"Those on the side of the elder Brother Appetite, are strangely subtile and insinuating. They have always the Faculty to speak by Nods and Winks. By this practice they conceal half their meaning, and like modern Politicians pass for deeply wise, and adorn themselves with the finest Pretexts and most specious Glosses imaginable; till being confronted with their Fellows of a plainer Language and Expression, they are forc'd to quit their mysterious Manner, and discover themselves mere Sophisters and Impostors, who have not the least to do with the Party of Reason and good Sense."
— Cooper, Anthony Ashley, third earl of Shaftesbury (1671-1713)
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
John Morphew
Date
1710, 1714
Metaphor
"Those on the side of the elder Brother Appetite, are strangely subtile and insinuating. They have always the Faculty to speak by Nods and Winks. By this practice they conceal half their meaning, and like modern Politicians pass for deeply wise, and adorn themselves with the finest Pretexts and most specious Glosses imaginable; till being confronted with their Fellows of a plainer Language and Expression, they are forc'd to quit their mysterious Manner, and discover themselves mere Sophisters and Impostors, who have not the least to do with the Party of Reason and good Sense."
Metaphor in Context
And here it is that our Sovereign Remedy and Gymnastick Method of Soliloquy takes its Rise: when by a certain powerful Figure of inward Rhetorick, the Mind apostrophizes its own Fancys, raises'em in their proper Shapes and Personages, and addresses 'em familiarly, without the least Ceremony or Respect. By this means it will soon happen that Two form'd Partys will erect themselves within. For the Imaginations or Fancys being thus roundly treated, are forc'd to declare themselves, and take Party. Those on the side of the elder Brother Appetite, are strangely subtile and insinuating. They have always the Faculty to speak by Nods and Winks. By this practice they conceal half their meaning, and like modern Politicians pass for deeply wise, and adorn themselves with the finest Pretexts and most specious Glosses imaginable; till being confronted with their Fellows of a plainer Language and Expression, they are forc'd to quit their mysterious Manner, and discover themselves mere Sophisters and Impostors, who have not the least to do with the Party of Reason and good Sense.
(pp. 188; pp. 84-5 in Klein)
(pp. 188; pp. 84-5 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.]
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
11/06/2003
