"In a bosom inhabited by the dextra some comfort arises, even from despair of any pleasure which was once a favourite pursuit: for the very impossibility of obtaining our wish, makes us in earnest endeavour to conquer such a fruitless inclination: whereas on the contrary, in the bosom inhabited by the sinistra, the heart labouring with the knowledge of its own fancy'd desert, swells with tumultuous rage on being disappointed."
— Fielding, Sarah (1710-1768) and Jane Collier (bap. 1715, d. 1755)
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for R. and J. Dodsley in Pall Mall
Date
1754
Metaphor
"In a bosom inhabited by the dextra some comfort arises, even from despair of any pleasure which was once a favourite pursuit: for the very impossibility of obtaining our wish, makes us in earnest endeavour to conquer such a fruitless inclination: whereas on the contrary, in the bosom inhabited by the sinistra, the heart labouring with the knowledge of its own fancy'd desert, swells with tumultuous rage on being disappointed."
Metaphor in Context
Portia. Little can you conceive, O yeCry, the pleasures which flowed in upon my mind, whilst you suppose that the least rage and anger found a place there. In a bosom inhabited by the dextra some comfort arises, even from despair of any pleasure which was once a favourite pursuit: for the very impossibility of obtaining our wish, makes us in earnest endeavour to conquer such a fruitless inclination: whereas on the contrary, in the bosom inhabited by the sinistra, the heart labouring with the knowledge of its own fancy'd desert, swells with tumultuous rage on being disappointed. I was so far from being perplexed with any anxiety lest Ferdinand should even marry Melantha, that in a very short time it became perfectly indifferent to me whom he married, provided I myself escaped the misery, as I now thought it, of being his wife.
(pp. 230-1)
(pp. 230-1)
Categories
Provenance
Searching in HDIS (Prose)
Citation
2 entries in ESTC (1754).
See Fielding, Sarah and Jane Collier, The Cry: A New Dramatic Fable, 3 vols. (London: Printed for R. and J. Dodsley in Pall Mall, 1754). <Link to ESTC>
See Fielding, Sarah and Jane Collier, The Cry: A New Dramatic Fable, 3 vols. (London: Printed for R. and J. Dodsley in Pall Mall, 1754). <Link to ESTC>
Date of Entry
02/09/2005
Date of Review
01/12/2012
