"How looks the Wretch / Whose Heart cries Villain to itself? I'll not / Endure its Batt'ry."
— Brooke, Henry (c. 1703-1783)
Author
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for R. Dodsley
Date
1739
Metaphor
"How looks the Wretch / Whose Heart cries Villain to itself? I'll not / Endure its Batt'ry."
Metaphor in Context
ARVIDA.
Of thy Gustavus ! O Wretch, Wretch, curs'd Wretch!
What is this Time and Place, and Toys of Circumstance;
That wind our Actions, so, as Heav'n's own Hand
What's done may not unravel?--Pardon may!--
There's the Lethean Sweet, the Snow of Heav'n,
New blanching-o'er the Negro Front of Guilt,
That to the Eye of Mercy all appears
Fair as th' unwritten Page--yet self-convict,
Tho' Heav'n's free Pow'r shou'd pardon, where's my Peace?
Thus, thus to be driven out from my own Breast!
To have no Shed, no shelt'ring Nook at Home
To take Reflection in! How looks the Wretch
Whose Heart cries Villain to itself? I'll not
Endure its Batt'ry--Somewhat must be done
Of high Import 'ere Night, that I may sleep,
Or wake for ever.
(p. 45)
Of thy Gustavus ! O Wretch, Wretch, curs'd Wretch!
What is this Time and Place, and Toys of Circumstance;
That wind our Actions, so, as Heav'n's own Hand
What's done may not unravel?--Pardon may!--
There's the Lethean Sweet, the Snow of Heav'n,
New blanching-o'er the Negro Front of Guilt,
That to the Eye of Mercy all appears
Fair as th' unwritten Page--yet self-convict,
Tho' Heav'n's free Pow'r shou'd pardon, where's my Peace?
Thus, thus to be driven out from my own Breast!
To have no Shed, no shelt'ring Nook at Home
To take Reflection in! How looks the Wretch
Whose Heart cries Villain to itself? I'll not
Endure its Batt'ry--Somewhat must be done
Of high Import 'ere Night, that I may sleep,
Or wake for ever.
(p. 45)
Categories
Provenance
LION
Citation
21 entries in the ESTC (1739, 1753, 1761, 1763, 1773, 1778, 1780, 1791, 1792, 1794, 1796).
Gustavus Vasa, the Deliverer of His Country. A Tragedy. As It Was to Have Been Acted at the Theatre-Royal in Drury-Lane. by Henry Brooke (London: Printed for R. Dodsley, 1739). <Link to ESTC>
Gustavus Vasa, the Deliverer of His Country. A Tragedy. As It Was to Have Been Acted at the Theatre-Royal in Drury-Lane. by Henry Brooke (London: Printed for R. Dodsley, 1739). <Link to ESTC>
Date of Entry
09/16/2013
