Page:Poetical Works of John Oldham.djvu/73

Rh Hail mighty founder of our stage! for so I dare Entitle thee, nor any modern censures fear, Nor care what thy unjust detractors say; They'll say, perhaps, that others did materials bring, That others did the first foundations lay, And glorious 'twas (we grant) but to begin, But thou alone couldst finish the design, All the fair model, and the workmanship was thine: Some bold adventurers might have been before, Who durst the unknown world explore; By them it was surveyed at distant view, And here and there a cape, and line they drew, Which only served as hints, and marks to thee, Who wast reserved to make the full discovery. Art's compass to thy painful search we owe, Whereby thou wentest so far, and we may after go; By that we may wit's vast and trackless ocean try, Content no longer, as before, Dully to coast along the shore, But steer a course more unconfined and free, Beyond the narrow bounds that pent antiquity.