Reason "from her judgement-seat / Must, with a tender rigour, treat / The venial errors of the mind, / And in severity be kind"
— Combe, William (1742 -1823)
Author
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Published R. Ackermann
Date
1822
Metaphor
Reason "from her judgement-seat / Must, with a tender rigour, treat / The venial errors of the mind, / And in severity be kind"
Metaphor in Context
Whene'er enquiry makes a stir
To trace the human character,
The strict and scrutinising eye
Must look for human frailty,
And will perceive as on we range,
Our dispositions prone to change,
Nor like the features of the face,
Fix'd on their first-born, native place.
So many tempting Syrens play
Their games to lead the heart astray,
So many gay temptations smile
The wav'ring prudence to beguile;
So many worldly interests wake
The pliant feelings to forsake
And wander from the beaten road
In which they hitherto have trod;
That reason from her judgement-seat
Must, with a tender rigour, treat
The venial errors of the mind,
And in severity be kind.
--Our Hero an example shews
To ask the candour we propose,
For he, we are compell'd to own,
Had given his thoughts a different tone.
As we have said, it was his plan
To be a future Gentleman,
And that he only could attain
By seizing all the means to gain
An added heap to that same store
Which luck'ly he possess'd before.
He, therefore, now had laid aside
Those scruples which his boasted pride
Maintain'd against the retail sense
Of the shrewd Grocer's eloquence,
While, with Sir Jeffery Gourmand, he
Preserv'd such pure fidelity.
--And here it should not be forgot
That it was Molly's happy lot,
By some keen plan which he had laid,
To be the Lady's fav'rite maid:
For Molly he sincerely lov'd,
And was with gen'rous passion mov'd;
Nay, when his project he should carry,
He had engag'd the maid to marry:
Thus she was well prepar'd to join
In forwarding the main design;
Which as it may, perhaps, appear
From the surmises hinted here,
Was never, never to refuse
What custom offer'd as their dues,
And all the op'ning hand of chance
Might gather from extravagance.
How far this system may succeed
Will soon be seen by those who read.
To trace the human character,
The strict and scrutinising eye
Must look for human frailty,
And will perceive as on we range,
Our dispositions prone to change,
Nor like the features of the face,
Fix'd on their first-born, native place.
So many tempting Syrens play
Their games to lead the heart astray,
So many gay temptations smile
The wav'ring prudence to beguile;
So many worldly interests wake
The pliant feelings to forsake
And wander from the beaten road
In which they hitherto have trod;
That reason from her judgement-seat
Must, with a tender rigour, treat
The venial errors of the mind,
And in severity be kind.
--Our Hero an example shews
To ask the candour we propose,
For he, we are compell'd to own,
Had given his thoughts a different tone.
As we have said, it was his plan
To be a future Gentleman,
And that he only could attain
By seizing all the means to gain
An added heap to that same store
Which luck'ly he possess'd before.
He, therefore, now had laid aside
Those scruples which his boasted pride
Maintain'd against the retail sense
Of the shrewd Grocer's eloquence,
While, with Sir Jeffery Gourmand, he
Preserv'd such pure fidelity.
--And here it should not be forgot
That it was Molly's happy lot,
By some keen plan which he had laid,
To be the Lady's fav'rite maid:
For Molly he sincerely lov'd,
And was with gen'rous passion mov'd;
Nay, when his project he should carry,
He had engag'd the maid to marry:
Thus she was well prepar'd to join
In forwarding the main design;
Which as it may, perhaps, appear
From the surmises hinted here,
Was never, never to refuse
What custom offer'd as their dues,
And all the op'ning hand of chance
Might gather from extravagance.
How far this system may succeed
Will soon be seen by those who read.
Categories
Provenance
Searching "judge" and "reason" in HDIS (Poetry)
Date of Entry
09/01/2004
