"For since, my Lord, at Reason's awful bar / You plac'd Devonia's Duchess, 'mid the war / Of jarring tongues; since Satire's two-edg'd sword, / That smites alike the Peasant and the Lord, / By Genius whetted, threats its angry blow; / --I tremble at the vengeance of the Foe-- / While my starv'd Muse from your lorn Heath retires."
— Combe, William (1742 -1823)
Author
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for J. Bew
Date
1777
Metaphor
"For since, my Lord, at Reason's awful bar / You plac'd Devonia's Duchess, 'mid the war / Of jarring tongues; since Satire's two-edg'd sword, / That smites alike the Peasant and the Lord, / By Genius whetted, threats its angry blow; / --I tremble at the vengeance of the Foe-- / While my starv'd Muse from your lorn Heath retires."
Metaphor in Context
Thus did I sing, and thus did I intend;
But cool Reflection prov'd a timely friend!
For since, my Lord, at Reason's awful bar
You plac'd Devonia's Duchess, 'mid the war
Of jarring tongues; since Satire's two-edg'd sword,
That smites alike the Peasant and the Lord,
By Genius whetted, threats its angry blow;
--I tremble at the vengeance of the Foe--
While my starv'd Muse from your lorn Heath retires:
To her own chearful, animating fires;
Where Truth with fuel feeds the sober flame,
And Justice lights the blazing torch of Fame;
Where Satire forges the sharp-pointed dart,
That strikes its barb into the hardest heart;
And Virtue trims her lamp, whose ardent ray,
By Heaven imparted, never will decay.
There Reason did the wayward Truant own,
And for her idle wand'rings to atone,
Bade her to your unwise Appeal reply,
Made for the sake of tender Charity.
With pleasure I obey the dread command,
And now the Advocate of Reason stand.
'Tis she that does my honest strain prolong,
And turns my mirthful to a serious song.
But cool Reflection prov'd a timely friend!
For since, my Lord, at Reason's awful bar
You plac'd Devonia's Duchess, 'mid the war
Of jarring tongues; since Satire's two-edg'd sword,
That smites alike the Peasant and the Lord,
By Genius whetted, threats its angry blow;
--I tremble at the vengeance of the Foe--
While my starv'd Muse from your lorn Heath retires:
To her own chearful, animating fires;
Where Truth with fuel feeds the sober flame,
And Justice lights the blazing torch of Fame;
Where Satire forges the sharp-pointed dart,
That strikes its barb into the hardest heart;
And Virtue trims her lamp, whose ardent ray,
By Heaven imparted, never will decay.
There Reason did the wayward Truant own,
And for her idle wand'rings to atone,
Bade her to your unwise Appeal reply,
Made for the sake of tender Charity.
With pleasure I obey the dread command,
And now the Advocate of Reason stand.
'Tis she that does my honest strain prolong,
And turns my mirthful to a serious song.
Categories
Provenance
Searching "judge" and "reason" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
Only 1 entry in ESTC (1777).
William Combe, An Heroic Epistle to the Noble Author of the Duchess of Devonshire's Cow, a Poem (London: J. Bew, 1777). <Link to ESTC> <Link to UVa E-Text Center>
William Combe, An Heroic Epistle to the Noble Author of the Duchess of Devonshire's Cow, a Poem (London: J. Bew, 1777). <Link to ESTC> <Link to UVa E-Text Center>
Date of Entry
09/01/2004
Date of Review
02/05/2012
