"Man in this world, Sir, may be compared to a hackney-coach upon a stand; continually subject to be drawn by his unruly appetites, on one foolish jaunt or another; but you will say, if his appetites are horses, which as it were drag him along, reason is the coachman to rule those horses--But, Sir, when the coachman reason, is drunk with passion--"
— Bickerstaff, Isaac (b. 1733, d. after 1808)
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for W. Griffin
Date
1767
Metaphor
"Man in this world, Sir, may be compared to a hackney-coach upon a stand; continually subject to be drawn by his unruly appetites, on one foolish jaunt or another; but you will say, if his appetites are horses, which as it were drag him along, reason is the coachman to rule those horses--But, Sir, when the coachman reason, is drunk with passion--"
Metaphor in Context
WAGG.
Well but stay darling don't cry--Lord help it, how it's little breast pants and heaves; you say this officer took you away; where did he take you chicken?
PRIS.
To his lodging, for he said he loved me so, he could not live without me, and if I did not comply with his desires, he said, he would kill himself on the spot.
BARN.
Comply with his desires!
PRIS.
I knew now, he would be in a passion.
WAGG.
Contain yourself, worthy, Sir; you hear this young fellow loved her; alas! Mr. Barnacle what is man? Man in this world, Sir, may be compared to a hackney-coach upon a stand; continually subject to be drawn by his unruly appetites, on one foolish jaunt or another; but you will say, if his appetites are horses, which as it were drag him along, reason is the coachman to rule those horses--But, Sir, when the coachman reason, is drunk with passion--
BARN.
Hark you hussy, I have but one question more to ask you, are you ruin'd, or not?
PRIS.
Oh ho--he, he, he.
(III.ii, pp. 50-1)
Well but stay darling don't cry--Lord help it, how it's little breast pants and heaves; you say this officer took you away; where did he take you chicken?
PRIS.
To his lodging, for he said he loved me so, he could not live without me, and if I did not comply with his desires, he said, he would kill himself on the spot.
BARN.
Comply with his desires!
PRIS.
I knew now, he would be in a passion.
WAGG.
Contain yourself, worthy, Sir; you hear this young fellow loved her; alas! Mr. Barnacle what is man? Man in this world, Sir, may be compared to a hackney-coach upon a stand; continually subject to be drawn by his unruly appetites, on one foolish jaunt or another; but you will say, if his appetites are horses, which as it were drag him along, reason is the coachman to rule those horses--But, Sir, when the coachman reason, is drunk with passion--
BARN.
Hark you hussy, I have but one question more to ask you, are you ruin'd, or not?
PRIS.
Oh ho--he, he, he.
(III.ii, pp. 50-1)
Categories
Citation
First performed February 21, 1767. At least 4 entries in ESTC (1767).
Love in the City; a Comic Opera. As It Is Performed at the Theatre Royal in Covent-Garden. The Words Written, and the Music Compiled by the Author of Love in a Village. (London: Printed for W. Griffin, in Catharine-Street, in the Strand, 1767). <Link to ESTC>
Love in the City; a Comic Opera. As It Is Performed at the Theatre Royal in Covent-Garden. The Words Written, and the Music Compiled by the Author of Love in a Village. (London: Printed for W. Griffin, in Catharine-Street, in the Strand, 1767). <Link to ESTC>
Date of Entry
06/22/2004
Date of Review
04/19/2012
