text,updated_at,metaphor,created_at,context,theme,reviewed_on,dictionary,comments,provenance,id,work_id
"The Poets Soliloquy
Why do I droop, like flowers opprest with rain?
What cloud of sorrow doth my colour stain?
I like a Sparrow on the house alone
Do sit, and like a Dove I mourn and groan:
Doth discontent, or sad affliction bind,
And stop the freedom of my Nobler mind?
No, no, I know the cause; I do retire,
To quench old flames, and kindle better fire:
It is my comfort to escape the rude
And sluttish trouble of the multitude:
Flowers, rivers, woods, the pleasant air and wind,
With Sacred thoughts, do feed my serious mind:
My active soul doth not consume with rust,
I have been rub'd, and now are free from dust.
Let moderation rule my pensive way;
Students may leave their books, and sometimes play",2011-05-23 17:15:34 UTC,"""Flowers, rivers, woods, the pleasant air and wind, / With Sacred thoughts, do feed my serious mind.""",2004-03-11 00:00:00 UTC,I've included the whole poem,Soliloquy,2011-05-23,"",•Published in Flamma Sine Fumo (1662),HDIS (Poetry),9408,3621
"The Poets Soliloquy
Why do I droop, like flowers opprest with rain?
What cloud of sorrow doth my colour stain?
I like a Sparrow on the house alone
Do sit, and like a Dove I mourn and groan:
Doth discontent, or sad affliction bind,
And stop the freedom of my Nobler mind?
No, no, I know the cause; I do retire,
To quench old flames, and kindle better fire:
It is my comfort to escape the rude
And sluttish trouble of the multitude:
Flowers, rivers, woods, the pleasant air and wind,
With Sacred thoughts, do feed my serious mind:
My active soul doth not consume with rust,
I have been rub'd, and now are free from dust.
Let moderation rule my pensive way;
Students may leave their books, and sometimes play",2009-09-14 19:34:12 UTC,"The ""active soul doth not consume with rust""",2004-03-11 00:00:00 UTC,I've included the whole poem,Soliloquy,,Metal,•Published in Flamma Sine Fumo (1662)
•An anti-metaphor,HDIS,9409,3621
"Having to his great Wit added the ballast of Learning.
(II, p. 100)",2009-09-14 19:34:17 UTC,"""Having to his great Wit added the ballast of Learning""",2005-11-22 00:00:00 UTC,"","",,"","•From ""ballast, n."" 3. fig. That which tends to give stability in morals or politics, to steady the mind or feelings, etc.","Searching OED ""fig."" in the same section as ""mind."" Found in ""ballast, n.""",9539,3678
"Herring.
Tho' a World of dull Bullion your essence do's hold,
Scarce an Atom of Soul was cast into the Mould,
Room enough, and to spare lavish Nature allows,
But provides not a Tenant to suit with the House:
As for me, tho' she veils me with Flesh, and with Skin,
Yet my Form's little else but pure Spirit within:
And in vain you your Bulk for your Monarchy bring,
[1]For if the Ocean were Goth-land who but I should be King",2009-09-14 19:34:30 UTC,"Tho' a World of dull Bullion your essence do's hold, / Scarce an Atom of Soul was cast into the Mould, / Room enough, and to spare lavish Nature allows, / But provides not a Tenant to suit with the House",2005-08-29 00:00:00 UTC,"","",,Inhabitant,"•Note explains, ""'Twas the custom among the Goths to chuse a little man for their Prince.""
•I've included four times: Atom, Mould, Tenant, House",Searching in HDIS (Poetry),9825,3816
"How many Jilts, Cracks, Prostitutes and Whores
Their Sexes scandal, Natures common Shores,
Are there in Town (sad Wretches as they are)
Who once were very vertuous, young and Fair?
And who had vertuous been this very Hour,
Had it not been for Gold's Almighty Power.
Gold first their Blindfold Reason led astray,
(For who its Mighty Power can disobey?
Gold to forbidden Paths First brought them in,
And Gold alone informd 'em how to Sin",2009-09-14 19:34:41 UTC,"""Gold first their Blindfold Reason led astray""",2005-06-01 00:00:00 UTC,"","",,"","",Searching in HDIS (Poetry),10066,3890
"With those who are to your sage Sect inclin'd,
Beyond gross Sense and Reason too refin'd,
The surest way to see is to be blind;
That thus, their eyes subdu'd, and mortify'd,
They, with Tradition's broken Reed supply'd,
May grope about for some unerring Guide.
That Criminal must have a desperate Cause
Whose only Plea's t'object against the Laws:
The Statute's clear, but those it won't acquit
May well use all their skill to darken it.
Cast by plain Texts, you to your selves appeal,
By your own Votes declar'd infallible.
Reason and Scripture both alike cry down,
Since they defend not you, you them disown.
You urge not Reason, you, but its pretence,
Not Scripture, but false Glosses drawn from thence,
Reject--But is it not the same if you,
Must the sole Judges be of false and true?
Reason you plead, if you it seems t'acquit,
But if condemn'd, its Vote you won't admit.
But still, if private Reason you pretend
Must be the Judge, Disputes will never end:
Were this suppos'd, you cou'd but thence infer
That men must still be men, and still may err.
Nor shall they that, if they with Minds prepar'd
A higher Guide than Reason's self regard,
Attending, free from Prejudice and Sin
The Word without, th' unfailing Spirit within.
Still you complain the Scriptures are not clear,
And you the Spirits must try before you hear:
Your meaning is, you fairly both reject,
For both Tradition and the Church erect:
But what can easier be to understand
Than Gods own Word, his own express Command?
Or what's more plain than that on no pretence
[1]You ought must add, or ought diminish thence?
That his blest Law all perfect is, and pure,
[2]Nor can Tradition's base Alloy endure.
Perfect as well as clear, approv'd and try'd,
In every part of Life a Rule and Guide.
In Faith and Life the Scriptures both avail,
Nor can you give one Instance where they fail.
The justest Notions they, of God, impart,
And teach to serve him with a humble heart,
Describe the terms of Happiness, and more
That wond'rous Prince who shall the World restore,
That Christ, that true Messia we adore:
By whom, if ought from Ages past conceal'd,
The Fathers Will's entirely now reveal'd.
If then some Books are lost, (which if they are,
Where's the High Priests and Elders boasted Care?)
This not affects the rest, since still we find
A clear and perfect Rule is left behind.
Much of the Cabala, so highly priz'd
Are Trifles by the Learned World despis'd;
Your Sephiroth are Truths i'th' Scriptures plain,
But darken'd whilst you them unfold in vain.
Ezra and the great Synagogue you boast,
Whose Doctrine both and Piety you've lost:
Much younger those Traditions you embrace
Beside the Word; for them in vain you'd trace
One step beyond the Hasmonæan race.
Fallacious all those Arguments you use,
And for Infallibility produce:
Tho' manag'd they with all your Art and Care
They still against plain Fact expresly bear;
For tho' High Priest and Sanhedrim you say
Can without Error shew to Heav'n the way,
'Tis plain to Sense, you this unjustly boast,
Themselves in Error oft, or Vices lost,
Sometimes th' High Priests, as you must own, embrace
Th' abhorr'd Opinions of curst Sadoc's Race;
The Elders too, as sacred Writ averrs
Have Israel's God deny'd, and turn'd Idolaters:
And can two crooked Lines compose one right?
Two Finites ever make an Infinite?",2009-09-14 19:34:42 UTC,"""Reason you plead, if you it seems t'acquit, / But if condemn'd, its Vote you won't admit. / But still, if private Reason you pretend / Must be the Judge, Disputes will never end.""",2004-09-01 00:00:00 UTC,"","",2009-04-14,Court,"","Searching ""reason"" and ""judge"" in HDIS (Poetry)",10087,3901
"These, more than Friendly Salutations paid,
With old Elizabeth a while we staid,
Till thrice we saw the Silver Cynthia's wane,
And thrice she fill'd her various Orb again;
When the good Matrons welcom pains begun,
Who in her Arms soon held a wond'rous Son:
Her kindred much admiring round her sate,[2]
And her so rare a Bliss congratulate:
And when they saw the eighth blest Sun arise,[3]
Prepare the wond'rous Child to circumcise:
His Father's Name they gave, with kind presage,[4]
As Hope and Staff of his declining Age:
And add their Prayers, that he as well might be
Heir of his Virtues, as his Family.
Well pleas'd Eliza bow'd, and wish'd the same,
With thanks, to all agreeing, but the Name,
All wond'ring, thus did she inspir'd proceed,
It must be John, for so high Heav'n decreed:
His Father askt, with speaking Eyes and Hands
Of those around Tablet and Style demands;
And when i'th' ductile Wax he'd stampt his mind,
The Name his Mother gave, surpriz'd we find:
Yet more, his Lips unloos'd when Hymns he sung,
And all the House with Hallelujahs rung:
Trembling we ask, on his reply intent,
What his strange Speech, and stranger Silence meant!
He thus--",2011-06-29 03:51:14 UTC,"""[I]'th' ductile Wax he'd stampt his mind / The Name his Mother gave, surpriz'd we find.""",2005-03-27 00:00:00 UTC,"","",,Impressions,•Literal but not? One writes his mind out. Most metaphors like this I don't include.
•,"Searching ""mind"" and ""wax"" in HDIS (Poetry); Found again searching ""stamp"" and ""mind""",10090,3901
"With ordinary minds, such, as much the greatest part of the World are, 'tis the Sutableness, not the Evidence of a Truth, that makes it to be assented to. And it is seldom, that any thing practically convinces a Man, that does not please him first. If you would be sure of him, you must inform, and gratifie him too. But now, Impartiality strips the mind of prejudice and passion, keeps it tight and even from the Byass of Interest and Desire; and so presents it like a Rasa Tabula equally disposed to the Reception of all Truth. So that the Soul lies prepared, and open to entertain it; and prepossessed with Nothing that can oppose, or thrust it out. For where Diligence opens the Door of the Understanding, and Impartiality keeps it, Truth is sure to find both an Entrance and a Welcome too.
(pp. 305-6)",2014-10-05 19:37:42 UTC,"""But now, Impartiality strips the Mind of Prejudice and Passion, keeps it right and even from the Byass of Interest and Desire, and so presents it like a Rasa Tabula, equally disposed to the Reception of all Truth.""",2006-10-09 00:00:00 UTC,"",Blank Slate,,Writing,"•South avails himself of the Pyrrhonist version of the Tabula Rasa metaphor. These sermons appear in multiple editions in the c18.
• ""right and even"" in later versions, ""tight and even"" in EEBO-TCP.","Searching ""tabula rasa"" in ECCO",11116,4267
"With ordinary minds, such, as much the greatest part of the World are, 'tis the Sutableness, not the Evidence of a Truth, that makes it to be assented to. And it is seldom, that any thing practically convinces a Man, that does not please him first. If you would be sure of him, you must inform, and gratifie him too. But now, Impartiality strips the mind of prejudice and passion, keeps it tight and even from the Byass of Interest and Desire; and so presents it like a Rasa Tabula equally disposed to the Reception of all Truth. So that the Soul lies prepared, and open to entertain it; and prepossessed with Nothing that can oppose, or thrust it out. For where Diligence opens the Door of the Understanding, and Impartiality keeps it, Truth is sure to find both an Entrance and a Welcome too.
(pp. 305-6)",2013-10-25 21:46:04 UTC,"""For where Diligence opens the Door of the Understanding, and Impartiality keeps it, Truth is sure to find both an Entrance and a Welcome too.""",2006-10-09 00:00:00 UTC,"","",,Rooms,CROSS-REFERENCE: Blake!,Searching in ECCO,11117,4267
"1. For the Understanding Speculative. There are some general Maximes and Notions in the mind of Man, which are the rules of Discourse, and the basis of all Philosophy. As that the same thing cannot at the same time be, and not be. That the Whole is bigger then a Part. That two Proportions equal to a third, must also be equal to one another. Aristotle indeed affirms the Mind to be at first a meer Rasa tabula; and that these Notions are not ingenite, and imprinted by the finger of Nature, but by the latter and more languid impressions of sense; being onely the Reports of observation, and the Result of so many repeated Experiments.
But to this I answer two things. [...]
(pp. 10-11)",2013-10-25 21:35:03 UTC,"""Aristotle indeed affirms the Mind to be at first a meer Rasa tabula; and that these Notions are not ingenite, and imprinted by the finger of Nature, but by the latter and more languid impressions of sense; being onely the Reports of observation, and the Result of so many repeated Experiments.""",2013-10-25 21:35:03 UTC,"","",,Writing,"",Searching in EEBO-TCP,23041,7740