"Would it were passed, and that like Aetna, though my bosom flamed, my head was crowned with snow."

— Griffith, Elizabeth (1720-1793)


Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for T. Cadell
Date
1776
Metaphor
"Would it were passed, and that like Aetna, though my bosom flamed, my head was crowned with snow."
Metaphor in Context
MOST willingly, my friend, do I return to my colours, and renew a correspondence from which I have ever received the sincerest pleasure, though no part of it ever afforded me more than your last letter--O Stanley, how much are you to be envied! But envy is a mean, contemptible vice, and utterly incompatible with friendship; I therefore do not envy, but rejoice, in your felicity, though certain that I am for ever barred from tasting bliss like yours; for well I know that heart-felt happiness is only to be found in a tender and virtuous connection with the object of our love and esteem; and that, alas! can never be my lot--My youth must pass away in gloomy, dreary, pining discontent. Would it were passed, and that like Aetna, though my bosom flamed, my head was crowned with snow.--Here let me drop the painful subject, and never, never, reassume it more.
(II, 12-13)
Provenance
ECCO-TCP
Citation
2 entries in ESTC (1776).

The Story of Lady Juliana Harley: A Novel. In Letters. By Mrs. Griffith (London: Printed for T. Cadell, 1776). <Link to Vol. I in ECCO-TCP><Link to Vol. II in ECCO-TCP>
Date of Entry
08/19/2013

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