Woodhouse, James (bap. 1735, d. 1820)

The Life and Lucubrations of Crispinus Scriblerus. A Novel, in Verse, Written in the Last Century

1814, 1816, 1896

"Intellect, athirst, intenser thinks, / And finds the drought increasing whilst it drinks"

But, as his frame, and mental forces, grew,
Crispinus more than corporal cravings knew;
Cravings more keen--less subject to controul--
The sateless longings of a famish'd Soul!
Man's intellectual Appetite, in Youth,
Yearns more intense while banqueting on Truth.
The Glutton, fill'd, fond gust no longer feels,
But conquers all his cravings midst his meals;
For Mind, far more voracious, reads, and reads,
Still growing greedier whilst it fonder feeds.
The Drunkard, with indulgence, quickly cloy'd,
Soon sets his beverage, so belov'd, aside;
But Intellect, athirst, intenser thinks,
And finds the drought increasing whilst it drinks.
The Body, when from cold well-cover'd o'er,
Secure from present misery, seeks no more--
Ev'n fleshly Lust, its fuel promptly spent,
Requires a truce and feels, a time, content--
Fruition soon puts out its fiercest fires,
And quickly deadens all its keen desires--
But Spirit's pure pursuits are never null,
Tho' Haram's furnish'd, and tho' Wardrobe's full--
Tho' cellar--larder--table's, well supplied
The Soul's keen craving's still unsatisfied--
Still, like the Miser, mid profusion pines,
Still poor--still pennyless, 'mongst golden mines!

Body::Eating and Drinking::Thirst

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Poem first published in its entirety in 1896. The 1814 first edition receives notice in The New Monthly Magazine (March 1815); the poem was written "in the last century" (w. 1795-1820?).

Text from The Life and Poetical Works of James Woodhouse, ed. R. I. Woodhouse, 2 vols. (London: The Leadenhall Press, 1896). <Link to Hathi Trust> <Link to LION>

02/06/2005