"But leaving it therefore where we find it, I say if you see an Apparition, that is such an Apparition as we have been speaking of, not a Phantosm of your own Brain, not an imaginary Apparition the effect of Fright or Dream, or meer Whimsie, not a Hypocondriack Apparition, the effect of Vapours and Hysterick Shadows, when the Eye sees double, and Imagination makes it self a Telescope to the Soul, not to show Realities, but to magnify Objects at the remotest distance, and show things as in being which are not, if you see such an Apparition as this and speak to it, 'tis no wonder you receive no answer, and so you go away more frighted with a silent dumb Devil than you would be with a speaking one; but I say, if the Vision be real, if it be a Shape and Appearance in form as has been describ'd, never shun it and fly from it; but speak to it."
— Defoe, Daniel (1660?-1731)
Metaphor
"But leaving it therefore where we find it, I say if you see an Apparition, that is such an Apparition as we have been speaking of, not a Phantosm of your own Brain, not an imaginary Apparition the effect of Fright or Dream, or meer Whimsie, not a Hypocondriack Apparition, the effect of Vapours and Hysterick Shadows, when the Eye sees double, and Imagination makes it self a Telescope to the Soul, not to show Realities, but to magnify Objects at the remotest distance, and show things as in being which are not, if you see such an Apparition as this and speak to it, 'tis no wonder you receive no answer, and so you go away more frighted with a silent dumb Devil than you would be with a speaking one; but I say, if the Vision be real, if it be a Shape and Appearance in form as has been describ'd, never shun it and fly from it; but speak to it."
Metaphor in Context
But leaving it therefore where we find it, I say if you see an Apparition, that is such an Apparition as we have been speaking of, not a Phantosm of your own Brain, not an imaginary Apparition the effect of Fright or Dream, or meer Whimsie, not a Hypocondriack Apparition, the effect of Vapours and Hysterick Shadows, when the Eye sees double, and Imagination makes it self a Telescope to the Soul, not to show Realities, but to magnify Objects at the remotest distance, and show things as in being which are not, if you see such an Apparition as this and speak to it, 'tis no wonder you receive no answer, and so you go away more frighted with a silent dumb Devil than you would be with a speaking one; but I say, if the Vision be real, if it be a Shape and Appearance in form as has been describ'd, never shun it and fly from it; but speak to it.
(p. 327)
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). <
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