"Oh wretched Husband! while she hangs about thee / With idle Blandishments, and plays the fond one, / Ev'n then her hot Imagination wanders, / Contriving Riot, and loose scapes of Love."

— Rowe, Nicholas (1674-1718)


Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for Jacob Tonson
Date
1703
Metaphor
"Oh wretched Husband! while she hangs about thee / With idle Blandishments, and plays the fond one, / Ev'n then her hot Imagination wanders, / Contriving Riot, and loose scapes of Love."
Metaphor in Context
HORATIO.
[...]
The lost indeed! for thou art gone as far
As there can be Perdition. Fire and Sulphur,
Hell is the sole Avenger of such Crimes.
Oh that the Ruin were but all thy own!
Thou wilt ev'n make thy Father curse his Age,
At sight of this black Scrowl, the gentle Altamont,
(For oh! I know his Heart is set upon thee)
Shall droop and hang his discontented Head,
Like Merit scorn'd by insolent Authority,
And never grace the Publick with his Virtues.--
Perhaps ev'n now he gazes fondly on her,
And thinking Soul and Body both alike,
Blesses the perfect Workmanship of Heav'n;
Then sighing to his ev'ry Care, speaks Peace,
And bids his Heart be satisfy'd with Happiness.
Oh wretched Husband! while she hangs about thee
With idle Blandishments, and plays the fond one,
Ev'n then her hot Imagination wanders,
Contriving Riot, and loose scapes of Love
;
And while she clasps thee close makes thee a Monster.
What if I give this Paper to her Father?
I follows that his Justice dooms her dead,
And breaks his Heart with Sorrow; hard Return,
For all the Good his Hand has heap'd on us:
Hold, let me take a Moment's Thought.
(I.i, pp. 9-10)
Categories
Provenance
C-H Lion
Citation
Over seventy entries in the ESTC (1703, 1714, 1718, 1721, 1723, 1726, 1727, 1728, 1730, 1732, 1733, 1735, 1736, 1736, 1737, 1739, 1742, 1746, 1747, 1750, 1753, 1754, 1755, 1757, 1758, 1759, 1760, 1761, 1763, 1764, 1766, 1768, 1770, 1771, 1774, 1775, 1776, 1777, 1782, 1783, 1784, 1785, 1786, 1787, 1790, 1791, 1792, 1795, 1797, 1800).

See The Fair Penitent. A Tragedy. As it is Acted at the New Theatre In Little Lincolns-Inn-Fields. By Her Majesty's Servants. Written by N. Rowe (London: Printed for Jacob Tonson, 1703). <Link to ECCO>lt;Link to ECCO-TCP>

Reading Jean Marsden's edition in The Broadview Anthology of Restoration & Early Eighteenth-Century Drama (Peterborough, Broadview, 2001).
Date of Entry
07/18/2013

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