"I was driven, by a sort of mechanical impulse, in his foot-steps."
— Brown, Charles Brockden (1771-1810)
Place of Publication
Philadelphia
Publisher
Hugh Maxwell
Date
1799
Metaphor
"I was driven, by a sort of mechanical impulse, in his foot-steps."
Metaphor in Context
I was driven, by a sort of mechanical impulse, in his foot-steps. I followed him because it was agreeable to him and because I knew not whither to direct my steps.
The streets were desolate and silent. The watchman's call remotely and faintly heard, added to the general solemnity. I followed my companion in a state of mind not easily described. I had no spirit even to inquire whither he was going. It was not until we arrived at the water's edge that I persuaded myself not to break silence. I then began to reflect on the degree in which his present schemes might endanger Welbeck or myself. I had acted long enough a servile and mechanical part; and been guided by blind and foreign impulses. It was time to lay aside my fetters, and demand to know whither the path tended in which I was importuned to walk.
(Part I, chapter 12, p. 332)
The streets were desolate and silent. The watchman's call remotely and faintly heard, added to the general solemnity. I followed my companion in a state of mind not easily described. I had no spirit even to inquire whither he was going. It was not until we arrived at the water's edge that I persuaded myself not to break silence. I then began to reflect on the degree in which his present schemes might endanger Welbeck or myself. I had acted long enough a servile and mechanical part; and been guided by blind and foreign impulses. It was time to lay aside my fetters, and demand to know whither the path tended in which I was importuned to walk.
(Part I, chapter 12, p. 332)
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.
Date of Entry
07/18/2003
Date of Review
10/22/2003
