"I say, thus it is with me while I see him; and in his absence I am entertained with nothing but your endeavors to tear this image from my heart and, in its stead, to place a base dissembler, and artful invader of my happiness, my innocence, my honor."
— Steele, Sir Richard (1672-1729)
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for J. Tonson
Date
1722
Metaphor
"I say, thus it is with me while I see him; and in his absence I am entertained with nothing but your endeavors to tear this image from my heart and, in its stead, to place a base dissembler, and artful invader of my happiness, my innocence, my honor."
Metaphor in Context
INDIANA
I have, when I am with him, ten thousand things besides my sex's natural decency and shame to suppress my heart that yearns to thank, to praise, to say it loves him. I say, thus it is with me while I see him; and in his absence I am entertained with nothing but your endeavors to tear this image from my heart and, in its stead, to place a base dissembler, and artful invader of my happiness, my innocence, my honor.
(II.ii, p. 239-40)
I have, when I am with him, ten thousand things besides my sex's natural decency and shame to suppress my heart that yearns to thank, to praise, to say it loves him. I say, thus it is with me while I see him; and in his absence I am entertained with nothing but your endeavors to tear this image from my heart and, in its stead, to place a base dissembler, and artful invader of my happiness, my innocence, my honor.
(II.ii, p. 239-40)
Categories
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).
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
03/04/2009
