"But, Reason failing to discharge her trust, / Or to the deaf discharging it in vain, / A blunder follows; and blind Industry, / Gall'd by the spur, but stranger to the course, / (The course where stakes of more than gold are won,) / O'erloading, with the cares of distant age, / The jaded spirits of the present hour, / Provides for an eternity below."
— Young, Edward (bap. 1683, d. 1765)
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for G. Hawkins
Date
1744
Metaphor
"But, Reason failing to discharge her trust, / Or to the deaf discharging it in vain, / A blunder follows; and blind Industry, / Gall'd by the spur, but stranger to the course, / (The course where stakes of more than gold are won,) / O'erloading, with the cares of distant age, / The jaded spirits of the present hour, / Provides for an eternity below."
Metaphor in Context
Thus far Ambition. What says Avarice?
This her chief maxim, which has long been thine:
"The wise and wealthy are the same." I grant it.
To store up treasure with incessant toil,--
This is man's province, this his highest praise,
To this great end keen Instinct stings him on.
To guide that Instinct, Reason! is thy charge;
'Tis thine to tell us where true treasure lies:
But, Reason failing to discharge her trust,
Or to the deaf discharging it in vain,
A blunder follows; and blind Industry,
Gall'd by the spur, but stranger to the course,
(The course where stakes of more than gold are won,)
O'erloading, with the cares of distant age,
The jaded spirits of the present hour,
Provides for an eternity below.
(ll. 444-459, p. 190 in CUP edition)
This her chief maxim, which has long been thine:
"The wise and wealthy are the same." I grant it.
To store up treasure with incessant toil,--
This is man's province, this his highest praise,
To this great end keen Instinct stings him on.
To guide that Instinct, Reason! is thy charge;
'Tis thine to tell us where true treasure lies:
But, Reason failing to discharge her trust,
Or to the deaf discharging it in vain,
A blunder follows; and blind Industry,
Gall'd by the spur, but stranger to the course,
(The course where stakes of more than gold are won,)
O'erloading, with the cares of distant age,
The jaded spirits of the present hour,
Provides for an eternity below.
(ll. 444-459, p. 190 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 Seventh. Being the Second Part of the Infidel Reclaimed. Containing the Nature, Proof, and Importance, of Immortality. (London: Printed for G. Hawkins, 1744).
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 Seventh. Being the Second Part of the Infidel Reclaimed. Containing the Nature, Proof, and Importance, of Immortality. (London: Printed for G. Hawkins, 1744).
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
06/12/2013
