"[A]s to the Arguments which my Reason dictated for perswading me to lay down, Avarice stept in and said, go on, you have had very good luck, go on, till you have gotten Four or Five Hundred Pound, and then you shall leave off, and then you may live easie without working at all."

— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)


Place of Publication
London
Publisher
W. Chetwood and T. Edling
Date
1722
Metaphor
"[A]s to the Arguments which my Reason dictated for perswading me to lay down, Avarice stept in and said, go on, you have had very good luck, go on, till you have gotten Four or Five Hundred Pound, and then you shall leave off, and then you may live easie without working at all."
Metaphor in Context
This was doubtless the happy Minute, when if I had hearken'd to the blessed hint from whatsoever hand it came, I had still a cast for an easie Life; but my Fate was otherwise determin'd, the busie Devil that drew me in, had too fast hold of me to let me go back; but as Poverty brought me in, so Avarice kept me in, till there was no going back; as to the Arguments which my Reason dictated for perswading me to lay down, Avarice stept in and said, go on, you have had very good luck, go on, till you have gotten Four or Five Hundred Pound, and then you shall leave off, and then you may live easie without working at all.
(pp. 211-2)
Categories
Provenance
HDIS
Citation
At least 13 entries in the ESTC (1722, 1741, 1753, 1761, 1765, 1770, 1773, 1776, 1799). [Abridgments not included in foregoing list: see, for example, Fortune's Fickle Distribution]

Daniel Defoe, The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders, & c. Who was Born in Newgate, And during a Life of continu'd Variety for Threescore Years, besides her Childhood, was Twelve Years a Whore, five Times a Wife (whereof once to her own Brother) Twelve years a Thief, Eight Years a Transported Felon in Virginia, at last grew Rich, liv'd Honest, and died a Penitent. Written from her own Memorandums (London: W. Chetwood, at Cato's-Head in Russel-street, Covent Garden and T. Edling, at the Prince's-Arms, over against Exeter Change in the Strand, 1722).
Theme
Psychomachia
Date of Entry
01/21/2004

The Mind is a Metaphor is authored by Brad Pasanek, Assistant Professor of English, University of Virginia.