"The finest Form! and the most finish'd Mind! / A Cabinet fill'd with the Richest Charms / That ever Husband lock'd within his Arms?"
— Gould, Robert (b. 1660?, d. in or before 1709)
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for W. Lewis
Date
1709
Metaphor
"The finest Form! and the most finish'd Mind! / A Cabinet fill'd with the Richest Charms / That ever Husband lock'd within his Arms?"
Metaphor in Context
ALEXIS.
Sorrow indeed, does play the Tyrant there.--
But see! ah see a sadder Object here!
How like the Dead the Living does appear!
See how her Lord in silent Anguish stands,
With Eyes erected and uplifted Hands!
He knows not what to say, or think, or do,
Confounded with the unexpected Blow!
Hardn'd in Woe, and loathing all Relief,
He seems himself the Statue of his Grief.
Ah! why with so much Violence inclin'd
For present Sorrow?--he'll hereafter find
Too much, when her Endearments all appear
Fresh to his Mind, and fix her Image there:
For tho' remov'd from our Corpo'real Sight,
He'll see her by an intellectual Light,
Not barr'd by Distance, and not veil'd by Night.
Each Day will to his sad Remembrance bring
The dear Reflection of some dute'ous thing.
The Noblest, yet the Humblest of her Kind!
The finest Form! and the most finish'd Mind!
A Cabinet fill'd with the Richest Charms
That ever Husband lock'd within his Arms?
So Tender, so Obedient all her Life,
As if his Guardian Angel, not his Wife.
So Chearful, Chast, and Studious of his Ease,
So truly kind, and so resolv'd to Please,
She gave him (as his Fate were in her Pow'r)
In nineteen Years not one afflictive Hour.
Design and Strife were Strangers to her Heart,
But Peace and Truth and That were ne'er apart.
Anger might knock, but he no entrance found:
He durst not tread that Path, 'twas Holy Ground.
Her Temper was to Piety so true,
Not her whole Life one rapid Motion knew,
Like a smooth Stream it did unmurm'uring roll,
Clear as her Eyes, and even as her Soul!
But see! her Hero can refrain no more,
His Heart is bursting, and his Eyes run o'er!
In vain he does let fall that plente'ous Show'r,
No Rain cou'd e'er revive a faded Flow'r!
Can you behold all this and Weep not too?--
Sorrow indeed, does play the Tyrant there.--
But see! ah see a sadder Object here!
How like the Dead the Living does appear!
See how her Lord in silent Anguish stands,
With Eyes erected and uplifted Hands!
He knows not what to say, or think, or do,
Confounded with the unexpected Blow!
Hardn'd in Woe, and loathing all Relief,
He seems himself the Statue of his Grief.
Ah! why with so much Violence inclin'd
For present Sorrow?--he'll hereafter find
Too much, when her Endearments all appear
Fresh to his Mind, and fix her Image there:
For tho' remov'd from our Corpo'real Sight,
He'll see her by an intellectual Light,
Not barr'd by Distance, and not veil'd by Night.
Each Day will to his sad Remembrance bring
The dear Reflection of some dute'ous thing.
The Noblest, yet the Humblest of her Kind!
The finest Form! and the most finish'd Mind!
A Cabinet fill'd with the Richest Charms
That ever Husband lock'd within his Arms?
So Tender, so Obedient all her Life,
As if his Guardian Angel, not his Wife.
So Chearful, Chast, and Studious of his Ease,
So truly kind, and so resolv'd to Please,
She gave him (as his Fate were in her Pow'r)
In nineteen Years not one afflictive Hour.
Design and Strife were Strangers to her Heart,
But Peace and Truth and That were ne'er apart.
Anger might knock, but he no entrance found:
He durst not tread that Path, 'twas Holy Ground.
Her Temper was to Piety so true,
Not her whole Life one rapid Motion knew,
Like a smooth Stream it did unmurm'uring roll,
Clear as her Eyes, and even as her Soul!
But see! her Hero can refrain no more,
His Heart is bursting, and his Eyes run o'er!
In vain he does let fall that plente'ous Show'r,
No Rain cou'd e'er revive a faded Flow'r!
Can you behold all this and Weep not too?--
Categories
Provenance
Searching "mind" and "cabinet" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
The Works of Mr. Robert Gould: In Two Volumes. Consisting of those Poems and Satyrs Which were formerly Printed, and Corrected since by the Author; As also of the many more which He Design'd for the Press. Publish'd from his Own Original Copies (London: W. Lewis, 1709). <Link to ECCO>
Date of Entry
09/07/2005
