"In fair proportion here describ'd we trace / Each mental beauty, and each moral grace; / Each useful passion taught, its tone design'd / In the nice concord of a well-tun'd mind."
— Melmoth, William, the younger (bap. 1710, d. 1799)
Work Title
Date
1735, 1763
Metaphor
"In fair proportion here describ'd we trace / Each mental beauty, and each moral grace; / Each useful passion taught, its tone design'd / In the nice concord of a well-tun'd mind."
Metaphor in Context
Yet if so just the fame, the use so great,
Systems to poise, and spheres to regulate;
To teach the secret well-adapted force,
That steers of countless orbs th' unvaried course;
Far brighter honors wait the nobler part,
To balance manners, and conduct the heart.
Order without us, what imports it seen,
If all is restless anarchy within?
Fir'd by this thought great Ashley, gen'rous sage,
Plan'd in sweet leisure his a instructive page.
Not orbs he weighs, but marks, with happier skill,
The scope of actions and the poise of will:
In fair proportion here describ'd we trace
Each mental beauty, and each moral grace;
Each useful passion taught, its tone design'd
In the nice concord of a well-tun'd mind.
Does mean self-love contract each social aim?
Here publick transports shall thy soul inflame.
Virtue and Deity supremely fair,
Too oft delineated with looks severe,
Resume their native smiles and graces here:
Sooth'd into love relenting foes admire,
And warmer raptures every friend inspire.
(pp. 209-10)
Systems to poise, and spheres to regulate;
To teach the secret well-adapted force,
That steers of countless orbs th' unvaried course;
Far brighter honors wait the nobler part,
To balance manners, and conduct the heart.
Order without us, what imports it seen,
If all is restless anarchy within?
Fir'd by this thought great Ashley, gen'rous sage,
Plan'd in sweet leisure his a instructive page.
Not orbs he weighs, but marks, with happier skill,
The scope of actions and the poise of will:
In fair proportion here describ'd we trace
Each mental beauty, and each moral grace;
Each useful passion taught, its tone design'd
In the nice concord of a well-tun'd mind.
Does mean self-love contract each social aim?
Here publick transports shall thy soul inflame.
Virtue and Deity supremely fair,
Too oft delineated with looks severe,
Resume their native smiles and graces here:
Sooth'd into love relenting foes admire,
And warmer raptures every friend inspire.
(pp. 209-10)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
At least 10 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1735, 1748, 1751, 1755 1758, 1765, 1766, 1775, 1782).
See Of Active and Retired Life, An Epistle. (London: Printed for T. Cooper, 1735). <Link to ESTC><Link to ECCO>
Text from Robert Dodsley's A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes. By Several Hands (London: Printed by J. Hughs, for R. and J. Dodsley, 1763. <Link to ECCO-TCP>
See Of Active and Retired Life, An Epistle. (London: Printed for T. Cooper, 1735). <Link to ESTC><Link to ECCO>
Text from Robert Dodsley's A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes. By Several Hands (London: Printed by J. Hughs, for R. and J. Dodsley, 1763. <Link to ECCO-TCP>
Date of Entry
04/07/2014
