Power’s purple robes nor Pleasure’s flowery lap.
(l. 216)
And occasionally there are traces of a little more imagination:
thy lonely whispering voice
O faithful Nature![201]
But on the whole it is clear that with Akenside abstraction and personification are used simply and solely for moral and didactic purposes, and not because of any perception of their potential artistic value. Incidentally, an interesting side-light on this point is revealed by one of the changes introduced by the poet into his revision of his chief work. In the original edition of 1740 there is an invocation to Harmony (Bk. I, ll. 20 foll.), with her companion,
Majestic Truth; and where Truth deigns to come
Her sister Liberty will not be far.
Before the publication of the revised edition, Akenside, who at one time had espoused the cause of liberty with such ardour as to lead to his being suspected of republicanism, received a Court appointment. In the revised edition the concluding lines of the invocation became