- Title:
- 'Like that, the dial speaks; and points to thee' (Page 33)
- Part Of:
- Date:
- ca. 1797
- Materials & Techniques:
- Etching, line engraving, and letterpress, with hand coloring in watercolor on moderately thick, slightly textured, cream wove paper
- Dimensions:
- Spine: 16 3/4 inches (42.5 cm), Sheet: 16 1/2 x 12 7/8 inches (41.9 x 32.7 cm), Plate: 15 3/4 x 12 1/2 inches (40 x 31.8 cm)
- Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:
Lettered inside image: "33 | Erewhile high-flush'd with insolence and wine? | *Like that, the dial speaks; and points to thee, | LORENZO! loth to break thy banquet up. | 'O man, thy kingdom is departing from thee; | 'And, while it lasts, is emptier than my shade'. | Its silent language such; nor need'st thou call | Thy magi, to decypher what it means: | Know, like the Median, fate is in thy walls: | Dost ask, how? whence? Belshazzar-like, amazed? | Man's make encloses the sure seeds of death; | Life feeds the murderer: ingrate! he thrives | On her own meal, and then his nurse devours. | But here, LORENZO, the delusion lies; | That solar shadow, as it measures life, | It life resembles too: life speeds away | From point to point, though seeming to stand still: | The cunning fugitive is swift by stealth, | Too subtle is the movement to be seen; | Yet soon man's hour is up, and we are gone. | Warnings point out our danger; gnomons, time: | As these are useless when the sun is set; | So those, but when more glorious reason shines: | Reason should judge in all; in reason's eye, | That sedentary shadow travels hard: | But such our gravitation to the wrong, | So prone our hearts to whisper what we wish, | 'Tis later with the wise, than he's aware; | A Wilmington goes slower than the sun; | And all mankind mistake their time of day; | Even age itself: fresh hopes are hourly sown"; lower right: "inv & sc | WB"; lower left: "Pubd. June 27th. 1796, by R. Edwards, No. 142 New Bond Street."
- Credit Line:
- Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
- Copyright Status:
- Public Domain
- Accession Number:
- B1978.43.1394
- Classification:
- Prints
- Collection:
- Prints and Drawings
- Subject Terms:
- beds | cups | dead | death | food | goblets | literary theme | men | pointing | reclining | serpents | snakes | text | wine
- 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:2320
- Export:
- XML
- IIIF Manifest:
- JSON
The Romantic Print in the Age of Revolutions: Hero, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History (Yale Center for British Art, 2003-01-23 - 2003-06-01) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]