"Their brain's so cool, their passion seldom burns; / For all's condens'd before the flame returns; The fermentation's of so weak a matter, / The humid damps the fume, and runs it all to water."
— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Date
1701, 1703
Metaphor
"Their brain's so cool, their passion seldom burns; / For all's condens'd before the flame returns; The fermentation's of so weak a matter, / The humid damps the fume, and runs it all to water."
Metaphor in Context
If your mistakes their ill opinion gain,
No merit can their favour reobtain:
And if they're not vindictive in their fury,
'Tis their unconstant temper does secure ye;
Their brain's so cool, their passion seldom burns;
For all's condens'd before the flame returns;
The fermentation's of so weak a matter,
The humid damps the fume, and runs it all to water.
So, tho the inclination may be strong,
They're pleas'd by fits, and never angry long.
(Part II, p. 41, ll. 558-67)
No merit can their favour reobtain:
And if they're not vindictive in their fury,
'Tis their unconstant temper does secure ye;
Their brain's so cool, their passion seldom burns;
For all's condens'd before the flame returns;
The fermentation's of so weak a matter,
The humid damps the fume, and runs it all to water.
So, tho the inclination may be strong,
They're pleas'd by fits, and never angry long.
(Part II, p. 41, ll. 558-67)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
At least 56 entries in ESTC (1701, 1702, 1703, 1704, 1708, 1710, 1711, 1713, 1716, 1717, 1721, 1728, 1730, 1731, 1733, 1740, 1743, 1748, 1749, 1750, 1754, 1755, 1765, 1767, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, 1777, 1778, 1780, 1784, 1786, 1788, 1790, 1795).
See The True-Born Englishman. A Satyr. ([London?]: [s.n.], 1701). <Link to ESTC><Link to ECCO>
See also A True Collection of the Writings of the Author of the True Born English-Man. Corrected By Himself. (London: Printed, and are to be sold by most booksellers in London and Westminster, 1703). <Link to LION>
Over 20 editions in Defoe's lifetime. Also issued as part of: A Collection of the Best English Poetry, by Several Hands, London, 1717. See also 1731 printing "Corrected and enlarg'd by the author" <Link to ESTC>
Reading Daniel Defoe. The True-Born Englishman and Other Writings. Ed. P.N. Furbank and W.R. Owens (New York: Penguin Books, 1997).
See The True-Born Englishman. A Satyr. ([London?]: [s.n.], 1701). <Link to ESTC><Link to ECCO>
See also A True Collection of the Writings of the Author of the True Born English-Man. Corrected By Himself. (London: Printed, and are to be sold by most booksellers in London and Westminster, 1703). <Link to LION>
Over 20 editions in Defoe's lifetime. Also issued as part of: A Collection of the Best English Poetry, by Several Hands, London, 1717. See also 1731 printing "Corrected and enlarg'd by the author" <Link to ESTC>
Reading Daniel Defoe. The True-Born Englishman and Other Writings. Ed. P.N. Furbank and W.R. Owens (New York: Penguin Books, 1997).
Date of Entry
06/08/2010
