"The Doctrine of the Soul's being a Shell or Case form'd into a Shape, as a Mould is form'd into Shape to receive the Brass or Copper, and throw out a Statue or Figure of this or that Heroe, which it is appointed to form; I say, this absurd Doctrine of the Soul, Body and Mind being three distinct Persons in every Man, would not have found Place in the World; but all things would have been conceiv'd regularly of, and the World would have been rightly inform'd of future things, as well as of things present."
— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)
Author
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed: and sold by J. Roberts
Date
1727
Metaphor
"The Doctrine of the Soul's being a Shell or Case form'd into a Shape, as a Mould is form'd into Shape to receive the Brass or Copper, and throw out a Statue or Figure of this or that Heroe, which it is appointed to form; I say, this absurd Doctrine of the Soul, Body and Mind being three distinct Persons in every Man, would not have found Place in the World; but all things would have been conceiv'd regularly of, and the World would have been rightly inform'd of future things, as well as of things present."
Metaphor in Context
The Doctrine of the Soul's being a Shell or Case form'd into a Shape, as a Mould is form'd into Shape to receive the Brass or Copper, and throw out a Statue or Figure of this or that Heroe, which it is appointed to form; I say, this absurd Doctrine of the Soul, Body and Mind being three distinct Persons in every Man, would not have found Place in the World; but all things would have been conceiv'd regularly of, and the World would have been rightly inform'd of future things, as well as of things present.
(ix, p. 180)
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
