"We must take our Minds a Note or two lower, or we shall be tortur'd by Jealousy or Anger."
— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)
Author
Work Title
Date
From Tuesd. Aug. 9. to Thursday Aug. 11. 1709
Metaphor
"We must take our Minds a Note or two lower, or we shall be tortur'd by Jealousy or Anger."
Metaphor in Context
My Dear, You have lived most of your Days in a Court, and I have not been wholly unacquainted with that Sort of Life. In Courts, you see Good∣will is spoken with great Warmth, Ill-will covered with great Civility. Men are long in Civilities to those they hate, and short in Expressions of Kind∣ness to those they love. Therefore, my Dear, let us be well-bred still, and it is no matter, as to all who see us, whether we love or hate: And to let you see how much you are beholden to me for my Conduct, I have both hated and despised you, my Dear, this half Year; and yet neither in Lan∣guage or Behaviour has it been visible but that I loved you tenderly. Therefore, as I know you go out of Town to divert Life in Pursuit of Beasts, and Conversation with Men just above 'em; so, my Life, from this Moment, I shall read all the learned Cooks who have ever writ, study Broths, Plaisters, and Conserves, till from a Fine Lady I become a Notable Woman. We must take our Minds a Note or two lower, or we shall be tortur'd by Jealousy or Anger. Thus I am resolved to kill all keen Passions by employing my Mind on little Subjects, and lessening the Easiness of my Spirit; while you, my Dear, with much Ale, Exercise, and ill Company, are so good, as to endeavour to be as contemptible as it is necessary for my Quiet I should think you.
(II, pp. 18-9; cf. pp. 374-5 in Bond ed.)
(II, pp. 18-9; cf. pp. 374-5 in Bond ed.)
Categories
Provenance
Searching in ECCO-TCP
Citation
Over 50 entries in the ESTC (1709, 1710, 1711, 1712, 1713, 1716, 1720, 1723, 1728, 1733, 1737, 1743, 1747, 1749, 1750, 1751, 1752, 1754, 1759, 1764, 1772, 1774, 1776, 1777, 1785, 1786, 1789, 1794, 1795, 1797).
See The Tatler. By Isaac Bickerstaff Esq. Dates of Publication: No. 1 (Tuesday, April 12, 1709.) through No. 271 (From Saturday December 30, to Tuesday January 2, 1710 [i.e. 1711]). <Link to ESTC>
Collected in two volumes, and printed and sold by J. Morphew in 1710, 1711. Also collected and reprinted as The Lucubrations of Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq.
Consulting Donald Bond's edition of The Tatler, 3 vols. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987). Searching and pasting text from The Lucubrations of Isaac Bickerstaff Esq: Revised and Corrected by the Author (London: Printed by John Nutt, and sold by John Morphew, 1712): <Link to Vol. 1><Vol. 2><Vol. 3><Vol. 4><Vol. 5>. Some text also from Project Gutenberg digitization of 1899 edition edited by George A. Aitken.
See The Tatler. By Isaac Bickerstaff Esq. Dates of Publication: No. 1 (Tuesday, April 12, 1709.) through No. 271 (From Saturday December 30, to Tuesday January 2, 1710 [i.e. 1711]). <Link to ESTC>
Collected in two volumes, and printed and sold by J. Morphew in 1710, 1711. Also collected and reprinted as The Lucubrations of Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq.
Consulting Donald Bond's edition of The Tatler, 3 vols. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987). Searching and pasting text from The Lucubrations of Isaac Bickerstaff Esq: Revised and Corrected by the Author (London: Printed by John Nutt, and sold by John Morphew, 1712): <Link to Vol. 1><Vol. 2><Vol. 3><Vol. 4><Vol. 5>. Some text also from Project Gutenberg digitization of 1899 edition edited by George A. Aitken.
Date of Entry
03/02/2014
