Complete Works of Samuel Johnson
Page 610
Down whose current, clear and strong,
Chiefs confused in mutual slaughter,
Moor and Christian roll along.
IMITATION OF THE STYLE OF ****.
Hermit hoar, in solemn cell
Wearing out life’s ev’ning grey,
Strike thy bosom, sage, and tell
What is bliss, and which the way.
Thus I spoke, and speaking sigh’d,
Scarce repress’d the starting tear,
When the hoary sage reply’d,
Come, my lad, and drink some beer.
BURLESQUE OF THE FOLLOWING LINES OF LOPEZ DE VEGA. AN IMPROMPTU.
Se a quien los leones vence
Vence una muger hermosa,
O el de flaco avergonze,
O ella di ser mas furiosa.
If the man who turnips cries,
Cry not when his father dies,
’Tis a proof, that he had rather
Have a turnip than his father.
TRANSLATION OF THE FOLLOWING LINES AT THE END OF BARETTI’S EASY PHRASEOLOGY.
AN IMPROMPTU.
Viva, viva la padrona!
Tutta bella, e tutta buona,
La padrona è un’ angiolella
Tutta buona e tutta bella;
Tutta bella e tutta buona;
Viva! viva la padrona!
Long may live my lovely Hetty!
Always young, and always pretty;
Always pretty, always young,
Live, my lovely Hetty, long!
Always young, and always pretty,
Long may live my lovely Hetty!
IMPROVISO TRANSLATION OF THE FOLLOWING DISTICH ON THE DUKE OF MODENA’S RUNNING AWAY FROM THE COMET IN 1742 OR 1743.
Se al venir vostro i principi sen’ vanno
Deh venga ogni di — durate un’ anno.
If at your coming princes disappear,
Comets! come every day — and stay a year.
IMPROVISO TRANSLATION OF THE FOLLOWING LINES OF M. BENSERADE A SON LIT.
Theatre des ris, et des pleurs,
Lit! où je nais, et où je meurs,
Tu nous fais voir comment voisins
Sont nos plaisirs, et nos chagrins.
In bed we laugh, in bed we cry,
And, born in bed, in bed we die;
The near approach a bed may show
Of human bliss to human woe.
TRANSLATION OF THE FOLLOWING LINES, WRITTEN UNDER A PRINT REPRESENTING PERSONS SKATING.
Sur un mince cristal l’hiver conduit leurs pas,
Le précipice est sous la glace:
Telle est de nos plaisirs la légère surface:
Glissez, mortels; n’appuyez pas.
O’er ice the rapid skater flies,
With sport above, and death below;
Where mischief lurks in gay disguise,
Thus lightly touch and quickly go.
IMPROMPTU TRANSLATION OF THE SAME.
O’er crackling ice, o’er gulfs profound,
With nimble glide the skaters play;
O’er treach’rous pleasure’s flow’ry ground
Thus lightly skim, and haste away.
TO MRS. THRALE, ON HER COMPLETING HER THIRTY-FIFTH YEAR. AN IMPROMPTU.
Oft in danger, yet alive,
We are come to thirty-five;
Long may better years arrive,
Better years than thirty-five!
Could philosophers contrive
Life to stop at thirty-five,
Time his hours should never drive
O’er the bounds of thirty-five.
High to soar, and deep to dive,
Nature gives at thirty-five.
Ladies, stock and tend your hive,
Trifle not at thirty-five;
For, howe’er we boast and strive.
Life declines from thirty-five.
He that ever hopes to thrive
Must begin by thirty-five;
And all, who wisely wish to wive,
Must look on Thrale at thirty-five.
IMPROMPTU TRANSLATION OF AN AIR IN THE CLEMENZA DI TITO OF METASTASIO, BEGINNING “DEH SE PIACERMI VUOI.”
Would you hope to gain my heart,
Bid your teasing doubts depart;
He, who blindly trusts, will find
Faith from ev’ry gen’rous mind:
He, who still expects deceit,
Only teaches how to cheat.
TRANSLATION OF A SPEECH OF AQUILEIO, IN THE ADRIANO OF METASTASIO, BEGINNING “TU CHE IN CORTE INVECCHIASTI.”
Grown old in courts, thou surely art not one
Who keeps the rigid rules of ancient honour;
Well skill’d to sooth a foe with looks of kindness,
To sink the fatal precipice before him,
And then lament his fall, with seeming friendship:
Open to all, true only to thyself,
Thou know’st those arts, which blast with envious praise,
Which aggravate a fault, with feign’d excuses,
And drive discountenanc’d virtue from the throne;
That leave the blame of rigour to the prince,
And of his ev’ry gift usurp the merit;
That hide, in seeming zeal, a wicked purpose,
And only build upon another’s ruin.
The character of Cali, in Irene, is a masterly sketch of the old and practised dissembler of a despotic court, — ED.
BURLESQUE OF THE MODERN VERSIFICATIONS OF ANCIENT LEGENDARY TALES. AN IMPROMPTU.
The tender infant, meek and mild,
Fell down upon the stone:
The nurse took up the squealing child,
But still the child squeal’d on.
FRIENDSHIP; AN ODE.
Friendship, peculiar boon of heaven,
The noble mind’s delight and pride,
To men and angels only given,
To all the lower world deny’d.
While love, unknown among the blest,
Parent of thousand wild desires,
The savage and the human breast
Torments alike with raging fires;
With bright, but oft destructive, gleam,
Alike, o’er all his lightnings fly;
Thy lambent glories only beam
Around the fav’rites of the sky.
Thy gentle flows of guiltless joys
On fools and villains ne’er descend;
In vain for thee the tyrant sighs,
And hugs a flatt’rer for a friend.
Directress of the brave and just,
O! guide us through life’s darksome way!
And let the tortures of mistrust
On selfish bosoms only prey.
Nor shall thine ardours cease to glow,
When souls to blissful climes remove:
What rais’d our virtue here below,
Shall aid our happiness above.
This ode originally appeared in the Gentleman’s Magazine for 1743.
See Boswell’s Life of Johnson, under that year. It was afterwards
printed in Mrs. Williams’s Miscellanies, in 1766, with several
variations, which are pointed out, below. — J.B.
Parent of rage and hot desires. — Mrs. W.
Inflames alike with equal fires.
In vain for thee the monarch sighs.
This stanza is omitted in Mrs. William’s Miscellanies, and instead
of it, we have the following, which may be suspected, from internal
evidence, not to have been Johnson’s:
When virtues, kindred virtues meet,
And sister-souls together join,
Thy pleasures permanent, as great,
Are all transporting — all divine.
O! shall thy flames then cease to glow.
ON SEEING A BUST OF MRS. MONTAGUE.
Had this fair figure, which this frame displays,
Adorn’d in Roman time the brightest days,
In every dome, in every sacred pla
ce,
Her statue would have breath’d an added grace,
And on its basis would have been enroll’d,
“This is Minerva, cast in virtue’s mould.”
IMPROVISO ON A YOUNG HEIR’S COMING OF AGE
Long expected one-and-twenty,
Ling’ring year, at length is flown;
Pride and pleasure, pomp and plenty,
Great —— , are now your own.
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.
Call the Betseys, Kates, and Jennies,
All the names that banish care;
Lavish of your grandsire’s guineas,
Show the spirit of an heir.
All that prey on vice or folly
Joy to see their quarry fly:
There the gamester light and jolly,
There the lender grave and sly.
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.
When the bonny blade carouses,
Pockets full, and spirits high —
What are acres? what are houses?
Only dirt, or wet or dry.
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.
EPITAPHS
EPITAPH ON CLAUDE PHILLIPS, AN ITINERANT MUSICIAN.
Phillips! whose touch harmonious could remove
The pangs of guilty pow’r, and hapless love,
Rest here, distress’d by poverty no more,
Find here that calm thou gay’st so oft before;
Sleep, undisturb’d, within this peaceful shrine,
Till angels wake thee, with a note like thine.
These lines are among Mrs. Williams’s Miscellanies: they are, nevertheless, recognised as Johnson’s, in a memorandum of his handwriting, and were probably written at her request. This Phillips was a fiddler, who travelled up and down Wales, and was much celebrated for his skill. The above epitaph, according to Mr. Boswell, won the applause of lord Kames, prejudiced against Johnson as he was. It was published in Mrs. Williams’s Miscellanies, and was, at first, ascribed to Garrick, from its appearing with the signature G. — Garrick, however, related, that they were composed, almost impromptu, by Johnson, on hearing some lines on the subject, by Dr. Wilkes, which he disapproved. See Boswell, i. 126, where is, likewise, preserved an epigram, by Johnson, on Colley Cibber and George the second, whose illiberal treatment of artists and learned men was a constant theme of his execration. As it has not yet been inserted among Johnson’s works, we will present it to the readers of the present edition, in this note.
EPITAPH FOR MR. HOGARTH.
The hand of him here torpid lies,
That drew th’ essential form of grace;
Here clos’d in death th’ attentive eyes,
That saw the manners in the face.
AT LICHFIELD. H. S. E. MICHAEL JOHNSON,
VIR impavidus, constans, animosus, periculorum immemor, laborum patientissimus; fiducia christiana fortis, fervidusque; paterfamilias apprime strenuus; bibliopola admodum peritus; mente et libris et negotiis exculta; animo ita firmo, ut, rebus adversis diu conflictatus, nec sibi nec suis defuerit; lingua sic temperata, ut ei nihil quod aures vel pias vel castas laesisset, aut dolor vel voluptas unquam expresserit.
Natus Cubleiae, in agro Derbiensi, anno MDCLVI; obijt
MDCCXXXI.
Apposita est SARA, conjux,
Antiqua FORDORUM gente oriunda; quam domi sedulam, foris paucis notam; nulli molestam, mentis acumine et judicii subtilitate praecellentem; aliis multum, sibi parum indulgentem: aeternitati semper attentam, omne fere virtutis nomen commendavit.
Nata Nortoniae Regis, in agro Varvicensi, anno
MDCLXIX; obijt MDCCLIX.
Cum NATHANAELE, illorum filio, qui natus MDCCXII. cum vires et animi et corporis multa pollicerentur, anno MDCCXXXVII. vitam brevem pia morte finivit.
IN BROMLEY CHURCH.
HIC conduntur reliquae
ELIZABETHAE
Antiqua JARVISIORUM gente
Peatlingae, apud Leicestrenses, ortae;
Formosae, cultae, ingeniosae, piae;
Uxoris, primis nuptiis, HENRICI PORTER,
secundis, SAMUELIS JOHNSON,
Qui multum amatam, diuque defletam,
Hoc lapide contexit.
Obijt Londini, mense Mart.
A. D. MDCCLIII.
IN WATFORD CHURCH.
In the vault below are deposited the remains of JANE BELL, wife of JOHN BELL, esq. who, in the fifty-third year of her age, surrounded with many worldly blessings, heard, with fortitude and composure truly great, the horrible malady, which had, for some time, begun to afflict her, pronounced incurable; and for more than three years, endured with patience, and concealed with decency, the daily tortures of gradual death; continued to divide the hours not allotted to devotion, between the cares of her family, and the converse of her friends; rewarded the attendance of duty, and acknowledged the offices of affection; and, while she endeavoured to alleviate by cheerfulness her husband’s sufferings and sorrows, increased them by her gratitude for his care, and her solicitude for his quiet. To the testimony of these virtues, more highly honoured, as more familiarly known, this monument is erected by JOHN BELL.
She died in October, 1771.
IN STRETHAM CHURCH.
Juxta sepulta est HESTERA MARIA,
Thomae Cotton de Combermere, baronetti Cestriensis,
filia,
Johannis Salusbury, armigeri Flintiensis, uxor,
Forma felix, felix ingenio;
Omnibus jucunda, suorum amantissima.
Linguis artibusque ita exeulta,
Ut loquenti nunquam deessent
Sermonis nitor, sententiarum flosculi,
Sapientiae gravitas, leporum gratia:
Modum servandi adeo perita,
Ut domestica inter negotia literis oblectaretur;
Literarum inter delicias, rem familiarem sedulo curaret.
Multis illi multos annos precantibus
diri carcinomatis venene contabuit,
nexibusque vitae paulatim resolutis,
e terris, meliora sperans, emigravit.
Nata 1707. Nupta 1739. Obijt 1773.
IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY.
OLIVARII GOLDSMITH,
Poetae, Physici, Historici,
Qui nullum fere scribendi genus
Non tetigit,
Nullum quod tetigit non ornavit:
Sive risus essent movendi,
Sive lacrimae,
Affectuum potens, at lenis, dominator:
Ingenio sublimis, vividus, versatilis,
Oratione grandis, nitidus, venustus:
Hoc monumento memoriam coluit
Sodalium amor,
Amicorum fides,
Lectorum veneratio.
Elfiniae, in Hibernia, natus MDCCXXIX.
Eblauae literis institutus:
Londini obijt MDCCLXXIV .
This is the epitaph, that drew from Gibbon, sir J. Reynolds, Sheridan, Joseph Warton, &c. the celebrated Round Robin, composed by Burke, intreating Johnson to write an English epitaph on an English author. His reply was, in the genuine spirit of an old scholar, “he would never consent to disgrace the walls of Westminster abbey with an English inscription.” One of his arguments, in favour of a common learned language, was ludicrously cogent: “Consider, sir, how you should feel, were you to find, at Rotterdam, an epitaph, upon Erasmus, in Dutch!” Boswell, iii. He would, however, undoubtedly have written a better epitaph in English, than in Latin. His compositions in that language are not of first rate excellence, either in prose or verse. The epitaph, in Stretham church, on Mr. Thrale, abo
unds with inaccuracies; and those who are fond of detecting little blunders in great men, may be amply gratified in the perusal of a review of Thrale’s epitaph in the Classical Journal, xii. 6. His Greek epitaph on Goldsmith, is not remarkable in itself, but we will subjoin it, in this place, as a literary curiosity.
[Greek:]
Thon taphon eisoraas thon OLIBARIOIO, koniaen
Aphrosi mae semnaen, xeine, podessi patei.
Oisi memaele phusis, metron charis, erga palaion,
Klaiete poiaetaen, istorikon, phusikon.
— ED.
IN STRETHAM CHURCH.
Hie conditur quod reliquum est
HENRICI THRALE,
Qui res seu civiles, seu domesticas, ita egit,
Ut vitam illi longiorem multi optarent;
Ita sacras,
Ut quam brevem esset habiturus praescire videretur;
Simplex, apertus, sibique semper similis,
Nihil ostentavit aut arte fictum, aut cura
elaboratum.
In senatu, regi patriaeque
Fideliter studuit,
Vulgi obstrepentis contemptor animosus;
Domi, inter mille mercaturae negotia,
Literarum elegantiam minime neglexit.
Amicis, quocunque modo laborantibus,
Consiliis, auctoritate, muneribus, adfuit.
Inter familiares, comites, convivas, hospites,
Tam facili fuit morum suavitate
Ut omnium animos ad se alliceret;
Tam felici sermonis libertate,
Ut nulli adulatus, omnibus placeret.
Natus 1724. Obijt 1781.
Consortes tumuli habet Rodolphum, patrem, strenuum
fortemque virum, et Henricum, filium unicum, quem
spei parentum mors inopiua decennem proripuit.
Ita
Domus felix et opulenta quam erexit
Avus, auxitque pater, cum nepote decidit.
Abi, Viator,
Et, vicibus rerum humanarum perspectis,