"And oft in WIT you're cheated there, / As you're deceiv'd in Wedgewood Ware."
— Courtenay, John Lees (1775?-1794)
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed by J. Jones, Chapel Street, Soho
Date
1796
Metaphor
"And oft in WIT you're cheated there, / As you're deceiv'd in Wedgewood Ware."
Metaphor in Context
TELL me, tell me what is WIT,
Ye who dealers are in it?
Variety it still assumes,
As different sweets are yet perfumes.
Like Proteus, various shapes it bears,
Graceful in various robes appears;
One while in simple garb its seen,
Another,--tricked out like a queen.
In London much false Wit is sold,
As Sheffield coin is pass'd for gold!
And oft in WIT you're cheated there,
As you're deceiv'd in Wedgewood Ware.
Thus priests preach up their creeds for reason,
And Liberty denounce as treason.
So spurious WITS for true ones shine,
As Tories think a King divine.
(p. 26)
Ye who dealers are in it?
Variety it still assumes,
As different sweets are yet perfumes.
Like Proteus, various shapes it bears,
Graceful in various robes appears;
One while in simple garb its seen,
Another,--tricked out like a queen.
In London much false Wit is sold,
As Sheffield coin is pass'd for gold!
And oft in WIT you're cheated there,
As you're deceiv'd in Wedgewood Ware.
Thus priests preach up their creeds for reason,
And Liberty denounce as treason.
So spurious WITS for true ones shine,
As Tories think a King divine.
(p. 26)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
John Lees Courtenay, Juvenile Poems (London: J. Jones, 1796). <Link to Google Books
Date of Entry
05/20/2011
