Dr. Johnson's Works: Life, Poems, and Tales Part 30

This night, distinguish'd by your smiles, shall tell, That never Britain can in vain excel; The slighted arts futurity shall trust, And rising ages hasten to be just.

At length, our mighty bard's victorious lays Fill the loud voice of universal praise; And baffled spite, with hopeless anguish dumb, Yields to renown the centuries to come; With ardent haste each candidate of fame, Ambitious, catches at his tow'ring name; He sees, and pitying sees, vain wealth bestow Those pageant honours, which he scorn'd below; While crowds aloft the laureate bust behold, Or trace his form on circulating gold.

Unknown, unheeded, long his offspring lay, And want hung threat'ning o'er her slow decay, What, though she s.h.i.+ne with no Miltonian fire, No fav'ring muse her morning dreams inspire; Yet softer claims the melting heart engage, Her youth laborious, and her blameless age; Her's the mild merits of domestick life, The patient sufferer, and the faithful wife.

Thus, grac'd with humble virtue's native charms, Her grandsire leaves her in Britannia's arms; Secure with peace, with competence, to dwell, While tutelary nations guard her cell.

Yours is the charge, ye fair, ye wise, ye brave!

'Tis yours to crown desert--beyond the grave.

[a] See Life of Milton.

PROLOGUE TO THE COMEDY OF THE GOOD-NATUR'D MAN, 1769,

Prest by the load of life, the weary mind Surveys the gen'ral toil of human kind; With cool submission joins the lab'ring train, And social sorrow loses half its pain: Our anxious bard, without complaint, may share This bustling season's epidemick care; Like Caesar's pilot, dignify'd by fate, Tost in one common storm with all the great; Distrest alike the statesman and the wit, When one a borough courts, and one the pit.

The busy candidates for pow'r and fame Have hopes, and fears, and wishes, just the same; Disabled both to combat or to fly, Must hear all taunts, and hear without reply.

Uncheck'd on both loud rabbles vent their rage, As mongrels bay the lion in a cage.

Th' offended burgess h.o.a.rds his angry tale, For that blest year, when all that vote may rail; Their schemes of spite the poet's foes dismiss, Till that glad night, when all that hate may hiss.

"This day the powder'd curls and golden coat,"

Says swelling Crispin, "begg'd a cobbler's vote."

"This night our wit," the pert apprentice cries, "Lies at my feet; I hiss him, and he dies."

The great, 'tis true, can charm th' electing tribe; The bard may supplicate, but cannot bribe.

Yet, judg'd by those whose voices ne'er were sold, He feels no want of ill persuading gold; But, confident of praise, if praise be due, Trusts, without fear, to merit and to you.

PROLOGUE TO THE COMEDY OF A WORK TO THE WISE[a]

SPOKEN BY MR. HULL.

This night presents a play, which publick rage, Or right, or wrong, once hooted from the stage[b].

From zeal or malice, now, no more we dread, For English vengeance wars not with the dead.

A gen'rous foe regards, with pitying eye, The man whom fate has laid, where all must lie.

To wit, reviving from its author's dust, Be kind, ye judges, or at least be just.

For no renew'd hostilities invade Th' oblivious grave's inviolable shade.

Let one great payment ev'ry claim appease; And him, who cannot hurt, allow to please; To please by scenes, unconscious of offence, By harmless merriment, or useful sense.

Where aught of bright, or fair, the piece displays, Approve it only--'tis too late to praise.

If want of skill, or want of care appear, Forbear to hiss--the poet cannot hear.

By all, like him, must praise and blame be found, At best a fleeting gleam, or empty sound.

Yet, then, shall calm reflection bless the night, When lib'ral pity dignify'd delight; When pleasure fir'd her torch at virtue's flame, And mirth was bounty with an humbler name.

[a] Performed at Covent garden theatre in 1777, for the benefit of Mrs.

Kelly, widow of Hugh Kelly, esq. (the author of the play,) and her children.

[b] Upon the first representation of this play, 1770, a party a.s.sembled to d.a.m.n it, and succeeded.

SPRING; AN ODE.

Stern winter now, by spring repress'd, Forbears the long-continued strife; And nature, on her naked breast, Delights to catch the gales of life.

Now o'er the rural kingdom roves Soft pleasure with the laughing train, Love warbles in the vocal groves, And vegetation plants the plain.

Unhappy! whom to beds of pain, Arthritick[a] tyranny consigns; Whom smiling nature courts in vain, Though rapture sings, and beauty s.h.i.+nes.

Yet though my limbs disease invades, Her wings imagination tries, And bears me to the peaceful shades, Where--s humble turrets rise; Here stop, my soul, thy rapid flight, Nor from the pleasing groves depart, Where first great nature charm'd my sight, Where wisdom first inform'd my heart.

Here let me through the vales pursue A guide--a father--and a friend, Once more great nature's works renew, Once more on wisdom's voice attend.

From false caresses, causeless strife, Wild hope, vain fear, alike remov'd, Here let me learn the use of life, When best enjoy'd--when most improv'd.

Teach me, thou venerable bower, Cool meditation's quiet seat, The gen'rous scorn of venal power, The silent grandeur of retreat.

When pride, by guilt, to greatness climbs, Or raging factions rush to war, Here let me learn to shun the crimes, I can't prevent, and will not share.

But, lest I fall by subtler foes, Bright wisdom, teach me Curio's art, The swelling pa.s.sions to compose, And quell the rebels of the heart.

[a] The author being ill of the gout.

MIDSUMMER; AN ODE.

O Phoebus! down the western sky, Far hence diffuse thy burning ray, Thy light to distant worlds supply, And wake them to the cares of day.

Come, gentle eve, the friend of care, Come, Cynthia, lovely queen of night!

Refresh me with a cooling air, And cheer me with a lambent light: Lay me, where o'er the verdant ground Her living carpet nature spreads; Where the green bow'r, with roses crown'd, In show'rs its fragrant foliage sheds; Improve the peaceful hour with wine; Let musick die along the grove; Around the bowl let myrtles twine, And ev'ry strain be tun'd to love.

Come, Stella, queen of all my heart!

Come, born to fill its vast desires!

Thy looks perpetual joys impart, Thy voice perpetual love inspires.

Whilst, all my wish and thine complete, By turns we languish and we burn, Let sighing gales our sighs repeat, Our murmurs--murmuring brooks return, Let me, when nature calls to rest, And blus.h.i.+ng skies the morn foretell, Sink on the down of Stella's breast, And bid the waking world farewell.

AUTUMN; AN ODE.

Alas! with swift and silent pace, Impatient time rolls on the year; The seasons change, and nature's face Now sweetly smiles, now frowns severe, 'Twas spring, 'twas summer, all was gay, Now autumn bends a cloudy brow; The flow'rs of spring are swept away, And summer-fruits desert the bough.

The verdant leaves, that play'd on high, And wanton'd on the western breeze, Now, trod in dust, neglected lie, As Boreas strips the bending trees.

The fields, that way'd with golden grain, As russet heaths, are wild and bare; Not moist with dew, but drench'd with rain, Nor health, nor pleasure, wanders there.

No more, while through the midnight shade, Beneath the moon's pale orb I stray, Soft pleasing woes my heart invade, As Progne pours the melting lay.

From this capricious clime she soars, Oh! would some G.o.d but wings supply!

To where each morn the spring restores, Companion of her flight I'd fly.

Vain wis.h.!.+ me fate compels to bear The downward season's iron reign; Compels to breathe polluted air, And s.h.i.+ver on a blasted plain.

What bliss to life can autumn yield, If glooms, and show'rs, and storms prevail, And Ceres flies the naked field, And flowers, and fruits, and Phoebus fail?

Oh! what remains, what lingers yet, To cheer me in the dark'ning hour!

The grape remains! the friend of wit, In love, and mirth, of mighty pow'r.

Haste--press the cl.u.s.ters, fill the bowl; Apollo! shoot thy parting ray: This gives the suns.h.i.+ne of the soul, This G.o.d of health, and verse, and day.

Still--still the jocund strain shall flow, The pulse with vig'rous rapture beat; My Stella with new charms shall glow, And ev'ry bliss in wine shall meet.

WINTER; AN ODE.

No more tire morn, with tepid rays, Unfolds the flow'r of various hue; Noon spreads no more the genial blaze, Nor gentle eve distils the dew.

The ling'ring hours prolong the night, Usurping darkness shares the day; Her mists restrain the force of light, And Phoebus holds a doubtful sway.

By gloomy twilight, half reveal'd, With sighs we view the h.o.a.ry hill, The leafless wood, the naked field, The snow-topp'd cot, the frozen rill.

No musick warbles through the grove, No vivid colours paint the plain; No more, with devious steps, I rove Through verdant paths, now sought in vain.

Aloud the driving tempest roars, Congeal'd, impetuous show'rs descend; Haste, close the window, bar the doors, Fate leaves me Stella, and a friend.

In nature's aid, let art supply With light and heat my little sphere; Rouse, rouse the fire, and pile it high, Light up a constellation here.

Let musick sound the voice of joy, Or mirth repeat the jocund tale; Let love his wanton wiles employ, And o'er the season wine prevail.

Yet time life's dreary winter brings, When mirth's gay tale shall please no more Nor musick charm--though Stella sings; Nor love, nor wine, the spring restore.

Catch, then, Oh! catch the transient hour, Improve each moment as it flies; Life's a short summer--man a flow'r: He dies--alas! how soon he dies!

THE WINTER'S WALK.