"Yet such horrid thoughts, my sister, have risen in your Amanda's breast, but thanks to the mercy and grave of my redeemer, they past hastily through my bosom, and from the extreme wretchedness of my earthly situation (for surely no torment can be greater to a tender heart, than the breaking up an affection that was reciprocal) I found a beam of hope dart in upon my mind, that this affliction was sent me in order to wean my heart from being too strongly fixed on any happiness this world can bestow; and to teach me that our chief views in this our christian calling, must be centered in the promises we have of happiness hereafter."
— Fielding, Sarah (1710-1768) and Jane Collier (bap. 1715, d. 1755)
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for R. and J. Dodsley in Pall Mall
Date
1754
Metaphor
"Yet such horrid thoughts, my sister, have risen in your Amanda's breast, but thanks to the mercy and grave of my redeemer, they past hastily through my bosom, and from the extreme wretchedness of my earthly situation (for surely no torment can be greater to a tender heart, than the breaking up an affection that was reciprocal) I found a beam of hope dart in upon my mind, that this affliction was sent me in order to wean my heart from being too strongly fixed on any happiness this world can bestow; and to teach me that our chief views in this our christian calling, must be centered in the promises we have of happiness hereafter."
Metaphor in Context
"To deliver my Eustace from this wretched situation, how willingly would I remove myself into some remote corner of the earth! But this I dare not propose, as I know it would shake his generous soul almost to madness: and was he even to consent that I should banish myself for his sake, my ghost would every day haunt his imagination, and we should be equally as miserable when separate, as we are now by being united. Good God! support me to bear with patience the thought that our union is our misery! How sometimes doth my stubborn heart rebel, when my imagination hath presented me with a certain method by which I could relieve my husband's misery, and my own intolerable anguish! But how can I dare, even for a moment, impiously to think of taking the power of life and death out of the hands of the disposer of life and immortality? yet such horrid thoughts, my sister, have risen in your Amanda's breast; but thanks to the mercy and grave of my redeemer, they past hastily through my bosom, and from the extreme wretchedness of my earthly situation (for surely no torment can be greater to a tender heart, than the breaking up an affection that was reciprocal) I found a beam of hope dart in upon my mind, that this affliction was sent me in order to wean my heart from being too strongly fixed on any happiness this world can bestow; and to teach me that our chief views in this our christian calling, must be centered in the promises we have of happiness hereafter. This christian hope, cherished and cultivated, hath restored some degree of calmness to my mind. 'Tis true my heart is still greatly hurt when I see my dear Eustace unhappy, yet no transitory evils can render that mind compleatly wretched which is endued with this animating hope. By this I can look with pleasure on the approach of death; and by this I can with patience submit to wear out the number of days allotted me by infinite wisdom."
(III.iv.10, pp. 95-7)
(III.iv.10, pp. 95-7)
Categories
Provenance
Searching in HDIS (Prose)
Citation
2 entries in ESTC (1754).
See Fielding, Sarah and Jane Collier, The Cry: A New Dramatic Fable, 3 vols. (London: Printed for R. and J. Dodsley in Pall Mall, 1754). <Link to ESTC>
See Fielding, Sarah and Jane Collier, The Cry: A New Dramatic Fable, 3 vols. (London: Printed for R. and J. Dodsley in Pall Mall, 1754). <Link to ESTC>
Date of Entry
04/27/2004
