Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. III. The Eighteenth Century: Addison to Blake
Charles Churchill (1731–1764)Description of His Muse (from The Prophecy of Famine)
M
No judgment tempers when rash genius fires:
Who boast no merit but mere knack of rhyme,
Short gleams of sense, and satire out of time,
Who cannot follow where trim Fancy leads
By ‘prattling streams,’ o’er ‘flower-empurpled meads’:
Who often, but without success, have prayed
For apt alliteration’s artful aid:
Who would, but cannot, with a master’s skill,
Coin fine new epithets, which mean no ill—
Me, thus uncouth, thus every way unfit
For pacing poesy, and ambling wit,
T
Among the lowest of her favoured race!