"Your gentle hearts / To kind impressions yet susceptible, / Will amiably hear a friend's advice"
— Dodd, William (1729-1777)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for C. Dilly, in the Poultry
Date
1777, 1793
Metaphor
"Your gentle hearts / To kind impressions yet susceptible, / Will amiably hear a friend's advice"
Metaphor in Context
Nor, my young friends,
Whom life's gay sunshine warms with laughing joy,
Pass you those claims unheeding!--In the bud
Of earliest rose oft have I sorrowing seen
The canker-worm lurk blighting; oft, ere noon,
The tulip have beheld drop its proud head
In eminent beauty open'd to the morn!
In youth, in beauty, in life's outward charms
Boast not self-flattering; virtue has a grace,
Religion has a power, which will preserve
Immortal your true excellence! Oh give
Early and happy your young hearts to God,
And God will smile in countless blessings on you!
Nor, captivate by fashion's idle glare,
And the world's shews delusive, dance the maze,
The same dull round, fatiguing and fatigu'd,
Till, discontented, down in folly's seat,
And disappointment's, worthless, toil'd, you sink,
Despising and despis'd! Your gentle hearts
To kind impressions yet susceptible,
Will amiably hear a friend's advice;
And if, perchance, amidst the giddy whirl
Of circling folly, his unheeded tongue
Hath whisper'd vanity, or not announc'd
Truth's salutary dictates to your ears,
Forgive the injury, my friends belov'd;
And see me now, solicitous t'atone
That and each fault, each error; with full eyes
Intreating you, by all your hopes and fears,
By all your dear anxieties; by all
You hold in life most precious, to attend,
To listen to his lore! to seek for bliss
In God, in piety; in hearts devote
To duty and to Heav'n! and seeking thus,
The treasure is your own. Angels on earth,
Thus pure and good, soon will ye mount, and live
Eternal angels with your Father--God!
Whom life's gay sunshine warms with laughing joy,
Pass you those claims unheeding!--In the bud
Of earliest rose oft have I sorrowing seen
The canker-worm lurk blighting; oft, ere noon,
The tulip have beheld drop its proud head
In eminent beauty open'd to the morn!
In youth, in beauty, in life's outward charms
Boast not self-flattering; virtue has a grace,
Religion has a power, which will preserve
Immortal your true excellence! Oh give
Early and happy your young hearts to God,
And God will smile in countless blessings on you!
Nor, captivate by fashion's idle glare,
And the world's shews delusive, dance the maze,
The same dull round, fatiguing and fatigu'd,
Till, discontented, down in folly's seat,
And disappointment's, worthless, toil'd, you sink,
Despising and despis'd! Your gentle hearts
To kind impressions yet susceptible,
Will amiably hear a friend's advice;
And if, perchance, amidst the giddy whirl
Of circling folly, his unheeded tongue
Hath whisper'd vanity, or not announc'd
Truth's salutary dictates to your ears,
Forgive the injury, my friends belov'd;
And see me now, solicitous t'atone
That and each fault, each error; with full eyes
Intreating you, by all your hopes and fears,
By all your dear anxieties; by all
You hold in life most precious, to attend,
To listen to his lore! to seek for bliss
In God, in piety; in hearts devote
To duty and to Heav'n! and seeking thus,
The treasure is your own. Angels on earth,
Thus pure and good, soon will ye mount, and live
Eternal angels with your Father--God!
Categories
Provenance
Searching "heart" and "impression" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
10 entries in ESTC (1777, 1778, 1781, 1783, 1789, 1793, 1794, 1795, 1796).
Text from Thoughts in Prison, in Five Parts, viz. The Imprisonment--The Retrospect--Public Punishment--The Trial--Futurity; By the Rev. William Dodd. To which are added, His Last Prayer, Written in the Night before his Death; The Convict's Address to his Unhappy Brethren; and Other Miscellaneous Pieces: With an Account of the Author, and a List of his Works, 4th ed. (London: Printed for C. Dilly, in the Poultry, 1793). <Link to ESTC>
Compare Thoughts in Prison: In Five Parts. Viz. the Imprisonment. The Retrospect. Publick Punishment. The Trial. Futurity. By the Rev. William Dodd, LLD. To Which Are Added, His Last Prayer, Written in the Night Before His Death: and Other Miscellaneous Pieces. (London: Printed for Edward and Charles Dilly, in the Poultry; and G. Kearsly, at No 46, in Fleet-Street, 1777). <Link to ESTC>
Text from Thoughts in Prison, in Five Parts, viz. The Imprisonment--The Retrospect--Public Punishment--The Trial--Futurity; By the Rev. William Dodd. To which are added, His Last Prayer, Written in the Night before his Death; The Convict's Address to his Unhappy Brethren; and Other Miscellaneous Pieces: With an Account of the Author, and a List of his Works, 4th ed. (London: Printed for C. Dilly, in the Poultry, 1793). <Link to ESTC>
Compare Thoughts in Prison: In Five Parts. Viz. the Imprisonment. The Retrospect. Publick Punishment. The Trial. Futurity. By the Rev. William Dodd, LLD. To Which Are Added, His Last Prayer, Written in the Night Before His Death: and Other Miscellaneous Pieces. (London: Printed for Edward and Charles Dilly, in the Poultry; and G. Kearsly, at No 46, in Fleet-Street, 1777). <Link to ESTC>
Date of Entry
05/16/2005
