"The first ingredient toward the art of canting, is, a competent share of inward light; that is to say, a large memory plentifully fraught with theological polysyllables, and mysterious texts from holy writ, applied and digested by those methods and mechanical operations already related: the bearers of this light resembling lanterns* compact of leaves from old Geneva Bibles; which invention, Sir H[u]mphrey Edw[i]n, during his mayoralty, of happy memory, highly approved and advanced, affirming the Scripture to be now fulfilled where it says, Thy word is a lantern to my feet, and a light to my paths."
— Swift, Jonathan (1667-1745)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Date
1704
Metaphor
"The first ingredient toward the art of canting, is, a competent share of inward light; that is to say, a large memory plentifully fraught with theological polysyllables, and mysterious texts from holy writ, applied and digested by those methods and mechanical operations already related: the bearers of this light resembling lanterns* compact of leaves from old Geneva Bibles; which invention, Sir H[u]mphrey Edw[i]n, during his mayoralty, of happy memory, highly approved and advanced, affirming the Scripture to be now fulfilled where it says, Thy word is a lantern to my feet, and a light to my paths."
Metaphor in Context
The first ingredient toward the art of canting, is, a competent share of inward light; that is to say, a large memory plentifully fraught with theological polysyllables, and mysterious texts from holy writ, applied and digested by those methods and mechanical operations already related: the bearers of this light resembling lanterns* compact of leaves from old Geneva Bibles; which invention, Sir H[u]mphrey Edw[i]n, during his mayoralty, of happy memory, highly approved and advanced, affirming the Scripture to be now fulfilled where it says, Thy word is a lantern to my feet, and a light to my paths.
(p. 135)
(p. 135)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
More than 40 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1704, 1705, 1710, 1711, 1720, 1724, 1726, 1727, 1733, 1734, 1739, 1741, 1743, 1747, 1750, 1751, 1752, 1753, 1754, 1756, 1760, 1761, 1762, 1766, 1768, 1769, 1771, 1772, 1774, 1776, 1781, 1784, 1798).
Reading Jonathan Swift, A Tale of a Tub and Other Works, eds. Angus Ross and David Woolley. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986). Some text drawn from ebooks@Adelaide.
Note, the textual history is complicated. First published May 10, 1704. The second edition of 1704 and the fifth of 1710 include new material. Ross and Woolley's text is an eclectic one, based on the three authoritative editions.
See A Tale of a Tub. Written for the Universal Improvement of Mankind. To Which Is Added, an Account of a Battel Between the Antient and Modern Books in St. James's Library, 2nd edition, corrected (London: Printed for John Nutt, 1704). <Link to ESTC>
Reading Jonathan Swift, A Tale of a Tub and Other Works, eds. Angus Ross and David Woolley. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986). Some text drawn from ebooks@Adelaide.
Note, the textual history is complicated. First published May 10, 1704. The second edition of 1704 and the fifth of 1710 include new material. Ross and Woolley's text is an eclectic one, based on the three authoritative editions.
See A Tale of a Tub. Written for the Universal Improvement of Mankind. To Which Is Added, an Account of a Battel Between the Antient and Modern Books in St. James's Library, 2nd edition, corrected (London: Printed for John Nutt, 1704). <Link to ESTC>
Date of Entry
07/09/2009
