"The purity of his intentions, and the uprightness of his principles--the transcript before you will sufficiently establish;--it is a mental mirror, in which you behold the features of the writer's mind, as distinctly as a looking glass reflects, to a young beauty, her cheek of roses, and her eye of fire."

— Cowley [née Parkhouse], Hannah (1743-1809)


Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed by John Bell
Date
1788
Metaphor
"The purity of his intentions, and the uprightness of his principles--the transcript before you will sufficiently establish;--it is a mental mirror, in which you behold the features of the writer's mind, as distinctly as a looking glass reflects, to a young beauty, her cheek of roses, and her eye of fire."
Metaphor in Context
The purity of his intentions, and the uprightness of his principles--the transcript before you will sufficiently establish;--it is a mental mirror, in which you behold the features of the writer's mind, as distinctly as a looking glass reflects, to a young beauty, her cheek of roses, and her eye of fire. That he was popular as to courage and resolution, is plain from a formal petition sent to Parliament by the inhabitants of Portsmouth, praying that Sir William Waller might be made their Governor.

That he had a mind capable of the tenderest impressions, and alive to all the charms of love, appears, from this, that he never lived unmarried. Three times he exulted in the flowery hymeneal chain; and speaks of each Lady with exalted fondness and affection. But those, alas! were days in which the connubial passion was the only one tolerated!
(p. 98)
Categories
Provenance
Searching "mind" and "mirror" in ECCO-TCP
Citation
Two entries in ESTC (1788, 1798).

See Hannah Cowley, The Poetry of Anna Matilda (London: Printed by John Bell, 1788). <Link to ECCO-TCP>
Date of Entry
08/15/2013

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