"So of the Soul the saying may be true, / That e're it bids its Cabinet adieu, / Four inches is the most that it doth keep / Betwixt its life and an eternal sleep"
— Speed, Samuel (bap. 1633, d. 1679?)
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed by J. C. for S. S.
Date
1677
Metaphor
"So of the Soul the saying may be true, / That e're it bids its Cabinet adieu, / Four inches is the most that it doth keep / Betwixt its life and an eternal sleep"
Metaphor in Context
The Mariner that's drove by Boreas breath,
Doth sail within four inches of his death.
So of the Soul the saying may be true,
That e're it bids its Cabinet adieu,
Four inches is the most that it doth keep
Betwixt its life and an eternal sleep.
If the Ship splits, or by a fire doth shrink,
The Ship is swallow'd, and the Sailers sink.
So if our earthly Vessels break, the Soul
Doth to another Habitation roul,
For ever plung'd into a boundless Sea,
The bankless Ocean of Eternity.
The Soul should therefore careful be, and strive
To swim, before it come to sink or dive.
Doth sail within four inches of his death.
So of the Soul the saying may be true,
That e're it bids its Cabinet adieu,
Four inches is the most that it doth keep
Betwixt its life and an eternal sleep.
If the Ship splits, or by a fire doth shrink,
The Ship is swallow'd, and the Sailers sink.
So if our earthly Vessels break, the Soul
Doth to another Habitation roul,
For ever plung'd into a boundless Sea,
The bankless Ocean of Eternity.
The Soul should therefore careful be, and strive
To swim, before it come to sink or dive.
Categories
Provenance
Searching "soul" and "cabinet" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
2 entries in ESTC (1677).
Text from Prison-Pietie: or, Meditations Divine and Moral. Digested into Poetical Heads, On Mixt and Various Subjects. Whereunto is added A Panegyrick to The Right Reverend, and Most Nobly descended, Henry, Lord Bishop of London. By Samuel Speed, Prisoner in Ludgate, London. (London: Printed by J[ames] C[ottrell], 1677). <Link to ESTC><Link to EEBO>
Text from Prison-Pietie: or, Meditations Divine and Moral. Digested into Poetical Heads, On Mixt and Various Subjects. Whereunto is added A Panegyrick to The Right Reverend, and Most Nobly descended, Henry, Lord Bishop of London. By Samuel Speed, Prisoner in Ludgate, London. (London: Printed by J[ames] C[ottrell], 1677). <Link to ESTC><Link to EEBO>
Date of Entry
09/07/2005
