The "blind Guidance" of a predominant passion may account for "the Success of Knaves, the Calamities of Fools," and "all the miseries in which Men of Sense sometimes involve themsleves"
— Fielding, Henry (1707-1754)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for A. Millar
Date
1752
Metaphor
The "blind Guidance" of a predominant passion may account for "the Success of Knaves, the Calamities of Fools," and "all the miseries in which Men of Sense sometimes involve themsleves"
Metaphor in Context
The various Accidents which befel a very worthy Couple, after their uniting in the State of Matrimony, will be the Subject of the following History. The Distresses which they waded through, were some of them so exquisite, and the Incidents which produced these so extraordinary, that they seemed to require not only the utmost Malice, but the utmost Invention which Superstition hath ever attributed to Fortune: Tho' whether any such Being interfered in the case, or, indeed, whether there be any such Being in the Universe, is a Matter which I by no Means presume to determine in the Affirmative. To speak a bold Truth, I am, after much mature Deliberation, inclined to suspect, that the Public Voice hath in all Ages done much Injustice to Fortune, and hath convicted her of many Facts in which she had not the least Concern. I question much, whether we may not by natural Means account for the Success of Knaves, the Calamities of Fools, with all the Miseries in which Men of Sense sometimes involve themselves by quitting the Directions of Prudence, and following the blind Guidance of a predominant Passion; in short, for all the ordinary Phenomena which are imputed to Fortune; whom, perhaps, Men accuse with no less Absurdity in Life, than a bad Player complains of ill Luck at the Game of Chess.
(I.i.1, pp. 1-2)
(I.i.1, pp. 1-2)
Provenance
Searching HDIS for "predominant passion"
Citation
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).
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).
Theme
Ruling Passion
Date of Entry
06/05/2004
