"Why stand'st thou thus, with such exploring eyes, / As if thou'dst read the workings of my brain?"
— Cowley [née Parkhouse], Hannah (1743-1809)
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed by T. Spilsbury
Date
1779
Metaphor
"Why stand'st thou thus, with such exploring eyes, / As if thou'dst read the workings of my brain?"
Metaphor in Context
GONDIBERT.
Issue! 'tis well—'tis well. Leave me, good Egbert!
Oh! 'tis too much—this is too keen a stroke!
How shall I steer me in this fatal tempest?
Confess my wiles?—Horror! leave me, I say—
Why stand'st thou thus, with such exploring eyes,
As if thou'dst read the workings of my brain?
EGBERT.
If right I read, your mindin balance hangs
'Twixt the opposing principles of good
And ill. Between these two the Pow'r that made us,
Bestow'd free-will to chuse: Oh, let me then
Direct your choice! Let him, whose tongue inspir'd
The early love of virtue, once more--
(p. 64)
Issue! 'tis well—'tis well. Leave me, good Egbert!
Oh! 'tis too much—this is too keen a stroke!
How shall I steer me in this fatal tempest?
Confess my wiles?—Horror! leave me, I say—
Why stand'st thou thus, with such exploring eyes,
As if thou'dst read the workings of my brain?
EGBERT.
If right I read, your mindin balance hangs
'Twixt the opposing principles of good
And ill. Between these two the Pow'r that made us,
Bestow'd free-will to chuse: Oh, let me then
Direct your choice! Let him, whose tongue inspir'd
The early love of virtue, once more--
(p. 64)
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
