Bigotry "Wouldst pluck down Reason from her throne / to raise some fantom"
— Lloyd, Robert (bap. 1733, d. 1764)
Work Title
Date
December, 1763; 1774
Metaphor
Bigotry "Wouldst pluck down Reason from her throne / to raise some fantom"
Metaphor in Context
O Bigotry! whose frantic rage
Has blotted half the classic page,
And in Religion's drunken fit,
Murder'd the Greek and Roman wit;
Who zealous for that Faith's encrease,
Whose ways are righteousness and peace,
With rods and whips, and sword, and axe,
With prisons, tortures, flames and racks;
With persecution's fiery goad,
Enforcing some new-fangl'd mode,
Wouldst pluck down Reason from her throne
To raise some fantom of thy own;
Alas! thy fury undiscerning,
Which blasts, and stunts, and hews up Learning,
Like an ill-judging zealous friend,
Blasphemes that Wisdom you defend.
(Cf. III, pp. 239-40, December 1763 issue of the magazine)
Has blotted half the classic page,
And in Religion's drunken fit,
Murder'd the Greek and Roman wit;
Who zealous for that Faith's encrease,
Whose ways are righteousness and peace,
With rods and whips, and sword, and axe,
With prisons, tortures, flames and racks;
With persecution's fiery goad,
Enforcing some new-fangl'd mode,
Wouldst pluck down Reason from her throne
To raise some fantom of thy own;
Alas! thy fury undiscerning,
Which blasts, and stunts, and hews up Learning,
Like an ill-judging zealous friend,
Blasphemes that Wisdom you defend.
(Cf. III, pp. 239-40, December 1763 issue of the magazine)
Categories
Provenance
Searching "throne" and "reason" in HDIS (Poetry); confirmed in ECCO.
Citation
At least 7 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1764, 1774, 1790). Appears in volume 3 of The Beauties of All the Magazines and in The Works of the English Poets.
See "Charity. A Satyre. Inscribed to the Rev. Mr. Hanbury, by Robert Lloyd" in The St. James's Magazine. By Robert Lloyd, A.M. (London [England]: Printed for W[illiam]. Flexney, near Gray's-Inn-Gate, Holborn; T[homas]. Davies, in Russel-Street, Covent-Garden; and J[ohn]. Coote, in Pater-noster-Row, 1764). -- from vol. III. pp. 235-242. "Volumes 1-3 were edited, by Robert Lloyd, who was also a contributor. After Feb. 1764, the editorship was taken over by the playwright William Kenrick" <Link to ESTC>
Text from The Poetical Works of Robert Lloyd, A.M. to Which Is Prefixed an Account of the Life and Writings of the Author. by W. Kenrick, LL.D. in Two Volumes. (London: printed for T. Evans in the Strand, 1774). <Link to ESTC> -- Titled "Charity. A Fragment."
See "Charity. A Satyre. Inscribed to the Rev. Mr. Hanbury, by Robert Lloyd" in The St. James's Magazine. By Robert Lloyd, A.M. (London [England]: Printed for W[illiam]. Flexney, near Gray's-Inn-Gate, Holborn; T[homas]. Davies, in Russel-Street, Covent-Garden; and J[ohn]. Coote, in Pater-noster-Row, 1764). -- from vol. III. pp. 235-242. "Volumes 1-3 were edited, by Robert Lloyd, who was also a contributor. After Feb. 1764, the editorship was taken over by the playwright William Kenrick" <Link to ESTC>
Text from The Poetical Works of Robert Lloyd, A.M. to Which Is Prefixed an Account of the Life and Writings of the Author. by W. Kenrick, LL.D. in Two Volumes. (London: printed for T. Evans in the Strand, 1774). <Link to ESTC> -- Titled "Charity. A Fragment."
Date of Entry
07/20/2004
