"See! the full board / That steams disgust, and bowls that give no joy; / No truth invited there, to feed the mind; / Nor wit, the wine-rejoicing reason quaffs."
— Thomson, James (1700-1748)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Andrew Millar
Date
1735-6
Metaphor
"See! the full board / That steams disgust, and bowls that give no joy; / No truth invited there, to feed the mind; / Nor wit, the wine-rejoicing reason quaffs."
Metaphor in Context
'Lo! damn'd to wealth, at what a gross expense
They purchase disappointment, pain, and shame.
Instead of hearty hospitable cheer,
See! how the hall with brutal riot flows;
While in the foaming flood, fermenting, steep'd,
The country maddens into party rage.
Mark! those digraceful piles of wood and stone;
Those parks and gardens, where, his haunts betrimm'd,
And nature by presumptuous art oppress'd,
The woodland genius mourns. See! the full board
That steams disgust, and bowls that give no joy;
No truth invited there, to feed the mind;
Nor wit, the wine-rejoicing reason quaffs.
Hark! how the dome with insolence resounds,
With those retain'd by vanity to scare
Repose and friends. To tyrant fashion, mark!
The costly worship paid, to the broad gaze
Of fools. From still delusive day to day,
Led an eternal round of lying hope,
See! self-abandon'd, how they roam adrift,
Dash'd o'er the town, a miserable wreck!
Then to adore some warbling eunuch turn'd,
With Midas' ears they crowd; or to the buzz
Of masquerade unblushing: or, to show
Their scorn of nature, at the tragic scene
They mirthful sit, or prove the comic true.
But, chief, behold! around the rattling board,
The civil robbers ranged; and e'en the fair,
The tender fair, each sweetness laid aside,
As fierce for plunder as all-licensed troops
In some sack'd city. Thus dissolved their wealth,
Without one generous luxury dissolved,
Or quarter'd on it many a needless want,
At the throng'd levee bends the venal tribe;
With fair but faithless smiles each varnish'd o'er,
Each smooth as those that mutually deceive,
And for their falsehood each despising each;
Till shook their patron by the wintry winds,
Wide flies the wither'd shower, and leaves him bare.
O far superior Afric's sable sons,
By merchant pilfer'd, to these willing slaves!
And rich, as unsqueezed favourite, to them,
Is he who can his virtue boast alone!
(Part V, ll. 157-99, pp. 131-2)
They purchase disappointment, pain, and shame.
Instead of hearty hospitable cheer,
See! how the hall with brutal riot flows;
While in the foaming flood, fermenting, steep'd,
The country maddens into party rage.
Mark! those digraceful piles of wood and stone;
Those parks and gardens, where, his haunts betrimm'd,
And nature by presumptuous art oppress'd,
The woodland genius mourns. See! the full board
That steams disgust, and bowls that give no joy;
No truth invited there, to feed the mind;
Nor wit, the wine-rejoicing reason quaffs.
Hark! how the dome with insolence resounds,
With those retain'd by vanity to scare
Repose and friends. To tyrant fashion, mark!
The costly worship paid, to the broad gaze
Of fools. From still delusive day to day,
Led an eternal round of lying hope,
See! self-abandon'd, how they roam adrift,
Dash'd o'er the town, a miserable wreck!
Then to adore some warbling eunuch turn'd,
With Midas' ears they crowd; or to the buzz
Of masquerade unblushing: or, to show
Their scorn of nature, at the tragic scene
They mirthful sit, or prove the comic true.
But, chief, behold! around the rattling board,
The civil robbers ranged; and e'en the fair,
The tender fair, each sweetness laid aside,
As fierce for plunder as all-licensed troops
In some sack'd city. Thus dissolved their wealth,
Without one generous luxury dissolved,
Or quarter'd on it many a needless want,
At the throng'd levee bends the venal tribe;
With fair but faithless smiles each varnish'd o'er,
Each smooth as those that mutually deceive,
And for their falsehood each despising each;
Till shook their patron by the wintry winds,
Wide flies the wither'd shower, and leaves him bare.
O far superior Afric's sable sons,
By merchant pilfer'd, to these willing slaves!
And rich, as unsqueezed favourite, to them,
Is he who can his virtue boast alone!
(Part V, ll. 157-99, pp. 131-2)
Categories
Provenance
HDIS
Citation
At least 40 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1735, 1736, 1738, 1762, 1766, 1767, 1768, 1771, 1773, 1774, 1775, 1776, 1777, 1778, 1779, 1784, 1787, 1788, 1790). [Published in The Works of the English Poets.]
Published in parts; complicated publication history. See Part 1: Antient and Modern Italy Compared: Being the First Part of Liberty, a Poem. By Mr. Thomson. (London: Printed for A. Millar, over-against St. Clement’s Church in the Strand, 1735). Part 2: Greece: Being the Second Part of Liberty, a Poem. By Mr. Thomson (London: Printed for A. Millar, 1735). Part 3: Rome: Being the Third Part of Liberty, a Poem. By Mr. Thomson (London: Printed for A. Millar, 1735). Part 4: Britain: Being the Fourth Part of Liberty, a Poem. By Mr. Thomson. (London: Printed for A. Millar, 1736). Part 5: The Prospect: Being the Fifth Part of Liberty. A Poem. By Mr. Thomson. (London: printed for A. Millar, 1736).
Text from The Poetical Works of James Thomson (London: William Pickering, 1830). <Link to LION>
Reading Liberty, The Castle of Indolence, and other Poems, ed. James Sambrook (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986).
Published in parts; complicated publication history. See Part 1: Antient and Modern Italy Compared: Being the First Part of Liberty, a Poem. By Mr. Thomson. (London: Printed for A. Millar, over-against St. Clement’s Church in the Strand, 1735). Part 2: Greece: Being the Second Part of Liberty, a Poem. By Mr. Thomson (London: Printed for A. Millar, 1735). Part 3: Rome: Being the Third Part of Liberty, a Poem. By Mr. Thomson (London: Printed for A. Millar, 1735). Part 4: Britain: Being the Fourth Part of Liberty, a Poem. By Mr. Thomson. (London: Printed for A. Millar, 1736). Part 5: The Prospect: Being the Fifth Part of Liberty. A Poem. By Mr. Thomson. (London: printed for A. Millar, 1736).
Text from The Poetical Works of James Thomson (London: William Pickering, 1830). <Link to LION>
Reading Liberty, The Castle of Indolence, and other Poems, ed. James Sambrook (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986).
Date of Entry
12/01/2003
