"What wealth in Intellect, that sovereign power, / Which Sense and Fancy summons to the bar; / Interrogates, approves, or reprehends; / And from the mass those underlings import, / From their materials sifted, and refined, / And in Truth's balance accurately weigh'd, / Forms art and science, government and law; / The solid basis and the beauteous frame, / The vitals and the grace, of civil life."
— Young, Edward (bap. 1683, d. 1765)
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
R. Dodsley
Date
1744
Metaphor
"What wealth in Intellect, that sovereign power, / Which Sense and Fancy summons to the bar; / Interrogates, approves, or reprehends; / And from the mass those underlings import, / From their materials sifted, and refined, / And in Truth's balance accurately weigh'd, / Forms art and science, government and law; / The solid basis and the beauteous frame, / The vitals and the grace, of civil life."
Metaphor in Context
What wealth in senses such as these! What wealth
In Fancy fired to form a fairer scene
Than Sense surveys! in Memory's firm record!
Which, should it perish, could this world recall
From the dark shadows of o'erwhelming years,
In colours fresh, originally bright,
Preserve its portrait, and report its fate!
What wealth in Intellect, that sovereign power,
Which Sense and Fancy summons to the bar;
Interrogates, approves, or reprehends;
And from the mass those underlings import,
From their materials sifted, and refined,
And in Truth's balance accurately weigh'd,
Forms art and science, government and law;
The solid basis and the beauteous frame,
The vitals and the grace, of civil life;
And, manners (sad exception!) set aside,
Strikes out, with master-hand, a copy fair
Of His idea, whose indulgent thought,
Long, long ere Chaos teem'd, plann'd human bliss!
(ll. 442-461, p. 160 in CUP edition)
In Fancy fired to form a fairer scene
Than Sense surveys! in Memory's firm record!
Which, should it perish, could this world recall
From the dark shadows of o'erwhelming years,
In colours fresh, originally bright,
Preserve its portrait, and report its fate!
What wealth in Intellect, that sovereign power,
Which Sense and Fancy summons to the bar;
Interrogates, approves, or reprehends;
And from the mass those underlings import,
From their materials sifted, and refined,
And in Truth's balance accurately weigh'd,
Forms art and science, government and law;
The solid basis and the beauteous frame,
The vitals and the grace, of civil life;
And, manners (sad exception!) set aside,
Strikes out, with master-hand, a copy fair
Of His idea, whose indulgent thought,
Long, long ere Chaos teem'd, plann'd human bliss!
(ll. 442-461, p. 160 in CUP edition)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
Uniform title published in 9 volumes, from 1742 to 1745. At least 133 reprintings after 1745 in ESTC (1747, 1748, 1749, 1750, 1751, 1752, 1755, 1756, 1757, 1758, 1760, 1761, 1762, 1764, 1765, 1766, 1767, 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, 1773, 1774, 1775, 1776, 1777, 1778, 1779, 1780, 1782, 1783, 1785, 1786, 1787, 1788, 1789, 1790, 1791, 1792, 1793, 1794, 1795, 1796, 1797, 1798, 1800).
Edward Young, Night the Sixth. The Infidel Reclaim'd. In Two Parts. Containing, The Nature, Proof, and Importance of Immortality. Part the First. Where, among other things, Glory, and Riches, are particularly consider'd. Humbly Inscrib'd to the Right Honourable Henry Pelham, First Lord Commissioner of the Treasury, and Chancellor of the Exchequer. (London: R. Dodsley, 1744). <Link to ECCO>
Text from The Complete Works, Poetry and Prose, of the Rev. Edward Young, LL.D., 2 vols. (London: William Tegg, 1854). <Link to Google Books>
Reading Edward Young, Night Thoughts, ed. Stephen Cornford (New York: Cambridge UP, 1989).
Edward Young, Night the Sixth. The Infidel Reclaim'd. In Two Parts. Containing, The Nature, Proof, and Importance of Immortality. Part the First. Where, among other things, Glory, and Riches, are particularly consider'd. Humbly Inscrib'd to the Right Honourable Henry Pelham, First Lord Commissioner of the Treasury, and Chancellor of the Exchequer. (London: R. Dodsley, 1744). <Link to ECCO>
Text from The Complete Works, Poetry and Prose, of the Rev. Edward Young, LL.D., 2 vols. (London: William Tegg, 1854). <Link to Google Books>
Reading Edward Young, Night Thoughts, ed. Stephen Cornford (New York: Cambridge UP, 1989).
Date of Entry
06/11/2013
