"Those slighted Favours which cold Nymphs dispense, / Mere common Counters of the Sense, / Defective both in Mettle and in Measure, / A Lover's Fancy coins into a Treasure."
— Sheffield, John, first duke of Buckingham and Normanby (1647-1721)
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Date
1723, 1740
Metaphor
"Those slighted Favours which cold Nymphs dispense, / Mere common Counters of the Sense, / Defective both in Mettle and in Measure, / A Lover's Fancy coins into a Treasure."
Metaphor in Context
Love is the Salt of Life; a higher Taste
It gives to Pleasure, and then makes it last.
Those slighted Favours which cold Nymphs dispense,
Mere common Counters of the Sense,
Defective both in Mettle and in Measure,
A Lover's Fancy coins into a Treasure.
How vast the Subject! What a boundless Store
Of bright Ideas, shining all before
The Muses Sight, forbids me to give o'er!
But the kind God incites us various Ways,
And now I find him all my Ardour raise,
His Precepts to perform, as well as praise.
It gives to Pleasure, and then makes it last.
Those slighted Favours which cold Nymphs dispense,
Mere common Counters of the Sense,
Defective both in Mettle and in Measure,
A Lover's Fancy coins into a Treasure.
How vast the Subject! What a boundless Store
Of bright Ideas, shining all before
The Muses Sight, forbids me to give o'er!
But the kind God incites us various Ways,
And now I find him all my Ardour raise,
His Precepts to perform, as well as praise.
Provenance
Searching "fancy" and "coin" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
Searching, 8 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1723, 1726, 1752, 1753, 1779, 1790, 1800).
Text from The Works of John Sheffield, Earl of Mulgrave, Marquis of Normanby, and Duke of Buckingham. 2 vols, 3rd ed., Corrected (London: Printed for T. Wotton and D. Browne, 1740).
Appears in The Works of John Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham, 2 vols. (London: John Barber, 1723). <Link to ECCO>
Text from The Works of John Sheffield, Earl of Mulgrave, Marquis of Normanby, and Duke of Buckingham. 2 vols, 3rd ed., Corrected (London: Printed for T. Wotton and D. Browne, 1740).
Appears in The Works of John Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham, 2 vols. (London: John Barber, 1723). <Link to ECCO>
Date of Entry
04/14/2005
Date of Review
04/26/2007
