"Have I well weigh'd the great, the noble part / I'm now to play? have I explored my heart, / That labyrinth of fraud, that deep, dark cell, / Where, unsuspected, e'en by me, may dwell / Ten thousand follies?"
— Churchill, Charles (1731-1764)
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for the Author
Date
1764
Metaphor
"Have I well weigh'd the great, the noble part / I'm now to play? have I explored my heart, / That labyrinth of fraud, that deep, dark cell, / Where, unsuspected, e'en by me, may dwell / Ten thousand follies?"
Metaphor in Context
But, for the day of trial is at hand,
And the whole fortunes of a mighty land
Are staked on me, and all their weal or woe
Must from my good or evil conduct flow,
Will I, or can I, on a fair review,
As I assume that name, deserve it too?
Have I well weigh'd the great, the noble part
I'm now to play? have I explored my heart,
That labyrinth of fraud, that deep, dark cell,
Where, unsuspected, e'en by me, may dwell
Ten thousand follies? have I found out there
What I am fit to do, and what to bear?
Have I traced every passion to its rise,
Nor spared one lurking seed of treach'rous vice?
Have I familiar with my nature grown?
And am I fairly to myself made known?
And the whole fortunes of a mighty land
Are staked on me, and all their weal or woe
Must from my good or evil conduct flow,
Will I, or can I, on a fair review,
As I assume that name, deserve it too?
Have I well weigh'd the great, the noble part
I'm now to play? have I explored my heart,
That labyrinth of fraud, that deep, dark cell,
Where, unsuspected, e'en by me, may dwell
Ten thousand follies? have I found out there
What I am fit to do, and what to bear?
Have I traced every passion to its rise,
Nor spared one lurking seed of treach'rous vice?
Have I familiar with my nature grown?
And am I fairly to myself made known?
Provenance
Searching in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
8 entries in ESTC (1764, 1765).
Issued in 3 "Books" in 1764, each with a separate half-title; collected in Churchill's Poems (1765).
Text from Poems of Charles Churchill, ed. James Laver. 2 vols. (London: The King's Printers, 1933).
Issued in 3 "Books" in 1764, each with a separate half-title; collected in Churchill's Poems (1765).
Text from Poems of Charles Churchill, ed. James Laver. 2 vols. (London: The King's Printers, 1933).
Date of Entry
08/16/2005
Date of Review
01/12/2012
