Page:Halleck.djvu/352

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320
TO E. SIMPSON, ESQ.

Another army from the Players
That figure on the stage of State.

A better set there cannot be
For clap-trap and stage trickery,
And they’ll be well content to quit
Their present posts for higher pay;
For if they but good salaries get,
It matters not what parts they play.
You’ll have no quarelling about
The characters you deal them out;
Their public acts too well have shown
They care but little for their own.

How nicely would Judge Spencer fit
For “Overreach” and “Bajazet;”
Van Buren, nimble, sly, and thin,
Would make a noble “Harlequin;”
Clinton would play “King Dick the Surly,”
The learned “Pangloss” and grave “Lord Burleigh;”
Woodworth (whose name the Muse shall hallow)
Is quite at home in “Justice Shallow;”
And slippery, smooth-faced Tallmadge stands
A “Joseph Surface” at your hands.

Lo! where the acting Council sits,
A grand triumvirate of wits,
Cut out express by Nature’s chisel
For “Noodle, Doodle, and Lord Grizzle;”