"And shou'd an Evangelist, with an Angel at his Elbow, have told me that Goddess of my Soul had so much as one speck of Deformity, one single Mole, either in Body or Mind, I shou'd have said--By your leave, Mr. Evangelist,--I must suspend my Faith."

— Dunton, John (1659-1732)


Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for Richard Newcome
Date
1691
Metaphor
"And shou'd an Evangelist, with an Angel at his Elbow, have told me that Goddess of my Soul had so much as one speck of Deformity, one single Mole, either in Body or Mind, I shou'd have said--By your leave, Mr. Evangelist,--I must suspend my Faith."
Metaphor in Context
And then for Prose-Love--I believe I went as far as any Man,--stabbing, dying, groaning, hanging I made nothing of, 'twas my daily Employment and Recreation, and I cou'd at last eat Knives or Rats bane as fast as a Jugler. I grew careless toward any thing else; I could neither see, hear, taste, smell, nor understand any thing in the world but what related to my charming Rachelia (as I call'd her) with a little more Heroick turn than plain Rachel. And shou'd an Evangelist, with an Angel at his Elbow, have told me that Goddess of my Soul had so much as one speck of Deformity, one single Mole, either in Body or Mind, I shou'd have said--By your leave, Mr. Evangelist,--I must suspend my Faith.--Thus much wou'd I have said to his Face out of civility, but behind his back no more have valu'd his Testimony than the Alcoran.--No--my purest pure had such a Soul, it shin'd through her Body, and such a Body, you might see her Soul through't. Which some may think much at one, but however there's a different conception in't, and it makes one line more to fill out the Book.
(II.viii, p. 91)
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
06/19/2013

The Mind is a Metaphor is authored by Brad Pasanek, Assistant Professor of English, University of Virginia.