My heart, a victim to thine eyes, Say, would the angry fair one prize A bill, a jewel, watch, or toy, I'll give but not the full-blown rose, I'll give thee something yet unpaid, I'll give thee-ah! too charming maid, AN ELEGY ON THAT GLORY OF HER SEX, MRS. MARY BLAIZE.' GOOD people all, with one accord, From those who spoke her praise. First printed in "The Bee," 1759:-"The elegy on Madam Blaize, and the better part of that on the Death of a Mad Dog, are closely imitated from a well-known French string of absurdities called 'La Chanson du fameux la Galisse; one of many versions of which may be found in the Ménagrana,' tom. iii. p. 29. "Messieurs, vous plait-il d'ouir Il pourra vous rejouir,— Pourvu qu'il vous divertisse. JL. I. The needy seldom pass'd her door, She strove the neighbourhood to please, At church, in silks and satins new, With hoop of monstrous size; She never slumber'd in her pew, But when she shut her eyes. Her love was sought, I do aver, But now her wealth and finery fled, Let us lament, in sorrow sore, For Kent-street' well may say, That had she liv'd a twelvemonth more,— She had not died to-day. On dit que dans ses amours, Il fut caressé des belles, Qui le suivirent toujours,— Tant qu'il marche devant elles. Il fut par un triste sort, Blessé d'une main cruelle; On croit, puisqu'il est mort, Que la plaie était mortelle."-CROKER. See note on Essay 5 of Collected Essays, printed in vol. iii. DESCRIPTION OF AN AUTHOR'S BED-CHAMBER.' WHERE the Red Lion flaring o'er the way, The rusty grate unconscious of a fire: 4 With beer and milk arrears the frieze was scor'd, And five crack'd tea-cups dress'd the chimney board; A cap by night-a stocking all the day! 1 First printed in "The Citizen of the World," Letter xxx; and afterwards inserted, with a few variations, in "The Deserted Village," 1770. On this subject Goldsmith had projected an heroi-comic poem, as appears by one of his letters to his brother. Viz. "1. Urge no healths; 2. Profane no divine ordinances; 3. Touch no state matters; 4. Reveal no secrets; 5. Pick no quarrels; 6. Make no comparisons; 7. Maintain no ill opinions; 8. Keep no bad company; 9. Encourage no vice; 10. Make no long meals; 11. Repeat no grievances; 12. Lay no wagers." "William, Duke of Cumberland, the hero of Culloden, d. 1765. 4"And now imagine, after his soliloquy, the landlord to make his appearance, in order to dun him for the reckoning: "Not with that face, so servile and so gay, That welcomes every stranger that can pay, With sulky eye he smoaked the patient man, Then pulled his breeches tight, and thus began,' &c. “All this is taken, you see, from nature. It is a good remark of Montaigne's, that the wisest men often have friends, with whom they do not care how much THE DOUBLE TRANSFORMATION. A TALE,1 SECLUDED from domestic strife, Made him the happiest man alive; Such pleasures, unalloy'd with care, O, had her eyes forgot to blaze! -But let exclamations cease, Her presence banish'd all his peace." they play the fool. Take my present follies as instances of regard. Poetry is a much easier, and more agreeable species of composition than prose, and could a man live by it, it were not unpleasant employment to be a poet."—GOLDSMITH, Letter to his Brother; see Letters, vol. iv. 1 First printed as Essay 26 in "Essays by Mr. Goldsmith," 1765, 12mo. "Without politeness, aim'd at breeding, 3 Here followed, in the first edition: "Our alter'd parson now began Made sonnets, lisp'd his sermons o'er, So with decorum all things carry'd; Miss frown'd and blush'd, and then was-married. Need we expose to vulgar sight The raptures of the bridal night? : The honey-moon like lightning flew ; Skill'd in no other arts was she, But dressing, patching, repartee; And, just as humour rose or fell, By turns a slattern or a belle. "Tis true she dress'd with modern grace, Half naked at a ball or race; But when at home, at board or bed, And as the fair one still approvd He fell in love-or thought he lov'd, The allusion to the "bailiffs pump'd" applies to an incident in the Poet's own college career. "And though she felt his visage rough."-First edition. |