"Obedient let my Passions be / To all the Rules of strict Morality."
— Baker, Henry (1698-1774)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for the Author
Date
1725
Metaphor
"Obedient let my Passions be / To all the Rules of strict Morality."
Metaphor in Context
Grant me, You Gods! before I die,
An happy Mediocrity;
I envy not the Man that's Great;
His Floors inlaid, his Coach of State;
To me an humble Quiet's more
Than all the Statesman's dearly purchas'd Store.
Nor Rank, nor Wealth, I ask: But let me be
Above Contempt, and wantful Poverty.
Give me a Mind not anxious to encrease,
But able to enjoy my little Stock in Peace;
Be it unruffl'd, calm, sedate,
Not rais'd above, but equal to my Fate.
Good-Nature still in my Behaviour shine,
And be Humanity for ever mine:
May true Religion, that unerring Guide,
Direct my Flight
To Heav'n aright,
But let me lay Its empty Forms aside.
Health and sound Reason give me still,
To judge unbiass'd what is Good or Ill.
Obedient let my Passions be
To all the Rules of strict Morality.
(pp. 1-2)
An happy Mediocrity;
I envy not the Man that's Great;
His Floors inlaid, his Coach of State;
To me an humble Quiet's more
Than all the Statesman's dearly purchas'd Store.
Nor Rank, nor Wealth, I ask: But let me be
Above Contempt, and wantful Poverty.
Give me a Mind not anxious to encrease,
But able to enjoy my little Stock in Peace;
Be it unruffl'd, calm, sedate,
Not rais'd above, but equal to my Fate.
Good-Nature still in my Behaviour shine,
And be Humanity for ever mine:
May true Religion, that unerring Guide,
Direct my Flight
To Heav'n aright,
But let me lay Its empty Forms aside.
Health and sound Reason give me still,
To judge unbiass'd what is Good or Ill.
Obedient let my Passions be
To all the Rules of strict Morality.
(pp. 1-2)
Categories
Provenance
HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
1 entry in ESTC (1725).
Original Poems: Serious and Humourous. By Mr. Henry Baker. (London: Printed for the author; and sold by J. Roberts in Warwick Lane, T. Wotton at the three Daggers in Fleet-Street, E. Nutt at the Royal Exchange, J. Parker in Pallmall, and J. Woodman in Covent-Garden, 1725). <Link to ESTC>
Original Poems: Serious and Humourous. By Mr. Henry Baker. (London: Printed for the author; and sold by J. Roberts in Warwick Lane, T. Wotton at the three Daggers in Fleet-Street, E. Nutt at the Royal Exchange, J. Parker in Pallmall, and J. Woodman in Covent-Garden, 1725). <Link to ESTC>
Date of Entry
09/01/2004
Date of Review
01/06/2012
