"Why should Hibernia let her daughters roam / Why not confin'd to conquer hearts at home?"
— Thompson, Edward (1738-1786)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Date
1761, 1770
Metaphor
"Why should Hibernia let her daughters roam / Why not confin'd to conquer hearts at home?"
Metaphor in Context
O what a name! rever'd in days of yore,
As Maid, Queen, Princess, Dutchess, Countess--Whore,
When e'er the round O dignifies a name,
So surely blown from out the Trump of Fame:
These names in verse run smooth as apple-barrows,
O' Connillo's, O' Brien's, and O' Harra's,
'Kelly's, O' Lochlin's, and O' Courcy's too,
Have been great men and waded Liffey thro';
From them fair Nelly you derive your name,
And genuine beauties must establish fame:
Such soft endearing symmetry of parts,
Must soften Hermits down to Lover's hearts:
Why should Hibernia let her daughters roam,
Why not confin'd to conquer hearts at home?
Dublin should stop these beauties with her tolls,
And not export them to torment our souls;
Will not, O'Brien Dublin then suffice?
But Britain too must suffer from your Eyes:
Have mercy beauty--and pray learn to feel,
And clasp the Suppliant when he aims to kneel.
As Maid, Queen, Princess, Dutchess, Countess--Whore,
When e'er the round O dignifies a name,
So surely blown from out the Trump of Fame:
These names in verse run smooth as apple-barrows,
O' Connillo's, O' Brien's, and O' Harra's,
'Kelly's, O' Lochlin's, and O' Courcy's too,
Have been great men and waded Liffey thro';
From them fair Nelly you derive your name,
And genuine beauties must establish fame:
Such soft endearing symmetry of parts,
Must soften Hermits down to Lover's hearts:
Why should Hibernia let her daughters roam,
Why not confin'd to conquer hearts at home?
Dublin should stop these beauties with her tolls,
And not export them to torment our souls;
Will not, O'Brien Dublin then suffice?
But Britain too must suffer from your Eyes:
Have mercy beauty--and pray learn to feel,
And clasp the Suppliant when he aims to kneel.
Categories
Provenance
Searching "conque" and "heart" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
6 entries in ESTC (1761, 1763, 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 Meretriciad. (London: Printed for the author: and sold by C. Moran, under the Great Piazza, Covent-Garden, 1761).
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 Meretriciad. (London: Printed for the author: and sold by C. Moran, under the Great Piazza, Covent-Garden, 1761).
Date of Entry
02/14/2005
