To William John Courthope, _March 12, 1903_ <br /> <br />When Pope came back from Trojan wars once more, <br />He found a Bard, to meet him on the shore, <br />And hail his advent with a strain as clear <br />As e'er was sung by BYRON or by FRERE. <br /> <br />You, SIR, have travelled from no distant clime, <br />Yet would JOHN GAY could welcome you in rhyme; <br />And by some fable not too coldly penned, <br />Teach how with judgment one may praise a Friend. <br /> <br />There is no need that I should tell in words <br />Your prowess from _The Paradise of Birds_; <br />No need to show how surely you have traced <br />The Life in Poetry, the Law in Taste; <br />Or mark with what unwearied strength you wear <br />The weight that WARTON found too great to bear. <br />There Is no need for this or that. My plan <br />Is less to laud the Matter than the Man. <br /> <br />This is my brief. We recognise in you <br />The mind judicial, the untroubled view; <br />The critic who, without pedantic pose, <br />Takes his firm foothold on the thing he knows; <br />Who, free alike from passion or pretence, <br />Holds the good rule of calm and common sense; <br />And be the subject or perplexed or plain,-- <br />Clear or confusing,--is throughout urbane, <br />Patient, persuasive, logical, precise, <br />And only hard to vanity and vice. <br /> <br />More I could add, but brevity is best;-- <br />These are our claims to honour you as Guest.<br /><br />Henry Austin Dobson<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-welcome-from-the-johnson-club/
