"Unnumber'd fears corrode and haunt his breast, / With all that whim or ign'rance can suggest."
— Melmoth, William, the younger (bap. 1710, d. 1799)
Work Title
Date
1735, 1763
Metaphor
"Unnumber'd fears corrode and haunt his breast, / With all that whim or ign'rance can suggest."
Metaphor in Context
Ah! how unlike is Umbrio's gloomy scene,
Estrang'd from all the cheerful ways of men!
There superstition works her baneful pow'r,
And darkens all the melancholy hour.
Unnumber'd fears corrode and haunt his breast,
With all that whim or ign'rance can suggest.
In vain for him kind nature pours her sweets;
The visionary saint no joy admits,
But seeks with pious spleen fantastick woes,
And for heav'n's sake heav'n's offer'd good foregoes.
(pp. 212-3)
Estrang'd from all the cheerful ways of men!
There superstition works her baneful pow'r,
And darkens all the melancholy hour.
Unnumber'd fears corrode and haunt his breast,
With all that whim or ign'rance can suggest.
In vain for him kind nature pours her sweets;
The visionary saint no joy admits,
But seeks with pious spleen fantastick woes,
And for heav'n's sake heav'n's offer'd good foregoes.
(pp. 212-3)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
At least 10 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1735, 1748, 1751, 1755 1758, 1765, 1766, 1775, 1782).
See Of Active and Retired Life, An Epistle. (London: Printed for T. Cooper, 1735). <Link to ESTC><Link to ECCO>
Text from Robert Dodsley's A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes. By Several Hands (London: Printed by J. Hughs, for R. and J. Dodsley, 1763. <Link to ECCO-TCP>
See Of Active and Retired Life, An Epistle. (London: Printed for T. Cooper, 1735). <Link to ESTC><Link to ECCO>
Text from Robert Dodsley's A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes. By Several Hands (London: Printed by J. Hughs, for R. and J. Dodsley, 1763. <Link to ECCO-TCP>
Date of Entry
04/07/2014
