The Powers of the Pen A poem addressed to John Curre ... By E. Lloyd ... The second edition, with large additions |
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 | The Powers of the Pen |  |
Others, of stiff and formal Cut,
Scholastic Pedantry hath put
In Johnson's hand, prepar'd to write
Ramblers, which Phœbus wou'd affright;
For though they speak true Sterling Sense,
BROBDINGNAG words must give Offence;
Or testy Prefaces to draw,
Nature to try by Critic-law;
And to decree, the Trial done,
'Gainst Nature, and her fav'rite Son,
That Shakespear all at random wrote,
Witty by Chance, but dull in Thought;
Dupe to a Quibble, or a Jest,
The worst of Poets and the best:
A very Stoic to express
The Woes of Greatness in Distress,
At Lear's Fall who will may weep,
Johnson will laugh, or fall asleep,
To shew his Sense profound—but shews
Tho' his Head's full, his Heart is froze,
That Learning cannot teach to feel,
Nor Shakespear move a Man of Steel.
Scholastic Pedantry hath put
In Johnson's hand, prepar'd to write
Ramblers, which Phœbus wou'd affright;
For though they speak true Sterling Sense,
BROBDINGNAG words must give Offence;
Or testy Prefaces to draw,
Nature to try by Critic-law;
And to decree, the Trial done,
'Gainst Nature, and her fav'rite Son,
That Shakespear all at random wrote,
Witty by Chance, but dull in Thought;
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The worst of Poets and the best:
A very Stoic to express
The Woes of Greatness in Distress,
At Lear's Fall who will may weep,
Johnson will laugh, or fall asleep,
To shew his Sense profound—but shews
Tho' his Head's full, his Heart is froze,
That Learning cannot teach to feel,
Nor Shakespear move a Man of Steel.
| The Powers of the Pen | |