Classic Poem

When Shakespeare's fires illumed a barbarous age,
Wit, judgement, genius, joined to adorn the stage;
The new formed scene admiring thousands drew
Its magic charmed them, and the charm was new.
The rugged heart to savage manners chamed,
Was by the stage to gentler habits trained;
It glowed, it felt, and passion's milder sway
Calmed the rude bosom in some well wrought PLAY,
The breast, that ne'er had beat with loves refined,
Hence taught, its frozen apathy resigned;
A polished nation rose on virtue's plan,
To prove the stage might form the social man.

If such the case two centuries ago,
As Time's long annals, uncontested show,
How much indebted to those bards we stand,
Whose lamps first blazed, to civilize a land,
Taught man with man to form the social tie,
The first grand link in nature's harmony; —
Blest be their memory, who thus early rose,
And changed to friends whom madness turned to foes.

This night, ye fair ones of our favored isle,
We ask your favor as we court your smile;
This night, ye manly Patron of the Stage,
May our best efforts your applause engage,
In this fair dome, that boasts your Hero's NAME,
A chief immortal in the roles of fame,
Of your kind favors let us claim our share,
Forget, at reason's feast, your daily care,
To one, deserving of your aid, extend
The hand of friendship, and be proved his friend :
A play we give of sentiment refined,
At once that soothes and meliorates the mind.
The Thespian Muse will do her part to please,
Correct with grace, and dignified with ease,
To all who come, fine sentiment impart,
Delight the fancy, and improve the heart;
Proud, if she finds Columbia's sons engage
To rear, protect, and animate the stage,
Still to endure, chaste, noble, and sublime,
The shafts of envy and the blasts of time.