"Friends, while they honour Stanmore's fair outside, / The grateful feelings of my Heart divide, / And, filling up my Soul's respective cells, / Each in its warmest mansion ever dwells!"
— Woodhouse, James (bap. 1735, d. 1820)
Publisher
Printed for the author by Watts and Bridgewater
Date
1803
Metaphor
"Friends, while they honour Stanmore's fair outside, / The grateful feelings of my Heart divide, / And, filling up my Soul's respective cells, / Each in its warmest mansion ever dwells!"
Metaphor in Context
Rich views the northern scope of vision fill,
Harrow's fam'd height, and Stanmore's favour'd hill;
That fam'd for Learning, and for classic Lore,
This deck'd by Fortune, but by Merit more.
Friends, stretching far their Virtues, kind regard,
Beyond the interests of an injured Bard.
Not to a narrow circle so confin'd,
That Self excludes the rest of human-kind;
But hearts enlarg'd, which gladly would embrace,
And heal the wants and woes of all the Race.
Enjoying bliss while blessings they bestow,
The happiest use of pow'r and wealth below!
Friends that might furnish many a nobler lay,
Like gems about its crown their beams display,
Did some sublimer Muse appreciate Worth,
Above ungracious, groveling, worms of Earth--
Friends, while they honour Stanmore's fair outside,
The grateful feelings of my Heart divide,
And, filling up my Soul's respective cells,
Each in its warmest mansion ever dwells!
The Muse might here recite each honour'd Name,
And fill her tiny tube with feeble fame--
A few of all their kindnesses record,
And virtues rarely met in modern Lord;
Virtues which might adorn a princely page,
And shame the monsters of this iron Age--
But, gentle Lock! their modest Minds, like thine,
In panegyric page ne'er wish to shine,
While prompting still, their self-denying Sense
Deems fame oppressive, and all praise offence.
Harrow's fam'd height, and Stanmore's favour'd hill;
That fam'd for Learning, and for classic Lore,
This deck'd by Fortune, but by Merit more.
Friends, stretching far their Virtues, kind regard,
Beyond the interests of an injured Bard.
Not to a narrow circle so confin'd,
That Self excludes the rest of human-kind;
But hearts enlarg'd, which gladly would embrace,
And heal the wants and woes of all the Race.
Enjoying bliss while blessings they bestow,
The happiest use of pow'r and wealth below!
Friends that might furnish many a nobler lay,
Like gems about its crown their beams display,
Did some sublimer Muse appreciate Worth,
Above ungracious, groveling, worms of Earth--
Friends, while they honour Stanmore's fair outside,
The grateful feelings of my Heart divide,
And, filling up my Soul's respective cells,
Each in its warmest mansion ever dwells!
The Muse might here recite each honour'd Name,
And fill her tiny tube with feeble fame--
A few of all their kindnesses record,
And virtues rarely met in modern Lord;
Virtues which might adorn a princely page,
And shame the monsters of this iron Age--
But, gentle Lock! their modest Minds, like thine,
In panegyric page ne'er wish to shine,
While prompting still, their self-denying Sense
Deems fame oppressive, and all praise offence.
Categories
Provenance
Searching in HDIS (Poetry); found again searching "heart" and "cell"; and again "soul"
Citation
James Woodhouse, Norbury Park, A Poem: With Several Others, Written on Various Occasions (Printed for the author by Watts and Bridgewater, and sold by H.D. Symonds, Cuthell and Martin, and by the author, 1803).
Text from The Life and Poetical Works of James Woodhouse, ed. R. I. Woodhouse, 2 vols. (London: The Leadenhall Press, 1896). <Link to Hathi Trust> <Link to LION>
Text from The Life and Poetical Works of James Woodhouse, ed. R. I. Woodhouse, 2 vols. (London: The Leadenhall Press, 1896). <Link to Hathi Trust> <Link to LION>
Date of Entry
06/07/2005
