Print made by William Blake, 1757–1827, BritishHand colored by William Blake, 1757–1827, BritishText by Edward Young, 1683–1765, BritishPublished by Richard Edwards, active 1796–1797, British
Title:
'Its favours here are trials, not rewards' (Page 12)
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)
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:
snake | serpent | birds | sky | literary theme | religious and mythological subject | rocks (landforms) | grass | text | hill | vines | children | women | men