Classic Poem

FROM HUDDESFORD'S SALMAGUNDI .

Mark the career of Rhedycina's bard! —
Glean'd from antiquity's exhaustless mine,
He bade the gems of science brighter shine;
His care retriev'd each venerable name
Reft by oblivion from the rolls of fame,
And with new glory crown'd the strains sublime
That echoed from the harps of elder time.
'Twas his, 'midst mouldering palms of chivalry,
To braid the deathless blooms of Poesy;
On learning's gloom the rays of taste to pour,
And gild with genuine wit the social hour;
Affection and applause alike he shar'd,
All lov'd the man, all venerate the Bard:
Ev'n prejudice his fate afflicted hears,
And letter'd Envy sheds reluctant tears.
Of genius, taste, philanthropy, and sense,
Candour and wit — behold the recompence!
No sinecure, no venerable stall,
He fills, o'er-canopied with crimson pall,
No choir obsequious waits his dread commands,
Where supple vergers pace with silver wands;
Where soft reclines in velvet pomp supreme,
Divinity, entranc'd in mitrous dream,
No coin his meed — for classics' fobs unfit —
For, ah! what fellowship has wealth with wit!
Such worth the laurel could alone repay,
Profan'd by Cibber, and contemn'd by Gray;
Yet hence its wreath shall new distinction claim,
And, though it gave not, take from W ARTON fame!