Peter Pindar: "A Story"Peter Pindar was the pen-name of John Wolcot (1738-1819) a doctor from Truro who achieved some fame in the 1780s through his gift for comic verse, in particular, verse that poked fun at the foibles of the court and royal family. Wolcot's lasting legacy is his observation that George III said 'what what' a lot. Very little of his verse mentions Cornwall: this is an exception. As well as the places mentioned (Launceston and Penzance) he addresses the 'country lasses' with the Cornish motto 'One and All'. His expansiveness is rejected, however, as the young ladies are less interested in being guided around the cathedral by an older compatriot, and more interested in shopping. The poem ends with a parody of the fashionable sentimental idiom, as we are asked to share a tear with the Cornishman-turned-Londoner who is unable to share his intellectual and aesthetic passions with his compatriots. The pastoral conventions of a virtuous rural life contrasted with corrupt city life are thus turned on their head, as the rural dwellers reject both art and religion in favour of commerce, while the urbanite weeps for the lost opportunity to escort young women around a house of worship. The impending darkness is not merely diurnal: it seems spiritual as well.
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