"But FANCY, that unease Guest / Still holds a Lodging in our Beast; / She finds or frames Vexations still, / Her self the greatest Plague we feel."

— Watts, Isaac (1674-1748)


Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed by S. and D. Bridge, for John Lawrence
Date
1706
Metaphor
"But FANCY, that unease Guest / Still holds a Lodging in our Beast; / She finds or frames Vexations still, / Her self the greatest Plague we feel."
Metaphor in Context
MADAM, There's nothing here that's free
From wearisome Anxiety:
And the whole Round of Mortal Joys
With short possession tires and cloys:
'Tis a dull Circle that we tread
Just from the Window to the Bed,
We rise to see and to be seen,
Gaze on the World a while, and then
We Yawn and Stretch to Sleep again.
But FANCY, that uneasie Guest
Still holds a Lodging in our Beast;
She finds or frames Vexations still,
Her self the greatest Plague we feel.

(pp. 189-190 in 1706 ed.)
Provenance
Found searching "fancy" and "guest" in HDIS (Poetry); text from to ECCO-TCP
Citation
36 entries in ESTC (1706, 1709, 1715, 1731, 1737, 1743, 1748, 1750, 1751, 1753, 1758, 1762, 1764, 1765, 1770, 1772, 1778, 1779, 1780, 1781, 1785, 1786, 1788, 1790, 1792, 1793, 1795, 1796, 1798, 1799).

See Horæ Lyricæ: Poems, Chiefly of the Lyric Kind. In Two books. (London: Printed by S. and D. Bridge, for John Lawrence, 1706). <Link to ECCO-TCP>

See also Isaac Watts, Horæ Lyricæ. Poems Chiefly of the Lyric Kind. In Three Books, 2nd ed. (London: Printed by J. Humfreys, for N. Cliff, 1709). <Link to ECCO>

Originally found searching in The Works of the Reverend and Learned Isaac Watts, D. D., 6 vols. (London: Printed by and for John Barfield, 1810).
Date of Entry
03/14/2006
Date of Review
02/07/2014

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