"They imagin'd that the Soul was not only separated by Death from the Body, but that there was a Separation of the Understanding from its Case or Vehicle, as they call'd it; so that the Soul, which was but the Image and Form of the Body, might be in Hell; the Body it self burnt to Ashes remain'd in the Urn; and the Understanding or Mind, which was the sublime divine Part, be in Heaven with the Gods."
— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)
Author
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed: and sold by J. Roberts
Date
1727
Metaphor
"They imagin'd that the Soul was not only separated by Death from the Body, but that there was a Separation of the Understanding from its Case or Vehicle, as they call'd it; so that the Soul, which was but the Image and Form of the Body, might be in Hell; the Body it self burnt to Ashes remain'd in the Urn; and the Understanding or Mind, which was the sublime divine Part, be in Heaven with the Gods."
Metaphor in Context
This last Notion, tho' gross and absurd in it self, was the utmost Refuge they had, by which to solve the Difficulty of Apparitions. They imagin'd that the Soul was not only separated by Death from the Body, but that there was a Separation of the Understanding from its Case or Vehicle, as they call'd it; so that the Soul, which was but the Image and Form of the Body, might be in Hell; the Body it self burnt to Ashes remain'd in the Urn; and the Understanding or Mind, which was the sublime divine Part, be in Heaven with the Gods: This Homer expresses thus,
--'Tis certain Man, tho' dead, retains
Part of himself; the immortal Mind remains.
The Form subsists without the Body's Aid,
Aerial Semblance, and an empty Shade.
(p. 173)
--'Tis certain Man, tho' dead, retains
Part of himself; the immortal Mind remains.
The Form subsists without the Body's Aid,
Aerial Semblance, and an empty Shade.
(p. 173)
Categories
Provenance
Searching in ECCO-TCP
Citation
2 entries in ESTC (1727, 1728). For a publication history, see Rodney Baine's 1962 essay, "Daniel Defoe and 'The History and Reality of Apparitions.'" First edition, published by J. Roberts, appeared anonymously on March 18, 1727. Second issues were sold the same year by A. Millar. The 1735 edition, reissued in 1738 and 1740.
Text from An Essay on the History and Reality of Apparitions: Being an Account of What They are, and What They are Not; Whence They Come, and Whence They Come Not. (London: Printed: and sold by J. Roberts, 1727). <Link to ECCO-TCP>
Text from An Essay on the History and Reality of Apparitions: Being an Account of What They are, and What They are Not; Whence They Come, and Whence They Come Not. (London: Printed: and sold by J. Roberts, 1727). <Link to ECCO-TCP>
Date of Entry
08/16/2013
