"This is the man who first impeach'd his friend, / And on his ruin rose, yet could not lend / One cobweb virtue from his scurvy soul, / Which sins by study, and without controul."
— Thompson, Edward (1738-1786)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Date
1765, 1770
Metaphor
"This is the man who first impeach'd his friend, / And on his ruin rose, yet could not lend / One cobweb virtue from his scurvy soul, / Which sins by study, and without controul."
Metaphor in Context
Come Jemmy Twitcher, whose adult'rate fame,
Makes thee distinguish'd 'mongst the sons of shame;
Come Jemmy Twitcher, whose creative brain,
Ne'er serv'd the poor, or brought the master gain;
Come Jemmy Twitcher smallest 'mongst the small,
And first begin thy little bunter's ball:
Most pious peer, whose piety is shown,
By giving dances to the whores in town,
Rais'd for his virtues to a place of state,
Tho' in the knack of sinning only great:
He 'mongst his fiends a second Satan stands,
And when he swears, his devils clap their hands.
This is the man who first impeach'd his friend,
And on his ruin rose, yet could not lend
One cobweb virtue from his scurvy soul,
Which sins by study, and without controul:
This is that Jemmy Twitcher, whose pretence
Is pure religion, and state innocence:
Yet midst these royal virtues, he defil'd
The mother, and seduc'd her only child:
O! gentle M---e , repent e'er night,
Must Twitcher rule, and must not T---n write?
Forbid it Heaven it should e'er be said,
He smiles at you, because that Churchill 's dead.
(ll. 353-376)
Makes thee distinguish'd 'mongst the sons of shame;
Come Jemmy Twitcher, whose creative brain,
Ne'er serv'd the poor, or brought the master gain;
Come Jemmy Twitcher smallest 'mongst the small,
And first begin thy little bunter's ball:
Most pious peer, whose piety is shown,
By giving dances to the whores in town,
Rais'd for his virtues to a place of state,
Tho' in the knack of sinning only great:
He 'mongst his fiends a second Satan stands,
And when he swears, his devils clap their hands.
This is the man who first impeach'd his friend,
And on his ruin rose, yet could not lend
One cobweb virtue from his scurvy soul,
Which sins by study, and without controul:
This is that Jemmy Twitcher, whose pretence
Is pure religion, and state innocence:
Yet midst these royal virtues, he defil'd
The mother, and seduc'd her only child:
O! gentle M---e , repent e'er night,
Must Twitcher rule, and must not T---n write?
Forbid it Heaven it should e'er be said,
He smiles at you, because that Churchill 's dead.
(ll. 353-376)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
4 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1765, 1770).
Text from The Court of Cupid. By the Author of the Meretriciad. Containing the Eighth Edition of the Meretriciad, with Great Additions. 2 vols. (London: Printed for C. Moran, 1770).
See also The Courtesan. By the Author of the Meretriciad. (London: Printed for J. Harrison, in Covent Garden, 1765). <Link to ESTC>
Text from The Court of Cupid. By the Author of the Meretriciad. Containing the Eighth Edition of the Meretriciad, with Great Additions. 2 vols. (London: Printed for C. Moran, 1770).
See also The Courtesan. By the Author of the Meretriciad. (London: Printed for J. Harrison, in Covent Garden, 1765). <Link to ESTC>
Date of Entry
10/28/2013
