"I pique myself in keeping the heart of the loveliest woman that ever existed, as a nobler conquest than attracting the notice of a hundred coquets."
— Brooke [née Moore], Frances (bap. 1724, d. 1789)
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for J. Dodsley
Date
1769
Metaphor
"I pique myself in keeping the heart of the loveliest woman that ever existed, as a nobler conquest than attracting the notice of a hundred coquets."
Metaphor in Context
My inconstancy in love has been meerly from vanity.
There is something so flattering in the general favor of women, that it requires great firmness of mind to resist that kind of gallantry which indulges it, though absolutely destructive to real happiness.
I blush to say, that when I first married I have more than once been in danger, from the mere boyish desire of conquest, notwithstanding my adoration for your lovely sister: such is the force of habit, for I must have been infinitely a loser by changing.
I am now perfectly safe; my vanity has taken another turn: I pique myself in keeping the heart of the loveliest woman that ever existed, as a nobler conquest than attracting the notice of a hundred coquets, who would be equally flattered by the attention of any other man, at least any other man who had the good fortune to be as fashionable.
(IV, pp. 128-9)
There is something so flattering in the general favor of women, that it requires great firmness of mind to resist that kind of gallantry which indulges it, though absolutely destructive to real happiness.
I blush to say, that when I first married I have more than once been in danger, from the mere boyish desire of conquest, notwithstanding my adoration for your lovely sister: such is the force of habit, for I must have been infinitely a loser by changing.
I am now perfectly safe; my vanity has taken another turn: I pique myself in keeping the heart of the loveliest woman that ever existed, as a nobler conquest than attracting the notice of a hundred coquets, who would be equally flattered by the attention of any other man, at least any other man who had the good fortune to be as fashionable.
(IV, pp. 128-9)
Categories
Provenance
Searching "conque" and "reason" in HDIS (Prose)
Citation
At least 8 entries in the ESTC (1769, 1775, 1777, 1784, 1786, 1800).
See The History of Emily Montague. In Four Volumes. By the Author of Lady Julia Mandeville. (London: Printed for J. Dodsley, 1769). <Link to ESTC><Link to Penn's Digital Library><Link to LION>
See The History of Emily Montague. In Four Volumes. By the Author of Lady Julia Mandeville. (London: Printed for J. Dodsley, 1769). <Link to ESTC><Link to Penn's Digital Library><Link to LION>
Date of Entry
09/29/2004
