Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)

Rambler, No. 103

Tuesday, March 12, 1751

"[T]hey therefore flattered his vanity, applauded his discoveries, and listened with submissive modesty to his lectures on the uncertainty of inclination, the weakness of resolves, and the instability of temper, to his account of the various motives which agitate the mind, and his ridicule of the modern dream of a ruling passion."

Though his friends did not discover to what purpose all these observations were collected, or how Nugaculus would much improve his virtue or his fortune by an incessant attention to changes of countenance, bursts of inconsideration, sallies of passion, and all the other casualties by which he used to trace a character, yet they could not deny the study of human nature to be worthy of a wise man; they therefore flattered his vanity, applauded his discoveries, and listened with submissive modesty to his lectures on the uncertainty of inclination, the weakness of resolves, and the instability of temper, to his account of the various motives which agitate the mind, and his ridicule of the modern dream of a ruling passion.
(p. 301)

Government::Rule and Subjection::Rule of Passion

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Originally published semiweekly in 208 folio numbers: London: John Payne and J. Bouquet, 1750-1752. At least 46 entries in ESTC (1750, 1751, 1752, 1756, 1761, 1763, 1767, 1771, 1772, 1776, 1779, 1781, 1783, 1784, 1785, 1789, 1791, 1793, 1794, 1795, 1796, 1798, 1799, 1800).

Text from Samuel Johnson, Works of Samuel Johnson (Troy, NY: Pafraets Book Company, 1903). Prepared by Charles Keller for UVa E-Text Center, 1995. <Link to UVa E-Text Center>

Ruling Passion

05/26/2011