"Howe'er on classic grounds they take defence; / Howe'er adroit their nostrums they dispense; / Impartially let loss and gain be tried, / And soon the balance Reason will decide."
— Whyte, Samuel (1733-1811)
Author
Place of Publication
Dublin
Publisher
Robert Marchbank
Date
1792
Metaphor
"Howe'er on classic grounds they take defence; / Howe'er adroit their nostrums they dispense; / Impartially let loss and gain be tried, / And soon the balance Reason will decide."
Metaphor in Context
Thus in the glebe the deadly night-shade grows,
Flaunts in the sun, and mingles with the rose;
The specious bane the prowling urchin spies;
Touch! touch it not!--he gorges it and dies!
Even so the Aretins of modern rhymes,
With pens immers'd in gall pourtray the times;
But with licentious images inflame,
And spread contagion as they spread the shame;
Quick to the brain the noxious vapours rise,
The good depress'd, a caput mortuum lies.
Howe'er on classic grounds they take defence;
Howe'er adroit their nostrums they dispense;
Impartially let loss and gain be tried,
And soon the balance Reason will decide.
Flaunts in the sun, and mingles with the rose;
The specious bane the prowling urchin spies;
Touch! touch it not!--he gorges it and dies!
Even so the Aretins of modern rhymes,
With pens immers'd in gall pourtray the times;
But with licentious images inflame,
And spread contagion as they spread the shame;
Quick to the brain the noxious vapours rise,
The good depress'd, a caput mortuum lies.
Howe'er on classic grounds they take defence;
Howe'er adroit their nostrums they dispense;
Impartially let loss and gain be tried,
And soon the balance Reason will decide.
Categories
Provenance
Searching "reason" and "balance" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
3 entries in ESTC (1790, 1793, 1794).
The Theatre: a Didactic Essay. Including an Idea of the Character of Jane Shore, As Performed by a Young Lady in a Private Play, &c. &c. By Samuel Whyte. (Dublin: Printed by Zachariah Jackson for John Jones, No. III. Grafton-Street, 1790). <Link to ESTC>
See also 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>
The Theatre: a Didactic Essay. Including an Idea of the Character of Jane Shore, As Performed by a Young Lady in a Private Play, &c. &c. By Samuel Whyte. (Dublin: Printed by Zachariah Jackson for John Jones, No. III. Grafton-Street, 1790). <Link to ESTC>
See also 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>
Date of Entry
12/11/2006
