The works of Allan Ramsay edited by Burns Martin ... and John W. Oliver [... and Alexander M. Kinghorn ... and Alexander Law] |
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The works of Allan Ramsay | ||
195
PROLOGUE, before the acting of Aurenzebe and the Drummer, by the young Gentlemen of the Grammar School of Haddington, August 1727, spoke by Mr. Charles Cockburn, Son to Colonel Cockburn.
Be hush, ye Crowd, who pressing round appearOnly to stare—we speak to those can hear
The nervous Phrase, which raises Thoughts more hy,
When added Action leads them thro' the Eye.
To paint fair Vertue, Humours and Mistakes,
Is what our School with Pleasure undertakes,
Thro' various Incidents of Life, led on
By DRYDEN, and immortal ADDISON:
Those study'd Men, and knew the various Springs
That mov'd the Minds of Coachmen and of Kings.
Altho' we're young—allow no Thought so mean,
That any here's to act the Harlequin:
We leave such dumb-show Mimickry to Fools,
Beneath the Sp'rit of Caledonian Schools.
Learning's our Aim, and all our Care, to reach
At Elegance and Gracefulness of Speech,
And the Address, from Bashfulness refin'd,
Which hangs a Weight upon a worthy Mind.
The Grammar's good, but Pedantry brings down
The gentle Dunce below the sprightly Clown.
Get seven score Verse of Ovid's Trist by heart,
To rattle o'er, else I shall make you smart,
Cry snarling Dominies that little ken:
Such may teach Parots, but our LESLY Men.
The works of Allan Ramsay | ||