BURLESQUE OF THE MODERN VERSIFICATIONS OF ANCIENT LEGENDARY TALES. AN IMPROMPTU. THE tender infant meek and mild, Fell down upon the stone: The nurse took up the squealing child, FRIENDSHIP, AN ODE. [This Ode originally appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1743. See Boswell's Life of Johnson, under that year. It was afterwards printed in Mrs. Williams's Miscellanies, in 1766, with several variations which are pointed out below.—J. B.] FRIENDSHIP, peculiar boon of Heaven, To men and angels only giv'n, While Love, unknown among the blest, With bright, but oft destructive, gleam, Thy gentle flows of guiltless joys On fools and villains ne'er descend; a Parent of rage and not desires.--Mrs. W. In vain for thee the monarch sighs. "Directress of the brave and just, O guide us through life's darksome way! On selfish bosoms only prey. : Nor shall thine ardours cease to glow, ON SEEING A BUST OF MRS. MONTAGUE. HAD this fair figure which this frame displays, Her statue would have breath'd an added grace IMPROVISO ON A YOUNG HEIR'S COMING OF AGE. LONG expected one-and-twenty, Loosen'd from the minor's tether, Free to mortgage or to sell; d 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, O! shall thy flames then cease to glow. Call the Betseys, Kates, and Jennies, All that prey on vice or folly Wealth, my lad, was made to wander, Call the jockey, call the pander, Bid them come and take their fill. When the bonny blade carouses, Should the guardian friend, or mother EPITAPHS. AT LITCHFIELD. H. S. E. MICHAEL JOHNSON. Vir impavidus, constans, animosus, periculorum immemor, laborum patientissimus; fiduciâ Christianâ fortis, fervidusque; Paterfamilias apprimè strenuus; Bibliopola admodum peritus; mente et libris et negotiis exculta; animo ita firmo, ut, rebus adversis diu conflictatus, nec sibi nec suis defuerit; Lingua sic temperata, ut ei nihil quod aures vel pias vel castas læsisset, aut dolor vel voluptas unquam expresserit. Natus Cubleiæ in agro Derbiensi, anno MDCLVI, obijt MDCCXXXI. Apposita est SARA Conjux. Antiqua FORDORUM gente oriunda: quam domi sedulam, foris paucis notam; nulli molestam, mentis acumine et judicii subtilitate præcellentem; aliis multum, sibi parum indulgentem; Æternitati semper attentam, omne fere Virtutis nomen commendavit. Nata Nortoniæ Regis, in agro Varvicensi, anno MDCLXIX; obijt MDCCLIX. Cum NATHANAELE illorum filio, qui natus MDCCXII, cum vires et animi et corporis multa pollicerentur, anno MDCCXXXVII, vitam brevem pia morte finivit. Uxoris, primis nuptiis, HENRICI PORTER, Qui multum amatam, diuque defletam, Obijt Londini, mense Mart. IN WATFORD CHURCH. In the vault below are deposited the remains of JANE BELL, wife of JOHN BELL, Esq. who in the fifty-third year of her age, surrounded with many worldly blessings, heard, with fortitude and composure truly great, the horrible malady, which had for some time begun to afflict her pronounced incurable; and for more than three years, endured with patience and concealed with decency, the daily tortures of gradual death; continued to divide the hours not allotted to devotion, between the cares of her family, and the converse of her friends; rewarded the attendance of duty, and acknowledged the offices of affection; and while she endeavoured to alleviate by cheerfulness her husband's sufferings and sorrows, increased them by her gratitude for his care, and her solicitude for his quiet. To the testimony of these virtues, more highly honoured as more familiarly known, She died in October 1771. |