MAC-FLECK NOE; OR, A SATIRE ON THE All human things are subject to decay, Was called to empire, and had governed long; In prose and verse was owned, without dispute, 5 10 Through all the realms of Nonsense, absolute. Who stands confirmed in full stupidity. 15 20 The rest to some faint meaning make pretence, 25 30 And, spread in solemn state, supinely reign. 2 25 Advowson meant originally the obligation to protect a religious office or institution; hence the passage would seem to mean that hypocrisy and nonsense had come to defend and excuse his conscience. 1 Mac-Flecknoe is a satire directed against Thomas Shadwell," T. S.," (1640–1692), a minor poet and dramatist of the Restoration. Dryden's poem. The Medal, drew from Shadwell a venomous counter attack, The Medal of John Bayes (i. e. Dryden). This Dryden answered in Mac-Flecknoe. Shadwell is represented in the poem as the son or poetic successor of Richard Flecknoe, an Irish poet, wit, and playwright, and the poem opens with the abdication of Flecknoe as absolute monarch of the kingdom of Nonsense, in favor of Shadwell. 2"This stuff appears to have been sacred to the poorer votaries of Parnassus; and it is somewhat odd that it seems to have been the dress of our poet himself in the entire stages of his fortune." Scott. My warbling lute,-the lute I whilom strung, 35 45 ..: 49 The trebles squeak for fear, the basses roar; St. Andre's feet ne'er kept more equal time, 55 So just, so like tautology, they fell, Here stopt the good old sire and wept for joy, 60 In silent raptures of the hopeful boy. 65 Close to the walls which fair Augusta bind, (The fair Augusta much to fears inclined), An ancient fabric raised to inform the sight, There stood of yore, and Barbicans it hight," A watch-tower once, but now, so fate ordains, Of all the pile an empty name remains; Near it a Nursery 10 erects its head, Where queens are formed and future heroes bred, . . . .69 73 Where unfledged actors learn to laugh and cry, And little Maximins11 the gods defy. 75 78 Ambitiously designed his Shadwell's throne. For ancient Decker prophesied long since, An allusion to some work of Flecknoe's of which, it seems, nothing is now known. 4 Apparently the bread and toast thrown into the Thames from the boats in order to attract the fishes. 5 A fashionable dancing master of the time. An opera singer and musician. He acted the part of Villerius, in Sir William Davenant's opera, The Siege of Rhodes. 7 The title given by the Romans to London, Londinium Augusta. 8 A round tower near the junction of Barbican and Aldersgate Streets. Was called. 10 A school of acting established in 1665 by the king. 11 Maximin was the hero of Dryden's Tyrannic Love. 12 A cobbler, in an Interlude of the day. 13 Puns. 14 A noted punster. 95 Of Shadwell's coronation through the town. No Persian carpets spread the imperial way, So Shadwell swore, nor should his vow be vain, That he till death true dulness would maintain; 115 young, 125 130 And from whose loins recorded21 Psyche22 15 The reference here is to The Miser and The Humorists, plays by Shadwell. Raymond is a character in The Humorists, while Bruce appears in another of Shadwell's plays. 16-17 Two sections of London. The sense is that they come from north and south. 18 John Ogleby, 1600-1676, a Scotch versifier. 150 He paused, and all the people cried, "Amen." 160 Trust nature; do not labour to be dull, 170 Sir Formal, though unsought, attends thy quill, 176 Thou art my blood, where Jonson has no part: 23 Sir George Etheridge (c. 1636-1689), a famous wit and comedy writer. Dorimant, Loveit, etc., are characters in his plays. 24 Sir Charles Sedley, 1639-1701, a wit and patron of literature, who assisted Shadwell in his comedy Epsom Wells. The insinuation is that Sedley larded its prose with a wit alien to its dullness. 25 A character in Shadwell's Virtuoso. 26 Certain dedications of Shadwell's to the Duke and Duchess of Newcastle. 27 A lover in the opera of Psyche. 150 (From Absalom and Achitophel, 1681) In power unpleased, impatient of disgrace; 155 And o'er-informed the tenement of clay. Pleased with the danger, when the waves went high, 160 He sought the storms; but for a calm unfit, A SONG FOR ST. CECILIA'S1 DAY, 22ND From harmony, from heavenly harmony, And could not heave her head, Then cold, and hot, and moist, and dry, And Music's power obey. From harmony, from heavenly harmony, Through all the compass of the notes it ran, II What passion cannot music raise and quell? When Jubal struck the chorded shell, His listening brethren stood around, 10 15 2 A "Triple Alliance" between Holland, Sweden, and England in 1668. It was broken by an infamous secret treaty with France. Shaftsbury was one of its signers. 3 A Hebrew word meaning "father of the Nation;" i. e.. the judges. As Lord Chancellor, Shaftsbury had a well deserved reputation for uprightness and ability. 1 St. Cecilia, virgin martyr of the third century, became patron saint of music, and was supposed to have invented the organ. He chose a mournful muse, 70 Changed his hand, and checked his pride. Soft pity to infuse, He sung Darius great and good And weltering in his blood: With downcast looks the joyless victor sate, The various turns of chance below; And, now and then, a sigh he stole, And tears began to flow. CHORUS Revolving, in his altered soul, 75 80 85 The various turns of chance below; And, now and then, a sigh he stole; And tears began to flow. 90 Thais led the way, To light him to his prey, 146 And, like another Helen, fired another Troy. 150 CHORUS And the King seized a flambeau with zeal to destroy; Thais led the way, To light him to his prey, And, like another Helen, fired another Troy. VII Thus, long ago, Ere heaving bellows learned to blow, Timotheus, to his breathing flute, And sounding lyre, 155 Could swell the soul to rage, or kindle soft The sweet enthusiast, from her sacred store, before. 165 |