"It is necessary that the mind of a writer should be richly stored with anecdotes of all kinds."
— Disraeli, Isaac (1766-1848)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for C. and G. Kearsley, and J. Murray
Date
1793
Metaphor
"It is necessary that the mind of a writer should be richly stored with anecdotes of all kinds."
Metaphor in Context
It is necessary that the mind of a writer should be richly stored with anecdotes of all kinds. The most unconnected anecdote may be advantageously employed. Anecdotes will serve to enliven his writings by a pleasing diversity; to strengthen his opinions by a happy illustration; and they will afford him a fund of ingenious allusions. I have given sufficient examples of the first kinds; I add one of the latter. In No 172 of the Rambler, that great moralist thus expresses himself,
'A Virginian king, when the Europeans had fixed a lock on his door, was so delighted to find his subjects admitted or excluded with such facility, that it was from morning to evening his whole employment to turn the key. We, among whom locks and keys have been longer in use, are inclined to laugh at this American amusement; yet I doubt whether this paper will have a single reader that may not apply this story to himself, and recollect some hours of his life, in which he has been equally overpowered by the transitory charms of trifling novelty.'
(pp. 66-7)
'A Virginian king, when the Europeans had fixed a lock on his door, was so delighted to find his subjects admitted or excluded with such facility, that it was from morning to evening his whole employment to turn the key. We, among whom locks and keys have been longer in use, are inclined to laugh at this American amusement; yet I doubt whether this paper will have a single reader that may not apply this story to himself, and recollect some hours of his life, in which he has been equally overpowered by the transitory charms of trifling novelty.'
(pp. 66-7)
Categories
Provenance
ECCO-TCP
Citation
Only 1 entry in ESTC (1793).
A Dissertation on Anecdotes; by the Author of Curiosities of Literature. (London: Printed for C. and G. Kearsley, and J. Murray, 1793). <Link to ESTC><Link to ECCO-TCP>
A Dissertation on Anecdotes; by the Author of Curiosities of Literature. (London: Printed for C. and G. Kearsley, and J. Murray, 1793). <Link to ESTC><Link to ECCO-TCP>
Date of Entry
04/29/2014
