text,updated_at,metaphor,created_at,context,theme,reviewed_on,dictionary,comments,provenance,id,work_id
"The subject of these anecdotes was among the too many eminent instances of this. Settled principles she had none. Not that her deficiency arose so much from viciousness, as from ignorance. Her mind, to borrow Mr. Locke's figure, was a mere tabula rasa, a blank as to every thing beyond mortality. All with her centered in self and sensation. Her ruling passion was displayed in the acquirement of any species of property, the possession of which gratified vanity. This she hoarded with the gripe of a miser, or dissipated with the profusion of a spendthrift, when flattered by knavery or artifice into a mood of extravagance. [...]
(pp. 16-7)",2014-09-01 15:16:01 UTC,"""Her mind, to borrow Mr. Locke's figure, was a mere tabula rasa, a blank as to every thing beyond mortality""",2006-10-13 00:00:00 UTC,"",Blank Slate; Lockean Philosophy,,Writing,"•I've included twice: Tabula Rasa and Blank
•Elizabeth Chudleigh (c. 1720-1788): married names Elizabeth Hervey, Countess of Bristol, and Elizabeth Pierrepont, duchess of Kingston.","Searching ""tabula rasa"" in ECCO",15214,5704
"Without such instances as you mention my dear, my mind, which was once likely to become the seat of the Furies, has not only been calmed and improved by the instructions of my present dear mamma, but also by attention to opinions given in company, concerning people judged to possess violent uncontrouled passions, and others who submitted to the decrees of Providence like christians.—But here comes my dear mamma.
(Vol. II, pages 6-7)",2011-09-28 01:26:27 UTC,"""Without such instances as you mention my dear, my mind, which was once likely to become the seat of the Furies, has not only been calmed and improved by the instructions of my present dear mamma, but also by attention to opinions given in company, concerning people judged to possess violent uncontrouled passions, and others who submitted to the decrees of Providence like christians.""",2010-07-15 18:41:20 UTC,"In ""The Reformation""; spoken by Miss Sutton","",,"","",Contributed by PC Fleming,17959,6747
"It is very true, my dear. But though I can by no mean acquit Miss Rawlins, yet I must say, that she has an excuse which you could not have pleaded. Her mamma was the very reverse of yours, and lived just long enough to strengthen the weeds springing in her child's mind, which was the proper business of maternal care to eradicate. The unfortunate prejudice, which in common with many other young people, Miss Rawlins took up against a mother-in-law, prevented her listening to the admonitions of hers, which increased her stubbornness to such a pitch, that nothing but the miseries she has endured, could have overcome them. (Vol. II, page 28)",2010-07-15 18:47:10 UTC,"""Her mamma was the very reverse of yours, and lived just long enough to strengthen the weeds springing in her child's mind, which was the proper business of maternal care to eradicate.""",2010-07-15 18:47:10 UTC,"In ""The Reformation""; spoken by Mrs. Sutton","",,"","","Contributed by PC Fleming, searching ""mind.""",17960,6747
"We will allow that it was, as you say, their indispensible duty; but is there no reciprocal duty on the child's part? Is there no return of affection required for fifteen years comfortable subsistence? Look down upon the lower ranks of life, and see what extremities of wretchedness many of the poorer sort of children endure for want of food and raiment; and surely the reflection which the view will excite, must kindle in your heart a spark of gratitude towards those who have so amply provided for your defence against those evils. (Vol. II, page 42)",2010-07-15 19:02:21 UTC,"""Look down upon the lower ranks of life, and see what extremities of wretchedness many of the poorer sort of children endure for want of food and raiment; and surely the reflection which the view will excite, must kindle in your heart a spark of gratitude towards those who have so amply provided for your defence against those evils.""",2010-07-15 19:02:21 UTC,"In ""The Maternal Sister."" Spoken by Miss Cleveland.","",,"","","Contributed by PC Fleming, searching ""heart""",17961,6747
"In one of her holiday vacations, ere the Iron rod of adversity had fallen on her father, Miss Goodville had frequently, before any of the family were stirring, indulged herself in morning rambles through the neighbouring villages. In one of these early excursions, her humanity had been excited by a scene of such exquisite misery that it long made an impression on her tender mind, and sowed the first seeds of benevolence in her heart. (page 45)",2010-07-15 21:00:37 UTC,"""In one of these early excursions, her humanity had been excited by a scene of such exquisite misery that it long made an impression on her tender mind, and sowed the first seeds of benevolence in her heart.""",2010-07-15 21:00:37 UTC,"Tale V: Benevolence rewarded; Or, the History of Miss Goodville","",,"","","Contributed by PC Fleming, searching ""mind""",17962,6748
"Those who feel in themselves the least propensity to this growing evil should carefully guard against its first approaches; for, like a gnawing vulture, it preys upon the mind; and, unless combated with all their resolution, steals imperceptibly on the disposition, and casts a veil over their fairest virtues. It not only prompts to the dimunition of the felicity they envy, but totally destroys their own; for no one can be truly happy who thinks another happier than himself; unless he possesses such disinterested ideas as to make the reflection of their happiness a source of satisfaction: and surely if we profess a friendship, the well-doing of those whom we so distinguish must be equally desirable to us as out own. But even in the earliest scenes of life we have too frequently examples to the contrary, and may observe, that in the tenderest years interest exerts its influence to the destruction of more noble principles. Whenever envy makes the slightest approaches to their hearts, I would recommend to the attention of my young readers, the following tale: (pages 66-7)",2010-07-16 21:30:46 UTC,"""Those who feel in themselves the least propensity to this growing evil should carefully guard against its first approaches; for, like a gnawing vulture, it preys upon the mind; and, unless combated with all their resolution, steals imperceptibly on the disposition, and casts a veil over their fairest virtues.""",2010-07-16 21:29:35 UTC,"In Tale VI. The judicious Decision; or, the Test of Friendship","",,"","","Contributed by PC Fleming, searching ""mind.""",17963,6748
"The situation of the places of our birth, the climate and temperature of the air, the circumstances of our parents, their humours and dispositions; but more especially their method of treating us in our infant years, I am persuaded give bias to our manners and actions, through the whole course of our lives. Our minds are like blank paper, as a great philosopher has observed, and the first impressions they receive are generally the most permanent and powerful. What is commonly and vulgarly called our natural temper is only what we acquire, after our births, from the example of those from whom we receive our institution, or upon whom we depend. And agreeable to this, the mild conduct of my parents, and the engaging tenderness of their behaviour to every body, certainly fixed that good humour and complacency in my soul, that no succeeding misfortune had ever the power to efface. My disposition, as the reader will have frequent occasion to observe, was serious, but not unpliant, was gentle, but not slavish. My countenance was open, and my spirit intrepid. But as my designs were not lost in the clouds of gaiety, so neither did they render my vain, conceited, and pedantic. [...]
(I.ii, p. 9-10)",2012-07-29 17:17:46 UTC,"""Our minds are like blank paper, as a great philosopher has observed, and the first impressions they receive are generally the most permanent and powerful.""",2012-07-29 17:02:57 UTC,"Volume I, Chapter ii",Blank Slate,,Writing,"","Reading Christopher Flint's The Appearance of Print in Eighteenth-Century Fiction (Cambridge UP, 2011), 81.",19906,7307