"Were I poetically turned--what a glorious field for fancy flights--such as the blue-eyed Goddess with her flying carr--her doves and sparrows, &c. &c.--Alas! my imagination is as barren as the desert sands of Arabia."
— Sancho, Charles Ignatius (1729-1780)
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed by J. Nichols
Date
1782
Metaphor
"Were I poetically turned--what a glorious field for fancy flights--such as the blue-eyed Goddess with her flying carr--her doves and sparrows, &c. &c.--Alas! my imagination is as barren as the desert sands of Arabia."
Metaphor in Context
FOR this month past--we have wished--to hear something about you--and every day for these two past weeks have I had it in serious contemplation-- to put the question--not to the amiable Miss C--but to my friend R--who--notwithstanding your friendly excuse--is, I do think, rather culpable for his silence.--But hang recrimination--your goodness is more than sufficient to exculpate a thousand such sinners; we thank you, with heart-felt pleasure, for the information of our and your dear friend Mrs. C--'s health--which I hope she will be careful of--for our--and many sakes--I have a favour to beg of her--through your mediation, which is this--I have a pair of Antigua turtles--the gift of Mr. P--who kindly burthened himself with the care of them--the true property is vested in Kitty--but so it is--we having neither warmth nor room, and Kitty's good godmother having both--and that kind of humanity withal which delighteth in doing good to orphans--I, in the name of Kate and her doves, do through you--our trusty council--petition Mrs. C--in behalf of said birds.--Were I poetically turned--what a glorious field for fancy flights--such as the blue-eyed Goddess with her flying carr--her doves and sparrows, &c. &c.--Alas! my imagination is as barren as the desert sands of Arabia--but in serious truth--the shop--(the only place I have to put them in) is so cold--that I shall be happy to billet them to warmer quarters--which shall be done--as soon as Mrs. C--announces her consent--and empowers Molly to take them in.--As to news--we have none worth heeding--your camps have ruined all trade--but that of hackney men.--You much supprize us in the account of your late fair visitant--but pleased us more in the account of O--'s success--the season has been, through God's blessing, as favourable as his friends--he is a lucky soul.--The S--s are both well, I hope--to whom pray be so kind to remember us:--as to friend R--, tell him, that whatever censure his omissions in writing may draw upon him--when the goodness of his heart--and urbanity of soul is slung into the other scale--the faulty scale kicks the beam--we forgive, because we love--and love sees no faults.
(II.vi, pp. 19-22; pp. 139-40 in Carretta)
(II.vi, pp. 19-22; pp. 139-40 in Carretta)
Provenance
Reading; text from DocSouth
Citation
Five entries in ESTC (1782, 1783, 1784). [Second edition in 1783, third in 1784.]
See Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, An African. In Two Volumes. To Which Are Prefixed, Memoirs of His Life (London: Printed by J. Nichols, 1782). <Link to text from Documenting the American South at UNC>
Reading Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, ed. Vincent Carretta (New York: Penguin, 1998).
See Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, An African. In Two Volumes. To Which Are Prefixed, Memoirs of His Life (London: Printed by J. Nichols, 1782). <Link to text from Documenting the American South at UNC>
Reading Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, ed. Vincent Carretta (New York: Penguin, 1998).
Date of Entry
07/11/2013
