English Men of Letters: Crabbe by Alfred Ainger
page 113 of 214 (52%)
page 113 of 214 (52%)
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But there is hope that from these founts may flow
A side-way stream, and equal good bestow; Good that may reach us, whom the day's distress Keeps from the fame and perils of the Press; Whom Study beckons from the Ills of Life, And they from Study; melancholy strife! Who then can say, but bounty now so free, And so diffused, may find its way to me? Yes! I may see my decent table yet Cheered with the meal that adds not to my debt; May talk of those to whom so much we owe, And guess their names whom yet we may not know; Blest, we shall say, are those who thus can give, And next, who thus upon the bounty live; Then shall I close with thanks my humble meal, And feel so well--Oh! God! how shall I feel!" Crabbe is known to most readers to-day by the delightful parody of his style in the _Rejected Addresses,_ which appeared in the autumn of 1812, and it was certainly on _The Borough_ that James Smith based his imitation. We all remember the incident of Pat Jennings's adventure in the gallery of the theatre. The manner of the narrative is borrowed from Crabbe's lighter and more colloquial style. Every little foible of the poet, when in this vein, is copied with great skill. The superfluity of information, as in the case of-- "John Richard William Alexander Dwyer," whose only place in the narrative is that he preceded Pat Jennings's father in the situation as |
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