Oldisworth, William (1680-1734)

Callipædia: or, The Art of Getting Pretty Children. In Four Books.

London

Printed for Bernard Lintott

1710 [1719, 1729]

"Black Night comes on, and interrupts the Day, / E'er it can chase the Mists and Fogs away; / The Dregs of Flesh and Drossy Lees, o'errun / The Soul, and weigh the strugling Spirit down:"

But since the Vertues all, a lovely Train,
That raise the Soul, and beautifie the Man;
Depend upon the Judgment of the Mind,
Thence to the Will an easie Passage find,
And ripen into Action: Guard with Care
That bufie Part, from Clouds and Vapours clear,
With Art and Industry the Soul refine,
And let the Morn with all its Lustre in;
The Fates indeed obstruct the Noble Art:
The Search of Truths too long and Life too short:
Black Night comes on, and interrupts the Day,
E'er it can chase the Mists and Fogs away;
The Dregs of Flesh and Drossy Lees, o'errun
The Soul, and weigh the strugling Spirit down:
In Darkness hid, it wanders far astray,
Oblig'd the subject Senses to obey,
And only range, where they direct the Way;
But tho' the Task be difficult and hard,
Despair not, Wisdom will the Toil reward:
The Globe with Objects fill'd, a vast Immense,
Breeds various Forms for Reason, and for Sense:
Seek not to know, or comprehend, the Whole,
But chuse the brightest Objects for the Soul.

Mineral::Dross and Dregs Weather::Fog and Mist Light::Night and Day

Searching "soul" and "dross" in HDIS (Poetry)

Translated from the French of Claude Quillet. First published in Leiden (1655), followed by Latin version (London, 1708). Subsequent editions attribute translation to Oldisworth. Second edition, 1719; 3rd ed., 1729. Six entries in ESTC.

See Callipædia: or, The Art of Getting Pretty Children. In Four Books. Translated from the Original Latin of Claudius Quilletus. By Several Hands (London: Printed for Bernard Lintott, 1710). <Link to ESTC><Link to 1710 edition in ECCO>

07/19/2005