CHARLES LAMB, 1824
(1775-1834)
In “sad civility” once Garrick sate
To see a play, mangled in form and state;
Plebeian Shakespeare must the words supply,—
The actors all were fools—of Quality.
The scenes—the dresses—were above rebuke;—
Scarce a performer there below a Duke.
He sate, and mused how in his Shakespeare’s mind
The idea of old nobility enshrined