"If Prejudices rule with tyrant sway, / Teach them the voice of Reason to obey."

— Stevenson, William (1730-1783)


Place of Publication
Edinburgh
Date
1761, 1765
Metaphor
"If Prejudices rule with tyrant sway, / Teach them the voice of Reason to obey."
Metaphor in Context
"In each condition, ev'ry change below,
"May I the end and motive learn to know;
"The measure just, and consequence of things,
"What flows from Prudence, what from Folly springs;
"Thy sapient distributions still in view,
"To give Thee all the glory that is due.
"If Prejudices rule with tyrant sway,
"Teach them the voice of Reason to obey.

"If Passion domineers with wild uproar,
"Speak, and again the Mind's lost peace restore,
"To Thee, when sickness or distress draw nigh.
"May I direct my help-imploring eye,
"When all the boasted remedies of Art,
"And friends themselves, in vain their aid impart:
"And O! at that, perhaps not distant, hour,
"When Health, impair'd in ev'ry active pow'r.
"In the last spark of animation flits,
"Glows out afresh, and languishes by fits;
"When by a thread all human safety hangs,
"And thought anticipates Life's parting pangs;
"Father of mercy! graciously impart
"Solace and comfort to my drooping heart!
"In Thee Supreme, sole Conquerour of death,
"O may I triumph with my latest breath!"
Provenance
Searching "rule" and "reason" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
At least 4 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1761, 1765, 1780).

Text from Original Poems on Several Subjects. In Two Volumes. By William Stevenson (Edinburgh: Printed by A. Donaldson and J. Reid. Sold by Alexander Donaldson, in London and Edinburgh, 1765). <Link to ESTC>

See Vertumnus; or, The Progress of Spring: A Poetical Essay. (Glasgow : Printed for Robert Urie, 1761). [published anonymously, ESTC does not give Stevenson as author.] <Link to ESTC><Link to ECCO>

See also Vertumnus; or the Progress of Spring: A Poetical Essay. (Glasgow: printed by R. and T. Duncan, 1780). 1761). [Published anonymously, ESTC does not give Stevenson as author, not in ECCO and not consulted.] <Link to ESTC>
Date of Entry
06/22/2004

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