"Hope and fear alternate rising, / Strive for empire o'er my heart."
— Bickerstaff, Isaac (b. 1733, d. after 1808)
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for W. Griffin
Date
1768
Metaphor
"Hope and fear alternate rising, / Strive for empire o'er my heart."
Metaphor in Context
CLARISSA.
How easy to direct the conduct of others, how hard to regulate our own! I can give my friend advice, while I am conscious of the same indiscretions in myself. Yet is it criminal to know the most worthy, most amiable man in the world, and not be insensible to his merit? But my father, the kindest, best of fathers, will he approve the choice I have made? Nay, has he not made another choice for me? And, after all, how can I be sure that the man I love, loves me again? He never told me so; but his looks, his actions, his present anxiety sufficiently declare what his delicacy, his generosity will not suffer him to utter: it is my part then to speak first.--
Hope and fear alternate rising,
Strive for empire o'er my heart;
Ev'ry peril now despising,
Now at ev'ry breath I start.
Teach, ye learned sages, teach me,
How to stem this beating tide:
If you've any rules to reach me,
Haste, and be the weak one's guide.
Thus, our trial's at a distance,
Wisdom, science, promise aid;
But in need of their assistance,
We attempt to grasp a shade.
How easy to direct the conduct of others, how hard to regulate our own! I can give my friend advice, while I am conscious of the same indiscretions in myself. Yet is it criminal to know the most worthy, most amiable man in the world, and not be insensible to his merit? But my father, the kindest, best of fathers, will he approve the choice I have made? Nay, has he not made another choice for me? And, after all, how can I be sure that the man I love, loves me again? He never told me so; but his looks, his actions, his present anxiety sufficiently declare what his delicacy, his generosity will not suffer him to utter: it is my part then to speak first.--
Hope and fear alternate rising,
Strive for empire o'er my heart;
Ev'ry peril now despising,
Now at ev'ry breath I start.
Teach, ye learned sages, teach me,
How to stem this beating tide:
If you've any rules to reach me,
Haste, and be the weak one's guide.
Thus, our trial's at a distance,
Wisdom, science, promise aid;
But in need of their assistance,
We attempt to grasp a shade.
Categories
Provenance
Searching "empire" and "heart" in HDIS (Drama)
Citation
First performed February 25, 1768. At least 20 entries in ESTC (1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1774, 1778, 1781, 1786, 1790, 1791, 1794, 1796).
See Lionel and Clarissa. A Comic Opera. As It is Performed at the Theatre-Royal in Covent-Garden. (London: Printed for W. Griffin, in Catharine-Street, Strand. 1768). <Link to ESTC>
See Lionel and Clarissa. A Comic Opera. As It is Performed at the Theatre-Royal in Covent-Garden. (London: Printed for W. Griffin, in Catharine-Street, Strand. 1768). <Link to ESTC>
Date of Entry
08/16/2004
Date of Review
06/15/2009
