"I was deaf, insensible, rock, adamant, the bailiffs could make no impression on my hard heart, for I effectually kept my liberty by never stirring out of the room."
— Goldsmith, Oliver (1728?-1774)
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for the Author
Date
1760-1761, 1762
Metaphor
"I was deaf, insensible, rock, adamant, the bailiffs could make no impression on my hard heart, for I effectually kept my liberty by never stirring out of the room."
Metaphor in Context
"A nobleman, cries a member, who had hitherto been silent, is created as much for the confusion of us authors as the catch-pole. I'll tell you a story, gentlemen, which is as true as that this pipe is made of clay. When I was delivered of my first book, I owed my taylor for a suit of cloaths, but that is nothing new, you know, and may be any man's case as well as mine. Well, owing him for a suit of cloaths, and hearing that my book took very well, he sent for his money, and insisted upon being paid immediately: though I was at that time rich in fame, for my book run like wild-fire, yet I was very short in money, and being unable to satisfy his demand, prudently resolved to keep my chamber, preferring a prison of my own chusing at home, to one of my taylor's chusing abroad. In vain the bailiffs used all their arts to decoy me from my citadel, in vain they sent to let me know that a gentleman wanted to speak with me at the next tavern, in vain they came with an urgent message from my aunt in the country; in vain I was told that a particular friend was at the point death, and desired to take his last farewell; I was deaf, insensible, rock, adamant, the bailiffs could make no impression on my hard heart, for I effectually kept my liberty by never stirring out of the room.
(I, pp. 124-125)
(I, pp. 124-125)
Categories
Provenance
Searching in ECCO-TCP
Citation
First published in the Public Ledger in 1760-1761. At least 25 entries in ESTC (1762, 1769, 1774, 1775 1776, 1782, 1785, 1790, 1792, 1793, 1794, 1797, 1799, 1800).
Text from The Citizen of the World: or Letters from a Chinese Philosopher, Residing in London, to His Friends in the East. (London: Printed for the Author; and sold by J. Newbery and W. Bristow; J. Leake and W. Frederick, Bath; B. Collins, Salisbury; and A. M. Smart and Co. Reading, 1762). <Link to ECCO-TCP>
Text from The Citizen of the World: or Letters from a Chinese Philosopher, Residing in London, to His Friends in the East. (London: Printed for the Author; and sold by J. Newbery and W. Bristow; J. Leake and W. Frederick, Bath; B. Collins, Salisbury; and A. M. Smart and Co. Reading, 1762). <Link to ECCO-TCP>
Date of Entry
07/25/2014
