"I would not shackle you with fetters of suspicion; I would have you governed by justice and reason."

— Godwin, William (1756-1836)


Place of Publication
London
Publisher
B. Crosby, Stationers-Court, Ludgate Street
Date
1794
Metaphor
"I would not shackle you with fetters of suspicion; I would have you governed by justice and reason."
Metaphor in Context
"But if I cannot, in the brief expostulation my present situation will allow, produce this desirable change in you, there is at least one thing I can do. I can put you upon your guard against a mischief I foresee to be imminent. Beware of Mr. Tyrrel. Do not commit the mistake of despising him as an unequal opponent. Petty causes may produce great mischiefs. Mr. Tyrrel is boisterous, rugged, and unfeeling; and you are too passionate, too acutely sensible of injury. It would be truly to be lamented, if a man so inferior, so utterly unworthy to be compared with you should be capable of changing your whole history into misery and guilt. I have a painful presentiment upon my heart, as if something dreadful would reach you from that quarter. Think of this. I exact no promise from you. I would not shackle you with fetters of suspicion; I would have you governed by justice and reason."
(pp. 94)
Provenance
Reading
Citation
5 entries in ESTC (1794, 1795, 1796, 1797).

William Godwin, Things as They Are; or The Adventures of Caleb Williams, 3 vols. (London: B. Crosby, Stationers-Court, Ludgate Street, 1794). <Link to ESTC>

Reading Caleb Williams, ed. Gary Handwerk and A. A. Markley. (Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview Press, 2000).
Date of Entry
05/09/2005
Date of Review
06/27/2011

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