"This was the master-key to her behaviour, and once I had got it, which I soon did, it was easy to unlock her breast."
— Sheridan [née Chamberlaine], Frances (1724-1766)
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for R. and J. Dodsley
Date
1761
Metaphor
"This was the master-key to her behaviour, and once I had got it, which I soon did, it was easy to unlock her breast."
Metaphor in Context
In order to prepare me the better for this, no means were more natural, than for her to assume the air of a penitent, to seem sorry and ashamed of her past sins, and resolve on a virtuous course for the future. At the worst, that is, if she found I was not disposed to be as virtuous as herself, she knew she might play an aftergame; and could easily relax by degrees from the severity of her chastity, accordingly as I made it worth her while.
This was the master-key to her behaviour, and once I had got it, which [Page 97] I soon did, it was easy to unlock her breast.
She came into my room the next morning without an invitation, and only the previous ceremony of sending Rachael to enquire how I did, and to tell me, if I were well enough to rise (observe her nicety), she would sit half an hour with me. I had enjoyed such tranquility of heart since my last conference with her, and had rested so well the preceding night, that I found myself quite another thing from what I was the day before; and, excepting a little weakness, I was as well as ever I was in my life. I was up and dressed, and you may be sure sent a suitable answer to her kind message, which soon brought the lady, sailing with an imperial port, into my chamber. After some civilities past on both sides, she, by way of bringing her own interests on the tapis, re-assumed the topic of our yesterday's conversation.
This was the master-key to her behaviour, and once I had got it, which [Page 97] I soon did, it was easy to unlock her breast.
She came into my room the next morning without an invitation, and only the previous ceremony of sending Rachael to enquire how I did, and to tell me, if I were well enough to rise (observe her nicety), she would sit half an hour with me. I had enjoyed such tranquility of heart since my last conference with her, and had rested so well the preceding night, that I found myself quite another thing from what I was the day before; and, excepting a little weakness, I was as well as ever I was in my life. I was up and dressed, and you may be sure sent a suitable answer to her kind message, which soon brought the lady, sailing with an imperial port, into my chamber. After some civilities past on both sides, she, by way of bringing her own interests on the tapis, re-assumed the topic of our yesterday's conversation.
Categories
Provenance
Searching in HDIS (Prose)
Citation
9 entries in ESTC (1761, 1767, 1772, 1782, 1786, 1796).
Text from Memoirs of Miss Sidney Bidulph, Extracted from Her Own Journal, And now First Published. In Three Volumes. (London: Printed for R. and J. Dodsley, 1761). <Link to ESTC>
Text from Memoirs of Miss Sidney Bidulph, Extracted from Her Own Journal, And now First Published. In Three Volumes. (London: Printed for R. and J. Dodsley, 1761). <Link to ESTC>
Date of Entry
09/06/2005
