"[F]ond anxiety, the glowing hopes, and chilling fears" may "rule [the] breast by turns"
— Smollett, Tobias (1721-1777)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for J. Osborn
Date
1748
Metaphor
"[F]ond anxiety, the glowing hopes, and chilling fears" may "rule [the] breast by turns"
Metaphor in Context
"Dear Madam,
Were it possible for the powers of utterance, to reveal the soft emotions of my soul; the fond anxiety, the glowing hopes, and chilling fears that rule my breast by turns; I should need no other witness than this paper, to evince the purity and ardour of that flame your charms have kindled in my heart. But alas! expression wrongs my love! I am inspired with conceptions that no language can convey! Your beauty fills me with wonder! your understanding with ravishment, and your goodness with adoration! I am transported with desire, distracted with doubts, and tortured with impatience! Suffer me then, lovely arbitress of my fate, to approach you in person, to breathe in soft murmurs my passion to your ear, to offer the sacrifice of a heart overflowing with the most genuine and disinterested love; to gaze with exstasy on the divine object of my wishes, to hear the musick of her enchanting tongue! to rejoice in her smiles of approbation, and banish the most intolerable suspence from the bosom of
Were it possible for the powers of utterance, to reveal the soft emotions of my soul; the fond anxiety, the glowing hopes, and chilling fears that rule my breast by turns; I should need no other witness than this paper, to evince the purity and ardour of that flame your charms have kindled in my heart. But alas! expression wrongs my love! I am inspired with conceptions that no language can convey! Your beauty fills me with wonder! your understanding with ravishment, and your goodness with adoration! I am transported with desire, distracted with doubts, and tortured with impatience! Suffer me then, lovely arbitress of my fate, to approach you in person, to breathe in soft murmurs my passion to your ear, to offer the sacrifice of a heart overflowing with the most genuine and disinterested love; to gaze with exstasy on the divine object of my wishes, to hear the musick of her enchanting tongue! to rejoice in her smiles of approbation, and banish the most intolerable suspence from the bosom of
Provenance
Searching "paper" and "heart" in HDIS (Prose Fiction)
Citation
Over 45 entries in ESTC (1748, 1749, 1750, 1755, 1760, 1762, 1763, 1766, 1768, 1770, 1772, 1773, 1774, 1775, 1777, 1778, 1779, 1780, 1783, 1784, 1786, 1787, 1790, 1791, 1792, 1793, 1794, 1795, 1797, 1799, 1800).
Smollett, Tobias. The Adventures of Roderick Random. In Two Volumes. (London: printed for J. Osborn, 1748). <Link to ECCO>
Smollett, Tobias. The Adventures of Roderick Random. In Two Volumes. (London: printed for J. Osborn, 1748). <Link to ECCO>
Theme
Ruling Passion
Date of Entry
03/11/2005
