[John Whitworth]

Anyone else remember this?

The Lost Seebakrascope

Throw out my fangs, my stick-on boils,
My stink bombs, my potato-gun,
My fornicator’s unguent oils,
My exploding rat (just see him run!),
My itching powder by the ton,
My pubic wig, my black face soap,
My cornucopias of fun …
Just bring my old Seebakrascope.

Desires as sweet as chocolate mice,
Desires that nothing else can reach,
Want just this submarine device;
It offers more than books can teach:
Young girls undressing on the beach,
Breasts that would tempt the very Pope,
And bottoms downy as a peach …
Yes, bring my old Seebakrascope.

[Martin Elster]

I looked it up and here is what I found:

In the 18th century when opera going and masked balls were in fashion and monogamy was not, how did one keep an eye on one’s husband, wife, lover or mistress without appearing to do so? The polemoscope or ‘jealousy glass’ was one answer. Look through, as though peering straight ahead, and with the help of an angled mirror one can see goings-on to one’s left or right. Marketed as the ‘seebackroscope’ in the 1950s its suggested use was to eye pretty girls or boys on the beach while pretending to look out at sea!