The "small channels" of wit and judgment may "seem quite dried up,--then all of a sudden the sluices shall break out, and take a fit of running again like fury,--you would think they would never stop."
— Sterne, Laurence (1713-1768)
Author
Date
1760-7
Metaphor
The "small channels" of wit and judgment may "seem quite dried up,--then all of a sudden the sluices shall break out, and take a fit of running again like fury,--you would think they would never stop."
Metaphor in Context
Now, Sir, if I conduct you home again into this warmer and more luxuriant island, where you perceive the spring tide of our blood and humours runs high, --where we have more ambition, and pride, and envy, and lechery, and other whoreson passions upon our hands to govern and subject to reason,--the height of our wit and the depth of our judgment, you see, are exactly proportioned to thelength and breadth of our necessities,--and accordingly, we have them sent down amongst us in such a flowing kind of decent and creditable plenty, that no one thinks he has any cause to complain.
It must however be confessed on this head, that, as our air blows hot and cold,--wet and dry, ten times in a day, we have them in no regular and settled way;--so that sometimes for near half a century together, there shall be very little wit or judgment, either to be seen or heard of amongst us:--the small channels of them shall seem quite dried up,--then all of a sudden the sluices shall break out, and take a fit of running again like fury,--you would think they would never stop:--and then it is, that in writing and fighting, and twenty other gallant things, we drive all the world before us.
(pp. 95-6, Norton, 143)
It must however be confessed on this head, that, as our air blows hot and cold,--wet and dry, ten times in a day, we have them in no regular and settled way;--so that sometimes for near half a century together, there shall be very little wit or judgment, either to be seen or heard of amongst us:--the small channels of them shall seem quite dried up,--then all of a sudden the sluices shall break out, and take a fit of running again like fury,--you would think they would never stop:--and then it is, that in writing and fighting, and twenty other gallant things, we drive all the world before us.
(pp. 95-6, Norton, 143)
Categories
Provenance
Searching in HDIS (Prose)
Citation
At least 82 entries in ESTC (1759, 1760, 1761, 1762, 1763, 1765, 1767, 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, 1773, 1774, 1775, 1776, 1777, 1779, 1780, 1781, 1782, 1783, 1786, 1788, 1791, 1792, 1793, 1794, 1795, 1796, 1798, 1799, 1800). Complicated publication history: vols. 1 and 2 published in London January 1, 1760. Vols. 3, 4, 5, and 6 published in 1761. Vols. 7 and 8 published in 1765. Vol. 9 published in 1767.
See Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, 9 vols. (London: Printed for D. Lynch, 1760-1767). <Link to ECCO><Link to 1759 York edition in ECCO>
First two volumes available in ECCO-TCP: <Vol. 1><Vol. 2>. Most text drawn from second (London) edition <Link to LION>.
For vols. 3-4, see ESTC T14705 <R. and J. Dodsley, 1761>. For vols. 5-6, see ESTC T14706 <T. Becket and P. A. Dehondt, 1762>. For vols. 7-8, see ESTC T14820 <T. Becket and P. A. Dehont, 1765>. For vol. 9, <T. Becket and P. A. Dehondt, 1767>.
Reading in Laurence Sterne, Tristram Shandy: An Authoritative Text, Backgrounds and Sources, Criticism, Ed. Howard Anderson (New York: Norton, 1980).
See Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, 9 vols. (London: Printed for D. Lynch, 1760-1767). <Link to ECCO><Link to 1759 York edition in ECCO>
First two volumes available in ECCO-TCP: <Vol. 1><Vol. 2>. Most text drawn from second (London) edition <Link to LION>.
For vols. 3-4, see ESTC T14705 <R. and J. Dodsley, 1761>. For vols. 5-6, see ESTC T14706 <T. Becket and P. A. Dehondt, 1762>. For vols. 7-8, see ESTC T14820 <T. Becket and P. A. Dehont, 1765>. For vol. 9, <T. Becket and P. A. Dehondt, 1767>.
Reading in Laurence Sterne, Tristram Shandy: An Authoritative Text, Backgrounds and Sources, Criticism, Ed. Howard Anderson (New York: Norton, 1980).
Theme
Wit and Judgment
Date of Entry
11/17/2004
Date of Review
09/23/2011
