"Sometimes it is acted by the evil Spirit of general Vogue, and like a meer Possession 'tis hurry'd out of all manner of common Measures; to day it obeys the Course of things and submits to Causes and Consequences; to morrow it suffers Violence from the Storms and Vapours of Human Fancy, operated by exotick Projects, and then all runs counter, the Motions are excentrick, unnatural and unaccountable--A Sort of Lunacy in Trade attends all its Circumstances, and no Man can give a rational Account of it."
— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)
Author
Place of Publication
London
Date
Tuesday, October 22, 1706
Metaphor
"Sometimes it is acted by the evil Spirit of general Vogue, and like a meer Possession 'tis hurry'd out of all manner of common Measures; to day it obeys the Course of things and submits to Causes and Consequences; to morrow it suffers Violence from the Storms and Vapours of Human Fancy, operated by exotick Projects, and then all runs counter, the Motions are excentrick, unnatural and unaccountable--A Sort of Lunacy in Trade attends all its Circumstances, and no Man can give a rational Account of it."
Metaphor in Context
Trade is a Mystery, which will never be compleatly discover'd or understood; it has its Critical Junctures and Seasons, when acted by no visible Causes, it suffers Convultion Fitts, hysterical Disorders, and most unaccountable Emotions----Sometimes it is acted by the evil Spirit of general Vogue, and like a meer Possession 'tis hurry'd out of all manner of common Measures; to day it obeys the Course of things and submits to Causes and Consequences; to morrow it suffers Violence from the Storms and Vapours of Human Fancy, operated by exotick Projects, and then all runs counter, the Motions are excentrick, unnatural and unaccountable--A Sort of Lunacy in Trade attends all its Circumstances, and no Man can give a rational Account of it.
Categories
Provenance
Reading Susan C. Greenfield's "Money or Mind? Cecilia, the Novel, and the Real Madness of Selfhood" in SECC Vol. 33. p. 53.
Citation
Review of the State of the English Nation, Issue 126 (Tuesday, October 22, 1706). <Link to Burney Collection>
Modern edition cited by Greenfield: Defoe, Daniel. A Review of the State of the English Nation, in 22 facsimile books by A. W. Secord (New York: Columbia UP, 1938), III. no. 126, 503, facsimile book 5.
Modern edition cited by Greenfield: Defoe, Daniel. A Review of the State of the English Nation, in 22 facsimile books by A. W. Secord (New York: Columbia UP, 1938), III. no. 126, 503, facsimile book 5.
Date of Entry
07/21/2005
Date of Review
06/07/2011
