Signior Dildo & Other Valentine’s Verse
The second Earl of Rochester, a leading figure in 17th-century Britain, has gone on to enjoy a remarkable afterlife, being played by Johnny Depp and featured in a song by Nick Cave. But his writing, including such ditties as “Signior Dildo,” has resisted all attempts to pin it down, and continues to provoke and delight more than three centuries after his death in 1680. So, just in time for Valentine’s Day, read here a few of his bawdy verses, including my favorite:
Cupid and Bacchus my saints are,
May drink and love still reign!
With wine I wash away my cares,
And then to cunt again.
