; nor under any Choice or Conduct of the Understanding at all; and whether that which we call Extasie, be not dreaming with the Eyes open, I leave to be examined.
(II.xix.1)",,25217,"","""When the Ideas that offer themselves, (for as I have observed in another place, whilst we are awake, there will always be a train of Ideas succeeding one another in our Minds,) are taken notice of, and, as it were, registred in the Memory, it is Attention.""","",2018-06-18 14:50:31 UTC,II.xix.1