The board, with varied plenty crown'd,
May spare the luxuries of sound '.

TRANSLATION

OF THE FIRST TWO STANZAS OF THE SONG

RIO

VERDE, RIO VERDE," PRINTED IN BISHOP PERCY'S RELIQUES OF ANCIENT ENGLISH POETRY.

AN IMPROMPTU.

GLASSY water, glassy water,

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.

This translation was written by Johnson for his friend Dr. Burney, and was inserted, as the work of "a learned friend," in that gentleman's History of Musick, vol. ii. p. 340. It has always been ascribed to Johnson; but, to put the matter beyond a doubt, Mr. Malone ascertained the fact by applying to Dr. Burney himself. J. B.

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 dì-durate un' anno.
IF at your coming princes disappear,
Comets! come every day-and stay a year.

Here clos'd in death th' attentive eyes,

That saw the manners in the face.

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.

VOL. I.

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.

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 :

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