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Creator:
Print made by William Blake, 1757–1827
Hand colored by William Blake, 1757–1827
Text by Edward Young, 1683–1765
Published by Richard Edwards, active 1796–1797
Title:
'Its favours here are trials, not rewards' (Page 12)
Part Of:

Collective Title: Young's Night Thoughts

Date:
1797
Materials & Techniques:
Etching, line engraving, and letterpress, with hand coloring in watercolor on moderately thick, slightly textured, cream wove paper
Dimensions:
Spine: 17 1/2 inches (44.5 cm), Sheet: 16 3/4 x 13 inches (42.5 x 33 cm), Plate: 15 3/4 x 12 3/4 inches (40 x 32.4 cm)
Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:

Lettered inside image: "12 | But rises in demand for her delay; | She makes a scourge of past prosperity | To sting thee more, and double thy distress. | LORENZO, fortune makes her court to thee; | Thy fond heart dances, while the syren sings: | Dear is thy welfare; think me not unkind, | I would not damp, but to secure thy joys: | Think not that fear is sacred to the storm; | Stand on thy guard against the smiles of fate. | Is heaven tremendous in its frowns? most sure-- | And in its favours formidable too: | *Its favours here are trials, not rewards; | A call to duty, not discharge from care; | And should alarm us, full as much as woes; | Awake us to their cause and consequence; | And make us tremble, weigh'd with our desert. | Awe nature's tumults, and chastise her joys, | Lest, while we clasp, we kill them; nay, invert | To worse than simple misery their charms: | Revolted joys, like foes in civil war, | Like bosom friendships to resentment sour'd, | With rage envenom'd rise against our peace. | Beware what earth calls happiness; beware | All joys, but joys that never can expire: | Who builds on less than an immortal base, | Fond as he seems, condemns his joys to death. | Mine died with thee, PHILANDER! thy last sigh | Dissolved the charm; the disenchanted earth | Lost all her lustre: where her glitt'ring towers? | Her golden mountains where?--all darken'd down"; lower left: "inv. | WB"

Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1992.8.10(7)
Classification:
Prints
Collection:
Prints and Drawings
Subject Terms:
birds | children | grass | hill | literary theme | men | religious and mythological subject | rocks (landforms) | serpent | sky | snake | text | vines | women
Access:
Accessible by appointment in the Study Room [Request]
Note: The Study Room is open by appointment. Please visit the Study Room page on our website for more details.
Link:
https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:3575
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