"This is Conquest in the Philosophick Sense; but the Empire over our selves is, methinks, no less laudable in common Life, where the whole Tenour of a Man's Carriage is in Subservience to his own Reason, and Conformity both to the good Sense and Inclination of other Men."

— Steele, Sir Richard (1672-1729)


Work Title
Date
From Tuesday May 23. to Thursday May 25. 1710
Metaphor
"This is Conquest in the Philosophick Sense; but the Empire over our selves is, methinks, no less laudable in common Life, where the whole Tenour of a Man's Carriage is in Subservience to his own Reason, and Conformity both to the good Sense and Inclination of other Men."
Metaphor in Context
The Fortitude of a Man who brings his Will to the Obedience of his Reason, is conspicuous, and carries with it a Dignity in the lowest State imaginable. Poor Martius, who now lies languishing in the most violent Fever, discovers in the faintest Moments of his Distemper such a Greatness of Mind, that a perfect Stranger who should now behold him, would indeed see an Object of Pity, but at the same Time that it was lately an Object of Veneration. His gallant Spirit resigns, but resigns with an Air that speaks a Resolution which could yield to nothing but Fate it self. This is Conquest in the Philosophick Sense; but the Empire over our selves is, methinks, no less laudable in common Life, where the whole Tenour of a Man's Carriage is in Subservience to his own Reason, and Conformity both to the good Sense and Inclination of other Men.
(III, p. 305; cf. II, p. 461 in Bond ed.)
Provenance
ECCO-TCP
Citation
Over 50 entries in the ESTC (1709, 1710, 1711, 1712, 1713, 1716, 1720, 1723, 1728, 1733, 1737, 1743, 1747, 1749, 1750, 1751, 1752, 1754, 1759, 1764, 1772, 1774, 1776, 1777, 1785, 1786, 1789, 1794, 1795, 1797).

See The Tatler. By Isaac Bickerstaff Esq. Dates of Publication: No. 1 (Tuesday, April 12, 1709.) through No. 271 (From Saturday December 30, to Tuesday January 2, 1710 [i.e. 1711]). <Link to ESTC>

Collected in two volumes, and printed and sold by J. Morphew in 1710, 1711. Also collected and reprinted as The Lucubrations of Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq.

Consulting Donald Bond's edition of The Tatler, 3 vols. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987). Searching and pasting text from The Lucubrations of Isaac Bickerstaff Esq: Revised and Corrected by the Author (London: Printed by John Nutt, and sold by John Morphew, 1712): <Link to Vol. 1><Vol. 2><Vol. 3><Vol. 4><Vol. 5>. Some text also from Project Gutenberg digitization of 1899 edition edited by George A. Aitken.
Date of Entry
03/02/2014

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