"Their Imaginations are thin, and delicate; and play lightly on the Skirts of Objects: But they are too weak for solid Reasoning; and, in any Thing abstracted, and above the Pitch of the Senses, they are miserably Impotent, and grow presently weary."
— Hill, Aaron (1685-1750)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Date
Friday, April 17. 1724
Metaphor
"Their Imaginations are thin, and delicate; and play lightly on the Skirts of Objects: But they are too weak for solid Reasoning; and, in any Thing abstracted, and above the Pitch of the Senses, they are miserably Impotent, and grow presently weary."
Metaphor in Context
IT is merely by this Quickness, and Heat of their Imagination, that witty Men surprize us. A smart and sprightly Rhetorick! A humorous Turn of Phrase! A frank Vivacity of Mien! with a modish Affectation of peculiar Looks, and Gesture, make the Merit of their Character. But these Men want, for the most Part, both Strength of Mind, and Penetration. Their Imaginations are thin, and delicate; and play lightly on the Skirts of Objects: But they are too weak for solid Reasoning; and, in any Thing abstracted, and above the Pitch of the Senses, they are miserably Impotent, and grow presently weary.
(p. 53)
Categories
Provenance
ECCO-TCP
Citation
Text from The Plain Dealer: Being Select Essays on Several Curious Subjects: Relating to Friendship, ... Poetry, and Other Branches of Polite Literature. Publish'd originally in the year 1724. And Now First Collected into Two Volumes (London: Printed for S. Richardson, and A. Wilde, 1730.) <Link to Vol. I in ECCO-TCP><Link to Vol. II in ECCO-TCP>
Date of Entry
08/17/2013
