"And Will, so highly boasted, is but at best, a Foot-Ball or Top between these Youngsters [Appetite and Reason], who prove very unfortunately match'd; till the youngest, instead of now and then a Kick or Lash bestow'd to little purpose, forsakes the Ball or Top it-self, and begins to lay about his elder Brother."

— Cooper, Anthony Ashley, third earl of Shaftesbury (1671-1713)


Place of Publication
London
Publisher
John Morphew
Date
1710, 1714
Metaphor
"And Will, so highly boasted, is but at best, a Foot-Ball or Top between these Youngsters [Appetite and Reason], who prove very unfortunately match'd; till the youngest, instead of now and then a Kick or Lash bestow'd to little purpose, forsakes the Ball or Top it-self, and begins to lay about his elder Brother."
Metaphor in Context
This, perhaps, will be thought a Miracle by one who well considers the Nature of Mankind, and the Growth, Variation, and Inflection of Appetite and Humour. For Appetite, which is elder Brother to Reason, being the Lad of stronger Growth, is sure, on every contest, to take the advantage of drawing all to his own side. And Will, so highly boasted, is but at best, a Foot-Ball or Top between these Youngsters, who prove very unfortunately match'd; till the youngest, instead of now and then a Kick or Lash bestow'd to little purpose, forsakes the Ball or Top it-self, and begins to lay about his elder Brother. 'Tis then that the Scene changes. For the elder, like an arrant Coward, upon this treatment, presently grows civil, and affords the younger as fair Play afterwards as he can desire.
(p. 187, p. 84 in Klein)
Provenance
Reading
Citation
A complicated publication history. At least 10 entries in ESTC (1710, 1711, 1714, 1733, 1744, 1751, 1757, 1758, 1773, 1790).

See Soliloquy, or Advice to an Author (London: John Morphew, 1710). <Link to ESTC><Link to Google Books>

See also "Soliloquy, or Advice to an Author" in Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times. In Three Volumes. (London: John Darby, 1711). <Link to ESTC>

Some text drawn from ECCO and Google Books; also from Anthony Ashley Cooper, Third Earl of Shaftesbury. Characteristics of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times, 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.]
Theme
Psychomachia
Date of Entry
11/06/2003

The Mind is a Metaphor is authored by Brad Pasanek, Assistant Professor of English, University of Virginia.