The curtain’s fall; there, see the buskin’d chief
Unshod behind this momentary scene; 350
Reduced to his own stature, low or high,
As vice, or virtue, sinks him, or sublimes;
And laugh at this fantastic mummery,
This antic prelude of grotesque events,
Where dwarfs are often stilted, and betray
A littleness of soul by worlds o’errun,
And nations laid in blood. Dread sacrifice 357
To Christian pride! which had with horror shock’d