"All the senses, like the family at Harlowe-Place, in a confederacy against that which would animate, and give honour to the whole, were it allowed its proper precedence"
— Richardson, Samuel (bap. 1689, d. 1761)
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for S. Richardson
Date
1751
Metaphor
"All the senses, like the family at Harlowe-Place, in a confederacy against that which would animate, and give honour to the whole, were it allowed its proper precedence"
Metaphor in Context
I am pleased with Mr. Hickman, I can tell you: -- For he has sent her two guineas by the person who carries Mr. Lovelace's five, as from an unknown hand: Nor am I, or you, to know it. But he does a great many things of this sort; and is as silent as the night in his charities; for nobody knows of them, till the gratitude of the benefited will not let them be concealed. He is now-and-then my almoner, and I believe always adds to my little benefactions.
But his time is not come to be praised to his face for these things; nor does he seem to want that encouragement.
The man has certainly a good mind. Nor can we expect in one man every good quality. But he is really a silly fellow, my dear, to trouble his head about me, when he sees how much I despise his whole Sex; and must of course make a common man look like a fool, were he not to make himself look like one, by wishing to pitch his tent so oddly. Our likings and dislikings, as I have often thought, are seldom governed by prudence, or with a view to happiness. The eye, my dear, the wicked eye--has such a strict alliance with the heart--And both have such enmity to the judgment! --What an unequal union, the mind and body! All the senses, like the family at Harlowe-Place, in a confederacy against that which would animate, and give honour to the whole, were it allowed its proper precedence.
(pp. 187-8)
But his time is not come to be praised to his face for these things; nor does he seem to want that encouragement.
The man has certainly a good mind. Nor can we expect in one man every good quality. But he is really a silly fellow, my dear, to trouble his head about me, when he sees how much I despise his whole Sex; and must of course make a common man look like a fool, were he not to make himself look like one, by wishing to pitch his tent so oddly. Our likings and dislikings, as I have often thought, are seldom governed by prudence, or with a view to happiness. The eye, my dear, the wicked eye--has such a strict alliance with the heart--And both have such enmity to the judgment! --What an unequal union, the mind and body! All the senses, like the family at Harlowe-Place, in a confederacy against that which would animate, and give honour to the whole, were it allowed its proper precedence.
(pp. 187-8)
Categories
Provenance
Searching in HDIS (Prose)
Citation
Printed in three installments in 1747-8. Over 25 entries in ESTC (1751, 1759, 1764, 1765, 1768, 1772, 1774, 1780, 1784, 1785, 1788, 1790, 1791, 1792, 1794, 1795, 1798, 1800).
Samuel Richardson, Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. In Eight Volumes. To each of which is added a Table of Contents. The Third Edition. In which Many Passages and Some Letters are Restored from the Original Manuscripts. And to Which is Added, an Ample Collection of such of the Moral and Instructive Sentiments Interspersed Throughout the Work, as may be Presumed to be of General Use and Service, 3rd ed., 8 vols. (London: Printed for S. Richardson, 1751). <Link to ESTC><Link to ECCO>
Samuel Richardson, Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: Comprehending the Most Important Concerns of Private Life. In Eight Volumes. To each of which is added a Table of Contents. The Third Edition. In which Many Passages and Some Letters are Restored from the Original Manuscripts. And to Which is Added, an Ample Collection of such of the Moral and Instructive Sentiments Interspersed Throughout the Work, as may be Presumed to be of General Use and Service, 3rd ed., 8 vols. (London: Printed for S. Richardson, 1751). <Link to ESTC><Link to ECCO>
Date of Entry
11/17/2004
