ery of German schools,
Leave new Pizarros to translating fools;
Give, as thy last memorial to the age,
One classic drama, and reform the stage.
Gods! o'er those boards shall Folly rear her head,
Where Garrick trod, and Kemble lives to tread?
On those shall Farce display Buffoonery's mask,
And Hook conceal his heroes in a _cask_?
Shall sapient managers new scenes produce
From Cherry, Skeffington, and Mother Goose?
While Shakspeare, Otway, Massinger, forgot,
On stalls must moulder, or in closets rot?
Lo! with what pomp the daily prints proclaim,
The rival candidates for attic fame!
In grim array though Lewis'[14] spectres rise,
Still Skeffington and Goose divide the prize.
And sure _great_ Skeffington must claim our praise,
For skirtless coats and skeletons of plays
Renowned alike; whose Genius ne'er confines
Her flight to garnish Greenwood's gay designs;[15]
Nor sleeps with 'Sleeping Beauties,' but anon
In five facetious acts comes thundering on,[16]
While poor John Bull, bewildered with the scene,
Keeps wondering what the devil it can mean;
But as some hands applaud, a venal few!
Rather than sleep, why John applauds it too.
Such are we now, ah! wherefore should we turn
To what our fathers were, unless to mourn?
Degenerate Britons! are ye dead to shame,
Or, kind to dulness, do you fear to blame?
Well may the Nobles of our present race
Watch each distortion of a Naldi's face;
Well may they smile on Italy's buffoons,
And worship Catalani's pantaloons,[17]
Since their own drama yields no fairer trace
Of wit than puns, of humour than grimace.
Then let Ausonia, skill'd in ev'ry art
To soften manners, but corrupt the heart,
Pour her exotic follies o'er the town,
To sanction Vice and hunt Decorum down:
Let wedded strumpets languish o'er Deshayes,
And bless the promise which his form displays;
While Gayton bounds before the enraptured looks
Of hoary marquises and stripling dukes:
Let high-born lechers eye the lively Presle
Twirl her light limbs that spurn the needless veil;
Let Angiolini bare her breast of snow,
Wave the white arm and point the pliant toe;
Collini trill her love-inspiring song,
Strain her fair neck and charm the listening throng!

[Footnote 11: In the melo-drama of Tekeli, that heroic prince is
clapt into a barrel on the stage: a new asylum for distressed
heroes!]

[Footnote 12: All the