"O could I think that he had ever known / My hidden flame, shame and confusion / Would force my Virgin soul to leave her mansion, / And certain Death ensue."

— Rowe, Nicholas (1674-1718)


Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for R. Wellington and Thomas Osborne
Date
1700, 1702
Metaphor
"O could I think that he had ever known / My hidden flame, shame and confusion / Would force my Virgin soul to leave her mansion, / And certain Death ensue."
Metaphor in Context
CLEONE.
Forbid it all ye chaster powers, that favour
The modesty and Innocence of Maids:
No, till my death no other breast but thine
Shall e're participate the fatal secret.
O could I think that he had ever known
My hidden flame, shame and confusion
Would force my Virgin soul to leave her mansion,
And certain Death ensue.

Thou name'st the fair Amestris, didst thou not?
(III.i, p. 26)
Provenance
C-H Lion
Citation
First performed December, 1700. Twenty-three entries in ESTC (1701, 1702, 1714, 1715, 1720, 1726, 1727, 1728, 1733, 1735, 1760, 1761, 1764, 1777, 1781, 1790, 1792, 1795).

The second edition includes "the addition of a new scene." The Ambitious Step-Mother. A Tragedy. As it is Acted at the New Theatre in Little-Lincolns-Inn-Fields. By Her Majesties Servants. Written by N. Rowe, 2nd edition (London: Printed for R. Wellington and Thomas Osborne, 1702). <Link to ECCO>
Date of Entry
07/22/2013

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