"And, like my friend, a gen'rous aim pursues: / To combat vice in this licentious age, / To teach the pleasing moral from the stage, / The rising gusts of passion to controul"
— Stevens, George Alexander (1710?-1784)
Work Title
Place of Publication
Lynn
Publisher
Printed by W. Whittingham, for W. Nicoll and R. Baldwin
Date
1771
Metaphor
"And, like my friend, a gen'rous aim pursues: / To combat vice in this licentious age, / To teach the pleasing moral from the stage, / The rising gusts of passion to controul"
Metaphor in Context
From age to age the comic Muse hath been
The pow'r supreme to exorcise the spleen;
To clear the vapours of the brain away,
The never-failing nostrum is--a play
Where wit and humour equal force have join'd
To laugh away th' imposthume of the mind:
But when she rises, bent on nobler views,
And, like my friend, a gen'rous aim pursues:
To combat vice in this licentious age,
To teach the pleasing moral from the stage,
The rising gusts of passion to controul,
To breathe instruction, and to form the soul,
On virtue's portrait all her art to shew,
To make her charms with native beauty glow;
Who views the scene, but ev'ry touch must feel?
Who loves not Indiana drawn by Steele?
The pow'r supreme to exorcise the spleen;
To clear the vapours of the brain away,
The never-failing nostrum is--a play
Where wit and humour equal force have join'd
To laugh away th' imposthume of the mind:
But when she rises, bent on nobler views,
And, like my friend, a gen'rous aim pursues:
To combat vice in this licentious age,
To teach the pleasing moral from the stage,
The rising gusts of passion to controul,
To breathe instruction, and to form the soul,
On virtue's portrait all her art to shew,
To make her charms with native beauty glow;
Who views the scene, but ev'ry touch must feel?
Who loves not Indiana drawn by Steele?
Categories
Provenance
Searching in HDIS (Drama)
Citation
At least 2 entries in the ESTC (1771).
See The Fair Orphan, a Comic Opera, of Three Acts: As performed at the Theatre in Lynn, by Mr. G. A. Stevens's Company of Comedians. (Lynn: Printed by W. Whittingham, for W. Nicoll, in St. Paul's Church-Yard, and R. Baldwin, in Pater-Noster-Row, London, 1771). <Link to ESTC>
See The Fair Orphan, a Comic Opera, of Three Acts: As performed at the Theatre in Lynn, by Mr. G. A. Stevens's Company of Comedians. (Lynn: Printed by W. Whittingham, for W. Nicoll, in St. Paul's Church-Yard, and R. Baldwin, in Pater-Noster-Row, London, 1771). <Link to ESTC>
Date of Entry
04/15/2006
