"--Pity, of every generous heart the guest, / As that which dares each colder code refute, / And justifies the ways of man to brute?"
— Pratt, Samuel Jackson [pseud. Courtney Melmoth] (1749-1814)
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed by Whittingham and Rowland ... for Sharpe and Hailes [etc.]
Date
1810
Metaphor
"--Pity, of every generous heart the guest, / As that which dares each colder code refute, / And justifies the ways of man to brute?"
Metaphor in Context
When public honours, in the public cause,
Exalt to power, yet dignify the laws;
When with Fame's brightest laurels cover'd o'er
To favour'd genius, Fame can give no more;
On these, when proud distinctions of the state,
The fair awards of eloquence await;
When these, by noblest paths have led to wealth,
And nature grants the richer boon of health:
O! with all these assembled blessings crown'd,
When sacred Leisure spreads its shades around;
Where resting from the World's entangled road,
The soul ascends sublime from man to God;
Mid the bow'r'd silence of the private scene,
Say, what so well can fill the pause between
As that which Nature prompts to Pity's breast?
--Pity, of every generous heart the guest,
As that which dares each colder code refute,
And justifies the ways of man to brute?
Exalt to power, yet dignify the laws;
When with Fame's brightest laurels cover'd o'er
To favour'd genius, Fame can give no more;
On these, when proud distinctions of the state,
The fair awards of eloquence await;
When these, by noblest paths have led to wealth,
And nature grants the richer boon of health:
O! with all these assembled blessings crown'd,
When sacred Leisure spreads its shades around;
Where resting from the World's entangled road,
The soul ascends sublime from man to God;
Mid the bow'r'd silence of the private scene,
Say, what so well can fill the pause between
As that which Nature prompts to Pity's breast?
--Pity, of every generous heart the guest,
As that which dares each colder code refute,
And justifies the ways of man to brute?
Categories
Provenance
Searching "heart" and "guest" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
Samuel Jackson Pratt, The Lower World (London: Whittingham and Rowland, 1810). <Link to Google Books>
Date of Entry
03/13/2006
