Smollett, Tobias (1721-1777)

The Expedition of Humphry Clinker.

Dublin

Printed for A. Leathley, J. Exshaw, H. Saunders

1771

"The selfish brutality of his behaviour on the stairs had steeled their hearts against all his arts and address"

As for this lawyer, he waited below till the hurly-burly was over, and then stole softly to his own chamber, from whence he did not venture to make a second sally till eleven in the forenoon, when he was led into the public room by his own servant and another assistant, groaning most woefully, with a bloody napkin round his head. But things were greatly altered--The selfish brutality of his behaviour on the stairs had steeled their hearts against all his arts and address--Not a soul offered to accommodate him with a chair, cushion, or footstool; so that he was obliged to sit down on a hard wooden bench--In that position, he looked around with a rueful aspect, and, bowing very low, said, in a whining tone, "Your most humble servant, ladies--Fire is a dreadful calamity." -- "Fire purifies gold, and it tries friendship," cried Mrs. Tabitha, bridling. "Yea, madam (replied Micklewhimmen) and it trieth discretion also." "If discretion consists in forsaking, a friend in adversity, you are eminently possessed of that virtue," resumed our aunt. "Na, madam (rejoined the advocate) well I wot, I cannot claim [Page 252] any merit from the mode of my retreat--Ye'll please to observe, ladies, there are twa independent principles that actuate our nature--One is instinct, which we have in common with the brute creation, and the other is reason--Noo, in certain great emergencies, when the faculty of reason is suspended, instinct takes the lead, and, when this predominates, having no affinity with reason, it pays no sort of regard to its connections; it only operates for the benefit of the individual, and that by the most expeditious and effectual means; therefore, begging your pardon, ladies, I'm no accountable in foro conscientiæ, for what I did, while under the influence of this irresistable pooer."
(pp. 251-2)

Mineral::Steel

Searching "heart" and "steel" in HDIS (Prose)

At least 29 entries in the ESTC (1771, 1772, 1774, 1775, 1776, 1779, 1781, 1783, 1784, 1785, 1788, 1790, 1792, 1793, 1794, 1795, 1799, 1800).

See The Expedition of Humphry Clinker. By the Author of Roderick Random. In Two Volumes. (Dublin: Printed for A. Leathley, J. Exshaw, H. Saunders, 1771).

06/09/2005