"[S]o with my Eyes open, and with my Conscience, as I may say, awake, I sinn'd, knowing it to be a Sin, but having no Power to resist; when this had thus made a Hole in my Heart, and I was come to such a height, as to transgress against the Light of my own Conscience, I was then fit for any Wickedness, and Conscience left off speaking, where it found it cou'd not be heard."
— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for T. Warner
Date
1724
Metaphor
"[S]o with my Eyes open, and with my Conscience, as I may say, awake, I sinn'd, knowing it to be a Sin, but having no Power to resist; when this had thus made a Hole in my Heart, and I was come to such a height, as to transgress against the Light of my own Conscience, I was then fit for any Wickedness, and Conscience left off speaking, where it found it cou'd not be heard."
Metaphor in Context
I say but too justly, that I was empty of Principle, because, as above, I had yielded to him, not as deluded to believe it Lawful, but as overcome by his Kindness, and terrify'd at the Fear of my own Misery, if he should leave me; so with my Eyes open, and with my Conscience, as I may say, awake, I sinn'd, knowing it to be a Sin, but having no Power to resist; when this had thus made a Hole in my Heart, and I was come to such a height, as to transgress against the Light of my own Conscience, I was then fit for any Wickedness, and Conscience left off speaking, where it found it cou'd not be heard.
(pp. 50-1, P. 79 in Penguin)
(pp. 50-1, P. 79 in Penguin)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
At least 15 entries in the ESTC (1724, 1740, 1741, 1742, 1745, 1749, 1750, 1755, 1765, 1774, 1775, ).
See The Fortunate Mistress: Or, A History of the Life and Vast Variety of Fortunes of Mademoiselle de Beleau, afterwards call'd the Countess de Wintselsheim, in Germany. Being the Person known by the Name of the Lady Roxana, in the Time of King Charles II (London: Printed for T. Warner, 1724). <Link to ESTC><Link to Google Books>
Reading Daniel Defoe, Roxana, ed. David Blewett (New York: Penguin Books, 1987).
See The Fortunate Mistress: Or, A History of the Life and Vast Variety of Fortunes of Mademoiselle de Beleau, afterwards call'd the Countess de Wintselsheim, in Germany. Being the Person known by the Name of the Lady Roxana, in the Time of King Charles II (London: Printed for T. Warner, 1724). <Link to ESTC><Link to Google Books>
Reading Daniel Defoe, Roxana, ed. David Blewett (New York: Penguin Books, 1987).
Theme
Conscience
Date of Entry
07/27/2011
