close one's eyes and think of England

present singular third person closes one's eyes and thinks of England · participle present closing one's eyes and thinking of England · participle past closed one's eyes and thought of England · past closed one's eyes and thought of England · alternative shut one's eyes and think of England · alternative lie back and think of England · alternative think of England

1. To accept one's duty patriotically, particularly (idiomatic, euphemistic) to endure sex (sexual activity) under a concept of sex as solely a marital and reproductive duty.

   I am happy now that Charles calls on my bedchamber less frequently than of old. As it is, I now endure but two calls a week and when I hear his steps outside my door I lie down on my bed, close my eyes, open my legs and think of England.

   1912, Alice Marion Mills, Journal (attrib.)

   3 more examples

   ...when the test comes, when the United Kingdom gets into trouble again, and when the King calls upon his loyal subjects all over the world, the Canadian knows at a still deeper level of his being that he will undoubtably do as he has always done before. He will close his eyes and think of England.

   1940 Nov. 2, "Canadian Industrial Independence Seen as War Outcome", Windsor Daily Star, p. 10

   Meltenham and her mother had prepared her for marriage in an entirely Victorian spirit. The day before she left home, Lady Plunkwell had delivered her final advice: "I know, my dear, it's disgusting. But do as I did with Edward: just close your eyes and think of England!" Like her mother and her mother's mother before her, Ursula closed her eyes. She thought of the future of England.

   1955, Robert Farn tr. Pierre Daninos as The Notebooks of Major Thompson

   One finds as many mentions in Edwardian literature to the chastity, the holy purity of upper class women, indeed to their active abhorrence of sex, as one does in the nineteenth century. There was the passage I quoted from Lady Hillingham at the head of this chapter—"...close my eyes, open my legs and think of England". The source for this quotation is a little suspect. The sentiment expressed is without question typical and accurate.

   1972, Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy, The Rise and Fall of the British Nanny