Appetite is "the despotic Ruler of our Souls and Bodies

— Johnson, Charles (1679?-1748)


Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for Jacob Tonson
Date
1712
Metaphor
Appetite is "the despotic Ruler of our Souls and Bodies
Metaphor in Context
RIOT.
Let me see; Why do I use this Woman thus horribly? She had, when I marry'd her, a good stock of Mony and Beauty, both which she sacrific'd to me, as to the Grave or the Seas, without the hopes of a Return--What then--'tis not Gratitude but Restraint, and Fasting that sets the edge of our Stomach: She has given me All--Aye--that All's the Devil--my Desires are satisfied, and I have not a Drachm of Expectation left--Fancy governs the Blood--and when the Imagination is cloy'd, Reason is a Slave to Appetite-- the despotic Ruler of our Souls and Bodies--Now Cynthia is always the same Tune, the same Object, the same Dish-- that is, the same Woman,--How now, Jack?
Categories
Provenance
Searching "rule" and "reason" in HDIS (Drama)
Citation
At least 4 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1712, 1727, 1736).

The Wife's Relief: or, The Husband's Cure. A Comedy. As it is Acted at the Theatre-Royal in Drury-Lane, by Her Majesty's Servants. Written by Mr. Cha. Johnson (London: Printed for Jacob Tonson, at Shakespear’s Head over-against Catherine-street in the Strand, 1712). <Link to ESTC>
Date of Entry
06/22/2004

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