"Was our Reason given / For such a Use! to be thus puff'd about / Like a dry Leaf, an idle Straw, a Feather, / The Sport of every whifling Blast that blows?"
— Rowe, Nicholas (1674-1718)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for Bernard Lintott
Date
1714
Metaphor
"Was our Reason given / For such a Use! to be thus puff'd about / Like a dry Leaf, an idle Straw, a Feather, / The Sport of every whifling Blast that blows?"
Metaphor in Context
DUKE OF GLOSTER.
Your Counsel likes me well, it shall be follow'd.
She waits without attending on her Suit,
Go, call her in, and leave us here alone.
[Exeunt. Ratcliff and Catesby.]
How poor a Thing is he, how worthy Scorn,
Who leaves the Guidance of Imperial Manhood
To such a paltry piece of Stuff as this is;
A Moppet made of Prettiness and Pride;
That oftner does her giddy Fancies change,
Than glittering Dew-drops in the Sun do Colours.--
Now shame upon it! Was our Reason given
For such a Use! to be thus puff'd about
Like a dry Leaf, an idle Straw, a Feather,
The Sport of every whifling Blast that blows?
Beshrew my Heart, but it is wond'rous strange;
Sure there is something more than Witchcraft in them,
That masters ev'n the wisest of us all.
[Enter Jane Shore.]
Oh! You are come most fitly. We have ponder'd
On this your Grievance: And tho' some there are,
Nay, and those Great Ones too, who wou'd enforce
The Rigour of our Power to afflict you,
And bear a heavy Hand, yet fear not you,
We've ta'en you to our Favour, our Protection
Shall stand between, and sheild you from Mishap.
(IV.i, pp. 36-7)
Your Counsel likes me well, it shall be follow'd.
She waits without attending on her Suit,
Go, call her in, and leave us here alone.
[Exeunt. Ratcliff and Catesby.]
How poor a Thing is he, how worthy Scorn,
Who leaves the Guidance of Imperial Manhood
To such a paltry piece of Stuff as this is;
A Moppet made of Prettiness and Pride;
That oftner does her giddy Fancies change,
Than glittering Dew-drops in the Sun do Colours.--
Now shame upon it! Was our Reason given
For such a Use! to be thus puff'd about
Like a dry Leaf, an idle Straw, a Feather,
The Sport of every whifling Blast that blows?
Beshrew my Heart, but it is wond'rous strange;
Sure there is something more than Witchcraft in them,
That masters ev'n the wisest of us all.
[Enter Jane Shore.]
Oh! You are come most fitly. We have ponder'd
On this your Grievance: And tho' some there are,
Nay, and those Great Ones too, who wou'd enforce
The Rigour of our Power to afflict you,
And bear a heavy Hand, yet fear not you,
We've ta'en you to our Favour, our Protection
Shall stand between, and sheild you from Mishap.
(IV.i, pp. 36-7)
Provenance
C-H Lion
Citation
Over seventy entries in the ESTC (1714, 1719, 1720, 1723, 1726, 1728, 1731, 1733, 1735, 1736, 1740, 1746, 1748, 1751, 1752, 1754, 1755, 1756, 1758, 1760, 1761, 1764, 1765, 1767, 1768, 1770, 1772, 1773, 1774, 1780, 1783, 1784, 1785, 1786, 1787, 1790, 1791).
See The Tragedy of Jane Shore. Written in Imitation of Shakespear's Style. By N. Rowe (London: Printed for Bernard Lintott, 1714).
See The Tragedy of Jane Shore. Written in Imitation of Shakespear's Style. By N. Rowe (London: Printed for Bernard Lintott, 1714).
Date of Entry
07/20/2013
