Place me beneath the burning line, Her heav'nly voice, and beauteous face. Translation of HORACE. Book II. Ode ix. CLOUDS do not always veil the skies, Nor showers immerse the verdant plain ; Nor do the billows always rise, Or storms afflict the ruffled main. Nor, Valgius, on th' Armenian shores Or bends with violent force the trees. But you are ever drown'd in tears, The wise experienc'd Grecian sage So much lament his slaughter'd son.. Leave off, at length, these woman's sighs, To whom all nations tribute bring. Niphates rolls an humbler wave, At length the undaunted Scythian yields, Content to live the Roman's slave, And scarce forsakes his native fields. Translation of part of the Dialogue between HECTOR and ANDROMACHE; from the Sixth Book of HoMER'S ILIAD. SHE ceas'd; then godlike Hector answer'd kind, Acquired by wounds and battles bravely fought! That Priam's house, and Priam's self shall bleed : Yet Hecuba's, nor Priam's hoary age, Whose blood shall quench some Grecian's thirsty rage, As the sad thought of your impending fate : Tears, at my name, shall drown those beauteous eyes, To a YOUNG LADY on her BIRTH-DAY." This tributary verse receive my fair, Warm with an ardent lover's fondest pray'r. May this returning day for ever find Thy form more lovely, more adorn'd thy mind; • Mr. Hector informs me, that this was made almost impromptu, in his presence. All pains, all cares, may favouring heav'n remove, May powerful nature join with grateful art, To point each glance, and force it to the heart! Those sovereign charms with strictest care employ; Teach mimick censure her own faults to find, THE YOUNG AUTHOR.S WHEN first the peasant, long inclin'd to roam, Forsakes his rural sports and peaceful home, Pleas'd with the scene the smiling ocean yields, He scorns the verdant meads and flow'ry fields; Then dances jocund o'er the watery way, While the breeze whispers, and the streamers play : Unbounded prospects in his bosom roll, And future millions lift his rising soul; In blissful dreams he digs the golden mine, And raptur'd sees the new-found ruby shine. Joys insincere! thick clouds invade the skies, Loud roar the billows, high the waves arise Sick'ning with fear, he longs to view the shore, And vows to trust the faithless deep no more. So the young Author, panting after fame, And the long honours of a lasting name, Entrusts his happiness to human kind, More false, more cruel, than the seas or wind. "Toil on, dull croud, in extacies he cries, For wealth or title, perishable prize ; While I those transitory blessings scorn, Secure of praise from ages yet unborn." * This he inserted, with many alterations, in the Gentleman's Magazine, 1748, VOL. I. 7 This thought once form'd, all council comes too lates EPILOGUE, intended to have been spoken by a LADY who And scents ambrosial breathe in every gale: • Some young ladies at Lichfield having proposed to act "The Distressed Mother," Johnson wrote this, and gave it to Mr. Hector to convey it privately to them. No conscious blushes there their cheeks inflame, Vex ev'ry eye, and every bosom tear; Then melt, ye fair, while clouds around you sigh, With pity soften every awful grace, And beauty smile auspicious in each face; To ease their pains exert your milder power, So shall you guiltless reign, and all mankind adore.</ The two years which he spent at home, after his return from Stourbridge, he passed in what he thought idleness, and was scolded by his father for his want of steady application. He had no settled plan of life, nor looked forward at all, but merely lived from day to day. Yet he read a great deal in a desultory manner, without any scheme of study, as chance threw books in his way, and inclination directed him through them. He used to mention one curious instance of his casual reading, when but a boy. Having imagined that his brother had hid some apples behind a large folio upon an upper shelf in his father's shop, he climbed up to search for them. There were no apples; but the large folio proved to be Petrarch, whom he had seen mentioned, in some preface, as one of the restorers of learning. His curiosity having been thus excited, he sat 1728. Etat. 19. |