"May I be scorn'd by ev'ry man of worth, / Wander, like Cain, a vagabond on earth, / Bearing about a Hell in my own mind, / Or be to SCOTLAND for my life confin'd, / If I am one amongst the many known, / Whom SHELBURNE fled, and CALCRAFT blush'd to own."
— Churchill, Charles (1731-1764)
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for G. Kearsly; J. Coote; W. Flexney; C. Henderson; J. Gardiner; and J. Almon
Date
1763
Metaphor
"May I be scorn'd by ev'ry man of worth, / Wander, like Cain, a vagabond on earth, / Bearing about a Hell in my own mind, / Or be to SCOTLAND for my life confin'd, / If I am one amongst the many known, / Whom SHELBURNE fled, and CALCRAFT blush'd to own."
Metaphor in Context
May I (tho' to his service deeply tied
By sacred oaths, and now by will allied)
With false feign'd zeal an injur'd God defend,
And use his name for some base private end;
May I (that thought bids double horrors roll
O'er my sick Spirits, and unmans my soul)
Ruin the Virtue which I held most dear,
And still must hold; may I, thro' abject fear,
Betray my Friend; may to succeeding times,
Engrav'd on plates of Adamant, my crimes
Stand blazing forth, whilst mark'd with envious blot,
Each little act of Virtue is forgot;
Of all those evils which, to stamp men curs'd,
Hell keeps in store for vengeance, may the worst
Light on my head, and in my day of woe,
To make the cup of bitterness o'erflow,
May I be scorn'd by ev'ry man of worth,
Wander, like Cain, a vagabond on earth,
Bearing about a Hell in my own mind,
Or be to SCOTLAND for my life confin'd,
If I am one amongst the many known,
Whom SHELBURNE fled, and CALCRAFT blush'd to own.
(p. 14)
By sacred oaths, and now by will allied)
With false feign'd zeal an injur'd God defend,
And use his name for some base private end;
May I (that thought bids double horrors roll
O'er my sick Spirits, and unmans my soul)
Ruin the Virtue which I held most dear,
And still must hold; may I, thro' abject fear,
Betray my Friend; may to succeeding times,
Engrav'd on plates of Adamant, my crimes
Stand blazing forth, whilst mark'd with envious blot,
Each little act of Virtue is forgot;
Of all those evils which, to stamp men curs'd,
Hell keeps in store for vengeance, may the worst
Light on my head, and in my day of woe,
To make the cup of bitterness o'erflow,
May I be scorn'd by ev'ry man of worth,
Wander, like Cain, a vagabond on earth,
Bearing about a Hell in my own mind,
Or be to SCOTLAND for my life confin'd,
If I am one amongst the many known,
Whom SHELBURNE fled, and CALCRAFT blush'd to own.
(p. 14)
Categories
Provenance
ECCO-TCP
Citation
4 entries in ESTC (1763, 1764, 1765)
The Conference: A Poem. By C. Churchill. (London: Printed for G. Kearsly; J. Coote; W. Flexney; C. Henderson; J. Gardiner; and J. Almon, 1763). <Link to ECCO-TCP>
The Conference: A Poem. By C. Churchill. (London: Printed for G. Kearsly; J. Coote; W. Flexney; C. Henderson; J. Gardiner; and J. Almon, 1763). <Link to ECCO-TCP>
Date of Entry
08/18/2013
