"If one spark of virtue / Yet hovers in his mind--Oh, grant me, Heaven! / To kindle it afresh, and be the flame immortal!"
— Cowley [née Parkhouse], Hannah (1743-1809)
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed by T. Spilsbury
Date
1779
Metaphor
"If one spark of virtue / Yet hovers in his mind--Oh, grant me, Heaven! / To kindle it afresh, and be the flame immortal!"
Metaphor in Context
EGBERT.
How do rude passions the fair minddestroy,
Bestow'd by Heaven from the all-perfect source!
This Gondibert would once have shrunk from vice,
As the chaste plant that bears no mortal touch.
From infancy I've watch'd his springing virtues;
Seen him beat back misfortunes when they clung,
Like wary Cowards, on each other's skirts;
And bear, with fortitude, Affliction's stripes.
But now, unhallow'd Love the pile destroys;
And Vice will triumph o'er the noble ruin.
Still must I save him. If one spark of virtue
Yet hovers in his mind--Oh, grant me, Heaven!
To kindle it afresh, and be the flame immortal!
(p. 21)
How do rude passions the fair minddestroy,
Bestow'd by Heaven from the all-perfect source!
This Gondibert would once have shrunk from vice,
As the chaste plant that bears no mortal touch.
From infancy I've watch'd his springing virtues;
Seen him beat back misfortunes when they clung,
Like wary Cowards, on each other's skirts;
And bear, with fortitude, Affliction's stripes.
But now, unhallow'd Love the pile destroys;
And Vice will triumph o'er the noble ruin.
Still must I save him. If one spark of virtue
Yet hovers in his mind--Oh, grant me, Heaven!
To kindle it afresh, and be the flame immortal!
(p. 21)
Categories
Provenance
ECCO-TCP
Citation
7 entries in ESTC (1779, 1780, 1797).
See Albina, Countess Raimond; a Tragedy, by Mrs. Cowley: As It Is Performed at the Theatre-Royal in the Hay-Market. (London: Printed by T. Spilsbury; for J. Dodsley, Pall-Mall; R. Faulder, New Bond-Street; L. Davis, Holborn; T. Becket, in the Strand; W. Owen, T. Lowndes, and G. Kearsly, Fleet-Street; W. Davis, Ludgate-Hill; S. Crowder, and T. Evans, Pater-Noster-Row; and Messrs. Richardson and Urquhart, Royal-Exchange, 1779). <Link to ESTC><Link to ECCO-TCP>
See Albina, Countess Raimond; a Tragedy, by Mrs. Cowley: As It Is Performed at the Theatre-Royal in the Hay-Market. (London: Printed by T. Spilsbury; for J. Dodsley, Pall-Mall; R. Faulder, New Bond-Street; L. Davis, Holborn; T. Becket, in the Strand; W. Owen, T. Lowndes, and G. Kearsly, Fleet-Street; W. Davis, Ludgate-Hill; S. Crowder, and T. Evans, Pater-Noster-Row; and Messrs. Richardson and Urquhart, Royal-Exchange, 1779). <Link to ESTC><Link to ECCO-TCP>
Date of Entry
03/12/2014
