work_id,theme,provenance,created_at,text,reviewed_on,id,comments,metaphor,dictionary,updated_at,context
5202,"",Searching in HDIS (Poetry),2005-08-16 00:00:00 UTC,"But, for the day of trial is at hand,
And the whole fortunes of a mighty land
Are staked on me, and all their weal or woe
Must from my good or evil conduct flow,
Will I, or can I, on a fair review,
As I assume that name, deserve it too?
Have I well weigh'd the great, the noble part
I'm now to play? have I explored my heart,
That labyrinth of fraud, that deep, dark cell,
Where, unsuspected, e'en by me, may dwell
Ten thousand follies? have I found out there
What I am fit to do, and what to bear?
Have I traced every passion to its rise,
Nor spared one lurking seed of treach'rous vice?
Have I familiar with my nature grown?
And am I fairly to myself made known?",2012-01-12,14013,•I've included twice: Cell and Dwelling,"""Have I well weigh'd the great, the noble part / I'm now to play? have I explored my heart, / That labyrinth of fraud, that deep, dark cell, / Where, unsuspected, e'en by me, may dwell / Ten thousand follies?""",Inhabitants,2012-01-12 20:30:43 UTC,""
5202,"","Searching ""breast"" and ""crowd"" in HDIS (Poetry)",2006-03-08 00:00:00 UTC,"Ne'er could he feel how truly man is blest
In blessing those around him; in his breast,
Crowded with follies, Honour found no room;
Mark'd for a coward in his mother's womb,
He was too proud without affronts to live,
Too timorous to punish or forgive.",,14020,"","""[I]n his breast, / Crowded with follies, Honour found no room""",Inhabitants,2009-09-14 19:39:45 UTC,""
5213,"","HDIS (Poetry): searching internal ""councils""",2004-03-30 00:00:00 UTC," O God, to what a pitch are wrought
The councils of omniscient thought,
How dear unto my soul,
To what an infinite of sums
Their meanest estimation comes,
What worlds on worlds the whole!",2011-06-20,14028,"","""O God, to what a pitch are wrought / The councils of omniscient thought.""",Inhabitants,2011-06-20 18:45:39 UTC,""
5807,"","Searching ""idea"" and ""crowd"" in HDIS (Poetry)",2006-03-07 00:00:00 UTC,"But, that shriek--
Thrilling with dread--whence is it? 'Tis the voice
Of female misery, bursting thro' the crowd
To the lone dungeon: view that lovely form[1]
Deck'd in the neatest white,--yet not so white
And wan as her wild visage: ""Keep me not,""
Raving she cries, ""Keep me not, cruel, from him.
""He dies this morn; I know it: he's condemn'd;
""The dreadful judge has done it! He must die,
""My husband! and I'm come, clad in my best,
""To go and suffer with him! I have brought
""Sweet flowers to cheer him, and to strew his corse,
""Pale, pale, and speechless lies it!--Husband, come!
""The little infant, fruit of our glad loves,
""Smil'd on me, as with parting breath I blest,
""And kiss'd the dear babe for thee! 'Tis but young;
""'Tis tender yet;--seven days is young in life:
""Angels will guard my little innocent:
""They'll feed it, tho' thou could'st not find it food,
""And its poor mother too!--And so thou dy'st!
""For me and it thou dy'st! But not alone,
""Thou shalt not go alone; I will die with thee:
""Sweet mercy be upon us! Hence, hence, hence!""
Impetuous then, her white arms round his neck
She threw; and, with deep groans would pierce a rock,
Sunk fainting. Oh the husband's, father's pangs,
Stopping all utterance! Up to Heaven he roll'd
His frantic eyes; and staring wildly round
In desperation's madness, to his heart
Drove the destructive steel!--Fell death,
Would'st thou a fuller triumph?--Oh my wife,
How dismal to our ears the shrieks, the groans!--
And what a crowd of wild ideas press
Distracting on the soul! ""Merciful Heaven,
""In pity spare us! Say, It is enough,
""And bid the avenging angel stay his hand!""",2011-06-26,15545,"•Footnote gives, ""This also alludes to a miserable catastrophe, which happened here on the morning of a late execution. The poor young woman who came to visit her husband, had lain-in but seven days. As soon as the husband's fetters were knocked off, he stepped aside, and cut his throat in a dismal manner; but not quite sufficiently to finish his existence:--And in that shocking state--paid his debt--at the destined place.""","""And what a crowd of wild ideas press / Distracting on the soul!""",Inhabitants,2011-05-27 14:16:23 UTC,""
7171,"","Searching ""dance"" and ""idea"" in HDIS (Poetry)",2012-01-19 17:37:10 UTC,"Thanks to the generous hand that plac'd me here,
Fast by the fountains of the silver Cray,
Who leading to the Thames his tribute clear,
Through the still valley winds his secret way.
Yet from his lowly bed with transport sees
In fair exposure noblest villas rise,
Hamlets embosom'd deep in antient trees,
And spires that point with reverence to the skies.
O lovely dale! luxuriant with delight!
O woodland hills! that gently rising swell;
O streams! whose murmurs soft repose invite;
Where peace and joy and rich abundance dwell.
How shall my slender reed your praise resound
In numbers worthy of the polish'd ear?
What powers of strong expression can be found
To thank the generous hand that plac'd me here:
That gave each requisite of blissful life;
Sweet leisure in sequester'd shades of Kent,
The softening virtues of a faithful wife,
And competence well sorted with content.
For these, if I forget my patron's praise,
While bright ideas dance upon my mind,
Ne'er may these eyes behold auspicious days,
May friends prove faithless, and the Muse unkind.
(pp. 70-1)",,19462,CITED in ENTRY,"""For these, if I forget my patron's praise, / While bright ideas dance upon my mind, / Ne'er may these eyes behold auspicious days, / May friends prove faithless, and the Muse unkind.""",Inhabitants,2014-03-09 15:00:44 UTC,""
5175,"",Reading,2012-05-29 14:09:21 UTC,"
With these grave fops, who (bless their brains!)
Most cruel to themselves, take pains
For wretchedness, and would be thought
Much wiser than a wise man ought
For his own happiness, to be;
Who what they hear, and what they see,
And what they smell, and taste, and feel,
Distrust, till Reason sets her seal,
And, by long trains of consequences
Ensured, gives sanction to the senses;
Who would not, Heaven forbid it! waste
One hour in what the world calls Taste,
Nor fondly deign to laugh or cry,
Unless they know some reason why,--
With these grave fops, whose system seems
To give up certainty for dreams
The eye of man is understood
As for no other purpose good
Than as a door, through which, of course,
Their passage crowding objects force;
A downright usher, to admit
New-comers to the court of Wit:
(Good Gravity! forbear thy spleen,
When I say wit, I wisdom mean)
Where, (such the practice of the court,
Which legal precedents support)
Not one idea is allow'd
To pass unquestion'd in the crowd,
But ere it can obtain the grace
Of holding in the brain a place,
Before the chief in congregation
Must stand a strict examination.",,19786,"","""(Good Gravity! forbear thy spleen, / When I say wit, I wisdom mean) / Where, (such the practice of the court, / Which legal precedents support) / Not one idea is allow'd / To pass unquestion'd in the crowd, / But ere it can obtain the grace / Of holding in the brain a place, / Before the chief in congregation / Must stand a strict examination.""",Court and Inhabitants,2012-05-29 14:09:21 UTC,Book IV
5452,"","Searching ""mind"" in PGDP",2013-06-21 18:14:38 UTC,"DEAR FRIEND: I am now two letters in your debt, which I think is the first time that ever I was so, in the long course of our correspondence. But, besides that my head has been very much out of order of late, writing is by no means that easy thing that it was to me formerly. I find by experience, that the mind and the body are more than married, for they are most intimately united; and when the one suffers, the other sympathizes. 'Non sum qualis eram': neither my memory nor my invention are now what they formerly were. It is in a great measure my own fault; I cannot accuse Nature, for I abused her; and it is reasonable I should suffer for it.
(LONDON, April 25, 1758)",,21112,"","""I find by experience, that the mind and the body are more than married, for they are most intimately united; and when the one suffers, the other sympathizes.""",Inhabitants,2013-06-21 18:14:38 UTC,""
5452,"","Searching ""reason"" in PGDP",2013-06-21 18:21:10 UTC,"Voltaire sent me, from Berlin, his 'History du Siecle de Louis XIV. It came at a very proper time; Lord Bolingbroke had just taught me how history should be read; Voltaire shows me how it should be written. I am sensible that it will meet with almost as many critics as readers. Voltaire must be criticised; besides, every man's favorite is attacked: for every prejudice is exposed, and our prejudices are our mistresses; reason is at best our wife, very often heard indeed, but seldom minded. It is the history of the human understanding, written by a man of parts, for the use of men of parts. Weak minds will not like it, even though they do not understand it; which is commonly the measure of their admiration. Dull ones will want those minute and uninteresting details with which most other histories are encumbered. He tells me all I want to know, and nothing more. His reflections are short, just, and produce others in his readers. Free from religious, philosophical, political and national prejudices, beyond any historian I ever met with, he relates all those matters as truly and as impartially, as certain regards, which must always be to some degree observed, will allow him; for one sees plainly that he often says much less than he would say, if he might. He hath made me much better acquainted with the times of Lewis XIV., than the innumerable volumes which I had read could do; and hath suggested this reflection to me, which I have never made before—His vanity, not his knowledge, made him encourage all, and introduce many arts and sciences in his country. He opened in a manner the human understanding in France, and brought it to its utmost perfection; his age equalled in all, and greatly exceeded in many things (pardon me, Pedants!) the Augustan. This was great and rapid; but still it might be done, by the encouragement, the applause, and the rewards of a vain, liberal, and magnificent prince. What is much more surprising is, that he stopped the operations of the human mind just where he pleased; and seemed to say, ""Thus far shalt thou go, and no farther."" For, a bigot to his religion, and jealous of his power, free and rational thoughts upon either, never entered into a French head during his reign; and the greatest geniuses that ever any age produced, never entertained a doubt of the divine right of Kings, or the infallibility of the Church. Poets, Orators, and Philosophers, ignorant of their natural rights, cherished their chains; and blind, active faith triumphed, in those great minds, over silent and passive reason. The reverse of this seems now to be the case in France: reason opens itself; fancy and invention fade and decline.
(III.ccxviv, [p. 256 in Roberts ed., LONDON, April 13, O. S. 1752)",,21114,"","""Voltaire must be criticised; besides, every man's favorite is attacked: for every prejudice is exposed, and our prejudices are our mistresses; reason is at best our wife, very often heard indeed, but seldom minded.""",Inhabitants,2013-06-21 18:23:39 UTC,""
5192,"",ECCO-TCP,2013-08-18 17:51:58 UTC,"C. Ah! what, my Lord, hath private life to do
With things of public Nature? why to view
Would You thus cruelly those scenes unfold,
Which, without pain and horror to behold,
Must speak me something more, or less than man;
Which Friends may pardon, but I never can?
Look back! a Thought which borders on despair,
Which human Nature must, yet cannot bear.
'Tis not the babbling of a busy world,
Where Praise and Censure are at random hurl'd,
Which can the meanest of my thoughts controul,
Or shake one settled purpose of my Soul.
Free and at large might their wild curses roam,
If All, if All alas! were well at home.
No--'tis the tale which angry Conscience tells,
When She with more than tragic horror swells
Each circumstance of guilt; when stern, but true,
She brings bad actions forth into review;
And, like the dread hand-writing on the wall,
Bids late Remorse awake at Reason's call,
Arm'd at all points bids Scorpion Vengeance pass,
And to the mind holds up Reflexion's glass,
The mind, which starting, heaves the heart-felt groan,
And hates that form She knows to be her own.
(pp. 11-12)",,22381,"","""No--'tis the tale which angry Conscience tells, / When She with more than tragic horror swells / Each circumstance of guilt; when stern, but true, / She brings bad actions forth into review; / And, like the dread hand-writing on the wall, / Bids late Remorse awake at Reason's call, / Arm'd at all points bids Scorpion Vengeance pass, / And to the mind holds up Reflexion's glass, / The mind, which starting, heaves the heart-felt groan, / And hates that form She knows to be her own.""",Mirror,2013-08-22 16:53:21 UTC,""
7946,"",Reading (in the British Library),2014-06-22 03:42:37 UTC,"Mind, like a bride from a nobler family, enriches matter by its union, and brings as a dower, possessions before unknown. Henceforth matter appears cloathed in a gayer and richer garment; and the fruits of this union are a new progeny, to which matter, confining its alliance to its own family, could never have given birth.
(pp. 50-1).",,24097,"","""Mind, like a bride from a nobler family, enriches matter by its union, and brings as a dower, possessions before unknown. Henceforth matter appears cloathed in a gayer and richer garment; and the fruits of this union are a new progeny, to which matter, confining its alliance to its own family, could never have given birth.""","",2014-06-22 03:42:37 UTC,""