"Wonder they cannot blush, they do not feel, / They must be harden'd like an heart of steel."
— Thompson, Edward (1738-1786)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Date
1765, 1770
Metaphor
"Wonder they cannot blush, they do not feel, / They must be harden'd like an heart of steel."
Metaphor in Context
Women, like post-boys on a turnpike run
In an eternal heat, from sun, to sun:
And nothing stops the passion of the sex,
But broken winds, and often broken necks:
I never knew oeconomy in lust,
The fire continues, until dust to dust
Consigns the breathless body to the grave,
And ends the follies, and the petty slave.
Would ye ye fair be cautious in your youth,
Hear all mankind, and hearing doubt their truth;
Save from those rolling sums a little gold;
Friends you might have, and even live when old;
See Talbot now,--who drank in pomp of sin,
Thro' wretched want, a sad, bad Magdalene.
Kindling new passions in her Nun's attire,
Till Dod and Dingley are themselves on fire.
Health to great Dingley, Muse, I charge commend
The orphan's, and the harlot's gen'rous friend:
He who can let the orphan want its bread,
And cloath, and feed the strumpet for his bed:
He who could labour to strike out a plan,
A godly plan, t'appear a godly man;
Who would imagine him so much a Monk,
To cheat the Nun--and canonize the punk.
But should these poor unhappy girls be plac'd
At Church in public view,--to be disgrac'd,
And pointed at below by demi-reps,
Whose fly adulterate deeds, and sinful steps,
Are ten-fold more! say is it decent? they
Should thus be 'rang'd, whilst Dod's eternal bray,
Is hell, damnation, bombast, thunder, rant,
And ev'ry where below in pious cant,
Wonder they cannot blush, they do not feel,
They must be harden'd like an heart of steel.
(ll. 807-840)
In an eternal heat, from sun, to sun:
And nothing stops the passion of the sex,
But broken winds, and often broken necks:
I never knew oeconomy in lust,
The fire continues, until dust to dust
Consigns the breathless body to the grave,
And ends the follies, and the petty slave.
Would ye ye fair be cautious in your youth,
Hear all mankind, and hearing doubt their truth;
Save from those rolling sums a little gold;
Friends you might have, and even live when old;
See Talbot now,--who drank in pomp of sin,
Thro' wretched want, a sad, bad Magdalene.
Kindling new passions in her Nun's attire,
Till Dod and Dingley are themselves on fire.
Health to great Dingley, Muse, I charge commend
The orphan's, and the harlot's gen'rous friend:
He who can let the orphan want its bread,
And cloath, and feed the strumpet for his bed:
He who could labour to strike out a plan,
A godly plan, t'appear a godly man;
Who would imagine him so much a Monk,
To cheat the Nun--and canonize the punk.
But should these poor unhappy girls be plac'd
At Church in public view,--to be disgrac'd,
And pointed at below by demi-reps,
Whose fly adulterate deeds, and sinful steps,
Are ten-fold more! say is it decent? they
Should thus be 'rang'd, whilst Dod's eternal bray,
Is hell, damnation, bombast, thunder, rant,
And ev'ry where below in pious cant,
Wonder they cannot blush, they do not feel,
They must be harden'd like an heart of steel.
(ll. 807-840)
Categories
Provenance
Searching "steel" and "heart" in HDIS (Poetry)
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
06/11/2005
