"To Burke a pure libation bring,
Fresh drawn from the Castalian spring;
With civic oak the goblet bind,
Fit emblem of his patriot mind;
Let Clio at his table sip,

And Hermes hand it to his lip.

"Fill out my friend, the Dean of Derry,
A bumper of conventual Sherry.
"Give Ridge and Hickey, generous souls!
Of Whisky punch convivial bowls;
But let the kindred Burkes regale,
With potent draughts of Wicklow ale!
"To Cradock (1) next in order turn ye,
And grace him with the wines of Ferney.
"Now, Doctor, you're an honest sticker,

So take your glass, and choose your liquor.
Wil't have it steep'd in Alpine snows,
Or damask'd at Silenus' nose?
With Wakefield's Vicar sip your tea,
Or to Thalia drink with me?

And, Doctor, I would have ye know it,
An honest I, though humble, poet;
I scorn the sneaker like a toad,
Who drives his cart the Dover Road;
There, traitor to his country's trade,
Smuggles vile scraps of French brocade.
Hence with all such! for you and I
By English wares will live and die.
Come, draw your chair, and stir the fire;
And, boy!-a pot of Thrale's entire !"

Dean Barnard, who wrote verses with facility, printed the following lines after perusing those of Goldsmith and Cumberland :

"Dear Noll and dear Dick, since you've made us so merry,

Accept the best thanks of the poor Dean of Derry!

Though I here must confess that your meat and your wine
Are not to my taste, though they're both very fine;

For Sherry's a liquor monastic, you own

Now there's nothing I hate so as drinking alone:

It may do for your Monks, or your Curates and Vicars,

But for my part, I'm fond of more sociable liquors.

Your Ven'son's delicious, though too sweet your sauce is

Sed non ego maculis offendar paucis.

So soon as you please you may serve me your dish up,
But instead of your Sherry, pray make me a—Bishop."]

(1) [Joseph Cradock, Esq. The allusion is to his having altered and adapted Voltaire's 'Zobeide' to the English stage.]

MISCELLANIES.

MISCELLANIES.

THE CLOWN'S REPLY.

John Trott was desir'd by two witty peers,

To tell them the reason why asses had ears;

"An't please you," quoth John, " I'm not given to letters,
Nor dare I pretend to know more than my betters;
Howe'er from this time I shall ne'er see your graces,
As I hope to be sav'd! without thinking on asses."

Edinburgh, 1753. (1)

PROLOGUE,

WRITTEN AND SPOKEN BY THE POET LABERIUS, A ROMAN

KNIGHT, WHOM CÆSAR FORCED UPON THE STAGE.

Preserved by Macrobius. (2)

WHAT! no way left to shun th' inglorious stage,
And save from infamy my sinking age!
Scarce half alive, oppress'd with many a year,
What, in the name of dotage, drives me here?

(1) [This is the only effusion preserved, of several which Goldsmith is said to have written while a student at Edinburgh.] ·

(2) [This translation was first printed in "The Present State of Polite Learning," in 1759; but was omitted in the second edition, which appeared in 1774. Decimus Laberius was made a Roman knight by Julius Cæsar. For a long period he maintained the first character as a farce writer; but Publius Syrus at last became his rival, and carried off the applause of the theatre. See Aulus Gellius, 1. iii., c. 7; and Hor. Sat. lib. i. sat. x.]

A time there was, when glory was my guide,
Nor force nor fraud could turn my steps aside;
Unaw'd by power, and unappall'd by fear,
With honest thrift I held my honour dear:
But this vile hour disperses all my store,
And all
my
hoard of honour is no more;
For ah! too partial to my life's decline,
Cæsar persuades, submission must be mine;
Him I obey, whom Heaven itself obeys,
Hopeless of pleasing, yet inclin'd to please.
Here then at once I welcome every shame,
And cancel at threescore a life of fame;
No more my
titles shall my children tell;
The old buffoon will fit my name as well:
This day beyond its term my fate extends,
For life is ended when our honour ends.

THE LOGICIANS REFUTED.

In imitation of Dean Swift. (1)

Logicians have but ill defin'd
As rational the human mind;
Reason, they say, belongs to man,
But let them prove it if they can.
Wise Aristotle and Smiglesius,

By ratiocinations specious,

Have strove to prove with great precision,
With definition and division,

(1) [First printed in the "Busy Body," 1759; to draw attention to which publication it was announced as the production of the Dean of St. Patrick. It was included in the Dublin edition of his works, and is continued by Sir Walter Scott, who had doubtless forgotten its position in the works of Goldsmith. See Life, ch. ix.]