| Citation |
VGW(HU.767.041
14 May 1767:23, 31 (834)
DANCE AND DRAMA. On hearing that a fair Pennsylvanianess
scrupled at a clergyman, by reason he went to the ball and
the spectacles.
When David mov'd the ark alone,
Full in the peoples sight,
To sound of instrument and song
He danc'd with all his might.
Queen Michal, from that self-same day,
Her barrenness deplor'd;
She mock'd the King for leaping gay
To praises of the lord.
Who wants the march, the many rites,
The evolution many,
Of Cherethites and Pelethites,
May turn to Dean Delany.
To heroes, demigods, and Gods,
The Grecian lyre was strung;
The towering Pindar sung such odes
As mortal never sung.
The lads and lasses to the strain
In measur'd step advance;
They wheel, retire, evolve again,
They worship in the dance.
See Socrates, when old, commence
To quit domestick peace,
And learn this lore; the man had sense
'Bove e'er a man in Greece.
The Dance, by dint of holy writ,
Thus clear of mala fama,
By wisest folks held good and fit;
Proceed we to the Drama.
Here Athens, China, rise to view,
With Rome, Madrid, and Paris;
And London, with those polish'd few,
Sums up the whole that rare is.
'Twixt Sophocles and grand Corneille,
'Twixt Shakespeare and De Vego,
'Twixt Moliere's and Menander's style,
Decide who will, no ego.
The heavenly Milton, Addison,
The reverend wailful Young,
The Careless Husband (name unknown)
Joins the dramatick throng.
With divers worthy men to boot,
Who here shall pass as nameless;
These serve to prove the stage, at root,
Must needs be very blameless.
Here hypocrites of every age,
Unveil'd, stand forth to view;
The saint, the sinner, and the sake,
Are seen in mirror true.
Here Humour whets his poignant dart,
His sidelong glance is keen;
He, slyly tickling round the heart,
Smiles, and corrects unseen.
At sight of deep distres we find
Tears sympathetick flow;
More virtuous grows the feeling mind
From tenderness of wo.
Now Roscius, Quin, by various ways,
Command without controul;
By looks, lips, limbs, and gestures, raise
Each passion of the soul.
I love not the dramatick wight
Devoid of grace or marrow,
As far below the rule of right
As Whitfield is from Barrow.
So Dance and Drama seem design'd
For use and recreation;
With social intercourse conjoin'd,
Conducive to salvation.
God bless the King! and bless us all!
Success to corn and kine!
May every folly have its fall!
May Reason still refine!
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