"[A]ll you've said / Seems to wear Reason's stamp."
— Keate, George (1729-1797)
Author
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for J. Dodsley [etc.]
Date
1781
Metaphor
"[A]ll you've said / Seems to wear Reason's stamp."
Metaphor in Context
To whom, thus Melchtal--"Worthy countrymen,
I with an eager ear have unto both
Listen'd attentively; and all you've said
Seems to wear Reason's stamp.--His native rights
Man never should relinquish--for the soul
By Tyranny feels its bright powers debas'd,
Its faculties relax'd--'Tis Virtue's grave!--
And all those generous springs on which she moves
When Liberty's fair smiles protect her hopes,
There lie entomb'd!--their ashes but produce
A principle of conduct tenfold base,
I even shrink to name it,--abject Fear!--
The Freedom by our Ancestors obtain'd,
And unto us devolv'd, we hold in Trust;
It is a sacred Pledge left in our hands,
Of which we're but the Guardians, strictly bound
To yield it up to our posterity
Pure, and unstain'd.--O then, let Pity's eye
Dart thro' the veil of years, and view the Race
Who shall spring from us; and in after times,
When we're consign'd to dust, live in our stead,
Tread the same path, with passions, and with hopes
Like us endu'd, and all their claims as just!--
This crisis slipt, they may hereafter want
Force to regain what we ignobly lost!--
But grant they should--By Time the mind is taught
Patient to bear its ills; and as the rays
Of Liberty decline, in the dark mist
Which clouds its setting, Public Virtue sinks!--
The rampant Lion taken in the toils
Shakes fierce his shaggy mane, and combats hard
To rend the chain that holds him; but his Cub
Rear'd in a cage, unconscious of the joy
To range the wilds, fawns at his keeper's feet,
And, quite forgetful of his nature, yields."--
I with an eager ear have unto both
Listen'd attentively; and all you've said
Seems to wear Reason's stamp.--His native rights
Man never should relinquish--for the soul
By Tyranny feels its bright powers debas'd,
Its faculties relax'd--'Tis Virtue's grave!--
And all those generous springs on which she moves
When Liberty's fair smiles protect her hopes,
There lie entomb'd!--their ashes but produce
A principle of conduct tenfold base,
I even shrink to name it,--abject Fear!--
The Freedom by our Ancestors obtain'd,
And unto us devolv'd, we hold in Trust;
It is a sacred Pledge left in our hands,
Of which we're but the Guardians, strictly bound
To yield it up to our posterity
Pure, and unstain'd.--O then, let Pity's eye
Dart thro' the veil of years, and view the Race
Who shall spring from us; and in after times,
When we're consign'd to dust, live in our stead,
Tread the same path, with passions, and with hopes
Like us endu'd, and all their claims as just!--
This crisis slipt, they may hereafter want
Force to regain what we ignobly lost!--
But grant they should--By Time the mind is taught
Patient to bear its ills; and as the rays
Of Liberty decline, in the dark mist
Which clouds its setting, Public Virtue sinks!--
The rampant Lion taken in the toils
Shakes fierce his shaggy mane, and combats hard
To rend the chain that holds him; but his Cub
Rear'd in a cage, unconscious of the joy
To range the wilds, fawns at his keeper's feet,
And, quite forgetful of his nature, yields."--
Categories
Provenance
Searching "stamp" and "reason" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
George Keate, The Poetical Works of George Keate 2 vols. (London: Printed for J. Dodsley, 1781).
Date of Entry
04/11/2005
