"In Reason's eye, in Wisdom's fair account, / Your sum of glory boasts a like amount; / The means may differ, but the end's the same; / Conquest is pillage with a nobler name."
— More, Hannah (1745-1833)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
T. Cadell
Date
1788
Metaphor
"In Reason's eye, in Wisdom's fair account, / Your sum of glory boasts a like amount; / The means may differ, but the end's the same; / Conquest is pillage with a nobler name."
Metaphor in Context
And thou, WHITE SAVAGE! whether lust of gold,
Or lust of conquest, rule thee uncontrol'd!
Hero, or robber!--by whatever name
Thou plead thy impious claim to wealth or fame;
Whether inferior mischiefs be thy boast,
A petty tyrant rifling Gambia's coast:
Or bolder carnage track thy crimson way,
Kings disposses'd, and Provinces thy prey;
Panting to tame wide earth's remotest bound;
All Cortez murder'd, all Columbus found;
O'er plunder'd realms to reign, detested Lord,
Make millions wretched, and thyself abhorr'd;----
In Reason's eye, in Wisdom's fair account,
Your sum of glory boasts a like amount;
The means may differ, but the end's the same;
Conquest is pillage with a nobler name.
Who makes the sum of human blessings less,
Or sinks the stock of general happiness,
No solid fame shall grace, no true renown,
His life shall blazon, or his memory crown.
(ll. 211-30, pp. 107-8 in Wood)
Or lust of conquest, rule thee uncontrol'd!
Hero, or robber!--by whatever name
Thou plead thy impious claim to wealth or fame;
Whether inferior mischiefs be thy boast,
A petty tyrant rifling Gambia's coast:
Or bolder carnage track thy crimson way,
Kings disposses'd, and Provinces thy prey;
Panting to tame wide earth's remotest bound;
All Cortez murder'd, all Columbus found;
O'er plunder'd realms to reign, detested Lord,
Make millions wretched, and thyself abhorr'd;----
In Reason's eye, in Wisdom's fair account,
Your sum of glory boasts a like amount;
The means may differ, but the end's the same;
Conquest is pillage with a nobler name.
Who makes the sum of human blessings less,
Or sinks the stock of general happiness,
No solid fame shall grace, no true renown,
His life shall blazon, or his memory crown.
(ll. 211-30, pp. 107-8 in Wood)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
3 entries in ESTC (1788). Text from Brycchan Carey's electronic edition <Link>
See also Slavery, a Poem. By Hannah More (London: T. Cadell, 1788). <Link to ECCO>.
Collected in Marcus Wood's The Poetry of Slavery (Oxford: Oxford UP, 2003). Excerpted in Roger Lonsdale's Eighteenth Century Women Poets (Oxford UP, 1989).
See also Slavery, a Poem. By Hannah More (London: T. Cadell, 1788). <Link to ECCO>.
Collected in Marcus Wood's The Poetry of Slavery (Oxford: Oxford UP, 2003). Excerpted in Roger Lonsdale's Eighteenth Century Women Poets (Oxford UP, 1989).
Date of Entry
08/14/2012
