The Wiccamical Chaplet a selection of original poetry; comprising smaller poems, serious and comic; classical trifles; sonnets; inscriptions and epitaphs; songs and ballads; mock-heroics, epigrams, fragments, &c. &c. Edited by George Huddesford |
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THE PEPPER-BOX.
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 | The Wiccamical Chaplet |  |
172
THE PEPPER-BOX.
On the Erection of a shabby Clock-house on the Roof of the spacious and venerable Cathedral of Winchester.
'Tis said, in some unchristian saw,
That Time, with most voracious maw,
Could all things swallow and devour,
From a poor pitchfork to a tower.
Thus many a learned antiquary
Finds Him a safe repositary,
Whence in due season bringing forth
Things long conceal'd of tenfold worth.
That Time, with most voracious maw,
Could all things swallow and devour,
From a poor pitchfork to a tower.
Thus many a learned antiquary
Finds Him a safe repositary,
Whence in due season bringing forth
Things long conceal'd of tenfold worth.
Beneath old Venta's antient hall,
Where that fam'd Table decks the wall
At which sat Arthur and his Knights
To celebrate promiscuous rites,
To hold stern council for the state,
Or, like our modern knights, to eat;
Lo! there th'unconscious labourer's spade
Did good King Arthur's hoard invade,
And, by a thousand ruthless knocks,
Produc'd to light a Pepper-box;
Not such as serves our pigmy age,
'Twas big as any parrot's cage,
Or might have been enlarg'd with ease
To hold an infant swarm of bees;
Or, with a little skill in vamping,
Might serve to place a chamber-lamp in:
For Arthur's Knights were hard and rough,
And made all over pepper-proof.
Soon as this treasure-trove was known
The Chapter claim'd it as their own,
Proving, by old records new found,
The Hall was built on hallow'd ground;
And, since that “Tempus null' occurrit
“Ecclesiæ,” it should make a Turret.
And now behold, Oh grievous grief!
The Box that season'd Arthur's Beef
Leaves its companions in the lurch,
And adds a Cypher to the Church!
Restor'd from dark Oblivion's bed,
Bedawb'd with white, and capp'd with lead,
Expos'd to laughter, stands on high,
That children for the Toy might cry;
And, least it should escape the sneer,
A tell-tale Clock cries, “Look, 'tis here.”
Where that fam'd Table decks the wall
At which sat Arthur and his Knights
To celebrate promiscuous rites,
To hold stern council for the state,
Or, like our modern knights, to eat;
Lo! there th'unconscious labourer's spade
Did good King Arthur's hoard invade,
And, by a thousand ruthless knocks,
Produc'd to light a Pepper-box;
Not such as serves our pigmy age,
'Twas big as any parrot's cage,
Or might have been enlarg'd with ease
To hold an infant swarm of bees;
173
Might serve to place a chamber-lamp in:
For Arthur's Knights were hard and rough,
And made all over pepper-proof.
Soon as this treasure-trove was known
The Chapter claim'd it as their own,
Proving, by old records new found,
The Hall was built on hallow'd ground;
And, since that “Tempus null' occurrit
“Ecclesiæ,” it should make a Turret.
And now behold, Oh grievous grief!
The Box that season'd Arthur's Beef
Leaves its companions in the lurch,
And adds a Cypher to the Church!
Restor'd from dark Oblivion's bed,
Bedawb'd with white, and capp'd with lead,
Expos'd to laughter, stands on high,
That children for the Toy might cry;
And, least it should escape the sneer,
A tell-tale Clock cries, “Look, 'tis here.”
'Tis but a type, ye scorners, know,
Of what shall come to pass below,
Where, from another sort of Box,
Pastors shall pepper off their flocks:
Evincing, vivâ voce, thence
That Sound has right to govern Sense.
Of what shall come to pass below,
Where, from another sort of Box,
Pastors shall pepper off their flocks:
Evincing, vivâ voce, thence
That Sound has right to govern Sense.
| The Wiccamical Chaplet | |