Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)

The Fortunate Mistress [Roxana]

London

Printed for T. Warner

1724

"So possible is it for us to roll ourselves up in Wickedness, till we grow invulnerable by Conscience; and that Centinel once doz'd, sleeps fast, not to be awaken'd while the Tide of Pleasure continues to flow, or till something dark and dreadful brings us to ourselves again."

But, I say, I satisfy'd myself with the surprizing Occasion, that, as it was all irresistable, so it was all lawful; for that Heaven would not suffer us to be punish'd for that which it was not possible for us to avoid; and with these Absurdities I kept Conscience from giving me any considerable Disturbance in all this Matter; and I was as perfectly easie as to the Lawfulness of it, as if I had been Marry'd to the Prince, and had had no other Husband: So possible is it for us to roll ourselves up in Wickedness, till we grow invulnerable by Conscience; and that Centinel once doz'd, sleeps fast, not to be awaken'd while the Tide of Pleasure continues to flow, or till something dark and dreadful brings us to ourselves again.
(p. 82, p. 105 in Penguin)

Population::Centinel Liquid::Tide

Reading

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).

Conscience

07/27/2011