Poetical Works. Charles Churchill

Creeps labouring through the veins; whose heart ne'er glows

       With fancy-kindled heat;—a servile race,

       Who, in mere want of fault, all merit place;

       Who blind obedience pay to ancient schools,

       Bigots to Greece, and slaves to musty rules;

       With solemn consequence declared that none

       Could judge that cause but Sophocles alone.

       Dupes to their fancied excellence, the crowd,

       Obsequious to the sacred dictate, bow'd. 190

       When, from amidst the throng, a youth stood forth,[20]

       Unknown his person, not unknown his worth;

       His look bespoke applause; alone he stood,

       Alone he stemm'd the mighty critic flood.

       He talk'd of ancients, as the man became

       Who prized our own, but envied not their fame;

       With noble reverence spoke of Greece and Rome,

       And scorn'd to tear the laurel from the tomb.

       But, more than just to other countries grown,

       Must we turn base apostates to our own? 200

       Where do these words of Greece and Rome excel,

       That England may not please the ear as well?

       What mighty magic's in the place or air,

       That all perfection needs must centre there?

       In states, let strangers blindly be preferr'd;

       In state of letters, merit should be heard.

       Genius is of no country; her pure ray

       Spreads all abroad, as general as the day;

       Foe to restraint, from place to place she flies,

       And may hereafter e'en in Holland rise. 210

       May not, (to give a pleasing fancy scope,

       And cheer a patriot heart with patriot hope)

       May not some great extensive genius raise

       The name of Britain 'bove Athenian praise;

       And, whilst brave thirst of fame his bosom warms,

       Make England great in letters as in arms?

       There may—there hath—and Shakspeare's Muse aspires

       Beyond the reach of Greece; with native fires

       Mounting aloft, he wings his daring flight,

       Whilst Sophocles below stands trembling at his height. 220

       Why should we then abroad for judges roam,

       When abler judges we may find at home?

       Happy in tragic and in comic powers,

       Have we not Shakspeare?—Is not Jonson ours?

       For them, your natural judges, Britons, vote;

       They'll judge like Britons, who like Britons wrote.

       He said, and conquer'd—Sense resumed her sway,

       And disappointed pedants stalk'd away.

       Shakspeare and Jonson, with deserved applause,

       Joint-judges were ordain'd to try the cause. 230

       Meantime the stranger every voice employ'd,

       To ask or tell his name. Who is it? Lloyd.

       Thus, when the aged friends of Job stood mute,

       And, tamely prudent, gave up the dispute,

       Elihu, with the decent warmth of youth,

       Boldly stood forth the advocate of Truth;

       Confuted Falsehood, and disabled Pride,

       Whilst baffled Age stood snarling at his side.

       The day of trial's fix'd, nor any fear

       Lest day of trial should be put off here. 240

       Causes but seldom for delay can call

       In courts where forms are few, fees none at all.

       The morning came, nor find I that the Sun,

       As he on other great events hath done,

       Put on a brighter robe than what he wore

       To go his journey in, the day before.

       Full in the centre of a spacious plain,

       On plan entirely new, where nothing vain,

       Nothing magnificent appear'd, but Art

       With decent modesty perform'd her part, 250

       Rose a tribunal: from no other court

       It borrow'd ornament, or sought support:

       No juries here were pack'd to kill or clear,

       No bribes were taken, nor oaths broken here;

       No gownsmen, partial to a client's cause,

       To their own purpose turn'd the pliant laws;

       Each judge was true and steady to his trust,

       As Mansfield wise, and as old Foster[21] just.

       In the first seat, in robe of various dyes,

       A noble wildness flashing from his eyes, 260

       Sat Shakspeare: in one hand a wand he bore,

       For mighty wonders famed in days of yore;

       The other held a globe, which to his will

       Obedient turn'd, and own'd the master's skill:

       Things of the noblest kind his genius drew,

       And look'd through Nature at a single view:

       A loose he gave to his unbounded soul,

       And taught new lands to rise, new seas to roll;

       Call'd into being scenes unknown before,

       And passing Nature's bounds, was something more. 270

       Next Jonson sat, in ancient learning train'd,

       His rigid judgment Fancy's flights restrain'd;

       Correctly pruned each wild luxuriant thought,

       Mark'd out her course, nor spared a glorious fault.

       The book of man he read with nicest art,

       And ransack'd all the secrets of the heart;

       Exerted penetration's utmost force,

       And traced each passion to its proper source;

       Then, strongly mark'd, in liveliest colours drew,

       And brought each foible forth to public view: 280

       The coxcomb felt a lash in every word,

       And fools, hung out, their brother fools deterr'd.

       His comic humour kept the world in awe,

       And Laughter frighten'd Folly more than Law.

       But, hark! the trumpet sounds, the crowd gives way,

       And the procession comes in just array.

       Now should I, in some sweet poetic line,

       Offer up incense at Apollo's shrine,

       Invoke the Muse to quit her calm abode,

       And waken Memory with a sleeping Ode.[22] 290

       For how shall mortal man, in mortal verse,

       Their titles, merits, or their names rehearse?

       But give, kind Dulness! memory and rhyme,

       We 'll put off Genius till another time.

       First, Order came—with solemn step, and slow,