"In reality, has not every Fancy a like Privilege of passing; if any single one be admitted upon its own Authority? And what must be the Issue of such an Oeconomy, if the whole fantastick Crew be introduc'd, and the Door refus'd to none?"

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


Place of Publication
London
Publisher
John Morphew
Date
1710, 1714
Metaphor
"In reality, has not every Fancy a like Privilege of passing; if any single one be admitted upon its own Authority? And what must be the Issue of such an Oeconomy, if the whole fantastick Crew be introduc'd, and the Door refus'd to none?"
Metaphor in Context
In reality, has not every Fancy a like Privilege of passing; if any single one be admitted upon its own Authority? And what must be the Issue of such an Oeconomy, if the whole fantastick Crew be introduc'd, and the Door refus'd to none? What else is it but this Management which leads to the most dissolute and profligate of Characters? What is it, on the contrary, that raises us to any degree of Worth or Steddiness, but a direct contrary Practice and Conduct? Can there be Strength of Mind; can there be Command over one's self; if the Ideas of Pleasure, the Suggestions of Fancy, and the strong Pleadings of Appetite and Desire are not often withstood, and the Imaginations soundly reprimanded, and brought under Subjection?
(p. 312; p. 139 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.]
Date of Entry
07/10/2013

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