"Love comes to the bosom under the gentle forms of esteem, of sympathy, of confidence: we listen with dangerous pleasure to the seducing accents of his voice, till he lifts the fatal veil which concealed him from our view, and reigns a tyrant in the soul. Reason is then an oracle no longer consulted; and happiness, often life itself, become his victims."

— Williams, Helen Maria (1759-1827)


Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for T. Cadell
Date
1790
Metaphor
"Love comes to the bosom under the gentle forms of esteem, of sympathy, of confidence: we listen with dangerous pleasure to the seducing accents of his voice, till he lifts the fatal veil which concealed him from our view, and reigns a tyrant in the soul. Reason is then an oracle no longer consulted; and happiness, often life itself, become his victims."
Metaphor in Context
The gradations from friendship to love are often imperceptible to the mind. Like successive shades of the same colour, they blend so finely together, that it is difficult to mark the precise point at which their distinctions commence. Love comes to the bosom under the gentle forms of esteem, of sympathy, of confidence: we listen with dangerous pleasure to the seducing accents of his voice, till he lifts the fatal veil which concealed him from our view, and reigns a tyrant in the soul. Reason is then an oracle no longer consulted; and happiness, often life itself, become his victims.
(I.x, pp. 116-7)
Provenance
Searching in ECCO-TCP
Citation
2 entries in ESTC (1790).

Julia, a Novel; Interspersed with Some Poetical Pieces. By Helen Maria Williams. In Two Volumes. (London: Printed for T. Cadell, 1790). <Vol. I, Link to ECCO-TCP><Vol. II, Link to ECCO-TCP>
Date of Entry
08/16/2013

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