Can a prudent dove decline
Blissful bondage such as mine?
Over hills and fields to roam,
Fortune's guest without a home;
Under leaves to hide one's head,
Slightly shelter'd, coarsely fed:
Now my better lot bestows
Sweet repast, and soft repose;
Now the generous bowl I sip
As it leaves Anacreon's lip:
Void of care, and free from dread,
From his fingers snatch his bread;
Then, with luscious plenty gay,
Round his chamber dance and play;
Or from wine, as courage springs,
O'er his face extend my wings;
And when feast and frolic tire,
Drop asleep upon his lyre.
This is all, be quick and go,

More than all thou canst not know;
Let me now my pinions ply,

I have chatter'd like a pye.

PARODY OF A TRANSLATION

From the Medea of Euripides.
ERR shall they not, who resolute explore,
Times gloomy backward with judicious eyes;
And scanning right the practices of yore,

Shall deem our hoar progenitors unwise.
They to the dome where smoke, with curling
play,

Announced the dinner to the regions round,
Summon'd the singer blithe and harper gay,
And aided wine with dulcet-streaming sound.
The better use of notes, or sweet or shrill,
By quivering string or modulated wind;
Trumpet or lyre-to their harsh bosoms chill
Admission ne'er had sought, or could not find.
Oh! send them to the sullen mansions dun,
Her baleful eyes where Sorrow rolls around;
Where gloom-enamour'd Mischief loves to dwell,
And Murder, all blood-bolter'd, schemes the
wound.

Then cates luxuriant pile the spacious dish,

And purple nectar glads the festive hour;
The guest, without a want, without a wish,
Can yield no room to music's soothing power.

IMPROVISO TRANSLATION

Of the following Lines of M. Benserade à son Lil-
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 wo.

EPITAPH FOR MR. HOGARTH. THE hand of him here torpid lies,

That drew th' essential form of grace; Here closed in death th' attentive eyes, That saw the manners in the face.

TRANSLATION

Thou know'st those arts which blast with envious praise,

Which aggravate a fault with feign'd excuses,
And drive discountenanced virtue from the
throne;

That leave the blame of rigour to the prince,
And of his every gift usurp the merit;
That hide in seeming zeal a wicked purpose,

Of the following Lines written under a Print re- And only build upon another's ruin.

presenting Persons Skating.

SUR un mince crystal l'hyver conduit leurs pas,
Le précipice est sous la glace:
Telle est de nos plaisirs la lég re 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 iee, o'er gulfs profound,
With nimble glide the skaters play;
O'er treacherous Pleasure's flowery ground
Thus lightly skim and haste away.

TO MRS. THRALE

On her completing her thirty-fifth year.

AN IMPROMPTU.

Orr 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.

FRIENDSHIP,

AN ODE.

[This originally appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine, for the year 1743. See Boswell's Life of Johnson under that year. It was afterwards printed in Mrs. Wil. liams's Miscellanies, in 1766, with several variations, which are pointed out below. J. B.]

FRIENDSHIP! peculiar boon of heaven,
The noble mind's delight and pride,
To men and angels only given,
To all the lower world denied.

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 favourites 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 flatterer 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 raised our virtue here below,

Shall aid our happiness above.

Stanza 1. This stanza is omitted in Mrs. Williams'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.
Parent of rage and hot desires

Stanza 2, line 2d.

line 4th. Stanza 4, line 3d.

Mrs. W.
Inflames alike with equal fires.
In vain for thee the monarch sighs,

Stanza 6, line 1st. O shall thy flames then cease to
glow.

Faith from every generous mind;

He, who still expects deceit,
Only teaches how to cheat.

TRANSLATION

TRANSLATION

FROM THE MEDEA OF EURIPIDES, v. 190.

[This was written by Johnson for his friend, Dr. Bur.

Of a speech of Aquileio in the Adriano of Metasta-ney, and was inserted as the work of "A learned friend," sio, begining "Tu che in corte invechiasti."

in that gentleman's History of Music, Vol. II. p. 340. It
has always been ascribed to Johnson; but to put the mat
ter beyond a doubt, Mr. Malone ascertained the fact by
applying to Dr. Burney himself. J. B.]

THE rites derived from ancient days
With thoughtless reverence we praise,
The rites that taught us to combine
The joys of music and of wine,

And bid the feast, and song, and bowl,
O'erfill the saturated soul:

But ne'er the flute or lyre applied
To cheer despair and soften pride,
Nor call them to the gloomy cells,

Where Want repines and Vengeance swells;
Where Hate sits musing to betray,
And Murder meditates his prey,

To dens of guilt and shades of care,
Ye sons of melody repair;
Nor deign the festive dome to cloy,
With superfluities of joy.

Ah! little needs the minstrel's power,
To speed the light convivial hour.
The board with varied plenty crown'd,
May spare the luxuries of sound.

4

POEMAТА.

MESSIA.*

Ex alieno ingenio poeta, ex suo tantum versificator.
SCALIG. Poet.

TOLLITE Concentum, Solymææ tollite nymphae,
Nil mortale loquor; cœlum mihi carminis alta
Materies; poscunt gravius cœlestia plectrum.
Muscosi fontes, sylvestria tecta valete,
Aonidesque Deæ, et mendacis somnia Pindi:
Tu, mihi qui flammâ movisti pectora sancti
Sidereâ Isaiæ, dignos accende furores!

Immatura calens rapitur per secula vates
Sic orsus-Qualis rerum mihi nascitur ordo!
Virgo! virgo parit! felix radicibus arbor
Jessæis surgit, mulcentesque æthera flores
Coelestes lambunt animæ, ramisque columba,
Nuncia sacra Dei, plaudentibus insidet alis.
Nectareos rores, alimentaque mitia cœlum
Præbeat, et tacite fœcundos irriget imbres.
Huc, foedat quos lepra, urit quos febris, adeste,
Dia salutares spirant medicamina rami;
Hic requies fessis: non sacra sævit in umbra
Vis Boreæ gelida, aut rapidi violentia solis.
Irrita vanescent prisca vestigia fraudis,
Justitiæque manus pretio intemerata bilancem
Attollet reducis; bellis prætendet olivas
Compositis pax alma suas, terrasque revisens
Sedatas niveo virtus lucebit amictu:
Volvantur celeres anni! lux purpuret ortum
Expectata diu! naturæ claustra refringens,
Nascere, magne puer! tibi primas, ecce, corollas
Deproperat tellus, fundit tibi munera quicquid
Carpit Arabs, hortis quicquid frondescit Eois.
Altius, en! Lebanon gaudentia culmina tollit.
En! summo exultant nutantes vertice sylvæ.
Mittit aromaticas vallis Saronica nubes,
Et juga Carmeli recreant fragrantia cœlum.
Deserti lætâ mollescunt aspera voce,
Auditur Deus! ecce Deus! reboantia circum,
Saxa sonant, Deus! ecce Deus! deflectitur
æther,

Demissumque Deum tellus capit; ardua cedrus,
Gloria sylvarum, dominum inclinata salutet.
Surgite convalles, tumidi subsidite montes!
Sternite saxa viam, rapidi discedite fluctus ;
En quem turba diu cecinerunt enthea, vates,
En salvator adest; vultus agnoscite cæci

* This translation has been severely criticised by Dr Warton, in his edition of Pope, vol. i. p. 105. Svo. 1797. It certainly contains some expressions that are not classi: cal. Let it be remembered, however, that was a college exercise, performed with great rapidity, and was at first praised beyond all suspicion of defect.-C.

Divinos, surdos sacra vox permulceat aures.
Ille cutim spissam visus hebetare vetabit,
Reclusisque oculis infundet amabile lumen;
Obstrictasque diu linguas in carmina solvet.
Ille vias vocis pandet, flexusque liquentis
Harmoniæ purgata novos mirabitur auris.
Accrescunt teneris tactu nova robora nervis.
Consuetus fulcro innixus reptare bacilli

Nunc saltu capreas; nunc cursu provocat euros.
Non planctus, non moesta sonant suspiria;
pectus

Singultans mulcet, lachrymantes tergit ocellos.
Vincla coercebunt luctantem adamantina mortem
Eternoque Orci dominator vulnere languens
Invalidi raptos sceptri plorabit honores.
Ut qua dulce strepent scatebræ, qua lata virescunt
Pascua, qua blandum spirat purissimus aer.
Pastor agit pecudes, teneros modo suscipit agnos
Et gremio fotis selectas porrigit herbas,
Amissas modo quærit oves, revocatque vagantes;
Fidus adest custos, seu nox furat horrida nimbis,
Sive dies medius morientia torreat arva.
Postera sic pastor divinus secla beabit,
Et curas felix patrias testabitur orbis.
Non ultra infestis concurrent agmina signis,
Hostiles oculis flammas jaculantia torvis ;
Non litui accendent bellum, non campus ahenis
Triste coruscabit radiis; dabit hasta recusa
Vomerem, et in falcem rigidus curvabitur ensis.
Atria, pacis opus, surgent, finemque caduci
Natus ad optatum perducet cœpta parentis.
Qui duxit sulcos, illi teret area messem,
Et seræ texent vites umbracula proli.
Attoniti dumeta vident inculto coloni
Suave rubere rosis, sitientesque inter arenas
Garrula mirantur salientis murmura rivi.
Per saxa, ignivomi nuper spelæa draconis.
Canna viret, juncique tremit variabilis umbra.
Horruit implexo qua vallis sente, figuræ
Surgit amans abies teretis, buxique sequaces
Artificis frondent dextræ; palmisque rubeta
Aspera, odorata cedunt mala gramina myrto
Per valles sociata lupo lasciviet agna,
Cumque leone petet tutus præsepe juvencus.
Florea mansuetæ petulantes vincula tigri
Per ludum pueri injicient, et fessa colubri
Membra viatoris recreabunt frigore linguæ.
Serpentes teneris nil jam lethale micantes
Ridebit linguæ innocuos, squamasque virentes
Tractabit palmis infans,motusque trisulcæ
Aureaque admirans rutilantis fulgura crista.
Indue reginam, turritæ frontis honores
Tolle Salema sacros, quam circum gloria pennas
Explicat, incinctam radiate luce tiara!

CHRISTIANUS PERFECTUS. Qui cupit in sanctos Christo cogente referri, Abstergat mundi labem, nec gaudia carnis Captans, nec fastu tumidus, semperque futuro Instet, et evellens terroris spicula corde, Suspiciat tandem clementem in numine patrem. ; Huic quoque, nec genti nec sectæ noxius ulli,