"Col. Dormer, though he knew the human heart, had never yet thought of taking his nieces in more active scenes of life: he had fallen into the common mistake of people past the meridian of their days, who, feeling tranquillity their greatest good, do not sufficiently reflect that it is insipid at that season when expectation and wish for novelty are the springs which actuate the mind; when all opens fair on the dawning imagination, and a thousand ideal pleasures play in the chearful rays of hope."

— Brooke [née Moore], Frances (bap. 1724, d. 1789)


Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for T. Cadell
Date
1777
Metaphor
"Col. Dormer, though he knew the human heart, had never yet thought of taking his nieces in more active scenes of life: he had fallen into the common mistake of people past the meridian of their days, who, feeling tranquillity their greatest good, do not sufficiently reflect that it is insipid at that season when expectation and wish for novelty are the springs which actuate the mind; when all opens fair on the dawning imagination, and a thousand ideal pleasures play in the chearful rays of hope."
Metaphor in Context
Col. Dormer, though he knew the human heart, had never yet thought of taking his nieces in more active scenes of life: he had fallen into the common mistake of people past the meridian of their days, who, feeling tranquillity their greatest good, do not sufficiently reflect that it is insipid at that season when expectation and wish for novelty are the springs which actuate the mind; when all opens fair on the dawning imagination, and a thousand ideal pleasures play in the chearful rays of hope.
(I.i.5, p. 15)
Provenance
Searching in ECCO
Citation
At least 3 entries in the ESTC (1777, 1785).

See The Excursion. In Two Volumes. By Mrs. Brooke (London: Printed for T. Cadell, 1777). <Link to ECCO>
Date of Entry
06/27/2013

The Mind is a Metaphor is authored by Brad Pasanek, Assistant Professor of English, University of Virginia.