A Poetic Jeweller

The following is an extract of a poem composed by Timothy Whitenose, alias Jemmy Jewell, an eighteenth-century jeweller in London:

Old Charon, bring over one of thy best wherries,
Here’s a soul just arriv’d from the famous Bob Derrie’s,
The summons of Styx, perhaps he may hear,
Tho’ to ladies of London he lent a deaf ear:
To the muse’s sweet call he preferr’d Yorkshire ale;
Aud chose in tobacco’s strong scent to regale:
Being taken one night with a terrible tiff,
He fum’d into wrath, and went off in a whiff.

He also wrote his own epitaph:

‘Tis odd, quite odd, that I should laugh,
When I’m to write an Epitaph —
Here lie the bones of rakish Timmy,
Who was a Jewell and a Jemmy;
He dealt in di’monds, garnets, rings,
And twice ten thousand pretty things;
Now he supplies old Nick with fuel,
So there’s an end of Jemmy Jewell.

Reference (Click to Show)

Gentleman’s Magazine, Vol. 30, October 1760

6 thoughts on “A Poetic Jeweller”

You never seem to disappoint. Thank you for sharing.

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Edmark M. Law says:

2019, January 2 at 9:05 AM

You are welcome.

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There’s nothing I enjoy more than finding a clever epitaph in a cemetery. Jemmy Jewell’s is particularly good.

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Edmark M. Law says:

2019, January 2 at 9:09 AM

In Hong Kong, epitaph is not a popular concept. Usually, a tombstone only contains the name of the deceased and his dates of birth and death. So, it’s a pleasant surprise everytime I see a witty epitaph here.

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