"Refinement was not able to stand very long against the Voice of Nature, which cried in his Heart, that such Friendship was Treason to Love."
— Fielding, Henry (1707-1754)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for A. Millar
Date
1749
Metaphor
"Refinement was not able to stand very long against the Voice of Nature, which cried in his Heart, that such Friendship was Treason to Love."
Metaphor in Context
At the reading of this Jones was put into a violent Flutter. His Fortune was then at a very low Ebb, the Source being stopt from which hitherto he had been supplied. Of all he had received from Lady Bellaston not above five Guineas remained, and that very Morning he had been dunned by a Tradesman for twice that Sum. His honourable Mistress was in the Hands of her Father, and he had scarce any Hopes ever to get her out of them again. To be subsisted at her Expence from that little Fortune she had independent of her Father, went much against the Delicacy both of his Pride and his Love. This Lady's Fortune would have been exceeding convenient to him, and he could have no Objection to her in any Respect. On the contrary, he liked her as well as he did any Woman except Sophia. But to abandon Sophia, and marry another, that was impossible; he could not think of it upon any Account. Yet why should he not, since it was plain she could not be his? Would it not be kinder to her, than to continue her longer engaged in a hopeless Passion for him? Ought he not to do so in Friendship to her? This Notion prevailed some Moments, and he had almost determined to be false to her from a high Point of Honour; but that Refinement was not able to stand very long against the Voice of Nature, which cried in his Heart, that such Friendship was Treason to Love. At last he called for Pen, Ink and Paper, and writ as follows to Mrs. Hunt.
Categories
Provenance
Searching in HDIS (Prose)
Citation
Over 75 entries in the ESTC (1749, 1750, 1751, 1759, 1763, 1764, 1765, 1766, 1767, 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1773, 1774, 1775, 1776, 1777, 1780, 1782, 1783, 1784, 1786, 1787, 1789, 1791, 1792, 1794, 1795, 1797, 1800).
See The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. In Six Volumes. By Henry Fielding. (London: Printed for A. Millar, 1749). <Link to ECCO><Link to LION>
See also three-volume Dublin edition in ECCO-TCP <Link to Vol. I in ECCO-TCP><Vol. II><Vol. III>
Reading The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. Norton Critical Edition, ed. Sheridan W. Baker. (New York: W. W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1973).
Also reading Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, eds. John Bender and Simon Stern (Oxford: OUP, 1996).
See The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. In Six Volumes. By Henry Fielding. (London: Printed for A. Millar, 1749). <Link to ECCO><Link to LION>
See also three-volume Dublin edition in ECCO-TCP <Link to Vol. I in ECCO-TCP><Vol. II><Vol. III>
Reading The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. Norton Critical Edition, ed. Sheridan W. Baker. (New York: W. W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1973).
Also reading Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, eds. John Bender and Simon Stern (Oxford: OUP, 1996).
Date of Entry
03/11/2005
