"Where are those cunning men, / Who boast, by chosen sounds, and measur'd sweetness, / To set the busy spirits in a flame, / And cool them at their will? who know the art / To call the hidden pow'rs of numbers forth, / And make that pliant instrument, the mind, / Yield to the pow'rful sympathy of sound, / Obedient to the master's artful hand?"
— More, Hannah (1745-1833)
Author
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for T. Cadell
Date
1782
Metaphor
"Where are those cunning men, / Who boast, by chosen sounds, and measur'd sweetness, / To set the busy spirits in a flame, / And cool them at their will? who know the art / To call the hidden pow'rs of numbers forth, / And make that pliant instrument, the mind, / Yield to the pow'rful sympathy of sound, / Obedient to the master's artful hand?"
Metaphor in Context
BELSHAZZAR.
Now strike the loud-ton'd lyre, and softer lute;
Let me have music, with the nobler aid
Of poesy! Where are those cunning men,
Who boast, by chosen sounds, and measur'd sweetness,
To set the busy spirits in a flame,
And cool them at their will? who know the art
To call the hidden pow'rs of numbers forth,
And make that pliant instrument, the mind,
Yield to the pow'rful sympathy of sound,
Obedient to the master's artful hand?
Such magic is in song! Then give me song;
Yet not at first such soul-dissolving strains,
As melt the soften'd sense; but such bold measures,
As may inflame my spirit to despise
The ambitious Persian, that presumptuous boy,
Who rashly dares ev'n now invest our city,
And menaces th' invincible Belshazzar.
(Part II, pp. 151-2)
Now strike the loud-ton'd lyre, and softer lute;
Let me have music, with the nobler aid
Of poesy! Where are those cunning men,
Who boast, by chosen sounds, and measur'd sweetness,
To set the busy spirits in a flame,
And cool them at their will? who know the art
To call the hidden pow'rs of numbers forth,
And make that pliant instrument, the mind,
Yield to the pow'rful sympathy of sound,
Obedient to the master's artful hand?
Such magic is in song! Then give me song;
Yet not at first such soul-dissolving strains,
As melt the soften'd sense; but such bold measures,
As may inflame my spirit to despise
The ambitious Persian, that presumptuous boy,
Who rashly dares ev'n now invest our city,
And menaces th' invincible Belshazzar.
(Part II, pp. 151-2)
Categories
Provenance
Searching in ECCO-TCP
Citation
16 entries in the ESTC (1782, 1783, 1784, 1785, 1786, 1787, 1789, 1791, 1793, 1796, 1798, 1799, 1800).
See Hannah More, Sacred Dramas: Chiefly Intended for Young Persons: the Subjects Taken from the Bible. To which is Added, Sensibility, a Poem. (London: Printed for T. Cadell, 1782.) <Link to ECCO-TCP>
See Hannah More, Sacred Dramas: Chiefly Intended for Young Persons: the Subjects Taken from the Bible. To which is Added, Sensibility, a Poem. (London: Printed for T. Cadell, 1782.) <Link to ECCO-TCP>
Date of Entry
08/16/2013
