"When I view my children and their father about me, I fancy that every thing breathes an air of virtue, and they banish from my mind the disagreeable remembrance of my former frailties."

— Rousseau, Jean-Jacques (1712-1778); Kenrick, William (1729/30-1779)


Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for R. Griffiths and T. Becket
Date
1761
Metaphor
"When I view my children and their father about me, I fancy that every thing breathes an air of virtue, and they banish from my mind the disagreeable remembrance of my former frailties."
Metaphor in Context
[...] The rank of a wife and mother exalts my soul, and supports me against the remorse of my former condition. When I view my children and their father about me, I fancy that every thing breathes an air of virtue, and they banish from my mind the disagreeable remembrance of my former frailties. Their innocence is the security of mine; they become dearer to me, by being the instruments of my reformation; and I think of the violation of honour with such horror, that I can scarce believe myself the same person who formerly was capable of forgetting its precepts. I perceive myself so different from what I was, so confirmed in my present state, that I am almost induced to consider what I have to declare, as a confession which does not concern me, and which I am not obliged to make.
(III, p. 7)
Categories
Provenance
Google Books
Citation
At least ten entries in the ESTC (1761, 1764, 1767, 1769, 1776, 1784, 1795).

Text from Eloisa: Or, a Series of Original Letters Collected and Published by J.J. Rousseau. Translated from the French. 4 vols. (London: Printed for R. Griffiths and T. Becket, 1761). <Link to Vol. I><Link to Vol. II><Link to Vol. III><Link to Vol. IV>
Date of Entry
07/14/2013

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