89
In
The Shrubs of Parnassas Consisting of a Variety of Poetical Essays, Moral and Comic
by
Jimmy Copywell of Lincoln‘s Inn, we find
The Corkscrew
. His poem is an interesting
tribute to the inventor of the corkscrew (―
Whose thought first gave this engine to the
world. Hail to thy memory ! and tho' old Time, In his recording tablet, for thy name,
Has left a blank
‖). The book of poems was published in 1760.
The Corkscrew
was first
published in
The Universal Chronicle or Weekly Gazette
on January 6, 1759.
Each vernal flow'r, that to the kissing sun
Expands its bosom in the garden's bed,
Or bends its neck to drink the noisy brook,
That blubbers on, till to a gradual calm
It smoothly glides and brawls itself asleep,
Let others pluck; around Amanda's brow
The wreath entwine, and hail her Queen of
May.
Her name and beauty, let the love-struck
youth,
Whose breast, till then, ne'er felt poetic sire,
In Magazine inroll, in stanzas soft
As is the nymph he wooes. Be mine the choice
To sing the Corkscrew, tho' in humble strains.
Compar'd to this, all other Screws are mean,
lf nam'd with this, the little glitt'ring spoon
From which tea-loving maid the liquid sips,
Consin'd in vase of China's polish'd clay,
Is useless, trivial; and th' exotic box
For snuff design'd, much valu'd by the beau,
Nor by the belle less priz'd, here looks but
faint,
Here loses half its plenitude of charms.
Whether of silver, or of temper'd steel,
I grasp thee firm, to my transported touch
Alike thou'rt welcome; for by thy kind aid
The cork, that blazons in its coat of wax,
I pierce intrepid, and transfix the foe,
That rudely bars the passage to my joys,
Full in the centre. Then with nervous arm
Compleat the gripe, and give th' imprison'd
wine,
Champagne, or Port, its liberty of air.
Conscious of thine inestimable use,
Thee doth each Toper at the festive board,
Friend of the vintage, carry in his pouch.
And thee the Cambridge Wits exulting hail,
And they who breath Oxonium's learned air,
As loud they quaff and sing, and bid good
night
To Homer's muse, and Tully's moral page.
Corinna too must own thy service, when
The nymph half-dress'd her early visit pays
To flask of Nantz, or cordial Ratafia
Yet wou'd she'd never seen the fatal Screw!
Vain wish ! her busy Wits had then contriv'd
Some other instrument, or trident fork,
Or mangling bodkin; and had these too fail‘d,
The maid had forc'd the cork into the stream.
But here can I forget the jovial buck,
Whose thought first gave this engine to the
world.
Hail to thy memory ! and tho' old Time,
In his recording tablet, for thy name
Has left a blank, yet shall the social soul
With mirthful gratitude the gift admire,
And drink one bumper in the donor's praise.
