WRITIEN AT THE REQUEST OF A GENTLEMAS TO

AT BURY ASSIZES.

TO A FRIEND.

Fame, wealth, and knowledge, l obtain,

Nor seek I Nature's charms in vain; No more thus brooding o'er yon heap,

In lovely Stella all combine;
With avarice painful vigils keep;

And, lovely Stella ! thou art mine.
Still unenjoy'd the present store,
Stillendiess sighs are breath'd for more.
Oh! quit the shadow, catch the prize,

VERSES.
Which not all India's treasure buys!
To purchase Heaven has gold the power ?

WHOM A LADY HAD CIVEN A SPRIG OF XYRILE'.
Can gold remove the mortal hour
In life can love be bought with gold?

What hopes, what terrours, does thy gift create? Are friendship's pleasures to be sold?

Ambiguous emblem of uncertain fate! No-all that's worth a wish-a thought,

The myrtle(ensign of supreme command, Fair virtue gives unbrib'd, unbought.

Consign'd by Venus to Melissa's hand) Cease then on trash thy hopes tu bind,

Not less capricious than a reigning fair, Let nobler views engage thy mind.

Oft favours, oft rejects, a lover's pray'r. With science tread the wond'rous way,

In myrtle shades oft sings the happy swain, Or learn the Muses' moral lay ;

In myrtle shades despairing ghosts complain. In social hours indulge thy soul,

The myrtle crowns the happy lorers' beads, Where mirth and temperance mix the bowl!

Th' unhappy lovers graves the myrtle spreads. To virtuous love resign thy breast,

Oh! then, the meaning of thy gift impart, And be, by blessing beauty-blest.

And ease the throbbings of an anxious heart. Thus taste the feast by Nature spread,

Soon must this bough, as you shall fix its doom, Ere youth and all its joys are fled;

Adorn Philander's head, or grace bis tomb.
Come taste with me the balm of life,
Secure from pomp, and wealth, and strife,
I boast whate'er for man was meant,

TO LADY FIREBRACE,
In health, and Stella, and content ;
And scorn! oh! let that scorn be thine !
Mere things of clay that dig the mine.

At length must Suffolk beauties shine in vain,
So long renown'd in B-n's deaihless strain?
Thy charms at least, fair Firebrace, might in-

spire
STELLA IN MOURNING.

Some zealous bard to wake the sleeping lyre;

For, such thy beauteous mind and lovely face, When lately Stella's form display'd The beauties of the gay brocade,

Thou seem'st at once, bright nymph, a Muse and

Grace, The nymphs, who found their power decline, Proclaim'd her not so fair as fine. “ Fate! snatch away the bright disguise, TO LYCE, AN ELDERLY LADY. " And let the goddess trust her eyes." Thus blindly pray'd the fretful fair,

Ye nymphs whom starry rays invest, And Fate malicious heard the pray'r;

By flatt'ring poets given, But, brightep'd by the sable dress,

Who sbine, by lavish lovers drest, As virtue rises in distress,

In all the pomp of Heaven; Since Stella still extends her reign,

Engross not all the beams on high, Ah! how shall envy sooth her pain ?

Which gild a lover's lays, Th’adoring youth and envious fair,

But as your sister of the sky, Henceforth sball form one common prayer: Let Lyce share the praise. And love and hate alike implore

Her silver locks display the Moon,
The skies" That Stella mourn no more."

Her brows a cloudy show,
Strip'd rainbows round her eyes are seen,

And show'rs from either flow.
TO STELLA.
Not the soft sigbs of vernal gales,

These verses were first printed in the GenThe fragrance of the flowery vales,

tleman's Magazine for 1768, p. 439, but were The murmurs of the crystal rill,

written many years earlier. Elegant as they The vocal grove, the verdant bill;

are, Dr. Jobnson assured me, they were come Not all their charms, though all unite,

posed in the short space of five minutes.

N. Can touch my bosom with delight.

2 This lady was Bridget, third daughter of

Philip Bacon, esq. of Ipswich, and relict of Not all the gems on India's shore,

Philip Evers, esq. of that town. She became the Not all Peru's unbounded store,

second wife of sir Cordell Firebrace, the last Not all the power, nor all the fame,

baronet of that pame (to whom she brought 3 That heroes, kings, or poets, claim;

fortune of 25,0001.), July 26, 1737. Being Nor knowledge which the learn’d approve;

again left a widow in 1759, she was a third time To form one wish my soul can more.

married, April 7, 1762, to William Campbell, Yet Nature's charms allures my eyes,

esq. uncle to the present duke of Argyle; And knowledge, wealth, and fame I prize; died July 3, 1792.

1

and

A PRACTISER IN PHYSIC.

Her teeth the night with darkness dyes,

Rest bere, distrest by poverty no more,
She's starr'd with pimples o’er;

Find here that calm thou gav'st so oft before; Her tongue like nimble lightning plies,

Sleep undisturb'd within this peaceful shrine,
And can with thunder roar.

Till angels wake thee with a note like thine.
But some Zelinda, while I sing,
Denies my Lyce shines ;

EPITAPHIUM IN THOMAM HAN. And all the pens of Cupid's wing

MER, BARONETTUM.
Attack my gentle lines.

HONORABILIS admodum Thomas Hanmer
Yet, spite of fair Zelinda's eye,

Baropettus,
And all her bards express,

Wilhelmi Hanmer armigeri, è Peregrina Henrici My Lyce makes as good a sky,

North
And I but flatter less.

De Mildenhall in com Saffolciæ Baronetti so

sore et hærede,

Filius;
ON THE DEATH OF MR. ROBERT

Johannis Hanmer de Hanmer Baronetti
LEVET,

Hæres patruelis [cessit.
Antiquo gentis suæ et titulo et patrimonio suc.

Duas uxores fortitus est; Condemn’D to hope's delusive mine,

Alteram Isabellam, honore à patre derivato, de As on we toil from day to day,

Arlington comitissam, By sudden blasts, or slow decline,

Deindè celsissimi principis ducis de Grafton viOur social comforts drop away.

duam dotariam : Well try'd through many a varying year,

Alteram Elizabetham Thomæ Foulkes de Barton See Levet to the grare descend,

in com. Suff. armigeri Officious, innocent, sincere,

Filiam et hæredem.
Of ev'ry friendless name the friend.

Inter humanitates studia felicitèr enutritus,

Omnes liberalium artium disciplinas avidè arYet still he fills affectiou's eye,

ripuit, Obscurely wise, and coarsely kind;

Quas morum suavitate haud leviter ornavit.
Nor, letter'd Arrogance, deny

Postquam excessit ex ephebis,
Thy praise to merit unrefin'd.

Continuò inter populares suos famâ eminens, When fainting nature call’d for aid,

Et comitatûssui legatus ad Parliamentum missus, And hor'ring death prepard the blow, Ad ardua regoi negotia per annos prope triginta His rig'rous remedy display'd

se accinxit : The pow'r of art without the show.

Cumque apud illos amplissimorum virorum

ordines In misery's darkest cavern known,

Solent nihil temerè effutire,
His useful care was ever nigh,
Where hopeless anguish pour'd his groan,

Sed probè perpensa dissertè expromere,

Orator gravis et pressus;
And lonely want retir'd to die.

Non minus integritatis quam eloquentiæ laude No summons mock'd by chill delay,

commendatus, No petty gain disdain'd by pride,

Æquè omnium, utcunque inter se alioqui dissiThe modest wants of ev'ry day

dentium, 'The toil of ev'ry day supply'd.

Aures atque animos attraxit. His virtues walk'd their narrow round,

Annoque demum m Dcc.XII. regnante Anna, Noe made a pause, nor left a void;

Felicissimæ florentissimæque memoriæ regina, And sure th' Eternal Master found

Ad Prolocutoris cathedram
The single talent well employ’d,

Communi Senatûs universi voce designatus est :

Quod munus,
The busy day-the peaceful night,

Cum nullo tempore non difficile,
Unfelt, uncounted, glided by ;

Tum illo certè, negotiis
His frame was firm-his powers were bright, Et variis et lubricis et implicatis difficillimum,
Though now his eightieth year was night.

Cum dignitate sustinuit. Then with no fiery throbbing pain,

Honores alios, et omnia quæ sibi in lucrum ceNo cold gradations of decay,

derent munera, Death broke at once the vital chain,

Sedulo detrectavit,
And freed his soul the nearest way.

Ut rei totus inserviret publicæ;

Justi rectique tenax,

Et fide in patriam incorruptâ notus. EPITAPA ON CLAUDE PHILLIPS, Ubi omnibus, quæ virum civemque bonum de

cent, officiis satisfecisset, AN ITINERANT MUSICIAN'. Phillips! whose touch harmonious could re

as Johnson's in a memorandum of his band-writ

ing, and were probably written at her request. The pangs of guilty pow'r, and hapless love,

Phillips was a travelling fidler up and down

Wales, and was greatly celebrated for his peri These lines are among Mrs. Williams' formance. Miscellanjes : they are nevertheless recognised 2 At Hanmer church in Flintshire.

:

move

PLAYING ON THE SPINNET.

Paulatim se à publicis consiliis in otium recipiens, Calm conscience, then, his former life survey'd

Inter literarum amenitates,
Inter ante-actæ vitæ haud insuaves recordationes, Till Nature called him to the gen’ral doom,

And recollected toils endear'd the shade,
Inter amicorum convictus et amplexus,
Honorificè consenuit;

And virtue's sorrow dignified his tomb.
Et bonis omnibus, quibus charissimus vixit,
Desideratissimus obiit.

TO MISS HICKMAN,
Hic, juxta cineres avi, suos condi voluit, et

curavit
Gulielmus Bunbury Bttus nepos et hæres.

Bricut Stella, form'd for universal reign,

Too well you know to keep the slaves you gain ; PARAPHRASE OF THE ABOVE

When in your eyes resistless lightnings play,
EPITAPH.

Aw'd into love our conquer'd hearts obey,

And yield reluctant to despotic sway:
BY DR. JOHNSON 1,

But when your music soothes the raging pain,
Thou who survey'st these walls with curious We bless the tyrant, and we hug the chain.

We bid propitious Hear'n prolong your reign, eye,

When old Timotheus struck the vocal string,
Pause at the tomb where Hanmer's ashes lie;

Ambition's fury fir'd the Grecian king:
His various worth through varied life attend,
And learn his virtues while thou mourn'st his He pants for room in one poor world confin'd.

Unbounded projects lab'ring in his mind,
end.

Thus wak'd to rage, by music's dreadful pow'r, His force of genius burn'd in early youth, With thirst of knowledge, and with love of He bids the sword destroy, the flame devour.

Had Stella's gentle touches mov'd the lyre, truth;

Soon had the monarch felt a nobler fire; His learning, join'd with each endearing art,

No more delighted with destructive war,
Charm'd ev'ry ear, and gain'd on ev'ry heart.

Ambitious only now to please the fair;
Thus early wise, th' endanger'd realm to aid,
His country call'd him from the studious shade;

Resign'd his thirst of empire to her charms,

And found a thousand worlds in Stella's arms.
In life's first bloom his public toils began,
At once commenc'd the senator and man.
In business dextrous, weighty in debate,

PARAPARASE?
Thrice ten long years he labour'd for the state ;
In ev'ry speech persuasive wisdom flow'd,

OF PROVERBS, CHAP. VI.
In ev'ry act refulgent virtue glow'd :

Verses 6, 7, 8, 9, 14, 11,
Suspended faction ceas'd from rage and strife,
To hear' bis eloquence, and praise his life.

" GO TO THE ANT THOU SLUGGARD.” Resistless meri: fix'd the senate's choice, Turn on the prudent ant thy heedful eyes, Who haild him speaker with united voice. Observe her labours, sluggard, and be wise: Ulustrious age! how bright thy glories shone, No stern command, no monitory voice, When Hanmer fillid the chair-and Anne the Prescribes her duties, or directs her choice; throne!

Yet, timely provident, she hastes away, Then when dark arts obscur'd each fierce de- To snatch the blessings of the plenteous day; bate,

When fruitful summer loads the teeming plaio, When mutual frauds perplex'd the maze of state, She crops the harvest, and she stores the graio. The moderator firmly mild appeard

How long shall sloth usurp thy useless hours, Beheld with love-with veneration heard. Unnerve thy vigour, and enchain thy pow'rs; This task perform’d-he sought no gainful While artful shades downy coucb enclose, post,

And soft solicitation courts repose?
Nor wish'd to glitter at his country's cost; Amidst the drowsy charms of dull delight,
Strict on the right he fix'd his stedfast eye, Year chases year with unremitted flight,
With temperate zeal and wise anxiety:

Till want now following, fraudulent and slow,
Nor e'er from virtue's paths was lurd aside, Shall spring to seize thee like an ambush'd fue.
To pluck the flow'rs of pleasure, or of pride.
Her zifts despis'd, corruption blush'd and fled,

These lines, which have been communicated And fame pursu'd him where conviction led. by Dr. Turton, son to Mrs. Turton, the lady to Age call'd, at length, his active mind to rest,

whom they are addressed by her maiden name With honour sated, and with cares opprest; of Hickman, must have been written at least as

To letter'd ease retir'd, and honest mirth, early as the year 1734, as that was che year of • To rural grandeur and domestic worth :

her marriage : at how much earlier a period of Delighted still to please mankind, or mend, Dr. Johnson's life they may have been written, is The patriot's fire yet sparkled in the friend.

not known.

2 In Mrs. Williams's Miscellanies, but now " This Paraphrase is inserted in Mrs. Wil-printed from the original in Dr. Johnson's own liams's Miscellanies. The Latin is here said to hand-writing. be written by Dr. Freind. Of the person whose memory it celebrates, a copious account may be seen in the Appendix to the Supplement to the Biographia Britannica.

Think not yet my service hard,
HORACE,

Joyless task without reward;
L13. IV. ODE VII, TRANSLATED.

Smiling at my master's gates,

Freedom my returu awaits 3
The snow, dissolv'd, no more is seen,
The fields and woods, behold! are green;

But the lib'ral grant in vain
The changing year renews the plain,

Temp's me to be wild again. The rivers know their banks again ;

Can a prudent dore decline The sprightly nymph and naked grace

Blissful bondage such as mine?

Over hills aud fields to roam,
The mazy dance together trace;

Fortune's guest without a home;
The changing year's successive plan
Proclaims mortality to man;

Under leaves to hide one's head,
Rough winter's blasts to spring give way,

Slightly shelter'd, coarsely fed: Spring yields to summer's sov'reign ray;

Noir my better lot bestows Then summer sinks in autumn's reign,

Sweet repast, and soft repose ; And winter chills the world again;

Now the gen'rous bowl I sip Her losses soon the Moon supplies,

As it leaves Anacreon's lip: But wretched man, when once he lies

Void of care, and free from dread, Where Priam and his sous are laid,

From his fingers snatch his bread; Is nonght but ashes and a shade.

Then, with luscious plenty gay, Who knows if Jove, who counts our score,

Round his chamber dance and play ; Will toss us in a morning more?

Or from winc, as courage springs,

O'er bis face extend my wings;
What with your friend you nobly share

And when feast and frolic tire,
At least you rescue from your heir.
Not you, Torquatus, boast of Rome,

Drop asleep upon his lyre.
When Minos once has fix'd your doom,

This is all, be quick and go,

More than all thou canst not know;
Or eloquence, or splendid birth,
Or virtue, shall restore to Earth,

Let nie now my pinions ply.

I have chatter'd like a pye.
Hippolytus, unjustly slain.
Diana calls to life in vain;
Nor can the might of Theseus rend

LINES
The chains of Hell that hold his friend.
Nov. 1784.

WRITTEN IN RIDICULE OF CERTAIN POEMS PUB

LISHED IN 1777.

WHERESO E'ER I turn my view,
ON SEEING A BUST OF MRS.

All is strange, yet nothing new ;
MONTAGUE.

Endless labour all along,

Endless labous to be wrong ;
Had this fair figure which this frame displays, Phrase that lime hath fung away,
Adorn'd in Roman time the brightest days, Uncouth words in disarray,
In every dome in every sacred place,

Trick'd in antique ruff and bonnet,
Her statue would have breath'd an added grace, Ode, and elegy, and sonnet.
And on its basis would have been enroll’d,
“ This is Minerva, cast in virtue's mould.”

PARODY

OF A TRANSLATION FROM THE MEDEA OF The following Translations, Parodies, and Bur

EURIPIDES, lesque verses, most of them extempore, are Err shall they not, who resolute explore taken from Anecdotes of Dr. Johnson publish- Times gloomy backward with judicious eyes; ed by Mrs. Piozzi.

And, scanning right the practices of yore,

Shall deem our hoar progenitors unwise.
ANACREON,

They to the dome where smoke with curling play
ODE IX,

Announc'd the dinner to the regions round, LOVELY courier of the sky,

Summon'd the singer blythe, and harper gay, Whence and whither dost thou fly?

And aided wine with dulcet-streaming sound. Scatt'ring, as thy pinions play,

The better use of notes, or sweet or shrill; Liquid fragrance all the way:

By quiv'ring string or modulated wind; Is it business? is it love?

Trumpet or lyre-to their harsh bosóms chill, Tell me, tell me, gentle dove.

Admission ne'er had sought, or could not find. · Soft Anacreon's vows I bear, Vows to Myrtale the fair;

Oh! send them to the sullen mansions dun, Grac'd with all that charms the heart,

Her baleful eyes where Sorrow rolls around; Blushing nature, smiling art.

Where gloom-epamour'd Mischief loves to dwell, Venus, courted by an ode,

And Murder, all blood-bollerd, schemes the On the bard her dove bestow'd : Vested with a master's right,

When cates luxuriant pile the spacious dish, Now Anacreon rules my flight;

And purple nectar glads the festive hour, His the letters that you see,

The guest, without a want, without a wish, Weighty charge, consigo'd to me:

Can yield no room to music's soothing pow'r. VOL. XYL.

wound.

BURLESQUE

IMPROVISO TRANSLATION

OF THE MODERN VERSIFICATIONS OF AN
CIENT 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,

OF THE FOLLOWING DISTICH ON THE DUKE

OP MODENA'S RUNNING AWAY FROM THE

COMET IN 1742 or 1743.
Se al venir vostro i principi se n' ranno
Deh venga ogni di durate un anno
IF at your coming princes disappear,
Comets! come ev'ry day and stay a fear.

TRANSLATION
OF THE TWO FIRST STANZAS OF THE SONG

IMPROVISO TRANSLATION « Rio verde, Rio verde," PRINTED IN BI

OF TUE FOLLOWING SHOP PERCY'S RELIQUES OF ANCIENT EN

LINES OR M. BENSERADE A SOY LIT. GLISH POETRY. AN IMPROMPTU

Theatre des ris, et des pleurs, Glassy water, glassy water,

Lit! où je nais, et où je meurs, Down, whose current, clear and strong, Tu nous fais voir comment voisins, Chiefs confus'd in mutual slaughter,

Sont nos plaisirs, et nos chagrins. Moor and Christian roll along.

In bed we laugh, in bed we cry,

And born in bed, in bed we die; IMITATION OF THE STYLE OF ***. The near approach a bed may show

Of human bliss to human woe, Her mit hoar, in solemn cell

Wearing out life's evening grey, Strike thy bosom, sage, and tell

EPITAPA FOR MR. BOGARTH. What is bliss, and which the way.

The hand of him here torpid lies, Thus I spoke, and speaking sigh’d,

That drew th' essential form of grace; Scarce repress'd the starting tear,

Here clos'd in death th' attentive eyes, When the boary sage reply'd,

That saw the manners in the face. “ Come, my lad, and drink some beer.”

TRANSLATION
BURLESQUE

OF THE FOLLOWING LINES WRITTEN UNDER OF TIL FOLLOWING LINES OF LOPEZ DE

A PRINT REPRESENTING PERSONS VEGA. AN IMPROMPTU.

SKAITING. Se acquien los leones vence

Sur un mince chrystal l'hyver conduit leurs pas, Vence una muger hermosa

Le précipice est sous la glace : o el de flaco averguençe

Telle est de pos plaisirs la legere surface : O ella di ser mas furiosa.

Glissez, mortels; n'appuyez pas. If the man who turnips cries,

O'er ice the rapid skaiter flies, Cry not when his father dies,

With sport above, and death below;; 'Tis a proof that he had rather

Where mischief lurks in gay disguise, Have a turnip than his father.

Thus lightly touch and quickly go.

IMPROMPTU TRANSLATION

OF TUE SAME.
O'er crackling ice, o'er gulphs profound,

With nimble glide the skaiters play;
O’er treach'rous Pleasure's flow'ry ground

Thus lightly skim, and baste away.

TRANSLATION OF THE FOLLOWING LINES

AT THE END OF
BARETTI'S EASY PHRASEOLOGY. AN IN

PROMPTU.
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!

TO MRS. THRALE,

ON HER COMPLETING HER THIRTI-FITTX

YEAR. AN IMPRONPTU.

Oft in danger, yet alive,
We are come to thirty-five;
Long may better years arrire,
Better years than thirty-five!
Could philosophers contrive
Life to stop at thirty-five,