English poem
Epigram To A Hypocritical Calvinist
by Thomas Oldham (1816–1878)
By faith alone, you say, not works, Man must obtain salvation;— If you are saved, the doctrine needs No better confirmation. * * * * * My Lady Sceptical, for want of proof, What all believe, denies; Yet she believes what all, with proof, deny, That she is wondrous wise. * * * * * 'The dullest ass may write In verse, that jingling stuff!' Indeed, Sir? have you tried? 'I have.' That's proof enough. Yon fop has strangely got it in his noddle That he excels in tragic declamation; Kemble's the favourite, and the model, That claims his praise, and prompts his imitation; Now, that the praise is just, none can deny; But the imitation gives that praise the lie: Decide, ye Critics! for 'tis hard to know,— Is he to Kemble's fame a friend or foe?
More by Thomas Oldham
- Epigram On The March Of Intellect
- Epigram On The New Experiment Of Lighting The House Of Commons By Means Of Gas-Pipes Placed Between The Two Ceilings
- Epigram On Two Sisters Who Are Always Quarrelling
- Epigram To A Conceited & Affected, But Handsome Woman
- Epigram To Julia
- Epigram To Mr. Bury, An Eminent Surgeon In Coventry, On His Having Performed A Successful Operation, In A Case Of Deeply-Seated Inflammation In The Neck, When The Patient Was In Extreme Danger Of Immediate Suffocation
- Epilogue
- Epistle To A Friend