"Oh! may good angels, kindling in thy breast / The lamp of reason, guard thee from their snares!"
— Downman, Hugh (1740-1809)
Author
Place of Publication
Edinburgh
Publisher
Printed for John Bell
Date
1788, 1803
Metaphor
"Oh! may good angels, kindling in thy breast / The lamp of reason, guard thee from their snares!"
Metaphor in Context
Yet, nature, in thy child, tho not in words,
Speaks plain to those who in her language vers'd
Justly interpret. Are the different tones
Of woe, unfaithful sounds? Can he, whose sight
Hath traced the various muscles in their course,
When irritated in the different limbs,
Retracted, or extended, or supine,
Fix no conclusions on the seat of pain?
Is it of no avail to mark the breath,
How drawn? the face? the motions of the eye?
The salient pulse? the eruptions on the skin?
The skin itself, constricted, or relax'd?
The mode of sleep? of watching? heat? and thirst?
From which, and numerous traits beside, arranged,
Combined, abstracted, and maturely weigh'd,
Judgment its practice forms? Are characters
Like these, which ask the nice-decyphering soul,
Intelligible to the beldames old,
Who, wrapt in darkness, utter prophesies
And lying oracles, which cheat the ear,
Or follow'd, to destruction lead the way?
Oh! may good angels, kindling in thy breast
The lamp of reason, guard thee from their snares!
Blind guides, assiduous to deceive the blind.
(Book VI, pp. 162-3 in 1803 edition)
Speaks plain to those who in her language vers'd
Justly interpret. Are the different tones
Of woe, unfaithful sounds? Can he, whose sight
Hath traced the various muscles in their course,
When irritated in the different limbs,
Retracted, or extended, or supine,
Fix no conclusions on the seat of pain?
Is it of no avail to mark the breath,
How drawn? the face? the motions of the eye?
The salient pulse? the eruptions on the skin?
The skin itself, constricted, or relax'd?
The mode of sleep? of watching? heat? and thirst?
From which, and numerous traits beside, arranged,
Combined, abstracted, and maturely weigh'd,
Judgment its practice forms? Are characters
Like these, which ask the nice-decyphering soul,
Intelligible to the beldames old,
Who, wrapt in darkness, utter prophesies
And lying oracles, which cheat the ear,
Or follow'd, to destruction lead the way?
Oh! may good angels, kindling in thy breast
The lamp of reason, guard thee from their snares!
Blind guides, assiduous to deceive the blind.
(Book VI, pp. 162-3 in 1803 edition)
Categories
Provenance
Searching "reason" and "lamp" in HDIS (Poetry); found again "lamp"
Citation
7 entries in the ESTC (1774, 1775, 1776, 1778, 1788, 1790).
Text from Infancy, or the Management of Children: a Didactic Poem, in Six Books. the Sixth Edition. To Which Are Added Poems Not Before Published. by Hugh Downman. 6th ed. (Exeter: Printed by Trewman and Son; sold by them and Cadell and Davies, London, 1803).
First printed in three books, 1774-1776. See Infancy; or, the Management of Children. A Didactic Poem, in Three Books. By Hugh Downman, M. D. (Edinburgh: Printed for John Bell, 1776).
Printed in six books in the 4th edition of 1788. See Infancy, or the Management of Children, a Didactic Poem, in Six Books. The Fourth Edition. By Hugh Downman, M.D. (Edinburgh: Printed for John Bell: G. G. J. & J. Robinson, G. & T. Wilkie; and G. Kearsley, London, 1788.).
Text from Infancy, or the Management of Children: a Didactic Poem, in Six Books. the Sixth Edition. To Which Are Added Poems Not Before Published. by Hugh Downman. 6th ed. (Exeter: Printed by Trewman and Son; sold by them and Cadell and Davies, London, 1803).
First printed in three books, 1774-1776. See Infancy; or, the Management of Children. A Didactic Poem, in Three Books. By Hugh Downman, M. D. (Edinburgh: Printed for John Bell, 1776).
Printed in six books in the 4th edition of 1788. See Infancy, or the Management of Children, a Didactic Poem, in Six Books. The Fourth Edition. By Hugh Downman, M.D. (Edinburgh: Printed for John Bell: G. G. J. & J. Robinson, G. & T. Wilkie; and G. Kearsley, London, 1788.).
Date of Entry
10/06/2013
