"While with the motion of the pen, / Method pops in and out agen, / So, as I said, I thought it better, / To set me down and think a letter, / And without any more ado, / Seal up my mind, and send it you."
— Lloyd, Robert (bap. 1733, d. 1764)
Place of Publication
London
Date
March 1763, 1774
Metaphor
"While with the motion of the pen, / Method pops in and out agen, / So, as I said, I thought it better, / To set me down and think a letter, / And without any more ado, / Seal up my mind, and send it you."
Metaphor in Context
In my old age, 'twere wond'rous hard
To come to town, as trav'lling card,
Then let the post convey me there,
The clerk's direction tell him where,
For, tho' I ramble at this rate
He writes it all, and I dictate;
For I'm resolv'd--by help of neighbour,
(Who keeps a school, and goes to labour)
To tell you all things as they past;
Coblers will go beyond their last,
And so I'm told will authors too,
--But that's a point I leave to you;
Cobling extends a thousand ways,
Some coble shoes, some coble plays; [page 93]
Some--but this jingle's vastly clever,
It makes a body write for ever.
While with the motion of the pen,
Method pops in and out agen,
So, as I said, I thought it better,
To set me down and think a letter,
And without any more ado,
Seal up my mind, and send it you.
You'll ask me, master, why I chuse
To plague your worship with my muse?
I'll tell you then--will truth offend?
Tho' cobler, yet I love my friend.
Besides, I like you merry folks,
Who make their puns, and crack their jokes;
Your jovial hearts are never wrong,
I love a story, or a song;
But always feel most grievous qualms,
From Westley's hymns, or Wisdom's psalms.
(ll. 53-84, pp. 92-3; cf. p. 68 in magazine)
To come to town, as trav'lling card,
Then let the post convey me there,
The clerk's direction tell him where,
For, tho' I ramble at this rate
He writes it all, and I dictate;
For I'm resolv'd--by help of neighbour,
(Who keeps a school, and goes to labour)
To tell you all things as they past;
Coblers will go beyond their last,
And so I'm told will authors too,
--But that's a point I leave to you;
Cobling extends a thousand ways,
Some coble shoes, some coble plays; [page 93]
Some--but this jingle's vastly clever,
It makes a body write for ever.
While with the motion of the pen,
Method pops in and out agen,
So, as I said, I thought it better,
To set me down and think a letter,
And without any more ado,
Seal up my mind, and send it you.
You'll ask me, master, why I chuse
To plague your worship with my muse?
I'll tell you then--will truth offend?
Tho' cobler, yet I love my friend.
Besides, I like you merry folks,
Who make their puns, and crack their jokes;
Your jovial hearts are never wrong,
I love a story, or a song;
But always feel most grievous qualms,
From Westley's hymns, or Wisdom's psalms.
(ll. 53-84, pp. 92-3; cf. p. 68 in magazine)
Categories
Provenance
Searching "seal" and "mind" in HDIS (Poetry); confirmed in ECCO.
Citation
At least 4 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1764, 1774, 1790, 1795). Appears in The Works of the English Poets.
See "The Cobler of Tissington's Letter to David Garrick, Esq. 1761." in The St. James's Magazine. By Robert Lloyd, A.M. (London [England]: Printed for W[illiam]. Flexney, near Gray's-Inn-Gate, Holborn; T[homas]. Davies, in Russel-Street, Covent-Garden; and J[ohn]. Coote, in Pater-noster-Row, 1764). -- from vol. II. pp. 66-70. "Volumes 1-3 were edited, by Robert Lloyd, who was also a contributor. After Feb. 1764, the editorship was taken over by the playwright William Kenrick" <Link to ESTC>
Text from The Poetical Works of Robert Lloyd, A.M. to Which Is Prefixed an Account of the Life and Writings of the Author. by W. Kenrick, LL.D. in Two Volumes. (London: printed for T. Evans in the Strand, 1774). <Link to ESTC>
See "The Cobler of Tissington's Letter to David Garrick, Esq. 1761." in The St. James's Magazine. By Robert Lloyd, A.M. (London [England]: Printed for W[illiam]. Flexney, near Gray's-Inn-Gate, Holborn; T[homas]. Davies, in Russel-Street, Covent-Garden; and J[ohn]. Coote, in Pater-noster-Row, 1764). -- from vol. II. pp. 66-70. "Volumes 1-3 were edited, by Robert Lloyd, who was also a contributor. After Feb. 1764, the editorship was taken over by the playwright William Kenrick" <Link to ESTC>
Text from The Poetical Works of Robert Lloyd, A.M. to Which Is Prefixed an Account of the Life and Writings of the Author. by W. Kenrick, LL.D. in Two Volumes. (London: printed for T. Evans in the Strand, 1774). <Link to ESTC>
Date of Entry
04/11/2005
