[Page 320]OR, HYPOCRISY DETECTED. *
THE LOVE OF THE WORLD REPROVED;
OR, HYPOCRISY DETECTED. ** It may be proper to inform the reader that this piece has already appeared in print, having found its way, though with some unnecessary additions by an unknown hand, into the Leeds Journal, without the author's privity.
1 THUS says the prophet of the Turk,
2 Good mussulman abstain from pork;
3 There is a part in ev'ry swine,
4 No friend or follower of mine
5 May taste, whate'er his inclination,
6 On pain of excommunication.
7 Such Mahomet's mysterious charge,
8 And thus he left the point at large.
9 Had he the sinful part express'd
10 They might with safety eat the rest;
11 But for one piece they thought it hard
12 From the whole hog to be debarr'd,
13 And set their wit at work to find
14 What joint the prophet had in mind.
[Page 321]15 Much controversy strait arose,
16 These chuse the back, the belly those;
17 By some 'tis confidently said
18 He meant not to forbid the head,
19 While others at that doctrine rail,
20 And piously prefer the tail.
21 Thus, conscience freed from ev'ry clog,
22 Mahometans eat up the hog.
23 You laugh — 'tis well — the tale apply'd
24 May make you laugh on t'other side.
25 Renounce the world, the preacher cries —
26 We do — a multitude replies.
27 While one as innocent regards
28 A snug and friendly game at cards;
29 And one, whatever you may say,
30 Can see no evil in a play;
31 Some love a concert or a race,
32 And others, shooting and the chase.
33 Revil'd and lov'd, renounc'd and follow'd,
34 Thus bit by bit the world is swallow'd;
[Page 322]35 Each thinks his neighbour makes too free,
36 Yet likes a slice as well as he,
37 With sophistry their sauce they sweeten,
38 'Till quite from tail to snout 'tis eaten.
About this text
Author: William Cowper
Themes:
virtue; vice
Genres:
allegory
Text view / Document view
Source edition
Cowper, William, 1731-1800. Poems: by William Cowper, of the Inner Temple, Esq. London: printed for J. Johnson, 1782, pp. 320-322. [4],367,[1]p. ; 8⁰. (ESTC T14895; OTA K027775.000) (Page images digitized by the University of California Libraries.)
Editorial principles
The text has been typographically modernized, but without any silent modernization of spelling, capitalization, or punctuation. The source of the text is given and all editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. Based on the electronic text originally produced by the TCP project, this ECPA text has been edited to conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries version 4.0.0.
Other works by William Cowper
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- A COMPARISON. ()
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- THE DOVES. ()
- AN EPISTLE TO JOSEPH HILL, ESQ. ()
- EXPOSTULATION. ()
- A FABLE. ()
- HEROISM. ()
- HOPE. ()
- HORACE. Book the 2d. ODE the 10th. ()
- HUMAN FRAILTY. ()
- THE LILY AND THE ROSE. ()
- THE MODERN PATRIOT. ()
- MUTUAL FORBEARANCE, Necessary to the Happiness of the Married State. ()
- THE NIGHTINGALE AND GLOW-WORM. ()
- ODE TO PEACE. ()
- On a GOLDFINCH starved to Death in his Cage. ()
- On observing some Names of little Note recorded in the BIOGRAPHIA BRITANNICA. ()
- On the Burning of LORD MANSFIELD'S Library, together with his MSS. by the Mob, in the Month of June, 1780. ()
- On the Promotion of EDWARD THURLOW, Esq. to the Lord High Chancellorship of ENGLAND. ()
- ON THE SAME. ()
- The PINE APPLE and the BEE. ()
- THE POET, THE OYSTER, AND SENSITIVE PLANT. ()
- THE PROGRESS OF ERROR. ()
- A REFLECTION on the foregoing ODE. ()
- REPORT Of an adjudged Case not to be found in any of the Books. ()
- RETIREMENT. ()
- THE SHRUBBERY, Written in a Time of Affliction. ()
- TABLE TALK. ()
- [THE TASK, A POEM, IN SIX BOOKS.] BOOK I. ()
- [THE TASK, A POEM, IN SIX BOOKS.] BOOK II. ()
- [THE TASK, A POEM, IN SIX BOOKS.] BOOK III. ()
- [THE TASK, A POEM, IN SIX BOOKS.] BOOK IV. ()
- [THE TASK, A POEM, IN SIX BOOKS.] BOOK V. ()
- [THE TASK, A POEM, IN SIX BOOKS.] BOOK VI. ()
- TIROCINIUM. ()
- To the REV. MR. NEWTON. An Invitation into the Country. ()
- To the Rev. WILLIAM CAWTHORNE UNWIN. ()
- [Translation] 1. THE GLOW-WORM, ()
- [Translation] 2. THE JACK DAW. ()
- [Translation] 3. THE CRICKET. ()
- [Translation] 4. THE PARROT. ()
- TRUTH. ()
- VERSES, supposed to be written by ALEXANDER SELKIRK, during his solitary Abode in the Island of JUAN FERNANDEZ. ()
- THE WINTER NOSEGAY. ()