"Romance is, to the Mind, a noxious Feast, / Prepar'd by Art, to please a vicious Taste."
— Marriott, Thomas (d. 1766)
Author
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for W. Owen
Date
1759
Metaphor
"Romance is, to the Mind, a noxious Feast, / Prepar'd by Art, to please a vicious Taste."
Metaphor in Context
While, with these Tales, the Page contagious glows,
The Maid imbibing Passion, Love-sick grows;
With Love ideal, they her Heart delude,
And oft transform her, to Coquet, or Prude;
Thro these, as thro' a Glass, that magnifies,
Each visionary Object, she descries;
Like Poison, they inflame each tainted Vein,
And soon intoxicate her giddy Brain.
Romance is, to the Mind, a noxious Feast,
Prepar'd by Art, to please a vicious Taste;
So pois'nous Herbs, resembling human Food,
Oft those, who eat them, into Death delude;
So baneful Night-Shade, with deceitful Berries,
Destroys th' Unwary, in the Shape of Cherries.
(p. 177)
The Maid imbibing Passion, Love-sick grows;
With Love ideal, they her Heart delude,
And oft transform her, to Coquet, or Prude;
Thro these, as thro' a Glass, that magnifies,
Each visionary Object, she descries;
Like Poison, they inflame each tainted Vein,
And soon intoxicate her giddy Brain.
Romance is, to the Mind, a noxious Feast,
Prepar'd by Art, to please a vicious Taste;
So pois'nous Herbs, resembling human Food,
Oft those, who eat them, into Death delude;
So baneful Night-Shade, with deceitful Berries,
Destroys th' Unwary, in the Shape of Cherries.
(p. 177)
Categories
Provenance
ECCO
Citation
3 entries in ESTC (1759, 1760, 1775).
Text from Female Conduct: Being an Essay on the Art of Pleasing. To Be Practised by the Fair Sex, Before, and After Marriage. A Poem, in Two Books. Humbly Dedicated, to Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales. Inscribed to Plautilla. by Thomas Marriott, Esq. (London: Printed for W. Owen, at Homer's Head, Temple-Bar, 1759). <Link to ECCO>
Text from Female Conduct: Being an Essay on the Art of Pleasing. To Be Practised by the Fair Sex, Before, and After Marriage. A Poem, in Two Books. Humbly Dedicated, to Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales. Inscribed to Plautilla. by Thomas Marriott, Esq. (London: Printed for W. Owen, at Homer's Head, Temple-Bar, 1759). <Link to ECCO>
Date of Entry
10/28/2013
