"No, no, there was a Dart struck into the Liver; there was a secret Hell within, even all the while, when our Joy was at the highest."
— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for T. Warner
Date
1724
Metaphor
"No, no, there was a Dart struck into the Liver; there was a secret Hell within, even all the while, when our Joy was at the highest."
Metaphor in Context
He lik'd the Proposal very well, and said it should be so; and this way I, in some Measure, satisfied myself, that I should not bring my Husband under the Blast of a just Providence, for mingling my cursed ill-gotten Wealth with his honest Estate: This was occasion'd by the Reflections which at some certain Intervals of time, came into my Thoughts, of the Justice of Heaven, which I had reason to expect would sometime or other still fall upon me or my Effects, for the dreadful Life I had liv'd. And let no-body conclude from the strange Success I met with in all my wicked Doings, and the vast Estate which I had rais'd by it, that therefore I either was happy or easie: No, no, there was a Dart struck into the Liver; there was a secret Hell within, even all the while, when our Joy was at the highest; but more especially now, after it was all over, and when according to all appearance, I was one of the happiest Women upon Earth, all this while, I say, I had such a constant Terror upon my Mind, as gave me every now and then very terrible Shocks, and which made me expect something very frightful upon every Accident of Life.
(pp. 320-1, pp. 305-6 in Penguin)
(pp. 320-1, pp. 305-6 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).
Date of Entry
07/27/2011
