Revellings

Simile-A Battle-AMERICAN WAR-PIETY IN PATTENS OMBRES CHINOISES—A Simile PATAGONIAN THEATRE-SERIOUS BALLETS-A Vision-Philosophy of Puppet-Shews-The Marquis de Casaux Poets are Puppets-Conclusion.

257

THE PUPPET-SHEW.

The wondrous pageants of an humble train, A tiny race, and nation void of brain,

I sing. No heav'nly spark inflam'd their hearts; Their framer guiltless of Promethean arts.

Where the hoarse drum, and motley droll in

vite

The gaping mob, with foretaste of delight, Where jests are dealt to please the long-ear'd crew, As old as Miller's, and as C-t-y's new,

Admiranda cano levium spectacula rerum, Exiguam gentem, et vacuum sine mente popel

lum;

Quem, non surreptis cæli de fornice flammis, Inoccua melior fabricaverat arte Prometheus. Compita qua risu fervent, glomeratque tumul

tum

Histrio, delectatque inhiantem scommate turbam,

Led by the love of sights, or love of fun,
To pit and gallery the audience run.
Not equal benches hold the staring rows,
But peerage-like, the fees their worth disclose
At length, the figur'd curtain rolls away;
Full on the narrow stage the tapers play,
Where crossing wires deceive the curious eye,
That else too plain the homely fraud would spy.
And now the actors croud, in squeaking droves,
By painted domes, and Lilliputian groves;
'Mid scanty scenes, like us they sport or jar,
In narrow passes forms th' embattled war;
Our pomps, our cares contracted to a span,
The little mimics play gigantic man.

Quotquot lætitiæ studio aut novitate tenentur,
Undique congressi permissa sedilia complent.
Nec confusus honos; nummo subsellia cedunt
Diverso, et varii ad pretium stat copia scamni.
Tandem ubi subtrahitur velamen, lumina passim
Angustos penetrant aditus, qua plurima visum
Fila secant, ne cum vacuo datur ore fenestra,
Pervia fraus pateat : mox stridula turba penates
Ingreditur pictos, et mænia squalida fuco.
Hic humiles inter scenas, angustaque claustra,
Quicquid agunt homines, concursus, bella, tri-
umphos,

But o'er the rest see Punchinello rise, Of hoarser accent, and tremendous size ! An ample clasp his jerkin's round confines, His well-taught eye with vivid motion shines; Far-stretch'd before his jutting paunch appears, His lofty back o'erwhelms his humbled ears: Not with more terror to each sweeping gown Thro' country-dances plods the lab'ring clown, Than the small heroes, thro' the parted sheet, See his broad paunch precede his distanc'd feet. Proud of his bulk, and "huge two-handed sway," He reigns, the tyrant of the puppet-play, Gibes his poor wooden slaves in wanton fit, "And shakes the clumsy bench with" antic "wit."

Ludit in exiguo plebecula parva theatro.

Sed præter reliquos incedit HoмUNCIO rauca
Voce strepens, major subnectit fibula vestem,
Et referunt vivos errantia lumina motus ;
In ventrem tumet immodicum; pone eminet
ingens.

A tergo gibbus; Pygmæum territat agmen
Major, et immanem miratur turba gigantem.
Hic magna fretus mole, imparibusque lacertis
Confisus, gracili jactat convitia vulgo,

Et crebro solvit, lepidum caput, ora cachinno.

When courtly lords and shining dames are seen Round beauteous Grisild' or St. George's Queen, His saucy laugh disturbs the solemn place, And the room echoes to his pert grimace. Or wilder still, his lawless flame invades The modest beauties of the varnish'd maids; The varnish'd maids with disapproving hiss, And coy reluctance, shun the saucy kiss.

But undisturb'd the meaner forms advance, And ply their little limbs in busy dance.

And oft with glitt'ring paste and tinsel gay, The wooden race their birth-day robes display; In marshall'd order trip the ladies bright, And lordlings sparkle on the vulgar sight, While the small people, joining in the press, Revive the dream of Pygmy-happiness:

Quanquam res agitur solenni seria pompa,
Spernit sollicitum intractabilis ille tumultum,
Et risu importunus adest, atque omnia turbat.
Nec raro invadit molles, pictamque protervo
Ore petit Nympham, invitoque dat oscula ligno.
Sed comitum vulgus diversis membra fatigant
Ludis, et vario lascivit mobile saltu.

Sæpe etiam gemmis rutila, et spectabilis auro, Lignea gens prodit, nitidisque superbit in ostris.