"Of beasts, it is confessed, the ape / Comes nearest us in human shape; / Like man he imitates each fashion, / And malice is his ruling passion; / But both in malice and grimaces / A courtier any ape surpasses"
— Goldsmith, Oliver (1728?-1774)
Work Title
Date
October, 1759
Metaphor
"Of beasts, it is confessed, the ape / Comes nearest us in human shape; / Like man he imitates each fashion, / And malice is his ruling passion; / But both in malice and grimaces / A courtier any ape surpasses"
Metaphor in Context
Logicians have but ill defined
As rational, the human kind;
Reason, they say, belongs to man,
But let them prove it if they can.
Wise Aristotle and Smiglesius,
By ratiocinations specious,
Have strove to prove with great precision,
With definition and division,
Homo est ratione praeditum;
But for my soul I cannot credit 'em.
And must in spite of them maintain
That man and all his ways are vain;
And that this boasted lord of nature
Is both a weak and erring creature;
That instinct is a surer guide
Than reason-boasting mortals' pride;
And that brute beasts are far before 'em,
Deus est anima brutorum.
Who ever knew an honest brute
At law his neighbour prosecute,
Bring action for assault and battery,
Or friend beguile with lies and flattery?
O'er plains they ramble unconfined,
No politics disturb their mind;
They eat their meals and take their sport,
Nor know who's in or out at court;
They never to the levee go
To treat as dearest friend a foe;
They never importune his grace,
Nor ever cringe to men in place;
Nor undertake a dirty job,
Nor draw the quill to write for B*b.
Fraught with invective they ne'er go
To folks at Pater-Noster-Row;
No judges, fiddlers, dancing-masters,
No pickpockets or poetasters,
Are known to honest quadrupeds;
No single brute his fellows leads.
Brutes never meet in bloody fray,
Nor cut each others' throats for pay.
Of beasts, it is confessed, the ape
Comes nearest us in human shape;
Like man he imitates each fashion,
And malice is his ruling passion;
But both in malice and grimaces
A courtier any ape surpasses.
Behold him, humbly cringing, wait
Upon a minister of state;
View him soon after to inferiors
Aping the conduct of superiors:
He promises with equal air,
And to perform takes equal care.
He in his turn finds imitators;
At court, the porters, lacqueys, waiters,
Their master's manners still contract,
And footmen, lords and dukes can act.
Thus at the court both great and small
Behave alike, for all ape all.
As rational, the human kind;
Reason, they say, belongs to man,
But let them prove it if they can.
Wise Aristotle and Smiglesius,
By ratiocinations specious,
Have strove to prove with great precision,
With definition and division,
Homo est ratione praeditum;
But for my soul I cannot credit 'em.
And must in spite of them maintain
That man and all his ways are vain;
And that this boasted lord of nature
Is both a weak and erring creature;
That instinct is a surer guide
Than reason-boasting mortals' pride;
And that brute beasts are far before 'em,
Deus est anima brutorum.
Who ever knew an honest brute
At law his neighbour prosecute,
Bring action for assault and battery,
Or friend beguile with lies and flattery?
O'er plains they ramble unconfined,
No politics disturb their mind;
They eat their meals and take their sport,
Nor know who's in or out at court;
They never to the levee go
To treat as dearest friend a foe;
They never importune his grace,
Nor ever cringe to men in place;
Nor undertake a dirty job,
Nor draw the quill to write for B*b.
Fraught with invective they ne'er go
To folks at Pater-Noster-Row;
No judges, fiddlers, dancing-masters,
No pickpockets or poetasters,
Are known to honest quadrupeds;
No single brute his fellows leads.
Brutes never meet in bloody fray,
Nor cut each others' throats for pay.
Of beasts, it is confessed, the ape
Comes nearest us in human shape;
Like man he imitates each fashion,
And malice is his ruling passion;
But both in malice and grimaces
A courtier any ape surpasses.
Behold him, humbly cringing, wait
Upon a minister of state;
View him soon after to inferiors
Aping the conduct of superiors:
He promises with equal air,
And to perform takes equal care.
He in his turn finds imitators;
At court, the porters, lacqueys, waiters,
Their master's manners still contract,
And footmen, lords and dukes can act.
Thus at the court both great and small
Behave alike, for all ape all.
Provenance
Searching "ruling passion" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
At least 22 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1759, 1762, 1778, 1780, 1786, 1787, 1788, 1791, 1792, 1792, 1793, 1794, 1795, 1796, 1799, 1800). [Also attributed to, and collected with the works of, Jonathan Swift. Lonsdale places it with other "poems of doubtful authenticity."]
First printed in The Busy Bee No. 5, (October, 1759).
Reading Roger Lonsdale's The Poems of Gray, Collins, and Goldsmith (New York: Longman and Norton, 1969).
First printed in The Busy Bee No. 5, (October, 1759).
Reading Roger Lonsdale's The Poems of Gray, Collins, and Goldsmith (New York: Longman and Norton, 1969).
Theme
Ruling Passion
Date of Entry
05/24/2004
Date of Review
06/10/2010
