Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	clear_a	consist_v	good_a	19	3	2.1572	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A70499	The art of speaking written in French by Messieurs du Port Royal in pursuance of a former treatise intituled, The art of thinking ; rendred into English.; Art de parler. English	Lamy, Bernard, 1640-1715.; Arnauld, Antoine, 1612-1694.; Brulart, Fabio, 1655-1714.; Lamy, François, 1636-1711.; Nicole, Pierre, 1625-1695.	1676 (1676)	Wing L307A; ESTC R1142	142,874	456

cannot receive exactly the Images of such things as the Soul imagines If the Brain be too moist and the little Threads and Fibers which compose it too feeble and lax they cannot retain the Foldings and Impressions given them by the Animal Spirits and by consequence the things drawn there are confused and like those we endeavour to draw upon Mud If the Brain be too dry and the Fibers too hard 't is impossible all the strokes of the Objects should leave their Impressions which makes every thing seem dry and meagre to men of that Temper I speak not of the other Qualities of the Brain of its heat or its coldness when it is hot the Spirits move with more ease when it is cold the Spirits are slow and retarded in their course the Imagination is dull and nothing to be imagined but with trouble The Animal Spirits ought to have three qualities they ought to be plentiful hot and equal in their motion A brain whose Animal Spirits are exhausted is empty of Images Plenty of Spirits makes the Imagination fruitful The prints drawn by the Spirits in their course being large whilst the source that produces them is full they represent all things easily and under multitude of Figures which supply us amply with matter for discourse those who have not this Fertility supply'd to them by abundance of Spirits are commonly dry Things imprinting themselves but weakly upon their Imagination they appear little and meagre and dry so their Discourse expressing nothing but what passes in their Imagination is dry and meagre and jejune The first are great Praters they speak nothing but Hyperboles every thing appears great to them The others are low mean and insipid in their discourse The Imagination of the first makes every thing greater the Imagination of the last lessens them as much When there is heat enough and the Animal Spirits are warm quick and in great quantity the Tongue is not sufficiently nimble to express all that is represented in the Imagination for besides that abundance which is the first quality requisite to the Spirits forming the Images of things in their full dimensions the second Quality which is heat rendring the Animal Spirits lively and quick the Imagination is full in an instant of differing Images Those who possess these two Qualities do immediatly without thinking find more matter upon any subject proposed than others after long Meditation A cold Spirit cannot move the Imagination without helps Experience tells us that want of Heat is a great Obstruction to Eloquence In violent passion where the Animal Spirits are extraordinarily stirred the dryest Tempered Men deliver themselves with ease the most barren want no words And this Diversity of Images in the Imagination causes a pleasant variety of Figures and Motions that follow those of the Imagination That the Imagination be clear and unconfus'd the motion of the Animal Spirits ought to be equal When their course is irregular sometimes slow and sometimes swift the Images that they imprint are without proportion as in sick People where the motion of the whole Mass of Blood is irregular Those who are Gay and of a Sanguine Complexion express themselves gracefully and readily In those Tempers the Animal Spirits move quick and equal and their Imagination being clear their Discourse being but a Copy of the Images drawn in it must necessarily be clear and distinct V. The Advantages of a good Memory THe goodness of the Memory depends upon Nature and Exercise seeing it consists only in the easiness wherewith the prints of received Objects are renewed by Consequence the Memory cannot be good if the substance of the Brain be not proper to receive those draughts or prints of things and retain them and when those prints which cannot always be expanded and open do not open themselves with ease Exercise adds much to the Memory Things fold easily that way that they are often folded The Fibers of the Brain do harden and grow stiff if that stifness be not prevented by frequent folding them that is to say by often repeating what we have learned already and continual endeavours to suck in more We must fill our Memories with proper terms and contrive that the Images of things and their names be of so strict coherence that the images and expressions may present themselves together An excellent Person has resembled the Memory to a Printing-Press a Printer who has none but Gothick Characters prints nothing but in Gothick Characters let the Treatise be never so good The same may be said of those whose Memories are ful of nothing but improper words having nothing in their minds but Gothick Molds and their thoughts clothing themselves with Expressions from thence no wonder if they always assume a Gothick aire and fashion VI. Qualities of the Mind necessary to make a Man Eloquent WHat we have hitherto sayd relates only to the Corporal Organs The qualities of the Mind are more considerable and important Reason must regulate the advantages of Nature which are rather Defects than advantages when we understand not how to use them He that has a fertile Imagination but knows not how to cull and pick his Expressisions looses himself and runs out into long and tedious Discourses Among the multitude of things that he delivers half of them are improper and those which are good are stifled and incommoded by these that are impertinent If his Imagination be hot as well as fertile and he follows the motion of his heat he falls into thousands of other faults his Discourse is nothing but a continuation of Figures he seldom speaks without passion but for the most part without reason Being hasty and hot the least thing excites him and sets him on fire without respect to Civility without considering the merits of the Cause he fly's out into a fury and suffers himself to be hurried away by the impetus of his Imagination whose irregularity and extravagance is discovered in his words To enjoy the Soveraign Perfection of Eloquence the mind must be adorned with these three Qualities First a capacity to discover abundantly all that may be said upon any proposed subject A narrow Apprehension is incapable of giving things their just latitude and extent The second quality consists in a certain sagacious Vivacity that strikes immediately into things rummages them to the bottom and cleanses every corner those whose minds are heavy and dull do not penetrate into the Folds or Intricacies of an Affair and therefore can only skum off what they find at the top The Third quality is exactness of Judgment and that regulates both the other qualities A good Judgment chooses and picks it stops not at every thing presented by the Imagination but discerns and discriminates betwixt what is fit to be said and what is fit to be pass'd it dilates not upon things according to the bigness of their Images but amplifies discourse or contracts it as the thing and reason require it relys not upon first Idea's

must make use of a peculiar manner of Writing and that as every thing requires convenient words so an entire subject requires a style that may be proportionable to it The Rules we have given for Elocution regard no farther than if we may so say the members of Discourse that of which we are now speaking relates to the whole body Style in its primitive signification is taken for a kind of Bodkin wherewith the Antients writ upon Bark and little Tables covered with Wax To say who is the Author of such a Writing we say 't is such a mans hand whereas the Antients said it was such a mans Style In process of time the word Style came to be applyed only to the manner of expressing When we say such a discourse is Cicero's Style we intend Cicero used to express himself in that manner Before I determine with what style we are to treat of several things that are the subjects of common Discourse what ought to be the Style of an Orator an Historian or Poet who would delight or instruct I thought it not impertinent to enquire into the different Expressions wherewith several Authors express themselves in the same Language and who writing on the same Subjects endeavour the same Stile Some are diffuse and though they pretend to be succinct half their words may be retrenched without prejudice to the sense Others are dry flat barren and what Effort soever they may make to beautify and adorn things they leave them half-naked The Style of some is strong in others it is weak and languishing in some it is rugged in others it is smooth In a word as faces are different so are the ways of Writing and it is the cause of this Difference of which we are going to enquire II. The Qualities of the Style depend upon the Qualities of the Imagination Memory and Judgment of the Writer WHen the outward Object strikes upon our Sense the motion it makes is communicated by the Nerves to the very Centre of the Brain whose substance being soft receives thereby certain prints and impressions The Alliance or Connexion betwixt the Mind and the Body is the cause that the Ideas of Corporal things are annex'd to these Prints so that when the Prints of an Object for Example of the Sun are imprinted in the brain the Idea of the Sun presents it self to the mind and as oft as the Idea of the Sun is presented to the Mind the Impressions caus'd by the presence of the Sun begin to open and dilate We may call those Prints the Images of the Objects The power the Soul has to form upon the Brain the Images of things that have been perceiv'd is called Imagination which word signifies both that power of the Soul and the Images that it forms The Qualities of a good Imagination are very necessary to Well-speaking for Discourse is nothing but a Copy of those things of which we are to speak form'd before by the Soul If the Original be confused the Copy must be so also if the Original be not the Copy cannot be like The form the clearness the good Order of our Idea's depend upon the clearness and distinction of the Impressions which the Objects make upon our Brain so that it cannot be doubted but the Quality of the Style must depend upon the quality of the Imagination The substance of the Brain has not the same qualities in all heads and therefore we are not to wonder if the ways of Speaking be different in each Author Words read or heard leave their Impressions in the Brain as well as other Objects so as we commonly think of Words and Things at the same time the Impressions of Words and Things which have been opened in Company at several times are linked together in such sort that the Things represent themselves to the mind with their Names when this falls out we say the Memory is happy and its Felicity consists only in the easiness wherewith the prints of words and the things to which they are linked do open themselves at the same time that is to say when the name of the thing follows the thought we have of it When the Memory is unfaithful in representing the proper Terms of the things committed to it we cannot speak justly we are forced either to say nothing or make use of the first words that occur though perhaps they are not proper to express what we would say Happy and just Expression is the effect of good Memory In short it is manifest the Qualities of the Mind are the cause of the Difference observed among all Authors Discourse is the Image of the Mind we shew our Humours and Inclinations in our Words before we think of it The Minds then being different what wonder if the Style of every Author has a character that distinguishes it from all others though all use the same Terms and Expressions in the same Language III. The advantage of a Good Imagination A Good Imagination contributes particularly to the clearness and facility of Discourse 'T is easy to speak of things that we see their presence guides and regulates our Discourse but Imagination supplies us with things A Man whose Imagination is easy represents to himself whatever he is to say he sees clearly before the eyes of his mind so that expressing by his words the things as present to him his Discourse is clear and the things do range and take their places of themselves in his Discourse In the Imagination there are two things the first is Material the second Spiritual the Material is the prints caused by the impressions the Objects make upon the sense The Spiritual is the Perception or Knowledg the Soul has of these prints and the power we have to renew or open them when once they are made We shall enquire here only into the material part I cannot explain exactly these prints without ingaging my self in Philosophical Disquisitions remote from my Subject I shall only say these prints are made by the Animal Spirits which being the purest and most subtile part of the Blood fly up like a Vapour from the Heart to the Brain These Spirits are uncertain in their course When a Nerve is stretched they follow its motion and by their Current they draw several Figures in the Brain according as the Nerves are differently stretched or contracted but which way soever these Figures are made it is plain the clearness of the Imagination depends upon the temperament of the substance of the Brain and the quality of the Animal Spirits IV. The Qualities of the Substance of the Brain and the Animal Spirits are necessary to make a good Imagination FIgures drawn upon the Surface of the Water leave no prints because they are immediatly filled up Figures ingrav'd upon Marble are seldom perfect because the hardness of the Matter gives too much resistance to the Chissel This gives us to understand that the substance of the Brain ought to have certain Qualities without which it

without judgment of things we do not understand I had rather says Cicero be wise without Eloquence than Eloquent without Wisdom Mallem indisertam sapientiam quam stultitiam loquacem To this may be added that in all Discourse whatever serves not to the resolution of the Question ought to be retrench'd and after such retrenchment I suppose very few things would remain wherewith our Topicks had furnished us CHAP. II. I. The Second Means to Perswade IF men lov'd truth and sought it sincerely to make them entertain it there would be no need of any thing but to propose it simply and without art as we have already observ'd but they hate it and because it consists not with their Interests they do willingly blind themselves that they may not see it They are too much lovers of themselves to be perswaded that what is disagreeable to them is true Before they admit any thing to be true they will be assured it shall no way incommode them 'T is in vain to use powerful Arguments to persons resolv'd not to hear them who look upon the truth that is offer'd as an Enemy to their designs and reject her luster for fear it should make their wickedness conspicuous We are constrain'd therefore to use the greatest part of Mankind as we do people in a Frenzy we conceal such Remedies as are intended for their Cure So that the truths of which it is necessary they should be perswaded are to be deliver'd with such art that they may possess the heart before they be perceiv'd and as if they were Children they are to be coax'd and flatter'd till they take down the Medicine that is prepar'd for their Cure Orators acted by true zeal are to study all possible ways of gaining their Auditors to the entertaining of truth A fond Mother trims up her Child and her tenderness is such that she disposes all people as much as in her lyes to be as fond of it as her self If we loved truth we should be impatient to make it appear as lovely to every body else The Fathers of the Church have always made it their care to avoid whatever might render the Church grievous When Jesus Christ began to preach his Gospel to the Jews who were jealous for the Honour of Moses's Law our Saviour as is observ'd by St. Chrysostom declares that he came not to destroy that Law but to fulfil it Without this they would have stop'd their ears and never have heard him We have sayd that antient Rhetoricians plac'd the Art of Perswading in the knowledg how to instruct how to incline and how to move an Auditory all that was to be done was docere flectere and movere I have shown the ways that these great Masters have recommended for discovery of such things as may instruct us by illustrating the Subject upon which we are to speak I shall here make some few reflexions upon the means of insinuating into the affections of our Hearers Common Rhetorick hath none of these Reflexions So though my design was not to Treat of the Art of Speaking in its full Extent yet I shall say more of it than those who pretend to omit nothing 'T is true the art of working upon an Auditory is much above the reach of a Young Schollar for whom the antient Rhetoricks were properly made This Art is acquir'd by sublime Speculations by reflexions upon the nature of our mind upon our inclinations and motions of our will 'T is the fruit of Experience and long Observation of the manner wherewith men act and govern themselves in a word this Art is no where to be caught so methodically as in the precepts of Morality II. Qualities requir'd in a person who would gain upon an Auditory IT is of importance that an Auditory has an esteem for the person who speaks An Orator is to profess and give some testimony of his Friendship to those whom he desires to perswade and pretend it is pure zeal to their Interest that prompts him to speak Modesty is absolutely necessary for nothing is so invincible an obstacle to perswasion as arrogancy and boldness Wherefore in an Orator these four Qualities are especially requisite Probity Prudence Civility and Modesty It is clear our esteem for the probity and prudence of an Orator makes many times a great part of his Eloquence and disposes us to surrender even before we know what he will say 'T is doubtless the effect of great prae occupation but that prae occupation is not amiss nor is it to be confounded with a certain obstinate headiness that inclines us to adhere to false Opinions in spight of all Reasons to the contrary Besides that the words of a zealous man full of ardour for the truth kindle and inflame the hearts of the hearers it adds great reputation to what he says when he is looked upon as honest and one who would not delude us nor is it more unreasonable that we submit our judgments to their light who are very eminent for their wisdom so that it is more advantage for an Orator to be famous for his Virtue than his Learning Quintilian tells us In Oratore non tam dicendi facultas quam honesta vivendi ratio elucescat Christianity obliges those who are Preachers studiously to endeavour to gain this authority in the minds of their Auditory And the same Gospel that forbids vanity and ostentation commands that our good Works shine with intention that others seeing our good Works may glorifie c. Sic luceat lux vestra coram hominibus ut videant opera vestra bona This necessity has prevail'd some time upon the most Modest to assert their own praises and vindicate their Reputations when otherwise their natural modesty and meekness would rather have inclin'd them to sit down and be content with the Injuries they received A good life is the mark that Christ himself has given to discriminate betwixt the Preachers of Truth and those who are sent by the Spirit of Error to delude and deceive us W● are much pleas'd to spare our selves the pains of examining an Argument and therefore we trust it to the examination of some credible person Auctoritati credere magnum compendium nullus labor The authority of a good a learned and an eminent man is a great ease and satisfaction to any man that is diffident of his own parts No man would willingly be deceived yet few are able to protect themselves against Error and therefore we are much pleas'd when we meet a man upon whose authority we may depend in all matters of dispute We see many times two or three Great Men whose Reputations for Learning have gain'd them universal esteem dividing the whole World whilst every one ranks himself on his side whom he believes the most Learned and Honest An Orator without that authority gains but few to his Opinion because few are able to perceive the subtilty of his Arguments If he would win upon the multitude he must

mark the references that things have among themselves p. 15. CHAP. II. I. Of the Nature of Verbs p. 18. II. Of Pronouns and that we may with one single Verb express a whole Proposition p. 20. III. Of the Tenses of Verbs p. 22. IV. That Verbs have a power of signifying divers ways of affirming and certain circumstances of the action that they signify p. 25. V. What Words are necessary to denote the other Operations of our mind p. 28. VI. Construction of Words and Rules for that Construction p. 31. CHAP. III. I. That we must express all the principal Idea's or touches in the Picture that we have formed in our mind p. 35. II. What ought to be the order or disposition of our words p. 40. III. How we may express our Passions p. 46. CHAP. IV. I. Custom is the Master of Language p. 50. II. There is a good Custom and a bad three ways to distinguish them p. 53. III. Words are to be used only in their proper signification and to express the Idea to which custom has annexed them p. 60. IV. We are to consider whether the Idea's of words that are joyn'd may be joyn'd also p. 62. V. It is choice of Expression that makes a man elegant p. 66. The Second Part. CHAP. I. I. There is no Language so copious and rich to furnish terms capable of expressing all the different Faces under which the mind can represent one and the same thing therefore recourse must be had to certain ways of Speaking called Tropes whose Nature and Invention is explain'd in this Chapter p. 69. II. A List of the most considerable sort of Tropes p. 72. CHAP. II. I. Of the good use of Tropes they ought to be clear p. 82. II. Our Tropes must be proportion'd to the Idea's that we would give p. 87. II. Tropes are an Ornament in Discurse p. 90. CHAP. III. I. The Passions have a peculiar Language Expressions that are the characters of Passions are called Figures p. 92. II. Figures are useful and necessary p. 95. III. A List of Figures p. 101. IV. The number of Figures is infinite and every Figure may be made a hundred several ways p. 123. CHAP. IV. I. Figures are the Arms of the Soul A parallel betwixt a Soldier fighting and an Orator speaking p. 125. II. The Consequence of our Parallel betwixt a Soldier fighting and an Orator pleading in defence of a Cause p. 130. III. Figures illustrate obscure truths and make the mind attentive p. 135. IV. Reflexion upon the good use of Figures p. 142. The Third Part. CHAP. I. I. Of Sounds and Letters of which words are compos'd p. 105. II. What is to be avoided in ranging our words p. 114. III. In speaking the voice does frequently repose we may commit three faults in misplacing the repose of the voice p. 121. IV. Too frequent repitition of the same sounds the same letters and the same words is troublesome The means to render pronunciation in discourse equal p. 127. CHAP. II. I. Words are sounds conditions necessary to make sounds agreeable The first condition A violent sound is disagreeable a moderate sound pleaseth p. 132. II. The second condition A sound ought to be distinct that is strong enough to be heard p. 133. III. The equality of sounds contributes to render them distinct which is the third condition p. 134. IV. The fourth condition Diversity is as necessary as equality to render sounds agreeable p. 136. V. The fifth condition The precedent conditions are to be allied p. 138. VI. The sixth condition The alliance of equality and diversity ought to be sensible what is to be observed in order thereunto p. 139. VII What the ear distinguishes in the sound of words and what it perceives with pleasure p. 140. CHAP. III. I. The art to render pronunciation agreeable is to be used with discretion p. 144. II. How we are to distribute the intervals of respiration that the reposes of the voice may be proportionable p. 147. III. The composition of Periods p. 150. IV. Examples of some few Latin periods Periods are pronounced with ease p. 154. V. The figurative ranging of words and in what these Figures consist p. 157. VI. Reflexions upon these Figures p. 162. CHAP. IV. I. Of the measure of time in pronunciation p. 164. II. Of the structure of Verse p. 167. III. How the Latins distinguish their measures How many sorts of measures there are in the structure of a Verse p. 170. IV. Equality of Measures p. 175. V. Of the Variety of measures and the allyance of their equality with that variety p. 180. VI. How the Romans made the alliance of the equality and variety of their Verse sensible p. 185. VII Of the Poetry of the French p. 187. CHAP. V. I. There is a strange sympathy betwixt Numbers and the Soul What Numbers are p. 202 II. When Numbers agree with the things expressed they render our discourse more lively and significative p. 206. III. The way of joining our discourse by Numbers that correspond to the things signified p. 209. The Fourth Part. CHAP. I. I. We must chuse a style suitable to the matter of which we treat What Style is p. 1. II. The qualities of the style depend upon the qualities of the imagination memory and judgment of the writer p. 4. III. The advantage of a good imagination p. 7. IV. Qualities of the substance of the brain and in the animal spirits necessary to make a good imagination p. 9. V. The advantage of a good memory p. 13. VI. Qualities in the mind necessary to make a man eloquent p. 14. VI. Diversity of inclinations alter the styles Each age each climate has its several style p. 19. CHAP. II. I. The matter of which we treat ought to determine us in the choice of our style p. 22. II. Rules for the sublime lofty style p. 25. III. Of the plain simple style p. 32. IV. Of the moderate style p. 34. CHAP. III. I. Of styles proper to certain things Qualities common to all these styles p. 36. II. What ought to be the style of an Orator p. 41. III. What ought to be the style of an Historian p. 46. IV. What ought to be the Dogmatical style p. 48. V. What ought to be the style of a Poet. p. 52. CHAP. IV. I. The beauty of discourse is the effect of exact observation of the Rules speaking p. 59 II. The false Idea that men have of grandeur and their desire to speak nothing but great things is the cause of ill ornaments p. 63. III. Of artificial ornaments and rules relating to them p. 70. IV. The former fable refuted and the true original of languages declared p. 77. A Discourse Presenting an Idea of the Art of Perswasion CHAP. I. I. The parts of the Art of Perswasion p. 88. II. The invention of Proofs p. 91. III. Of Common Places p. 94. IV. Of places proper to certain subjects p. 99. V. Reflexion upon the method of places p. 103. CHAP.