THE FEAST OF THE POETS, T'OTHER day, as Apollo sat pitehing his darts Through the clouds of November, by fits and by starts, He began to consider how long it had been, Since the bards of Old England had all been rung in. 'I think,' said the God, recollecting, (and then He fell twiddling a sunbeam as I may my pen), 'I think-let me see-yes, it is, I declare, As long ago now as that Buckingham there:1 And yet I can't see why I've been so remiss, Unless it may be-and it certainly is, That since Dryden's fine verses and Milton's sublime, I have fairly been sick of their sing-song and rhyme. B There was Collins, 'tis true, had a good deal to say; But the rogue had no industry,-neither had Gray : I'll e'en go and give them a lesson or two, And as nothing's done there now-a-days without eating, And merely observe that the girls look'd divine, And the old folks in-doors exclaimed Bless us how fine!' Apollo, arriv'd, had no sooner embodied His essence ethereal, than quenching his godhead, He chang'd his appearance-to-what shall I say? Let's see-to a finished young traveller?-No: To a graceful young lord just stept out of his carriage? Or handsome young poet, the day of his marriage? No, nobody's likeness will help me, I see, To afford you a notion of what he could be, Not though I collected one pattern victorious A figure sublim'd above mortal degree, His limbs the perfection of elegant strength,- (For the God, you'll observe, like his statues was drest.) His throat like a pillar for smoothness and grace, As mark'd him at once the true offspring of Jove, For though he was blooming, and oval of cheek, I would not say more, lest my climax should lose ;- And if, as he shook back his hair in it's cluster, A curl fell athwart them and darken'd their lustre, A sprinkle of gold through the duskiness came, Like the sun through a tree, when he's setting in flame. The God then no sooner had taken a chair, And rung for the landlord to order the fare, Than he heard a strange noise and a knock from without,And scraping and bowing, came in such a rout! |