"The secret Charm in the Countenance, Voice, and Manner of the Countess, join'd to the Force of her reasoning, could not fail of making some Impression on the Mind of Arabella"

— Lennox, née Ramsay, (Barbara) Charlotte (1730/1?-1804)


Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for A. Millar
Date
1752
Metaphor
"The secret Charm in the Countenance, Voice, and Manner of the Countess, join'd to the Force of her reasoning, could not fail of making some Impression on the Mind of Arabella"
Metaphor in Context
The secret Charm in the Countenance, Voice, and Manner of the Countess, join'd to the Force of her reasoning, could not fail of making some Impression on the Mind of Arabella; but it was such an Impression as came far short of Conviction. She was surpriz'd, embarrass'd, perplex'd, but not convinc'd. Heroism, romantick Heroism, was rooted deeply in her Heart; it was her Habit of thinking, a Principle imbib'd from Education. She could not separate her Ideas of Glory, Virtue, Courage, Generosity, and Honour, from the false Representations of them in the Actions of Oroondates, Juba, Artaxerxes, and the rest of the imaginary Heroes. The Countess's Discourse had raised a Kind of Tumult in her Thoughts, which gave an Air of Perplexity to her lovely Face, and made that Lady apprehensive she had gone too far, and lost that Ground in her Esteem, which she had endeavour'd to acquire by a Conformity to some of her Notions and Language. In this however, she was mistaken; Arabella felt a Tenderness for her that had already the Force of a long contracted Friendship, and an Esteem little less than Veneration.
(p. 329)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
The Female Quixote; or, the Adventures of Arabella. In Two Volumes. (London: Printed for A. Millar, over-against Catharine-Street in the Strand, 1752). <Link to ESTC>

Reading The Female Quixote. World's Classics. Ed. Margaret Dalziel. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.
Date of Entry
09/14/2009
Date of Review
10/23/2003

The Mind is a Metaphor is authored by Brad Pasanek, Assistant Professor of English, University of Virginia.