"Reason is guiltless! Will alone rebels."

— Young, Edward (bap. 1683, d. 1765)


Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for G. Hawkins
Date
1744
Metaphor
"Reason is guiltless! Will alone rebels."
Metaphor in Context
Still unsubdued thy stubborn heart?--for there
The traitor lurks, who doubts the truth I sing.
Reason is guiltless! Will alone rebels.
What, in that stubborn heart if I should find
New, unexpected witnesses against thee?
Ambition, Pleasure, and the Love of Gain!
Canst thou suspect that these, which make the Soul
The slave of earth, should own her heir of heaven?
Canst thou suspect, what makes us disbelieve
Our immortality, should prove it sure?
(ll. 327-336, p. 187 in CUP edition)
Provenance
Reading
Citation
Uniform title published in 9 volumes, from 1742 to 1745. At least 133 reprintings after 1745 in ESTC (1747, 1748, 1749, 1750, 1751, 1752, 1755, 1756, 1757, 1758, 1760, 1761, 1762, 1764, 1765, 1766, 1767, 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, 1773, 1774, 1775, 1776, 1777, 1778, 1779, 1780, 1782, 1783, 1785, 1786, 1787, 1788, 1789, 1790, 1791, 1792, 1793, 1794, 1795, 1796, 1797, 1798, 1800).

Edward Young, Night the Seventh. Being the Second Part of the Infidel Reclaimed. Containing the Nature, Proof, and Importance, of Immortality. (London: Printed for G. Hawkins, 1744).

Text from The Complete Works, Poetry and Prose, of the Rev. Edward Young, LL.D., 2 vols. (London: William Tegg, 1854). <Link to Google Books>

Reading Edward Young, Night Thoughts, ed. Stephen Cornford (New York: Cambridge UP, 1989).
Date of Entry
06/12/2013

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