work_id,theme,provenance,created_at,text,reviewed_on,id,comments,metaphor,dictionary,updated_at,context
3978,"",Searching in HDIS (Poetry),2005-08-16 00:00:00 UTC,"A Cave there is wherein those Nymphs reside
Who all the Realms of Sense and Fancy guide;
Nay some affirm that in the deepest Cell
Imperial Reason's self does not disdain to dwell:
With Living Reed 'tis thatch'd and guarded round,
Which mov'd by Winds emit a Silver Sound:
Two Crystal Fountains near its Entrance play,
Wide scatt'ring Golden Streams which ne'er decay,
Two Labyrinths behind harmonious Sounds convey:
Chiefly, within, the Room of State is fam'd
Of rich Mosaick Work divinely fram'd:
Of small Extent to view, 'twill all things hide,
Heav'n's Azure Arch it self not half so wide:
Here all the Arts their sacred Mansion chuse,
Here dwells the Mother of the Heav'n-born Muse:
With wond'rous mystic Figures round 'tis wrought
Inlaid with Fancy, and anneal'd with Thought:
With more than humane Skill depicted here
The various Images of Things appear;
What Was, or Is, or labours yet to Be
Within the Womb of Dark Futurity,
May Stowage in this wondrous Storehouse find,
Yet leave unnumber'd empty Cells behind:
But ah! as fast they come, they fly too fast,
Not Life or Happiness are more in haste:
Only the First Great Mind himself can stay
The Fugitives, and at one Glance survey;
But those whom he disdains not to befriend,
Uncommon Souls, who nearest Heav'n ascend
Far more, at once, than others comprehend:
Whate'er within this sacred Hall you find,
Whate'er will lodge in your capacious Mind
Let Judgment sort, and skilful Method bind;
And as from these you draw your antient Store
Daily supply the Magazine with more.
Furnish'd with such Materials he'll excel
Who when he works is sure to work 'em well;
This Art alone, as Nature that bestows,
And in Perfection both, th' accomplish'd Verser knows.
Knows to persuade, and how to speak, and when;
The Rules of Life, and Manners knows and Men:
Those narrow Lines which Good and Ill divide;
And by what Balance Just and Right are try'd:
How Kindred-Things with Things are closely join'd;
How Bodies act, and by what Laws confin'd,
Supported, mov'd and rul'd by th' Universal Mind.
When the moist Kids or burning Sirius rise;
Through what ambiguous Ways Hyperion flies,
And marks our Upper or the Nether Skies.
He knows those Strings to touch with artful Hand
Which rule Mankind, and all the World command:
What moves the Soul, and every secret Cell
Where Pity, Love, and all the Passions dwell.
The Music of his Verse can Anger raise,
Which with a softer Stroak he smooths and lays:
Can Emulation, Terror, all excite,
Compress the Soul with Grief, or swell with vast Delight.
If this you can, your Care you'll well bestow,
And some new Milton or a Spencer grow;
If not, a Poet ne'er expect to be,
Content to Rime, like D---y or like me.",,10321,•REREAD. Interesting passage. Confuses interior and exterior.,"""Whate'er within this sacred Hall you find, / Whate'er will lodge in your capacious Mind """,Inhabitant,2009-09-14 19:34:53 UTC,""
3978,"","Searching ""soul"" and ""cell"" in HDIS (Poetry); found again ""reason""",2005-08-29 00:00:00 UTC,"A Cave there is wherein those Nymphs reside
Who all the Realms of Sense and Fancy guide;
Nay some affirm that in the deepest Cell
Imperial Reason's self does not disdain to dwell:
With Living Reed 'tis thatch'd and guarded round,
Which mov'd by Winds emit a Silver Sound:
Two Crystal Fountains near its Entrance play,
Wide scatt'ring Golden Streams which ne'er decay,
Two Labyrinths behind harmonious Sounds convey:
Chiefly, within, the Room of State is fam'd
Of rich Mosaick Work divinely fram'd:
Of small Extent to view, 'twill all things hide,
Heav'n's Azure Arch it self not half so wide:
Here all the Arts their sacred Mansion chuse,
Here dwells the Mother of the Heav'n-born Muse:
With wond'rous mystic Figures round 'tis wrought
Inlaid with Fancy, and anneal'd with Thought:
With more than humane Skill depicted here
The various Images of Things appear;
What Was, or Is, or labours yet to Be
Within the Womb of Dark Futurity,
May Stowage in this wondrous Storehouse find,
Yet leave unnumber'd empty Cells behind:
But ah! as fast they come, they fly too fast,
Not Life or Happiness are more in haste:
Only the First Great Mind himself can stay
The Fugitives, and at one Glance survey;
But those whom he disdains not to befriend,
Uncommon Souls, who nearest Heav'n ascend
Far more, at once, than others comprehend:
Whate'er within this sacred Hall you find,
Whate'er will lodge in your capacious Mind
Let Judgment sort, and skilful Method bind;
And as from these you draw your antient Store
Daily supply the Magazine with more.
Furnish'd with such Materials he'll excel
Who when he works is sure to work 'em well;
This Art alone, as Nature that bestows,
And in Perfection both, th' accomplish'd Verser knows.
Knows to persuade, and how to speak, and when;
The Rules of Life, and Manners knows and Men:
Those narrow Lines which Good and Ill divide;
And by what Balance Just and Right are try'd:
How Kindred-Things with Things are closely join'd;
How Bodies act, and by what Laws confin'd,
Supported, mov'd and rul'd by th' Universal Mind.
When the moist Kids or burning Sirius rise;
Through what ambiguous Ways Hyperion flies,
And marks our Upper or the Nether Skies.
He knows those Strings to touch with artful Hand
Which rule Mankind, and all the World command:
What moves the Soul, and every secret Cell
Where Pity, Love, and all the Passions dwell.
The Music of his Verse can Anger raise,
Which with a softer Stroak he smooths and lays:
Can Emulation, Terror, all excite,
Compress the Soul with Grief, or swell with vast Delight.
If this you can, your Care you'll well bestow,
And some new Milton or a Spencer grow;
If not, a Poet ne'er expect to be,
Content to Rime, like D---y or like me.",,10322,•REREAD. Interesting passage. Confuses interior and exterior.
•I've included twice: Cell and Dwelling,"""He knows those Strings to touch with artful Hand / Which rule Mankind, and all the World command: / What moves the Soul, and every secret Cell / Where Pity, Love, and all the Passions dwell.""",Rooms,2009-09-14 19:34:53 UTC,""
3986,Interiority; Augustine,"Searching ""interiority"" in OED and ECCO.",2006-05-31 00:00:00 UTC,"... By the Manner of Study here as a distinct Head of Division from the rest, I understand those Means and Ways which are to be used in this Application: Which in general are these two, Reading (under which I comprehend also Conversation with the Learned, there being a reading of Men as well as Books) and Thinking, or private Meditation; But chiefly the latter of these: For since, according to the Principles of this Theory, Ideas and Ideal Truths (the true objects of our Study) are within our selves, by reason of that Union which we naturally have with the Divine Word or Wisdom, the universal Reason of all Spirits; it follows that the most direct and natural Way for the discovery of Truth, is, instead of going abroad for Intelligence, to retire into our selves, and there with humble and silent Attention, both to consult and receive the Answers of interior Truth, even that Divine Master which teaches in the School of the Breast. According to that Admonition of St. Austin, who advises that we should not go abroad, but rather enter into our [End Page 572] selves, and that for this very reason, because Truth has her Habitant in the inner Man. Nolie foras ire, in te ipsum redi, in interiore homine habitat veritas. ",,10356,I've included twice: Master and School,"""[I]t follows that the most direct and natural Way for the discovery of Truth, is, instead of going abroad for Intelligence, to retire into our selves, and there with humble and silent Attention, both to consult and receive the Answers of interior Truth, even that Divine Master which teaches in the School of the Breast""","",2009-09-14 19:34:55 UTC,Vol 2 of 2. Part II
4040,"","Searching ""passion"" and ""stranger"" in HDIS (Prose); found again ""breast;"" and again in C-H Lion",2006-03-06 00:00:00 UTC,"Zarah by this Means having gain'd her Point, away she hastes to Salopius, being assured she cou'd work upon him to give her the Opportunity of Transmitting this Account to Onelia, her Sister, at Albanio's Court; she had no sooner met him, but with a Flattering Smile, 'My Lord,' says she, 'how glad am I to meet with a Person of your Merit, happily plac'd at the Helm of State, whereby you have the Opportunity of showing your large Acquirements to all the World, and your Particular Friends? Your Lordship has had always the Character of a Gallant Kind-natur'd Man; that I am sure you cannot think it Flattery in me who have made Trial of it to tell you so.' 'Madam,' answer'd he to Zarah, 'the only Way to convince me that you do not Flatter me, is to try how far I wou'd extend that Good Nature you are pleas'd to Complement we with to your Service. 'Tis but a Trifle, says she, I wou'd ask of you, but I know 'tis contrary to the Trust reposed in you to grant me a Conveyance of some little Domestick Occurrences to Onelia, my Sister at Albanio's Court, though I am confident you cannot but retain some small Respect for that Unhappy Prince, if you cou'd imagine without a Fault that I cou'd be guilty of giving any Intelligence to that Court I help'd to banish hence; but I know, my Lord, you are sensible my Interest is so firmly knit to Albania, and hers to the present Disposition of Affairs here, that it wou'd be impossible in me to have a Thought tending that Way.' Zarah pressing this Argument so very Affectionately, gave Salopius Reason to suspect there was something more in her Request than he at first apprehended; he therefore made some Excuses to try her a little further; but finding she grew warmer in her Request, he was then confirm'd in his Suspicion, and was not a little glad to find one of her Management had undertaken to do Something that he was unwilling however she shou'd know pleas'd him to have perform'd; upon this he consented to her Desires, and immediately dispatch'd her Intelligence, all the while being tickled with a Secret Pleasure to think he had discover'd this, without running the hazard of letting her know it was agreeable to his Inclinations; for no Body knew her Character better than he, and he was resolved never to trust her with any Secret but what was indispensably necessary to the maintaining both her Honour and her Interest; for though she might be prevail'd with to sacrifice one to the Service of the other, yet she would never part with the last, without it was to gratifie that Noble Passion of Revenge, which is the darling Vice of her Sex, and was not a Stranger to Zarah's Breast.
(I, pp. 77-81)
",2009-03-23,10469,"Fixed TYPO in C-H: findind""","""For though she might be prevail'd with to sacrifice one to the Service of the other, yet she would never part with the last, without it was to gratifie that Noble Passion of Revenge, which is the darling Vice of her Sex, and was not a Stranger to Zarah's Breast.""",Inhabitants,2013-06-21 15:43:48 UTC,"Part 1, Main Text"
4111,"","Searching ""breast"" and ""stranger"" in HDIS (Prose)",2006-03-06 00:00:00 UTC,"If it be true, That a Resemblance, tho' never so much [Page v] to our Disadvantage, be said to make us wish better to the Resembler than to another, who carries nothing about him of the same Air and Feature, we may Hope those favourable Sentiments will be no Strangers to Your Grace's Breast; which is a Repository for all Things Great and Human, for all Things Just and Noble. To speak You but to half the Height of Your Own Elevated Character, (to those who have not the Honour to know You) wou'd look like the Daubings of Flattery; and to those who are so Blest, an Attempt as utterly impossible, as it wou'd be to endeavour to [Page vi] make all Mankind Wise, or Honest, or Handsom: You will be better found in the EncomiumsAstrea gives in her Visit to the Young Prince de Beaumond; thither I must refer my self, and once more implore Your Protection, and for Ever Your Pardon, for an Attempt so daring as is this of
My Lord,
May it please Your Grace,
Your Grace's
Most profoundly Obedient,
AND
Most Humble Servant.",,10600,•I've included twice: Stranger and Repository,"""[W]e may Hope those favourable Sentiments will be no Strangers to Your Grace's Breast; which is a Repository for all Things Great and Human, for all Things Just and Noble""",Inhabitants,2009-09-14 19:35:07 UTC,""
4131,"",Searching in HDIS (Poetry),2006-04-14 00:00:00 UTC,"Tell how his nimble Fingers mov'd
Upon the yielding Keys,
Whilst Men and Angels equally approv'd,
His melting Strains, which could no less than please,
Those pious Souls who lov'd,
Such Musick that inspir'd the Mind with Peace,
But now no more shall we be blest,
With the soft Touches of that pow'rfull Hand,
Which senthi s Soul to rest;
Who did all Harmony Command,
That could beneath the Heavens be exprest,
To raise Devotion in his Native Land.
Yet jarring Discord made him court his Death,
And put a fatal stop to his harmonious Breath.
So the old Romans Wise and Brave,
By their Example taught,
'Twas easier to embrace the Grave,
Than bear the stabbing Force of anxious Thought.
The Disappointments of the Field,
Where Lawrels grow, with Blood manur'd.
Are worse than being kill'd,
To the undaunted Breast innur'd,
To the destructive Sword,
And the defensive Shield.
So the great Soul harmoniously compos'd,
Only made fit to entertain
Sweet Musick's Art by Heaven disclos'd,
To elevate the Thoughts of Men;
If once with Worldly Cares opprest,
It Labours to expire,
And Courts the trembling Hand to give it rest,
That when its unconfin'd
From Flesh and Blood to which 'tis join'd,
It then may mount in search of the Celestial Quire.
So fell Great Britains Orpheus in his Rage,
When Furies in his Breast began to howl,
And Cares that wait on Life's uncertain Stage,
Had quite untun'd his Soul;
Who hating Discord, could not bear
The Troubles of a tortur'd Mind,
Skill'd only in harmonious Air,
And quite avers'd to Care,
That oft afflicts the best of Humane Kind;
But when he found his strugling Breast
With insupportable Remorse opprest,
Such that could only have its Rise
From wanton Love or stubborn Vice,
He clapp'd Death's fatal Engine to his Head,
And hoping for eternal Rest.
Conquer'd those Vipers in his Conscience bred,
And with himself, shot all the stinging Fantoms dead.",,10602,•I've included twice: Tuning and Inhabitants,"""So fell Great Britains Orpheus in his Rage, / When Furies in his Breast began to howl, / And Cares that wait on Life's uncertain Stage, / Had quite untun'd his Soul.""","",2011-05-25 21:07:40 UTC,""
4132,"",Past Masters,2004-02-18 00:00:00 UTC,"110 Hence it follows, that a man born blind, and afterwards, when grown up, made to see would not in the first act of vision parcel out the ideas of sight into the same distinct collections that others do, who have experienced which do regularly coexist and are proper to be bundled up together under one name. He would not, for example, make into one complex idea, and thereby esteem and unite, all those particular ideas, which constitute the visible head or foot. For there can be no reason assigned why he should do so, barely upon his seeing a man stand upright before him: There croud into his mind the ideas which compose the visible man, in company with all the other ideas of sight perceived at the same time: But all these ideas offered at once to his view, he would not distribute into sundry distinct combinations, till such time as by observing the motion of the parts of the man and other experiences, he comes to know which are to be separated, and which to be collected together.
(§110, p. 215)",2011-06-21,10606,"","""There croud into his mind the ideas which compose the visible man, in company with all the other ideas of sight perceived at the same time.""",Inhabitants,2013-09-27 20:48:39 UTC,""
4141,"",HDIS (Poetry),2004-07-27 00:00:00 UTC,"The Mind no nobler Wisdom can attain,
Than to inspect and study all the Man:
His awful Looks confess the Race Divine;
In him the Beauties of the Godhead shine:
With Majesty he fills great Reason's Throne,
The Subject World their rightful Monarch own:
His ranging Soul in narrow Bounds contains
All Nature's Works, o'er which in Peace he reigns;
His Head resembles Jove's Eternal Seat,
In which Inthron'd, he sways the Heav'nly State,
And with assembled Gods, consults of Fate:
The feather'd Envoys, all in shining Crowds;
Attend his Throne, and watch his awful Nods:
Catch his Commands, and thro' the Liquid Air
To the low World the Sacred Errand bear:
Just so the Head of Man contains within
The Intellect, with Rays and Light Divine:
The Senses stand around; the Spirits roam
To seize and bring the fleeting Objects home:
Thro' every Nerve and every Pore they pass,
And fill with chearful Light the gloomy Space;
The Heart, the Center of the manly Breast,
Just like the Sun, in lovely Purple drest,
Diffuses all the Liquid Crimson round,
Whence Life, and Vigour, Heat and Strength abound:
And as great Phoebus sometimes rages high,
And scorches with his Beams the sultry Sky:
So when the Heart with Rage, or flaming Ire,
Grows warm, or burns with Love's consuming Fire:
The catching Virals spread the Flames afar.
And all the Limbs the hot Contagion share,
As solid Shores contain the liquid Seas,
Just so the Stomach, a soft watry Mass,
Stagnates beneath and fills the lower Space:
Here, Winds, and Rains, and humid Vapours lie,
And these exhal'd with Heat, all upwards fly:
As mantling Clouds conceal the fickly Sun,
Dissolve in Dew and drive the Tempest down:
So when thick Humours from the Stomach rise,
They damp the Soul, and sprightly Faculties:
Then Night and Death their gloomy Shades display,
Till the bright Spark within, the heav'nly Ray,
Dispels the Darkness, and restores the Day.
",,10646,"","""The Senses stand around; the Spirits roam / To seize and bring the fleeting Objects home: / Thro' every Nerve and every Pore they pass.""",Empire,2013-06-26 17:16:56 UTC,""
4179,Pineal Gland,Reading (Text from Past Masters),2004-02-24 00:00:00 UTC,"II THE PINEAL GLAND
No. 35. Tuesday, April 21
O vitae philosophia dux virtutis indagatrix!--CICERO.
TO NESTOR IRONSIDE, ESQ.
'Sir,
'I am a man who have spent great part of that time in rambling through foreign countries, which young gentlemen usually pass at the university; by which course of life, altho' I have acquired no small insight into the manners and conversation of men, yet I could not make proportionable advances in the way of science and speculation. In my return through France, as I was one day setting forth this my case to a certain gentleman of that nation with whom I had contracted a friendship, after some pause, he conducted me into his closet, and, opening a little amber cabinet, took from thence a small box of snuff, which he said was given him by an uncle of his, the author of The Voyage to the World of Descartes; and, with many professions of gratitude and affection, made me a present of it, telling me at the same time, that he knew no readier way to furnish and adorn a mind with knowledge in the arts and sciences than that same snuff rightly applied.
'You must know, said he, that Descartes was the first who discovered a certain part of the brain, called by anatomists the Pineal Gland, to be the immediate receptacle of the soul, where she is affected with all sorts of perceptions, and exerts all her operations by the intercourse of the animal spirits which run thro' the nerves that are thence extended to all parts of the body. He added, that the same philosopher having considered the body as a machine or piece of clockwork, which performed all the vital operations without the concurrence of the will, began to think a way may be found out for separating the soul for some time from the body, without any injury to the latter; and that, after much meditation on that subject, the above-mentioned virtuoso composed the snuff he then gave me; which, if taken in a certain quantity, would not fail to disengage my soul from my body. Your soul (continued he) being at liberty to transport herself with a thought wherever she pleases, may enter into the Pineal Gland of the most learned philosopher, and, being so placed, become spectator of all the ideas in his mind, which would instruct her in a much less time than the usual methods. I returned him thanks, and accepted his present, and with it a paper of directions.
'You may imagine it was no small improvement and diversion to pass my time in the Pineal Glands of philosophers, poets, beaux, mathematicians, ladies, and statesmen. One while to trace a theorem in mathematicks through a long labyrinth of intricate turns and subtilties of thought; another, to be conscious of the sublime ideas and comprehensive views of a philosopher, without any fatigue or wasting of my own spirits. Sometimes, to wander through perfumed groves, or enamelled meadows, in the fancy of a poet: At others, to be present when a battel or a storm raged, or a glittering palace rose in his imagination; or to behold the pleasures of a country life, the passion of a generous love, or the warmth of devotion wrought up to rapture. Or (to use the words of a very ingenious author) to
Behold the raptures which a writer knows,
When in his breast a vein of fancy glows,
Behold his business while he works the mine,
Behold his temper when he sees it shine.
'These gave me inconceivable pleasure. Nor was it an unpleasant entertainment sometimes to descend from these sublime and magnificent ideas to the impertinences of a beau, the dry schemes of a coffee-house politician, or the tender images in the mind of a young lady. And as, in order to frame a right idea of human happiness, I thought it expedient to make a trial of the various manners wherein men of different pursuits were affected; I one day entered into the Pineal Gland of a certain person who seemed very fit to give me an insight into all that which constitutes the happiness of him who is called a man of pleasure. But I found myself not a little disappointed in my notion of the pleasures which attend a voluptuary, who has shaken off the restraints of reason.
'His intellectuals, I observed, were grown unserviceable by too little use, and his senses were decayed and worn out by too much. That perfect inaction of the higher powers prevented appetite in prompting him to sensual gratifications; and the outrunning natural appetite produced a loathing instead of a pleasure. I there beheld the intemperate cravings of youth, without the enjoyments of it; and the weakness of old age, without its tranquility. When the passions were teized and roused by some powerful object, the effect was, not to delight or sooth the mind, but to torture it between the returning extreams of appetite and satiety. I saw a wretch racked, at the same time, with a painful remembrance of past miscarriages, a distaste of the present objects that sollicite his senses, and a secret dread of futurity. And I could see no manner of relief or comfort in the soul of this miserable man, but what consisted in preventing his cure, by inflaming his passions and suppressing his reason. But tho' it must be owned he had almost quenched that light which his Creator had set up in his soul, yet in spight of all his efforts, I observed at certain seasons frequent flashes of remorse strike thro' the gloom, and interrupt that satisfaction he enjoyed in hiding his own deformities from himself.
'I was also present at the original formation or production of a certain book in the mind of a Free-thinker, and, believing it may be not unacceptable to let you into the secret manner and internal principles by which that phaenomenon was formed, I shall in my next give you an account of it. I am, in the mean time,
'Your most obedient humble servant,
'ULYSSES COSMOPOLITA.'
N.B. Mr. Ironside has lately received out of France ten pound averdupoise weight of this philosophical snuff, and gives notice that he will make use of it, in order to distinguish the real from the professed sentiments of all persons of eminence in court, city, town, and country.
(Vol. 7, pp.185-7)",,10840,•The lines of poetry are from Parnell's Essay on the Different Stiles of Poetry. ,"""Your soul (continued he) being at liberty to transport herself with a thought wherever she pleases, may enter into the Pineal Gland of the most learned philosopher, and, being so placed, become spectator of all the ideas in his mind, which would instruct her in a much less time than the usual methods.""","",2013-06-04 16:21:05 UTC,I've included the entire Guardian essay
7872,"",Reading,2014-04-25 03:39:04 UTC,"Now what is it that strikes a judicious Tast? Not that to be sure which injures the absent, or provokes the Company, which poisons the Mind under pretence of entertaining it, proceeding from or giving Countenance to false Ideas, to dangerous and immoral Principles. Wit indeed is distinct from Judgment but it is not contrary to it; 'tis rather its Handmaid, serving to awaken and fix the Attention, that so we may Judge rightly. Whatever Charms, does so because of its Regularity and Proportion; otherwise, tho' it is extraordinary and out of the way, it will only be star'd on like a Monster, but can never be lik'd. And tho' a thought is ever so fine and new, ever so well exprest, if it suits not with decorum and good Manners, it is not just and fit, and therefore offends our Reason, and consequently has no Charms, nor should afford us any entertainment.
(p. 20)",,23799,"","""Wit indeed is distinct from Judgment but it is not contrary to it; 'tis rather its Handmaid, serving to awaken and fix the Attention, that so we may Judge rightly.""",Inhabitants,2014-04-25 03:39:04 UTC,""