"'Tis the same with Understandings as with Eyes: To such a certain Size and Make just so much Light is necessary, and no more. Whatever is beyond, brings Darkness and Confusion."
Sensus Communis, An Essay on the Freedom of Wit and Humour in a Letter to a Friend [collected in Characteristics]
A complicated publication history. At least 10 entries in ESTC (1709, 1711, 1714, 1733, 1744, 1751, 1757, 1758, 1773, 1790).<br>
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See <u>Sensus Communis, An Essay on the Freedom of Wit and Humour in a Letter to a Friend.</u> (London: Printed for Egbert Sanger, 1709). &lt;<a href="http://estc.bl.uk/T47455">Link to ESTC</a>&gt;&lt;<a href="http://find.galegroup.com/ecco/infomark.do?&source=gale&prodId=ECCO&userGroupName=viva_uva&tabID=T001&docId=CW3316109411&type=multipage&contentSet=ECCOArticles&version=1.0&docLevel=FASCIMILE">Link to ECCO</a>&gt;<br>
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See also "Sensus Communis, An Essay on the Freedom of Wit and Humour in a Letter to a Friend" in <u>Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times. In Three Volumes.</u> (London: John Darby, 1711). &lt;<a href="http://estc.bl.uk/T30440">Link to ESTC</a>&gt;<br>
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Some text drawn from ECCO, most from Anthony Ashley Cooper, Third Earl of Shaftesbury. <u>Characteristics of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times</u>, ed. Lawrence E. Klein (Cambridge: CUP, 2001). Klein's text is based on the British Library's copy of the second edition of 1714. [Texts to be collated.]