IN IMITATION OF THE THIRD SATIRE Tam patiens urbis, tam ferreus ut teneat se? (Who so patient of the unjust town, so unfeeling as to restrain himself?) Though grief and fondness in my breast rebel, (I praise the hermit, but regret the friend,) For who would leave, unbrib'd, Hibernia's land,4 11 15 20 Or change the rocks of Scotland for the Strand?5 2 Ancient name of Wales. 3 Patron saint of Wales. 4 Ireland. 25 In Johnson's time, one of the most fashionable streets of London. Queen Elizabeth was born at Greenwich, 1533. gay, Where once the harass'd Briton found repose, And safe in poverty defy'd his foes; Some secret cell, ye Pow'rs indulgent give. Let live here, for - has learn'd to live. 50 Here let those reign, whom pensions can incite To vote a patriot black, a courtier white; Explain their country's dear-bought rights away, And plead for pirates in the face of day; With slavish tenets taint our poison'd youth, 55 With warbling eunuchs fill our licens'd stage,10 60 "Heroes, proceed! what bounds your pride shall hold? What check restrain your thirst of pow'r and gold? Behold rebellious Virtue quite o'erthrown, Behold our fame, our wealth, our lives your Despise a fool in half his pension dress'd, Well may they rise, while I, whose rustic tongue Ne'er knew to puzzle right, or varnish wrong, 80 Spurn'd as a beggar, dreaded as a spy, Live unregarded, unlamented die. "For what but social guilt the friend endears? Who shares Orgilio's13 crimes, his fortune shares. The land of heroes and of saints survey; 105 110 Of France the mimic, and of Spain the prey. All sciences a fasting Monsieur knows, "Ah! what avails it that, from slav'ry far, 115 I draw the breath of life in English air; 120 12 There is a bragging character of this name, given to strange oaths, in Cibber's play, Love makes a Man. Johnson may, however, have had one of his own contemporaries in mind. 13 A personification of the pride of wealth. 14 The Duke of Marlborough (d. 1722) who has been called "the greatest and meanest of mankind." 15 George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham (d. 1687) was one of the most extravagant and profligate of the courtiers of Charles II. 16 Edward III., illustrious because of his exploits in France. 17-18 The Gibbet was an English, the wheel a French mode of execution. 19 Henry V.'s victories in France, especially at Agin court. "How, when competitors like these contend, Can surly Virtue hope to fix a friend? Slaves that with serious impudence beguile, And lie without a blush, without a smile; Can Balbo's 20 eloquence applaud, and swear 150 He gropes21 his breeches with a monarch's air! "For arts like these preferr'd, admir'd, caress'd, They first invade your table, then your breast; 155 160 Then soon your ill-placed confidence repay, Fate never wounds more deep the gen'rous heart, Than when a blockhead's insult points the dart, 175 Where, won by bribes, by flatteries implor'd, 180 The groom retails the favors of his lord. 20 Lat. balbus, stammering, stuttering. 21 Takes hold of. Examines by touch. cry, 55 As tyrants doom their tools of guilt to die; 1 The story of Dr. Faustus was made the subject of a farcical pantomime by Thurmond, produced at Drury Lane in 1724. Similar farces were much in vogue for several seasons in London, and were satirized by Pope in the Dunciad, III, 11. 233, ff. 2 Aphra Behn (1640-1689), a novelist and playwright. Her plays were noted for their low moral tone. 3 Thomas Durfey (1653-1723) a minor poet, and a writer of comedies and songs. A Hunt was a famous boxer on the stage. 5 Mahomet, a famous rope-dancer. |