"For this is the Effect, and this the Beauty of their Art; 'in vocal Measures of Syllables, and Sounds, to express the Harmony and Numbers of an inward kind; and represent the Beautys of a human Soul, by proper Foils, and Contrarietys, which serve as Graces in this Limning, and render this Musick of the Passions more powerful and enchanting.'"

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


Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for Egbert Sanger
Date
1709, 1714
Metaphor
"For this is the Effect, and this the Beauty of their Art; 'in vocal Measures of Syllables, and Sounds, to express the Harmony and Numbers of an inward kind; and represent the Beautys of a human Soul, by proper Foils, and Contrarietys, which serve as Graces in this Limning, and render this Musick of the Passions more powerful and enchanting.'"
Metaphor in Context
Let Poets, or the Men of Harmony, deny, if they can, this Force of Nature, or withstand this moral Magick. They, for their parts, carry a double Portion of this Charm about with 'em. For in the first place, the very Passion which inspires 'em, is it-self the Love of Numbers, Decency and Proportion; and this too, not in a narrow sense, or after a selfish way (for Who is there that composes for himself?) but in a friendly social View; for the Pleasure and Good of others; even down to Posterity, and future Ages. And in the next place, 'tis evident in these Performers, that their chief Theme and Subject, that which raises their Genius the most, and by which they so effectually move others, is purely Manners, and the moral Part. For this is the Effect, and this the Beauty of their Art; "in vocal Measures of Syllables, and Sounds, to express the Harmony and Numbers of an inward kind; and represent the Beautys of a human Soul, by proper Foils, and Contrarietys, which serve as Graces in this Limning, and render this Musick of the Passions more powerful and enchanting."
(pp. 136-7; p. 63 in Klein)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
A complicated publication history. At least 10 entries in ESTC (1709, 1711, 1714, 1733, 1744, 1751, 1757, 1758, 1773, 1790).

See Sensus Communis, An Essay on the Freedom of Wit and Humour in a Letter to a Friend. (London: Printed for Egbert Sanger, 1709). <Link to ESTC><Link to ECCO>

See also "Sensus Communis, An Essay on the Freedom of Wit and Humour in a Letter to a Friend" in Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times. In Three Volumes. (London: John Darby, 1711). <Link to ESTC>

Some text drawn from ECCO, most 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.]
Date of Entry
07/09/2013

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