PERFATORY NOTE ON VANITY OF HUMAN WISHES

The Vanity of Human Wishes was written and published when Johnson was thirty-nine. In the ten years since London he had continued writing for the Gentleman's Magazine, but his contributions diminished in number as his independent writings increased. Among these is the Life of Savage, one of his most brilliant performances. He had also finished his unsuccessful tragedy Irene, had begun the Dictionary, had written up two volumes of Parliamentary Debates from the notes of hired listeners, and had struck off a great number of reviews, translations, brief biographies, and ephemeral essays.

By this time he acquired some reputation. His tragedy was soon presented by Garrick, and the publication of The Vanity of Human Wishes, a month before the performance, helped to win for it the fairly respectful hearing which the London public granted it.

The poem was written at Hampstead, a place now consecrated by many literary associations. Johnson told Steevens: 'I wrote the first seventy lines in the course of one morning. The whole was composed before I threw a single couplet on paper' (Johnsonian Miscellanies 2. 313), and he afterwards recalled writing a hundred lines of it in one day. He sold the poem for fifteen guineas.

Garrick used to say: 'When Johnson lived with the Herveys, and saw a good deal of what was passing in life, he wrote his London, which is lively and easy. When he became more retired he gave us his Vanity of Human Wishes, which is as hard as Greek. Had he gone on to imitate another satire, it would have been as hard as Hebrew.' Nevertheless he had expected to imitate other satires of Juvenal, for he had them all in his head.'

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At a glance The Vanity of Human Wishes is seen to possess more weight and solemn dignity than London. It

is a more serious performance. It contains more of Johnson himself, and less of Juvenal. To be sure he has followed the order of topics in his original-desire of power, of eloquence, of military glory, of long life, of beautybut these are not the main topics of his criticism. The poem is deeply tinged with his constitutional melancholy, brooding upon the vicissitude of things and the futility of endeavor. It deplores blind and passionate devotion to the achievement of any one aim. It denounces such evils of his time as corruption in public and private life, pretense, sycophancy, hardness of heart, prostitution of literature to mere gain, and the neglect of merit; against such abuses he contended for the rest of his life.

The Vanity of Human Wishes

IN IMITATION OF THE TENTH SATIRE
OF JUVENAL

LET Observation with extensive view
Survey mankind, from China to Peru;
Remark each anxious toil, each eager strife,
And watch the busy scenes of crowded life;
Then say how hope and fear, desire and hate,
O'erspread with snares the clouded maze of fate,
Where wav'ring man, betrayed by vent'rous pride
To chase the dreary paths without a guide,
As treach'rous phantoms in the mist delude,
Shuns fancied ills, or chases airy good;
How rarely reason guides the stubborn choice,
Rules the bold hand, or prompts the suppliant voice,
How Nations sink, by darling schemes oppress'd,
When vengeance listens to the fool's request.
Fate wings with ev'ry wish th' afflictive dart,
Each gift of nature and each grace of art;
With fatal heat impetuous courage glows,
With fatal sweetness elocution flows,

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Impeachment stops the speaker's pow'rful breath,
And restless fire precipitates on death.

But, scarce observ'd, the knowing and the bold
Fall in the gen'ral massacre of gold;

Wide wasting pest! that rages unconfin'd,

And crowds with crimes the records of mankind;
For gold his sword the hireling ruffian draws,
For gold the hireling judge distorts the laws;
Wealth heap'd on wealth, nor truth nor safety buys,
The dangers gather as the treasures rise.

Let Hist'ry tell where rival kings command,
And dubious title shakes the madded land,
When statutes glean the refuse of the sword,
How much more safe the vassal than the lord:
Low skulks the hind beneath the rage of power,

And leaves the wealthy traitor in the Tower,
Untouch'd his cottage, and his slumbers sound,
Though Confiscation's vultures hover round.
The needy traveller, serene and gay,

Walks the wild heath, and sings his toil away.
Does envy seize thee? crush th' upbraiding joy,
Increase his riches, and his peace destroy;
Now fears in dire vicissitude invade,

The rustling brake alarms, and quiv'ring shade,
Nor light nor darkness bring his pain relief,
One shows the plunder, and one hides the thief.
Yet still one gen'ral cry the skies assails,
And gain and grandeur load the tainted gales:
Few know the toiling statesman's fear or care,
Th' insidious rival and the gaping heir.
Once more, Democritus, arise on earth,
With cheerful wisdom and instructive mirth,
See motley life in modern trappings dress'd,
And feed with varied fools th' eternal jest:

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Thou who could'st laugh where want enchain'd caprice,
Toil crush'd conceit, and man was of a piece;
Where wealth unlov'd without a mourner died;
And scarce a sycophant was fed by pride;
Where ne'er was known the form of mock debate,
Or seen a new-made mayor's unwieldy state;
Where change of fav'rites made no change of laws,
And senates heard before they judg'd a cause;
How would'st thou shake at Britain's modish tribe,
Dart the quick taunt, and edge the piercing gibe?
Attentive truth and nature to descry,
And pierce each scene with philosophic eye,
To thee were solemn toys, or empty show,
The robes of pleasure and the veils of woe:
All aid the farce, and all thy mirth maintain,
Whose joys are causeless, or whose griefs are vain.
Such was the scorn that fill'd the sage's mind,
Renew'd at ev'ry glance on human kind;.
How just that scorn ere yet thy voice declare,
Search ev'ry state, and canvass ev'ry pray'r.

Unnumber'd suppliants crowd Preferment's gate,

Athirst for wealth, and burning to be great;

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Delusive Fortune hears th' incessant call,

They mount, they shine, evaporate, and fall.

On ev'ry stage the foes of peace attend,

Hate dogs their flight, and insult mocks their end.

Love ends with hope, the sinking statesman's door
Pours in the morning worshipper no more;
For growing names the weekly scribbler lies,
To growing wealth the dedicator flies;
From ev'ry room descends the painted face,
That hung the bright palladium of the place;
And, smok'd in kitchens, or in auctions sold,
To better features yields the frame of gold;
For now no more we trace in ev'ry line
Heroic worth, benevolence divine:
The form distorted justifies the fall,

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And detestation rids th' indignant wall.

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But will not Britain hear the last appeal,

Sign her foes' doom, or guard her fav'rites' zeal?

Through Freedom's sons no more remonstrance rings,

Degrading nobles and controlling kings;

Our supple tribes repress their patriot throats,

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And ask no questions but the price of votes;
With weekly libels and septennial ale,
Their wish is full to riot and to rail.

In full-blown dignity see WOLSEY stand,

Law in his voice, and fortune in his hand;

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To him the church, the realm, their pow'rs consign,

Through him the rays of regal bounty shine,

Turn'd by his nod the stream of honor flows,

His smile alone security bestows:

Still to new heights his restless wishes tow'r,

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Claim leads to claim, and pow'r advances pow'r;
Till conquest unresisted ceas'd to please,
And rights submitted left him none to seize.
At length his sov'reign frowns-the train of state
Mark the keen glance, and watch the sign to hate.
Where'er he turns, he meets a stranger's eye,
His suppliants scorn him, and his followers fly;
Now drops at once the pride of awful state,
The golden canopy, the glitt'ring plate,

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The regal palace, the luxurious board,

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