1 There still remains, to mortify a wit,
The many-headed monster of the pit;
A senseless, worthless, and unhonour'd crowd,
Who, 2 to disturb their betters mighty proud,
Clatt'ring their sticks before ten lines are spoke,
Call for the Farce, 3 the Bear, or the Black-Joke.
What dear delights o Britons farce affords!
Ever the taste of mobs, but now 4 of lords!
(Taste! that eternal wanderer, which flies
From heads to ears, and now from ears to eyes.)
The play stands still; damn action, and discourse;
Back fly the scenes; and enter foot and horse;
Pageants on pageants, in long order drawn ;
Peers, heralds, bishops, ermine, gold, and lawn;
The champion too! and, to complete the jest,
Old Edward's armour beans on Cibber's breast.
Palma negata macrum, donata reducit opimum.
1 Sæpe etiam audacem fugat hoc terretque poetam; Quod numero plures, virtue et honore minores, Indocti, stolidique, et depugnare parati,
Si discordet eques, media inter carmina poscunt
Aut 3 ursum aut pugiles: his nam plebecula gaudet.
Verum equitis quoque jam migravit ab aure voluptas
Omnis, ad incertos oculos, et gaudia vana.
Quatuor aut plures aulæa premuntur in horas;
Dum fugiunt equitum turmæ, peditumque catervæ :
Mox trahitur manibus regum fortuna retortis;
Esseda festinant, pilenta, petorrita, naves;
Captivum portatur ebur, captiva Corinthus.
Volume III.
With laughter sure Democritus had dy'd
Had he beheld an audience gape so wide.
Let bear, or2 elephant, be e'er so white,
The people, sure, the people are the sight!
Ah, luckless 3 Poet! stretch thy lungs and roar,
That bear, or elephant, shall heed thee more;
While all its 4 throats the gallery extends,
And all the thunder of the pit ascends!
Loud as the wolves on 5 Orcas' stormy steep
Howl to the roarings of the northern deep;
Such is the shout, the long-applauding note,
At Quin's high plume, or Oldfield's petticoat;
Or when from Court a birth-day suit bestow'd
Sinks the 7 lost actor in the tawdry load.
Booth enters---hark! the universal peal!
"But has he spoken?" Not a syllable.
1 Si foret in terris, rideret Democritus; seu
Diversum confusa genus panthera camelo,
Sive elaphas albus vulgi converteret ora.
Spectaret populum ludis attentius ipsis,
Ut sibi præbentem mimo spectacula plura:
Scriptores autem 4 narrare putaret Asello
Fabellam surdo. nam quoe 4 pervincere voces
Evaluere sonum, referunt quem nostra theatra?
5 Garganum mugire putes nemus, aut mare Tuscum;
Tanto cum strepitu ludi spectantur, et artes,
6 Divitæque peregrinæ : quibus ? oblitus actor
Cum stetit in scena, concurrit dextera lævæ.
Dixit adhuc aliquid? Nil sane. Quid placet ergo?
"What shook the stage, and made the people stare?"
1 Cato's long wig, flow'r'd gown, and lacker'd chair.
Yet, lest you think I rally more than teach,
Or praise malignly arts I cannot reach,
Let me for once presume t' instruct the times,
To know the poet from the man of rhymes.
'Tis he who gives my breast a thousand pains,
Can make me feel each passion that he feigns;
Enrage, compose, with more than magic art;
With pity, and with terror, tear my heart;
And snatch me o'er the earth, or thro' the air,
To Thebes, to Athens, when he will, and where.
3 But not this part of the poetic state
Alone deserves the favour of the great.
Think of these authors, Sir, who would rely
More on a reader's sense, than gazer's eye.
Or who shall wander where the Muses sing?
Who climb their mountain, or who taste their spring?
How shall we fill 4 a library with wit,
When Merlin's cave is half unfurnish'd yet?
1 Lana Tarentino violas imitata veneno.
Ac ne forte putes, me, quæ facere ipse recusem,
Cum recte tractent alii, laudare maligne ;
Ille per extentum funem mihi posse videtur
Ire poeta, 2 meum qui pectus inaniter angit,
Irritat, mulcet, falsis terroribus implet,
Ut magus; et modo me Thebis, modo ponit Athenis.
3 Verum age, et his, qui se lectori credere malunt, Quam spectatoris fastidia ferre superbi,
Curam redde brevem; si munus Apolline dignum
My Liege! why writers little claim your thought, I guess; and, with their leave, will tell the fault. We' poets are (upon a Poet's word)
Of all mankind the creatures most absurd:
The 2 season when to come, and when to go,
To sing, or cease to sing, we never know;
And if we will recite nine hours in ten,
You lose your patience just like other men,
Then, too, we hurt ourselves when, to defend
A 3 single verse, we quarrel with a friend;
Repeat, 4 unask'd; lament the 5 wit's too fine
For vulgar eyes, and point out ev'ry line;
But most when, straining with too weak a wing,
We needs will write epistles to the King;
And from the moment we oblige the Town,
Expect a place, or pension, from the Crown;
Or, dubb'd Historians, by express command,
T'enrol your triumphs o'er the seas and land,
Vis complere libris, et vatibus addere calcar,
Ut studio majore petant Helicona virentem.
Multa quidem nobis facimus mala sæpe poetæ, (Ut vineta egomet cædam mea) cum tibi librum 2 Sollicito damus, aut fesso: cum lædimur, 3 unum Si quis amicorum est ausus reprendere versum: Cum loca jam 4 recitata revolvimus irrevocati: Cum 3 lamentamur non apparere labores Nostros, et tenui deducta pcemata filo:
Cum 6 speramus eo rem venturam, ut simul atque Carmina rescieris nos fingere, commodus ultro Arcessas, et egere vetes, et scribere cogas.
Be call'd to Court to plan some work divine,
As once for Louis, Boileau and Racine.
Yet' think, great sir (so many virtues shown)
Ah! think what poet best may make them known;
Or choose at least some minister of grace,
Fit to bestow the 2Laureat's weighty place.
Charles, to late times to be transmitted fair, 380 Assign'd his figure to Bernini's care;
And great 4Nassau to Kneller's hand decreed,
To fix him graceful on the bounding steed;
So well in paint and stone they judg'd of merit.
But kings in wit may want discerning spirit:
The hero William, and the martyr Charles,
One knighted Blackmore, and one pension'd Quarles;
Sed tamen est operæ pretium cognoscore, quales
Edituos habeat belli spectata domique
Virtus, indigno non committenda poetæ.
3 Gratus Alexandro regi Magno fuit ille
Chœrilus, incultis qui versibus et male natis'
Rettulit acceptos, regale numisma, Philippos.
Sed veluti tractata notam labemque remittunt
Atramenta, fere scriptores carmine fœdo
Splendida facta linunt. idem rex ille poema
Qui tam ridiculum tam care prodigus emit,
Edicto vetuit, ne quis se, præter Apellem,
Pingeret, aut alius Lysippo duceret æra
Fortis 4 Alexandri vultum simulantia: quod si
Judicium subtile videndis artibus illud
Ad libros, et ad hæc Musarum dona vocares,
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