"'What Confidence can you in them repose, / 'Who e're they serve you, all their Value lose? / 'Who once enslave their Conscience to their Lust, / 'Have lost their Reins, and can no more be Just."
— Montagu, Charles, 1st Earl of Halifax (1661-1715)
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Date
1689, 1716
Metaphor
"'What Confidence can you in them repose, / 'Who e're they serve you, all their Value lose? / 'Who once enslave their Conscience to their Lust, / 'Have lost their Reins, and can no more be Just."
Metaphor in Context
Great Sir, renown'd for Constancy, how just
'Have we obey'd the Crown, and serv'd our Trust,
'Espous'd your Cause and Interest in Distress,
'Your self must witness, and our Foes confess!
'Permit us then ill Fortune to accuse,
'That you at last unhappy Councils use,
'And ask the only thing we must refuse.
'Our Lives and Fortunes freely we'll expose,
'Honour alone we cannot, must not lose:
'Honour, that Spark of the Celestial Fire,
'That above Nature makes Mankind aspire;
'Enobles the rude Passions of our Frame,
'With Thirst of Glory, and Desire of Fame;
'The richest Treasure of a generous Breast,
'That gives the Stamp and Standard to the rest.
'Wit, Strength, and Courage, are wild dangerous Force,
'Unless this softens and directs their Course;
'And would you rob us of the noblest Part,
'Accept a Sacrifice without a Heart?
''Tis much beneath the Greatness of a Throne,
'To take the Casket when the Jewel's gone;
'Debauch our Principles, corrupt our Race,
'And teach the Nobles to be False and Base;
'What Confidence can you in them repose,
'Who e're they serve you, all their Value lose?
'Who once enslave their Conscience to their Lust,
'Have lost their Reins, and can no more be Just.
(pp. 11-12, ll. 20-46; pp. 1-2 in 1689 ed.)
'Have we obey'd the Crown, and serv'd our Trust,
'Espous'd your Cause and Interest in Distress,
'Your self must witness, and our Foes confess!
'Permit us then ill Fortune to accuse,
'That you at last unhappy Councils use,
'And ask the only thing we must refuse.
'Our Lives and Fortunes freely we'll expose,
'Honour alone we cannot, must not lose:
'Honour, that Spark of the Celestial Fire,
'That above Nature makes Mankind aspire;
'Enobles the rude Passions of our Frame,
'With Thirst of Glory, and Desire of Fame;
'The richest Treasure of a generous Breast,
'That gives the Stamp and Standard to the rest.
'Wit, Strength, and Courage, are wild dangerous Force,
'Unless this softens and directs their Course;
'And would you rob us of the noblest Part,
'Accept a Sacrifice without a Heart?
''Tis much beneath the Greatness of a Throne,
'To take the Casket when the Jewel's gone;
'Debauch our Principles, corrupt our Race,
'And teach the Nobles to be False and Base;
'What Confidence can you in them repose,
'Who e're they serve you, all their Value lose?
'Who once enslave their Conscience to their Lust,
'Have lost their Reins, and can no more be Just.
(pp. 11-12, ll. 20-46; pp. 1-2 in 1689 ed.)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
At least 8 entries in ESTC and ECCO (1689, 1705, 1712, 1715, 1716, 1730, 1733, 1739).
Text from The Poetical Works Of the Right Honourable Charles, Late Earl of Halifax. With His Lordship's Life including the History of his Times, 2nd ed. (London: Printed for E. Curll and J. Pemberton, 1716). <Link to ESTC>
Poem earlier collected in Poems on Several Occasions. By the Right Honourable Charles Earl of Halifax. (London: [s.n.], 1715). <Link to ESTC>
See The Man of Honour, Occasion'd by the Postscript of Pen's Letter ([London: s.n., 1689]). <Link to ESTC>
Also collected in Poems on Affairs of State (London: Printed for Thomas Tebb and Theoph. Sanders, Edw. Symon, and Francis Clay, 1697-1716).
Text from The Poetical Works Of the Right Honourable Charles, Late Earl of Halifax. With His Lordship's Life including the History of his Times, 2nd ed. (London: Printed for E. Curll and J. Pemberton, 1716). <Link to ESTC>
Poem earlier collected in Poems on Several Occasions. By the Right Honourable Charles Earl of Halifax. (London: [s.n.], 1715). <Link to ESTC>
See The Man of Honour, Occasion'd by the Postscript of Pen's Letter ([London: s.n., 1689]). <Link to ESTC>
Also collected in Poems on Affairs of State (London: Printed for Thomas Tebb and Theoph. Sanders, Edw. Symon, and Francis Clay, 1697-1716).
Date of Entry
10/15/2013
