The Sorcerer Royal's servants had formerly been bound by a geas against disclosure of any detail of his household affairs, breach of which was visited by the most terrible revenge.

Well, well, my dear lass, to-night we cannot work, but we may sleep. . . . Keep a still heart tonight, and tomorrow is another day.

I[f] regard be had to the Univerſity of humane Reaſon, it is no vvhere ſo narrovvly diſcuſſed and eventilated, and the judgement rectified by clear notions: […]

In The Volunteer, no drama is provided by the tedium of daily labor or the struggle to wrest a livelihood from a damaged habitat in what is called throughout the novel the “turd world.” The developing world is excrementitious for Coleman's supposedly ironic protagonist because he has experienced an ego-shattering loss that makes him feel that his own life has been wasted.