"O there's the Rock, on which my Reason splits: / Wou'd that were all!"
— Dryden, John (1631-1700); [Plautus, Molière]
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for F. Tonson and M. Tonson
Date
1690
Metaphor
"O there's the Rock, on which my Reason splits: / Wou'd that were all!"
Metaphor in Context
AMPHITRYON.
Not one of those I look'd for, to be found!
As some Enchantment hid 'em from my sight!
Perhaps, as Sosia says, 'tis Witchcraft all:
Seals may be open'd, Diamonds may be stol'n;
But how I came, in person, yesterday,
And gave that Present to Alcmena 's hands,
That which I never gave, nor ever came,
O there's the Rock, on which my Reason splits:
Wou'd that were all! I fear my Honour, too!
I'll try her once again: She may be mad:
A wretched Remedy; but all I have,
To keep me from despair.
(IV, p. 39)
Not one of those I look'd for, to be found!
As some Enchantment hid 'em from my sight!
Perhaps, as Sosia says, 'tis Witchcraft all:
Seals may be open'd, Diamonds may be stol'n;
But how I came, in person, yesterday,
And gave that Present to Alcmena 's hands,
That which I never gave, nor ever came,
O there's the Rock, on which my Reason splits:
Wou'd that were all! I fear my Honour, too!
I'll try her once again: She may be mad:
A wretched Remedy; but all I have,
To keep me from despair.
(IV, p. 39)
Categories
Provenance
Searching in C-H Lion
Citation
Robert Markley and Jeannie Dalporto describe the play as "an instant success," with eighteenth-century revivals. Over thirty entries in the ESTC (1690, 1691, 1693, 1694, 1695, 1706, 1710, 1721, 1723, 1732, 1735, 1756, 1758, 1759, 1771, 1777, 1780, 1792).
See John Dryden, Amphitryon, or, The two Socia's. A Comedy. As it is Acted at the Theatre Royal. Written by Mr. Dryden. To which is added, The Musick of the Songs. Compos'd by Mr. Henry Purcel. (London: Printed for J. Tonson and M. Tonson, 1690). <Link to EEBO-TCP>
Reading text edited by Robert Markley and Jeannie Dalporto, in The Broadview Anthology of Restoration and Early Eighteenth-Century Drama (Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview Press, 2001).
See John Dryden, Amphitryon, or, The two Socia's. A Comedy. As it is Acted at the Theatre Royal. Written by Mr. Dryden. To which is added, The Musick of the Songs. Compos'd by Mr. Henry Purcel. (London: Printed for J. Tonson and M. Tonson, 1690). <Link to EEBO-TCP>
Reading text edited by Robert Markley and Jeannie Dalporto, in The Broadview Anthology of Restoration and Early Eighteenth-Century Drama (Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview Press, 2001).
Date of Entry
06/18/2013
