"Those dear Delights, in which I still shall find / Ten thousand Joys to feast my Mind, / Joys, great as Sense can bear, from all its Dross refin'd."

— Chudleigh [née Lee], Mary, Lady Chudleigh (bap. 1656, d. 1710)


Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed by W. B. for Bernard Lintott
Date
1703
Metaphor
"Those dear Delights, in which I still shall find / Ten thousand Joys to feast my Mind, / Joys, great as Sense can bear, from all its Dross refin'd."
Metaphor in Context
I'le take my Leave of Business, Noise and Care,
And trust this stormy Sea no more:
Condemn'd to Toil, and fed with Air,
I've often sighing look'd towards the Shore:
And when the boistrous Winds did cease,
And all was still, and all was Peace,
Afraid of Calms, and flatt'ring Skies,
On the deceitful Waves I fixt my Eyes,
And on a sudden saw the threatning Billows rise:
Then trembling beg'd the Pow'rs Divine,
Some little safe Retreat might be for ever mine:
O give, I cry'd, where e'er you please,
Those Gifts which Mortals prize,
Grown fond of Privacy and Ease,
I now the gaudy Pomps of Life despise.
Still let the Greedy strive with Pain,
T'augment their shining Heaps of Clay;
And punish'd with the Thirst of Gain,
Their Honour lose, their Conscience stain:
Let th'ambitious Thrones desire
And still with guilty hast aspire;
Thro' Blood and Dangers force their Way,
And o'er the World extend their Sway,
While I my time to nobler Uses give,
And to my Books, and Thoughts entirely live;
Those dear Delights, in which I still shall find
Ten thousand Joys to feast my Mind,
Joys, great as Sense can bear, from all its Dross refin'd.
Categories
Provenance
Searching "mind" and "dross" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
At least 5 entries in the ESTC (1703, 1709, 1713, 1722, 1750).

See The Lady Chudleigh, Poems on Several Occasions. Together with the Song of the Three Children Paraphras'd (London: Bernard Lintott, 1703). <Link to Google Books>
Theme
Refinement
Date of Entry
06/13/2005

The Mind is a Metaphor is authored by Brad Pasanek, Assistant Professor of English, University of Virginia.