University of Virginia Library

Search this document 
Horace in London

Consisting of imitations of the first two books of the odes of Horace. By the authors of the rejected addresses, or the new theatrum poetarum [Horace and James Smith]

collapse sectionI. 
 I. 
 II. 
 III. 
 IV. 
 V. 
 VI. 
 VII. 
 VIII. 
 IX. 
 X. 
ODE X. TRIBUTARY STANZAS to GRIMALDI THE CLOWN.
 XI. 
 XII. 
 XIII. 
 XIV. 
 XV. 
 XVI. 
 XVII. 
 XVIII. 
 XIX. 
 XX. 
 XXII. 
 XXIII. 
 XXIV. 
 XXV. 
 XXVI. 
 XXVII. 
 XXVIII. 
 XXIX. 
 XXX. 
 XXXI. 
 XXXII. 
 XXXIII. 
 XXXIV. 
 XXXV. 
 XXXVI. 
 XXXVII. 
 XXXVIII. 
collapse sectionII. 
 I. 
 II. 
 III. 
 IV. 
 V. 
 VI. 
 VII. 
 VIII. 
 IX. 
 X. 
 XI. 
 XII. 
 XIII. 
 XIV. 
 XV. 
 XVI. 
 XVII. 
 XVIII. 
 XIX. 
 XX. 


42

ODE X. TRIBUTARY STANZAS to GRIMALDI THE CLOWN.

Mercuri facunde, nepos Atlantis.

Facetious mime! thou enemy of gloom,
Grandson of Momus, blithe and debonnair,
Who, aping Pan, with an inverted broom,
Can'st brush the cobwebs from the brows of care.
Our gallery Gods immortalize thy song;
Thy Newgate thefts impart ecstatic pleasure;
Thou bid'st a jew's-harp charm a Christian throng,
A Gothic salt-box teem with attic treasure.
When harlequin, his charmer to regain,
Courts her embrace in many a queer disguise,
The light of heels looks for his sword in vain;
Thy furtive fingers snatch the magic prize.

43

The fabled egg from thee obtains its gold;
Thou set'st the mind from critic bondage loose,
Where male and female cacklers, young and old,
Birds of a feather, hail the sacred Goose.
Even pious souls, from Bunyan's durance free,
At Sadlers Wells applaud thy agile wit,
Forget old Care while they remember thee,
Laugh the heart's laugh,” and haunt the jovial pit.
Long may'st thou guard the prize thy humour won,
Long hold thy court in pantomimic state,
And to the equipoise of English fun,
Exalt the lowly, and bring down the great.