POEMS. A PROLOGUE, Or Flavia been content to stop At triumphs in a Fleet-street shop. Written and spoken by the Poet Laberius, a Roo had her eyes forgot to blaze! man Knight, whom Cæsar forced upon the Or Jack had wanted eyes to gaze! stage. Preserved by Macrobius.* 0but let exclamations cease, What! no way left to shun th’ inglorious stage, Her presence banish'd all his peace. And save from infamy my sinking age! So with decorum all things carried; Scarce half alive, opprest with many a year, Miss frown'd, and blush'd, and then was-marned. What in the name of dotage drives me here? Need we expose to vulgar sight A time there was, when glory was my guide, The raptures of the bridal night? Nor force nor fraud could turn my steps aside; Need we intrude on hallow'd ground, Unawed by power, and unappallid by fear, Or draw the curtains closed around? With honest thrift I held my honour dear: Let it suffice, that each had charms; But this vile hour disperses all my store, He clasp'd a goddess in his arms; Yet in a man 'twas well enough. The honey-moon like lightning flew, The second brought its transports too; Here then at once I welcome every shame, A third, a fourth, were not amiss, And cancel at threescore a life of fame; The fifth was friendship mix'd with bliss: But, when a twelvemonth pass'd away, Jack found his goddess made of clay; Found half the charms that deck'd her faco Arose from powder, shreds, or lace; That very face had robb’d her mind. Skill'd in no other arts was she, But dressing, patching, repartee; And, just as humour rose or fell, By turns a slattern or a belle. SECLUDED from domestic strife 'Tis true she dress'd with modern grace, Jack Book-worm led a college life; Half naked at a ball or race; A fellowship at twenty-five But when at home, at board or bed, Made him the happiest man alive; Five greasy night-caps wrapp'd her head. He drank his glass, and crack'd his joke, Could so much beauty condescend And freshmen wonder'd as he spoke. To be a dull domestic friend? Such pleasures, unallay'd with care, Could any curtain lectures bring Could any accident impair? To decency so fine a thing ? Could Cupid's shaft at length transfix In short, by night, 'twas fits or fretting; Our swain, arrived at thirty-six ? By day, 'twas gadding or coquetting. O had the archer ne'er come down Fond to be seen, she kept a bevy To ravage in a country town! Of powdered coxcombs at her levee ; The 'squire and captain took their stations, *This translation was first printed in one of our author's And twenty other near relations: earliest works. “ The Present State of Learning in Europe," Jack suck'd his pipe, and often broke 12mo. 1759; but was omitted in the second edition, which ap. A sigh in suffocating smoke; peared in 1774. + This and the following pocm were published by Dr. Gold. While all their hours were past between smith in his volume of Earys, which appeared in 1765. Insulting repartee or spleen. Thus as her faults each day were known, Now, to perplex the ravell’d noose, The glass, grown hateful to her sight, Poor madam now condemn'd to hack But let us not proceed too furious, Imprimis, Pray observe his hat, In the next place, his feet peruse, Wings grow again from both his shoes; Design'd, no doubt, their part to bear, And waft his godship through the air : And here my simile unites, For in the modern poet's flights, I'm sure it may be justly said, His feet are useful as his head. Lastly, vouchsafe t' observe his hand, Now to apply, begin we then ;- And here my simile almost tript, A NEW SIMILE IN THE MANNER OF SWIFT. Long had I sought in vain to find A likeness for the scribbling kind: The modern scribbling kind, who write, In wit, and sense, and nature's spite: Till reading, I forget what day on, A chapter out of Tooke's Pantheon, I think I met with something there To suit my purpose to a hair. OF AN things as trifles at best) told me with his usual goodDESCRIPTION humour, the next time I saw him, that he had taken my plan to form the fragments of Shakspeare into a ballad of his own. He then read me his litAUTHOR'S BEDCHAMBER. tle Cento, if I may so call it, and I highly approv ed it. Such petty anecdotes as these are scarcely WHERE the Red Lion staring o'er the way, worth printing; and, were it not for the busy disInvites each passing stranger that can pay; position of some of your correspondents, the pubWhere Calvert's butt, and Parson's black cham- lic should never have known that he owes me the pagne, hint of his ballad, or that I am obliged to his friendRegale the drabs and bloods of Drury-lane; ship and learning for communications of a much There, in a lonely room, from bailiffs snug, The Muse found Scroggen stretch'd beneath a rug; more important nature. I am, Sir, A window, patch'd with paper, lent a ray, Yours, etc. That dimly show'd the state in which he lay; OLIVER GOLDSMITH. The sanded floor that grits beneath the tread; The humid wall with paltry pictures spread; Note. On the subject of the preceding letter, The royal game of goose was there in view, the reader is desired to consult " The Life of Dr. And the twelve rules the royal martyr drew; Goldsmith,” under the year 1765. The seasons, framed with listing, found a place, And brave Prince William show'd his lamp-black THE HERMIT; face. The morn was cold, he views with keen desire A BALLAD The rusty grate unconscious of a fire: "TURN, gentle Hermit of the dale, With beer and milk arrears the frieze was scored, And guide my lonely way, And five crack'd tea-cups dress'd the chimneyboard; To where yon taper cheers the vale With hospitable ray. "For here forlorn and lost I tread, With fainting steps and slow; Where wilds immeasurably spread, Seem length’ning as I go." “Forbear, my son,” the Hermit cries, To tempt the dangerous gloom; To lure thee to thy doom. he St. James's Chronicle, appeared in that par “Here to the houseless child of want My duor is open still; And though my portion is but scant, SIR, I give it with good will. As there is nothing I dislike so much as newspaper controversy, particularly upon trifles, permit “Then turn to-night, and freely share me to be as concise as possible in informing a cor- Whate'er my cell bestows, respondent of yours, that I recommended Blainville's My rushy couch and frugal fare, Travels because I thought the book was a good My blessing and repose. one, and I think so still. I said, I was told by the “No flocks that range the valley free, bookseller that it was then first published; but in To slaughter I condemn; that, it seems, I was misinformed, and my reading Taught by that Power that pities me, was not extensive enough to set me right. I learn to pity them: Another correspondent of yours accuses me of having taken a ballad I published some time ago, “But from the mountain's grassy side from one by the ingenious Mr. Percy. I do not A guiltless feast I bring; think there is any great resemblance between the A scrip with herbs and fruits supplied, two pieces in question. If there be any, his ballad And water from the spring. is taken from mine. I read it to Mr. Percy some “Then, pilgrim, turn, thy cares forego; years ago; and he (as we both considered these All earth-born cares are wrong; *The Friar of Orders Gray. "Reliq. of Anc. Poetry," vol. Man wants but little here below, I book 2 No. 18. Nor wants that little long." Soft as the dew from heaven descends, His gentle accents fell: And follows to the cell. The lonely mansion lay, And strangers led astray. Required a master's care; Received the harmless pair. To take their evening rest, And cheer'd his pensive guest: And gaily prcss'd, and smiled; And, skill'd in legendary lore, The lingering hours beguiled. Its tricks the kitten tries, The crackling faggot flies. To soothe the stranger's woe; And tears began to flow. With answering care opprest; "And whence, unhappy youth,” he cried, “The sorrows of thy breast? Reluctant dost thou rove? Or unregarded love? Are trifling and decay; More trifling still than they. A charm that lulls to sleep; But leaves the wretch to weep? The modern fair one's jest; On earth unseen, or only found To warm the turtle's nest. "For shame, fond youth, thy sorrows hush, And spurn the sex," he said; But while he spoke, a rising blush His love-lorn guest betray'd. Surprised he sees new beauties rise, Swift mantling to the view: As bright, as transient too. Alternate spread alarms: A maid in all her charms. A wretch forlorn,” she cried; “Whose feet unhallow'd thus intrude Where Heaven and you reside. “But let a maid thy pity share, Whom love has taught to stray; Who seeks for rest, but finds despair Companion of her way. “My father lived beside the Tyne, A wealthy lord was he; And all his wealth was mark'd as mine, He had but only me. "To win me from his tender arms, Unnumber'd suitors came; Who praised me for imparted charms, And felt, or feign'd a flame. “Each hour a mercenary crowd With richest proffers strove; Amongst the rest young Edwin bow'd, But never talk'd of love. "In humble, simplest habit clad, No wealth nor power had he; Wisdom and worth were all he had, But these were all to me. He carroll'd lays of love, And music to the grove. The dews of Heaven refined, Could nought of purity display To emulate his mind. “The dew, the blossom on the tree, With charms inconstant shine; Their charms were his, but, woe to me! Their constancy was mine. "For still I tried each fickle art, Importunate and vain; And while his passion touch'd my heart, I triumph'd in his pain: " Till quite dejected with my scorn, He left me to my pride; And sought a solitude forlorn, In secret, where he died. The wound it seem'd both sore and sad To every Christian eye; They swore the man would die. That show'd the rogues they lied: The dog it was that died. “But mine the sorrow, mine the fault, And well my life shall pay; P'll seek the solitude he sought, And stretch me where he lay. “And there forlorn, despairing, hid, I'll lay me down and die; 'Twas so for me that Edwin did, And so for him will I." And clasp'd her to his breast: 'Twas Edwin's self that press’d. "Turn, Angelina, ever dear, My charmer, turn to see Restored to love and thee. And every care resign: My life-my all that's mine? We'll live and love so true; Shall break thy Edwin's too." STANZAS ON WOMAN. And finds too late that men betray, What art can wash her guilt away? To hide her shame from every eye, And wring his bosom-is to die. THE TRAVELLER; OR, A PROSPECT OF SOCIETY. AN ELEGY TO THE REV. HENRY GOLDSMITH. DEAR SIR, I am sensible that the friendship between us can acquire no new force from the ceremonies of a dediAnd if you find it wondrous short, cation; and perhaps it demands an excuse thus to It can not hold you long. prefix your name to my attempts, which you de. In Islington there was a man, cline giving with your own. But as a part of this Of whom the world might say, poem was formerly written to you from SwitzerThat still a godly race he ran, land, the whole can now, with propriety, be only Whene'er he went to pray. inscribed to you. It will also throw a light upon A kind and gentle heart he had, many parts of it, when the reader understands, that To comfort friends and foes; it is addressed to a man, who, despising fame and The naked every day he clad, fortune, has retired early to happiness and obscuriWhen he put on his clothes. ty, with an income of forty pounds a-year. And in that town a dog was found, I now perceive, my dear brother, the wisdom of As many dogs there be, your humble choice. You have entered upon a Both mongrel, puppy, whelp and hound, sacred office, where the harvest is great, and the And curs of low degree. labourers are but few; while you have left the field of ambition, where the labourers are many, and the This dog and man at first were friends; harvest not worth carrying away. But of all kinds But when a pique began, of ambition, what from the refinement of the times, The dog, to gain some private ends, from different systems of criticism, and from the Went mad, and bit the man. divisions of party, that which pursues poetical fame Around from all the neighb'ring streets is the wildest. The wond'ring neighbours ran, Poetry makes a principal amusement among unAnd swore the dog had lost his wits, polished nations; but in a country verging to the To bite so good a man. extremes of refinement, painting and music come * This, and the following poem, appeared in "The Vicar of in for a share. As these offer the feeble mind a Wakefield,” which was published in the year 1765. I less laborious entertainment, they at first rival |