POSTSCRIPT. "JUPITER AND MERCURY, A FABLE. "Here, Hermes, says Jove, who with nectar was mellow, Right and wrong shall be jumbled,-much gold and some dross; Be sure, as I work, to throw in contradictions, A great love of truth, yet a mind turn'd to fictions; Set fire to the head, and set fire to the tail; For the joy of each sex, on the world I'll bestow it, Cumberland, having no resentments to gratify, ventured to imitate his original, by applying to wines the characters appropriated by Goldsmith to dishes. The idea was good; and in the following piece, which was first printed about 1777, is cleverly executed, though infinitely inferior to the humour, discrimination, and talent that pervades 'Retaliation.' "POETICAL EPISTLE TO DR. GOLDSMITH, OR SUPPLEMENT TO HIS RETALIATION.' "Doctor, according to our wishes, Of various emblematic meat; And now it's time, I trust, you'll think "To Douglas, fraught with learned stock Pure, unadulterated wine; For if there's fault in taste or odour, He'll search it, as he search'd out Lauder. "To Johnson, philosophic sage, The moral Mentor of the age; Religion's friend, with soul sincere, With melting heart, but look austere ; Give liquor of an honest sort, And crown his cup with priestly Port. "Now fill the glass with gay Champagne, Quick quick! the sparkling nectar quaff; "Pour forth to Reynolds, without stint, If e'er his colours chance to fade, "To Burke a pure libation bring, And Hermes hand it to his lip. "Fill out my friend, the Dean of Derry, So take your glass, and choose your liquor. Or to Thalia drink with me? And, Doctor, I would have ye know it, Dean Barnard, who wrote verses with facility, printed the following lines after perusing those of Goldsmith and Cumberland : "Dear Noll and dear Dick, since you've made us so merry, Accept the best thanks of the poor Dean of Derry! Though I here must confess that your meat and your wine Are not to my taste, though they're both very fine; For Sherry's a liquor monastic, you own Now there's nothing I hate so as drinking alone: It may do for your Monks, or your Curates and Vicars, But for my part, I'm fond of more sociable liquors. Your Ven'son's delicious, though too sweet your sauce is— Sed non ego maculis offendar paucis. So soon as you please you may serve me your dish up, (1) [Joseph Cradock, Esq. The allusion is to his having altered and adapted Voltaire's Zobeide' to the English stage.] MISCELLANIES. THE CLOWN'S REPLY. John Trott was desir'd by two witty peers, "An't please you," quoth John, " I'm not given to letters, Edinburgh, 1753, (1) PROLOGUE, WRITTEN AND SPOKEN BY THE POET LABERIUS, A ROMAN KNIGHT, WHOM CESAR FORCED UPON THE STAGE. Preserved by Macrobius. (2) WHAT! no way left to shun th' inglorious stage, (1) [This is the only effusion preserved, of several which Goldsmith is said to have written while a student at Edinburgh.] (2) [This translation was first printed in The Present State of Polite Learning," in 1759; but was omitted in the second edition, which appeared in 1774. Decimus Laberius was made a Roman knight by Julius Cæsar. For a long period he maintained the first character as a farce writer; but Publius Syrus at last became his rival, and carried off the applause of the theatre. See Aulus Gellius, 1. iii., c. 7; and Hor. Sat. lib. i. sat. x.] |