62
TO ROBERT SMIRKE, ESQ.
And as the wisest Nature is forbid,
By silence or disuse if it be hid,
And only years and strict attention can
Discourse the perfect nature of the man;
Yet not completely, if we finely sought
From the first cradle, till his age were brought
To fill the second with o'er-lab'ring ill;
So may we read thee, and admire thee still;
Yet hope not, till this squared stone shall fall
To crumbling dust, or fire consume it all,
That, in prophetick light, in Theatres
Gives type and fashion of the World's decease,
An element, still fatal to the Stage,
That saves it from the sad expense of age,
(Wherein of old the Pope was wont to deal,
Now Bonaparte's vex'd malice doth reveal
Itself in fire;) we hope not to pursue
The map of knowledge, which in this you drew,
To full attainment, but content to find
Each day some new provision of your mind,
By silence or disuse if it be hid,
And only years and strict attention can
Discourse the perfect nature of the man;
Yet not completely, if we finely sought
From the first cradle, till his age were brought
To fill the second with o'er-lab'ring ill;
So may we read thee, and admire thee still;
Yet hope not, till this squared stone shall fall
To crumbling dust, or fire consume it all,
That, in prophetick light, in Theatres
Gives type and fashion of the World's decease,
An element, still fatal to the Stage,
That saves it from the sad expense of age,
(Wherein of old the Pope was wont to deal,
Now Bonaparte's vex'd malice doth reveal
Itself in fire;) we hope not to pursue
The map of knowledge, which in this you drew,
To full attainment, but content to find
Each day some new provision of your mind,
