Pagina-afbeeldingen
PDF
ePub

здо

σ

σ

With other looks, yet scarce inferior grace,
Nokes trod the stage, and shambled in his pace.
Pleasant buffoon! to what an artful screw
His wither'd chops the merry whoreson drew!
What pencil can describe his grotesque mien,
The cuckold's sneaking leer, the noncon grin,
The wire-hung limbs, sunk eyes, and peeked chin!
Thus furnish'd, thus deform'd, thus bent with age, thu
With feeble steps he limp'd across the stage,

There, drawing nonsense from his haggard jaws,
Dispell'd the spleen which Betterton had caus'd. 400
In Homer thus the slave and hero charms;
Thersites pleases, but Achilles warms.

Still may you live, immortal Actors, crown'd, Still may your praise from pole to pole resound, For still you live-in dust the vulgar lie,

But never must theatric heroes die ;

Secure of fame, the stroke of fate they brave,

As if, by acting Death, they learn'd to mock the

grave.

Whilst Shakspere's, Dryden's, Rowe's, and Otway's

name,

Are sung, and florish in the book of fame ;
Barry and Bracegirdle shall share their praise,
And live for ever in the Poet's lays.

Here would I settle, here my fancy raise, And ransack Waller to complete their praise: Powell forbids; and, with a haughty tone

410

σσ

420

Frowning, demands to have his merits known.
And great they are, and worthy to be sung;
But oh! still dwelling on their owner's tongue;
Big as the voice of war he mouths his roll,
Each accent twangs majestically full.
When Alexander dies, he gives the fair
Tortures as great as those he seems to bear;
When Oedipus rends forth his eyes, with tears
Each sorrowing beauty almost puts out hers;
When, by Hermione's disdain undone,
Distraction seizes Agamemnon's son,

With artful rattling wheeze, he draws his breath, σ-
Seems in the very agonies of death;

He foams, he stares, he storms a madding note,

And all the Fury thunders in his throat.

436

A godlike air, quick eye, and accent smooth, With all the manly graces, shine in Booth.

Bless'd with an aweful port and lordly mien, The pleas'd spectator dreads a king in Keene.

Not so in airy Wilks; with cheerful grace, The careless rake sits sparkling in his face.]

Others there are, whose voice and gesture claim

In pompous verse a never-dying fame :

σ

. Others there are-but how should we describe The various beauties of the distant tribe? 440 We hop'd, alas! we hop'd a nearer view,

And farther, farther still our wishes flew ;
But oh! those hopes are o'er; and, grief to say,
Superior gravity has gain'd the day.

Yet tax not us, Tragedians; tax not those

Who never can be real merit's foes;

We grudge you neither refuge nor applause,
Yourselves forbid, yourselves your absence cause.
The fatal cause is fatal excellence,

450

'Tis your own Santłow banishes you hence;
For should she hither all her beauties bring,
Nothing but her each youthful tongue would sing;
Learning less fair would shine; and every Muse,
For brighter beauties scorn'd, her lover lose.

Should Oldfield then, the bright-eyed Oldfield join, Her complicated charms, her form divine;

Should she, like Hector's widow, as of late, fantomach

Mourn her Astyanax's double fate;

All, all would love her like Achilles's son,*

All would like him be taken, and undone.

460

'Tis said young Ammon, when return'd from war,
Was with an eunuch's action ta'en so far,
That, spite of royalty, he leap'd for joy,

Leap'd from his throne, and kiss'd the servile boy.
Oh could he but have seen upon the stage
Oldfield in the forsaken Loveit rage;
Struck with the sight, the son of Libyan Jove d
From admiration soon had rose to love;
A warmer kiss had given the nuptial sign,
And all Statira's conqueror been thine.

470

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

And yet, with all their beauties, all their care,
Nor Santlow, Wilks, nor Oldfield, please the fair.
Bless'd with their praise, Italian songsters thrive,
A beaver-race, that geld themselves to live.

Strange force of whimsy! that the fair should prize
A warbling vagabond whom all despise !

Ev'n to himself of old an eunuch seem'd

Worse than a beast, though now so much esteem'd;
So frogs by Frenchmen are as dainties stew'd,
And what was Egypt's plague is France's food.

How odd the fancy, how absurd the sight!
To see that Hercules, who in one night
Full fifty dames in heat of blood contented,
Now by a sapless gelding represented;
With greater justice from the Lydian queen,
Since dwindled from a man, he learn'd to spin.

[ocr errors]

For loftier lays, and nobler chiefs than these,
Th' ingenious Builder rais'd his edifice;
The architect, whose every work proclaims
The Terence and Vitruvius of his times; 490
The builder-but a noble structure's praise,
A nobler architect, commands my praise,
A Princess, who, by righteous arms abroad,
At home by fifty temples rais'd to God,
At once the French and Stygian tyrant braves,
At once the christian and the subject saves.

500

Ilus's niggard son, to raise his Troy, The Gods and great Alcides did employ ; That done, ungrateful grew, nor would defray His hero and the hireling powers their pay; But our more pious Princess, who no less From Heaven and Marlborough has deriv❜d success, By giving Blenheim and these piles, has given Their just rewards to Hercules and Heaven.

« VorigeDoorgaan »