The Works of Lord Byron (ed. Coleridge, Prothero)/Poetry/Volume 7/Epigram (2)

For works with similar titles, see Epigram and Epigram (Byron).

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The Works of Lord Byron
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1404616The Works of Lord Byron — EpigramGeorge Gordon Byron

EPIGRAM.

In digging up your bones, Tom Paine,
Will. Cobbett^[1] has done well:
You visit him on Earth again,
He'll visit you in Hell.
or—
You come to him on Earth again
He'll go with you to Hell!

January 2, 1820.
[First published, Letters and Journals, 1830, ii. 295.]

↑ [Cobbett, by way of atonement for youthful vituperation (he called him "a ragamuffin deist") of Tom Paine, exhumed his bones from their first resting-place at New Rochelle, and brought them to Liverpool on his return to England in 1819. They were preserved by Cobbett at Normanby, Farnham, till his death in 1835, but were sold in consequence of his son's bankruptcy in 1836, and passed into the keeping of a Mr. Tilly, who was known to be their fortunate possessor as late as 1844. (See Notes and Queries, 1868, Series IV. vol. i. pp. 201-203.)]

[1] [Cobbett, by way of atonement for youthful vituperation (he called him "a ragamuffin deist") of Tom Paine, exhumed his bones from their first resting-place at New Rochelle, and brought them to Liverpool on his return to England in 1819. They were preserved by Cobbett at Normanby, Farnham, till his death in 1835, but were sold in consequence of his son's bankruptcy in 1836, and passed into the keeping of a Mr. Tilly, who was known to be their fortunate possessor as late as 1844. (See Notes and Queries, 1868, Series IV. vol. i. pp. 201-203.)]

[1]