"Great is the Empire of an honest Heart"
— Ogle, George (1704-1746)
Author
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for J. and R. Tonson
Date
1739, 1741
Metaphor
"Great is the Empire of an honest Heart"
Metaphor in Context
Hapless the Prince, whose Ear, delighted, draws
The Praise of Crouds, and swallows vain Applause;
Whose Eye, transported, views the supple Round
Of Courtiers, whom He trusts, yet fails to sound.
His Ear may be misled, deceiv'd his Eye;
Crouds can praise Folly, Courtiers, look a Lye.
Safer, the Call of Virtue to pursue,
That sep'rates Wrong from Right, and False from True.
Tho' Crouds may change, unfaithful as the Wind!
Can They depose the Monarc from his Mind?
Tho' Courtiers from Allegiance may depart!
Great is the Empire of an honest Heart?
For inborn Worth, alone, knows no Controul,
Fortune may change the State, not change the Soul.
But Good, or Ill, as Man pursues or flies,
So truly He may fall, so truly rise.
'Tis Virtue gives Him in high Life to shine,
Virtue, in low, is an unminted Mine.
The Force of Each was in Griselda shown,
Great in a Cot, and humble in a Throne!
The Praise of Crouds, and swallows vain Applause;
Whose Eye, transported, views the supple Round
Of Courtiers, whom He trusts, yet fails to sound.
His Ear may be misled, deceiv'd his Eye;
Crouds can praise Folly, Courtiers, look a Lye.
Safer, the Call of Virtue to pursue,
That sep'rates Wrong from Right, and False from True.
Tho' Crouds may change, unfaithful as the Wind!
Can They depose the Monarc from his Mind?
Tho' Courtiers from Allegiance may depart!
Great is the Empire of an honest Heart?
For inborn Worth, alone, knows no Controul,
Fortune may change the State, not change the Soul.
But Good, or Ill, as Man pursues or flies,
So truly He may fall, so truly rise.
'Tis Virtue gives Him in high Life to shine,
Virtue, in low, is an unminted Mine.
The Force of Each was in Griselda shown,
Great in a Cot, and humble in a Throne!
Categories
Provenance
Searching "heart" and "empire" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
At least 5 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1739, 1741, 1742, 1795).
See Gualtherus and Griselda: or, the Clerk of Oxford’s Tale. From Boccace, Petrarch, and Chaucer. ... By George Ogle, Esq. (London: Printed for R. Dodsley, 1739). <Link to ESTC>
See also Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales of Chaucer, Modernis'd by Several Hands. Publish'd by Mr. Ogle, 3 vols. (London: J. and R. Tonson, 1741). <Link to ESTC><Link to ECCO>
See Gualtherus and Griselda: or, the Clerk of Oxford’s Tale. From Boccace, Petrarch, and Chaucer. ... By George Ogle, Esq. (London: Printed for R. Dodsley, 1739). <Link to ESTC>
See also Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales of Chaucer, Modernis'd by Several Hands. Publish'd by Mr. Ogle, 3 vols. (London: J. and R. Tonson, 1741). <Link to ESTC><Link to ECCO>
Date of Entry
08/22/2004
