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"or, as a certain very eminent Author well observes, Fools having generally stronger Nerves, and less volatile Spirits, than Men of fine Understandings, that which will rouse the one, will make the other either stupid or frantick; and tho' it sometimes, while the Fit continues, strengthens the Imagination, yet it always depresses the Judgment; and, after the Fit is over, both those Faculties languish together, till, in time, it quenches the Imagination, impairs the Memory, and drowns the Judgment."

— Richardson, Samuel (bap. 1689, d. 1761)

Author

Richardson, Samuel (bap. 1689, d. 1761)

Work Title

Letters Written to and for Particular Friends, On the most lmportant Occasions. Directing not only the Requisite Style and Forms To be Observed in Writing Familiar Letters; But how to Think and Act Justly and Prudently, in the Common Concerns of Human Life. Containing One Hundred and Seventy-three Letters. The Fourth Edition

Place of Publication

London

Publisher

Printed for J. Osborn, ... J. and J. Rivington, ... and J. Leake, [etc.]

Date

1750

Metaphor

"or, as a certain very eminent Author well observes, Fools having generally stronger Nerves, and less volatile Spirits, than Men of fine Understandings, that which will rouse the one, will make the other either stupid or frantick; and tho' it sometimes, while the Fit continues, strengthens the Imagination, yet it always depresses the Judgment; and, after the Fit is over, both those Faculties languish together, till, in time, it quenches the Imagination, impairs the Memory, and drowns the Judgment."

Metaphor in Context

Then, in the second Place; How does it deface Reason, destroy all the tender Impulses of Nature, make a wise Man a Fool, and subject Persons of the brightest Parts to the Contempt of the weakest, and even, in time, extinguish those shining Qualities which constitute the Difference between a Man of Sense and a Blockhead! For, as a certain very eminent Author well observes, Fools having generally stronger Nerves, and less volatile Spirits, than Men of fine Understandings, that which will rouse the one, will make the other either stupid or frantick; and tho' it sometimes, while the Fit continues, strengthens the Imagination, yet it always depresses the Judgment; and, after the Fit is over, both those Faculties languish together, till, in time, it quenches the Imagination, impairs the Memory, and drowns the Judgment.