text,updated_at,metaphor,created_at,context,theme,reviewed_on,dictionary,comments,provenance,id,work_id
"The penetration of princes seldom goes deeper than the surface. It is the exterior that always engages their hearts; and I would never advise you to give yourself much trouble about their understanding. Princes in general (I mean those Porphyrogenets who are born and bred in purple) are about the pitch of women; bred up like them, and are to be addressed and gained in the same manner. They always see, they seldom weigh. Your lustre, not your solidity, must take them; your inside will afterward support and secure what your outside has acquired. With weak people (and they undoubtedly are three parts in four of mankind) good-breeding, address, and manners are everything; they can go no deeper; but let me assure you that they are a great deal even with people of the best understandings. Where the eyes are not pleased, and the heart is not flattered, the mind will be apt to stand out. Be this right or wrong, I confess I am so made myself. Awkwardness and ill-breeding shock me to that degree, that where I meet with them, I cannot find in my heart to inquire into the intrinsic merit of that person--I hastily decide in myself that he can have none; and am not sure that I should not even be sorry to know that he had any. I often paint you in my imagination, in your present lontananza, and, while I view you in the light of ancient and modern learning, useful and ornamental knowledge, I am charmed with the prospect; but when I view you in another light, and represent you awkward, ungraceful, ill-bred, with vulgar air and manners, shambling toward me with inattention and distractions, I shall not pretend to describe to you what I feel; but will do as a skillful painter did formerly--draw a veil before the countenance of the father.
(II.clxx [n.d.], p. 257)",2013-06-21 20:04:50 UTC,"""I often paint you in my imagination, in your present lontananza, and, while I view you in the light of ancient and modern learning, useful and ornamental knowledge, I am charmed with the prospect; but when I view you in another light, and represent you awkward, ungraceful, ill-bred, with vulgar air and manners, shambling toward me with inattention and distractions, I shall not pretend to describe to you what I feel; but will do as a skillful painter did formerly--draw a veil before the countenance of the father.""",2013-06-21 20:04:50 UTC,"","",,"","","Searching ""imagination"" in PGDP",21122,5452
"ALIVE! alive ho!--my dear boy, I am glad to see you.--Well, and how goes it?--Badly, sayest thou--no conversation, no joy, no felicity!--Cruel absence, thou lover's hell! what pangs, what soul felt pangs, dost thou inflict!--Cheer up, my child of discretion--and comfort you self that every day will bring the endearing moment of meeting, so much nearer--chew the cud upon rapture in reversion--and indulge your fancy with the sweet food of intellectual endearments;--paint in your imagination the thousand graces of your H----, and believe this absence a lucky trial of her constancy.--I don't wonder the cricket match yielded no amusement--all sport is dull, books unentertaining--Wisdom's self but folly--to a mind under Cupidical influence.--I think I behold you with supple-jack in hand--your two faithful happy companions by your side--complimenting like courtiers ever puppy they meet--yourself with eyes fixed in lover-like rumination--and arms folded in sorrow's knot--pace slowly thro' the meadows.--I have done--for too much truth seldom pleases folks in love--We came home from our Highland excursion last Monday night, safe and well--after escaping manifold dangers.--Mesdames H----, D----, and self, went in the post-coach, and were honor'd with the freedom of Dumbarton. By an overset the ladies shewed their--delicacy--and I my activity [...]
(I.viii, pp. 26-7; pp. 38-9 in Carretta)",2013-07-11 21:20:53 UTC,"""Cheer up, my child of discretion--and comfort you self that every day will bring the endearing moment of meeting, so much nearer--chew the cud upon rapture in reversion--and indulge your fancy with the sweet food of intellectual endearments;--paint in your imagination the thousand graces of your H----, and believe this absence a lucky trial of her constancy.""",2013-07-11 21:20:53 UTC,"Vol. I, Letter viii","",,"","",Reading; text from DocSouth,21669,7541
"I WISH I could tell you--how much pleasure I felt in the reading your chearful letter--I felt that you was in good health, and in a flow of chearfulness, which, pray God, continue to you.--I shall fancy myself amongst you about the time you will get this--I paint in my imagination the winning smiles, and courteously kind welcome, in the face of a certain lady, whom I cannot help caring for with the decent pleasingly demure countenance of the little C-- Squire B--, with the jovial expression of countenance our old British freeholders were wont to wear--the head and heart of Addison's Sir Roger de Coverly; S--tipsy with good will, his eyes dancing in his head, considering within his breast every species of welcome to do honor to his noble master, and credit to the night; and, lastly, my friend looking more kindness than his tongue can utter and present to every individual, in offices of love and respect.--My R--, what would I give to steal in unseen--and be a happy spectator of the good old English hospitality--kept up by so few--and which in former times gave such strength and consequence to the ancestry of the present frivolous race of Apostates!--Honoured and blest be Sir C-- and his memory, for being one of those golden characters that can find true happiness in giving pleasure to his tenants, neighbours, and domestics!--wherever such a being moves--the eyes of love and gratitude follow after him--and infant tongues, joining the voice of youth and maturer years, fill up the grand chorus of his praise.--I inclose without apology a billet for --: he well knows how prone I naturally am to love him;--but love is untractable, there is no forcing affections--but I, perhaps too quickly, feel coldness.--has a noble soul--and he has his foibles;--for me, I fling no stone--I dare not; for, of all created beings, I know none so truly culpable, so full of faults, as is your very sincere friend and obliged servant, [...]
(II.lviii pp. 138-40; pp. 201-2 in Carretta)",2013-07-11 21:59:15 UTC,"""I shall fancy myself amongst you about the time you will get this--I paint in my imagination the winning smiles, and courteously kind welcome, in the face of a certain lady, whom I cannot help caring for with the decent pleasingly demure countenance of the little C-- Squire B--, with the jovial expression of countenance our old British freeholders were wont to wear--the head and heart of Addison's Sir Roger de Coverly; S--tipsy with good will, his eyes dancing in his head, considering within his breast every species of welcome to do honor to his noble master, and credit to the night; and, lastly, my friend looking more kindness than his tongue can utter and present to every individual, in offices of love and respect.""",2013-07-11 21:59:15 UTC,"Vol. II, letter lviii","",,"","",Reading; text from DocSouth,21699,7541