The native "British Ore" is polished by the social arts, and useful toil: they "polish life, and civilize the mind!"
— Jago, Richard (1715-1781)
Author
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for J. Dodsley
Date
1767, 1784
Metaphor
The native "British Ore" is polished by the social arts, and useful toil: they "polish life, and civilize the mind!"
Metaphor in Context
Hail, native British Ore! of thee possess'd,
We envy not Golconda's sparkling mines,
Nor thine Potosi! nor thy kindred hills,
Teeming with gold. What? tho' in outward form
Less fair? not less thy worth. To thee we owe
More riches than Peruvian mines can yield,
Or Motezuma's crowded magazines,
And palaces cou'd boast, though roof'd with gold.
Splendid barbarity! and rich distress!
Without the social arts, and useful toil;
That polish life, and civilize the mind!
These are thy gifts, which gold can never buy.
We envy not Golconda's sparkling mines,
Nor thine Potosi! nor thy kindred hills,
Teeming with gold. What? tho' in outward form
Less fair? not less thy worth. To thee we owe
More riches than Peruvian mines can yield,
Or Motezuma's crowded magazines,
And palaces cou'd boast, though roof'd with gold.
Splendid barbarity! and rich distress!
Without the social arts, and useful toil;
That polish life, and civilize the mind!
These are thy gifts, which gold can never buy.
Categories
Provenance
Searching in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
At least 2 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1767, 1784).
See Edge-Hill, or, the Rural Prospect Delineated and Moralized. A Poem. In Four Books. By Richard Jago, A.M. (London: Printed for J. Dodsley, in Pall-Mall, 1767). <Link to ESTC>
Text from 2nd edition "Corrected and Enlarged," published in Poems, Moral and Descriptive. By the Late Richard Jago (London: Printed for J. Dodsley 1784). <Link to ECCO>
See Edge-Hill, or, the Rural Prospect Delineated and Moralized. A Poem. In Four Books. By Richard Jago, A.M. (London: Printed for J. Dodsley, in Pall-Mall, 1767). <Link to ESTC>
Text from 2nd edition "Corrected and Enlarged," published in Poems, Moral and Descriptive. By the Late Richard Jago (London: Printed for J. Dodsley 1784). <Link to ECCO>
Date of Entry
05/27/2005
