"They [African customs] had been implanted in me with great care, and made an impression on my mind, which time could not erase, and which all the adversity and variety of fortune I have since experienced served only to rivet and record; for, whether the love of one's country be real or imaginary, or a lesson of reason, or an instinct of nature, I still look back with pleasure on the first scenes of my life, though that pleasure has been for the most part mingled with sorrow."
— Equiano, Olaudah [Gustavus Vasa] (c. 1745-1797)
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed and sold for the author, by T. Wilkins
Date
1789
Metaphor
"They [African customs] had been implanted in me with great care, and made an impression on my mind, which time could not erase, and which all the adversity and variety of fortune I have since experienced served only to rivet and record; for, whether the love of one's country be real or imaginary, or a lesson of reason, or an instinct of nature, I still look back with pleasure on the first scenes of my life, though that pleasure has been for the most part mingled with sorrow."
Metaphor in Context
I HOPE the reader will not think I have trespassed on his patience in introducing myself to him with some account of the manners and customs of my country. They had been implanted in me with great care, and made an impression on my mind, which time could not erase, and which all the adversity and variety of fortune I have since experienced, served only to rivet and record; for, whether the love of one's country be real or imaginary, or a lesson of reason, or an instinct of nature, I still look back with pleasure on the first scenes of my life, though that pleasure has been for the most part mingled with sorrow.
(I.ii, pp. 45-6)
(I.ii, pp. 45-6)
Categories
Provenance
Reading; found again searching ECCO-TCP
Citation
11 entries in ESTC (1789, 1790, 1791, 1792, 1793, 1794).
See The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African. Written by Himself., 2 vols. (London: Printed and sold for the author, by T. Wilkins, 1789). <Link to Documenting the American South Edition><Link to Vol. I in ECCO-TCP><Link to Vol. II in ECCO-TCP>
See The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African. Written by Himself., 2 vols. (London: Printed and sold for the author, by T. Wilkins, 1789). <Link to Documenting the American South Edition><Link to Vol. I in ECCO-TCP><Link to Vol. II in ECCO-TCP>
Date of Entry
03/23/2011
