"These were the Original Springs, or Fountain-Head, from whence my Affectionate Thoughts were mov'd to assist this poor Woman."
— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for T. Warner
Date
1724
Metaphor
"These were the Original Springs, or Fountain-Head, from whence my Affectionate Thoughts were mov'd to assist this poor Woman."
Metaphor in Context
Let no Reader wonder at my extraordinary Concern for this poor Woman; or at my giving my Bounty to her a Place in this Account; it is not, I assure you, to make a Pageantry of my Charity, or to value myself upon the Greatness of my Soul; that shou'd give in so profuse a Manner as this, which was above my Figure, if my Wealth had been twice as much as it was; but there was another Spring from whence all flow'd, and 'tis on that Account I speak of it: Was it possible I cou'd think of a poor desolate Woman with four Children, and her Husband gone from her, and perhaps good for little if he had stay'd; I say, was I, that had tasted so deep of the Sorrows of such a kind of Widowhood, able to look on her, and think of her Circumstances, and not be touch'd in an uncommon Manner? No, No, I never look'd on her, and her Family, tho' she was not left so helpless and friendless as I had been, without remembering my own Condition; when Amy was sent out to pawn or sell my Pair of Stays, to buy a Breast of Mutton, and a Bunch of Turnips; nor cou'd I look on her poor Children, tho' not poor and perishing, like mine, without Tears; reflecting on the dreadful Condition that mine were reduc'd to, when poor Amy sent them all into their Aunt's in Spittle-Fields, and run away from them: These were the Original Springs, or Fountain-Head, from whence my Affectionate Thoughts were mov'd to assist this poor Woman.
(pp 310-1, pp. 297-8)
(pp 310-1, pp. 297-8)
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).
Date of Entry
07/27/2011
