In Bedlam a "shiv'ring Monarch keeps his awful Court, / And far and wide, as boundless Thought can stray, / Extends a vast imaginary Sway"
— Fitzgerald, Thomas (1695-1752)
Work Title
Date
1726, 1781
Metaphor
In Bedlam a "shiv'ring Monarch keeps his awful Court, / And far and wide, as boundless Thought can stray, / Extends a vast imaginary Sway"
Metaphor in Context
Within this lonely Lodge, in solemn Port,
A shiv'ring Monarch keeps his awful Court,
And far and wide, as boundless Thought can stray,
Extends a vast imaginary Sway.
Utopian Princes bow before his Throne,
Lands unexisting his Dominion own,
And airy Realms and Regions in the Moon.
The Pride of Dignity, the Pomp of State,
The dazling Glories of the envy'd Great,
Rise to his View, and in his Fancy swell,
And Guards and Courtiers croud his empty Cell.
See how he walks majestic through the Throng!
(Behind he trails his tatter'd Robes along)
And cheaply blest, and innocently vain,
Enjoys the dear Delusion of his Brain,
In this small Spot expatiates unconfin'd,
Supreme of Monarchs, First of Human Kind.
A shiv'ring Monarch keeps his awful Court,
And far and wide, as boundless Thought can stray,
Extends a vast imaginary Sway.
Utopian Princes bow before his Throne,
Lands unexisting his Dominion own,
And airy Realms and Regions in the Moon.
The Pride of Dignity, the Pomp of State,
The dazling Glories of the envy'd Great,
Rise to his View, and in his Fancy swell,
And Guards and Courtiers croud his empty Cell.
See how he walks majestic through the Throng!
(Behind he trails his tatter'd Robes along)
And cheaply blest, and innocently vain,
Enjoys the dear Delusion of his Brain,
In this small Spot expatiates unconfin'd,
Supreme of Monarchs, First of Human Kind.
Categories
Provenance
HDIS
Citation
At least 10 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1726, 1736, 1744, 1750, 1773, 1776, 1777, 1781, 1789, 1800). Collected in Wesley's Moral and Sacred Poems and other miscellanies.
See Miscellaneous Poems, by Several Hands. Published by D. Lewis. (London: Printed by J. Watts, 1726). <Link to ECCO>
Text from Poems on Several Occasions. By the late Reverend Thomas Fitzgerald. Published by his Grandson, the Reverend Thomas Wintour (Oxford: Printed for the Editor. And sold by J. and J. Fletcher, 1781).
See Miscellaneous Poems, by Several Hands. Published by D. Lewis. (London: Printed by J. Watts, 1726). <Link to ECCO>
Text from Poems on Several Occasions. By the late Reverend Thomas Fitzgerald. Published by his Grandson, the Reverend Thomas Wintour (Oxford: Printed for the Editor. And sold by J. and J. Fletcher, 1781).
Date of Entry
08/25/2004
