The one writes the Snarler,' the other the Scourge;'
Some thinks he writes Cinna'-he owns to Panurge.'
While thus he describ'd them by trade and by name,
They enter'd, and dinner was serv'd as they came.
At the top a fried liver and bacon were seen,
At the bottom was tripe, in a swingeing tureen;
At the sides there was spinnage, and pudding made hot;
In the middle, a place where the Pasty—was not.'
Now, my Lord, as for tripe, it's my utter aversion,
And your bacon I hate like a Turk or a Persian;
So there I sat stuck like a horse in a pound,
While the bacon and liver went merrily round:
But what vex'd me most was that d'd Scottish rogue,
With his long-winded speeches, his smiles and his brogue,
And, "Madam," quoth he, "may this bit be my poison,'
A prettier dinner I never set eyes on!
Pray a slice of your liver, though may I be curst,
But I've eat of your tripe till I'm ready to burst."
"The tripe," quoth the Jew, with his chocolate cheek,
"I could dine on this tripe seven days in a week:3
I like these here dinners, so pretty and small;
But your friend there, the Doctor, eats nothing at all."
"O-ho!" quoth my friend, "he'll come on in a trice,
He's keeping a corner for something that's nice;
There's a Pasty"-" a Pasty!" repeated the Jew,
"I don't care if I keep a corner for't too."
"What the De'il, mon, a Pasty!" re-echo'd the Scot,
"Though splitting, I'll still keep a corner for that;"
"We'll all keep a corner," the lady cried out;
"We'll all keep a corner," was echo'd about.
"In the middle a place where the Venison-was not."-First edition.
2 "Before I would stoop to slavery, may this be my poison (and he held the goblet in his hand) may this be my poison-but I would sooner list for a soldier." --The Citizen of the World, Letter iv.
3 "Your tripe!" quoth the Jew, "if the truth I may speak,
I could eat of this tripe seven days in the week."
While thus we resolv'd, and the Pasty delay'd,
With looks that quite petrified, enter'd the maid;
A visage so sad, and so pale with affright,
Wak'd Priam in drawing his curtains by night.
But we quickly found out,—for who could mistake her?—
That she came with some terrible news from the baker:
And so it fell out; for that negligent sloven,
Had shut out the Pasty on shutting his oven.
Sad Philomel thus-but let similes drop-
And now that I think on't, the story may stop.
To be plain, my good Lord, it's but labour misplac'd,
To send such good verses to one of your taste:
You've got an odd something-a kind of discerning—
A relish a taste-sicken'd over by learning;
At least, it's your temper, as very well known,
That you think very slightly of all that's your own:
So, perhaps, in your habits of thinking amiss,
You may make a mistake, and think slightly of this.'
1 "The leading idea of the 'Haunch of Venison,' is taken from Boileau's third Satire (which itself was no doubt suggested by Horace's raillery of the banquet of Nasidienus); and two or three of the passages which one would, à priori, have pronounced the most original and natural, are closely copied from the French poet :
'We'll have Johnson and Burke-all the wits will be there;
My acquaintance is slight, or I'd ask my Lord Clare.
Molière avec Tartuffe y doit jouer son rôle,
Et Lambert, qui plus est, m'a donné sa parole.'
'My friend bade me welcome, but struck me quite dumb,
With tidings that Johnson and Burke would not come.
A peine étais-je entré, que ravi de me voir,
Mon homme, en m'embrassant, m'est venu recevoir;
Et montrant à mes yeux une allégresse entière,
Nous n'avons, m'a-t-il dit, ni Lambert ni Molière.'
But, to be sure, Goldsmith's host, and his wife 'Little Kitty,' and the
Scot, and the Jew, with his chocolate cheek,' are infinitely more droll
and more natural than Boileau's deux campagnards. The details of the
dinner, too, overdone and tedious in Boileau, are touched by Goldsmith
with a pleasantry not carried too far."-CROKER.
1 Written in 1764, but never set to music, or even published by its author. It is here printed from the original manuscript, in Goldsmith's hand writing, in the possession of Mr. Murray, of Albemarle Street, com pared with the copy printed by Messrs. Prior and Wright, in 1837. I have adopted the most poetical readings of both copies.
For this Oratorio Goldsmith received at least ten guineas. In Mr. Murray's collection is the following receipt in Goldsmith's handwriting :--
"Received from Mr. Dodsley ten guineas for an Oratorio, which he and Mr. Newbery are to share.
Mr. Murray's MS. is the copy sold by Goldsmith to James Dodsley
FIRST ISRAELITISH PROPHET.
SECOND ISRAELITISH PROPHET.
ISRAELITISH WOMAN.
FIRST CHALDEAN PRIEST.
SECOND CHALDEAN PRIEST.
CHALDEAN WOMAN.
CHORUS OF YOUTHS AND VIRGINS.
SCENE.-The Banks of the Euphrates, near Babylon.
The Dramatis Persona is not in the MS.
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