work_id,theme,provenance,created_at,text,reviewed_on,id,comments,metaphor,dictionary,updated_at,context
3866,"","Reading. Found again in S. H. Clark's ""'Pendet Homo Incertus': Gray's Response to Locke,"" in Eighteenth-Century Studies 24.4 (1991): 492.",2003-09-15 00:00:00 UTC,"Concerning the several degrees of lasting, wherewith Ideas are imprinted on the Memory, we may observe, That some of them have been produced in the Understanding, by an Object affecting the Senses once only, and no more than once: Others, that have more than once offer'd themselves to the Senses, have yet been little taken notice of; the Mind, either heedless, as in Children, or otherwise employ'd, as in Men, intent only on one thing, not setting the stamp deep into it self. And in some, where they are set on with care and repeated impressions, either through the temper of the Body, or some other default, the Memory is very weak: In all these cases, Ideas in the Mind, quickly fade, and often vanish quite out of the Understanding, leaving no more footsteps or remaining Characters of themselves, than Shadows do flying over fields of Corn; and the Mind is as void of them, as if they never had been there.
(II.x.4)",,9962,"•Wonderfully mixed metaphor.
•I've included thrice: Footstep, Character, Shadow, Field","""In all these cases, Ideas in the Mind, quickly fade, and often vanish quite out of the Understanding, leaving no more footsteps or remaining Characters of themselves, than Shadows do flying over fields of Corn; and the Mind is as void of them, as if they never had been there.""",Impressions,2016-03-26 19:02:31 UTC,II.x.4.
4151,"","Reading. Found again in Joseph Warton's An Essay on the Writings and Genius of Pope (London: Printed for M. Cooper, 1756), 116. Also in James Beattie's Dissertations Moral and Critical (London: Strahan, 1783), 6. See also Ralph Cohen's ""Pope's Meanings and the Strategies of Interrelation,"" English Literature in the Age of Disguise, ed. Maximillian E. Novak, (Berkeley: U. of California Press, 1977), 111-12.",2005-07-22 00:00:00 UTC,"But you who seek to give and merit fame,
And justly bear a Critic's noble name,
Be sure yourself and your own reach to know,
How far your genius, taste, and learning go;
Launch not beyond your depth, but be discreet,
And mark that point where sense and dulness meet.
Nature to all things fix'd the limits fit,
And wisely curb'd proud man's pretending wit.
As on the land while here the Ocean gains,
In other parts it leaves wide sandy plains;
Thus in the soul while memory prevails,
The solid pow'r of understanding fails;
Where beams of warm imagination play,
The memory's soft figures melt away.
One science only will one genius fit;
So vast is art, so narrow human wit:
Not only bounded to peculiar arts,
But oft' in those confin'd to single parts.
Like Kings we lose the conquests gain'd before,
By vain ambition still to make them more;
Each might his sev'ral province well command,
Would all but stoop to what they understand.
(I, ll. 52-67)",2011-10-20,10710,"•I've included twice: Optics and Liquid
•Cross-reference: appears in Johnson's Dictionary (1755), and in Beattie's Dissertations Moral and Critical (1783).
• Reviewed 2009-01-28.
• Found again in Cohen, Ralph L. ""Pope's Meanings and the Strategies of Interrelation."" English Literature in the Age of Disguise, ed. Maximillian E. Novak, Berkeley: U. of California Press, 1977), 111-12.
• Expanded the entry to take in the whole epic simile (had been focused on beams of imagination before).
• Warton calls the best metaphor on the warmth of fancy
","""As on the land while here the Ocean gains, / In other parts it leaves wide sandy plains; / Thus in the soul while memory prevails, / The solid pow'r of understanding fails; / Where beams of warm imagination play, / The memory's soft figures melt away.""",Optics and Writing,2017-03-09 18:39:20 UTC,Part I
4341,"",Searching in HDIS (Prose),2004-11-10 00:00:00 UTC,"The Character of Myrtano; writ byIdalia, and found afterwards in her Closet.
Bright, lovely, graceful, are all Words below
What to Myrtano's Character we owe:
Divinely glorious! Godlike! speaks but Part!
He yet has Charms which nearer touch the Heart!
These, awful Wonder, and our Homage claim,
But there's a Sweetness Language cannot name:
A Soul-enchanting Softness (far above
The Reach of Thought, unknowing him to prove)
Dwells in his Air, amidst his Glories plays,
And tempers, not diminishes the Blaze.
HERE Fancy stoops to court the Aid of Sense,
Unable to conceive such Excellence!
Imagination may a Form create,
Correctly Lovely, and supremely Great;
But, Oh! how mean would that Idea be,
To what, indeed, is to be found in Thee!
Joy-mingled Wonder kindles at thy Sight,
And clothes our Admiration with Delight.
AS Tapers languish at th' Approach of Day,
And by degrees melt slow their Shine away;
A while they glimmer with contracted Spires,
Trembling, unable to relax their Fires:
But when the Sun's broad Eye is open'd wide,
And Beams, thick flashing, shoot on every Side;
No more their emulative Force they try,
But quite o'erwhelm'd with Radiance sink, and die;
So those pale Lights, whose Glare late shar'd our Praise,
Are wholly lost in thy Almighty Blaze.
Eraz'd and blotted from the Book of Fame,
Her thousand Tongues swell with thy charmful Name:
No other Sound now strikes our ravish'd Ears,
No other Form in our glad View appears;
So fully o'er the Soul thy Influence reigns,
That not one Rebel-Thought thy Sway disdains.
(46)",,11373,"•I've included five times: Candle, Erasing, Blotting, Rule of lover, Rebel.","""AS Tapers languish at th' Approach of Day,"" and as the ""Book of Fame"" may be ""Eraz'd and blotted,"" ""So fully o'er the Soul may a lover's Influence reign, ""That not one Rebel-Thought [its] Sway disdains""","",2009-09-14 19:35:50 UTC,Inset poem
4475,"",Searching in Google Books,2012-01-22 20:30:22 UTC,"13. Hitherto, by the Instance of am Individual and Material Triangle, we have shewed, how the Soul, in Understanding Corporeal Things, doth not meerly suffer from without from the Body, but Actively Exert Intelligible Ideas of its own, and from within it self. Now I observe that it is so far from being true, that all our Objective Cogitations or Ideas are Corporeal Effluxes or Radiations from Corporeal Things without, or impressed upon the Soul from them in a gross Corporeal Manner, as a Signature or Stamp is imprinted by a Seal upon a piece of Wax or Clay; that (as I have before hinted) this is not true sometimes of the Sensible Ideas themselves. For all Perception whatsoever is a Vital Energy, and not a Meer Dead Passion; and as the Atomical Philosophy instructs us, there is nothing Communicated in Sensation from the Material Objects without, but only Certain, Local Motions, that are propagated from them by the Nerves into the Brain; which Motions cannot propagate themselves Corporeally upon the Soul also, because it penetrates and runs through all the Parts of its own Body. But the Soul, by reason of that Vital and Magical Union which is between it and the Body, sympathizing with the several Motions of it in the Brain, doth thereupon exert Sensible Ideas or Phantasms within it self, whereby it perceives or takes Notice of Objects Distant from the Brain, either within or without the Body. Many of which Sentiments and Phantasms have no Similitude at all, either with those Local Motions made in the Brain, or with the Objects without; such as are the Sentiments of Pain, Pleasure, and Titillation, Hunger, Thirst, Heat and Cold, Sweet and Bitter, Light and Colours, &c. Wherefore the Truth is, that Sense, if we well consider it, is but a kind of Speech, (if I may so call it) Nature as it were talking to us in the Sensible-Objects Without, by certain Motions as Signs from thence Communicated to the Brain. For, as in Speech, when Men talk to one another, they do but make Certain Motions upon the Air, which cannot Impress their Thoughts upon one another in a Passive manner; but it being first consented to and agreed upon, that such certain Sounds shall signify such Ideas and Cogitations, he that hears those Sounds in Discourse, doth not fix his Thoughts upon the Sounds themselves, but presently Exerts from within himself such Ideas and Cogitations as those Sounds by Consent signify, though there be no Similitude at all betwixt those Sounds and Thoughts. Just in the same manner Nature doth as it were talk to us in the Outward Objects of Sense, and import Various Sentiments, Ideas, Phantasms, and Cogitations, not by stamping or impressing them passively upon the Soul from without, but only by certain Local Motions from them, as it were dumb Signs made in the Brain; It having been first Constituted and Appointed by Nature's Law, that such Local Motions shall signify such Sensible Ideas and Phantasms, though there be no Similitude at all betwixt them; for what Similitude can there be betwixt any Local Motions and the Senses of Pain or Hunger, and the like, as there is no Similitude betwixt many Words and Sounds, and the Thoughts which they signify. But the Soul, as by a certain secret Instinct, and as it were by Compact, understanding Nature's Language, as soon as these Local Motions are made in the Brain, doth not fix its Attention immediately upon those Motions themselves, as we do not use to do in Discourse upon meer Sounds, but presently exerts such Sensible Ideas, Phantasms and Cogitations, as Nature hath made them to be Signs of, whereby it perceives and takes Cognizance of many other Things both in its own Body, and without it, at a Distance from it, In order to the Good and Conservation of it. Wherefore there are two kinds of Perceptive Powers in the Soul, one below another; The first is that which belongs to the Inferiour Part of the Soul, whereby it sympathizes with the Body, which is determined by the several Motions and Pressures that are made upon that from Corporeal Things without to several Sensitive and Phantastical Energies, whereby it hath a Slight and Superficial Perception of Individual Corporeal Things, and as it were of the Outsides of them, but doth not reach to the Comprehension of the Essence or Indivisible and Immutable Notion of any thing. The Second Perceptive Power is that of the Soul it self, or that Superiour, Interiour Noetical Part of it which is free from Passion or Sympathy, free and disentangled from all that Magical Sympathy with the Body. Which acting alone by it self, Exerts from within the Intelligible Ideas of Things, Virtually Contained in its own Cognoscitive Power, that are Universal and Abstract Notions, from which, as it were looking downward it comprehends Individual Things. Now because these latter, which are pure Active Energies of the Soul, are many times exerted upon occasion of those other Passive or Sympathetical Perceptions of Individual Things anteceding; it is therefore conceived by many, that they are nothing else but thin and Evanid Images of those Sensible Ideas, and therefore that all Intellection and Knowledge ascends from Sense, and Intellection is nothing but the Improvement or Result of Sense. Yet notwithstanding it is most certainly true, that they proceed from a quite different Power of the Soul, whereby it actively protrudes its own Immediate Objects from within it self, and Comprehends Individuals without it, not Passively or consequentially, but as it were Proleptically, and not with an Ascending, but with a Descending Perception; whereby the Mind first reflecting upon it self, and its own Ideas, virtually contained in its own Omniform Cognoscitive Power, and thence descending downward, comprehends Individual Things under them. So that Knowledge doth not begin in Individuals, but end in them. And therefore they are but the Secondary Objects of Intellection, the Soul taking its first Rise from within it self, and so by its own inward Cognoscitive Power comprehending Things without it. Else how would God have Knowledge? And if we know as God knows, then do we know or gain Knowledge by Universals. In which Sense (though not in that other of Protagoras) the Soul may be truly said to be the Measure of all Things.
(IV.iii.13, pp 214-9)",,19508,"","""Now I observe that it is so far from being true, that all our Objective Cogitations or Ideas are Corporeal Effluxes or Radiations from Corporeal Things without, or impressed upon the Soul from them in a gross Corporeal Manner, as a Signature or Stamp is imprinted by a Seal upon a piece of Wax or Clay; that (as I have before hinted) this is not true sometimes of the Sensible Ideas themselves.""",Impressions and Writing,2012-01-22 20:38:50 UTC,"Book IV, Chapter iii"
7622,Lockean,ECCO-TCP,2013-08-18 04:53:06 UTC,"LUCINUS
As to the first Entry of Ideas into the Mind, you know Aristotle has been blamed for affirming that nothing is in the Understanding which was not before in the Senses. But there seems to be no great danger in that Opinion, if we do not limit the Senses to too small a number. You remember Mr. Locke's Account of their Entry?
AEMILIUS
Not well.
LUCINUS
'Tis to this purpose:
""The Senses at first let in particular Ideas, and furnish the yet empty Cabinet: and the Mind, by degrees growing familiar with some of them, they are lodg'd in the Memory, and Names got to them, &c.""
AEMILIUS
Obscurum per Obscurius. The question is, how this Familiarity arises? and how the Cabinet comes to be sensible of any thing that's put into it? A Scritore knows nothing of the Papers which the careful Banker locks up in it? Or a Glass, tho' it may be said to receive the Image of a Beau, and he really sees somewhat of himself in it; yet it can hardly be said to see any thing of him. It would rather seem the Mind had some native Light of its own, which is awaken'd we know not how, and flies out, as it were, thro' the Senses to the things it apprehends or lays hold on.
(p. 88)",,22341,INTEREST. RICH PASSAGE. Locke cited. USE IN ENTRY.,"""The question is, how this Familiarity arises? and how the Cabinet comes to be sensible of any thing that's put into it? A Scritore knows nothing of the Papers which the careful Banker locks up in it? Or a Glass, tho' it may be said to receive the Image of a Beau, and he really sees somewhat of himself in it; yet it can hardly be said to see any thing of him. It would rather seem the Mind had some native Light of its own, which is awaken'd we know not how, and flies out, as it were, thro' the Senses to the things it apprehends or lays hold on.""",Mirror and Rooms and Writing ,2013-08-18 04:53:26 UTC,""
6428,"",Reading,2014-01-10 21:22:24 UTC,"Cette doctrine, venant de Dieu, doit porter le sacré caractère de la Divinité; non seulement elle doit nous éclaircir les idées confuses que le raisonnement en trace dans notre esprit, mais elle doit aussi nous proposer un culte, une morale & des maximes convenables aux attributs par lesquels seuls nous concevons son essence. Si donc elle ne nous apprenoit que des choses absurdes & sans raison, si elle ne nous inspiroit que des sentiments d’aversion pour nos semblables & de frayeur pour nous-mêmes, si elle ne nous peignoit qu’un Dieu colère, jaloux, vengeur, partial, haïssant les hommes, un Dieu de la guerre & des combats, toujours prêt à détruire & foudroyer, toujours parlant de tourments, de peines, et se vantant de punir même les innocents, mon coeur ne seroit point attiré vers ce Dieu terrible, & je me garderois de quitter la religion naturelle pour embrasser là; car vous voyez bien qu’il faudroit nécessairement opter. Votre Dieu n’est pas le nôtre, dirais-je à ses sectateurs. Celui qui commence par se choisir un seul peuple et proscrire le reste du genre humain, n’est pas le père commun des hommes; celui qui destine au supplice éternel le plus grand nombre de ses créatures n’est pas le Dieu clément & bon que ma raison m’a montré.
(IV, 315 in Everyman)",,23324,"","""Cette doctrine, venant de Dieu, doit porter le sacré caractère de la Divinité; non seulement elle doit nous éclaircir les idées confuses que le raisonnement en trace dans notre esprit, mais elle doit aussi nous proposer un culte, une morale & des maximes convenables aux attributs par lesquels seuls nous concevons son essence.""",Writing,2014-01-10 21:23:07 UTC,"Book IV, Creed of the Savoyard Curate"
7863,"",Searching in ECCO-TCP,2014-04-08 02:23:56 UTC,"This Form, as it is the most simple, so it is infinitely the most general. Scarce any Part of the World is exempted from it's Power. And in those few Places where Men enjoy what they call Liberty, it is continually in a tottering Situation, and makes greater and greater Strides to that Gulph of Despotism which at last swallows up every Species of Government. This Manner of ruling being directed merely by the Will of the weakest, and generally the worst Man in the Society, becomes the most foolish and capricious Thing, at the same time that it is the most terrible and destructive that well can be conceived. In a Despotism the principal Person finds, that let the Want, Misery, and Indigence of his Subjects, be what they will, he can yet possess abundantly of every thing to gratify his most insatiable Wishes. He does more. He finds that these Gratifications increase in Proportion to the Wretchedness and Slavery of his Subjects. So that neglecting the publick Welfare, and by his Station placed above both Shame and Fear, he proceeds to the most horrid and shocking Outrages upon Mankind. Their Persons become Victims of his Suspicions. The slightest Anger is Death; and a disagreeable Aspect is often as great a Crime as High Treason. In the Court of Nero a Person of Learning, of unquestioned Merit, and of unsuspected Loyalty, was put to Death for no other Reason than that he had a pedantick Countenance which displeased the Emperor. This very Monster of Mankind appeared in the Beginning of his Reign to be a Person of Virtue. Many of the greatest Tyrants on the Records of History have begun to rule in the fairest Manner. But the Truth is, this unnatural Power corrupts both the Heart, and the Understanding. And to prevent the least Hope of Amendment, a King is ever surrounded by a Crowd of infamous Flatterers, who find their Account in keeping him from the least Light of Reason, till all Ideas of Rectitude and Justice are utterly erased from his Mind. When Alexander had in his Fury inhumanly butchered one of his best Friends, and bravest Captains; on the Return of Reason he begun to conceive an Horror suitable to the Guilt of such a Murder. In this Juncture, his Council came to his Assistance. But what did his Council? They found him out a Philosopher who gave him Comfort. And in what Manner did this Philosopher comfort him for the Loss of such a Man, and heal his Conscience, flagrant with the Smart of such a Crime? You have the Matter at Length in Plutarch. [...]
(pp. 41-3)",,23769,"","""But the Truth is, this unnatural Power corrupts both the Heart, and the Understanding. And to prevent the least Hope of Amendment, a King is ever surrounded by a Crowd of infamous Flatterers, who find their Account in keeping him from the least Light of Reason, till all Ideas of Rectitude and Justice are utterly erased from his Mind.""",Writing,2014-04-08 02:23:56 UTC,""