"When of old / Arcadia's peaceful shepherds uncontroul'd / Their ranging flocks thro' boundless pastures drove, / Or tun'd their pipes beneath the myrtle grove, / Their laws on brazen tablets unimprest / Were deeply grav'd on each ingenuous breast, / No proud Vicegerent of Astrea reign'd, / Astrea's self her own decrees maintained."
— Wodhull, Michael (1740-1816)
Author
Work Title
Date
1765, 1770
Metaphor
"When of old / Arcadia's peaceful shepherds uncontroul'd / Their ranging flocks thro' boundless pastures drove, / Or tun'd their pipes beneath the myrtle grove, / Their laws on brazen tablets unimprest / Were deeply grav'd on each ingenuous breast, / No proud Vicegerent of Astrea reign'd, / Astrea's self her own decrees maintained."
Metaphor in Context
Ye happier times of innocence and truth,
Pleasing instructors of my thoughtless youth,
When none the image of his God belied,
No Minions crouch'd beneath a Sultan's pride,
No wealth ensnar'd, no poverty distress'd,
No ruffians plunder'd, and no kings oppress'd;
Tho' doom'd to grovel in a baser age,
Will I from Memory's enchanting page
Retrace your scatter'd annals.--When of old
Arcadia's peaceful shepherds uncontroul'd
Their ranging flocks thro' boundless pastures drove,
Or tun'd their pipes beneath the myrtle grove,
Their laws on brazen tablets unimprest
Were deeply grav'd on each ingenuous breast,
No proud Vicegerent of Astrea reign'd,
Astrea's self her own decrees maintain'd.
(p. 239)
Pleasing instructors of my thoughtless youth,
When none the image of his God belied,
No Minions crouch'd beneath a Sultan's pride,
No wealth ensnar'd, no poverty distress'd,
No ruffians plunder'd, and no kings oppress'd;
Tho' doom'd to grovel in a baser age,
Will I from Memory's enchanting page
Retrace your scatter'd annals.--When of old
Arcadia's peaceful shepherds uncontroul'd
Their ranging flocks thro' boundless pastures drove,
Or tun'd their pipes beneath the myrtle grove,
Their laws on brazen tablets unimprest
Were deeply grav'd on each ingenuous breast,
No proud Vicegerent of Astrea reign'd,
Astrea's self her own decrees maintain'd.
(p. 239)
Categories
Provenance
ECCO-TCP
Citation
ECCO and ESTC (1765, 1772, 1775, 1798, 1799).
See The Equality of Mankind. A Poem. By Mr. Wodhull. (Oxford: Printed by W. Jackson: sold by T. Beckett, and P. A. de Hondt, in the Strand; and T. Payne, at the Meuse-Gate, London, 1765)
Text from A Collection of Poems in Four Volumes. by Several Hands (London: Printed for G. Pearch, 1770). <Link to ECCO-TCP>
See The Equality of Mankind. A Poem. By Mr. Wodhull. (Oxford: Printed by W. Jackson: sold by T. Beckett, and P. A. de Hondt, in the Strand; and T. Payne, at the Meuse-Gate, London, 1765)
Text from A Collection of Poems in Four Volumes. by Several Hands (London: Printed for G. Pearch, 1770). <Link to ECCO-TCP>
Date of Entry
11/10/2013
