Looking glass
Introduction by Hester Thrale
As I looked in the Glass this Morning & kept Bouhours Maniere de bien penser in my Hand—like Swift's Vanessa
Who we know—held Montagne and read—
While Mrs Susan comb'd her Head.Cadenus and Vanessa, ll 371-2
I thought of the following enigmatical Verses: those which gave rise to them both in French & in Italian1, may be found in the above mentioned little Volume; but mine have a finesse neither of the others have; which consists in the The Description being equally fit for a Platonic Lover, as for oneself in the Looking Glass—& 'tis more difficult in our language to avoid the mentioning of he or her than in theirs, where Sex is attributed so to inanimate Beings.
Written by Hester Lynch Thrale.I saw a curious Thing to Day,
Oh then—describe it to me pray:
'Tis like myself, so like indeed,
My own Defects I there can read:
My own perfections there approve,
And triumph in Platonic Love.
Seem'd with my Eyes alone to see,
And glow with Sensibility—
With correspondent Action grace
My Song—and dwell upon my Face:
Yet thus expert in Frown and Smile,
There's not much Feeling all the while;
For if in Tryal of the Heart,
I seem in Anger to depart—
Ages unsought might I remain,
Nor my lost Friend e'er find again.
Thraliana entry dated 18 April 1782. 1= Comte d'Etelan's ‘Sonnet du Miroir', and an unnamed Italian poet's lines, which are found on pp. 285-6 and p. 287, respectively, of the 1687 edition of Bouhours. Mrs. Piozzi later published this adaptation in the Florence Miscellany. Hester Thrale's spelling, grammar and capitalisation, some of which may not conform to today's standards, are reproduced faithfully throughout.
