Fielding, Henry (1707-1754)

Amelia

London

Printed for A. Millar

1752

"Learning, he said, had the same Effect on the Mind, that strong Liquors have on the Constitution; both tending to eradicate all our natural Fire and Energy."

'When we were upon a good Footing together, he gave me a long Relation of what had past, at several Interviews with my Aunt, at which I had not been present. He said, he had discovered, that as she valued herself chiefly on her Understanding, so she was extremely jealous of mine, and hated me on Account of my Learning. That as he had loved me passionately from his first seeing me, and had thought of Nothing, from that Time, but of throwing himself at my Feet, he saw no Way so open to propitiate my Aunt as that which he had taken; by commending my Beauty, a Perfection to which she had long resigned all Claim, at the Expence of my Understanding, in which he lamented my Deficiency to a Degree almost of Ridicule. This he imputed chiefly to my Learning; on this Occasion he advanced a Sentiment, which so pleased my Aunt, that she thought proper to make it her own: For I heard it afterwards more than once from her own Mouth. Learning, he said, had the same Effect on the Mind, that strong Liquors have on the Constitution; both tending to eradicate all our natural Fire and Energy. His Flattery had made such a Dupe of my Aunt, that she assented, without the least Suspicion of his Sincerity, to all he said; so sure is Vanity to weaken every Fortress of the Understanding, and to betray us to every Attack of the Enemy. (III.vii.5)

Fire Eating and Drinking::Liquor

Searching in HDIS

13 entries in ESTC (1752, 1762, 1771, 1775, 1777, 1780, 1790, 1793).

See Amelia. By Henry Fielding, 4 vols. (London: A. Millar, 1752). <Link to ECCO>

Reading Henry Fielding, Amelia, ed. David Blewett (London: Penguin Books, 1987).

09/14/2009

05/26/2009