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Calverley's Ode to Tobacco

Charles Stuart Calverley
Martley, Worcestershire 1831 - 1884
English poet and wit. He was the literary father of what has been called 'the university school of humour'
(Wikipedia)
artist unknown
date?

Cambridge /  Calverley's Ode to Tobacco   Cambridge /  Calverley's Ode to Tobacco

Description

Bronze plaque with a small portrait of Calverley and the text of his "Ode to Tobacco", hung on the wall of what used to be until 1983 Bacon's the tobacconist.

Inscription(s)

Cambridge - Calverley's Ode to Tobacco

CALVERLEY'S
ODE TO TOBACCO
(written at cambridge in 1862)
A TRIBUTE TO THIS FIRM

thou, who, when fears attack,
bidst them avaunt, and black
care, at the horseman's back
      perching, unseatest;
sweet when the morn is gray,
sweet when they've cleared away
lunch; and at close of day
      possibly sweetest:

i have a liking old
for thee, though manifold
stories, i know, are told.
      not to thy credit:
how one (or two at most)
drops make a cat a ghost—
useless except to roast—
      doctors have said it:

how they who use fusees
all grow by slow degrees
brainless as chimpanzees,
      meagre as lizards;
go mad, and beat their wives;
plunge (after shocking lives)
razors and carving-knives
      into their gizzards.

confound such knavish tricks!
yet know i five or six
smokers who freely mix
      still with their neighbours;
jones – (who, i'm glad to say,
asked leave of mrs. j. ——)
daily absorbs a clay
      after his labours.

cats may have had their goose
cooked by tobacco-juice;
still why deny its use
      thoughtfully taken?
we're not as tabbies are:
smith, take a fresh cigar!
jones, the tobacco-jar!
      HERE'S TO THEE, BACON!

Sculptor

Sources & Information

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Locatie (N 52°12'20" - E 0°7'8") (Satellite view: Google Maps)

Item Code: gbee063; Photograph: 23 October 2015
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