[Tophet]

Inscription on a Portrait

1 Such Tophet was; so looked the grinning fiend
2 Whom many a frighted prelate called his friend;
3 I saw them bow and, while they wished him dead,
4 With servile simper nod the mitred head.
5 Our Mother-Church with half-averted sight
6 Blushed as she blessed her grisly proselyte:
7 Hosannahs rung through Hell's tremendous borders,
8 And Satan's self had thoughts of taking orders.

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About this text

Title (in Source Edition): [Tophet] Inscription on a Portrait
Author: Thomas Gray
Themes:
Genres: inscription; satire

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Source edition

Gray, Thomas, 1716-1771. Thomas Gray: English poems. Web. Oxford: Thomas Gray Archive, 2002. http://www.thomasgray.org/texts/poems.shtml

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The text is that of the source edition. 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.

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