"'The Characters that Nature has impress'd, / 'Keep their primæval Stamp on ev'ry Breast"
— Arwaker, Edmund (c.1655-1730); Aesop
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for J. Churchill
Date
1708
Metaphor
"'The Characters that Nature has impress'd, / 'Keep their primæval Stamp on ev'ry Breast"
Metaphor in Context
THE MORAL.
'The Characters that Nature has impress'd,
'Keep their primæval Stamp on ev'ry Breast;
'And he that wou'd, what's printed there, erase,
'As well might hope to blanch a Negro's Face.
'No Pow'r an Innate Quality can sway,
'That to its Native Bent will force its Way:
'And still, the more it is diverted thence,
'Recurrs with more impetuous Violence.
(p. 114-5, ll. 227-240)
'The Characters that Nature has impress'd,
'Keep their primæval Stamp on ev'ry Breast;
'And he that wou'd, what's printed there, erase,
'As well might hope to blanch a Negro's Face.
'No Pow'r an Innate Quality can sway,
'That to its Native Bent will force its Way:
'And still, the more it is diverted thence,
'Recurrs with more impetuous Violence.
(p. 114-5, ll. 227-240)
Categories
Provenance
Searching "stamp" and "breast" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
See Truth in Fiction: Or, Morality in Masquerade. A Collection of Two hundred twenty five Select Fables of Aesop, and other Authors. Done into English Verse. By Edmund Arwaker (London: Printed for J. Churchill, 1708). <Link to ESTC><Link to HathiTrust>
Theme
Innate Ideas
Date of Entry
04/11/2005
