id,comments,provenance,dictionary,created_at,reviewed_on,work_id,theme,context,updated_at,metaphor,text
12266,"",HDIS,"",2004-01-25 00:00:00 UTC,2006-09-11,4671,Conversation,Dedication,2009-09-14 19:36:47 UTC,"""She pours out all her Soul in [Soliloquies and little Reasonings] before her Parents without Disguise; so that one may judge of, nay, almost see, the inmost Recesses of her Mind""","I am charmed with the beautiful Reflections she makes in the Course of her Distresses; her Soliloquies and little Reasonings with herself, are exceeding pretty and entertaining: She pours out all her Soul in them before her Parents without Disguise; so that one may judge of, nay, almost see, the inmost Recesses of her Mind. A pure clear Fountain of Truth and Innocence, a Magazine of Virtue and unblemish'd Thoughts! "
12267,"",HDIS,"",2004-01-25 00:00:00 UTC,,4671,"",Dedication,2009-09-14 19:36:47 UTC,"The mind may be a ""pure clear Fountain of Truth and Innocence.""","I am charmed with the beautiful Reflections she makes in the Course of her Distresses; her Soliloquies and little Reasonings with herself, are exceeding pretty and entertaining: She pours out all her Soul in them before her Parents without Disguise; so that one may judge of, nay, almost see, the inmost Recesses of her Mind. A pure clear Fountain of Truth and Innocence, a Magazine of Virtue and unblemish'd Thoughts! "
12319,•I've included twice: Stream and Wave,Searching in HDIS (Prose),"",2005-06-02 00:00:00 UTC,2012-02-07,4671,Stream of Consciousness,"Vol. 3, Letter 63",2012-02-07 16:40:45 UTC,"""While the Banks of Discretion keep within their natural Chanel the proud Waves of Passion, all calm and serene, glides along the silver Current, inlivening the adjacent Meadows, as it passes, with a brighter and more flowery Verdure""","""While the Banks of Discretion keep within their natural Chanel the proud Waves of Passion, all calm and serene, glides along the silver Current, inlivening the adjacent Meadows, as it passes, with a brighter and more flowery Verdure. But if the Torrents of sensual Love are permitted to descend from the Hills of credulous Hope, they may so swell the gentle Stream, as to make it difficult, if not impossible, to be retain'd in its usual Bounds. What then will be the Consequence?-- Why, the Trees of Resolution, and the Shrubs of cautious Fear, whose intertwining Roots had contributed to support the frail Mound, being loosen'd from their Hold, they, and the Bank itself, will be seen floating on the Surface of the triumphant Waters.
""But here, a dear Lady, having unhappily failed, is enabled to set her Foot in the new-made Breach, while yet it is possible to stop it, and to say, with little Variation, in the Language of that Power, [Page 432] which only could enable her to say it, Hither, ye proud Waves of dissolute Love, altho' you havecome, yet no farther shall ye come; is such an Instance of magnanimous Resolution, and Self-conquest, as is very rarely to be met with.""
(III.63, pp. 431-2)"
12320,•I've included twice: Torrent and Stream,Searching in HDIS (Prose),"",2005-06-02 00:00:00 UTC,2012-02-07,4671,Stream of Consciousness,"Vol. 3, Letter 63
",2012-02-07 16:42:49 UTC,"""But if the Torrents of sensual Love are permitted to descend from the Hills of credulous Hope, they may so swell the gentle Stream, as to make it difficult, if not impossible, to be retain'd in its usual Bounds.""","""While the Banks of Discretion keep within their natural Chanel the proud Waves of Passion, all calm and serene, glides along the silver Current, inlivening the adjacent Meadows, as it passes, with a brighter and more flowery Verdure. But if the Torrents of sensual Love are permitted to descend from the Hills of credulous Hope, they may so swell the gentle Stream, as to make it difficult, if not impossible, to be retain'd in its usual Bounds. What then will be the Consequence?-- Why, the Trees of Resolution, and the Shrubs of cautious Fear, whose intertwining Roots had contributed to support the frail Mound, being loosen'd from their Hold, they, and the Bank itself, will be seen floating on the Surface of the triumphant Waters.
""But here, a dear Lady, having unhappily failed, is enabled to set her Foot in the new-made Breach, while yet it is possible to stop it, and to say, with little Variation, in the Language of that Power, [Page 432] which only could enable her to say it, Hither, ye proud Waves of dissolute Love, altho' you havecome, yet no farther shall ye come; is such an Instance of magnanimous Resolution, and Self-conquest, as is very rarely to be met with.""
(III.63, pp. 431-2)"
12322,•I've included twice: Torrent and Stream,Searching in HDIS (Prose),"",2005-06-02 00:00:00 UTC,2012-02-07,4671,Stream of Consciousness,"Vol. 3, Letter 63",2012-02-07 16:44:45 UTC,"""Why, the Trees of Resolution, and the Shrubs of cautious Fear, whose intertwining Roots had contributed to support the frail Mound, being loosen'd from their Hold, they, and the Bank itself, will be seen floating on the Surface of the triumphant Waters.""","""While the Banks of Discretion keep within their natural Chanel the proud Waves of Passion, all calm and serene, glides along the silver Current, inlivening the adjacent Meadows, as it passes, with a brighter and more flowery Verdure. But if the Torrents of sensual Love are permitted to descend from the Hills of credulous Hope, they may so swell the gentle Stream, as to make it difficult, if not impossible, to be retain'd in its usual Bounds. What then will be the Consequence?--Why, the Trees of Resolution, and the Shrubs of cautious Fear, whose intertwining Roots had contributed to support the frail Mound, being loosen'd from their Hold, they, and the Bank itself, will be seen floating on the Surface of the triumphant Waters.
""But here, a dear Lady, having unhappily failed, is enabled to set her Foot in the new-made Breach, while yet it is possible to stop it, and to say, with little Variation, in the Language of that Power, [Page 432] which only could enable her to say it, Hither, ye proud Waves of dissolute Love, altho' you havecome, yet no farther shall ye come; is such an Instance of magnanimous Resolution, and Self-conquest, as is very rarely to be met with.""
(III.63, pp. 431-2)"
12326,"",Searching in HDIS (Prose),"",2005-06-07 00:00:00 UTC,,4671,"","Vol. 1, Letter 27
",2009-09-14 19:36:51 UTC,"""I'm sure, said he, my Heart's turn'd into Butter, and is running away at my Eyes.""","Nay, pray Sir, pray Sir, said the good old Man, relent a little! Ads-heartlikins, you young Gentlemen are made of Iron and Steel, I think: I'm sure, said he, my Heart's turn'd into Butter, and is running away at my Eyes. I never felt the like before. -- Said my Master, with an imperious Tone, Get out of my Presence, Hussy, I can't bear you in my Sight. Sir, said I, I'm going as fast as I can."
12380,"•A hydraulic account of thinking. INTEREST.
• arietation: ""The action of butting like a ram; hence, the striking with a battering-ram or similar instrument."" (OED)",Reading,Animals,2004-05-18 00:00:00 UTC,2011-04-26,4687,Materialism,Chapter XII. Letter from Freethinkers,2013-11-01 20:36:10 UTC,"""From the arietation and motion of the spirits in those canals proceed all the different sorts of thought.""","We proceed now to explain, by the structure of the brain, the several modes of thinking. It is well known to anatomists that the brain is a congeries of glands that separate the finer parts of the blood, called animal spirits; that a gland is nothing but a canal of a greater length, variously intorted and wound up together. From the arietation and motion of the spirits in those canals proceed all the different sorts of thought. Simple ideas are produced by the motion of the spirits in one simple canal. When two of these canals disembogue themselves into one, they make what we call a proposition; and when two of these propositional channels empty themselves into a third, they form a syllogism, or a ratiocination.
Memory is performed in a distinct apartment of the brain, made up of vessels similar, and like situated to the ideal, propositional and syllogistical vessels, in the primary part of the brain. After the same manner it is easy to explain the other modes of thinking; as also why some people think so wrong and perversely, which proceeds from the bad configuration of those glands. Some, for example, are born without the propositional or syllogistical canals; in others that reason ill, they are of unequal capacities; in dull fellows, of too great a length, whereby the motion of the spirits is retarded; in trifling geniuses weak and small; in the over-refining spirits, too much intorted and winding; and so of the rest.
We are so much persuaded of the truth of this our hypothesis that we have employed one of our members, a great virtuoso at Nuremberg, to make a sort of an hydraulic engine, in which a chemical liquor resembling blood is driven through elastic channels resembling arteries and veins by the force of an embolus like the heart, and wrought by a pneumatic machine of the nature of the lungs, with ropes and pullies, like the nerves, tendons and muscles. And we are persuaded that this our artificial man will not only walk and speak, and perform most of the outward actions of animal life, but (being wound up once a week) will perhaps reason as well as most of your country parsons.
(XII, pp. 63-4)"
12491,•I've included twice: Current and Wind,HDIS,"",2004-08-11 00:00:00 UTC,,4730,Soliloquy,"Book III, chapter 2",2009-09-14 19:37:02 UTC,"Reason ""doth not foolishly say to us, be not glad, orbe not sorry, which would be as vain and idle, as to bid the purling River cease to run, or the raging Wind to blow""","What shall I do? Shall I abandon myself to a dispirited Despair, or fly in the Face of the Almighty! Surely both are unworthy of a wise Man; for what can be more vain than weakly to lament my Fortune, if irretrievable, or, if Hope remains, to offend that Being, who can most strongly support it: But are my Passions then voluntary? Am I so absolutely their Master, that I can resolve with myself, so far only will I grieve? Certainly no. Reason, however we flatter ourselves, hath not such despotic Empire in our Minds, that it can, with imperial Voice, hush all our Sorrow in a Moment. Where then is its Use? for either it is an empty Sound, and we are deceived in thinking we have Reason, or it is given us to some End, and hath a Part assigned it by the All-wise Creator. Why, what can its Office be, other than justly to weigh the Worth of all Things, and to direct us to that Perfection of human Wisdom, which proportions our Esteem of every Object by its real Merit, and prevents us from over or undervaluing whatever we hope for, we enjoy, or we lose. It doth not foolishly say to us, be not glad, orbe not sorry, which would be as vain and idle, as to bid the purling River cease to run, or the raging Wind to blow. It prevents us only from exulting, like Children, when we receive a Toy, or from lamenting when we are deprived of it. Suppose then I have lost the Enjoyments of this World, and my Expectation of future Pleasure and Profit is for ever disappointed; what Relief can my Reason afford! What, unless it can shew me I had fixed my Affections on a Toy; that what I desired was not, by a wise Man, eagerly to be affected, nor its Loss violently deplored; for there are Toys adapted to all Ages, from the Rattle to the Throne. And perhaps the Value of all is equal to their several Possessors; for if the Rattle pleases the Ears of the Infant, what can the Flattery of Sycophants do more to the Prince. The latter is as far from examining into the Reality and Source of his Pleasure as the former; for if both did, they must both equally despise it. And surely if we consider them seriously, and compare them together, we shall be forced to conclude all those Pomps and Pleasures, of which Men are so fond, and which, through so much Danger and Difficulty, with such Violence and Villany they pursue, to be as worthless Trifles as any exposed to Sale in a Toyshop. I have often noted my little Girl viewing, with eager Eyes, a jointed Baby; I have marked the Pains and Solicitations she hath used, till I have been prevailed on to indulge her with it. At her first obtaining it, what Joy hath sparkled in her Countenance! with what Raptures hath she taken the Possession; but how little Satisfaction hath she found in it! What Pains to work out her Amusement from it! Its Dress must be varied; the Tinsel Ornaments which first caught her Eyes, produce no longer Pleasure; she endeavours to make it stand and walk in vain, and is constrained herself to supply it with Conversation. In a Day's time it is thrown by and neglected, and some less costly Toy preferred to it. How like the Situation of this Child is that of every Man! What Difficulties in the Pursuit of his Desires! What Inanity in the Possession of most, and Satiety in those which seem more real and substantial! The Delights of most Men are as childish and as superficial as that of my little Girl; a Feather or a Fiddle are their Pursuits and their Pleasures through Life, even to their ripest Years, if such Men may be said to attain any Ripeness at all. But let us survey those whose Understandings are of a more elevated and refined Temper, how empty do they soon find the World of Enjoyments worth their Desire or attaining! How soon do they retreat to Solitude and Contemplation, to Gardening and Planting, and such rural Amusements, where their Trees and they enjoy the Air and the Sun in common, and both vegetate with very little Difference between them. But suppose (which neither Honesty nor Wisdom will allow) we could admit something more valuable and substantial in those Blessings, would not the Uncertainty of their Possession be alone sufficient to lower their Price. How mean a Tenure is that at the Will of Fortune, which Chance, Fraud, and Rapine are every Day so likely to deprive us of, and the more likely, by how much the greater Worth our Possessions are of! Is it not to place our Affections on a Bubble in the Water, or a Picture in the Clouds! What Mad-man would build a fine House, or frame a beautiful Garden on Land in which he held so uncertain an Interest. But again, was all this less undeniable, did Fortune, like the Lady of a Manor, lease to us for our Lives; of how little Consideration must even this Term appear? For admitting that these Pleasures were not liable to be torn from us; how certainly must we be torn from them! Perhaps To-morrow,--Nay or even sooner: For as the excellent Poet says,
(pp. 196-201)"
12812,"","Searching ""brain"" and ""cell' in HDIS (Prose)",Rooms,2005-08-29 00:00:00 UTC,,4785,"","Vol. 4, Letter 47",2014-09-02 21:24:14 UTC,"""[W]hen I heard her sentiments on two or three subjects, and took notice of that searching eye, darting into the very inmost cells of our frothy brains, by my faith, it made me look about me.""","But when, as I said, I heard her speak; which she did not till she had fathomed us all; when I heard her sentiments on two or three subjects, and took notice of that searching eye, darting into the very inmost cells of our frothy brains, by my faith, it made me look about me; and I began to recollect, and be ashamed of all I had said before; in short, was resolved to sit silent, till every one had talk'd round, to keep my folly in countenance. And then I raised the subjects that she could join in, and which she did join in, so much to the confusion and surprize of everyone of us! --For even thou, Lovelace, so noted for smart wit, repartee, and a vein of raillery, that delighteth all who come near thee, sattest in palpable darkness, and lookedst about thee, as well as we."
12839,"•Excised from a long unbroken paragraph.
•I've included thrice: Stranger, Flood, Tide.","Searching ""bosom"" and ""stranger"" in HDIS (Prose)",Inhabitants,2006-03-06 00:00:00 UTC,,4793,"","Vol. 2, Chap. 55",2009-09-14 19:37:27 UTC,"""My bosom had been hitherto a stranger to such a flood of joy as now rushed upon it: My faculties were overborn by the tide"""," --My bosom [Page 211] had been hitherto a stranger to such a flood of joy as now rushed upon it: My faculties were overborn by the tide: It was some time, before I could open my mouth; and much longer 'ere I could utter a coherent sentence--At length, I fervently requested her to lead me immediately to the object of my adoration: but she resisted my importunity, and explained the danger of such premature conduct--""How favourable soever (said she) my lady's inclination towards you may be, this you may depend upon, that she will not commit the smallest trespass on decorum, either in disclosing her own, or in receiving a declaration of your passion: and altho' the great veneration I have for you, has prompted me to reveal what she communicated to me in confidence, I know so well the severity of her sentiments with respect to the punctilios of her sex, that, if she should learn the least surmise of it, she would not only dismiss me as a wretch unworthy of her benevolence, but also for ever shun the efforts of your love""--I assented to the justness of her remonstrance, and desired she would assist me with her advice and direction: upon which, it was concerted between us, that for the present, I should be contented with her telling Narcissa that in the course of her inquiries, she could only learn my name: and that if in a day or two, I could fall upon no other method of being made acquainted, she would deliver a letter from me, on pretence of consulting her happiness; and say that I met her in the streets, and bribed her to that piece of service. --Matters being thus adjusted, I kept my old acquaintance to breakfast, and learned [Page 212] from her conversation, that my rival Sir Timothy had drunk himself into an apoplexy, of which he died five months ago, that the savage was still unmarried, and that his aunt had been seized with a whim which he little expected, and chosen the school-master of the parish for her lord and husband: but matrimony not agreeing with her constitution, she had been hectick and dropsical a good while, and was now at Bath in order to drink the waters for the recovery of her health; that her niece had accompanied her thither at her request, and attended her with the same affection as before, notwithstanding the faux pas she had committed: and that her nephew who had been exasperated at the loss of her fortune, did not give his attendance out of good will, but purely to have an eye on his sister, lest she should likewise throw herself away, without his consent or approbation. --Having enjoyed ourselves in this manner, and made an assignation to meet next day at a certain place, Miss Williams took her leave; and Strap's looks being very inquisitive about the nature of the communication subsisting between us, I made him acquainted with the whole affair, to his great astonishment and satisfaction."