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In 1795, a Statue in honour of Dr. JOHNSON was erected in St. Paul's Cathedral, by a public subscription. It represents the Philosopher in the attitude of profound thought, conveying at the same time as much of the peculiar character of this great writer, as can be exhibited in a single statue. The inscription on the pedestal

is by Dr. Parr.

A. . .

SAMUELI. JOHNSON

GRAMMATICO. ET. CRITICO

SCRIPTORUM. ANGLICORUM. LITTERATE. PERITO

POETAE. LUMINIBUS. SENTENTIARUM

ET. PONDERIBUS. VERBORUM. ADMIRABILI

MAGISTRO. VIRTUTIS. GRAVISSIMO

HOMINI. OPTIMO. ET. SINGULARIS. EXEMPLI

QUI. VIXIT. ANN. LXXV. MENS. II. DIEB. XIIII DECESSIT. IDIB. DECEMBR. ANN. CHRIST. clo.lǝCC.LXXXIIII SEPULT. IN. AED. SANCT. PETR. WESTMONASTERIENS.

XIIII. KAL. JANUAR. ANN. CHRIST. CIO.IOCCLXXXV

AMICI. ET. SODALES. LITTERARII

PECUNIA. CONLATA

H.M. FACIVND. CURAVER.

On one side of the monument:

FACIEBAT JOHANNES BACON SCULPTOR ANN. CHRIST.
MDCCLXXXXV.

VOL. I.

POEMS.

*

** The various readings of the first Edition are pointed out at the bottom of the page; and a Note transcribed from Dr. Johnson's own MS. is inserted, to shew with what candour he was ready to acknowledge his own defects.

Sir John Hawkins says, that by THALES (line 2, &c.) we are to understand Savage. Mr. Boswell asserts that this is entirely groundless, and adds, "I have been assured that Dr. Johnson said, he was not so much as acquainted with Savage when he wrote his LONDON." This, added to the circumstance of the date (for Savage did not set out for Wales till July 1739), might be decisive, if, unfortunately for Mr. Boswell, he had not a few pages after, given us some highly complimentary lines which "he was assured were written by Dr. Johnson,” Ad Ricardum Savage, in April 1738, about a month before LONDON was published. This surely implies previous acquaintance with Savage, for Dr. Johnson would not have praised a stranger in such terms; and gives a very strong probability to Sir John Hawkins's conjecture. That Savage did not set out for Wales until the following year, is a matter of little consequence, as the intention of such a journey would justify the lines alluding to it. See Boswell's Life of Johnson, vol. i. p. 100 and p. 139, 8vo. edit. 1804.

C.

LONDON; A POEM:

IN IMITATION OF THE

THIRD SATIRE OF JUVENAL.

WRITTEN IN 1738.

-Quis ineptæ

Tam patiens urbis, tam ferreus ut teneat se? Juv.

'THOUGH grief and fondness in my breast rebel,
When injur'd THALES bids the town farewell,
Yet still my calmer thoughts his choice commend,
I praise the hermit, but regret the friend,
Resolv'd at length, from vice and LONDON far
To breathe in distant fields a purer air,
And, fix'd on Cambria's solitary shore,
Give to St. David one true Briton more.

2 For who would leave, unbrib'd, Hibernia's land, Or change the rocks of Scotland for the Strand?

There none are swept by sudden fate away,
But all, whom hunger spares, with

JUV. SAT. III.

age decay:

1 Quamvis digressu veteris confusus amici; Laudo, tamen, vacuis quòd sedem figere Cumis Destinet, atque unum civem donare Sibyllæ.

2-Ego vel Prochytam præpono Suburæ.
Nam quid tam miserum, tam solum vidimus, ut non
Deterius credas horrere incendia, lapsus
Tectorum assiduos, & mille pericula sævæ
Urbis, & Augusto recitantes mense poetas?

Here malice, rapine, accident, conspire,
And now a rabble rages, now a fire;
Their ambush here relentless ruffians lay,
And here the fell attorney prowls for prey;
Here falling houses thunder on your head,
And here a female Atheist talks you dead.
"While THALES waits the wherry that contains
Of dissipated wealth the small remains,

On Thames's banks, in silent thought we stood
Where Greenwich smiles upon the silver flood;
Struck with the seat that gave ELIZA* birth,
We kneel, and kiss the consecrated earth;
In pleasing dreams the blissful age renew,
And call Britannia's glories back to view;
Behold her cross triumphant on the main,
The guard of commerce, and the dread of Spain,
Ere masquerades debauch'd, excise oppress'd,
Or English honour grew a standing jest.

A transient calm the happy scenes bestow,
And for a moment lull the sense of woe.
At length awaking, with contemptuous frown,
Indignant THALES eyes the neighb'ring town.
*Since worth, he cries, in these degenerate days'
Wants even the cheap reward of empty praise;

3 Sed, dum tota domus rhedâ componitur unâ, Substitit ad veteres arcus.—

Hic tunc Umbritius: Quando artibus, inquit, honestis
Nullus in urbe locus, nulla emolumenta laborum,

Res hodie minor est, heri quam fuit, atque eadem cras
Deteret exiguis aliquid: proponimus illuc

Ire, fatigatas ubi Dædalus exuit alas;

Dum nova canities.

* Queen Elizabeth, born at Greenwich.