"Follow Nature still, / But look it be thine own: is Conscience then / No part of Nature? Is she not supreme? / Thou regicide! O raise her from the dead!"

— Young, Edward (bap. 1683, d. 1765)


Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for G. Hawkins
Date
1745
Metaphor
"Follow Nature still, / But look it be thine own: is Conscience then / No part of Nature? Is she not supreme? / Thou regicide! O raise her from the dead!"
Metaphor in Context
"Mad!" (thou repliest, with indignation fired:)
"Of ancient sages proud to tread the steps,
I follow Nature."--Follow Nature still,
But look it be thine own: is Conscience then
No part of Nature? Is she not supreme?
Thou regicide! O raise her from the dead!

Then follow Nature, and resemble God.
(p. 171, ll. 838-44)
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, The Complaint. Or, Night Thoughts on Life, Death, and Immortality. Night the Eighth. Virtue's Apology: Or, The Man of the World Answer'd. (London: Printed for G. Hawkins, 1745).

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
09/02/2013

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