"Those Persons, indeed, who have passed any Time behind the Scenes of this great Theatre, and are thoroughly acquainted not only with the several Disguises which are there put on, but also with the fantastic and capricious Behaviour of the Passions who are the Managers and Directors of this Theatre, (for as to Reason the Patentee, he is known to be a very idle Fellow, and seldom to exert himself) may most probably have learned to construe the famous Nil admirari of Horace, or in the English Phrase, To stare at nothing."
— Fielding, Henry (1707-1754)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for A. Millar
Date
1749
Metaphor
"Those Persons, indeed, who have passed any Time behind the Scenes of this great Theatre, and are thoroughly acquainted not only with the several Disguises which are there put on, but also with the fantastic and capricious Behaviour of the Passions who are the Managers and Directors of this Theatre, (for as to Reason the Patentee, he is known to be a very idle Fellow, and seldom to exert himself) may most probably have learned to construe the famous Nil admirari of Horace, or in the English Phrase, To stare at nothing."
Metaphor in Context
Now we, who are admitted behind the Scenes of this great Theatre of Nature, (and no Author ought to write any Thing besides Dictionaries and Spelling-Books who hath not this Privilege) can censure the Action, without conceiving any absolute Detestation of the Person, whom perhaps Nature may not have designed to act an ill Part in all her Dramas: For in this Instance, Life most exactly resembles the Stage, since it is often the same Person who represents the Villain and the Heroe; and he who engages your Admiration Today, will probably attract your Contempt To-Morrow. As Garrick, whom I regard in Tragedy to be the greatest Genius the World hath ever produced, sometimes condescends to play the Fool; so did Scipio the Great and Lælius the Wise, according to Horace, many Years ago: nay,Cicero reports them to have been 'incredibly childish.' --These, it is true play'd the Fool, like my Friend Garrick, in Jest only; but several eminent Characters have, in numberless Instances of their Lives, played the Fool egregiously in Earnest; so far as to render it a Matter of some Doubt, whether [Page 8] their Wisdom or Folly was predominant; or whether they were better intitled to the Applause or Censure, the Admiration or Contempt, the Love or Hatred of Mankind.
Those Persons, indeed, who have passed any Time behind the Scenes of this great Theatre, and are thoroughly acquainted not only with the several Disguises which are there put on, but also with the fantastic and capricious Behaviour of the Passions who are the Managers and Directors of this Theatre, (for as to Reason the Patentee, he is known to be a very idle Fellow, and seldom to exert himself) may most probably have learned to construe the famous Nil admirari of Horace, or in the English Phrase, To stare at nothing.
Those Persons, indeed, who have passed any Time behind the Scenes of this great Theatre, and are thoroughly acquainted not only with the several Disguises which are there put on, but also with the fantastic and capricious Behaviour of the Passions who are the Managers and Directors of this Theatre, (for as to Reason the Patentee, he is known to be a very idle Fellow, and seldom to exert himself) may most probably have learned to construe the famous Nil admirari of Horace, or in the English Phrase, To stare at nothing.
Provenance
Searching "passion" and "theat" in HDIS (Prose)
Citation
Over 75 entries in the ESTC (1749, 1750, 1751, 1759, 1763, 1764, 1765, 1766, 1767, 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1773, 1774, 1775, 1776, 1777, 1780, 1782, 1783, 1784, 1786, 1787, 1789, 1791, 1792, 1794, 1795, 1797, 1800).
See The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. In Six Volumes. By Henry Fielding. (London: Printed for A. Millar, 1749). <Link to ECCO><Link to LION>
See also three-volume Dublin edition in ECCO-TCP <Link to Vol. I in ECCO-TCP><Vol. II><Vol. III>
Reading The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. Norton Critical Edition, ed. Sheridan W. Baker. (New York: W. W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1973).
Also reading Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, eds. John Bender and Simon Stern (Oxford: OUP, 1996).
See The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. In Six Volumes. By Henry Fielding. (London: Printed for A. Millar, 1749). <Link to ECCO><Link to LION>
See also three-volume Dublin edition in ECCO-TCP <Link to Vol. I in ECCO-TCP><Vol. II><Vol. III>
Reading The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. Norton Critical Edition, ed. Sheridan W. Baker. (New York: W. W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1973).
Also reading Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, eds. John Bender and Simon Stern (Oxford: OUP, 1996).
Date of Entry
04/13/2006
