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Read Ebook: Young's Night Thoughts With Life Critical Dissertation and Explanatory Notes by Young Edward Gilfillan George Editor
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Ebook has 82 lines and 72539 words, and 2 pages
In the Sixth Night arguments were drawn, from Nature, in proof of Immortality: here, others are drawn from Man: from his Discontent, ver. 29; from his Passions and Powers, 63; from the gradual growth of Reason, 81; from his fear of Death, 86; from the nature of Hope, 104; and of Virtue, 159, &c.; from Knowledge and Love, as being the most essential properties of the soul, 253; from the order of Creation, 290, &c.; from the nature of Ambition, 337, &c.; Avarice, 460; Pleasure, 477. A digression on the grandeur of the Passions, 521. Immortality alone renders our present state intelligible, 545. An objection from the Stoics' disbelief of immortality answered, 585. Endless questions unresolvable, but on the supposition of our immortality, 606. The natural, most melancholy, and pathetic complaint of a worthy man, under the persuasion of no Futurity, 653, &c. The gross absurdities and horrors of annihilation urged home on Lorenzo, 843, &c. The soul's vast importance, 992, &c.; from whence it arises, 1080. The Difficulty of being an Infidel, 1133; the Infamy, 1148; the Cause, 1188; and the Character, 1203, of an Infidel state. What true free-thinking is, 1218. The necessary punishment of the false, 1273. Man's ruin is from himself, 1303. An Infidel accuses himself with guilt and hypocrisy, and that of the worst sort, 1319. His obligation to Christians, 1337. What danger he incurs by Virtue, 1345. Vice recommended to him, 1364. His high pretences to Virtue and Benevolence exploded, 1373. The Conclusion, on the nature of Faith, 1406; Reason, 1440; and Hope, 1445; with an apology for this attempt, 1472.
Beneath the lumber of demolish'd worlds, Deep in the rubbish of the general wreck, Swept ignominious to the common mass Of matter, never dignified with life, Here lie proud rationals; the sons of heaven! The lords of earth! the property of worms! Beings of yesterday, and no to-morrow! Who lived in terror, and in pangs expired! 840 All gone to rot in chaos; or to make Their happy transit into blocks or brutes, 842 Nor longer sully their Creator's name.
VIRTUE'S APOLOGY; OR, THE MAN OF THE WORLD ANSWERED. IN WHICH ARE CONSIDERED, THE LOVE OF THIS LIFE; THE AMBITION AND PLEASURE, WITH THE WIT AND WISDOM, OF THE WORLD.
NIGHT EIGHTH
VIRTUE'S APOLOGY.
HUMBLY INSCRIBED TO HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE, ONE OF HIS MAJESTY'S PRINCIPAL SECRETARIES OF STATE.
Fatis contraria fata rependens.--Virg.
NIGHT NINTH.
THE CONSOLATION.
"I stand, the plan's proud period; I pronounce The work accomplish'd; the creation closed: 1530 Shout, all ye gods! nor shout ye gods alone; Of all that lives, or, if devoid of life, That rests, or rolls, ye heights, and depths, resound! Resound! resound! ye depths, and heights, resound!"
'Ercles' vein:' a rousing, somewhat bombastic manner of public speaking or writing.--ee
'Philander:' Mr Temple, his son-in-law.
'Lorenzo:' not Young's son, but probably the Earl of Wharton.
'Veils:' a gain, profit.--ee
'Maeonides:' Homer.
'His, who made:' Pope.
'Cytherea:' Venus, from Cythera, one of the Ionian Islands, where she was worshipped.
'As some tall tower:' Goldsmith has borrowed this fine image in his description of the good pastor's death, in the 'Deserted Village.'
'Didst lately borrow:' at the Duke of Norfolk's masquerade.
'Narcissa:' Mrs Temple.
'Nearer to the sun:' Mrs Temple died at Lyons, on her way to Nice, accompanied by her father.
Lines 270-289 paraphrase Psalms 24. Lines 270-300 provided an 'Easter Ode' popular in early 19th-Century American musical settings.-ee
'Manumit:' to free from slavery or bondage; emancipate.
'Paean:' healing song; hymn.--ee
'Athenian:' Socrates.
'Fable fledged:' Icarus.
'Glebe:' The soil or earth; land. --ee
'Narcissa:' Elizabeth Lee, Dr. Young's step-daughter.--ee
'Lorenzo' was modelled on Philip Wharton, 1st Duke of Wharton , powerful Jacobite politician, notorious libertine and rake, profligate, and alcoholic.--ee
'Quotidian:' everyday; commonplace.--ee
'Oracle of gems:' the Urim and Thummim.
'Cockade:' an ornament, such as a rosette or knot of ribbon, usually worn on the hat as a badge.--ee
'Votary:' person bound by vows to a life of religious worship or service.--ee
'Ne'er to meet, or ne'er to part:' hence Burns's famous line in his verses to Clarinda:-- 'Never met, or never parted, We had ne'er been broken-hearted.'
'She:' his wife, it is supposed.
'Ours is the cloth,' &c.: how like the lines of Coleridge!-- 'O Lady, we receive but what we give,' &c.
'Already:' Night Sixth.
'Bellerophon:' who carried letters from Proctus to Jobates, King of Lycia, which contained an order in cipher for his execution after nine days. He contrived, however, to escape.
'To Pyrrhus:' by a philosopher who told him he would have been as happy had he stayed at home, instead of pursuing a career of conquest.
'Proud Eastern:' Nebuchadnezzar.
'Thee:' Lorenzo.
'Lately proved:' in the Sixth Night.
'Presumption's sacrilegious sons:' Korah, &c.
'Lucia:' probably his wife.
'Uriel:' see Milton.
'Title:' The Infidel Reclaimed.
'Bible:' the poetical parts of it.
'Albion's cost:' Admiral Balchen, &c.
'Like a flag floating,' &c.: hence Wilson's line in his 'Address to a Wild-Deer:'-- 'Like a flag burning bright when the vessel is gone.'
'Fucus:' an old type of makeup.--ee
'Snuff:' a candle-end or wick.--ee
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