The Word and the Flesh in Early Modern England

Abstract

In 1601, two years before the appearance of Holland’s translation of Plutarch’s Moralia, the English Jesuit Thomas Wright’s treatise The Passions of the Minde in Generall was published. Already an encyclopaedic work of psychology, physiology and moral philosophy, The Passions had nearly doubled in length by the time of the second edition of 1604 and appeared in a further two editions before 1630.¹ One of the richest and most cogent reworkings of classical and scholastic opinion, The Passions is perhaps best described as a manual of private and public ethics. Drawing on the vast corpus of treatises and tracts by Aristotle, Augustine and Aquinas, Wright argues that the first step towards achieving a well-led life involved moderating extreme emotions, or perturbations, using reason and the will.² Men may learn to regulate their internal lives by handling responsibly the sensory impressions gathered from the outside world as well as those generated internally by the imagination and the memory. The affective impact of written and spoken words is central to Wright’s principles of self-government. He was familiar not only with theories of the emotions but also with ancient theories of literature and rhetoric, including Plutarch’s, and believed that reading sacred and secular books, and listening to speeches and sermons, always involved active and passionate cognition.³