"Oh! 'tis too delicate!--'tis falsely nice, / To bar the heart against the mind's advice."

— Hill, Aaron (1685-1750)


Place of Publication
London
Date
1734, 1753
Metaphor
"Oh! 'tis too delicate!--'tis falsely nice, / To bar the heart against the mind's advice."
Metaphor in Context
Why are you form'd so pow'rful, in your charms,
If beauty ought to fly the wish, it warms?
Vainly did heav'n inspire that tuneful tongue,
With notes more sweet, than ever seraph sung!
If, justly, all that harmony you hide,
Your musick useless, and its pow'r un-try'd.
Have wit and eloquence in vain, conspir'd,
And giv'n you brightness, but to shine retir'd?
Must you be loveliest , yet be never shown?
Than all be wiser, yet be heard, by none?
Oh! 'tis too delicate!--'tis falsely nice,
To bar the heart against the mind's advice.

(p. 28; cf. pp. 22-3 in 1734 miscellany)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
At least 3 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1734, 1753, 1754).

Found in The Scarborough Miscellany for the Year 1733. a Collection of Original Poems, Tales, Songs, Epigrams, &c. (London: Printed for J. Wilford, behind the Chapter-House in St. Paul’s Church-Yard, 1734). <Link to ESTC>

Text from The Works of the Late Aaron Hill, Esq; in Four Volumes. Consisting of Letters on Various Subjects, and of Original Poems, Moral and Facetious. With an Essay on the Art of Acting. (London: Printed for the benefit of the family, 1753). <Link to ESTC>
Date of Entry
06/11/2014

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