"The excursions of my fancy had sometimes carried me beyond the bounds prescribed by my situation, but they were, nevertheless, limited to that field to which I had once some prospect of acquiring a title"
— Brown, Charles Brockden (1771-1810)
Place of Publication
New York
Publisher
George Folliet Hopkins
Date
1800
Metaphor
"The excursions of my fancy had sometimes carried me beyond the bounds prescribed by my situation, but they were, nevertheless, limited to that field to which I had once some prospect of acquiring a title"
Metaphor in Context
As to me, it seemed at first view, as if every incident conspired to determine my choice. Omitting all regard to the happiness of others, my own interest could not fail to recommend a scheme by which the precious benefits of competence and independence might be honestly obtained. The excursions of my fancy had sometimes carried me beyond the bounds prescribed by my situation, but they were, nevertheless, limited to that field to which I had once some prospect of acquiring a title. All I wanted for the basis of my gaudiest and most dazzling structures, was an hundred acres of plough-land and meadow. Here my spirit of improvement, my zeal to invent and apply new maxims of household luxury and convenience, new modes and instruments of tillage, new arts connected with orchard, garden, and cornfield, were supplied with abundant scope. Though the want of these would not benumb my activity, or take away content, the possession would confer exquisite and permanent enjoyments.
(Part II, chapter 9, p. 493)
(Part II, chapter 9, p. 493)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
2 entries in ESTC (1799, 1800).
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.
See Arthur Mervyn; or, Memoirs of the Year 1793. Second Part. By the author of Wieland, Ormond, Huntley [sic], &c. (New-York: Printed and sold by George F. Hopkins, at Washington’s Head, 136, Pearl-Street, 1800). <Link to ESTC>
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.
See Arthur Mervyn; or, Memoirs of the Year 1793. Second Part. By the author of Wieland, Ormond, Huntley [sic], &c. (New-York: Printed and sold by George F. Hopkins, at Washington’s Head, 136, Pearl-Street, 1800). <Link to ESTC>
Date of Entry
07/21/2003
