work_id,theme,provenance,created_at,text,reviewed_on,id,comments,metaphor,dictionary,updated_at,context
7476,"",C-H Lion,2013-06-18 18:04:09 UTC,"He's a thing wholly consisting of Extreams--A Head, Fingers and Toes; for what his industrious Toes do tread, his ready Fingers do write, his running Head dictating. But to describe him more exactly, He is is made up of a large Head and Ears, some Beams, and most immoderate Tongue, Toes and Fingers; a very Carrier or Foot-post will draw him from any Company that has not been abroad, (excepting always his dear Iris, for she is ever new) meerly because he's a sort of a Traveller: But a Dutch Post ravishes him, and the meer Superscription of a Letter (thô there's ne're a Bill in't) from Boston, Italy, or France, sets him up like a Top, Colen or Germany makes him spin--(and without Whipping too, there's the wonder) and at seeing the word Universe, America, Flanders, or the Holy Land, thô but on the Title of a Book, he's ready to break Doublet, let fall Breeches, (in a civil way ) and overflow the room with all those Wonderments have surpriz'd him in these flourishing Countreys. If he has no Latin or Greek, he makes it up with abundant scraps of Italian, Spanish, French and Dutch, and thô he has little more knowledge in any of 'em than Comestato? Parlez vous? or How vare ye Min-heer? and can hardly buy a Sallat in one Language, or a Herring in t'other; yet when he comes home, he passes with himself and others like him, for a monstrous learned Creature, a Native of every Countrey under Heaven, whereas indeed he's a meer Babylonian, he confounds all Languages, but speaks none, and is so careful to jumble together the Gibberish of other Countreys, that he almost forgets his own Mother Tongue, as the Roman Orator did his Name, only the Writing the History of his Travels makes him remember it agen. All his Discourse is shap'd into a Traveling Garb, and is the same with his Manners and Haviour, looking as if 'twas contriv'd to make Mourners merry. He's all the strange shapes round the Maps put together--one Legg a Hungarian, t'other a Pole; one piece of him a Turk, and the next a Tartar or Moscovite; but if you look on his Face, you'd swear he's a Laplander--so much has Travelling, Wind, Sun and Rain discoulour'd it and alter'd it: However chast his Body may be, his Mind is extreamly prolifick; his thoughts are a perfect Seraglio, and he, like a great Turk, begets thousands of little Infants--Remarks, Fancys, Fantasticks, Crochets and Whirligigs, on his wandring Intellect, and when once begot, they must be bred--so out he turns 'em into the wide World to shift for themselves, after he has put a few black and white Raggs about 'em to cover their Nakedness: But to look upon 'em when they once get abroad--to see how hugely they favour their Father: Do but view 'em all over, and--Here's that will cure your Corns, Gout, Chollick, and what you please; or as the most excellent Saffold--'Twill cure every cureable Disease: (You have heard of the Monkey that cured the Cardinal:) Undo the Colledge, and break Apothecarys Hall, as easily as one of their Glasses. There's no Man who for his sake wou'd n't neglect any thing but Business, that is to say, wou'd not be glad of his Company, when he has nothing else to do:--He'll ask you how you do; where you have been; what News; how is't; if you have Travelled; and above all, (when Publish'd) How you like his Rambles; han't they a fine Frontispiece--Ay, a very fine one; there's Art--there's Thought--well--and then for the Uerses before it, I say Coriat's Book was but a Horn-book to't--they no more deserve to be compared together than Pilgrims Progress and Burton's Wonderments; and so he would Ramble on to the End of the Chapter, did not you out of Civility give him a gentle tweak by the Nose, or kick on the Shins, and ask him whether he knew what he was talking of? Yet as good let him alone, for if you get him out of this Impertinency, he'll ramble into a thousand more, rather than want the Humanity of vexing you--but then such courteous ones they'll be (for he's the very Pink of Courtesie) that ye can't for your Teeth find in your Heart to be angry with him. If he chances to be Shipwrackt, he can't be angry with the Sea or Winds; Nay, is rather pleas'd with 'em, for giving him opportunity to describe a Storm more lively, and tell the World what direful Dangers he escaped, when he swum ashore like a Cæsar, with his Sword in one hand, and his Commentaries in t'other. He's averse to nothing that has Motion in't, and for a Lowse, he dearly loves such a painful Fellow-Traveller, who Rambles over his Microcosm, or lesser World, as he the greater--nibling and sucking here and there, whenever he finds any thing agreeable to his Palate. He's generally for Foot-service, and thinks that much more brave than the Horse, scorning to ride upon four Hoofs, when Nature has given him ten Toes to support him. But if he should be forc'd into such Circumstances, by the surbating his Feet, he envies those happier Criminals who have their Leggs ty'd under their Horses belly, and thinks the most commodious way of riding is with his Face toward the Tayl, for then he can't see any danger 'till he's past it. Other People are for walking with a Horse in their Hand, he's o' the contrary, for riding with his Staff in his Hand, or rather Walking with a Horse between his Leggs, for his Feet still move at the same rate as if they touch'd the ground, and were imployed in their own natural motion.
(pp. 9-14)",,20947,"","""However chast his Body may be, his Mind is extreamly prolifick; his thoughts are a perfect Seraglio, and he, like a great Turk, begets thousands of little Infants--Remarks, Fancys, Fantasticks, Crochets and Whirligigs, on his wandring Intellect, and when once begot, they must be bred--so out he turns 'em into the wide World to shift for themselves, after he has put a few black and white Raggs about 'em to cover their Nakedness.""",Inhabitants,2013-06-18 18:10:01 UTC,The Impartial Character of a Rambler.
7476,"",C-H Lion,2013-06-18 20:54:59 UTC,"But again I won't forestall ye, tho' really the matter presses, and my pregnant Brain labours with so many painful pangs to be obstetricated, that I verily fear I shall burst before I come to disgorge it thro' my fruitful Quill, to avoid which I'll Ramble on as fast as I can scamper thro' this Porch, which yet I must tell ye, if t'were a Mile long, wond'n't be bigger than the House at the end on't.
(I, 2)",,20950,"","""But again I won't forestall ye, tho' really the matter presses, and my pregnant Brain labours with so many painful pangs to be obstetricated, that I verily fear I shall burst before I come to disgorge it thro' my fruitful Quill, to avoid which I'll Ramble on as fast as I can scamper thro' this Porch, which yet I must tell ye, if t'were a Mile long, wond'n't be bigger than the House at the end on't.""","",2013-06-18 20:54:59 UTC,""
7476,"",C-H Lion,2013-06-18 20:55:55 UTC,"As for the pretty little Virtues of Comity and Urbanity, this furnishes you to a miracle, for have you a mind to divert either your self or Friend with the most pleasant and agreeable entertainment, a Mans Jaws must be made of Iron, and fastn'd as close to one another, as if 'twere done with the Pins of a Shop-window, if what's here enclosed, don't now and then wrench 'em asunder, and discover not only the Teeth in his Head, but the very grin of his Soul; and such an Intellectual Tehe, as will force the very Heart to be--it self for Joy, and the Blood flow out at such an immoderate rate, as 't wou'd be almost impossible to hold fast any thing else. Tho' o' the other side he'll meet with passages, that tho' they mayn't spoil, will yet temper his Mirth, and as the Egyptians had (and they were cunning old Fellows) a Deaths-head in the midst of his Dainties.
(I, pp. 5-6)",,20951,"","""As for the pretty little Virtues of Comity and Urbanity, this furnishes you to a miracle, for have you a mind to divert either your self or Friend with the most pleasant and agreeable entertainment, a Mans Jaws must be made of Iron, and fastn'd as close to one another, as if 'twere done with the Pins of a Shop-window, if what's here enclosed, don't now and then wrench 'em asunder, and discover not only the Teeth in his Head, but the very grin of his Soul; and such an Intellectual Tehe, as will force the very Heart to be--it self for Joy, and the Blood flow out at such an immoderate rate, as 't wou'd be almost impossible to hold fast any thing else.""","",2013-06-18 20:55:55 UTC,""
7476,"",C-H Lion,2013-06-18 20:57:47 UTC,"It has been said of Accomplished Persons, that they have Read Men as well as Books; and why is there not as great a Commendation belongs to those who have Travell'd Books as well as Men, and brought thence the Gold and precious Jewels, leaving 'em still, as the Bee the Flower, to return to the Metaphor already used, not a jot the worse for wearing. For the gay Feathers I have taken, they may as well call one of the Indian Princes Atabalipa and Montezuma, an Owl, Jay, or Magpy, who borrow Feathers indeed from the Birds to Adorn themselves in their most Royal Robes.--But alas, the Art is all--materiam superabat opus--'Tis the placing 'em, and ordering 'em in such delicate Lights and Shades, that only makes 'em so inimitably Beautiful and Lovely, even so--but I'll spare the t'other Leg o' the Comparison--and let the Reader never trust me more if I desire him to go with me any further than to this next Stile, and then wee'll part, for I scorn to use him like a Quaker, with his false-bottomed Sermons, who Concludes 40 times over, but will never have done. I say I've but one little tiney favour to beg, and then--and that is--that he'd maturely Weigh, Swallow, Chew the Cud, and soundly digest this following first Book, before he throw it out agen, for should he make too much hast, and too greedily read it over, as 'tis to be fear'd the pleasantness and rarity on't, will tempt him to be Ravenous, why then 'twill only cause Crudities in the Maw of his Soul, and the next Volume coming upon him before he has concocted this, and turned it into Life, Blood, and Nourishment, they'll only one confound another, and either nauseate or choak him.
(I, p. 7)",,20952,"","""I say I've but one little tiney favour to beg, and then--and that is--that he'd maturely Weigh, Swallow, Chew the Cud, and soundly digest this following first Book, before he throw it out agen, for should he make too much hast, and too greedily read it over, as 'tis to be fear'd the pleasantness and rarity on't, will tempt him to be Ravenous, why then 'twill only cause Crudities in the Maw of his Soul, and the next Volume coming upon him before he has concocted this, and turned it into Life, Blood, and Nourishment, they'll only one confound another, and either nauseate or choak him.""","",2013-06-18 20:57:47 UTC,""
7476,"",C-H Lion,2013-06-18 21:20:36 UTC,"Here cou'd I easily step over, with the Feet of my Fancy (wider then ten thousand Colossus's, though one of them be big enough for a Ship to Sail between its Legs) to all the Spires in London. I cou'd take a Ramble indeed over the tops of the Chimneys, with a handful of Salt in my Pocket, and catch all the Swallows that came near me--But, because I wou'd not Interlope upon my future Design, having resolv'd to discourse distinctly of my aerial Rambles, I'll e'en quietly descend as I went up, not in the outside, though that's the shortest cut, as the Seaman did who broke his Neck from it while 'twas Building, but a little the farthest away about, for the Stairs run winding, which I look upon to be much the nearer way home than the other, unless 'twas to my long home--which before I come to, O how many tedious Rambles must I take--how many a sour draught of Dolour, and bitter Morsel of Grief must I swallow? Truly 'twere worth the while to consider whether I had not been better made an End all at once.
(Ip. 136)",,20966,"","""Here cou'd I easily step over, with the Feet of my Fancy (wider then ten thousand Colossus's, though one of them be big enough for a Ship to Sail between its Legs) to all the Spires in London.""","",2013-06-18 21:20:36 UTC,""
7476,"",C-H Lion,2013-06-18 21:22:02 UTC,"If a Man has not power over his own Life, over what has he any?--Nay, 'Tis plain, and allow'd by all, that he gives this Power away, which he cou'd never do, if he never had it, when he enters into civil Society, or forms any Government and submits himself thereto--and grant but that, how can it be unjust to throw that away which is better lost than kept? Does any one think it cruel, inhumane or wicked to cut off a Leg or an Arm when 'tis Gangreen'd or Mortify'd, when 'tis painful or dangerous, or useless?--My Body is no better than the Legs, and Arms, or rather Crutches of my Soul--Why shou'd it be a Crime to throw those Crutches away and go alone, especially when they are troublesom or rotten? Can it be a Fault to chuse a better for a worse, and don't all the thinking World agree that this state we are now in, is but a Slavery to sence, a bondage to dull matter, which tedders us down like our Brother Brutes, where we are not only exposed to want and misery, but to all the Insults and Abuses possible to be inferr'd, and impossible to be avoided. Why then shou'd I not pull up the stake, or get my Lock and Chain off, and scamper away in the interminable Fields of the invisible World.--That Region of Spirits, Reason, Ease, and Rest--Cleombrotus, Empedocles--O how I envy you--who one rusht through the Fire, t'other through the Water to reach Immortality o' t'other side on't. Those were envious Fools who fault the Sicilian Philosopher for plunging into Ætna, pretending he only did it for vain Glory to be accounted a God--No--'twas not that he might be so accounted, but so be--at least as like one as possible--Impassible, immaterial, and wear out endless Durations as those above,
In undisturb'd and Everlasting Ease.
(I, pp. 136-7)",,20967,"","""My Body is no better than the Legs, and Arms, or rather Crutches of my Soul--Why shou'd it be a Crime to throw those Crutches away and go alone, especially when they are troublesom or rotten?""","",2013-06-18 21:22:02 UTC,""
7476,"",C-H Lion,2013-06-18 21:23:43 UTC,"If a Man has not power over his own Life, over what has he any?--Nay, 'Tis plain, and allow'd by all, that he gives this Power away, which he cou'd never do, if he never had it, when he enters into civil Society, or forms any Government and submits himself thereto--and grant but that, how can it be unjust to throw that away which is better lost than kept? Does any one think it cruel, inhumane or wicked to cut off a Leg or an Arm when 'tis Gangreen'd or Mortify'd, when 'tis painful or dangerous, or useless?--My Body is no better than the Legs, and Arms, or rather Crutches of my Soul--Why shou'd it be a Crime to throw those Crutches away and go alone, especially when they are troublesom or rotten? Can it be a Fault to chuse a better for a worse, and don't all the thinking World agree that this state we are now in, is but a Slavery to sence, a bondage to dull matter, which tedders us down like our Brother Brutes, where we are not only exposed to want and misery, but to all the Insults and Abuses possible to be inferr'd, and impossible to be avoided. Why then shou'd I not pull up the stake, or get my Lock and Chain off, and scamper away in the interminable Fields of the invisible World.--That Region of Spirits, Reason, Ease, and Rest--Cleombrotus, Empedocles--O how I envy you--who one rusht through the Fire, t'other through the Water to reach Immortality o' t'other side on't. Those were envious Fools who fault the Sicilian Philosopher for plunging into Ætna, pretending he only did it for vain Glory to be accounted a God--No--'twas not that he might be so accounted, but so be--at least as like one as possible--Impassible, immaterial, and wear out endless Durations as those above,
In undisturb'd and Everlasting Ease.
(I, pp. 136-7)",,20968,"","""Can it be a Fault to chuse a better for a worse, and don't all the thinking World agree that this state we are now in, is but a Slavery to sence, a bondage to dull matter, which tedders us down like our Brother Brutes, where we are not only exposed to want and misery, but to all the Insults and Abuses possible to be inferr'd, and impossible to be avoided.""",Fetters,2013-06-18 21:23:43 UTC,""
7476,"",C-H Lion,2013-06-18 21:45:19 UTC,"Tentoes farewel,--I'm chang'd into a Fowl
Some call a Goose, but most an Owl:
I feel, I rising feel from Rump to Crown
My harsh black Hair melt to soft snowy Down;
And I have Goose-Quils of my own.
[Then I rambled from Horace ]
My Body a pick-pack on my Soul,
Rambles to view the spangl'd Pole,
Rambles a round to search my Dear,
Unwearied Walks from Sphere to Sphere,
Knocks at each door, and asks--Is Rachel here?
With Legs for Oars th'ætherial Waves I plough,
My Wings spread wide, the Sails unfurl'd
Now, now,--just now--
I scamper away through the Fields of the Air to the
--End of the World.
(II, p. 91)",,20978,"","""My Body a pick-pack on my Soul, / Rambles to view the spangl'd Pole, / Rambles a round to search my Dear, / Unwearied Walks from Sphere to Sphere, / Knocks at each door, and asks--Is Rachel here?""","",2013-06-18 21:45:19 UTC,""
7476,"",C-H Lion,2013-06-19 01:21:40 UTC,"And then for Prose-Love--I believe I went as far as any Man,--stabbing, dying, groaning, hanging I made nothing of, 'twas my daily Employment and Recreation, and I cou'd at last eat Knives or Rats bane as fast as a Jugler. I grew careless toward any thing else; I could neither see, hear, taste, smell, nor understand any thing in the world but what related to my charming Rachelia (as I call'd her) with a little more Heroick turn than plain Rachel. And shou'd an Evangelist, with an Angel at his Elbow, have told me that Goddess of my Soul had so much as one speck of Deformity, one single Mole, either in Body or Mind, I shou'd have said--By your leave, Mr. Evangelist,--I must suspend my Faith.--Thus much wou'd I have said to his Face out of civility, but behind his back no more have valu'd his Testimony than the Alcoran.--No--my purest pure had such a Soul, it shin'd through her Body, and such a Body, you might see her Soul through't. Which some may think much at one, but however there's a different conception in't, and it makes one line more to fill out the Book.
(II.viii, p. 91)",,20979,"","""And shou'd an Evangelist, with an Angel at his Elbow, have told me that Goddess of my Soul had so much as one speck of Deformity, one single Mole, either in Body or Mind, I shou'd have said--By your leave, Mr. Evangelist,--I must suspend my Faith.""","",2013-06-19 01:21:40 UTC,""
8024,"",Reading,2014-09-02 13:01:22 UTC,"Hopef.
I did not see him with my bodily eyes, but with the eyes of mine understanding; and thus it was. One day I was very sad, I think sader then at any one time in my life; and this sadness was through a fresh sight of the greatness and vileness of my sins: And as I was then looking for nothing but Hell, and the everlasting damnation of my soul, suddenly, as I thought, I saw the Lord Jesus look down from Heaven upon me, and saying, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.
(p. 196)",,24426,"","""I did not see him with my bodily eyes, but with the eyes of mine understanding; and thus it was.""","",2014-09-02 13:01:22 UTC,""