Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Fables of La Fontaine

Fables of La Fontaine

Fontaine, Jean de La

Paperback

Classic Fiction

Currently unavailable to order

ISBN10: 1151175773
ISBN13: 9781151175779
Publisher: General Books
Pages: 188
Weight: 0.62
Height: 0.43 Width: 9.01 Depth: 5.98
Language: English
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1860 edition. Excerpt: ...subtile, charming, bold. They call it new--the men of wit; Perhaps you have not heard of it. My verse will tell you what it means: --They say that beasts are mere machines; Madam de la Sabliere was one of the most learned women of the age in which she lived, and knew more of the philosophy of Descartes, in which she was a believer, than our poet; but she dreaded the reputation of a Blue-stocking, and for this reason La Fontaine addresses her as if she might be ignorant of the Cartesian theory. That, in their doings, every thing Is done by virtue of a spring--No sense, nor soul, nor notion, But matter merely--set in motion;--Just such the watch in kind, Which joggeth on, to purpose blind. Now ope, and read within its breast--The place of soul is by its wheels possessed One moves a second, that a third, Till finally its sound is heard. And now the beast, our sages say, Is moved precisely in this way. An object strikes it in a certain place: The spot thus struck, without a moment's space, To neighboring parts the news conveys: Thus sense receives it through the chain, And takes impression.--How? Explain.--Not I. They say, by sheer necessity, From will as well as passion free, The animal is found the thrall Of movements Avhich the vulgar call Joy, sadness, pleasure, pain, and love--The cause extrinsic and above.--Believe it not. What's this I hold? Why, sooth, it is a watch of gold--Its life, the mere unbending of a spring. And we?--are quite a different thing. Hear how Descartes--Descartes, whom all applaud, Whom pagans would have made a god, Who holds, in fact, the middle place 'Twixt ours and the celestial race, s About as does the plodding ass From man to oyster as you pass--Hear how this author states the case: Of all the tribes to being...

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