"By degrees the reign of fancy is confirmed; she grows first imperious, and in time despotick."
— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)
Author
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for R. and J. Dodsley; and W. Johnston
Date
1759
Metaphor
"By degrees the reign of fancy is confirmed; she grows first imperious, and in time despotick."
Metaphor in Context
In time some particular train of ideas fixes the attention, all other intellectual gratifications are rejected, the mind, in weariness or leisure, recurs constantly to the favourite conception, and feasts on the luscious falsehood whenever she is offended with the bitterness of truth. By degrees the reign of fancy is confirmed; she grows first imperious, and in time despotick. Then fictions begin to operate as realities, false opinions fasten upon the mind, and life passes in dreams of rapture or of anguish.
Provenance
Reading
Citation
At least 37 entries in the ESTC (1759, 1760, 1766, 1768, 1775, 1777, 1783, 1785, 1786, 1787, 1789, 1790, 1791, 1792, 1793, 1794, 1795, 1796, 1798, 1799, 1800).
See The Prince of Abissinia. A Tale. In Two Volumes. (London: Printed for R. and J. Dodsley; and W. Johnston, 1759). <Link to ESTC> <Link to Jack Lynch's online edition>
Reading The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia, ed. Thomas Keymer (Oxford: OUP, 2009).
See The Prince of Abissinia. A Tale. In Two Volumes. (London: Printed for R. and J. Dodsley; and W. Johnston, 1759). <Link to ESTC> <Link to Jack Lynch's online edition>
Reading The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia, ed. Thomas Keymer (Oxford: OUP, 2009).
Date of Entry
01/22/2013
