"Customs or Int'rests govern all Mankind, / Some Biass cleaves to the unguarded Mind; / Thro' this, as in a false or flatt'ring Glass / Things seem to change their Natures as they pass."
— Paget, Thomas Catesby, Lord Paget (1689-1742)
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed, and are to be sold by Fletcher Gyles
Date
1734 [1735?]
Metaphor
"Customs or Int'rests govern all Mankind, / Some Biass cleaves to the unguarded Mind; / Thro' this, as in a false or flatt'ring Glass / Things seem to change their Natures as they pass."
Metaphor in Context
Inur'd to Falshood, we ourselves deceive,
Oft what we wish, we fancy, we believe;
We call that Judgment which is only Will,
And as we act, we learn to argue ill;
Like Bigots, who their various Creeds defend
By making Reason still to System bend.
Customs or Int'rests govern all Mankind,
Some Biass cleaves to the unguarded Mind;
Thro' this, as in a false or flatt'ring Glass
Things seem to change their Natures as they pass.
Objects the same in diff'rent Lights appear,
And but the Colours which we give 'em wear.
Error and Fraud from this great Source arise,
All Fools are modish, and all Knaves are wise.
Who doesnot boast some Merit of his own,
Tho' to himself perhaps 'tis only known?
Each suits Rewards to his own fav'rite Vice,
Pride has its Crowns, and Lust its Paradise:
Bonze, Priest and Dervise, all in this agree,
That Heaven must be for Pomp or Luxury;
Man, Slave to Sense no higher Bliss can know,
Still measures Things above by Things below.
Joys much the same, but differ in Degree,
As Time eniarg'd becomes Eternity.
(pp. 4-5, ll. 96-120)
Oft what we wish, we fancy, we believe;
We call that Judgment which is only Will,
And as we act, we learn to argue ill;
Like Bigots, who their various Creeds defend
By making Reason still to System bend.
Customs or Int'rests govern all Mankind,
Some Biass cleaves to the unguarded Mind;
Thro' this, as in a false or flatt'ring Glass
Things seem to change their Natures as they pass.
Objects the same in diff'rent Lights appear,
And but the Colours which we give 'em wear.
Error and Fraud from this great Source arise,
All Fools are modish, and all Knaves are wise.
Who doesnot boast some Merit of his own,
Tho' to himself perhaps 'tis only known?
Each suits Rewards to his own fav'rite Vice,
Pride has its Crowns, and Lust its Paradise:
Bonze, Priest and Dervise, all in this agree,
That Heaven must be for Pomp or Luxury;
Man, Slave to Sense no higher Bliss can know,
Still measures Things above by Things below.
Joys much the same, but differ in Degree,
As Time eniarg'd becomes Eternity.
(pp. 4-5, ll. 96-120)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
At least 8 entries in LION, ECCO, and ESTC (1734, 1735, 1736, 1741, 1750, 1757, 1776, 1779).
See An Essay on Human Life. (London: Printed, and are to be sold by Fletcher Gyles over-against Grays Inn in Holborn, 1734). <Link to ESTC>
Text from An Essay on Human Life. By the Right Honourable the Lord Paget. The Third Edition. Corrected and Much Enlarg'd by the Author (Dublin and London: Printed, and Re-printed by George Faulkner, 1736). See also London printing of same year: <Link to Google Books>. And also Miscellanies in Prose and Verse (London: 1741).
Attributed to Pope and published in A Supplement to the Works of Alexander Pope, Esq. (1757) and Additions to the Works of Alexander Pope (1776). Excerpts in Roach's Beauties of the Poets (1793, 1794, 1795).
See An Essay on Human Life. (London: Printed, and are to be sold by Fletcher Gyles over-against Grays Inn in Holborn, 1734). <Link to ESTC>
Text from An Essay on Human Life. By the Right Honourable the Lord Paget. The Third Edition. Corrected and Much Enlarg'd by the Author (Dublin and London: Printed, and Re-printed by George Faulkner, 1736). See also London printing of same year: <Link to Google Books>. And also Miscellanies in Prose and Verse (London: 1741).
Attributed to Pope and published in A Supplement to the Works of Alexander Pope, Esq. (1757) and Additions to the Works of Alexander Pope (1776). Excerpts in Roach's Beauties of the Poets (1793, 1794, 1795).
Date of Entry
11/17/2013
