"But O! how rare benignant Virtue springs / In the blank bosom of despotic kings!"
— Hayley, William (1745-1820)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Date
1780, 1781, 1788
Metaphor
"But O! how rare benignant Virtue springs / In the blank bosom of despotic kings!"
Metaphor in Context
O blest Biography! thy charms of yore
Historic Truth to strong Affection bore;
And fost'ring Virtue gave thee, as thy dower,
Of both thy Parents the attractive power
To win the heart, the wavering thought to fix,
And fond delight with wise instruction mix.
First of thy votaries, peerless, and alone,
Thy Plutarch shines, by moral beauty known:
Enchanting Sage! whose living lessons teach,
What heights of Virtue human efforts reach.
Tho' oft thy Pen, eccentrically wild,
Ramble, in Learning's various maze beguil'd;
Tho' in thy Style no brilliant graces shine,
Nor the clear conduct of correct Design,
Thy every page is uniformly bright
With mild Philanthropy's diviner light.
Of gentlest manners, as of mind elate,
Thy happy Genius had the glorious fate
To regulate, with Wisdom's soft controul,
The strong ambition of a Trajan's soul.
But O! how rare benignant Virtue springs
In the blank bosom of despotic kings!
(cf. pp. 21-3 in 1780 ed.)
Historic Truth to strong Affection bore;
And fost'ring Virtue gave thee, as thy dower,
Of both thy Parents the attractive power
To win the heart, the wavering thought to fix,
And fond delight with wise instruction mix.
First of thy votaries, peerless, and alone,
Thy Plutarch shines, by moral beauty known:
Enchanting Sage! whose living lessons teach,
What heights of Virtue human efforts reach.
Tho' oft thy Pen, eccentrically wild,
Ramble, in Learning's various maze beguil'd;
Tho' in thy Style no brilliant graces shine,
Nor the clear conduct of correct Design,
Thy every page is uniformly bright
With mild Philanthropy's diviner light.
Of gentlest manners, as of mind elate,
Thy happy Genius had the glorious fate
To regulate, with Wisdom's soft controul,
The strong ambition of a Trajan's soul.
But O! how rare benignant Virtue springs
In the blank bosom of despotic kings!
(cf. pp. 21-3 in 1780 ed.)
Categories
Provenance
Searching "blank" and "bosom" in HDIS (Poetry); metaphor confirmed in ECCO-TCP.
Citation
At least 6 entries in LION, ECCO, and ESTC (1780, 1781, 1782, 1785, 1787, 1788).
See An Essay on History; in Three Epistles to Edward Gibbon, Esq. With Notes. by William Hayley, Esq. (London: Printed for J. Dodsley in Pall-Mali, 1780). <Link to ECCO-TCP>
Text from new edition of Poems and Plays, by William Hayley, Esq. (London: Printed for T. Cadell, 1788). See also William Hayley, Poems and Plays, by William Hayley, Esq., vol. 2 of 6 vols. (London: Printed for T. Cadell, 1785). <Link to ECCO>
Found also in The Poetical Library; Being a Collection of the Best Modern English Poems (Leipzig: Printed for A.F. Boehme, 1787). <Link to ECCO>
See An Essay on History; in Three Epistles to Edward Gibbon, Esq. With Notes. by William Hayley, Esq. (London: Printed for J. Dodsley in Pall-Mali, 1780). <Link to ECCO-TCP>
Text from new edition of Poems and Plays, by William Hayley, Esq. (London: Printed for T. Cadell, 1788). See also William Hayley, Poems and Plays, by William Hayley, Esq., vol. 2 of 6 vols. (London: Printed for T. Cadell, 1785). <Link to ECCO>
Found also in The Poetical Library; Being a Collection of the Best Modern English Poems (Leipzig: Printed for A.F. Boehme, 1787). <Link to ECCO>
Date of Entry
03/07/2005
