"They who overlook the main Springs of Action, and despise the Thought of Numbers and Proportion in a Life at large, will in the mean Particulars of it, be no less taken up, and engag'd; as either in the Study of common Arts, or in the Care and Culture of mere mechanick Beautys. The Models of Houses, Buildings, and their accompanying Ornaments; the Plans of Gardens and their Compartments; the ordering of Walks, Plantations, Avenues; and a thousand other Symmetrys, will succeed in the room of that happier and higher Symmetry and Order of a Mind."
— Cooper, Anthony Ashley, third earl of Shaftesbury (1671-1713)
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for Egbert Sanger
Date
1709, 1714
Metaphor
"They who overlook the main Springs of Action, and despise the Thought of Numbers and Proportion in a Life at large, will in the mean Particulars of it, be no less taken up, and engag'd; as either in the Study of common Arts, or in the Care and Culture of mere mechanick Beautys. The Models of Houses, Buildings, and their accompanying Ornaments; the Plans of Gardens and their Compartments; the ordering of Walks, Plantations, Avenues; and a thousand other Symmetrys, will succeed in the room of that happier and higher Symmetry and Order of a Mind."
Metaphor in Context
Nor can the Men of cooler Passions, and more deliberate Pursuits, withstand the Force of Beauty, in other kinds. Every one is a Virtuoso, of a higher or lower degree: Every one pursues a GRACE, and courts a VENUS of one kind or another. The Venustum, the Honestum, the Decorum of Things, will force its way. They who refuse to give it Scope in the nobler Subjects of a rational and moral kind, will find its Prevalency elsewhere, in an inferiour Order of Things. They who overlook the main Springs of Action, and despise the Thought of Numbers and Proportion in a Life at large, will in the mean Particulars of it, be no less taken up, and engag'd; as either in the Study of common Arts, or in the Care and Culture of mere mechanick Beautys. The Models of Houses, Buildings, and their accompanying Ornaments; the Plans of Gardens and their Compartments; the ordering of Walks, Plantations, Avenues; and a thousand other Symmetrys, will succeed in the room of that happier and higher Symmetry and Order of a Mind. The Species of Fair, Noble, Handsom, will discover it-self on a thousand Occasions, and in a thousand Subjects. The Specter still will haunt us, in some Shape or other: and when driven from our cool Thoughts, and frighted from the Closet, will meet us even at Court, and fill our Heads with Dreams of Grandure, Titles, Honours, and a false Magnificence and Beauty; to which we are ready to sacrifice our highest Pleasure and Ease; and for the sake of which, we become the merest Drudges, and most abject Slaves.
(pp. 138-9; p. 64 in Klein)
(pp. 138-9; p. 64 in Klein)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
A complicated publication history. At least 10 entries in ESTC (1709, 1711, 1714, 1733, 1744, 1751, 1757, 1758, 1773, 1790).
See Sensus Communis, An Essay on the Freedom of Wit and Humour in a Letter to a Friend. (London: Printed for Egbert Sanger, 1709). <Link to ESTC><Link to ECCO>
See also "Sensus Communis, An Essay on the Freedom of Wit and Humour in a Letter to a Friend" in Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times. In Three Volumes. (London: John Darby, 1711). <Link to ESTC>
Some text drawn from ECCO, most from Anthony Ashley Cooper, Third Earl of Shaftesbury. Characteristics of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times, ed. Lawrence E. Klein (Cambridge: CUP, 2001). Klein's text is based on the British Library's copy of the second edition of 1714. [Texts to be collated.]
See Sensus Communis, An Essay on the Freedom of Wit and Humour in a Letter to a Friend. (London: Printed for Egbert Sanger, 1709). <Link to ESTC><Link to ECCO>
See also "Sensus Communis, An Essay on the Freedom of Wit and Humour in a Letter to a Friend" in Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times. In Three Volumes. (London: John Darby, 1711). <Link to ESTC>
Some text drawn from ECCO, most from Anthony Ashley Cooper, Third Earl of Shaftesbury. Characteristics of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times, ed. Lawrence E. Klein (Cambridge: CUP, 2001). Klein's text is based on the British Library's copy of the second edition of 1714. [Texts to be collated.]
Date of Entry
07/09/2013
