"Mindful of that high rank in which I stand, / Of millions lord, sole ruler in the land, / Let me, and Reason shall her aid afford, / Rule my own spirit, of myself be lord."
— Churchill, Charles (1731-1764)
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for the Author
Date
1764
Metaphor
"Mindful of that high rank in which I stand, / Of millions lord, sole ruler in the land, / Let me, and Reason shall her aid afford, / Rule my own spirit, of myself be lord."
Metaphor in Context
Mindful of that high rank in which I stand,
Of millions lord, sole ruler in the land,
Let me, and Reason shall her aid afford,
Rule my own spirit, of myself be lord.
With an ill grace that monarch wears his crown,
Who, stern and hard of nature, wears a frown
'Gainst faults in other men, yet all the while
Meets his own vices with a partial smile.
How can a king (yet on record we find
Such kings have been, such curses of mankind)
Enforce that law 'gainst some poor subject elf
Which Conscience tells him he hath broke himself?
Can he some petty rogue to justice call
For robbing one, when he himself robs all?
Must not, unless extinguish'd, conscience fly
Into his cheek, and blast his fading eye,
To scourge the oppressor, when the state, distress'd
And sunk to ruin, is by him oppress'd?
Against himself doth he not sentence give?
If one must die, t'other's not fit to live.
Of millions lord, sole ruler in the land,
Let me, and Reason shall her aid afford,
Rule my own spirit, of myself be lord.
With an ill grace that monarch wears his crown,
Who, stern and hard of nature, wears a frown
'Gainst faults in other men, yet all the while
Meets his own vices with a partial smile.
How can a king (yet on record we find
Such kings have been, such curses of mankind)
Enforce that law 'gainst some poor subject elf
Which Conscience tells him he hath broke himself?
Can he some petty rogue to justice call
For robbing one, when he himself robs all?
Must not, unless extinguish'd, conscience fly
Into his cheek, and blast his fading eye,
To scourge the oppressor, when the state, distress'd
And sunk to ruin, is by him oppress'd?
Against himself doth he not sentence give?
If one must die, t'other's not fit to live.
Provenance
Searching "rule" and "reason" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
8 entries in ESTC (1764, 1765).
Issued in 3 "Books" in 1764, each with a separate half-title; collected in Churchill's Poems (1765).
Text from Poems of Charles Churchill, ed. James Laver. 2 vols. (London: The King's Printers, 1933).
Issued in 3 "Books" in 1764, each with a separate half-title; collected in Churchill's Poems (1765).
Text from Poems of Charles Churchill, ed. James Laver. 2 vols. (London: The King's Printers, 1933).
Theme
Self-Mastery
Date of Entry
06/15/2004
