At the Opening of the Theatre in DRURY-LANE 1747.
WHEN learning's triumph o'er her barb'rous foes
First rear'd the stage, immortal SHAKESPEAR rofe;
Each change of many-colour'd life he drew,
Exhaufted worlds, and then imagin'd new:
Existence saw him fpurn her bounded reign,
And panting Time toil'd after him in vain:
His pow'rful strokes prefiding Truth imprefs'd,
And unrefifted paffion ftorm'd the breast.
Then JOHNSON came, inftructed from the school, To please in method, and invent by rule;
His ftudious patience, and laborious art,
By regular approach affail'd the heart;
Cold approbation gave the ling'ring bays,
For those who durft not cenfure, fcarce could praise.
A mortal born, he met the general doom,
But left, like Egypt's kings, a lasting tomb.
The wits of Charles found easier ways to fame,
Nor wifh'd for JOHNSON's art, or SHAKESPEAR's flame;
Themselves they studied, as they felt they writ;
Intrigue was plot, obscenity was wit.
Vice always found a sympathetic friend,
They pleas'd their age, and did not aim to mend.
Yet bards like these afpir'd to lafting praise,
And proudly hop'd to pimp in future days.
Their cause was gen'ral, their fupports were strong,
Their flaves were willing, and their reign was long;
'Till fhame regain'd the post that fenfe betray'd,
And Virtue call'd oblivion to her aid.
Then crush'd by rules, and weaken'd as refin'd,
For years the pow'r of tragedy declin'd;
From bard to bard the frigid caution crept,
'Till declamation roar'd, while paffion flept.
Yet ftill did Virtue deign the stage to tread,
Philosophy remain'ḍ, though Nature fled.
But forc'd at length her ancient reign to quit,
She faw great Fauftus lay the ghost of Wit:
Exulting Folly hail'd the joyful day,
And pantomime and fong confirm'd her sway.
But who the coming changes can prefage,
And mark the future periods of the stage?
Perhaps if skill could diftant times explore,
New Behns, new Durfeys, yet remain in store.
Perhaps, where Lear has rav'd, and Hamlet dy'd,
On flying cars new forcerers may ride.
Perhaps (for who can guess th' effects of chance?)
Here Hunt may box, or Mahomet may dance.
Hard is his lot, that here by Fortune plac'd,
Muft watch the wild viciffitudes of tafte;
With every meteor of caprice muft play,
And chace the new-blown bubbles of the day.
Ah! let not cenfure term our fate our choice;
The stage but echoes back the public voice,
The drama's laws the drama's patrons give,
For we that live to please, must please, to live.
Then prompt no more the follies you decry,
As tyrants doom their tools of guilt to die;
'Tis yours this night to bid the reign commence
Of refcu'd nature and reviving sense;
To chace the charms of found, the
For useful mirth, and falutary woe;
Bid fcenic virtue form the rifing age,
Meo quidem judicio neuter culpandus, alter dum expetit debitos titulos, dum alter mavult videri contempfiffe.
First printed in the Year MDCCXXXV.
ES, you condemn those fages too refin❜d,
That gravely lecture ere they know mankind; Who whilst ambition's fiercer fires they blame, Would damp each useful spark that kindles fame.
"Tis in falfe eftimates the folly lies;
The paffion's blamelefs, when the judgment's wife.
In vain philosophers with warmth conteft,
Life's fecret fhade, or open walk is best:
Each has its feparate joys, and each its use:
This calls the patriot forth, and that the Muse.
Hence not alike to all the fpecies, heav'n
An equal thirst of public fame has giv❜n:
Patrius it forms to fhine in action great;
While Decio's talents beft adorn retreat.
If where Pierian maids delight to dwell,
The haunts of filence, and the peaceful cell,
Had, fair Aftræa! been thy Talbot's choice,
Could lift'ning crowds now hang upon his voice?
And thou, bleft maid, might'ft long have wept in vain
The diftant glories of a fecond reign,
In exile doom'd yet ages to complain.
Were high ambition still the power
That rul'd with equal fway in every breast,
Say where the glories of the facred nine?
Where Homer's verfe fublime, or, Milton, thine?
Nor thou, fweet bard! who "turn'd the tuneful art,
"From found to fenfe, from fancy to the heart.'
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