"I said, you have been dreaming; and the Impression still lies heavy and melancholy on your Memory"
— Brooke, Henry (c. 1703-1783)
Author
Place of Publication
Dublin
Publisher
Printed for the Author by Dillon Chamberlaine
Date
Published serially, 1765-1770
Metaphor
"I said, you have been dreaming; and the Impression still lies heavy and melancholy on your Memory"
Metaphor in Context
Having recollected my Strength and Spirits the best I could, I adventured to enter my Wife's Apartment. She was just raised in her Bed, from whence her pale and emaciated Countenance looked forth as the Sun, toward his Setting, looks through a sickly Atmosphere, in Confidence of his arising in the Fulness of Morning Glory.
Having cautiously and dejectedly seated myself beside her, she reached out both her Hands, and, pressing one of mine between them, I love you no longer, my Harry, she cried; I love you no longer. [Page 63] Your Rival, at length, has conquered. I am the Bride of Another. And yet I love you in a Measure, since in you I love all that is him, or that is his, and that I think is much, a great deal, indeed, of all that is lovely. O, my dear, my sweet, mine only Enemy, as I may say! Riches were nothing unto me, Pleasures were nothing unto me, the World was nothing unto me; You, and you only, Harry, stood between me and my Heaven, between me and my God. Long, and often, and vainly, have I strove and struggled against you; but my Bridegroom, at length, is become jealous of you; my true Owner calls me from you, and takes me all to himself! Be not alarmed then, my Harry, when I tell you that I must leave you. You will grieve for me, you will grieve greatly for me, my Beloved! but, give way to the kindly Shower that your Lord shed for his Lazarus, and let the Tears of Humanity alleviate and lighten the Weight of your Affliction. -- Ah, my Harry, I tremble for you; what a Course you have to run!--what Perils! what Temptations! deliver him from them, my Master, deliver him from them all: --Again what blissful Prospects--they are gone, they are vanished! --I sink, I die under the Weight and Length of succeeding Misery! --Again it opens, all is cleared, and his End, like that of Job, is more blessed than his Beginning. --Ah, [Page 64] my Harry, my Harry, your Heart must be wrung by many Engines, it shall be tried in many Fires, but I trust it is a golden Heart, and will come forth with all its Weight.
You have been dreaming, my Love, I said, you have been dreaming; and the Impression still lies heavy and melancholy on your Memory.
(pp. 62-4)
Having cautiously and dejectedly seated myself beside her, she reached out both her Hands, and, pressing one of mine between them, I love you no longer, my Harry, she cried; I love you no longer. [Page 63] Your Rival, at length, has conquered. I am the Bride of Another. And yet I love you in a Measure, since in you I love all that is him, or that is his, and that I think is much, a great deal, indeed, of all that is lovely. O, my dear, my sweet, mine only Enemy, as I may say! Riches were nothing unto me, Pleasures were nothing unto me, the World was nothing unto me; You, and you only, Harry, stood between me and my Heaven, between me and my God. Long, and often, and vainly, have I strove and struggled against you; but my Bridegroom, at length, is become jealous of you; my true Owner calls me from you, and takes me all to himself! Be not alarmed then, my Harry, when I tell you that I must leave you. You will grieve for me, you will grieve greatly for me, my Beloved! but, give way to the kindly Shower that your Lord shed for his Lazarus, and let the Tears of Humanity alleviate and lighten the Weight of your Affliction. -- Ah, my Harry, I tremble for you; what a Course you have to run!--what Perils! what Temptations! deliver him from them, my Master, deliver him from them all: --Again what blissful Prospects--they are gone, they are vanished! --I sink, I die under the Weight and Length of succeeding Misery! --Again it opens, all is cleared, and his End, like that of Job, is more blessed than his Beginning. --Ah, [Page 64] my Harry, my Harry, your Heart must be wrung by many Engines, it shall be tried in many Fires, but I trust it is a golden Heart, and will come forth with all its Weight.
You have been dreaming, my Love, I said, you have been dreaming; and the Impression still lies heavy and melancholy on your Memory.
(pp. 62-4)
Categories
Provenance
Searching in HDIS (Prose)
Citation
17 entries in the ESTC (1765, 1766, 1767, 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1776, 1777, 1782, 1791, 1792, 1793, 1794).
Text from The Fool of Quality, or, the History of Henry Earl of Moreland. (Dublin: Printed for the Author by Dillon Chamberlaine, 1765-1770). <Link to ECCO>. Note, vol. 2 is dated 1766, vol. 3 1768, vol. 4 1769, vol. 5 1770.
Text from The Fool of Quality, or, the History of Henry Earl of Moreland. (Dublin: Printed for the Author by Dillon Chamberlaine, 1765-1770). <Link to ECCO>. Note, vol. 2 is dated 1766, vol. 3 1768, vol. 4 1769, vol. 5 1770.
Date of Entry
06/02/2005
