Page images
PDF
EPUB

TO THE RIGHT HON. THE EARL OF OXFORD,

UPON A PIECE OF NEWS IN MIST, THAT THE REV. MR. W. REFUSED TO WRITE AGAINST MR. POPE BECAUSE HIS BEST PATRON HAD A

[blocks in formation]

1 From Nichols's Literary Anecdotes. The "W." alluded to was the Rev. Samuel Wesley, and "Father Francis," the Bishop of Rochester, then in exile.

TRANSLATION OF A PRAYER OF BRUTUS.

[The Rev. Aaron Thompson, of Queen's College, Oxon., translated the Chronicle of Geoffrey of Monmouth. He submitted the translation to Pope, 1717, who gave him the following lines, being a translation of a prayer of Brutus]:

GODDESS of woods, tremendous in the chase,

To mountain wolves and all the savage race,
Wide o'er the aërial vault extend thy sway,
And o'er the infernal regions void of day.
On thy third reign look down; disclose our fate,
In what new station shall we fix our seat?
When shall we next thy hallow'd altars raise,
And choirs of virgins celebrate thy praise?

LINES IN EVELYN'S BOOK OF COINS.

TOM Wood of Chiswick, deep divine,
To painter Kent gave all this coin.
'Tis the first coin, I'm bold to say,
That ever churchman gave to lay.

["Wrote in Evelyn's book of coins given by Mr. Wood to Kent: he (Mr. Wood) had objected against the word trio, in Mr. Pope's father's epitaph." The lines, with this explanation, were communicated to Notes and Queries, March 13, 1851, by the Rev. R. Hotchkin, Thimbleby Rectory, from a copy by Mason the poet.]

LINES ON SWIFT'S ANCESTORS.

["Swift put up a plain monument to his grandfather, and also presented a cup to the church of Goodrich, or Gotheridge (Herefordshire). He sent a pencilled elevation of the monument (a simple tablet) to Mrs. Howard, who returned it with the following lines inscribed on the drawing by Pope. The paper is indorsed, in Swift's hand, "Model of a Monument for my grandfather, with Mr. Pope's roguery.'"-Scott's Life of Swift] :

JONATHAN Swift

Had the gift,

By fatherige, motherige,
And by brotherige,

To come from Gotherige,
But now is spoil'd clean
And an Irish dean:

In this church he has put
A stone of two foot,
With a cup and a can, sir,
In respect to his grandsire;
So Ireland change thy tone,
And cry, O hone! O hone!
For England hath its own.

LINES TO LORD BATHURST.

[The following lines were first published by Mr. Mitford, in one of the notes to Gray's Correspondence, 1843. An extract from the poet's printed Correspondence, part of a letter addressed to Lord Bathurst, will illustrate the verses :-" I believe you are by this time immersed in your vast wood; and one may address to you as to a very abstracted person, like Alexander Selkirk, or the self-taught philosopher. I should be very curious to know what sort of contemplations employ you. I remember the latter of those I mentioned gave himself up to a devout exercise of making his head giddy with various circumrotations, to imitate the motions of the celestial bodies. I do not think it at all impossible that Mr. L. may be far advanced in that exercise, by frequent turns towards the several aspects of the heavens, to which you may have been pleased to direct him in search of prospects and new avenues. He will be tractable in time, as birds are tamed by being whirled about: and doubtless come not to despise the meanest shrubs or coppice wood, though naturally he seems more inclined to admire God in his greater works, the tall timber." The "Mr. L." of this letter is evidently the "Lewis "of the verses]:

"A

WOOD!" quoth Lewis, and with that
He laugh'd, and shook his sides of fat.
His tongue, with eye that mark'd his cunning,
Thus fell a-reasoning, not a-running :
"Woods are not to be too prolix-
Collective bodies of straight sticks.
It is, my lord, a mere conundrum

To call things woods for what grows under 'em.

For shrubs, when nothing else at top is,

Can only constitute a coppice.

[ocr errors]

But if you will not take my word,
See anno quint. of Richard Third;
And that's a coppice call'd, when dock'd,
Witness an. prim. of Harry Oct.
If this a wood you will maintain,
Merely because it is no plain,
Holland, for all that I can see,

May e'en as well be term'd the sea,
Or C-by [Coningsby] be fair harangued
An honest man, because not hang'd."

EPIGRAMS.

ON MRS. TOFTS, A CELEBRATED OPERA-SINGER.1

SO bright is thy beauty, so charming thy song,

As had drawn both the beasts and their Orpheus along;

But such is thy avarice, and such is thy pride,

That the beasts must have starved, and the poets have died.

ON THE FEUDS ABOUT HANDEL AND BONONCINI.

STRANGE all this difference should be

"Twixt Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dee !

EPIGRAM.

YOU nobody at home.

beat your pate, and fancy wit will come:

EPIGRAM FROM THE FRENCH.

IR, I admit your general rule,

SIR,

That every poet is a fool:

But you yourself may serve to show it
That every fool is not a poet.

1 [This lady, an Englishwoman, maintained her ground against the Italian singers when the opera was first introduced to this country. She had a strong party in her favour, and one night, Feb. 5th, 1703-4, her Italian rival, Francesca Margherita de l'Epine, was hissed and pelted by Katharine Toft's clamorous admirers. Colley Cibber speaks warmly of the English singer's voice and personal attractions.]

« PreviousContinue »