An "scholar, but unwise" "cannot separate the dross / From the pure ore"
— Downman, Hugh (1740-1809)
Author
Place of Publication
Exeter
Publisher
Printed by W. Grigg
Date
1781, 1791
Metaphor
An "scholar, but unwise" "cannot separate the dross / From the pure ore"
Metaphor in Context
Is there, whom verbal knowledge may suffice
To read, but profit not by antient lore?
Studiously dull? A scholar, but unwise?
Whose judgment cannot separate the dross
From the pure ore? Of mind, and manners gross,
Illiberal, pert, o'erbearing, boastful, vain?
Such art not thou; far from thy presence, Moore,
Let pedantry retire, and fix her reign:
Her sons, and wisdom's offspring ill agree.
Thy bosom, Learning with politeness join'd
Illumes; the graces of humanity:
Converse with books, and converse with mankind;
No labouring theorist, in practice wrong,
Friend to the ingenuous arts, and chasten'd song.
To read, but profit not by antient lore?
Studiously dull? A scholar, but unwise?
Whose judgment cannot separate the dross
From the pure ore? Of mind, and manners gross,
Illiberal, pert, o'erbearing, boastful, vain?
Such art not thou; far from thy presence, Moore,
Let pedantry retire, and fix her reign:
Her sons, and wisdom's offspring ill agree.
Thy bosom, Learning with politeness join'd
Illumes; the graces of humanity:
Converse with books, and converse with mankind;
No labouring theorist, in practice wrong,
Friend to the ingenuous arts, and chasten'd song.
Categories
Provenance
Searching "mind" and "dross" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
3 entries in ESTC (1781, 1791, 1792).
Text from Poems to Thespia. To Which are Added, Sonnets, &c. (Exeter: Printed by R. Trewman and Son, 1791). <Link to ECCO>
See also Hugh Downman, Poems to Thespia (Exeter: Printed by W. Grigg, 1781). <Link to ECCO>
Text from Poems to Thespia. To Which are Added, Sonnets, &c. (Exeter: Printed by R. Trewman and Son, 1791). <Link to ECCO>
See also Hugh Downman, Poems to Thespia (Exeter: Printed by W. Grigg, 1781). <Link to ECCO>
Date of Entry
07/18/2005
