"I cannot well account for the revolution in my mind."
— Brown, Charles Brockden (1771-1810)
Place of Publication
Philadelphia
Publisher
Hugh Maxwell
Date
1799
Metaphor
"I cannot well account for the revolution in my mind."
Metaphor in Context
Amidst these reflections the dinner-hour arrived. The lady and Welbeck were present. A new train of sentiments now occupied my mind. I regarded them both with inquisitive eyes. I cannot well account for the revolution in my mind. Perhaps it was a proof of the capriciousness of my temper, or it was merely the fruit of my profound ignorance of life and manners. Whence ever it arose, certain it is that I contemplated the scene before me with altered eyes. Its order and pomp was no longer the parent of tranquility and awe. My wild reveries of inheriting this splendour and appropriating the affections of this nymph, I now regarded as lunatic hope and childish folly, Education and nature had qualified me for a different scene. This might be the mask of misery and the structure of vice.
(Part I, chapter 8, p. 293)
(Part I, chapter 8, p. 293)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
First part published in 1799; second in 1800. Reading and transcribing text from Charles Brockden Brown, Three Gothic Novels. New York: Library of America,1998.
Theme
Reverie
Date of Entry
07/16/2003
Date of Review
06/26/2007
