"Did the least Spot upon his Soul appear, / It could not be: his Conscience must be clear."
— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)
Author
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed: and sold by J. Roberts
Date
1727
Metaphor
"Did the least Spot upon his Soul appear, / It could not be: his Conscience must be clear."
Metaphor in Context
Sure, said I, my Cousin M-- D-- must have the clearest Conscience in the Universe, he has not the least Scar upon his Inside; and if he was to see the Devil, he could not change Colour, or have the least Hesitation at the most frightful Appearance: He must be all Innocence and Virtue.
Did the least Spot upon his Soul appear,
It could not be: his Conscience must be clear:
For where there's Guilt, there always would be Fear.
But I mistook my Kinsman most extremely, for on the contrary, his Soul is blacker than Negro Sancho, the Beauty of Africa; he boasts himself of the most harden'd Crime, defies Heaven, despises Terror, and is got above Fear by the meer force of a flagrant Assurance.
(p. 317)
Did the least Spot upon his Soul appear,
It could not be: his Conscience must be clear:
For where there's Guilt, there always would be Fear.
But I mistook my Kinsman most extremely, for on the contrary, his Soul is blacker than Negro Sancho, the Beauty of Africa; he boasts himself of the most harden'd Crime, defies Heaven, despises Terror, and is got above Fear by the meer force of a flagrant Assurance.
(p. 317)
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
