OF A SPEECH OF AQUILEIO, IN THE ADRIANO OP

METASTASIO,

BEGINNING

TU CHE IN CORTE INVECCHIASTIS."

GROWN old in courts, thou surely art not one
Who keeps the rigid rules of ancient honour ;
Well skilld to sooth a foe with looks of kindness,
To sink the fatal precipice before him,
And then lament his fall, with seeming friendship :

• The character of Cali, in Irene, is a masterly sketch of the old and practised dissembler of a despotic court.-ED.

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.

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 squealid 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*; "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. * Infames alike with equal 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”,

0! 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.

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 place,
Her statue would have breath'd an added grace,
And on its basis would have been enrolla,
“ 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 highWhat 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.

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 læsisset, aut dolor vel voluptas unquam expresserit.

Natus Cubleiæ, 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 præcellentem; aliis multum, sibi parum indulgentem: æternitati semper attentam, omne fere virtutis nomen commendavit.

Nata Nortoniæ Regis, in agro Varvicensi, anno MDCLXIX; obijt MDCCLIX.

Cum NATHANAELE, illorum filio, qui natus MDCCXII. cum vires et animi et corporis multa pollicerentur, ando MDCCXXXVII. vitam brevem pia morte finivit.

IN BROMLEY CHURCH.

Hic conduntur reliquiæ

ELIZABETHÆ
Antiqua JARVISIORUM gente
Peatlingæ, apud Leicestrenses, ortæ ;