"Hail, sacred solitude! These are thy works, / True source of good supreme! Thy blest effects /Already on my mind's delighted eye / Open beneficent"
— Dodd, William (1729-1777)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for C. Dilly, in the Poultry
Date
1777, 1793
Metaphor
"Hail, sacred solitude! These are thy works, / True source of good supreme! Thy blest effects /Already on my mind's delighted eye / Open beneficent"
Metaphor in Context
Hail, sacred solitude! These are thy works,
True source of good supreme! Thy blest effects
Already on my mind's delighted eye
Open beneficent. E'en now I view
The revel-rout dispers'd; each to his cell
Admitted, silent! The obstreperous cries
Worse than infernal yells; the clank of chains--
Opprobrious chains, to man severe disgrace,
Hush'd in calm order, vex the ears no more!
While, in their stead, reflection's deep-drawn sighs,
And prayers of humble penitence are heard,
To heaven well-pleasing, in soft whispers round!
No more, 'midst wanton idleness, the hours
Drag wearisome and slow: kind industry
Gives wings and weight to every moment's speed;
Each minute marking with a golden thread
Of moral profit. Harden'd vice no more
Communicates its poison to the souls
Of young associates, nor diffuses wide
A pestilential taint. Still thought pervades
The inmost heart: instruction aids the thought;
And blest religion with life-giving ray
Shines on the mind sequester'd in its gloom;
Disclosing glad the golden gates, thro' which
Repentance, led by faith, may tread the courts
Of peace and reformation! Cheer'd and chang'd,
--His happy days of quarantine perform'd--
Lo, from his solitude the captive comes
New-born, and opes once more his grateful eyes
On day, on life, on man, a fellow man!
True source of good supreme! Thy blest effects
Already on my mind's delighted eye
Open beneficent. E'en now I view
The revel-rout dispers'd; each to his cell
Admitted, silent! The obstreperous cries
Worse than infernal yells; the clank of chains--
Opprobrious chains, to man severe disgrace,
Hush'd in calm order, vex the ears no more!
While, in their stead, reflection's deep-drawn sighs,
And prayers of humble penitence are heard,
To heaven well-pleasing, in soft whispers round!
No more, 'midst wanton idleness, the hours
Drag wearisome and slow: kind industry
Gives wings and weight to every moment's speed;
Each minute marking with a golden thread
Of moral profit. Harden'd vice no more
Communicates its poison to the souls
Of young associates, nor diffuses wide
A pestilential taint. Still thought pervades
The inmost heart: instruction aids the thought;
And blest religion with life-giving ray
Shines on the mind sequester'd in its gloom;
Disclosing glad the golden gates, thro' which
Repentance, led by faith, may tread the courts
Of peace and reformation! Cheer'd and chang'd,
--His happy days of quarantine perform'd--
Lo, from his solitude the captive comes
New-born, and opes once more his grateful eyes
On day, on life, on man, a fellow man!
Categories
Provenance
Searching "mind" and "eye" 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>
Theme
Mind's Eye
Date of Entry
04/17/2006
