"I met her this morning in a new manteau and petticoat, not a bit worse for her lady's wearing, and she has always new thoughts and new airs with new clothes."

— Steele, Sir Richard (1672-1729)

Author

Steele, Sir Richard (1672-1729)

Work Title

The Conscious Lovers

Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for J. Tonson
Date
1722
Metaphor
"I met her this morning in a new manteau and petticoat, not a bit worse for her lady's wearing, and she has always new thoughts and new airs with new clothes."
Metaphor in Context
TOM
I met her this morning in a new manteau and petticoat, not a bit worse for her lady's wearing, and she has always new thoughts and new airs with new clothes. Then she never fails to steal some glance or gesture from every visitant at their house, and is indeed the whole town of coquettes at second hand.
(Act I, scene i, p. 228)
Categories
Dress::Manteau and Petticoat
Provenance
Reading
Citation
First performed November, 1722. At least 87 entries in ESTC (1722, 1723, 1724, 1725, 1729, 1730, 1732, 1733, 1735, 1736, 1740, 1741, 1743, 1744, 1746, 1747, 1751, 1755, 1757, 1759, 1760, 1761, 1764, 1767, 1768, 1770, 1771, 1774, 1776, 1777, 1778, 1780, 1782, 1785, 1789, 1791, 1793, 1794).

Text from The Conscious Lovers. A Comedy. As It Is Acted at the Theatre Royal in Drury-Lane, by His Majesty's Servants. Written by Richard Steele (London: Printed for J. Tonson, 1723).

Reading in Scott McMillin's Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Comedy. Norton Critical Edition. (New York: Norton, 1973).
Date of Entry
07/22/2003
Date of Review
12/03/2008

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