"Minds slothful, like uncultivated Earth, / To Weeds of Vice, and Folly, give a Birth; / Silver, and Gold, for Want of proper Use, / Their Splendor lose, and cancrous Rust produce; / Streams owe their Purity, to active Speed, / If Waters stagnate, they Corruption breed."
— Marriott, Thomas (d. 1766)
Author
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for W. Owen
Date
1759
Metaphor
"Minds slothful, like uncultivated Earth, / To Weeds of Vice, and Folly, give a Birth; / Silver, and Gold, for Want of proper Use, / Their Splendor lose, and cancrous Rust produce; / Streams owe their Purity, to active Speed, / If Waters stagnate, they Corruption breed."
Metaphor in Context
From early Morning, to the Close of Day,
Let not the Hours roll unimploy'd away.
Minds slothful, like uncultivated Earth,
To Weeds of Vice, and Folly, give a Birth;
Silver, and Gold, for Want of proper Use,
Their Splendor lose, and cancrous Rust produce;
Streams owe their Purity, to active Speed,
If Waters stagnate, they Corruption breed.
Learn to be active, from the busy Bee, [...]
(p. 203)
Let not the Hours roll unimploy'd away.
Minds slothful, like uncultivated Earth,
To Weeds of Vice, and Folly, give a Birth;
Silver, and Gold, for Want of proper Use,
Their Splendor lose, and cancrous Rust produce;
Streams owe their Purity, to active Speed,
If Waters stagnate, they Corruption breed.
Learn to be active, from the busy Bee, [...]
(p. 203)
Categories
Provenance
ECCO
Citation
3 entries in ESTC (1759, 1760, 1775).
Text from Female Conduct: Being an Essay on the Art of Pleasing. To Be Practised by the Fair Sex, Before, and After Marriage. A Poem, in Two Books. Humbly Dedicated, to Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales. Inscribed to Plautilla. by Thomas Marriott, Esq. (London: Printed for W. Owen, at Homer's Head, Temple-Bar, 1759). <Link to ECCO>
Text from Female Conduct: Being an Essay on the Art of Pleasing. To Be Practised by the Fair Sex, Before, and After Marriage. A Poem, in Two Books. Humbly Dedicated, to Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales. Inscribed to Plautilla. by Thomas Marriott, Esq. (London: Printed for W. Owen, at Homer's Head, Temple-Bar, 1759). <Link to ECCO>
Date of Entry
10/28/2013
