The master-passion may be concealed "but on great occasions,... It will break forth, and loudly tell the world / What fermentation often works the soul"
— Stockdale, Percival (1736-1811)
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for T. Davies
Date
1770
Metaphor
The master-passion may be concealed "but on great occasions,... It will break forth, and loudly tell the world / What fermentation often works the soul"
Metaphor in Context
ELPINUS.
In common instances we may conceal
The master-passion; but on great occasions,
Too strongly irritated to lie still,
It will break forth, and loudly tell the world
What fermentation often works the soul,
When it pretends to smile, and be composed.
Sylvia relaxed at length from violence;
And the storm ended in a shower of tears,
Which on her lover's face the fair-one shed.
Precious and salutary were the tears;
They flowed from love; and by it's magick influence,
They hastened the recovery of Amyntas.
Opening his eyes, he fetched a heavy sigh;
The heavy sigh, issuing from pain and languor,
Was by his Sylvia's balmy mouth received;
Her breath impregnated, and sent it back
Fraught with the cheering seeds of life, and joy.
And now his heart beats with it's usual vigour;
And now his eye resumes it's former lustre.
But can the most enthusiastick poet
Describe their bliss in that transporting moment
He to a second life was now restored;
A second life, how different from the past!
The past was saddened with despair, and death,
But this was brightened with propitious love.
And what must then have been the fair-one's feelings?
She who before concluded she had caused
Her swain to rush upon untimely death,
Found him to perfect being now restored;
And by the influence of her sympathy,
Life's sweetest pleasures opening to his view;
Which she with him was destined to enjoy.
Ye who have been Cupid's warm votaries,
Form in imagination, if you can,
The inward workings of this tender scene.
No--they elude imagination's power;
Fancied they cannot be; much less recited.
These feelings are the great originals,
The incommunicable strokes of nature;
Existing only where she first impressed them;
They lose their life in the cold copyist's hand;
Their spirit is too fine to bear transfusion.
In common instances we may conceal
The master-passion; but on great occasions,
Too strongly irritated to lie still,
It will break forth, and loudly tell the world
What fermentation often works the soul,
When it pretends to smile, and be composed.
Sylvia relaxed at length from violence;
And the storm ended in a shower of tears,
Which on her lover's face the fair-one shed.
Precious and salutary were the tears;
They flowed from love; and by it's magick influence,
They hastened the recovery of Amyntas.
Opening his eyes, he fetched a heavy sigh;
The heavy sigh, issuing from pain and languor,
Was by his Sylvia's balmy mouth received;
Her breath impregnated, and sent it back
Fraught with the cheering seeds of life, and joy.
And now his heart beats with it's usual vigour;
And now his eye resumes it's former lustre.
But can the most enthusiastick poet
Describe their bliss in that transporting moment
He to a second life was now restored;
A second life, how different from the past!
The past was saddened with despair, and death,
But this was brightened with propitious love.
And what must then have been the fair-one's feelings?
She who before concluded she had caused
Her swain to rush upon untimely death,
Found him to perfect being now restored;
And by the influence of her sympathy,
Life's sweetest pleasures opening to his view;
Which she with him was destined to enjoy.
Ye who have been Cupid's warm votaries,
Form in imagination, if you can,
The inward workings of this tender scene.
No--they elude imagination's power;
Fancied they cannot be; much less recited.
These feelings are the great originals,
The incommunicable strokes of nature;
Existing only where she first impressed them;
They lose their life in the cold copyist's hand;
Their spirit is too fine to bear transfusion.
Provenance
Searching HDIS for "master passion"
Citation
Only 1 entry in ESTC (1770).
The Amyntas of Tasso. Translated from the Original Italian by Percival Stockdale. (London: Printed for T. Davies, in Russel-Street, Covent-Garden, 1770). <Link to ESTC>
The Amyntas of Tasso. Translated from the Original Italian by Percival Stockdale. (London: Printed for T. Davies, in Russel-Street, Covent-Garden, 1770). <Link to ESTC>
Theme
Ruling Passion
Date of Entry
06/01/2004
