"I obliterated all former Notions received from Education, Discourse, or Reading, in Relation to Actions or Characters of any Persons or Parties; and turned my Mind into a Rasa Tabula, that the Impressions I should receive from this more accurate Examination I was going to begin, might not be confounded with others taken in upon weaker Grounds."

— Baker, Richard, Sir (c. 1568-1645)

Author

Baker, Richard, Sir (c. 1568-1645)

Work Title

A chronicle of the Kings of England, from the time of the Romans government, to the death of King James the first. By Sir Richard Baker, Knt. With a continuation to the year 1660. By E. Phillips. Whereto is added in this edition, a second continuation

Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for Samuel Ballard, Benj. Mott, Richard Williamson, Samuel Birt, Thomas Osborne, Charles Davis and David Lyon
Date
1730
Metaphor
"I obliterated all former Notions received from Education, Discourse, or Reading, in Relation to Actions or Characters of any Persons or Parties; and turned my Mind into a Rasa Tabula, that the Impressions I should receive from this more accurate Examination I was going to begin, might not be confounded with others taken in upon weaker Grounds."
Metaphor in Context
To answer this Intention I entered upon this Work, at least I endeavoured to do so, without any Bias upon my Mind, except one, the Love of my Country. I obliterated all former Notions received from Education, Discourse, or Reading, in Relation to Actions or Characters of any Persons or Parties; and turned my Mind into a Rasa Tabula, that the Impressions I should receive from this more accurate Examination I was going to begin, might not be confounded with others taken in upon weaker Grounds. With this Temper I surveyed the several Actions and Persons I wrote about; my only Care being to find out the Truth, without the least Concern what Man, or what Side would be hurt or advantaged by it.
(p. ii)
Categories
Writing::Tabula Rasa
Provenance
Searching "tabula rasa" in ECCO
Citation
Baker, Richard, Sir. A chronicle of the Kings of England, from the time of the Romans government, to the death of King James the first. By Sir Richard Baker, Knt. With a continuation to the year 1660. By E. Phillips. Whereto is added in this edition, a second continuation, ... By an impartial hand. London, 1730. Based on information from English Short Title Catalogue. Eighteenth Century Collections Online. Gale Group.
http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/ECCO
Theme
Blank Slate
Date of Entry
10/09/2006

The Mind is a Metaphor is authored by Brad Pasanek, Assistant Professor of English, University of Virginia.