| Citation |
BPB.736.014
8 Mar 1736:31 (69)
ON BURLESQUE.
Occasion'd by a ludicrous translation of some Latin lines
written to the Archbishop of York.
When wags pervert what others serious have writ,
'Tis the low exercise of frothy wit.
In Virgil's page the hero stand confest:
We read with pity Troy's remains distrest,
Tho' made, in merry travestie, a jest.
The captivating Prince, the frantick Queen,
However banter'd, is a noble scene.
The droll cannot debase one sterling line:
'Tis bullion all, and will for ever shine.
Such writers make on laugh, yet still burlesque
Is, at the best, but poetry's grotesque.
A Dawber may a village revel strike:
But who can draw an Alexander, like!
Nor fam'd Appoles would, not Virgil chuse,
Or a Dutch pencil, or a Cotton's muse. [signed] Entellus.
|