"But in general, I know of no method of getting money, not even that of robbing for it upon the highway, which has so direct a tendency to efface the moral sense, to rob the heart of every gentle and humane disposition, and to harden it, like steel, against all impressions of sensibility."

— Newton, John (1725-1807)

Author

Newton, John (1725-1807)

Work Title

Thoughts upon the African Slave Trade

Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for J. Buckland, J. Johnson, and J. Philips
Date
1788
Metaphor
"But in general, I know of no method of getting money, not even that of robbing for it upon the highway, which has so direct a tendency to efface the moral sense, to rob the heart of every gentle and humane disposition, and to harden it, like steel, against all impressions of sensibility."
Metaphor in Context
2. There is a second, which either is, or ought to be, deemed of importance, considered in a political light. I mean, the dreadful effects of this trade upon the minds of those who are engaged in it. There are, doubtless, exceptions; and I would, willingly, except myself. But in general, I know of no method of getting money, not even that of robbing for it upon the highway, which has so direct a tendency to efface the moral sense, to rob the heart of every gentle and humane disposition, and to harden it, like steel, against all impressions of sensibility.
(p. 9)
Categories
Writing::Effacing Mineral::Steel Impressions
Provenance
Reading Adam Hochschild, Bury the Chains (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2005), 131. Found again in Bohls and Duncan, Travel Writing, 1700-1830, pp. 191-2.
Citation
4 entries in ESTC (1788).

Thoughts upon the African Slave Trade. By John Newton, Rector of St. Mary Woolnoth. (London: Printed for J. Buckland, in Pater-Noster-Row; J. Johnson, in St. Paul’s Church-Yard; and J. Phillips, in George-Yard, 1788). <Link to ESTC> <Link to ECCO>
Date of Entry
01/11/2014

The Mind is a Metaphor is authored by Brad Pasanek, Assistant Professor of English, University of Virginia.