Radcliffe [née Ward], Ann (1764-1823)

A Sicilian Romance

London

Printed for T. Hookham

1790

"Thus do the scenes of life vary with the predominant passions of mankind, and with the progress of civilization."

The view of this building revived in the mind of the beholder the memory of past ages. The manners and characters which distinguished them arose to his fancy, and through the long lapse of years, he discriminated those customs and manners which formed so striking a contrast to the modes of his own times. The rude manners, the boisterous passions, the daring ambition, and the gross indulgences which formerly characterized the priest, the nobleman, and the sovereign, had then begun to yield to learning--the charms of refined conversation--political intrigue and private artifices. Thus do the scenes of life vary with the predominant passions of mankind, and with the progress of civilization. The dark clouds of prejudice break away before the sun of science, and gradually dissolving, leave the brightening hemisphere to the influence of his beams. But through the present scene appeared only a few scattered rays, which served to shew more forcibly the vast and heavy masses that concealed the form of truth. Here prejudice, not reason, suspended the influence of the passions; and scholastic learning, mysterious philosophy, and crafty sanctity, supplied the place of wisdom, simplicity, and pure devotion.
(II.ix, pp. 28-9; pp. 116-7 in OUP edition)

Government::Rule and Subjection::Rule of Passion

Reading

At least 6 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1790, 1791, 1792, 1795, 1796).

Text from A Sicilian Romance. By The Authoress of The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne 2 vols. (London: Printed for T. Hookham, 1790). <Link to volume I, 2nd edition in Google Books><Volume II>

Reading in A Sicilian Romance, ed. Alison Milbank (Oxford and New York: OUP, 1993).

Ruling Passion

05/31/2013