The United Co-operative/Volume 1/Number 2/John Oldham, 1653–1683
For works with similar titles, see John Oldham.
John Oldham
1653–1683
By Rheinhart Kleiner
Written after a perusal of his poems, the same having been presented to the writer by a friend.
Neglected Oldham! Who will heed
The rhymes that Dorset lov’d to read?
Moderns, I fear, would call him dunce,
Tho’ he was prais’d by Dryden once!
His long-admir’d satiric vein
Seems strangely stupid and inane;
His wit has pall’d; his rhymes are flat;
No two opinions as to that!
But if we seek a fitting cause
For some slight measure of applause,
Be it in this: he made it pay,
In that old Restoration day!