Such be her fate! But listen! from afar
The clarion's note proclaims the finish'd war.
Cyrus, our great restorer, is at hand,
And this way leads his formidable band.
Give, give your songs of Zion to the wind,
And hail the benefactor of mankind :
He comes pursuant to divine decree,
To chain the strong, and set the captive free.

But chief to Thee, our God, defender, friend,
Let praise be given to all eternity;

O Thou, without beginning, without end,
Let us, and all, begin and end in Thee.

RETALIATION.

A Poem.

Printed for G. Kearsly, at No. 46 in Fleet Street, 1774.

4to.

As the cause of writing the following printed poem called Retaliation has not yet been fully explained, a person concerned in the business begs leave to give the following just and minute account of the whole affair.

At a meeting of a company of gentlemen, who were well known to each other, and diverting themselves, among many other things, with the peculiar oddities of Dr. Goldsmith, who never would allow a superior in any art, from writing poetry down to dancing a hornpipe, the Dr. with great eagerness insisted upon trying his epigrammatic powers with Mr. Garrick, and each of them was to write the other's epitaph. Mr. Garrick immediately said that his epitaph was finished, and spoke the following distich extempore :

Here lies NOLLY Goldsmith, for shortness call'd Noll,
Who wrote like an angel, but talk'd like poor Poll.

Goldsmith, upon the company's laughing very heartily, grew very thoughtful, and either would not, or could not, write anything at that time however, he went to work, and some weeks after produced the following printed poem called Retaliation, which has been much admired, and gone through several editions. The publick in general have been mistaken in imagining that this poem was written in anger by the Doctor; it was just the contrary; the whole on all sides was done with the greatest good humour; and the following poems in manuscript were written by several of the gentlemen on purpose to provoke the Doctor to an answer, which came forth at last with great credit to him in Retaliation.

D. GARRICK [MS.]. .

For this highly interesting account (now first printed, or even referred to, by any biographer or editor of Goldsmith) I am indebted to my friend Mr. George Daniel, of Islington, who allowed me to transcribe it from the original in Garrick's own handwriting discovered among the Garrick papers, and evidently designed as a preface to a collected edition of the poems which grew out of Goldsmith's trying his epigrammatic powers with Garrick. I may observe also that Garrick's epitaph or distich on Goldsmith is (through this very paper) for the first time printed as it was spoken by its author.

"Retaliation" was the last work of Goldsmith and a posthumons publication -appearing for the first time on the 18th of April, 1774.

1 At the St. James's Coffee House in St. James's Street. See Art. "James's (St.) Coffee House," in Cunningham's Hand-Book of London. 2nd. ed. 1850, p. 254.

RETALIATION.

Or old, when Scarron' his companions invited,
Each guest brought his dish, and the feast was united;
If our landlord' supplies us with beef, and with fish,
Let each guest bring himself—and he brings the best dish;
Our Dean' shall be venison, just fresh from the plains;
Our Burke shall be tongue, with the garnish of brains;
Our Will' shall be wild fowl of excellent flavour,

And Dick with his pepper shall heighten the savour;
Our Cumberland's' sweet-bread its place shall obtain,
And Douglas is pudding, substantial and plain;
Our Garrick's' a sallad; for in him we see
Oil, vinegar, sugar, and saltness agree:
To make out the dinner, full certain I am,

That Ridge" is anchovy, and Reynolds " is lamb;

1 Paul Scarron, a popular French writer of burlesque. Died 1660.

The landlord of the St. James's coffee-house.

Thomas Barnard, then (1774) Dean of Derry; afterwards (1780) Bishop of Killaloe, and in 1794, Bishop of Limerick. He died in 1806, in his eightieth year.

The Right Hon. Edmund Burke.

5 Mr. William Burke, a kinsman of Edmund Burke. Died 1798.

Mr. Richard Burke, a barrister, and younger brother of Edmund Burke. He died, Recorder of Bristol, in 1794.

7 Richard Cumberland, the dramatist. Died 1811.

8 John Douglas, a Scotchman by birth, then (1774) canon of Windsor; afterwards (1787) Bishop of Carlisle, and (1791) Bishop of Salisbury. He died in 1807. 9 David Garrick.

10 John Ridge, a member of the Irish bar.

Sir Joshua Reynolds.

That Hickey's' a capon, and, by the same rule,
Magnanimous Goldsmith a gooseberry fool.
At a dinner so various, at such a repast,

Who'd not be a glutton, and stick to the last?
Here, waiter, more wine! let me sit while I'm able,
Till all my companions sink under the table;
Then, with chaos and blunders encircling my head,
Let me ponder, and tell what I think of the dead.

Here lies the good Dean,' reunited to earth,

Who mix'd reason with pleasure, and wisdom with mirth:
If he had any faults, he has left us in doubt,

At least, in six weeks I could not find 'em out;
Yet some have declar'd, and it can't be denied 'em,
That sly-boots was cursedly cunning to hide 'em.

Here lies our good Edmund,' whose genius was such,
We scarcely can praise it, or blame it too much;
Who, born for the universe, narrow'd his mind,
And to party gave up what was meant for mankind.
Though fraught with all learning, yet straining his throat,
To persuade Tommy Townshend to lend him a vote;
Who, too deep for his hearers, still went on refining,
And thought of convincing, while they thought of dining:
Though equal to all things, for all things unfit,
Too nice for a statesman, too proud for a wit;
For a patriot too cool; for a drudge, disobedient,
And too fond of the right, to pursue the expedient.
In short, 'twas his fate, unemploy'd, or in place, sir,
To eat mutton cold, and cut blocks with a razor.

Here lies honest William,' whose heart was a mint, While the owner ne'er knew half the good that was in't;

"Honest Tom Hickey," an Irish attorney. Died 1794. Dean Barnard, see note 3, p. 79.

3 Edmund Burke.

4 Thomas Townshend, M. P. for Whitchurch; afterwards Lord Sydney.

Died 1803.

William Burke, see note 5, p. 79.