Cawthorn, James

Cawthorn, James. Of taste [ID D26904].
Of late, ‘tis true, quite sick of Rome and Greece.
We fetch our models from the wise Chinese ;
European artists are too cool and chaste,
For Mand'rin is the only man of taste ;
Whose bolden genius, fondly wild to see
His grove a forest, and his pond a sea,
Break out, and whimsically great, designs
Without the shackles of rules or lines.
Form's on his plans, our farms and seats begin
To mach the boasted villas of Pekin.
On every hill a spire-corwn'd temple swells,
Hung around with serpents, and a fringe of bells ;
Junks and balons along our waters sail,
With each a gilded cock-boar at his tail ;
Our choice exotics to the breeze exhale
Within th' enclosure of a zig-zag rail ;
In tartar huts our cows and horeses lie
Our hogs are fatted in an Inian Style ;
Our ev’ry shelf a Joss divinely stares
Nymphs laid on chintzes sprawl upon our chairs ;
While o'er our cabinets Confucius nods,
Midst porcelain elephants and China gods.

Cawthorn, James. Of taste : an essay spoken at the anniversary visitation of Tunbridge School, 1756. In : Cawthorn, James. Poems. (London : Printed by W. Woodfall, 1771). (Library of English literature ; LEL 11615).
archive.org.