"It is likewise witty, for, not to mention the play on words like that remarked in the former example, a trope familiar to this author, you have here a comparison of---a woman's chastity to a piece of porcelain,---her honour to a gaudy robe,---her prayers to a fantastical disguise,---her heart to a trinket; and all these together to her lap-dog, and that founded on one lucky circumstance (a malicious critic would perhaps discern or imagine more) by which these things, how unlike soever in other respects, may be compared, the impression they make on the mind of a fine lady."
— Campbell, George (1719-1796)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for W. Strahan and T. Cadell
Date
1776
Metaphor
"It is likewise witty, for, not to mention the play on words like that remarked in the former example, a trope familiar to this author, you have here a comparison of---a woman's chastity to a piece of porcelain,---her honour to a gaudy robe,---her prayers to a fantastical disguise,---her heart to a trinket; and all these together to her lap-dog, and that founded on one lucky circumstance (a malicious critic would perhaps discern or imagine more) by which these things, how unlike soever in other respects, may be compared, the impression they make on the mind of a fine lady."
Metaphor in Context
This is humorous, in that it is a lively sketch of the female estimate of mischances, as our poet's commentator rightly terms it, marked out by a few striking lineaments. It is likewise witty, for, not to mention the play on words like that remarked in the former example, a trope familiar to this author, you have here a comparison of---a woman's chastity to a piece of porcelain,---her honour to a gaudy robe,---her prayers to a fantastical disguise,---her heart to a trinket; and all these together to her lap-dog, and that founded on one lucky circumstance (a malicious critic would perhaps discern or imagine more) by which these things, how unlike soever in other respects, may be compared, the impression they make on the mind of a fine lady.
(I, pp. 65-6)
(I, pp. 65-6)
Categories
Provenance
C-H Lion
Citation
Only 1 entry in ESTC (1776).
The Philosophy of Rhetoric. By George Campbell, 2 vols. (London: Printed for W. Strahan; and T. Cadell, 1776). <Link to ESTC>
The Philosophy of Rhetoric. By George Campbell, 2 vols. (London: Printed for W. Strahan; and T. Cadell, 1776). <Link to ESTC>
Date of Entry
07/02/2013
