On might not trace "the mazes of her mystic brain / To mark what monsters such deep cells contain / Contriving constant schemes to furnish food, / For breeding Vultures' ever hungry brood!"
— Woodhouse, James (bap. 1735, d. 1820)
Work Title
Date
1814, 1816, 1896
Metaphor
On might not trace "the mazes of her mystic brain / To mark what monsters such deep cells contain / Contriving constant schemes to furnish food, / For breeding Vultures' ever hungry brood!"
Metaphor in Context
Although his strength attain'd so high an Age,
And long experience made him much a Sage--
Mature in Understanding--sound in Sense--
To prophecy facts prov'd he'd no pretence.
He so far analiz'd his Consort's heart
As clearly, to infer Pride fill'd a part;
That Vanity another part possest,
And Ostentation occupied the rest;
But ne'er investigated how their force
Would check all Charity's, and Virtue's course--
Would all those tender sympathies destroy
Which feel strong transports from another's joy--
Would, in the end, confound all right and wrong,
All that to Friendship, Faith--and Love belong.
Saw not how thirst for Pomp, and lust for Fame,
Would institute their bold unbounded claim!
Each principle of blest impulsion bind,
Which moves the breast to benefit Mankind!
Discover'd not that character of Soul
That wish'd for idol-worship from the Whole!
Trac'd not the mazes of her mystic brain
To mark what monsters such deep cells contain
Contriving constant schemes to furnish food,
For breeding Vultures' ever hungry brood!
Knew not, with all his scientific skill
Such Appetites his Wealth would never fill;
That when such Whirlpools yawn for full supply
Ten thousand little rills are soon drunk dry.
When such enormous Whales feel hunger's call,
Prodigious shoals of lesser fry must fall;
Or when cold Death had closed his aged eyes,
Poor Crispin's hopes would fall a sacrifice!
And long experience made him much a Sage--
Mature in Understanding--sound in Sense--
To prophecy facts prov'd he'd no pretence.
He so far analiz'd his Consort's heart
As clearly, to infer Pride fill'd a part;
That Vanity another part possest,
And Ostentation occupied the rest;
But ne'er investigated how their force
Would check all Charity's, and Virtue's course--
Would all those tender sympathies destroy
Which feel strong transports from another's joy--
Would, in the end, confound all right and wrong,
All that to Friendship, Faith--and Love belong.
Saw not how thirst for Pomp, and lust for Fame,
Would institute their bold unbounded claim!
Each principle of blest impulsion bind,
Which moves the breast to benefit Mankind!
Discover'd not that character of Soul
That wish'd for idol-worship from the Whole!
Trac'd not the mazes of her mystic brain
To mark what monsters such deep cells contain
Contriving constant schemes to furnish food,
For breeding Vultures' ever hungry brood!
Knew not, with all his scientific skill
Such Appetites his Wealth would never fill;
That when such Whirlpools yawn for full supply
Ten thousand little rills are soon drunk dry.
When such enormous Whales feel hunger's call,
Prodigious shoals of lesser fry must fall;
Or when cold Death had closed his aged eyes,
Poor Crispin's hopes would fall a sacrifice!
Provenance
Searching in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
Poem first published in its entirety in 1896. The 1814 first edition receives notice in The New Monthly Magazine (March 1815); the poem was written "in the last century" (w. 1795-1820?).
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
08/29/2005
