VIRGIL IN LONDON; OR, TOWN ECLOGUES. TO WHICH ARE ADDED, IMITATIONS OF HORACE. FIRST PRINTED IN THE YEAR 1814. THIRD EDITION. Lady. WHAT! Virgil in London ?-'twill never go down He'll meet but a sorry reception in town; His manners are coarse, and his language, you know Author. Not a stroke of ill-nature, All sober hilarity, good-humour'd satire ; My Muse, no prim quakeress, straight, and tightlac'd Will, I hope, prove a nymph to your Ladyship's taste. Lady. But why thus confine your poetical rage? Give scope to your talents, and write for the stage; 'Tis a second-hand task o'er the classics to pore, And Virgil has had his translators before. Author. The Stage!-'twere in vain for your poet to try, No half-witted melo-dramatist am I. Lady. Write a poem in Erse Author. And provoke the Reviews! What! rival the chaste Caledonian Muse? Ludy. Then conjure up Spirits, and boldly advance A champion for fame in the field of Romance; Try Politics-they've been the fashion of late!— Turn critic-but ne'er condescend to translate. Author. Though pedants may rail, though the learned may frown, Still Virgil shall make his appearance in town. |