Lines on a late resignation at the Royal Academy

Table of contents

- [titlepage]

- [dedication]

LINES, &c.

YE to whose soul kind nature's hand imparts

The glowing passion for the liberal arts:

Ye great dispenfers of the magic strain,

Whose harmony delights almost to pain:

Ye to whose touch (with DAMER'S skill) is known

To charm to life, and wake the sleeping stone:

Ye rare PROMETHEI, to whose hand is giv'n

To snatch the flame that warms the breast of heav'n:

Ye too, ye Bards, illustrious heirs of fame,

Who from the sun your mental lineage claim:

Approach and see a dear and kindred art

Unhallow'd maxims to her sons impart;

See her (become wild Faction's ready tool)

Insult the Father of the modern school.

Yet he first enter'd on the barren land,

And rais'd on high ARMIDA's pow'rful wand:

From him the Academics boast a name,

He led the way, he smooth'd their path to fame:

From him th' instructive lore the pupils claim'd,

His doctrine nurtur'd, and his voice inflam'd!

Oh, and is all forgot?—The sons rebel,

And, REGAN-like, their hallow'd sire expel.

Cou'd not his faculties, so meekly borne,

Arrest the hand that fix'd the rankling thorn?

Cou'd not the twilight of approaching age,

The silver hairs that crown th' indulgent sage,

Domestic virtues, his time-honour'd name,

His radiant works that crowd the dome of fame,

Say cou'd not these suppress th' opprobrious scene,

And charm to slumber academic spleen?

Mark, mark the period, when the Children stung

The Parent's feelings with their serpent tongue;

It was while dimness veil'd the pow'rs of sight,

[*] And ting'd all nature with the gloom of night!

(Not many days remov'd) the Master came

With wonted zeal to touch the swelling theme!

The pregnant canvass his creation caught,

And drank his rich exuberance of thought:

Deck'd with the beams of Inspiration's sky,

Glanc'd o'er the work his finely-frensy'd eye.

—Malignant Fate approach'd—the scenes decay,

To him the new creation fades away;

Thick night abruptly shades the mimic sky,

And clouds eternal quench the frensy'd eye!

Invention shudder'd—Taste stood weeping near—

From Fancy's eyelid gush'd the glitt'ring tear—

Genius exclaim'd, My matchless loss deplore,

The hand of REYNOLDS falls to rise no more!

Notes

*
The calamity here alluded to came suddenly upon Sir JOSHUA while he was painting.
↵

LINES ON A LATE RESIGNATION AT THE ROYAL ACADEMY.

LONDON: PRINTED FOR J. ROBSON, NEW BOND-STREET.

M.DCC.XC.

TO SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS, ON HIS LATE RESIGNATION AT THE ROYAL ACADEMY, THESE LINES ARE INSCRIBED,

BY HIS OBEDIENT, HUMBLE SERVANT, EDWD JERNINGHAM.

Information about this book

Title statement

Lines on a late resignation at the Royal Academy

Jerningham, Mr. (Edward), 1737?-1812.

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ID [ota]

http://ota.ox.ac.uk/id/4587

ID [isbn10]

110601586X

ID [isbn13]

9781106015860

ID [TCP]

K062331.000

ID [BIBNO]

CW3311244839

ID [ECLL]

0276601900

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Distributed by the University of Oxford under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

Source

— Lines on a late resignation at the Royal Academy, Jerningham, Mr. (Edward), 1737?-1812.. 8p. ; 4⁰. London :: printed for J. Robson,. 1790.. [Dedication signed: Edward Jerningham.] [On the resignation of Sir Joshua Reynolds.] [Reproduction of original from the British Library.] [English Short Title Catalog, ESTCT73798.] [Electronic data. Farmington Hills, Mich. : Thomson Gale, 2003. Page image (PNG). Digitized image of the microfilm version produced in Woodbridge, CT by Research Publications, 1982-2002 (later known as Primary Source Microfilm, an imprint of the Gale Group).]

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