Mary Shepherd 1824 “Every one must be conscious that the particular forms of expression, in which thoughts of an abstruse and subtle nature are introduced to the imagination, and grow familiar there, are so intimately associated with them, as to appear their just and accurate representative. — But these forms of expression, though clear and satisfactory to the person in whose mind they are so associated, may yet fail in conveying the same ideas with sufficient precision to the understandings of others”
[Shepherd, M. (1824) An Essay upon the Relation of Cause and Effect, controverting the doctrine of Mr. Hume, concerning the nature of that relation; with Observations upon the opinions of Dr. Brown and Mr. Lawrence connected with the same subject (London: Hookham), p. vi.]
He thought he saw a Garden-Door
That opened with a key:
He looked again, and found it was
A double Rule of Three:
"And all its mystery," he said,
"Is clear as day to me!"
The mad gardener's song, by Lewis Carroll.
A perfect opening salvo -