"Reason at most, but imitates the Sun, / To each is various, and to All is one"
— Harte, Walter (1708/9-1774)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Date
1735
Metaphor
"Reason at most, but imitates the Sun, / To each is various, and to All is one"
Metaphor in Context
Of all Assertions, these indeed are chief
T'excite compassion, tho' not shake belief:
Since from an agent's want of taste or skill,
It flows not that the rule must needs be ill;
For Truth exists abstracted from the mind,
And Nature's Laws are Laws, tho' man be blind.
Reason at most, but imitates the Sun,
To each is various, and to All is one:
Perfect consider'd in its self 'tis true,
And yet imperfect as exerted too:
The Mental Pow'r eternal, equal, fixt,
The human act unequal, casual, mixt--
And if such dormant Reason bears no fruit,
Dead in the branch, tho' real at the root,
Defect and actual Ignorance are one,
For useless Talents are the same as none;
All men may catch the lights of truth 'tis true,
But the great Question is, if all men do?
T'excite compassion, tho' not shake belief:
Since from an agent's want of taste or skill,
It flows not that the rule must needs be ill;
For Truth exists abstracted from the mind,
And Nature's Laws are Laws, tho' man be blind.
Reason at most, but imitates the Sun,
To each is various, and to All is one:
Perfect consider'd in its self 'tis true,
And yet imperfect as exerted too:
The Mental Pow'r eternal, equal, fixt,
The human act unequal, casual, mixt--
And if such dormant Reason bears no fruit,
Dead in the branch, tho' real at the root,
Defect and actual Ignorance are one,
For useless Talents are the same as none;
All men may catch the lights of truth 'tis true,
But the great Question is, if all men do?
Categories
Provenance
HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
5 entries in ESTC (1735, 1736).
Text from Walter Harte, An Essay on Reason, 3rd ed., corr. (London: Printed for J. Wright for Lawton Gilliver, 1736). <Link to LION>
See also An Essay on Reason (London: Printed by J. Wright for Lawton Gilliver at Homer’s Head against St. Dunstan’s Church in Fleetstreet, 1735). <Link to ESTC>
Text from Walter Harte, An Essay on Reason, 3rd ed., corr. (London: Printed for J. Wright for Lawton Gilliver, 1736). <Link to LION>
See also An Essay on Reason (London: Printed by J. Wright for Lawton Gilliver at Homer’s Head against St. Dunstan’s Church in Fleetstreet, 1735). <Link to ESTC>
Date of Entry
04/20/2005
