"Why then I thank thee, Nature, / That when you made this frame of such frail stuff, / So sensible of harm, so ill array'd / To combat sharp Misfortune, yet you cas'd / My Heart in temper'd steel, and made it proof / Against the soft compunctious stroke of Pity, / Bidding it laugh at all that Fate can do."
— Cumberland, Richard (1732-1811)
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for J. Walter
Date
1761
Metaphor
"Why then I thank thee, Nature, / That when you made this frame of such frail stuff, / So sensible of harm, so ill array'd / To combat sharp Misfortune, yet you cas'd / My Heart in temper'd steel, and made it proof / Against the soft compunctious stroke of Pity, / Bidding it laugh at all that Fate can do."
Metaphor in Context
CLODIUS.
Why then I thank thee, Nature,
That when you made this frame of such frail stuff,
So sensible of harm, so ill array'd
To combat sharp Misfortune, yet you cas'd
My Heart in temper'd steel, and made it proof
Against the soft compunctious stroke of Pity,
Bidding it laugh at all that Fate can do.
Now, if thou can'st, relate the Tale of Death,
And keep no circumstance of horror back;
For 'tis a sound familiar to my ear,
And needs no softening to inure me to it.
(p. 83)
Why then I thank thee, Nature,
That when you made this frame of such frail stuff,
So sensible of harm, so ill array'd
To combat sharp Misfortune, yet you cas'd
My Heart in temper'd steel, and made it proof
Against the soft compunctious stroke of Pity,
Bidding it laugh at all that Fate can do.
Now, if thou can'st, relate the Tale of Death,
And keep no circumstance of horror back;
For 'tis a sound familiar to my ear,
And needs no softening to inure me to it.
(p. 83)
Categories
Provenance
LION
Citation
3 entries in ESTC (1761).
The Banishment of Cicero. A Tragedy. By Richard Cumberland (London: Printed for J. Walter, 1761). <Link to ECCO>
The Banishment of Cicero. A Tragedy. By Richard Cumberland (London: Printed for J. Walter, 1761). <Link to ECCO>
Date of Entry
09/04/2013
