"The Signet thus cast in the best-wrought Mould, / Imprints no Likeness when the Wax is cold."
— Wesley, Samuel, the Younger (1691-1739)
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed by Edward Say
Date
1736, 1743
Metaphor
"The Signet thus cast in the best-wrought Mould, / Imprints no Likeness when the Wax is cold."
Metaphor in Context
Of all the Charms the Female Sex desire,
That Lovers doat on, and that Friends admire,
Those most deserve your Wish that longest last,
Not like the Bloom of Beauty, quickly past;
Virtue the chief: this Men and Angels prize,
Above the finest Shape, and brightest Eyes.
By this alone untainted Joys we find,
As large, and as immortal as the Mind.
What'er your Age would reap, your Youth should sow,
For the great Seed-time of your Life is now;
When Fancy's mimick Pow'r is warm and strong,
Engraving deeply, and retaining long,
What Age can scarcely learn and hardly hold.
The Signet thus cast in the best-wrought Mould,
Imprints no Likeness when the Wax is cold.
(Cf. p. 94 in 1736 ed.)
That Lovers doat on, and that Friends admire,
Those most deserve your Wish that longest last,
Not like the Bloom of Beauty, quickly past;
Virtue the chief: this Men and Angels prize,
Above the finest Shape, and brightest Eyes.
By this alone untainted Joys we find,
As large, and as immortal as the Mind.
What'er your Age would reap, your Youth should sow,
For the great Seed-time of your Life is now;
When Fancy's mimick Pow'r is warm and strong,
Engraving deeply, and retaining long,
What Age can scarcely learn and hardly hold.
The Signet thus cast in the best-wrought Mould,
Imprints no Likeness when the Wax is cold.
(Cf. p. 94 in 1736 ed.)
Categories
Provenance
Searching in HDIS (Poetry); confirmed in ECCO
Citation
At least 3 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1736, 1743).
Poems on Several Occasions. By Samuel Wesley, A.M. Master of Blundell's School at Tiverton, Devon. Sometime Student of Christ-Church; and Near Twenty Years Usher in Westminster-School. (London: Printed by Edward Say in Warwick-Lane, 1736). <Link to ESTC>
Text from 2nd edition of 1743. See Poems on Several Occasions. By Samuel Wesley, A.M., 2nd edition, with additions. (Cambridge: Printed by J. Bentham, Printer to the University, for J. Brotherton in Cornhill, and S. Birt in Ave-Mary Lane, London, 1743 [1744]). <Link to ESTC>
Poems on Several Occasions. By Samuel Wesley, A.M. Master of Blundell's School at Tiverton, Devon. Sometime Student of Christ-Church; and Near Twenty Years Usher in Westminster-School. (London: Printed by Edward Say in Warwick-Lane, 1736). <Link to ESTC>
Text from 2nd edition of 1743. See Poems on Several Occasions. By Samuel Wesley, A.M., 2nd edition, with additions. (Cambridge: Printed by J. Bentham, Printer to the University, for J. Brotherton in Cornhill, and S. Birt in Ave-Mary Lane, London, 1743 [1744]). <Link to ESTC>
Date of Entry
03/09/2005
