"Let him not intrude upon the company of men of science; but repose with his brethren Aquinas and Suarez, in the corner of some Gothic cloister, dark as his understanding, and cold as his heart."
— Beattie, James (1735-1803)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
Edinburgh
Publisher
Printed for A. Kincaid & J. Bell. Sold, at London, by E. & C. Dilly
Date
1770
Metaphor
"Let him not intrude upon the company of men of science; but repose with his brethren Aquinas and Suarez, in the corner of some Gothic cloister, dark as his understanding, and cold as his heart."
Metaphor in Context
Many will think, that there is but little merit in this declaration; it being as much for my own credit, as for the interest of mankind, that I guard against a practice, which is acknowledged to be always unprofitable, and generally pernicious. A verbal disputant! what claim can he have to the title of Philosopher! what has he to do with the laws of nature, with the observation of facts, with life and manners! Let him not intrude upon the company of men of science; but repose with his brethren Aquinas and Suarez, in the corner of some Gothic cloister, dark as his understanding, and cold as his heart. Men are now become too judicious to be amused with words, and too firm-minded to be confuted with quibbles.--Many of my contemporaries would readily join in this apostrophe, who yet are themselves the dupes of some of the most egregious dealers in logomachy that ever perverted the faculty of speech. In fact, from some instances that have occurred to my own observation, I have reason to believe, that verbal controversy hath not always, even in this age, been accounted a contemptible thing: and the reader, when he comes to be better acquainted with my sentiments, will perhaps think the foregoing declaration more disinterested, than at first fight it may appear.
(pp. 2-3)
(pp. 2-3)
Categories
Provenance
Searching in Google Books
Citation
10 entries in ESTC (1770, 1771, 1772, 1773, 1774, 1777, 1778).
Beattie, James. An Essay on the Nature and Immutability of Truth; in Opposition to Sophistry and Scepticism (Edinburgh: A Kincaid & J. Bell, 1770). <Link to ECCO>
Text from corrected and enlarged second edition of 1771. <Link to Google Books>
Beattie, James. An Essay on the Nature and Immutability of Truth; in Opposition to Sophistry and Scepticism (Edinburgh: A Kincaid & J. Bell, 1770). <Link to ECCO>
Text from corrected and enlarged second edition of 1771. <Link to Google Books>
Date of Entry
09/29/2011
