"Till then, old red-nos'd Wilson's art / Will hold its empire o'er my heart."
— Wolcot, John, pseud. Peter Pindar, (1738-1819)
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
G. Kearsley and W. Forster
Date
1782
Metaphor
"Till then, old red-nos'd Wilson's art / Will hold its empire o'er my heart."
Metaphor in Context
Thy portraits, Chamberlin, may be
A likeness, far as I can see;
But, faith! I cannot praise a single feature:
Yet, when it so shall please the Lord,
To make his people out of board,
Thy pictures will be tolerable nature.
And Loutherbourgh, when Heav'n so wills
To make brass skies, and golden hills,
With marble bullocks in glass pastures grazing;
Thy reputation too will rise,
And people, gaping with surprise,
Cry, 'Monsieur Loutherbourgh is most amazing!'
But thou must wait for that event;
Perhaps the change is never meant--
Till then, with me, thy pencil will not shine:
Till then, old red-nos'd Wilson's art
Will hold its empire o'er my heart,
By Britain left in poverty to pine.
But, honest Wilson, never mind;
Immortal praises thou shalt find,
And for a dinner have no cause to fear.
Thou start'st at my prophetic rhimes:
Don't be impatient for those times;
Wait till thou hast been dead a hundred year.
(cf. pp. 8-9 in 1782 ed.)
A likeness, far as I can see;
But, faith! I cannot praise a single feature:
Yet, when it so shall please the Lord,
To make his people out of board,
Thy pictures will be tolerable nature.
And Loutherbourgh, when Heav'n so wills
To make brass skies, and golden hills,
With marble bullocks in glass pastures grazing;
Thy reputation too will rise,
And people, gaping with surprise,
Cry, 'Monsieur Loutherbourgh is most amazing!'
But thou must wait for that event;
Perhaps the change is never meant--
Till then, with me, thy pencil will not shine:
Till then, old red-nos'd Wilson's art
Will hold its empire o'er my heart,
By Britain left in poverty to pine.
But, honest Wilson, never mind;
Immortal praises thou shalt find,
And for a dinner have no cause to fear.
Thou start'st at my prophetic rhimes:
Don't be impatient for those times;
Wait till thou hast been dead a hundred year.
(cf. pp. 8-9 in 1782 ed.)
Categories
Provenance
Searching "empire" and "heart" in HDIS (Poetry); confirmed in ECCO.
Citation
14 entries in ESTC. Collection expanded from 1782 to 1790; see also More Lyric Odes. Hits in ECCO and ESTC (1782, 1784, 1787, 1788, 1789, 1791, 1793, 1794, 1795).
The first eight odes published as Lyric Odes, to the Royal Academicians. By Peter Pindar, a Distant Relation to the Poet of Thebes. (London: Printed for the author, and sold by T. Egerton, Charing Cross; Baldwin, Pater-Noster Row; and Debrett, opposite Burlington House, Piccadilly, 1782). <Link to ESTC> [earliest hit in ECCO]
Found also Lyric Odes to the Royal Academicians, for M,DCC,LXXXII. By Peter Pindar, a Distant Relation of the Poet of Thebes., 5th ed., enlarged (London: Printed for G. Kearsley, No. 46, Fleet-Street; and W. Forster, No. 348, near Exeter-Change, in the Strand, 1787). <Link to ECCO>
Text from The Works of Peter Pindar, 4 vols. (London: Printed for Walker and Edwards, 1816).
The first eight odes published as Lyric Odes, to the Royal Academicians. By Peter Pindar, a Distant Relation to the Poet of Thebes. (London: Printed for the author, and sold by T. Egerton, Charing Cross; Baldwin, Pater-Noster Row; and Debrett, opposite Burlington House, Piccadilly, 1782). <Link to ESTC> [earliest hit in ECCO]
Found also Lyric Odes to the Royal Academicians, for M,DCC,LXXXII. By Peter Pindar, a Distant Relation of the Poet of Thebes., 5th ed., enlarged (London: Printed for G. Kearsley, No. 46, Fleet-Street; and W. Forster, No. 348, near Exeter-Change, in the Strand, 1787). <Link to ECCO>
Text from The Works of Peter Pindar, 4 vols. (London: Printed for Walker and Edwards, 1816).
Date of Entry
08/22/2004
Date of Review
06/27/2012
