"Base Fear, the Laziness of Lust, gross Appetites, / These are the Ladders, and the groveling Footstool, / From whence the Tyrant rises on our Wrongs, / Secure and scepter'd in the Soul's Servility."

— Brooke, Henry (c. 1703-1783)


Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for R. Dodsley
Date
1739
Metaphor
"Base Fear, the Laziness of Lust, gross Appetites, / These are the Ladders, and the groveling Footstool, / From whence the Tyrant rises on our Wrongs, / Secure and scepter'd in the Soul's Servility."
Metaphor in Context
GUSTAVUS.
Why? where's that Pow'r whose Engines are of Force
To bend the brave and virtuous Man to Slav'ry?
Base Fear, the Laziness of Lust, gross Appetites,
These are the Ladders, and the groveling Footstool,
From whence the Tyrant rises on our Wrongs,
Secure and scepter'd in the Soul's Servility.

He has debauch'd the Genius of our Country,
And rides triumphant, while her captive Sons
Await his Nod, the silken Slaves of Pleasure,
Or fetter'd in their Fears.
(p. 7)
Provenance
LION
Citation
21 entries in the ESTC (1739, 1753, 1761, 1763, 1773, 1778, 1780, 1791, 1792, 1794, 1796).

Gustavus Vasa, the Deliverer of His Country. A Tragedy. As It Was to Have Been Acted at the Theatre-Royal in Drury-Lane. by Henry Brooke (London: Printed for R. Dodsley, 1739). <Link to ESTC>
Date of Entry
09/16/2013

The Mind is a Metaphor is authored by Brad Pasanek, Assistant Professor of English, University of Virginia.