Classic Poem

A PROLOGUE

BEFORE THE ACTING OF AURENZEBE, AT HADINGTON SCHOOL, IN 1727.

B E hush, ye croud, who pressing round appear
Only to stare; — we speak to those can hear
The nervous phrase, which raises thoughts more high,
When added action leads them thro' the eye.
To paint fair virtue, humours, and mistakes,
Is what our school with pleasure undertakes,
Thro' various incidents of life, led on,
By Dryden and immortal Addison;
These study'd men, and knew the various springs,
That mov'd the minds of coachmen, and of kings.
Altho' we 're young, allow no thought so mean,
That any here 's to act the Harlequin,
We leave such dumb-show mimicry to fools,
Beneath the sp'rit of Caledonian schools.
Learning 's our aim, and all our care to reach
At elegance and gracefulness of speech,
And the address, from bashfulness refin'd,
Which hangs a weight upon a worthy mind.
The grammar 's good, but pedantry brings down
The gentle dunce below the sprightly clown.
" Get seven score verse of Ovid's Trist by heart,
" To rattle o'er, else I shall make ye smart, "
Cry snarling dominies that little ken;
Such may teach parrots, but our Lesly men.