"'Long suffering,' said La Motte, 'has subdued in our minds that elastic energy, which repels the pressure of evil, and dances to the bound of joy.'"

— Radcliffe [née Ward], Ann (1764-1823)


Date
1791
Metaphor
"'Long suffering,' said La Motte, 'has subdued in our minds that elastic energy, which repels the pressure of evil, and dances to the bound of joy.'"
Metaphor in Context
"You speak, my dear," replied Madame La Motte, "like one, whose spirits have not been often depressed by misfortune, (Adeline sighed) and whose hopes are, therefore, vigorous." Long suffering," said La Motte, has subdued in our minds that elastic energy, which repels the pressure of evil, and dances to the bound of joy. "But I speak in rhapsody, though only from the remembrance of such a time. I once, like you, Adeline, could extract comfort from most situations."
(I.ii, p. 73)
Citation
11 entries in ESTC (1791, 1792, 1793, 1794, 1795, 1796, 1800).

See The Romance of the Forest: Interspersed With Some Pieces of Poetry. By the Authoress of A Sicilian Romance, &c., 3 vols. (London: Printed for T. Hookham and J. Carpenter, 1791).

Text from The Romance of the Forest: Interspersed With Some Pieces of Poetry. By the Authoress of A Sicilian Romance, &c. 2 vols. (Dublin: Printed for Messrs. P. Wogan, P Byrne, A. Grueber, W. M'Kenzie, W. Sleater, [and 10 others in Dublin], 1792). <Link to Vol. I in ECCO-TCP><Link to Vol. II in ECCO-TCP>
Date of Entry
10/15/2013

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