"Some philosopher--I forget who--wished for a window in his breast--that the world might see his heart;--he could only be a great fool, or a very good man:--I will believe the latter, and recommend him to your imitation."
— Sancho, Charles Ignatius (1729-1780)
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed by J. Nichols
Date
1782
Metaphor
"Some philosopher--I forget who--wished for a window in his breast--that the world might see his heart;--he could only be a great fool, or a very good man:--I will believe the latter, and recommend him to your imitation."
Metaphor in Context
Your letter gave me more pleasure than in truth I ever expected from your hands--but thou art a flatterer;--why dost thou demand advice of me? Young man, thou canst not discern wood from trees;--with awe and reverence look up to thy more than parents--look up to thy almost divine benefactors--search into the motive of every glorious action--retrace thine own history--and when you are convinced that they (like the All gracious Power they serve) go about in mercy doing good--retire abashed at the number of their virtues--and humbly beg the Almighty to inspire and give you strength to imitate them.--Happy, happy lad! what a fortune is thine!--Look round upon the miserable fate of almost all of our unfortunate colour--superadded to ignorance,--see slavery, and the contempt of those very wretches who roll in affluence from our labours superadded to this woeful catalogue--hear the ill-bred and heart-racking abuse of the foolish vulgar.--You, S----e, tread as cautiously as the strictest rectitude can guide ye--yet must you suffer from this--but armed with truth--honesty--and conscious integrity--you will be sure of the plaudit and countenance of the good;--if, therefore, thy repentance is sincere--I congratulate thee as sincerely upon it--it is thy birth-day to real happiness.--Providence has been very lavish of her bounty to you--and you are deeply in arrears to her--your parts are as quick as most mens; urge but your speed in the race of virtue with the same ardency of zeal as you have exhibited in error--and you will recover, to the satisfaction of your noble patrons--and to the glory of yourself.--Some philosopher--I forget who--wished for a window in his breast--that the world might see his heart;--he could only be a great fool, or a very good man:--I will believe the latter, and recommend him to your imitation.--Vice is a coward;--to be truly brave, a man must be truly good;--you hate the name of cowardice--then, S----e, avoid it--detest a lye--and shun lyars--be above revenge;--if any have taken advantage either of your guilt or distress, punish them with forgiveness--and not only so--but, if you can serve them any future time, do it--you have experienced mercy and long-sufferance in your own person--therefore gratefully remember it, and shew mercy likewise.
(I.xiii, pp. 41-3; pp. 46-7 in Carretta)
(I.xiii, pp. 41-3; pp. 46-7 in Carretta)
Categories
Provenance
Reading; text from DocSouth
Citation
Five entries in ESTC (1782, 1783, 1784). [Second edition in 1783, third in 1784.]
See Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, An African. In Two Volumes. To Which Are Prefixed, Memoirs of His Life (London: Printed by J. Nichols, 1782). <Link to text from Documenting the American South at UNC>
Reading Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, ed. Vincent Carretta (New York: Penguin, 1998).
See Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, An African. In Two Volumes. To Which Are Prefixed, Memoirs of His Life (London: Printed by J. Nichols, 1782). <Link to text from Documenting the American South at UNC>
Reading Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, ed. Vincent Carretta (New York: Penguin, 1998).
Date of Entry
07/11/2013
