Johnstone, Charles (c.1719-c.1800)

Chrysal; or the Adventures of a Guinea

London

Printed for T. Beckett

1760

"And here it will be proper to have recourse to the expedient we made use of before, and holding up the mirrour to imagination, view the whole scene as if actually present"

Let your imagination represent to you, a number of people, whose highest pleasure is eating, seated at a large table, covered with all the delicacies, all the rarities of the season, in a plenty that promised satiety to their keenest appetites. --But I must stop! I see the very thought has an effect upon you, that savours too strongly of sensuality, and might, if not checked, put a stop to our conversation, by some human hankerings. Let us therefore pass over such a [Page 219] scene, and turn our observation to the company, as they sat, after the fragments of the feast were removed. And here it will be proper to have recourse to the expedient we made use of before, and holding up the mirrour to imagination, view the whole scene as if actually present.
(pp. 218-9)

Optics::Mirror

Searching "thought" and "mirror" ("mirrour") in HDIS (Prose)

22 entries in the ESTC (1760, 1761, 1762, 1764, 1765, 1766, 1767, 1768, 1771, 1775, 1783, 1785, 1794, 1797).

See Chrysal; or the Adventures of a Guinea. Wherein are exhibited Views of several striking Scenes, with Curious and interesting Anecdotes of the most Noted Persons in every Rank of Life, whose Hands it passed through in America, England, Holland, Germany, and Portugal. By an Adept. (London: Printed for T. Beckett, 1760). <Link to Hathi Trust>

11/30/2005