ON SMOLLETT
Reading edition
WHENCE could arise this mighty critic spleen, The muse a trifler, and her theme so mean? What had I done that angry Heaven should send The bitterest foe where most I wished a friend? Oft hath my tongue been wanton at thy name, And hailed the honours of thy matchless fame. For me let hoary Fielding bite the ground, So nobler Pickle stand superbly bound; From Livy’s temples tear the historic crown, Which with more justice blooms upon thine own. Compared with thee, be all life-writers dumb, But he who wrote the life of Tommy Thumb. Who ever read “The Regicide” but swore The author wrote as man ne’er wrote before? Others for plots and under-plots may call; Here’s the right method—have no plot at all! Charles Churchill.