One's head and heart may be "on the rack" about something worrisome
— Steele, Sir Richard (1672-1729)
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for J. Tonson
Date
1722
Metaphor
One's head and heart may be "on the rack" about something worrisome
Metaphor in Context
SIR JOHN BEVIL
He is gone in a way but barely civil. But his great wealth and the merit of his only child, the heiress of it, are not to be lost for a little peevishness.
Enter Humphrey
Oh, Humphrey, you are come in a seasonable minute. I want to talk to thee and to tell thee that my head and heart are on the rack about my son.
(Act IV, scene ii, p. 262)
He is gone in a way but barely civil. But his great wealth and the merit of his only child, the heiress of it, are not to be lost for a little peevishness.
Enter Humphrey
Oh, Humphrey, you are come in a seasonable minute. I want to talk to thee and to tell thee that my head and heart are on the rack about my son.
(Act IV, scene ii, p. 262)
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
