"He is now reduced to the greatest want and beggary, he is become a meer tabula rasa, a sheet of blank paper, a page of perfect inanity."
— Campbell, Archibald (bap. 1724, d. 1780)
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed, and sold by the booksellers in London and Westminster
Date
1767
Metaphor
"He is now reduced to the greatest want and beggary, he is become a meer tabula rasa, a sheet of blank paper, a page of perfect inanity."
Metaphor in Context
MERCURY
Ay gentlemen, that's it. Apollo has hit the nail on the head. Doctor J---n has indeed been robbed and plundered with a vengeance. He is now reduced to the greatest want and beggary, he is become a meer tabula rasa, a sheet of blank paper, a page of perfect inanity. He has lost--- [end page 55]
AUDIENCE
What has he lost his pension? Have any of our great patriots and oeconomists taken That from him.
MERCURY
No, but some people have taken that from him which is of greater value than his pension. He has lost that which procured him his pension. He has lost all his powers.
AUDIENCE
What powers? His corporeal or intellectual powers.
MERCURY
All his powers. His powers of all sorts shapes, and sizes. His particular powers of dolourous declammation, his patron powers of literature, his powers of celebration in the cause of his patron, his powers--
(pp. 55-6)
Ay gentlemen, that's it. Apollo has hit the nail on the head. Doctor J---n has indeed been robbed and plundered with a vengeance. He is now reduced to the greatest want and beggary, he is become a meer tabula rasa, a sheet of blank paper, a page of perfect inanity. He has lost--- [end page 55]
AUDIENCE
What has he lost his pension? Have any of our great patriots and oeconomists taken That from him.
MERCURY
No, but some people have taken that from him which is of greater value than his pension. He has lost that which procured him his pension. He has lost all his powers.
AUDIENCE
What powers? His corporeal or intellectual powers.
MERCURY
All his powers. His powers of all sorts shapes, and sizes. His particular powers of dolourous declammation, his patron powers of literature, his powers of celebration in the cause of his patron, his powers--
(pp. 55-6)
Categories
Provenance
Searching "tabula rasa" in ECCO
Citation
Archibald Campbell, The Sale of Authors, a Dialogue, in Imitation of Lucian's Sale of Philosophers (London, 1767). <Link to ECCO><Link to Hathi Trust>
Theme
Blank Slate
Date of Entry
10/13/2006
