"All matter is in motion, and therefore perpetually chang'd and alter'd--now in how many shapes that little handful which makes up my Souls Luggage, has been formerly dress'd, I'll promise you, I'll not undertake to tell ye."
— Dunton, John (1659-1732)
Author
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for Richard Newcome
Date
1691
Metaphor
"All matter is in motion, and therefore perpetually chang'd and alter'd--now in how many shapes that little handful which makes up my Souls Luggage, has been formerly dress'd, I'll promise you, I'll not undertake to tell ye."
Metaphor in Context
After his first Ramble--] First, and not first--for even before this, I Rambled from the Beginning of the World, if not a great deal sooner. The Essences of things are eternal, as the Learned say, and my first Ramble was indeed out of Essence into Existence, from a Being in my Causes, into actual Being.
But not to mount the Argument above my Readers Head, lest I should crack both that and my own--Let it suffice, that my Soul for ought I know, has been Rambling the best part of this 6000 Years, if those are in the right on't who hold the Præexistence, and that all Souls were made at once.
However--for my Body, I can make Affidavit on't--that 't has been Rambling so long and so far before my Soul stumbled upon't, that I lose the Track, and can go no further. All matter is in motion, and therefore perpetually chang'd and alter'd--now in how many shapes that little handful which makes up my Souls Luggage, has been formerly dress'd, I'll promise you, I'll not undertake to tell ye. (p. 27)
But not to mount the Argument above my Readers Head, lest I should crack both that and my own--Let it suffice, that my Soul for ought I know, has been Rambling the best part of this 6000 Years, if those are in the right on't who hold the Præexistence, and that all Souls were made at once.
However--for my Body, I can make Affidavit on't--that 't has been Rambling so long and so far before my Soul stumbled upon't, that I lose the Track, and can go no further. All matter is in motion, and therefore perpetually chang'd and alter'd--now in how many shapes that little handful which makes up my Souls Luggage, has been formerly dress'd, I'll promise you, I'll not undertake to tell ye. (p. 27)
Categories
Provenance
C-H Lion
Citation
John Dunton, A Voyage Round the World: or, a Pocket-Library, Divided into several Volumes. The First of which contains the Rare Adventures of Don Kainophilus, From his Cradle to his 15th. Year. The like Discoveries in such a Method never made by any Rambler before. The whole Work intermixt with Essays, Historical, Moral and Divine; and all other kinds of Learning. Done into English by a Lover of Travels. Recommended by the Wits of both Universities. 3 vols. (London: Printed for Richard Newcome, 1691). <Link to EEBO-TCP>
Date of Entry
06/18/2013
