"He looked coolly and deliberately through all the gradations: my warm imagination jumped from the barren sands to the splendid dinner and brilliant company."
— Boswell, James (1740-1795)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed by Henry Baldwin, for Charles Dilly
Date
1785
Metaphor
"He looked coolly and deliberately through all the gradations: my warm imagination jumped from the barren sands to the splendid dinner and brilliant company."
Metaphor in Context
We had a dinner of two complete courses, variety of wines, and the regimental band of musick playing in the square, before the window, after it. I enjoyed this day much. We were quite easy and cheerful. Dr Johnson said, 'I shall always remember this fort with gratitude.' I could not help being struck with some admiration, at finding upon this barren sandy point, such buildings, such a dinner, such company: it was like enchantment. Dr Johnson, on the other hand, said to me more rationally, that it did not strike him as any thing extraordinary; because he knew, here was a large sum of money expended in building a fort; here was a regiment. If there had been less than what we found, it would have surprized him. He looked coolly and deliberately through all the gradations: my warm imagination jumped from the barren sands to the splendid dinner and brilliant company, to borrow the expression of an absurd poet,
(p. 227)
Without ands or ifs,The whole scene gave me a strong impression of the power and excellence of human art.
I leapt from off the sands upon the cliffs.
(p. 227)
Categories
Provenance
C-H Lion
Citation
At least 5 entries in ESTC (1785, 1786, 1791).
See The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, with Samuel Johnson, LL.D. By James Boswell, Esq. Containing Some Poetical Pieces by Dr. Johnson, relative to the Tour, and never before published; A Series of his Conversation, Literary Anecdotes, and Opinions of Men and Books: With an Authentick Account of The Distresses and Escape of the Grandson of King James II. in the Year 1746. (London: Printed by Henry Baldwin, 1785). <Link to ECCO>
Text from Johnson, Samuel and James Boswell. A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland and The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, ed. Peter Levi. (New York: Penguin Books, 1984).
See The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, with Samuel Johnson, LL.D. By James Boswell, Esq. Containing Some Poetical Pieces by Dr. Johnson, relative to the Tour, and never before published; A Series of his Conversation, Literary Anecdotes, and Opinions of Men and Books: With an Authentick Account of The Distresses and Escape of the Grandson of King James II. in the Year 1746. (London: Printed by Henry Baldwin, 1785). <Link to ECCO>
Text from Johnson, Samuel and James Boswell. A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland and The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, ed. Peter Levi. (New York: Penguin Books, 1984).
Date of Entry
06/26/2013
