Then dances jocund o'er the watery way,

While the breeze whispers, and the streamers play:
Unbounded prospects in his bosom roll,
And future millions lift his rising soul;
In blissful dreams he digs the golden mine,
And raptured sees the new-found ruby shine.
Joys insincere! thick clouds invade the skies,
Loud roar the billows, high the waves arise;
Sickening with fear, he longs to view the shore,
And vows to trust the faithless deep no more.
So the young author, panting after fame,
And the long honours of a lasting name,
Intrusts his happiness to human kind,

More false, more cruel than the seas or wind!
Toil on, dull crowd! in ecstasies he cries,
For wealth or title, perishable prize;
While I those transitory blessings scorn,
Secure of praise from ages yet unborn.

This thought once form'd, all counsel comes too late,
He flies to press, and hurries on his fate;
Swiftly he sees the imagined laurels spread,
And feels the unfading wreath surround his head.
Warn'd by another's fate, vain youth be wise,
Those dreams were Settle's' once, and Ogilby's! 2
The pamphlet spreads, incessant hisses rise,
To some retreat the baffled writer flies,
Where no sour critics snarl, no sneers molest,
Safe from the tart lampoon, and stinging jest ;
There begs of Heaven a less distinguish'd lot—
Glad to be hid, and proud to be forgot.

1 Settle' see Life of Dryden.-2 'Ogilby:' a poor translator.

FRIENDSHIP: AN ODE.

PRINTED IN THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE, 1743.

1 FRIENDSHIP, peculiar boon of Heaven, The noble mind's delight and prideTo men and angels only given,

To all the lower world denied!

2 While love, unknown among the blest,
Parent of thousand wild desires,
The savage and the human breast
Torments alike with raging fires;

3 With bright, but oft destructive gleam,
Alike o'er all his lightnings fly;
Thy lambent glories only beam
Around the favourites of the sky.

4 Thy gentle flows of guiltless joys,
On fools and villains ne'er descend;
In vain for thee the tyrant sighs,
And hugs a flatterer for a friend.

5 Directress of the brave and just,

Oh, guide us through life's darksome way! And let the tortures of mistrust

On selfish bosoms only prey.

6 Nor shall thine ardours cease to glow, When souls to peaceful climes remove : What raised our virtue here below,

Shall aid our happiness above.

**

IMITATION OF THE STYLE OF 1

1 HERMIT hoar, in solemn cell

Wearing out life's evening gray, Strike thy bosom, sage, and tell What is bliss, and which the way.

2 Thus I spoke, and speaking sigh'd, Scarce repress'd the starting tear, When the hoary sage replied,

'Come, my lad, and drink some beer.'

ONE AND TWENTY.

1 LONG-expected one-and twenty,
Lingering year, at length is flown :
Pride and pleasure, pomp and plenty,
Great * * * are now your own.

2 Loosen'd from the minor's tether,
Free to mortgage or to sell,
Wild as wind, and light as feather,
Bid the sons of thrift farewell.

3 Call the Betsies, Kates, and Jennies,
All the names that banish care;
Lavish of your grandsire's guineas,
Show the spirit of an heir.

1 Supposed to be Percy.

*

4 All that prey on vice and folly
Joy to see their quarry fly:

There the gamester, light and jolly;
There the lender, grave and sly.

5 Wealth, my lad, was made to wander, Let it wander as it will; Call the jockey, call the pander,

Bid them come and take their fill.

6 When the bonny blade carouses,
Pockets full, and spirits high-
What are acres? what are houses?
Only dirt, or wet, or dry.

7 Should the guardian friend or mother
Tell the woes of wilful waste :
Scorn their counsel, scorn their pother,
You can hang or drown at last.

END OF JOHNSON'S POEMS.

F