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.

*1THOUGH 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 age decay:

JUV. SAT. III.

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.

In those curs'd walls, devote to vice and gain,
Since unrewarded science toils in vain ;
Since hope but sooths to double my distress,
And every moment leaves my little less;

5

While yet my steady steps no staff sustains,
And life still vig'rous revels in my veins;
Grant me, kind Heaven, to find some happier place,
Where honesty and sense are no disgrace;

Some pleasing bank where verdant osiers play,
Some peaceful vale with Nature's paintings gay;
Where once the harass'd Briton found repose,
And safe in poverty defied his foes;

Some secret cell, ye Pow'rs, indulgent give,
"Let

live here, for has learn'd to live.
Here let those reign, whom pensions can incite
To vote a patriot black, a courtier white;
Explain their country's dear-bought rights away,
And plead for *pirates in the face of day;
With slavish tenets taint our poison'd youth,
And lend a lie the confidence of truth.

'Let such raise palaces, and manors buy, Collect a tax, or farm a lottery;

a

With warbling eunuchs fill a licens'd a stage,
And lull to servitude a thoughtless age.

5

et pedibus me

Porto meis, nullo dextram subeunte bacillo.

6 Cedamus patriâ: vivant Arturius istic

Et Catulus: maneant qui nigra in candida vertunt.
7 Queis facile est ædem conducere, flumina, portus,
Siccandam eluviem, portandum ad busta cadaver.-
Munera nunc edunt.

* The invasions of the Spaniards were defended in the houses of parliament. + The Licensing act was then lately made.

a Our silene'd.

Heroes, proceed! what bounds your pride shall hold, What check restrain your thirst of pow'r and gold? Behold rebellious virtue quite o'erthrown,

Behold our fame, our wealth, our lives, your own.

To such the plunder of a land is giv'n,

When publick crimes inflame the wrath of Heaven:

8

* But what, my friend, what hope remains for me,
Who start at theft, and blush at perjury?
Who scarce forbear, though BRITAIN'S court he sing,
To pluck a titled poet's borrow'd wing;

A statesman's logick unconvinc'd can hear,
And dare to slumber o'er the Gazetteer;
Despise a fool in half his pension dress'd,
And strive in vain to laugh at Clodio's jest."
9 Others with softer smiles, and subtler art,
Can sap the principles, or taint the heart;
With more address a lover's note convey,
Or bribe a virgin's innocence away.

Well may they rise, while I, whose rustick tongue
Ne'er knew to puzzle right, or varnish wrong,
Spurn'd as a beggar, dreaded as a spy,
Live unregarded, unlamented die.

10 For what but social guilt the friend endears? Who shares Orgilio's crimes, his fortune shares.

8 Quid Romæ faciam? Mentiri nescio: librum,

Si malus est, nequeo laudare & poscere.

9 Ferre ad nuptam, quæ mittit adulter, Quæ mandat, norint alii; me nemo ministro

Fur erit: atque ideo nulli comes exeo.

10 Quis nunc diligitur nisi conscius?

Carus erit Verri, qui Verrem tempore, quo vult,
Accusare potest.

* The paper which at that time contained apologies for the Court. b Hy's jest.