I struggled with the Power of my Imagination, reason'd myself out of it, as I believe People may always do in like Cases, if they will; and, in a Word, I conquer'd it
— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for W. Taylor
Date
1719
Metaphor
I struggled with the Power of my Imagination, reason'd myself out of it, as I believe People may always do in like Cases, if they will; and, in a Word, I conquer'd it
Metaphor in Context
With those Thoughts, I considered my new Engagement, that I had a Wife, one Child born, and my Wife then great with Child of another; that I had all the World could give me, and had no Need to seek Hazards for Gain; that I was declining in Years, and ought to think rather of leaving what I had gain'd, than of seeking to encrease it; that as to what my Wife had said, of its being an Impulse from Heaven, and that it should be my Duty to go, I had no Notion of that; so after many of these Cogitations, I struggled with the Power of my Imagination, reason'd myself out of it, as I believe People may always do in like Cases, if they will; and, in a Word, I conquer'd it; compos'd my self with such Arguments as occur'd to my Thought, and which my present Condition furnish'd me plentifully with; and particularly, as the most effectual Method, I resolv'd to divert my self with other Things, and to engage in some Business that might effectually tye me up from any more Excursions of this Kind; for I found that Thing return upon me chiefly when I was idle, had nothing to do, or any Thing of Moment immediately before me.
(pp. 5-6)
(pp. 5-6)
Categories
Provenance
Searching "conque" and "thought" in HDIS (Prose)
Citation
47 entries in the ESTC (1719, 1722, 1724, 1726, 1733, 1735, 1736, 1744, 1747, 1750, 1753, 1755, 1761, 1766, 1767, 1772, 1776, 1778, 1780, 1784, 1787, 1789, 1790, 1791, 1792, 1794, 1795, 1796, 1800).
Text from Daniel Defoe, The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, Being the Second and Last Part of his Life, And Strange Surprizing Accounts of his Travels Round Three Parts of the Globe. Written by Himself. The Second Edition. To which is added a Map of the World, in which is Delineated the Voyages of Robinson Crusoe. 2nd edition (London: Printed for W. Taylor, 1719). <Link to first edition in ECCO>
Text from Daniel Defoe, The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, Being the Second and Last Part of his Life, And Strange Surprizing Accounts of his Travels Round Three Parts of the Globe. Written by Himself. The Second Edition. To which is added a Map of the World, in which is Delineated the Voyages of Robinson Crusoe. 2nd edition (London: Printed for W. Taylor, 1719). <Link to first edition in ECCO>
Date of Entry
01/25/2005
