"Passions that flatter, or that slay, / Are beasts that fawn, or birds that prey."
— Cotton, Nathaniel, the elder (1705-1788)
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for R. Dodsley
Date
1751, 1791
Metaphor
"Passions that flatter, or that slay, / Are beasts that fawn, or birds that prey."
Metaphor in Context
Passions that flatter, or that slay,
Are beasts that fawn, or birds that prey.
Here Vice assumes the serpent's shape;
There Folly personates the ape;
Here Av'rice gripes with harpies' claws;
There Malice grins with tygers' jaws;
While sons of mischief, Art and Guile,
Are alligators of the Nile.
(Cf. p. 102 in 1751 ed.)
Are beasts that fawn, or birds that prey.
Here Vice assumes the serpent's shape;
There Folly personates the ape;
Here Av'rice gripes with harpies' claws;
There Malice grins with tygers' jaws;
While sons of mischief, Art and Guile,
Are alligators of the Nile.
(Cf. p. 102 in 1751 ed.)
Categories
Provenance
Searching "beast" and "passion" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
At least 20 entries in ESTC (1751, 1752, 1753, 1755, 1760, 1767, 1771, 1776, 1781, 1782, 1786, 1787, 1790, 1794, 1798).
Text from Various Pieces in Verse and Prose, 2 vols. (London: J. Dodsley, 1791). <Link to Google Books>
See also Nathaniel Cotton, Visions in Verse, for the Entertainment and Instruction of Younger Minds. 2nd edition (London: Printed for R. Dodsley in Pall-Mall; and Sold by M. Cooper, at the Globe in Pater-Noster Row, 1751). <Link to ECCO><Link to 2nd edition>
See also Visions in Verse: For the Entertainment and Instruction of Younger Minds. A New Edition. (London: J. Dodsley, 1790). <Link to Google Books>
The revised and enlarged 3rd edition adds a new, ninth vision: "Death. Vision the Last"
Text from Various Pieces in Verse and Prose, 2 vols. (London: J. Dodsley, 1791). <Link to Google Books>
See also Nathaniel Cotton, Visions in Verse, for the Entertainment and Instruction of Younger Minds. 2nd edition (London: Printed for R. Dodsley in Pall-Mall; and Sold by M. Cooper, at the Globe in Pater-Noster Row, 1751). <Link to ECCO><Link to 2nd edition>
See also Visions in Verse: For the Entertainment and Instruction of Younger Minds. A New Edition. (London: J. Dodsley, 1790). <Link to Google Books>
The revised and enlarged 3rd edition adds a new, ninth vision: "Death. Vision the Last"
Date of Entry
07/03/2012
