"Sense! take the rein; blind Passion! drive us on; / And, Ignorance! befriend us on our way; / Ye new, but truest patrons of our peace! Yes; give the Pulse full empire; live the Brute, / Since as the Brute we die."
— Young, Edward (bap. 1683, d. 1765)
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for G. Hawkins
Date
1744
Metaphor
"Sense! take the rein; blind Passion! drive us on; / And, Ignorance! befriend us on our way; / Ye new, but truest patrons of our peace! Yes; give the Pulse full empire; live the Brute, / Since as the Brute we die."
Metaphor in Context
"Duty! Religion!--These, our duty done,
"Imply reward. Religion is mistake.
"Duty!--There's none, but to repel the cheat.
"Ye cheats, away! ye daughters of my Pride!
"Who feign yourselves the favourites of the Skies:
"Ye towering hopes, abortive energies!
"That toss and struggle in my lying breast,
"To scale the skies, and build presumptions there,
"As I were heir of an eternity.
"Vain, vain ambitions! trouble me no more.
"Why travel far in quest of sure defeat?
"As bounded as my being, be my wish.
"All is inverted, Wisdom is a fool.
"Sense! take the rein; blind Passion! drive us on;
"And, Ignorance! befriend us on our way;
"Ye new, but truest patrons of our peace!
"Yes; give the Pulse full empire; live the Brute,
"Since as the Brute we die. The sum of man,
"Of godlike man, to revel and to rot!
(ll. 716-734, p. 197 in CUP edition)
"Imply reward. Religion is mistake.
"Duty!--There's none, but to repel the cheat.
"Ye cheats, away! ye daughters of my Pride!
"Who feign yourselves the favourites of the Skies:
"Ye towering hopes, abortive energies!
"That toss and struggle in my lying breast,
"To scale the skies, and build presumptions there,
"As I were heir of an eternity.
"Vain, vain ambitions! trouble me no more.
"Why travel far in quest of sure defeat?
"As bounded as my being, be my wish.
"All is inverted, Wisdom is a fool.
"Sense! take the rein; blind Passion! drive us on;
"And, Ignorance! befriend us on our way;
"Ye new, but truest patrons of our peace!
"Yes; give the Pulse full empire; live the Brute,
"Since as the Brute we die. The sum of man,
"Of godlike man, to revel and to rot!
(ll. 716-734, p. 197 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
