"Most rightly have ye judged, O ye Cry; for the turba, ever watchful for an opportunity to invest the human mind, no sooner discovered an unguarded moment, than, like a nest of hornets arm'd with all their stings, they enter'd my once peaceful bosom."

— Fielding, Sarah (1710-1768) and Jane Collier (bap. 1715, d. 1755)


Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for R. and J. Dodsley in Pall Mall
Date
1754
Metaphor
"Most rightly have ye judged, O ye Cry; for the turba, ever watchful for an opportunity to invest the human mind, no sooner discovered an unguarded moment, than, like a nest of hornets arm'd with all their stings, they enter'd my once peaceful bosom."
Metaphor in Context
Portia. Most rightly have ye judged, O ye Cry; for the turba, ever watchful for an opportunity to invest the human mind, no sooner discovered an unguarded moment, than, like a nest of hornets arm'd with all their stings, they enter'd my once peaceful bosom.

This confession of Portia's somewhat abated the exultation of the Cry; for to have given them full satisfaction, she should obstinately have denied their charge against her; and whilst she had swell'd with rage and resentment at their discovery, should have averr'd that her mind was perfectly calm and unruffled.
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>
Date of Entry
03/06/2006

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