Whyte, Samuel (1733-1811)

Epilogue Spoken by Mrs. Gardiner, After the Tragedy of Macbeth, Performed at te Right Hon. Luke Gardiner's Theatre, in the Phoenix Park, on the 26th and 28th of January, 1778. [from A Collection of Poems on Various Subjects]

Dublin

Robert Marchbank

1792

"That sweet enchantress ... Can give to Fancy's work a blaze more bright, / Or Reason's steady lamp feed with new light."

'Tis passing strange, that thus your fancies hit,
Noise without mirth, and laughter without wit.
In times like these will you the hand accuse,
Which rears a temple to the mourning muse;
That sweet enchantress, who with magic power,
Can fill the vacant, charm the studious hour;
Can give to Fancy's work a blaze more bright,
Or Reason's steady lamp feed with new light;
Will you the well intended act despise,
Which by amusement courts you to be wise?

Light::Lamp

Searching "fancy" and "lamp" in HDIS (Poetry); found again "reason"

Only 1 entry in ESTC (1792).

A Collection of Poems on Various Subjects, Including the Theatre, a Didactic Essay; in the Course of Which Are Pointed out, the Rocks and Shoals to Which Deluded Adventurers Are Inevitably Exposed. Ornamented With Cuts and Illustrated With Notes, Original Letters and Curious Incidental Anecdotes (Dublin: Robert Marchbank, 1792). <Link to ECCO>

01/20/2006