"Every thing encourages me on your account, while my own soul, tormented by an unlucky passion, has entirely lost its balance."

— Anonymous


Author
Date
1792
Metaphor
"Every thing encourages me on your account, while my own soul, tormented by an unlucky passion, has entirely lost its balance."
Metaphor in Context
[...] The apartment which he has seen must have been brilliantly lighted, for he said he was dazzled with its splendour. And be assured, that I have certainly guessed, so to speak, what it is he has attempted to describe. Now, my friend, this extravagant luxury characterises the palaces of Persia. He was carried to Persia, and brought back in one night then, said Chebib. My dear landlord, replied Giafar, if your son is decreed to contract a marriage, from which a certain portion of the earth will derive advantage ; when heaven interferes, distance vanishes in a moment. Omar was besieging Aleppo, while Fatme, his wife, was kneeling at the evening prayers at Medina: O my God, cried she, after they were finished, could I now be in the arms of my husband! Scarcely had she formed the wish, when she was instantly carried to him, by the two angels whom she had saluted on the right hand, and on the left, before she began her prayer. Take courage, my dear friend: Heaven has wrought many miracles in my favour; and, as you have been one of its principal instruments with regard to me, though, for the trial of your virtue, obstacles seem allowed to stand in the way of your happiness, be assured that your star will shine with a brighter lustre, when it has emerged from these little clouds. Every thing encourages me on your account, while my own soul, tormented by an unlucky passion, has entirely lost its balance.
(I, p. 517)
Provenance
Searching in Google Books
Citation
3 entries in ESTC (1792).

See Arabian Tales. Being a Continuation of the Arabian Nights Entertainments. Consisting of One Thousand and One Stories, Told by the Sultaness of the Indies, to Divert the Sultan from the Execution of a Bloody Vow He Had Made, to Marry a Lady Every Day, and Have Her Cut off Next Morning, to Avenge Himself for the Disloyalty of His First Sultaness, &C. Containing a Better Account of the Customs, Manners, and Religion of the Eastern Nations, Than Is to Be Met With in Any Work Hitherto Published. Translated from the Arabian Manuscript Into French, by Dom Chavis and M. Cazotte, and Now Translated Into English from the Last French Edition. (Edinburgh: Printed for G. Mudie, J. Elder, A. Guthrie, J. Hunter, T. Brown, J. & J. Fairhairn, Lawrie & Symington, J. Guthrie, J. Watson & Co., and C. Elliot, Edinburgh; and W. Coke Leith, 1792). <Link to ESTC>

Text from Tales of the East: Comprising the Most Popular Romances of Oriental Origin, ed. Henry Weber, 3 vols. (Edinburgh: Ballantyne, 1812). <Link to Google Books>
Date of Entry
06/19/2014

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