 | Poems |  |
Mr. HENDERSON.
By the faint gleams of light that irradiate yon gloom,
Behold the pale Muses round Henderson's tomb:
His eminent name shall exist undefil'd,
Like Pompey's fam'd pillar in Africa's wild;
To chear a wide desart, and solace the plains,
And attract Admiration to view its remains,
Its splendid proportion, its size, and its neatness,
And marks of its vast super-eminent greatness.
It will keep a due sense of ambition alive,
And shew to what heights human art may arrive.
Behold the pale Muses round Henderson's tomb:
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Like Pompey's fam'd pillar in Africa's wild;
To chear a wide desart, and solace the plains,
And attract Admiration to view its remains,
Its splendid proportion, its size, and its neatness,
And marks of its vast super-eminent greatness.
It will keep a due sense of ambition alive,
And shew to what heights human art may arrive.
Tho' his forehead resembled old Falstaff's bare knee,
And his eyes seem'd th' incompetent agents of Glee;
Tho' his lips hung like penthouses over his breast,
And his body and limbs seem'd by Awkwardness drest,
Yet the man in the aggregate wond'rously blaz'd,
Enslav'd us, improv'd us, inform'd, and amaz'd;
And that notion destroy'd of which fools are so fond,
That the soul and the face in all points correspond.
His vocal inflexion was just and extensive,
His mien all commanding, his mind comprehensive;
And he gave the quaint turns of the laugh-loving knight,
With a fatness of tone that was dear to Delight.
And his eyes seem'd th' incompetent agents of Glee;
Tho' his lips hung like penthouses over his breast,
And his body and limbs seem'd by Awkwardness drest,
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Enslav'd us, improv'd us, inform'd, and amaz'd;
And that notion destroy'd of which fools are so fond,
That the soul and the face in all points correspond.
His vocal inflexion was just and extensive,
His mien all commanding, his mind comprehensive;
And he gave the quaint turns of the laugh-loving knight,
With a fatness of tone that was dear to Delight.
In the drama's wide circle he rov'd unconfin'd,
To embellish, with Truth, an original mind;
His compeers from him all their dignity won,
As erratic orbs gather light from the sun:
When he mov'd in the firmament, journeying his way,
The satellites follow'd, to blaze with his ray.
Can we wonder the stage should be dark in these days,
When that sun we lament has withdrawn with those rays?
Now like planets unlit in their orderly race,
They wander at will into infinite space;
Attempt thro' the regions of Science to soar,
When their brains are unhing'd, and their chief is no more;
Conjuring Ambition to guide them to Fame;
But the wench plays the jilt and betrays them to Shame.
Thus Holman and Farren, so forceful their pride is,
Have labour'd to wield the vast club of Alcides;
But fell 'neath the toil with a sigh and a tear,
And one sunk in Benedict, t'other in Lear.
This chieftain, unblest in his voice and his feature,
Like Sheridan stood, not indebted to Nature;
He pin'd when he knew all the gifts that he wanted,
And his feelings requested what Industry granted.
Tho' the Piedmontese mountain which talks to the skies,
With a lowering brow, human labour defies;
Yet Hannibal smil'd at the frowns of the regions,
And cut, thro' their bosom, a path for his legions.
To embellish, with Truth, an original mind;
His compeers from him all their dignity won,
As erratic orbs gather light from the sun:
When he mov'd in the firmament, journeying his way,
The satellites follow'd, to blaze with his ray.
Can we wonder the stage should be dark in these days,
When that sun we lament has withdrawn with those rays?
Now like planets unlit in their orderly race,
They wander at will into infinite space;
Attempt thro' the regions of Science to soar,
When their brains are unhing'd, and their chief is no more;
Conjuring Ambition to guide them to Fame;
But the wench plays the jilt and betrays them to Shame.
Thus Holman and Farren, so forceful their pride is,
Have labour'd to wield the vast club of Alcides;
But fell 'neath the toil with a sigh and a tear,
And one sunk in Benedict, t'other in Lear.
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Like Sheridan stood, not indebted to Nature;
He pin'd when he knew all the gifts that he wanted,
And his feelings requested what Industry granted.
Tho' the Piedmontese mountain which talks to the skies,
With a lowering brow, human labour defies;
Yet Hannibal smil'd at the frowns of the regions,
And cut, thro' their bosom, a path for his legions.
An integral dramatic performance I ween,
Is what never was, nor will ever be seen;
Some component particle always is wanting,
To perfect the whole, when the muse is descanting:
If the Actor is good, oft the Poet's erroneous,
Who, presuming, is damn'd, like inflated Salmoneus:
When the Author feels all that the Muse can inspire,
The Player wants dignity, pathos, or fire:
Thus Errors change hands, like gay youth in a dance,
And when Judgment's retreating, the Follies advance.
Thus, like strata in mines, the materials lay,
And the ore of high value is mingled with clay.
Is what never was, nor will ever be seen;
Some component particle always is wanting,
To perfect the whole, when the muse is descanting:
If the Actor is good, oft the Poet's erroneous,
Who, presuming, is damn'd, like inflated Salmoneus:
When the Author feels all that the Muse can inspire,
The Player wants dignity, pathos, or fire:
Thus Errors change hands, like gay youth in a dance,
And when Judgment's retreating, the Follies advance.
Thus, like strata in mines, the materials lay,
And the ore of high value is mingled with clay.
The theatre now like a desart appears,
And who is amaz'd that the muses shed tears,
Where Garrick and Barry have gladden'd their eyes,
For their thought can give birth but to sadness or sighs?
It seems like poor Zama when Fortitude fled,
Or Imperial Rome when her Cæsar lay dead.
To compare what once was, with the things that now are,
But plunges each Sense in the deeps of Despair:
Go find me those Richards, Othellos and Pierres,
The Benedicts, Catos, Castalios and Lears!
Who once gave, like Hope, universal delight,
And crept to the heart thro' the medium of sight;
Tho' our modern young Scions oft make an assumption,
The gods have but marr'd them with pride and presumption.
See Grist, Clinch, and Bannister, Dimond, and Farren,
And others who sport in the dramatic warren;
Tho' they all were enlighten'd at Roscius' fam'd School,
And, taught by one master, they all slight his rule:
Like the wandering Amphiscii, whose singular state,
Made sceptics to question the wisdom of Fate;
For, tho' warm'd and supported by one solar blaze,
The shades of their bodies fall contrary ways.
And who is amaz'd that the muses shed tears,
Where Garrick and Barry have gladden'd their eyes,
For their thought can give birth but to sadness or sighs?
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Or Imperial Rome when her Cæsar lay dead.
To compare what once was, with the things that now are,
But plunges each Sense in the deeps of Despair:
Go find me those Richards, Othellos and Pierres,
The Benedicts, Catos, Castalios and Lears!
Who once gave, like Hope, universal delight,
And crept to the heart thro' the medium of sight;
Tho' our modern young Scions oft make an assumption,
The gods have but marr'd them with pride and presumption.
See Grist, Clinch, and Bannister, Dimond, and Farren,
And others who sport in the dramatic warren;
Tho' they all were enlighten'd at Roscius' fam'd School,
And, taught by one master, they all slight his rule:
Like the wandering Amphiscii, whose singular state,
Made sceptics to question the wisdom of Fate;
For, tho' warm'd and supported by one solar blaze,
The shades of their bodies fall contrary ways.
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