Complete Works of Samuel Johnson

by Samuel Johnson

  Th’ insulted sea, with humbler thoughts, he gains;

  A single skiff to speed his flight remains;

  Th’ incumber’d oar scarce leaves the dreaded coast

  Through purple billows and a floating host.

  The bold Bavarian, in a luckless hour,

  Tries the dread summits of Caesarean pow’r,

  With unexpected legions bursts away,

  And sees defenceless realms receive his sway; —

  Short sway! fair Austria spreads her mournful charms,

  The queen, the beauty, sets the world in arms;

  From hill to hill the beacon’s rousing blaze

  Spreads wide the hope of plunder and of praise;

  The fierce Croatian, and the wild Hussar,

  With all the sons of ravage, crowd the war;

  The baffled prince, in honour’s flatt’ring bloom

  Of hasty greatness, finds the fatal doom,

  His foes’ derision, and his subjects’ blame,

  And steals to death from anguish and from shame.

  Enlarge my life with multitude of days!

  In health, in sickness, thus the suppliant prays;

  Hides from himself his state, and shuns to know,

  That life protracted is protracted woe.

  Time hovers o’er, impatient to destroy,

  And shuts up all the passages of joy;

  In vain their gifts the bounteous seasons pour,

  The fruit autumnal, and the vernal flow’r;

  With listless eyes the dotard views the store,

  He views, and wonders that they please no more;

  Now pall the tasteless meats, and joyless wines,

  And luxury with sighs her slave resigns.

  Approach, ye minstrels, try the soothing strain,

  Diffuse the tuneful lenitives of pain:

  No sounds, alas! would touch th’ impervious ear,

  Though dancing mountains witness’d Orpheus near;

  Nor lute nor lyre his feeble pow’rs attend,

  Nor sweeter musick of a virtuous friend;

  But everlasting dictates crowd his tongue,

  Perversely grave, or positively wrong.

  The still returning tale, and ling’ring jest,

  Perplex the fawning niece and pamper’d guest,

  While growing hopes scarce awe the gath’ring sneer,

  And scarce a legacy can bribe to hear;

  The watchful guests still hint the last offence;

  The daughter’s petulance, the son’s expense,

  Improve his heady rage with treach’rous skill,

  And mould his passions till they make his will.

  Unnumber’d maladies his joints invade,

  Lay siege to life, and press the dire blockade;

  But unextinguish’d av’rice still remains,

  And dreaded losses aggravate his pains;

  He turns, with anxious heart and crippled hands,

  His bonds of debt, and mortgages of lands;

  Or views his coffers with suspicious eyes,

  Unlocks his gold, and counts it till he dies.

  But grant, the virtues of a temp’rate prime

  Bless with an age exempt from scorn or crime;

  An age that melts with unperceiv’d decay,

  And glides in modest innocence away;

  Whose peaceful day benevolence endears,

  Whose night congratulating conscience cheers;

  The gen’ral fav’rite as the gen’ral friend;

  Such age there is, and who shall wish its end?

  Yet e’en on this her load misfortune flings,

  To press the weary minutes’ flagging wings;

  New sorrow rises as the day returns,

  A sister sickens, or a daughter mourns.

  Now kindred merit fills the sable bier,

  Now lacerated friendship claims a tear;

  Year chases year, decay pursues decay,

  Still drops some joy from with’ring life away;

  New forms arise, and diff’rent views engage,

  Superfluous lags the vet’ran on the stage,

  Till pitying nature signs the last release,

  And bids afflicted worth retire to peace.

  But few there are whom hours like these await,

  Who set unclouded in the gulfs of fate.

  From Lydia’s monarch should the search descend,

  By Solon caution’d to regard his end,

  In life’s last scene what prodigies surprise,

  Fears of the brave, and follies of the wise!

  From Marlb’rough’s eyes the streams of dotage flow,

  And Swift expires a driv’ller and a show.

  The teeming mother, anxious for her race,

  Begs for each birth the fortune of a face;

  Yet Vane could tell what ills from beauty spring;

  And Sedley curs’d the form that pleas’d a king.

  Ye nymphs of rosy lips and radiant eyes,

  Whom pleasure keeps too busy to be wise;

  Whom joys with soft varieties invite,

  By day the frolick, and the dance by night;

  Who frown with vanity, who smile with art,

  And ask the latest fashion of the heart;

  What care, what rules, your heedless charms shall save,

  Each nymph your rival, and each youth your slave?

  Against your fame with fondness hate combines,

  The rival batters, and the lover mines.

  With distant voice neglected virtue calls,

  Less heard and less, the faint remonstrance falls;

  Tir’d with contempt, she quits the slipp’ry reign,

  And pride and prudence take her seat in vain.

  In crowd at once, where none the pass defend,

  The harmless freedom, and the private friend.

  The guardians yield, by force superiour ply’d:

  To int’rest, prudence; and to flatt’ry, pride.

  Here beauty falls, betray’d, despis’d, distress’d,

  And hissing infamy proclaims the rest.

  Where then shall hope and fear their objects find?

  Must dull suspense corrupt the stagnant mind?

  Must helpless man, in ignorance sedate,

  Roll darkling down the torrent of his fate?

  Must no dislike alarm, no wishes rise,

  No cries invoke the mercies of the skies?

  Inquirer, cease; petitions yet remain

  Which heav’n may hear; nor deem religion vain.

  Still raise for good the supplicating voice,

  But leave to heav’n the measure and the choice.

  Safe in his pow’r, whose eyes discern afar

  The secret ambush of a specious pray’r;

  Implore his aid, in his decisions rest,

  Secure, whate’er he gives, he gives the best.

  Yet, when the sense of sacred presence fires,

  And strong devotion to the skies aspires,

  Pour forth thy fervours for a healthful mind,

  Obedient passions, and a will resign’d;

  For love, which scarce collective man can fill;

  For patience, sov’reign o’er transmuted ill;

  For faith, that, panting for a happier seat,

  Counts death kind nature’s signal of retreat:

  These goods for man the laws of heav’n ordain;

  These goods he grants, who grants the pow’r to gain;

  With these celestial wisdom calms the mind,

  And makes the happiness she does not find.

  PROLOGUE, SPOKEN BY MR. GARRICK, AT THE OPENING OF THE THEATRE-ROYAL, DRURY LANE, 1747.

  When learning’s triumph o’er her barb’rous foes

  First rear’d the stage, immortal Shakespeare rose;

  Each change of many-colour’d life he drew,

  Exhausted worlds, and then imagin’d new:

  Existence saw him spurn her bounded reign,

  And panting time toil’
d after him in vain:

  His pow’rful strokes presiding truth impress’d,

  And unresisted passion storm’d the breast.

  Then Jonson came, instructed from the school

  To please in method, and invent by rule;

  His studious patience and laborious art,

  By regular approach, assail’d the heart:

  Cold approbation gave the ling’ring bays;

  For those, who durst not censure, scarce could praise:

  A mortal born, he met the gen’ral doom,

  But left, like Egypt’s kings, a lasting tomb.

  The wits of Charles found easier ways to fame,

  Nor wish’d for Jonson’s art, or Shakespeare’s flame:

  Themselves they studied, as they felt, they writ;

  Intrigue was plot, obscenity was wit;

  Vice always found a sympathetick friend;

  They pleas’d their age, and did not aim to mend.

  Yet bards, like these, aspir’d to lasting praise,

  And proudly hop’d to pimp in future days.

  Their cause was gen’ral, their supports were strong;

  Their slaves were willing, and their reign was long:

  Till shame regain’d the post that sense betray’d,

  And virtue call’d oblivion to her aid.

  Then, crush’d by rules, and weaken’d, as refin’d,

  For years the pow’r of tragedy declin’d;

  From bard to bard the frigid caution crept,

  Till declamation roar’d, while passion slept;

  Yet still did virtue deign the stage to tread,

  Philosophy remain’d, though nature fled.

  But forced, at length, her ancient reign to quit,

  She saw great Faustus lay the ghost of wit;

  Exulting folly hail’d the joyful day,

  And pantomime and song confirm’d her sway.

  But who the coming changes can presage,

  And mark the future periods of the stage?

  Perhaps, if skill could distant times explore,

  New Behns, new Durfeys, yet remain in store;

  Perhaps, where Lear has ray’d, and Hamlet dy’d,

  On flying cars new sorcerers may ride:

  Perhaps, (for who can guess th’ effects of chance?)

  Here Hunt may box, or Mahomet may dance.

  Hard is his lot that, here by fortune plac’d,

  Must watch the wild vicissitudes of taste;

  With ev’ry meteor of caprice must play,

  And chase the new-blown bubbles of the day.

  Ah! let not censure term our fate our choice,

  The stage but echoes back the publick voice;

  The drama’s laws the drama’s patrons give,

  For we that live to please, must please to live.

  Then prompt no more the follies you decry,

  As tyrants doom their tools of guilt to die;

  ’Tis yours, this night, to bid the reign commence

  Of rescued nature and reviving sense;

  To chase the charms of sound, the pomp of show,

  For useful mirth and salutary woe;

  Bid scenick virtue form the rising age,

  And truth diffuse her radiance from the stage.

  PROLOGUE; SPOKEN BY MR. GARRICK, APRIL 5, 1750, BEFORE THE MASQUE OF COMUS.

  Acted at Drury lane theatre, for the benefit of Milton’s granddaughter.

  Ye patriot crowds, who burn for England’s fame,

  Ye nymphs, whose bosoms beat at Milton’s name;

  Whose gen’rous zeal, unbought by flatt’ring rhymes,

  Shames the mean pensions of Augustan times;

  Immortal patrons of succeeding days,

  Attend this prelude of perpetual praise;

  Let wit, condemn’d the feeble war to wage

  With close malevolence, or publick rage;

  Let study, worn with virtue’s fruitless lore,

  Behold this theatre, and grieve no more.

  This night, distinguish’d by your smiles, shall tell,

  That never Britain can in vain excel;

  The slighted arts futurity shall trust,

  And rising ages hasten to be just.

  At length, our mighty bard’s victorious lays

  Fill the loud voice of universal praise;

  And baffled spite, with hopeless anguish dumb,

  Yields to renown the centuries to come;

  With ardent haste each candidate of fame,

  Ambitious, catches at his tow’ring name;

  He sees, and pitying sees, vain wealth bestow

  Those pageant honours, which he scorn’d below;

  While crowds aloft the laureate bust behold,

  Or trace his form on circulating gold.

  Unknown, unheeded, long his offspring lay,

  And want hung threat’ning o’er her slow decay,

  What, though she shine with no Miltonian fire,

  No fav’ring muse her morning dreams inspire;

  Yet softer claims the melting heart engage,

  Her youth laborious, and her blameless age;

  Her’s the mild merits of domestick life,

  The patient sufferer, and the faithful wife.

  Thus, grac’d with humble virtue’s native charms,

  Her grandsire leaves her in Britannia’s arms;

  Secure with peace, with competence, to dwell,

  While tutelary nations guard her cell.

  Yours is the charge, ye fair, ye wise, ye brave!

  ’Tis yours to crown desert — beyond the grave.

  PROLOGUE TO THE COMEDY OF THE GOOD-NATUR’D MAN, 1769,

  Prest by the load of life, the weary mind

  Surveys the gen’ral toil of human kind;

  With cool submission joins the lab’ring train,

  And social sorrow loses half its pain:

  Our anxious bard, without complaint, may share

  This bustling season’s epidemick care;

  Like Caesar’s pilot, dignify’d by fate,

  Tost in one common storm with all the great;

  Distrest alike the statesman and the wit,

  When one a borough courts, and one the pit.

  The busy candidates for pow’r and fame

  Have hopes, and fears, and wishes, just the same;

  Disabled both to combat or to fly,

  Must hear all taunts, and hear without reply.

  Uncheck’d on both loud rabbles vent their rage,

  As mongrels bay the lion in a cage.

  Th’ offended burgess hoards his angry tale,

  For that blest year, when all that vote may rail;

  Their schemes of spite the poet’s foes dismiss,

  Till that glad night, when all that hate may hiss.

  “This day the powder’d curls and golden coat,”

  Says swelling Crispin, “begg’d a cobbler’s vote.”

  “This night our wit,” the pert apprentice cries,

  “Lies at my feet; I hiss him, and he dies.”

  The great, ’tis true, can charm th’ electing tribe;

  The bard may supplicate, but cannot bribe.

  Yet, judg’d by those whose voices ne’er were sold,

  He feels no want of ill persuading gold;

  But, confident of praise, if praise be due,

  Trusts, without fear, to merit and to you.

  PROLOGUE TO THE COMEDY OF A WORK TO THE WISE SPOKEN BY MR. HULL.

  This night presents a play, which publick rage,

  Or right, or wrong, once hooted from the stage.

  From zeal or malice, now, no more we dread,

  For English vengeance wars not with the dead.

  A gen’rous foe regards, with pitying eye,

  The man whom fate has laid, where all must lie.

  To wit, reviving from its author’s dust,

  Be kind, ye judges, or at least be just.

  For no renew’d hostilities invade

  Th’ oblivious grav
e’s inviolable shade.

  Let one great payment ev’ry claim appease;

  And him, who cannot hurt, allow to please;

  To please by scenes, unconscious of offence,

  By harmless merriment, or useful sense.

  Where aught of bright, or fair, the piece displays,

  Approve it only— ’tis too late to praise.

  If want of skill, or want of care appear,

  Forbear to hiss — the poet cannot hear.

  By all, like him, must praise and blame be found,

  At best a fleeting gleam, or empty sound.

  Yet, then, shall calm reflection bless the night,

  When lib’ral pity dignify’d delight;

  When pleasure fir’d her torch at virtue’s flame,

  And mirth was bounty with an humbler name.

  SPRING; AN ODE.

  Stern winter now, by spring repress’d,

  Forbears the long-continued strife;

  And nature, on her naked breast,

  Delights to catch the gales of life.

  Now o’er the rural kingdom roves

  Soft pleasure with the laughing train,

  Love warbles in the vocal groves,

  And vegetation plants the plain.

  Unhappy! whom to beds of pain,

  Arthritick tyranny consigns;

  Whom smiling nature courts in vain,

  Though rapture sings, and beauty shines.

  Yet though my limbs disease invades,

  Her wings imagination tries,

  And bears me to the peaceful shades,

  Where — s humble turrets rise;

  Here stop, my soul, thy rapid flight,

  Nor from the pleasing groves depart,

  Where first great nature charm’d my sight,

  Where wisdom first inform’d my heart.

  Here let me through the vales pursue

  A guide — a father — and a friend,

  Once more great nature’s works renew,

  Once more on wisdom’s voice attend.

  From false caresses, causeless strife,

  Wild hope, vain fear, alike remov’d,

  Here let me learn the use of life,

  When best enjoy’d — when most improv’d.

  Teach me, thou venerable bower,

  Cool meditation’s quiet seat,

  The gen’rous scorn of venal power,

  The silent grandeur of retreat.

  When pride, by guilt, to greatness climbs,

  Or raging factions rush to war,

  Here let me learn to shun the crimes,

  I can’t prevent, and will not share.

  But, lest I fall by subtler foes,

  Bright wisdom, teach me Curio’s art,

  The swelling passions to compose,