"Yet should thy Soul indulge the gen'rous Heat, / Till captive Science yields her last Retreat / Should Reason guide thee with her brightest Ray, / And pour on misty Doubt resistless Day; / Should no false Kindness lure to loose Delight, / Nor Praise relax, nor Difficulty fright; / Should tempting Novelty thy Cell refrain, / And Sloth's bland Opiates shed their Fumes in vain; / Should Beauty blunt on Fops her fatal Dart, / Nor claim the triumph of a letter'd Heart; / Should no Disease thy torpid Veins invade, / Nor Melancholy's Phantoms haunt thy Shade; Yet hope not Life from Grief or Danger free, / Nor think the Doom of Man revers'd for thee."
— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for R. Dodsley
Date
1749
Metaphor
"Yet should thy Soul indulge the gen'rous Heat, / Till captive Science yields her last Retreat / Should Reason guide thee with her brightest Ray, / And pour on misty Doubt resistless Day; / Should no false Kindness lure to loose Delight, / Nor Praise relax, nor Difficulty fright; / Should tempting Novelty thy Cell refrain, / And Sloth's bland Opiates shed their Fumes in vain; / Should Beauty blunt on Fops her fatal Dart, / Nor claim the triumph of a letter'd Heart; / Should no Disease thy torpid Veins invade, / Nor Melancholy's Phantoms haunt thy Shade; Yet hope not Life from Grief or Danger free, / Nor think the Doom of Man revers'd for thee."
Metaphor in Context
When first the College Rolls receive his Name,
The young Enthusiast quits his Ease for Fame;
Resistless burns the fever of Renown,
Caught from the strong Contagion of the Gown;
O'er Bodley's Dome his future Labours spread,
And Bacon's Mansion trembles o'er his Head;
Are these thy Views? proceed, illustrious Youth,
And Virtue guard thee to the Throne of Truth,
Yet should thy Soul indulge the gen'rous Heat,
Till captive Science yields her last Retreat;
Should Reason guide thee with her brightest Ray,
And pour on misty Doubt resistless Day;
Should no false Kindness lure to loose Delight,
Nor Praise relax, nor Difficulty fright;
Should tempting Novelty thy Cell refrain,
And Sloth's bland Opiates shed their Fumes in vain;
Should Beauty blunt on Fops her fatal Dart,
Nor claim the triumph of a letter'd Heart;
Should no Disease thy torpid Veins invade,
Nor Melancholy's Phantoms haunt thy Shade;
Yet hope not Life from Grief or Danger free,
Nor think the Doom of Man revers'd for thee:
Deign on the passing World to turn thine Eyes,
And pause awhile from Learning to be wise;
There mark what Ills the Scholar's Life assail,
Toil, Envy, Want, the Garret, and the Jail.
See Nations slowly wise, and meanly just,
To buried Merit raise the tardy Bust.
If Dreams yet flatter, once again attend,
Hear Lydiat's Life, and Galileo's End. (p. 61-2, ll. 135-164)
The young Enthusiast quits his Ease for Fame;
Resistless burns the fever of Renown,
Caught from the strong Contagion of the Gown;
O'er Bodley's Dome his future Labours spread,
And Bacon's Mansion trembles o'er his Head;
Are these thy Views? proceed, illustrious Youth,
And Virtue guard thee to the Throne of Truth,
Yet should thy Soul indulge the gen'rous Heat,
Till captive Science yields her last Retreat;
Should Reason guide thee with her brightest Ray,
And pour on misty Doubt resistless Day;
Should no false Kindness lure to loose Delight,
Nor Praise relax, nor Difficulty fright;
Should tempting Novelty thy Cell refrain,
And Sloth's bland Opiates shed their Fumes in vain;
Should Beauty blunt on Fops her fatal Dart,
Nor claim the triumph of a letter'd Heart;
Should no Disease thy torpid Veins invade,
Nor Melancholy's Phantoms haunt thy Shade;
Yet hope not Life from Grief or Danger free,
Nor think the Doom of Man revers'd for thee:
Deign on the passing World to turn thine Eyes,
And pause awhile from Learning to be wise;
There mark what Ills the Scholar's Life assail,
Toil, Envy, Want, the Garret, and the Jail.
See Nations slowly wise, and meanly just,
To buried Merit raise the tardy Bust.
If Dreams yet flatter, once again attend,
Hear Lydiat's Life, and Galileo's End. (p. 61-2, ll. 135-164)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
At least 19 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1749, 1752, 1755, 1759, 1763, 1765, 1785, 1789, 1792, 1793, 1795, 1796, 1797). [Reprinted in Dodsley's miscellany.]
See The Vanity of Human Wishes. the Tenth Satire of Juvenal, Imitated by Samuel Johnson. (London: Printed for R. Dodsley at Tully’s Head in Pall-Mall, and sold by M. Cooper in Pater-Noster Row, 1749). <Link to ESTC>
Page and line numbers correspond to Samuel Johnson's Selected Poetry and Prose. Ed. Frank Brady and W. K. Wimsatt. Berkeley: U. of California Press, 1977. Text edited by Jack Lynch. <Link to Jack Lynch's online edition>
See The Vanity of Human Wishes. the Tenth Satire of Juvenal, Imitated by Samuel Johnson. (London: Printed for R. Dodsley at Tully’s Head in Pall-Mall, and sold by M. Cooper in Pater-Noster Row, 1749). <Link to ESTC>
Page and line numbers correspond to Samuel Johnson's Selected Poetry and Prose. Ed. Frank Brady and W. K. Wimsatt. Berkeley: U. of California Press, 1977. Text edited by Jack Lynch. <Link to Jack Lynch's online edition>
Date of Entry
06/22/2010
