Page:The Rosciad - Churchill (1761, 2nd edition).djvu/30

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
26
THE ROSCIAD.
Who else can speak so very, very fine,
That Sense may kindly end with ev'ry line?

Some dozen lines before the ghost is there,
Behold him for the solemn scene prepare.
See how he frames his eyes, poises each limb, 585
Puts the whole body into proper trim,——
From whence we learn, with no great stretch of art,
Five lines hence comes a ghost, and, ha! a start.

When he appears most perfect, still we find
Something which jars upon, and hurts the mind. 590
Whatever lights upon a part are thrown,
We see too plainly they are not his own.
No flame from Nature ever yet he caught,
Nor knew a feeling which he was not taught:
He rais'd his trophies on the base of art, 595
And conn'd his passions as he conn'd his part.

Q—n, from afar, lur'd by the scent of Fame,
A Stage-Leviathan, put in his claim.
Pupil of Betterton and Booth. Alone,
Sullen he walk'd, and deem'd the chair his own. 600
For how should moderns, mushrooms of the day,
Who ne'er those masters knew, know how to play?

Gray-