 | 1837 - 548 pages
...upon itself as the spider worketh his web, then it is endless, and brings forth VOL. IX. No. 26. 51 indeed cobwebs of learning, admirable for the fineness...thread and work, but of no substance or profit."* In other times, the grand attempt to repress the right of free discussion has been by laws of censorship... | |
 | William Hazlitt - 1845 - 490 pages
...which of necessity doth induce oppositions, and so questions and altercations" — he proceeds — " Surely like as many substances in nature which are...thread and work, but of no substance or profit.'' And a little further on, he adds — " Notwithstanding, certain it is, that if those school-men, to... | |
 | William Hazlitt - 1845 - 232 pages
...school-men, who, having sharp and strong wits, and abundance of leisure, and small variety of reading f but their wits being shut up in the cells of a few...of thread and work, but of no substance or profit." And a little further on, he adds—" Notwithstanding, certain it is, that if those school-men, to their... | |
 | Basil Montagu, Hannah Mary Rathbone - 1845 - 396 pages
...warmth of human nature, who could help it ? It was an amiable weakness ! PHILOSOPHIZING AND THEORIZING. THE wit and mind of man, if it work upon matter which...of thread and work, but of no substance or profit. LOGICAL AND MATHEMATICAL PARTS OF MIND. THE logical part of men's minds is often good ; but the matheiervice... | |
 | George Lillie Craik - 1846 - 778 pages
...according to the stuff, and is limited thereby ; but if it work upon itself, as the spider worketh his weh, then it is endless, and brings forth indeed cobwebs...of thread and work, but of no substance or profit. The following short paragraph, with which he concludes his observations on this branch of the subject,... | |
 | Robert Mushet - 1847 - 524 pages
...discoverable in this very simplicity. It is the systems and theories of men which arc complex and intricate, " admirable for the fineness of thread and work, but of no substance or profit," as says Lord Bacon ; it is the fine-spun web of human speculation, which entangles truth in its meshes... | |
 | John Campbell Baron Campbell - 1847 - 548 pages
...cells of monasteries and colleges, and who knowing little history either of nature or time, did spin cobwebs of learning admirable for the fineness of thread and work, but of * We owe this and the most authentic anecdotes respecting his early years to Rawley. " (He autem tanta... | |
 | Francis Bacon, Basil Montagu - 1848 - 594 pages
...work upon matter, which is the contemplation of the creature* of God, worketh according to the stujf, and is limited thereby ; but if it work upon itself,...of thread and work, but of no substance or profit. 4. Unprofitable curiosity is of two sorts 171 1. Fruitless speculation. 2. Erroneous modes of investigation.... | |
 | William Hazlitt - 1849 - 238 pages
...putrefy and dissolve into a number of subtle, idle, unwholesome, and (as I may term them) vermicufate questions ; which have, indeed, a kind of quickness...of thread and work, but of no substance or profit." And a little further on, he adds — " Notwithstanding, certain it is, that if those school-men, to... | |
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Aristotle their dictator) as their persons were shut up in the cells of monasteries and colleges, and knowing little history, either of nature or time — did, out of no great quantity of matter, and infinite agitation of wit, spin out unto us those laborious... 
