"The Goths were not so barbarous a Race / As the grim Rusticks of this motly Place; / Of Reason void, and Thought, whom Int'rest rules, / Yet will be Knaves tho' Nature meant them Fools."
— Diaper, William (1686-1717)
Author
Place of Publication
Bury, St. Edmunds
Publisher
Printed for the Author
Date
1720
Metaphor
"The Goths were not so barbarous a Race / As the grim Rusticks of this motly Place; / Of Reason void, and Thought, whom Int'rest rules, / Yet will be Knaves tho' Nature meant them Fools."
Metaphor in Context
Had mournful Ovid been but here condemn'd,
His Tristibus more movingly he'd pen'd;
Gladly he wou'd have chang'd this miry Slough
For colder Pontus or the Scythian Snow.
The Goths were not so barbarous a Race
As the grim Rusticks of this motly Place;
Of Reason void, and Thought, whom Int'rest rules,
Yet will be Knaves tho' Nature meant them Fools.
A strange half-humane and ungainly Brood;
Their Speech uncouth, as are their Manners rude.
When they wou'd seem to speak, the Mortals roar
As loud as Waves contending with their Shoar.
Their widen'd Mouths into a Circle grow,
For all their Vowels are but A and O.
The Beasts have the same Language, and the Cow
After the Owner's Voice is taught to low.
His Tristibus more movingly he'd pen'd;
Gladly he wou'd have chang'd this miry Slough
For colder Pontus or the Scythian Snow.
The Goths were not so barbarous a Race
As the grim Rusticks of this motly Place;
Of Reason void, and Thought, whom Int'rest rules,
Yet will be Knaves tho' Nature meant them Fools.
A strange half-humane and ungainly Brood;
Their Speech uncouth, as are their Manners rude.
When they wou'd seem to speak, the Mortals roar
As loud as Waves contending with their Shoar.
Their widen'd Mouths into a Circle grow,
For all their Vowels are but A and O.
The Beasts have the same Language, and the Cow
After the Owner's Voice is taught to low.
Provenance
Searching rule and reason in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
Only 1 entry in the ESTC (1720).
Text from Lincolnshire. A Poem. (Bury St. Edmunds: Printed for the Author, 1720). <Link to ESTC>
Note, the ESTC lists the author as a "Gentleman in Lincolnshire"
Text from Lincolnshire. A Poem. (Bury St. Edmunds: Printed for the Author, 1720). <Link to ESTC>
Note, the ESTC lists the author as a "Gentleman in Lincolnshire"
Date of Entry
06/15/2004
