"Behold the frantick passion how it burns, / Like a wild beast breaks every tie, / Laughs at the Priest; the Legislator spurns, / And gives both heaven and earth the lye!"
— Stevenson, John Hall (1717-1785)
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for J. Dodsley and T. Becket
Date
1780
Metaphor
"Behold the frantick passion how it burns, / Like a wild beast breaks every tie, / Laughs at the Priest; the Legislator spurns, / And gives both heaven and earth the lye!"
Metaphor in Context
O VENUS, awful Sovereign of the Spring
Could I like thy Lucretius sing,
Here would I pause, thy wonders to relate!
Here would I pause to hymn thy praise,
In adamantine words, stronger than Fate,
And everlasting as his lays!
O'er seas and deserts, undismay'd,
Strengthen'd by thy inspiring breath,
The timorous and bashful maid,
Faces both infamy and death.
Driven by thy divinity,
Confounding equity and truth,
Order and consanguinity,
And loathsome age and blooming youth.
Behold the frantick passion how it burns,
Like a wild beast breaks every tie,
Laughs at the Priest; the Legislator spurns,
And gives both heaven and earth the lye!
Let youth and insolence alone,
Provoke thy vengeance every hour,
But O! spare those that know, that own,
Adore, and tremble at thy pow'r.
With thy propitious Doves descend,
And hear the tender Virgin's sighs,
The humble and the meek defend,
And bid the prostrate suppliant rise.
By Venus Lucy was protected,
Nothing was hurry'd, or neglected,
The Misses, though she was quite well,
Toss'd up their noses, full of airs,
Though Lucy now had no one smell,
That was not pleasanter than theirs.
For a whole Winter, every night
(Which made the wench grow monstrous thin)
'Till the war call'd him out to fight,
Had Susan let the Captain in.
Scarce had he left his native coast,
'Till Lucy, summon'd home, became
A celebrated London toast,
And the first favourite of Fame.
Lucy was follow'd by a Peer,
But all his arts could not trepan her;
After a siege of a whole year,
My Lord was forc'd to change his manner;
So, like a wise and virtuous girl,
Lucy, at last, was marry'd to an Earl.
Could I like thy Lucretius sing,
Here would I pause, thy wonders to relate!
Here would I pause to hymn thy praise,
In adamantine words, stronger than Fate,
And everlasting as his lays!
O'er seas and deserts, undismay'd,
Strengthen'd by thy inspiring breath,
The timorous and bashful maid,
Faces both infamy and death.
Driven by thy divinity,
Confounding equity and truth,
Order and consanguinity,
And loathsome age and blooming youth.
Behold the frantick passion how it burns,
Like a wild beast breaks every tie,
Laughs at the Priest; the Legislator spurns,
And gives both heaven and earth the lye!
Let youth and insolence alone,
Provoke thy vengeance every hour,
But O! spare those that know, that own,
Adore, and tremble at thy pow'r.
With thy propitious Doves descend,
And hear the tender Virgin's sighs,
The humble and the meek defend,
And bid the prostrate suppliant rise.
By Venus Lucy was protected,
Nothing was hurry'd, or neglected,
The Misses, though she was quite well,
Toss'd up their noses, full of airs,
Though Lucy now had no one smell,
That was not pleasanter than theirs.
For a whole Winter, every night
(Which made the wench grow monstrous thin)
'Till the war call'd him out to fight,
Had Susan let the Captain in.
Scarce had he left his native coast,
'Till Lucy, summon'd home, became
A celebrated London toast,
And the first favourite of Fame.
Lucy was follow'd by a Peer,
But all his arts could not trepan her;
After a siege of a whole year,
My Lord was forc'd to change his manner;
So, like a wise and virtuous girl,
Lucy, at last, was marry'd to an Earl.
Categories
Provenance
Searching "beast" and "passion" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
Text from volume iii, of The Works <Link to Google Books>
See also Crazy Tales: and Fables for Grown Gentlemen, new ed. (London: Printed for J. Dodsley and T. Becket, 1780). <Link to Google Books>
See also Crazy Tales: and Fables for Grown Gentlemen, new ed. (London: Printed for J. Dodsley and T. Becket, 1780). <Link to Google Books>
Date of Entry
07/03/2012
