"The same Apology of the Length of Years in composing this Book may serve also to excuse a Repetition of the same Sentiments which may happen to be found in different Places without the Author's Design; but in other Pages it was intended, so that those Rules for the Conduct of the Understanding which are most necessary, should be set in several Lights, that they might with more Frequency and more Force impress the Soul."
— Watts, Isaac (1674-1748)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for James Brackstone
Date
1741
Metaphor
"The same Apology of the Length of Years in composing this Book may serve also to excuse a Repetition of the same Sentiments which may happen to be found in different Places without the Author's Design; but in other Pages it was intended, so that those Rules for the Conduct of the Understanding which are most necessary, should be set in several Lights, that they might with more Frequency and more Force impress the Soul."
Metaphor in Context
The same Apology of the Length of Years in composing this Book may serve also to excuse a Repetition of the same Sentiments which may happen to be found in different Places without the Author's Design; but in other Pages it was intended, so that those Rules for the Conduct of the Understanding which are most necessary, should be set in several Lights, that they might with more Frequency and more Force impress the Soul. I shall be sufficiently satisfy'd with the good Humour and Lenity of my Readers, if they will please to regard these Papers as Parcels of imperfect Sketches, which were defined by a sudden Pencil, and in a thousand leisure Moments, to be one Day collected into Landskips of some little Prospects in the Regions of Learning and in the World of common Life, pointing out the fairest and most fruitful Spots, as well as the Rocks and Wildernesses and faithless Morasses of the Country. But I feel Age advancing upon me, and my Health is insufficient to perfect what I had designed, signed, to increase and amplify these Remarks, to confirm and improve these Rules, and to illuminate the several Pages with a richer and more beautiful Variety of Examples. The Subject is almost endless, and new Writers in the present and in following Ages may still find sufficient Follies, Weaknesses and Dangers among Mankind to be represented in such a Manner as to guard Youth against them.
(pp. viii-x)
(pp. viii-x)
Categories
Provenance
Searching and Reading in Google Books
Citation
32 entries in ESTC (1741, 1743, 1753, 1754, 1761, 1768, 1773, 1782, 1784, 1785, 1786, 1787, 1789, 1790, 1791, 1792, 1793, 1794, 1795, 1798, 1799, 1800).
Most text drawn from Google Books. See The Improvement of the Mind: or, a Supplement to the Art of Logick: Containing a Variety of Remarks and Rules for the Attainment and Communication of Useful Knowledge, in Religion, in the Sciences, and in Common Life. By I. Watts, D.D. (London: Printed for James Brackstone, at the Globe in Cornhill, 1741). <Link to ESTC><Link to 2nd edition in Google Books>
Most text drawn from Google Books. See The Improvement of the Mind: or, a Supplement to the Art of Logick: Containing a Variety of Remarks and Rules for the Attainment and Communication of Useful Knowledge, in Religion, in the Sciences, and in Common Life. By I. Watts, D.D. (London: Printed for James Brackstone, at the Globe in Cornhill, 1741). <Link to ESTC><Link to 2nd edition in Google Books>
Date of Entry
02/05/2014
