'.:'*■■ ..::'-v.iiJ?VL;fC:;>iV ':^:> :€ .■^'..% •■"x -4''' ., .'•'ll: Yf JED BY I (flONARY. ^c i'rmn (he QG^ax^a^t. jmbtotw, Oct. 1873. " Seventy years passed before Johnson was followed by Webster, an Amorican wriU^r, who faced the task of the English Dictionary with a fall appreciation of its requirements, leading to better practical results." • • • • " His laborious comparison of twenty languages, though never pub- lished, bore fruit in his own mind, and his training placed him both in Juio^ - - ' • - - ' - --- -J f T^v^o^^ „„ -> -philologist. Wei was pub- llshc id, where BUCC' vjM'aciical Did ** has itself had r\t^ n r> A wrt >*^ break whi« OH AS. A. BAMBER. g nations ak>n B common Diet *« . Jictionary, botl: lason's was disti ler hands. Prol 1 enlarged and amended, but other revisions since have so mucn novelty of plan as to be described as distinct works." .... 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From the saying of Demosthenes, the Italians perhaps borrowed their proverb : " It is better it should be said, here he ran away, than here he was slain" (Gray's note to passage in " Hudibras "). Archilochus was so much addicted to raillery and abuse, that he did not even spare himself, as in the epigram on his own cowardice. Much less did he spare others, as in his lampoon on the family ot Lycambes, caused, it is said, by Lycambes not keeping his word with regard to one of his daughters, whom he had promised in marriage to Archilochus. Meleager has a fine epigram on the daughters of Lycambes, referring to the treatment they received at the hands of their traducer (Jacobs 1. 35, cxix.), thus translated by C. : By Pluto's hand, by sacred Hecate's bed. We swear, fair spotless lives on earth we led. Altho' Archilochus's verse with shame And bitter taunts, would blight our virgin fame. What, tho' his tuneful numbers sweetly flow. Dishonour marks a woman's coward foe ! And how could ye, say how, Pierian Choir, Favour his Muse, and string a slanderer's Lyre ? That the Pierian Choir greatly favoured Archilochus' muse is evident from the high estimation in which he was held, as Theocritus bears witness in an epigram (Jacobs I. 199, xviii.), thus translated by Oalvjrley: Pause, and scan well Archilochus the bard of elder days. By east and west Alike's confest The mighty lyrist's praise. ARCHILOCHUS. Delian Apollo loved him well, and well the sister-choir : His songs Were fraught With subtle thought, And matchless was his lyre. CONTENTMENT (Jacobs I. 42, x.). Translated by the late Colonel Mure, of Caldwell. What's Gjges or his gold to me ! His royal state or rich array ? From envy's taint my breast is free, I covet no proud tyrant's sway. I envy not the gods in heaven ! The gods to me my lot have given. That lot, for good or ill, I'll bear. And for no other man's I care. Archilochus was contemporary with Gyges, whose wealth, like that of Croesus, early passed into a proverb. Spenser in a single line expresses much (" Faerie Queene,'" Book I. Canto ii, 35): The noblest mind the best contentment has. Cowley, in a portion of his epitaph for himself (translated from the Latin by Addison), describes his own happiness in his retirement : With decent poverty content, His hours of ease not idly spent ; To fortune's goods a foe profest, And hating wealth by all carest. This agrees well with Martial's epigram to Julius Martialis on a happy life (Book X. 47, translated by Sir Richard Fanshawe) : The things that make a life to please (Sweetest Martial), they are these : Estate inlierited, not got : A tliankful field, hearth always hot : City seldom, law-suits never : Equal friends agreeing ever : Health of body, i)cace of mind : Sleeps that till the morning bind : Wise simplicity, plain fare: ' Not drunken nights, yet loos'd from care : A sober, not a sullen spouse : Clean strengtli, not such as his that plows ; Wish only what thou art, to be ; Death neither wish, nor fear to see. 4 GREEK EPIGRAMMATISTS. ADDRESS TO HIS SOUL (Jacobs I. 43, xiv.). Translated by the late Colonel Mure, of Caldwell. My sonl, my soul, by cares past all relief Distracted sore, bear up ! with manly breast, And dauntless mien, each fresh assault of grief Encountering. By hostile weapons pressed, Stand firm. Let no unlooked-for triumph move To empty exultation ; no defeat Cast down. But still let moderation prove Of life's uncertain cup the bitter ^nd the sweet. Philemon shows that an equable frame of mind is the possession of a wise man. Cumberland thus translates the epigram in the " Obser\'er " (No. 139) : Extremes of fortune are true wisdom's test, And he's of men most wise, who bears them best. Agathias in an amusing epigram (Jacobs IV. 25, Ixiv.) shows the result of unexpected good fortune. The translation is by Philip Smyth : Euseia, rich in gold and land. To a poor fisher gave her hand, Ophion, dazzled vnth his gain. Grew haughty, petulant, and vain. Venus, says Fortune, looking sly, Who play'd this trick, pray — you or I ? SAPPHO. This poetess flourished B.C. 610. She was a native of Mitylene in tlie island of Lesbos. She married, but was early left a widow. She is said to have fixed her affections on a youth named Phaon, who, liow- ever, did not return her love. In consequence of this she cast herself into the sea from a promontory in Acarnauia, called Leucate ; the belief being that those who survived the leap would be cured of hopeless love. She perished in the experiment. Unfortunately little more than frag- ments of the beautiful poetry of Sappho have come down to us, and only three epigrams by her are preserved in Jacobs' Anthologia. Her celebrity, however, is attested by many Greek epigrams. This, by Antipater of Sidon (Jacobs 11. 19, xlvi.), is translated by Dr. Wellesley : Amazement seized Mnemosyne At Sappho's honey'd song : " What, does a tenth Muse, then," cried she, " To mortal men belong !" SAPPHO. O And a joyous epigram by an uncertain author (;Jacobs IV. 227, dxxi.) is thus translated by C. : Come, Lesbian maids, to blue-eyed Juno's shrine, And with light soundless feet the dance begin. Your own lov'd l^appho with her golden lyre Shall sweep the strings, and lead the laughing choir; And as she plays your joyous bands among You'll deem you hear the very Muse of Song. EPITAPH ON A PRIESTESS OF DIANA (Jacobs I. 49, i.). Translated in Merivales Edition of Bland's Collections. Does any ask ? I answer from the dead : A voice that lives is graven o'er my head : To dark-ey'd Dian, ere my days begun, Arit^to vow'd me, wife of Saon's son : Then hear thy piiestess, hear, O Virgin power ! And thy best gifts on Saon's lineage show'r. EPITAPH ON A FISHERMAN (Jacobs I. 50, ii.). Translated by Elton. This oar, and net, and fisher's wicker'd snare, Themiscns plac'd above his buried son — ^Memorials of the lot in life he bare. The hard and needy life of Pelagon. It was the custom of the ancients to carve on the tombs of their friends, devices emblematic of tlie proftssion or trade whicli they exercised when alive ; of this we have many examples in the Anthology, and in the works of Homer and Virgil. In tbe case of the clergy tlie custom has extendcxl to mudcrn times, as it was, and is again becoming, usual to engrave on their tombs a chalice, to denote their Priesthood. Granger (Biog. Hi.st. 1779, I. 81) mentions a picture in the Lexington Collection, with a device which seems to be borrowed from the Greek. It is traditionally supptised to be a portrait of a daughter of Sir Thumas More. It represents a femalt; standing on a tortoise, with a bunch of keys by her side, licr finger on her lips, and a dove on iier head. On the frame is a Latin inscriptiim, believed to be by Sir Thomas More, which has been thus translated : Be frugal, ye wives, live in silence and love. Nor abroad ever gossip and roam ! This harn from tlie k( ys, thu lips, and the dovs, And tortoise still dwelling at iiome. 6 GREEK EPIGRAMMATISTS. This inscription seema to have been suggested, not only by the general custom of tlie Greeks, but particularly by an epitaph on Lycidice by Antipater of 8idon, thus translated by C. (Jacobs II. 31, Ixxxvii., from which four lines are omitted ii> the translation in accord- ance with other authorities. See Jacobs' Notes, and Potter's " Anti- quities of Greece," Book IV. Chap, vii.).- Tell me. Lycidice, what meanings have These sculptur'd emblems on thy piUar'd grave? — The Owl, my labours at the wool doth tell : The Bridle that I rul'd my household well : The Muzzles fitted for the mouth express The silent lip and soul's reservedness. EEINNA. Flourished B.C. 610. She was contemporary with Sappho, to whom she is said to have been as superior in hexameters as she was inferior in lyrics. She was celebrated as well for her beauty as for her genius, and was tenderly mourned by the poets on account of her early death, as in the following epigram by Antipater of Sidon, translated by Major Macgregor (Jacobs II. 19, xlvii.): Few were Erinna's words, and brief her lays. Yet these obtained for her the deathless bays : Therefore she is not from our memory swept, Nor under the dark wing of black night kept : But we the myriad minstrels of to-day. Waste in oblivion, insect-like away. Thus of one swan more joy the soft notes bring Than thousand jackdaws clamorous in spring. ON A PORTRAIT (Jacobs I. 50, i.). Translated by Major Macgregor. Skill'd hands these traits, best Prometheus! drew — E'en men may match in cleverness with yuu — So like to life, whoe'er has painted her, Had she but voice, this Agatharcis were. It is doubtful whether this epigram can be riglitly ascribed to Erinna at a date so early. The conceit embodied in it is Ibreign to the extreme simplicity of her age. That men could match Prometheus was a thought often adopted by the Epigrammatists at a later period, as, for instance, by Antipater of Sidon in one of the many epigrams on Myron's Cow (Jacobs II. 21, Iv.): ERINNA. 7 This heifer sure will low : Prometheus, 'tis not thou, That only makes things live. For Myron life can give. A modern epigram describes a portrait, which, unlike that of Agatharcis, would not have represented the original, had voice been added : A lord of senatorial fame Was by his portrait known outright ; For so the painter play'd his game, It made one even yawn at sight. " 'Tis he — the same — there's no defect. But want of speech," exclaim'd a flat. To whom the limner — " Pray, reflect, 'Tie surely not the worse for that." EPITAPH ON A DECEASED COMPANION (Jacobs I. 50, ii). Translated by Major Macgregor. Cold pillars ! Sirens mute ! and thon, sad urn ! Who boldest my poor dust for Hades stern. Bid those all hail ahout my tomb who stand. Or countrymen, or from another land ; Say that a virgin 1 lie here, by name Baucis — my father call'd me so — who came Of Tenian race, and let them know my friend Erinna for my tomb these verses penn'd. Erinna wrote another epitaph on Baucis, from which we learn that she died on her marriage day. On the similarly mournful fate of an- other maiden, Meleager wrote an epigram (Jacobs I. 38, cxxv.), thus translated by Archdeacon Wrangham : Her virgin zone unloosed, CleEera's charms Death clasps — stern bridegroom — in his iron arms. Hymns at the bridal valves last night were sung — Last night the bridal roof with revels rung — This moru the wail was raised, and, hushed and low. The strains of joy were changed to moans of woe ; And the bright torch to Hymen's hall which led. With mournful glare now lighted to the dead. Other epigrams on this subject will bo found under Philipi)us. A fragment in Athena;us gives tiie information that Erinna herself died in early youth and unmarried, which adds much to the interest of th(; epitaph which she wrote on her youn^ companion, wlo died pro- bably a very short time before her. 8 . GEEEK EPIGRAMMATISTS. CLEOBULUS. Flourished B.C. 586. He was Tyrant of Lindus, aud one of the Seven Sages of Greece. INSCRIPTION ON THE TOMB OF MIDAS (Jacobs I. 52, i.). Translated by the late Colonel Mure, of Caldwell. A maid of bronze am I, and here will stand On Midas' tomb, as long as on the strand The sea shall beat ; as long as trees shall grow, Sun rise, moon shine, or liquid waters flow ; So long by this sad tomb I'll watch and cry, Midas lies here ! to every passer by. Simonides has an epigram (Jacobs I. 59, x.) in which he severely ridicules the idea of the maid of bronze enduring as long as the earth itself. It is too long for insertion, but the last few lines of Merivale's translation may be given : . The sculptur'd tomb is but a toy Man may create, and man destroy. Eternity in stone or brass ? — Go, go ! who said it, was — an ass. But Cleobulus delighted in conundrums, and it is very probable, as Colonel Mure points out, that the inscription is of that character, re- quiring for its interpretation a knowledge of circumstances connected with its composition, which Simonides did not possess. It is not likely that Cleobulus seriously put forward such an extravagant assertion. If he did so, he might be answered in the words of Spenser in " The Kuines of Time " : In vaine doo earthly princes then, in vaine Seeke with pyramides, to heaven aspired ; Or huge colosses, built with costlie paine ; Or brasen pillours, never to be fired ; To make their memories for ever live : For how can mortal 1 immortalitie give ? * * * * ♦ All such vaine moniments of earthlie masse, Devour'd of Time, in time to nought doo passe. On the destructive power of Time, Plato has a distich of much beauty (Jacobs I. 106, xix.), thus translated by C. : Time changes all things ; and beneath his sway Names, beauty, wealth, e'en Nature's powers decay. ANACEEON. Flourished B.C. 559. He was born at Teos, a seaport of Ionia, and spent many years of his life at the courts of Polycrates, Tyrant of Samos, and Hipparchus, son of Pisistratus, Tyrant of Athens. He divd in extreme old a,2;e at Abdera in Thrace, whither, many years before, the Teians had emigrated and built a new city. A STATUE OF MERCURY (Jacobs I. 56, x.). Translated hy Major Macgregor. Pray to the Herald of the Gods, that, to Timonax, he Be kind, who in his lov'd porch plac'd, in fairest marble, me : Pray Hermes, too, who rules the games, that all who will may come. Stranger or citizen alike, to this gymnasium. A statue of Mercury or Hermes, as the protector of learning, was usually placed by the ancients in their libraries, and in the porticoes of their academies. Hermes, called also Cyllenius from the place of his birth, was the messenger of Jupiter, the patron of learning, the god of thieves and all dishonest persons, and presided over highways. There are some amusing epigrams in the Anthology in reference to his various duties. The following by Philippus (Jacobs II. 206, xli.) is translated by the Rev. G. C. Swayne in Dr. Wellesley's " Anthologia Polyglotta " : Hermes the volatile, Aroady's president, Lacquey of deities, robber of herds, In this gymnasium constantly resident, Liglit-fiugcred Aulus bore cif with these words : " Many a scholar, by travelling faster On learning's high-road, runs away with his master." The same author ''Jacobs II. 210, Iv.) has the following dialogue, translated by the same : A. May I just take a cabbage-plant, Cyllenius? B. No, sir, you shan't. A. What gruilge a cabbage? B. 'Tis not grudge, But there's a law the thief to judge. A. Oh miracle beyond belief, When Hermes preaches down a thief. Prior imitated an epigram by Antipater of Sidon (Jacobs II. 13, xxviii.) on the robbcr-di ity Hercules, who demanded half the tlock for preserving the rest, which ends thus : Though, troth ! to me there seems but little odds. Who prove the greatest robbers, wolves or gods I 10 GREEK EPIGRAMMATISTS. ON AGATHON (Jacobs I. 56, xiii.). Translated by Major Macgregor. When fell strong Agathon, Abdera here As with one voice bewail'd his early bier ; Blood-loving \\'ar, in whirlwind of the fight, Never his equal slew in main and might. After the Teians had settled in Abdera, the Thracians, jealous ol their new neighboiirs, attacked them, and some conflicts took place. Auacreon has several epigrams on those who fell in battle, which pro- bably refer to the war with the Thracians. Simonidea has an epigram on Cleodemus, who, rather than fly, fell into an ambush of the Thracians during a war with that people (Jacobs I. 76, xc). The translation is by Sterling : By shame of flight was Cleodemus led At deep Theserus' mouth to mournful doom. Surprised by ambushed Thracians ; so he spread His fame to Diphilus, his father's tomb. On such warriors as Agathon and Cleodemus, and all who bravely die for their country, Simonides has a fine epigram (Jacobs I. 64, xxvii.), thus translated by C. : For Greece and glory they who lie beneath Wreath'd their pale temples in the shroud of death. They died, yet Uve ! For Virtue from the grave T' immortal worlds above conducts the Brave. So, Spenser makes Britomart say (" Faerie Queene," Book Til., Canto xi. 19) : " Life is not lost," said she, " for which is bought Endlesse renown." And Collins' celebrated Ode may be compared : How sleep the brave who sink to rest, By all their country's wishes blessed ! When spring, with dewy lingers cold, Returns to deck their hallowed mould, She there shall dress a sweeter sod Than fancy's feet have ever trod. By faii-y hands their knell is rung ; By forms unseen their dirge is sung ; There honour comes, a pilgrim grey. To bless the turf that wraps their clay ; And freedom shall awhile repair. To dwell a -weeping hermit there ! ANACREON. 11 ON THE SON OF CLEENOR. DROWNED IN A VOYAGE TO HIS NATIVE COUNTRY IN WINTER (Jacobs I. 56, xiv.). Translated in the " Saturday Review " of April 30, 1S70. Yearnings for home, Cleenor's venturous son, Urged thee the risks of wintry South to run : And faithless weather trapped thee to thy grave, Where o'er thy loved form heaves for aye the wave. In the infancy of navigation, those who made voyages out of season were specially "liable to clanger ; and as the Greek mind attached a peculiar sadness to shipwreck, many epigrams were written on friends lost at sea. The following is by Theocritus (Jacobs 1. 197,viii.), trans- lated by Calverley : Man, husband existence : ne'er launch on the sea Out of season : oui tenure of life is but frail. Think of poor Cleonicus : for Phasos sailed he From the valleys of Syria, with many a bale : With many a bale, ocean's tides he would stem When the Pleiads were sinking, and he sank with them. Leonidas of Tarentum wrote an epigram on the cenotaph of one who had been shipwrecked (Jacobs I. 173, Ixxiv.), which is thus translated l.vC. : Why o'er Timareon's bark, no wealthy prey, Eoll'd thy wild waves, thou ever-sounding sea? The wintry tempest round his temples curl'd. And to the whelming deeps his treasures hurl'd. Far on the solitary waste he lies. Above the sea-gull swoops, the bittern cries : Whilst the fond parent vainly mourns his doom. And weeps and watches o'er this empty tomb. The following by Euphorion, who flourished B.C. 235 (Jacobs L 189, ii.), is translated by Goldwin Smith : No native Trachis, land of many stones, Nor rock with dark inscription shrouds his bones; Tall Drepaniun, thy promontoried steep Beneath, he welters in th' Icarian deep, And I his cenotaph by friendship's hand Upreared 'mid parch'd Dryopian pastures stand. Herrick gives a warning against trusting to the sea : What though the sea be calme ? Trust to the shore : Ships have been drown'd where late they danc't before. And Wordsworth, also, in one of his " Inscriptions " : The smrwthest seas will .sometimes prove, To the confiding bark, untrue ; And, if she trust the stars above, They can be treacherous too. 12 GREEK EPIGRAMMATISTS. SIMONIDES. Flourished b.o. 525. He was a native of Cos. He lived to a great age, and at eighty obtained the prize in poetry at the public games. ON MEGISTIAS THE SEER (Jacobs I. 64, xxv.). Irranslated by Sterling. Of famed Megistias here behold the tomb, Him on this side Spercheus slew the Medes; A seer who well foresaw his coming doom, But would not lose his share in Sparta's deeds. The seer, Megistias, had predicted the event of the battle of Ther- mopylae, but refused to leave the army, preferring certain, death with Leonidas to life when his country was ruined. ON THOSE WHO FELL AT THEBMOPYL^ (Jacobs I. C4, xxvi.). Translated by Sterling. If well to die be valour's noblest part, In this with us no mortal men can vie : Freedom for Greece we sought with fearless hear', And here in undecaying fame we lie. Simonides has many patriotic epigrams of a similar character, in which he celebrates the glory of the warrior's death in defence of his native land. An inscription on a column erected at Thermopylae (translated by Sterling) gives in the fewest words the noblest eujogium, and is a fine example of Grecian simplicity, and Grecian nobility of sentiment (Jacobs I. 63, xxiv.) : To those of Lacedsemon, stranger, tell. That, as their laws commanded, here we fell. The close of another epigram on Spartan courage shows the spirit which animated the soldiers, and led them on to victory or death (Jacobs I. 63, XX.) : "We count it death to falter, not to die. The glorious courage which these epigrams display, recalls the noltle speech which Campbell puts into the mouth of Locluel, at the close of his interview with the wizard : Though my perishing ranks should be strew'd in their gore. Like ocean-weeds heap'd on the surf-beaten shore, Lochiel, untainted by flight or by chains. While the kindling of life in his bosom remains, SIMONIDES. 13 PUall victor exult, or in death be laid low. With his back to the field, and his feet to the foe ! And, leaving in battle no blot on his name, Look proudly to Heaven from the death-bed of fame. Southey, in " The Poet's Pilgiimage : The Field of Battle," refers to the inscription at Thermopylse, when describing the valour of the Higldanders at La Haye Sainte : And fitly here, as in that Grecian straight. The funeral stone might say. Go, traveller, tell Scotland, that in our duty here we fell. THE SHIPWRECKED MARINER (Jacobs I. 76, xxxvi.). Translated in Merivale's Edition of Bland's Collections. cloud-capt Geraneia, rock unblest ! Would thou hadst reared far hence thy haughty crest, By Tanais wild, or wastes where Ister flows ; • Kor looked on Sciron from thy silent snows! A cold, cold corpse he lies beneath the wave. This tomb speaks, tenantless, his ocean grave. The dread which the ancients had of lying unburied, and of losing ftnieral rites, is well known. Shipwreck was to tliem, therefore, the most terrible form of death, and hence the mournful character of the epigrams which treat of that subject. Callimachus has a very touching one, wliich, like that of Simonides, bewails the empty tomb of a sailor (Jacobs I. 225, Ivii.): Would God, no ships had ever crost the sea, Then, Sopolis, we had not wept for thee : Then no wild waves had tost thy breathless frame, Nor we on empty tombs engrav'd thy name. THE YOUNG GREEK EXILE'S GRAVE (Jacobs I. 7C, xxxix.). Tranelated by C. A foreign land enwraps its dust around thee. And foreign waves, by Euxine's strand, surround theo : No more for thee thy home, thy native shore ; To Chios' sea-girt ible thou'lt come no more. Pope, in one of his most beautiful poems, the " Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady," describes tlie exile's death : What can atone (oh ever iiijur'd shade !) Thy fate uiii)ilied, and thy rites unpaid? 14 GREEK EPIGRAMMATISTS. No friend's complaint, no kind domestic tear, Pleas'd thy pale ghost, or grac'd thy mournful bier. By foreign hands thy dying eyes were clos'd, By foreign hands thy decent limbs compos'd, By foreign hands thy humble grave adom'd, By strangers honour'd, and by strangers mourn'd ! AEIPHEON OF STCYON. Of this poet no particulars are known ; and even the date at which he flourished is very uncertain ; that it was early is all that can be TO HEALTH (Jacobs I. 92, xxiii.). Translated by Cowper. Eldest born of powers divine ! Bless'd Hygeia ! be it mine To enjoy what thou canst give, And henceforth with thee to live : For in power if pleasure be, Wealth or numerous progeny, Or in amorous embrace, "Where no spy infests the place ; Or in aught that Heaven bestows To alleviate human woes, When the wearied heart despairs Of a respite from its cares ; These and every true delight Flourish only in thy sight ; And the Sister Graces three Owe themselves their youth to thee ; Without whom we may possess Much, but never happiness. Dr. Johnson, in No. 48 of " The Rambler," speaks in high praise of this exquisite ode. His criticism, which is too long for insertion here, cannot fail to please those who peruse it. An epigram by Simonides probably suggested to Aripliron tiie idea of his ode. The translation is by Sterling (Jacobs I. 60, xi.). Good health for mortal man is best, And next to this a beauteous form ; Then riches not by guile possessed. And. lastly, youth, with friendships warm. SIMMIAS. 15 Pope may possibly have remembered Simonides' epigram when lie wrote in the '' Essay on Man " : Know all the good that individuals find, Or God and Nature meant to mere mankind, Reason's whole pleasure, all the joys of sense, Lie in three words — health, peace, and competence. SIMMIAS OF THEBES. This author is supposed to be the intimate friend of Socrates, who was present at the philosopher's death, b.c. 399. ON SOPHOCLES (Jacobs I. 100, ii.). Translated in the ^^ Spectator," No. 551. Wind, gentle evergreen, to form a shade Around the tomb where Sophocles is laid ; Sweet ivy, wind thy boughs, and intertwine With blushing roses and the clustering vine. Thus will thy lasting leaves, with beauties hung. Prove grateful emblems of the lays he sung. Whose soul, exalted like a god of wit. Among the Muses and the Graces writ. In the " Spectator " this epigram is ascribed to Simonides. But it cannot be given to the native of Cos without a glaring anachronism ; it is possible that it might be the work of a younger Simonides, a nephew of the elder. In an epigram by an uncertain author (Jacobs IV. 285, dlx.), trans- lated in the same number of the " Spectator," the Muses and the Graces are similarly represented in connection with another poet — Menander : The very bees, sweet Menander, hung To taste the Muses' spring upon thy tongue ; The very Graces made the scenes you writ Tlieir happy point of fine expression hit. Thus still you live, you make your Athens shine, And raise its glory to the skies in thine. 16 GREEK EPIQIIAMMATISTS. PLATO. The celebrated philosopher. Ho was bora in the island of ^gina, and flourished B.C. 395. A LOVERS WISH (Jacobs I. 102, i.). Translated by Moore. WJiy dost tliou gaze upon the sky ? Oh. that I were yon spangled sphere ! Then every star should be an eye, To wander o'er thy beauties here. A conceit of a similar kind occurs in Shakespeare's " Romeo and Juliet," where Eomeo says (Act II. so. 2) i Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven, Having some business, do entreat her eyes To twinkle in their spheres till they return. And again, Juliet passionately cries (Act HI. sc. 2) : Give me my Romeo : and when he shall die, Take him and cut him out in little stars, And he will make the face of heaven so line. That all the world will be in love with night. And pay no worship to the garish sun. Steevens notices a similar passage in a play called " The Wisdom ot Doctor Dodypoll," which was acted before the year 1596 : The glorious parts of faire Lucilia, Take them and joiiie tiiem in the heavenly spheres ; And fixe them there as an eternal light, For lovers to adore and wonder at. "Eomeo and Juliet" was written, Malone conjectures, in 1596. Shakespeare may have taken the conceit from " The Wisdom of Doctor Dodypoll," and unless the similarity of sentunent with Plato was acci- dental, the unknown author of that play must have been acquainted with the Epigram of the Greek writer. S. T. Coleridge must have had Plato's epigram in mind when he wrote his " Lines on an Autmnnal Evening," in which the following passage occurs : On seraph wing I'd float' a dream by night, To soothe my love with shadows of delight ; Or soar aloft to be the spangled skies, And gaze upon her with a thousand eyes. PLATO. 17 THE THIEF AND THE SUICIDE (Jacobs I. 106, xviii.). Jack, finding gold, left a rope on the ground ; Bill, missing his gold, used the rope which he found. This translation of a Greek distich was made, we are told, by S. T. Coleridge ("Literary Remains," 1836, I. 337), impromptu, to controvert an assertion that the compression and brevity of the original was unattainable in any other language. As a close translation, elegance being put out of the question, it is admirable. As an excellent paraphrase of the same distich, in which there is no attempt at close translation, Shelley's rendering is much to be admired : A man was about to hang himself. Finding a purse, then threw away his rope ; The owner, coming to reclaim his pelf. The halter found and used it. So is Hope Changed for Despair — one laid upon the shelf, We take the other. Under heaven's high cope Fortune is God — all you endure and do Depends on circumstance as much as you. THE LIGHT OF BEAUTY UN QUENCHED IN DEATH (Jacobs I. 106, xxi.). Translated by Shelley. Thou wert the morning star among the living Ere thy fair light had fled ; Now, having died, thou art, as Hesperus, giving New splendour to the dead. Ausonius has a very pretty imitation of this epigram (Ep. 144) : As Lucifer once, fair star of the morn. You gave for the living your light ; Now shrouded in death, you, as Vesper, adorn The regions of shadow and night. ON CUPID SLEEPING IN A GROVE (Jacobs I. 108, xxix.). Translated by C, Deep in a grove we found th' unconscious boy, Glowing like redden'd fruit, Cythera's joy. Above him on a bough his arms wore hung, The quiver empty, and the bow unstrung : c 18 GREEK EPIGEAMMATISTS. Tranquil he lay on clust'ring roses wild, And gently in his dreams the sleeper smil'd : Bees dropp'd around the sweet balm of the south, Adding fresh fragrance to his dewy mouth. Hughes may have known and remembered this description of the Sleeping Cupid when, in his " Greenwich Park," he wrote : The sportful nymph, once in a neighbouring grove, Burpris'd by chance the sleeping god of love ; His head reclin'd upon a tuft of green, And by him scatter'd lay Ms arrows bright and keen. CRATES OF THEBES. Flourished about B.C. 330. He was a celebrated philosopher of the Cynic sect. TEE CUBE OF LOVE (Jacobs I. 118, i.). Translated by Sliepherd. Sharp hunger is the cure of love, Or time the mischief may remove : If time and fasting give no hope, Go ! — end thy miseries with a rope. Tennyson has an exceedingly good epigram on hanging, as the hopeless lover's relief, entitled, " The Skipping-rope :" Sure never yet was Antelope Could skip so lightly by. Stand off, or else my skipping-rope Will hit you in the eye. How lightly whirls the skipping-rope ! How fairy-like you fly ! Go, get you gone, you muse and mope ; I hate that silly sigh. Nay, dearest, teach me how to hope, Or tell me how to die. There, take it, take my skipping-rope, And hang yourself thereby. We may compare an epigram, translated from the French by Ijeigh Hunt, on hanging — as a cure for disappointment : 'Tis done ; I yield ; adieu, thou cruel fair ! Adieu, th' averted face, th' ungracious check I go to die, to finish all my care, To hang. — To hang ? — Yes, — round another's neck. 19 MNASALCUS. The age of this author is not known with certainty. He probably flourished about B.C. 325. ON THE SHIELD OF ALEXANDER (Jacobs I. 123, ii.). Translated by Merivale. A holy offering at Diana's shrine. See Alexander's glorious shield recline ; Whose golden orb, through many a bloody day Triumphant, ne'er in dust dishonour'd lay. This epigram oresthes very much the spirit of Simonides. and one by that patriotic poet may fitly be compared with Mnasalcus'. • It is on a soldier's spear dedicated to Jove (Jacobs I, 67, xliv.). The trans- lation is by Sterling : Against this pillar tall thou taper spear Repose, to Jove oracular offered here ; For now thy brass is old, and worn at length By warlike uses, thou hast lost thy strength. ON A DEAD LOCUST (Jacobs I. 125, x.). Translated by Merivale. No more shalt thou, by fruitful furrows sitting, Make with resounding wings glad minstrelsy ! Nor with loud chirps, my merry mood befitting, Soothe me reclin'd beneath the forest tree. This epigram illustrates a marked feature amongst the Greeks — their aptitude for making all things beautiful, whether animate or inanimate, conducive to their simple pleasures. There are many other epigrams in the Anthology expressive of love for the sportive insect tribe, who, while enjoying their little span of life, added to the charms of the leafy retreats and shadowy pools in which the Greeks delighted. The fol- lowing, on a wounded grasshopper, is by Nicius (Jacobs I. 183, viii.), the translation by C. : No more, no more, on leafy spray Shall my shrill pinions sound their lay : For as I sat, loud carolling, A boy's hand seiz'd and tore my wing. Little such fate imagining. 20 GREEK EPIGRAMMATISTS. And this, of similar cliaracter, is by Pamphilus (Jacobs I. 190, ii.), the translation by the late Rev. E. Stokes, in Dr. Wellesley's " Antho- logia Polyglotta " : No longer, nestling the green leaves among, Dost thou trill forth a sweet melodious song, Tuneful cicada ! Thee, despite thy strain. Some wanton urchin's out-spread palm hath slain. Of the soothing effect of the hum of insect life, our own Thomson, the poet of nature, thus writes in the " Seasons " (" Summer," line 281): Resounds the living surface of the ground : Nor undelightful is the ceaseless hum, To him who muses through the woods at noon : Or drowsy shepherd, as he lies reclin'd. With half-shut eyes, beneath the floating shade Of willows grey, close-crowding o'er the brook. EPITAPH ON lOLE (Jacobs I. 127, xviii.) Translated by G. Fair lole ! Unknown the nuptial rite, Thy Spirit wanders in the realms of night. Tears are thy mother's portion : her sad doom To bend, with drooping head, above thy tomb. Palladas has an epigram on the sorrows of life which cause tears to be our portion (Jacobs III. 135, cii.). The translation is by Shepherd : In tears I came into this world of woe ; In tears I sink into the shades below ; In tears I pass'd through life's contracted span — Such is the hapless state of feeble man : Crawling on earth, his wretched lot he mourns. And, thankful, to his native dust returns. j So, Spenser, in " The Teares of the Muses," makes Melpomene say : For all man's life me seemes a tragedy, FuU of sad sights and sore catastrophes ; First coming to the world with weeping eye, Where all his dayes, like dolorous trophees, Are heapt with spoyles of fortune and of feare, And he at last laid forth on balefuU beare. But Landor gives the consolation that tears shed over a child's grave are not lost ; N088IS. 21 That mortal has imperfect trust In God who thinks Him only just. God writes among his chosen few Those who have loved and wept like you. He numbers every tear they shed Upon his last-born children dead. NOSSIS. A poetess born at Locri, in Italy. She flourished about B.C. 320. ON THE STATUE OF A DAUGHTER (Jacobs I. 128, vii.). Translated hy 1). 'J'his breathing image shows Melinna's grace, Her own sweet fonn I see — her speaking face ; The mother's youth's recall'd,— the father blest Beholds his honour in his child confest. Bishop Wordsworth of Lincoln, in his "Pompeian Inscriptions,'' 1846, gives the following from a wall in Pompeii, a painful reverse of the p'icture which the epigram presents : Zetema Mulier ferebat filium simulem sui, Nee mens est, nee mi simulat, sed vellem esset mens, Et ego volebam ut mens esset. Which requires, adds Dr. Wordsworth, no other explanation than the epigram of Nossis, or the Laudantur simili prole puerpera) of Horace (Odes IV. 5, 21). We may compare Shakespeare in "A Winter's Tale" (Act II. sc. 3); Behold, my lords. Although the print be little, the whole matter And copy of the father : eye, nose, lip. The trick of his frown, his forehead ; nay, the valley. The pretty dimples of his chin, and cheek ; his smiles ; The very mould and frame of hand, nail, finger. In the 3rd of his sonnets Shakespeare has : Thou art thy mother's glass, and she in thee Calls back the lovely April of her prime. 22 GREEK EPIQKAMMATISTS. ANYTE. A native of Tegea. Called by Antipater, "The Female Homer." Flourished about B.C. 280. THE WOODLAND GROT (Jacobs I. 131, vii.). Translated by C. Stranger, by this worn rock thy limbs repose, Soft thro' the verdant leaves the light wind blows : Here drink from the cool spring. At noon-day heat Such rest to way-worn traveller is sweet. There is another epigram in the Anthology, -which may be compared with this. The author is unknown. The translation is by Shepherd (Jacobs IV. 194, ccclxiii.) : In yonder thicket springs the secret rill. Whose streams perennial my green margin fill ; O'er my clear waters, bubbling cool below, Laurels and elms theii- dusky shadows throw. When fierce at noontide glows the summer's heal, Here, way-worn traveller ! rest thy weary feet : Here quench thy thirst, in listless luxury laid, And court sweet slxmibers in the grateful shade. A pretty description of a woodland scene, such as these epigrams bring before the eye, was " Inscribed on the back of a landscape, drawn by the Rev. William Bree," by Anna Seward : Here, from the hand of genius, meets your eye The tangled foliage of a shadowy dell ; Meets it in Nature's truth ; — and see, the brook Thro' yon wild thicket work its way oblique. Hurrying and dashing thro' the lonely wood. EPITAPH ON A YOUNG GIRL (Jacobs I. 134, xxii.). ' Translated by Bishop Blomfield in " Museum Criticum." I mourn Antibia — whose paternal gate Unnumber'd suitors throng'd, her love to gain ; For she was fair and wise — but envious Fate Forbade ; and all their amorous hopes are vain. Marullus, a learned Greek of the 16th century, who was celebrated for his Latin poetry, has an epitaph in that language, which has much resemblance in thought, though not in expression, to that by LEONIDAS OF TAEENTUM. 23 Anyte. It is on Albina, translated by Whaley in his " Collection of Original Poems and Translations," 1745, p. 293 : Here fair Albina lies, yet not alone ; That was forbid by Cytherea's son : His quiver, arrows, and his bcfw lie here, And Beauty's self lay lifeless on her bier. Strew roses then, and violets round her shower, She that's now dust, was yesterday a flower. LEONIDAS OF TAEENTUM. Flourished B.C. 280. An epitaph, which he composed for himself, shows that he was an exile from his native land, and it is conjectured that he was carried away captive by Phyrrhus, King of Epirus. ON TEE PICTURE OF VENUS ANADYOMENE (Jacobs I. 164, xli.). Translated by C. Fresh rising from the ocean foam, Her mother's breast, her native home, Apelles saw Love's queen display Her matchless form bedash'd with spray. Each grace he saw, and drawing near, On breathing canvas fix'd them here. See, from her hair her slender fingers Press out the salt dew where it lingers ; See, in those mild, love-breathing eyes, Her soft glance languishingly dies ; Whilst shews each gently-swelling breast, Like the ripe apples of the west : And Juno weeps, and Pallas sighs — She's lovelier far ! We yield the prize. This celebrated picture was painted for the temple of ^sculapius at Cos. It is said that Campaspe, the most beautiful woman of her time, sat for Venus, and tliat, while painting, Apelles fell in love with the model, whom he afterwards married. Praxiteles in sculpture rivalled Apelles in painting. His statue of Venu.s at Cuidoa, was one of his mo.'^ery glade, The gay narcissus proudly glows, The lily decks the mountain shade, Where blooms my fair — a blushing rose. Ye meads ! why vainly thus display The buds that grace your vernal hour ? For see ye not my Zoe stray Amidst your sweets, a sweeter flower ? A sentiment of similar character is expressed by Herrick, in a piece entitk^d, " The Parliament of Eoses to Julia " : I dreamt the roses one time went To meet and sit in Parliament : The place for these, and for the rest Of flowers, was thy spqtlesse breast : Over which a state was drawne Of tiffauie, or cob-web lawne ; Then in that Parly, all those powers Voted the rose, the queen of Howers, But so, as that herself should be The maide of honour vmto thee. ON A BEE THAT SETTLED ON THE NECK OF HIS MISTRESS Jacobs I. 31, cviii.). Translated by C. Thou flower- fed bee ! Why leave the buds of spring And to my lov'd-one's breast thy fond flight wing? Is it to warn us, that Love tips his dart With gall and honey for his victim's heart ? It is, it is ! But go, light wanton, go ! The bitter truth you teach too well I know. That love mingles gall with honey, Spenser tells us in the "Faerie Queene,'' Book IV. Canto x. 1 : True he it said, whatever man it sayd, That love with gall and hony doth abound : But if the one be with the other wayd. For every dram of hony therein found, A pound of gall doth over it redound : That I too tnie by triall have approved. MELEAGER. 39 William Alexander, Earl of Stirling, a poet nearly contemporary with Spenser, expresses the same truth in a line in his first madrigal : feweet hony love with gall doth mixe. A modern anonymous epigram, in Hackett's '• Collection of Select Epigrams," 1757, Ep. (i'2, tells of the sting as well as the sweets of love : To heal the wound a bee had made Upon my Delia's face, Its honey to the part she laid, And bade me kiss the place : Pleas'd, I obey'd, and from the wound Suek'd both the sweet and smart ; The honey on my lips I found. The sting within my heart. ON THE PEDESTAL OF THE MARBLE STATUE OF NIOBE (Jacobs I. 34, cxvii.). Translated by C. Hail, Niobe ! Unbind thy braided hair ! To thee I come, the prophet of despair. I see thy sons, a manly offspring, lie Pierc'd by th' avenging archers of the sky. All, all are dead. — Yet darker visions rise. Young, blood-stain'd virgins scathe these aching eyes. One at thy feet, a guiltless daughter, falls ; One on thy knees death's withering shaft appals : E'en she thy late-born dies, untimely slain. She at thy breast, thy last ! for none remain. Amaz'd, and mute the grief-struck mother stood, Erewhilo too fond of speech, but now subdued. Benumbing horror froze the starting tear. And fix'd her lovely fuim in marble here. Niobe's children were destroyed by Apollo and Diana, in revenge for insults which she offered to their mother Latona. Struck at the suddenness of her misfortunes, slie was changed into a btone. The marble statue, on the pedcsfcil of which these noble lines were written, was executed by Praxiteles, and was so perfect as a work of art, that Niobe seemed to be again alive. This gave occasion to the following epigram by an unknown author (Jacobs IV. 181, ccxcviii.): To stone the gods had chang'd her— but in vain ; The sculptor's art has made her breathe again. 40 GREEK EPIGRAMMATISTS. Tlie story of Niobe is given in the 24th Book of Homer"s Iliad. The reference to the rock-cut monument of her in the valley of the Hermus is thus translated by Pope : There high on Sipylus's shaggy brow, She stands her own sad monument of woe ; The rock for ever lasts, the tears for ever flow. PHILODEMUS. Flourished about B.C. 80. He was by birth a Gadarene, but migrated to Athens, and thence to Rome. MUSIC AND LOVE (Jacobs H. 73, xiii.). Translated by Merivale. The strains that flow from young Aminta's Ijrre, Her tongue's soft voice, and melting eloquence, Her sparkling eyes, that glow with fond desire, Her warbling notes, that chain the admiring sense, Subdue my soul — I know not how nor whence. Too soon it will be known when all my soul's on fire. So, Herrick " Upon Sapho sweetly playing, and sweetly singing " : When thou do'st play, and sweetly sing, Whetlier it be tlie voice or string, Or both of them, that do agree Thus to en-trance and ravish me : This, this I know, I'm oft struck mute ; And die away upon thy lute. The epigram of Philodemus may perhaps be the original of Hughes pretty lines, " Beauty and Music ' ; Ye swains, whom radiant beauty moves, Or music's art with sounds divine. Think how the raptiu'ous charm improves, Where two such gifts celestial join. Where Cupid's bow and Phoebus' lyre. In tlie same powerful hand are found, Where lovely eyes inflame desire, While trembling notes are taught itaph 55) : This quack to Charon would his penny pay : The grateful ferryman was heard to say — ■ " Return, my friend ! and live for ages more. Or I must haul my useless boat ashore." Of a similar turn to Lucillius' epigram, is an anonymous one on Marshal Sflxe (" Poetical Farrago," I. 153) : Th' eternal ferryman of fate. When Saxe, unconquerably great, Approach'd within his ken, Scowl'd at his freight, a trembling crowd, And, " Turn out ghosts," he roar'd aloud, " Here's Hercules agen." N10AB0HU8. 51 The "Magnus" of Lucillius' epigram is in a translation among " Epigrams from the German of Lessing," published in 1825, changed to •' Mead." Hackett (the editor of a volume of Epigrams, in 1757) has an epigram equally complimentary to that celebrated physician of the reigns of George I. and 11., but with a different point (Ep. 17) : Mead's not dead then, you say ; only sleeping a little — Why, egad ! sir, youve hit it off there to a tittle. Yet, friend, his awaking I very much doubt, Pluto knows who he's got, and will ne'er let him out. NICARCHUS. Flourished in the second century. He was, by birth, a Samian, THE GREAT CONTENTION (Jacobs III. 62, xvi.). Translated by C. Three dwarfs contended by a state decree, Which was the least and lightest of the three. First, Hermon came, and his vast skill to try, With thread in hand leap'd through a needle's eye. Forth from a crevice Uemas then advanc'd, And on a spider's web securely danc'd. What feat show'd Sospiter in this high qimrrel ? — No eyes could see him, and he won the laurel. With this amusing epigram, where a dwarf is too small to be seen, may be compared a more modern one, where a poet is too spiritiml to be seen. Thcophile, a French poet, born about 1590, was obliged to leave France on accoimt of his impiety and debaucheries, and came to England, where he solicited an audience of King James I., which the monarch refused. Theophile turned the affront to his own glory in an epigram, which has been thus translated by Lovelace (Lovelace's I'oems) : If James, the king of wit. To see me thought not fit, Sure this the cause hath been. That, ravish'd with my merit, He thought I was all sijirit, And 80 not to be seen. Compare alao Sir Thomas More : A cobweb serv'd ft tiny elf, Despising life, to hang himself. 52 GREEK EPIGRAMMATISTS. A VOICE FROM THE GRAVE (Jacobs III. 65, xxvii.). Translated by C. Phido nor hand nor touch to me applied ; Fever'd, I thought but of his name — and died. The germ probably of Msirtial's epigram of like character (Book VI a3), which Elphinston thus translates : He bath'd with us, brisk ; and he supp'd with us, gay ; Next morn, with the dead, Athenagoras lay. The cause, do you ask, of the sudden transition ? In sleep he Hermocrates saw, the physician. The epigrams on doctors are numberless, but there are very few modern ones which have the humoiir of those by Nicarchus and Martial. There is a celebrated one by Prior, on Eadclitfe, who was noted for his singular powers of conversation, and the rough independence of his manners. It is entitled, " The remedy worse than the disease " : I sent for Radclifife ; was so ill, That other doctors gave me over ; • He felt my pulse, prescrib'd his pill, And I was likely to recover. But when the wit began to wheeze. And wine had warm'd the politician, Cur'd yesterday of my disease I died last night of my physician. EUFINUS. Of this author nothing is known. His epigrams are placed here in accordance with the chronological position assigned to him by Brunck and Jacobs. TEE TRANSITORINESS OF YOUTH AND BEAUTY (Jacobs HI. 102, xv.). Translated by C. Take, take this flow'ring wreath from me, Twin'd by these hands, and twin'd for thee. Here blends the daifodil's soft hue, With lilies, and the violet's blue ; Here the moist wind-flower darkly blows, Entwining with the opening rose ; RUFINUS. 53 And whilst it binds thy pensive brow, Let pride to gentler feelings bow, At thought of that no distant day. When thou, as these, must fade away. There are several epigrams in the Anthology, in which youth and beauty are compared with the short-lived flowers. The following is by Strato, who is supposed to have flourished early in the third century (Jacobs ni. 85, Ixxiii.), translated by Shepherd : Boast'st thou of beauty ? The sweet-scented rose, The garden's pride, in blushing beauty glows ; But pass some few fast-fleeting hours, are found Its purple petals scatter'd on the ground. The rose and beauty, when they reach their prime. Alike are wither'd by the breath of time. Compare the " Faerie Queene," Book II. Canto xii. 74 : Ah ! see, whoso fayre thing doest faine to see, In springing flowre the image of thy day ! Ah ! see the virgin rose, how sweetly she Doth first peepe foorth with bashfull modestee. That fairer seems the lesse you see her may ! Lo ! see, soone after how more bold and free Her bared bosome she doth broad display, Lo ! see soone after how she fades and falls away ! Pope has, in some measure, reproduced the same idea, though with especial reference to beauty, nut life, in his Epistle to Miss Blount. THE SHORTNESS OF LIFE A REASON FOR ENJOYING IT (Jacobs in. 102, xvi.). Translated by Fawkes. Let us, my friend, in joy refine, Bathe, crown our brows, and qnaff the wine : Short is the space for human joys ; What age prevents not, death destroys. This is a favourite subject with the Greek epigrammatists. Anacreoii, in several of his odes, enforces the enjoyment of life during the short spaa; allotted to man on earth, and that his advice should not bo for- gotten, Julianus .(Egyptus, in an epitaph on him, makes him repeat the same le.sson after he was dead (Jacobs III. 208, l.\i.). Tlic transla- tion is by Fawkes : Wliat oft alive I sung, now dead I cry I^ud from tiie tomb, " Drink, mortals, ere you die." 54 GBEEK EPIGEAililATISTS. Palladas, man epigram, translated by Bland, presses the importanra of passing no time in any pursuit but that of convivial enjoyment (Jacobs in. 121, xxix.): Dark are our fates — to-morrow's sun may peer From the flush 'd east upou our funeral bier ; Then seize the joys that wine and music give, Nor talk of death while yet 'tis given to live ; Soon shall each pulse be still, closed every eye, One little hour remains or ere we die. JVIrs. Hemans has translated an epigram by Garcilasso de la Tega. a Spanish poet, bom about 1500, which contains the same thought as sbat of Kufinus : Enjoy the sweets of life's luxuriant May, Ere envious age is hastening on his way, With snowy wreaths to crown the beauteous brow : The rose will fade when storms assail the year, And Time, who changeth not his swift career. Constant in this, will change all else below I S. GEEGORY XAZIAXZEX. Flourished about a.d. 365. He was born at Azianzum, an ot«cure village belonging to Nazianzum, a town of the second Cappadocia. He was a celebrated champion of the orthodox faith against the Arians, and in his old age became Bishop of Constantinople. THE TOMB OF EVPHEMIUS. Translated by Samuel Wesley, Jun. A blooming youth lies buried here, Euphemius, to his country dear. Nature adorn'd his mind and face With every Muse and every Grace ; About the marriage-state to prove, But Death had quicker wings than Love. TMs is one of several epitaphs written by S. Gregory on Euphe- mius, who was the son of his intimate friend, S. Amphilochus, Bishop of Iconium, Translations of the others may be found in the " Gentle- man's Magazine," LXXXTV'., Part II. 575. We may compare an epigram by Simonides on Timarchus (Jacobs L 11. xcv.j, thus translated by Sterling: Ah ! sore disease, to men why enviest thou Their prime of years before they join the dead ? His Life from fair Timarchus snatching now, Before the youth his maiden bride could wed. PALLADA8. 55 An epitaph by Dryden on a youth (Mr. Rogers of Gloucestershire), has much in common with S. Gregory's : Of gentle blood, his parents' only treasure, Their lasting sorrow, and their vanish'd pleasure, Adom'd with features, virtues, wit, and grace, A large provision for so short a race ; More moderate gifts might have prolong'd his date, Too early fitted for a better state ; But knowing Heaven his home, to shun delay. He leap'd o'er age, and took the shortest way. EPITAPH ON BIS BROTHER C^SARIUS. Translated by Boyd. In youth we sent thee from thy natiye soil, August, and crown'd -with learning's hallow'd spoil. Fame, Wealth, on thee delighted to attend ; Thy home a palace, and a king thy friend. So liv'd Caasarius, honoiar'd, loy'd, and blest — But ah ! this mournful um will speak the rest. Caesarius was eminent for learning, especially for his knowledge of medicine. He went to Constantinople, where he became chief physi- cian, and also treasurer to the Emperor Julian. Fearing, however, that his Christian piLLciples were in danger, his brother persuaded him to return home. Two years afterwards he went again to the eastern capital, where Valens advanced him to his former dignities. and designed his advancement to greater. He again returned to Nazianzum, at the request of S. Gregory, and there died. PALLADAS. Flourished about a.d. 370. OLD AGE STILL JOYFUL (Jacobs IH. 114, iv.). Translated by Fawlies. To me the wanton girls insulting say, "Here in this glass thy fading bloom survey :" Just on the verge of life, 'tis equal quite, Whether my locks are black, or silver- white ; Eoses aroimd my fragrant brows I'll twine, And dissipate anxieties in wine. 5G GBEBK EPIGBAMMATISTS. This is a very close imitation of the 11th Ode of Anacreon, but shorter and more to the point. At banquets it was the custom of the ancients to wreath their brows with flowers, and especially with the rose, which was the emblem of silence, having been dedicated by Cupid to Harpocrates, the god of silence. Hence that flower, worn at feasts, denoted that the guests were to keep silence with respect to everything said under it. From this custom we have our expression, " under the rose." This flower no doubt formed, in accordance with the usual habit, part of the garland with which Palladas encircled his brows, but it is not mentioned in the original, though taken for granted by the translator. THE SFARTAN MOTHER (Jacobs UI. 134, xcix.). Translated by Cowper. A Spartan 'scaping from the fight, His mother met him in his flight, Upheld a falchion to his breast, And thus the fugitive address'd : " Thou canst but live to blot with shame Indelible thy mother's name ; While every breath that thou shalt draw Offends against thy country's law ; But if thou perish by this hand, Myself indeed throughout the land, To my dishonour, shall be known The mother still of such a son ; But Sparta will be safe and free, And that shall serve to comfort me." This is a good example of the honour in which that Spartan virtue was held, which proclaimed the coward unfit to live, and that even his mother might glory in inflicting vengeance upon a son who had disgraced his country. There are several other epigrams upon the same subject in the Anthology. Tymneus (Jacobs I. 257, iv.) has one much stronger than the above," as he makes the mother curse her son, whilst with every evidence of strong feeling, she slays him. The patriotism of Spai-tan mothers is finely exemplified in an epigram by Dioscorides, thus translated by Mr. Goldwin Smith, in the late Dr. Wellesley's " Anthologia Polyglotta " (Jacobs I. 253, xxxiv.) : Eight sons Demseneta at Sparta's call Sent forth to fight ; one tomb received them alL No tear she shed, but shouted, '' Victory ! Sparta, I bore them but to die for thee." JULIAN us ^QYPTUS. 67 HUMAN LIFE (Jacobs IH. 134, c). Life's but a stage ; then learn to sport. And cast aside all care ; Or leara, with trust in Heaven's support. The ills of life to bear. This epigram necessarily reminds us of Shakespeare's celebrated passage in " As You Like It " (Act 11. sc. 7) : Duke, senior. Thou seest, we are not all alone unhappy : This M'ide and universal theatre Presents more woeful pageants than the scene Wherein we play in. Jaqueg. All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players : They have their exits and their entrances : And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages. Malone points out, that Shakespeare was not the first English writer who expressed this thought. In an old play called " Damon and Pythias,'' similar language is used : Pji;hagoras said, that this world was like a stage. Whereon many play their parts. Pope, in the " Essay on Llan," gives the same advice as Palladas, to act well our parts : Honour and shame from no condition rise ; Act well your part, there all the honour lies. JULIANUS iEGYPTIIS, Praefect of Egypt. At what date he flourished has not been ascer- tained. Brunck and Jacobs assign to him a chronological position between Palladas and Agathias. CUPID IN THE CUP (Jacobs III. 195, i.). Translated by Bishop Bhmfield in " Museum Critivum" While for my fair a wreath I twined, Love in the roses lay reclined ; I seized the boy : the mantling cup Received him ; and I di auk him up. And now ccmfined, the feathered guest Beats, storms, and flutters in my bieast. 58 GBEEK EPIGRAMMATISTS. This epigram is commonly printed among the Odes of Anacreon. The idea was reproduced by Andreas Naugerius, an Italian poet, born in 1483, in a Latin epigram upon Hyella, wliich Moore has thus trans- lated: • As late I sought the spangled bowers, To cull a wreath of matin flowers, Wliere many an early rose was weeping, I found the uichin Cupid sleeping. I caught the boy, a goblet's tide Was richly mantling by my side ; I caught him by his downy wing, And whelm'd him in the racy spring. Then drank I down the poison'd bowl, And Love now nestles in my soul. Oh yes, my soul is Cupid's nest, I feel him fluttering in my breast. LAi'S OFFERING HER LOOKING-GLASS TO VENUS (Jacobs III. 196, iv.). Translated by Ogle. Lais, when time had spoil'd her wonted grace, Abhorr'd the look of age that plough'd her face ; Her glass, sad monitor of charms decay'd, Before the queen of lasting bloom she laid : The sweet companion of my youthful years. Be thine (she said), no change thy beauty fears ! Lais was a woman of Corinth of extraordinary beauty. Plato has an epigram on the same subject, which is well known by Prior's translation, or rather imitation (Jacobs I. 103, vii.), though perhaps the English poet may have used a version by Ausonius, Ep. 55 : Venus, take my votive glass ! Since I am not what I was. What from this day I shaU be, Venus ! let me never see. The old English epigrammatist, Henry Parrot, has an epigram in his " Laquei Eidiculosi," Book I. 123, which may be compared with Julian's and Plato's : Rugosa waxen old hath broke her glass. And lives in hatred with her own complexion, Itememb'ring but the form it whilome was, WTiich when she look'd on gave that sweet reflection : But now despairing, thinks no crystal stone Can show good count'nance that receiveth none. AGATHIAS. 59 VIRTUE AND RANK (Jacobs III. 210, Ixix.). Translated by the late Dr. WeUesley. A. John tlie illustrious. B. John the mortal, say. A. The son-in-law to the Queen's Highness. B. Nay, Mortal again. A. Of Anastasius Descendant prime. B. Mortal like all of us. A. Of virtuous life. B. Ay, this doth never die, Virtue is mightier than mortality. Of similar character is the sentiment expressed by Shakespeare in • All's Well that Ends Well " (Act II. so. 3) : From lowest place when virtuous things proceed, The place is dignified by the doer's deed : Where great additions swell, and virtue none. It is a dropsied honour : good 3 lone Is good, without a name ; vileness is so : The property by what it is should go, Not by the title. * * * * * * That is honour's scorn Which ch illenges itself as honour's born, And is not lilce the sire : Honours thrive, When rather from our acts we them derive Than our fore-goers. AGATHIAS. Commonly called Agathias Scholasticus. Flourished in the sixth century, lie was born at Myriua, and is supposed to have been a Christian. Ho is celebrated as the third collector of scattered miscel- lanies and fragments. THE TORMENTS OF LOVE (Jacobs IV. 8, xii.). Translated by Fawkes. All night I sigh with cares of love opprest. And when the morn indulges balmy rest, These twitt'ring birds their noisy matins keep, Recall my sorrows, and prevent my sleep : Cease, envious birds, your plaintive tales to tell, 1 ravish'd not the tongue of Philomel. 60 QEEEK EPIQBAMMATI8TS. In deserts wild, or on some mountain's brow, Pay all the tributary grief you owe To Itys, in an elegy of woe. Me leave to sleep : in visionary charms Some dream perhaps may bring Eodanthe to my arms. This is imitated from the 12th Ode of Anacreon. Shakespeare says of Queen Mab in " Romeo and Juliet " (Act L 8C. 4) : And in this state she gallops night by night Through lovers' brains, and then they dream of love. Pope, in his imitation of Ovid's epistle, " Sappho to Phaon," 143, ex- presses in fuUer terms the thought in the last two lines of the epigram : 'Tis thou art all my care and my delight. My daily longing, and my dream by night : O night more pleasing than the brightest day, When fancy gives what absence takes away, And, dress'd in all its visionary charms, Restores my fair deserter to my arms ! But when, with day, the sweet delusions fly. And all things wake to life and joy, but I ; As if once more forsaken, I complain, And close my eyes to dream of you again. The close of the 1st Ode of the 4th Book of Horace may also be com- pared. LOVE AND WINE ^Jacobs IV. 9, xvi.). Translated by Bland, Farewell to wine ! or if thou bid me sip, Present the cup more honour'd from thy lip ! Pour'd by thy hand, to rosy draughts I fiy. And cast away my dull sobriety ; For, as I drink, soft raptures tell my soul That lovely Glycera has kissed the bowl. There are several epigrams in the Anthology upon the same subject, occasioned by a custom, not uncommon at Grecian entertainments, of interchanging the wine-cups. There is an Arabian epigram, addressed to a female cup-bearer, translated by Professor Carlyle, of Cambridge '" Specimens of Arabian Poetry," 1796, 65), which is very similar in tone to that of Agathias : AGATHIA8. 61 Come, Leila, fill the goblet up. Reach rouBcl the rosy wine ; Think not that we will take the cup From any hand but thine. A draught. Like this, 'twere vain to seek. No grape can such supply ; It steals its tint from Leila's cheek. Its brightness from her eye. In " New-Old Ballads," by Dr. "Wolcot, better known as Peter Pindar, are some lines " To the Glass," which begin thus (^Wolcot's Works, 1812, V. 86; : Give me the glasse that felt her lippe, And happy, happy shall I sippe ; And, when is fled the daintie wyne. Something remaineth still divyne. The modem expression of " kissing the cup '' is prettily used by GoM- smith, in the " Deserted Village," when lamenting the past splendoxu- of the village ale-house • The host himself no longer shall be found Careful to see the mantling bhss go round ; Nor the coy maid, half wUling to be prest. Shall kiss the cup to pass it to the rest. ON DEATH (Jacobs IV. 34, Ixxxi.). Translated by C. Death brings us peace : Oh ! fear him not : Death ends the sufi'erer's heaviest lot. He comes but once ; his awful mien Twice coming, none has ever seen. ^Vhilst pain and grief, man's sadd'ning doom, Come often, and are sure to come. Some beautiful lines by Cardinal Bembo, translated by Mrs. Hemaua, thus apostrophise Death ; Thou the stem monarch of dismay. Whom nature trembles to survey, O Death ! to me, the child of grie^ Thy welcome power would bring relief. Changing to peaceful slumber many a care. And thougli thy stroke may thrill with pain Each throbbing pulse, each quivering vein ; The pangs that bid existence close. Oh ! sure arc far less keen than those, Which cloud its lingering moments with despair. 62 GBEEE EFIGBAMMATISTf. PAULUS SILENTIARIUS. Flourished a.d. 530. He was a Christian — a friend of Agathias, and probably assisted him in his collection of fugitive epigrams. " Silen- tiarius " was the title of an assessor in the Privy Council at the Byzantine Court, an ofiSce which Paulus held. LOVE NOT EXTINGUISHED BY AGE (Jacobs IV. 43, viii.). Translated by Bland. For me thy wrinkles have more chaims, Dear Lydia, than a smoother face ! I'd rather fold thee in my arms Than younger, fairer nymphs embrace. To me thy autumn is more sweet, More precious than their vernal rose, Their summer warms not with a heat So potent as thy winter glows. There is an epigram in the Anthology by an uncertain author, which very prettily expresses the same thought. The translation is by Meri- vale (Jacobs IV. 130, Ixii.) : Whether thy locks in jetty radiance play, Or golden ringlets o'er thy shoulder stray, There beauty shines, sweet maid, and should they bear The snows of age, still love would linger there. A piece by Thomas Carew, a poet of the reign of Charles I., is very similar in sentiment to the epigram by Paulus. It is entitled, " Unfading Beauty." The first two stanzas are given : Hee that loves a rosie cheek, , Or a coral lip admires, Or from star-like eyes doth seeke Fuell to maintaine his fires. As old Time makes these decay So his flames must waste away. But a smooth and stedfast mind. Gentle thoughts and calm desires. Hearts with equal love combined. Kindle never-dying fires ; Where these are real, I despise Lovely cheekes, or lips, or eyes. PAULUS eiLBNTIABIUS. 63 CUPID AT REST (Jacobs IV. 47, xx.). ' Translated by Goldwln Smith. Fear no more Love's shafts, for he Hath all his quiver spent on me. Fear not his wings ; since on this breast His scornful foot the victor prest, Here sits he fast, and here must stay. For he hath shorn his wings away. Eubulus, a native of Atarna in Lesbos, who flourished B.C. 375, ex- presses the same thought in an epigram addressed to a painter. The translation is by Cumberland in the " Observer," No. 104: : "Why, foolish painter, give those wings to Love ? Love is not light, as my sad heart can prove : Love hath no wings, or none that I can see ; If he can fly — oh 1 bid him fly from me ! GARDEN DECORATION (Jacobs IV. 61, Ixu.), Translated by Bland. Here strive for empire, o'er the happy scene. The nymphs of fountain, sea, and woodland green ; The power of grace and beauty holds the prize Suspended even to her votaries. And finds amazed, where'er she casts her eye, Their contest forms the matchless harmony. This is supposed to be descriptive of the gardens of Justinian at Heraeum, on the Asiatic shore of the Propontis, of which Gibbon says (" Decline and Fall," ed. 1846, III. 524, chap. 40): "The poets of the age have celebrated the rare alliance of nature and art, the harmony of the nymphs of the groves, the fountains and the waves." There is a Latin poem by Charles Dryden (son of the great poet") on the gardens of the Earl of Arlington, near the Green Park, where Arlington Street now stands, which has been translated by Samuel Boyse. The following passage bears much resemblance to the epigram of Paulus (Nichols' " Collection of Poems," II. 164, 1780) : Thy beauteous gardens charm the raviah'd sight, And surfeit every sense with soft delight ; Where'er we turn our still transported eyes, New scenes of art with nature join'd arise; We dwell indulgent on the lovely scene. The lengthen d vista or the carpet green ; A thousand graces bless th enchanted ground And throw promiscuous beauties all around. 64 GEEEK EPIGEAMMATIST8. UNKNOWN AUTHOES. CLYTEMNESTRA'S ADDRESS TO HER SON ORESTES, AS HE WAS IN THE ACT OF SLAYING HER TO AVENGE HIS FATHER, WHOM SHE HAD MURDERED (Jacobs IV. 113, xvi.). Translated by C. Strike ! At my womb ? It bore thee. At my breast ? It nurtur'd thee in infancy to rest. When the mother of Coriolanus entreated him to forego his vengeance against Rome, Shakespeare makes her say ("Coriolanus," Act V. 80. 3) : If I cannot persuade thee Rather to show a noble grace to both parts, Than seek the end of one, thou shalt no sooner March to assault thy country, than to tread (Trust to 't, thou shalt not) on thy mother's womb, That brought thee to this world. THE LO VER'S WISH (Jacobs IV. 129, Iviii.). Translated by Shepherd. Oh that I were the wind ! whose gentle gales Thy vest expand, and cool thy breast of snow; Oh that I were a rose ! which sweets exhales, That on thy beauteous bosom I might blow. The 20th Ode of Anacreon, to his Mistress, is in parts very similar. Broome translates a passage thus : Oh were I made thy folding vest. That thou might'st clasp me to thy breast. * * * • * * * « A very sandal I would be, To tread on— if trod on by thee. There are several modern examples of the same idea. The most notable is Dumain's song in " Love's Labour's Lost " (Act IV. sc. 3) ; On a day (alack the day !) Love, whose month is ever May, Spied a blossom, passing fair. Playing in the wanton air : Through the velvet leaves the wind, AU unseen, 'gan passage find ; UNKNOWN AUTHORS. 65 That the lover, sick to death, Wish'd himself the heaven's breath. Air, quoth he, thy cheeks may blow ; Air, would I might triumph so ! But alack, my hand is sworn, Ne'er to pluck thee from thy thorn. Spenser has the same thought, but with the figure varied. See his 76th Sonnet. Kirke White has a song which, no doubt, has its origin in the Greek, probably in that of Anacreon. The first two stanzas are given : Oh that I were the fragrant flower that kisses My Arabella's breast that heaves on high ! Pleased should I be to taste the transient blisses, And on the melting throne to faint, and die. Oh that I were the robe that loosely covers Her taper limbs, and Grecian form divine ! Or the entwisted zones, like meeting lovers, That clasp her waist in many an aery twine. INSCRIPTION UNDER A STATUE OF PAN (Jacobs IV. 171, cclix.). Translated by Sliepherd. The god Pan speahs. Come, stretch thy limbs beneath these shady trees, That wave their branches to the western breeze. Where, by yon limpid stream that gently flows, My rustic pipe shall soothe thee to repose. The translator, following Stephens, ascribes this epigram to Her- mocreon. There are many epigrams in the Anthology of a similar character to this. They refer to one of the customs of the Greeks most plea.sant to contemplate — their sympathy with way-worn travellers. These shady spots, hallowed by the; statue of the wood-god Pan, offered repose to the weary, who were invited by the god himself to stretch their limbs beneath the trees, and to seek the sleei) they needed, soothed by the pipe which he deigned to play for their ph^asurc. The enthusiastic Greeks felt for their minstrel-god the reverence and the giiititude which is excited in the breast of the Itolian or the Swiss, when, in some lonely sjjot, he finds the image of the holy Virgin, and, worn witit toil, casts liimself at her feet to seek repose, confident in the protection she will atibrd him, and the sweet sleep she will send him. 65 GREEK EriGEAMMATISTS. TEE STATUE OF A BACCHANTE IN THE PORTICO OF A TEMPLE (Jacobs IV. 175, cclxxviii.). Translated by G. Stop that Bacchante ! see, tho' form'd of stone. She has gain'd the threshold — Stop her, or she's gone. Among the fragments of Cratinus, who flourished B.C. 454, there is MU epigram on the loss of a statue, which, being the workmanship of Daedalus, the most ingenious artist of his age, was supposed to have escaped from its pedestal. The translation is by Cumberland (" Ob- server," No. 74 j : My statue's gone ! By Daedalus 'twas made ; It is not stolen therefore ; it has stray'd. Plato Comicus, who flourished B.C. 428, has a fragment on a statue of Mercury by the same artist, which Cumberland thus translates (" Observer," No. 78) : " Hoa there ! "Who art thou ? Answer me. Art dumb ?" " Warm from the hand of Daedalus I come, My name Merciu-ius ; and, as you may prove, A statue ; but his statues speak and move." INSCEIPTION ON A BATH AT SMYENA (Jacobs IV. 190, cccxliii.). Translated in the " Poetical Register" for 1802. The Graces bathing on a day, Love stole their robes and i-an away ; So naked here they since have been. Ashamed in daylight to be seen. The beautiful imitation of this epigram by Thomas Warton is well Known : The Graces sought in yonder stream To cool the fervid day, When Love's malicious godhead came, And stole theu- robes away. Proud of the theft, the little god Their robes bade Delia wear ; While they ashamed to stir abroad, Kemain all naked here. A pretty epigram (Jacobs IV. 187, cccxxiv.) is translated by C: The Graces bath'd here ; and enchanted gave. In fond return, their beauties to mv wave. TJXKKOWN AUTHORS. 67 ON LATE-ACQUIRED WEALTH (Jacobs IV. 210, ccccxxst.). Translated by Cowper. Poor in my youth, and in life's later scenes Eich to no end, I curse my natal hour, Who nought enjoy'd while young, denied the means ; And nought when old enjoy'd, denied the power. This picture of discontent, displays a man \s'ho was dissatisfied in his youth, because luxuries Avere denied him, and in his old age, because his strength was abated. The constant craving of the discontented man for something unpossessed, is well expressed in a fragment of Theognis, translated by Hookham Frere (" Works of Hesiod," &c., 1856, 438) : Learning and wealth the wise and wealthy find! Inadequate to satisfy the mind ; i A craving eagerness remains behind ; J Something is left for which we cannot rest ; j And the last something always seems the best, > Something unknown, or something unpossest. ) TEE PORTENT (Jacobs lY. 216, cccclxiii.). Translated hy C. Three playful maids their fate would try, Who first was doom'd by lot to die. Three times the awful die is thrown, Three times it points to one alone. Who smiled, nor deem'd that fate her own ; When sudden from the roof 's dim height She fell, and pass'd to fated night. — Portents of ill err not, of brighter hours No prayers can bring to pass, no human powers. Instances of portents of death abound in the literature of ancient and modern times. Those which preceded the murder of (Isesar are among the best authenticated. The hold, however, which these have gained on the popular mind, is probably due to Shakespeare's notice parture, is described : This said, within her anxious mind she weighs The means of cutting short her odious days. ***** Thus will I pay my vows to Stygian Jove, And end the cares of my disastrous love. EPITAFH ON HIS SISTEB, JULIA DRYADIA (Parentalia, 12 . Translated hy Elton. Is there a virtue whicli tlie prudent fair Might wish, that fell not to my Julia's share ? And hers were virtues, which the strongest kind Might wish ; a manly nobleness of mind. Good fame and sustenance her distatt" wrought : And skill'd in goodness, she that goodness taught. Truth more than life she prized : in God above Her cares were wrapt, and in a brother's love. A widow in her bloom, the maid austere Might the chaste manners of her age revere. She, who had seen six decades swiftly glide, Died in the mansion where her father died. Of similar character is an epitaph on a maiden by Marvell, wiiich, though rather long, is too beautiful to be omitted ("Miscellaneou.i Poems by Andrew Marvell," 1(381, 71) : Enough ; and leave the rest to fame; 'Tis to commeml her, but to name. Courtship, whifh living, she declined When dead, to offer wore unkind. Where never any could sjieak ill, Who would otlicious jjiaises spill? Nor can the truest wit, or fi lend. Without detracting, her commend; To siiy, she lived a virgin chaste In this age loose ami all unlac'd. Nor wa.s, when vice is so allow'd, Of virtue or aohum'd or proud ; 94 ANCIENT LATIN KPIGBAMMATIST8, That her soul was on heaven so bent No minute but it came and went ; That, I'eady her last debt to pay, She summ'd her life up every day ; Modest as morn, as mid-day bright, Gentle as evening, cool as night ; 'Tis true ; but all too weakly said ; 'Twere more significant, She's Dead. ANONYMOUS. The following epitaphs must be styled anonymous, though it is con- jectured that they were prepared by the poets themselves for their own monuments : EPITAPH ON N^VIUS. Translated by Hookham Frere. If goddesses for mortal men might weep, A tear on Nsevius should the Muse bestow ; Since Eome no longer does her language keep, Now he is destined to the t^hades below. Nsevius was a native of Campania, and one of the earliest Roman poets. The epitaph is preserved by Aulus Gellius, who observes of it that it is full of Campanian arrogance ; and Amos, in his " Gems of Latin Poetry," justly remarks that it is "entertaining from being one of the most impudent epitaphs on record." EPITAPH ON PLAUTUS. Translated by Hookham Frere. When comic Plautus first departed, The scene was left, the stage deserted ; And wit and merriment, together With mirth and humour, fled for ever. Plautus was born, it is generally supposed, at Sarsina, a town in Umbria. He was the greatest of the Roman comic dramatists, and is described as a man " of such bodily deformities, that Nature would seem to have designed to make his countrymen laugh at his person as well as his wit." This epitaph also is preserved by Aulus Gellius, and is scarcely less impudent thau that of Naavius. 95 AEABIAN EPIGKAMMATISTS. A.D. 719— A.D. 988. AEABIAN EPIGKAMS. The following translations of Arabian epigrams are taken from a volume published in 1796, entitled, "Specimens of Arabian Poetry, from the earliest times to the extinction of the KhaUphat, with some account of the authors, by J. D. Curlyle, B.D., F.R.S.E., Chancellor of Carlisle, and Professor of Aa-ab:c in the University of Cambridge." The sentiments of many of the epigrams and poems are exceedingly beautiful, and the English di-ess in which they are clothed is very oraceful. IBRAHIM BEN ADHAM. A hermit of Syria, equally celebrated for his talents and piety, born about the 97th year of the Hegtra, i.e., a.d. 719. TO THE KHALIFH HAEOUN ALRASHID, Upon his undertaking a Pilgrimage to Mecca. Religion's gems can ne'er adorn The flimsy robe by pleasure worn ; Its feeble texture soon would tear, And give those jewels to the air. Thrice happy they who seek th' abode Of peace and pleasure, in their God ! \\ ho spurn the world, its joys despise, And grasp at bliss beyond the skies. The following, by an uncertain author of James I.'s reign, is taken from Ellis' "Specunens of the Early English I'oets," 1803, III. 143 : Happy, oh happy he who, not afifecting The endless toils attending worldly cares. With mind rcpos'd, all discontents rejecting, Jn sileut peace his way to heaven preparea ! 96 ARABIAN EPIGKAMMATISTS. Deeming his life a scene, the world a stage, Whereon man acts his weary pilgrimage. The danger and short-lived happiness of mere pleasure are as expres- sively as elegantly portrayed in Dr. Johnson's translation of some French lines written under a print of persons skating : O'er crackling ice, o'er gulphs profound. With nimble glide the skaters play ; O'er treach'rous Pleasure's flow'ry ground Thus lightly skim, and haste away. This translation, which was not the first he made, was repeated by Johnson extempore, after reading one by Mr. Pepys, a friend of Mr? Piozzi, who tells us in her " Anecdotes," that the Doctor was exceedingly angry when he found she had asked several of her acquaintances to translate the lines, declaring " it was a piece of treachery, and done to make everyone else look little when compared to my favourite friends the Pepyses, whose translations were unquestionably the best," as the Doctor acknowledged. The Ibllowing is the one upon which he founded his extempore : Swift o'er the level how the skaters slide. And skim the glitt'ring surface as they go ; Thus o'er life's specious pleasures lightly glide. But pause not, press not on the gulph below. Though this surpassed Johnson's first translation, that it is not equal to his second all must acknowledge. ALY BEN AHMED BEX MAXSOUK. A poet and historian, who excelled and delighted in satire. He died at Bagdad, in the year of the Hegira 302, i.e., a.d. 924. TO THE VIZIR CASSIM OBID ALLAH, ON THE DEATH OF ONE OF HIS SONS. Poor Cassim ! thou art doom'd to mourn By destiny's decree ; Whatever happen it must turn To misery for thee. Two sons hadst thou, the one thy pride, The other was thy pest ; Ah, why did cruel death decide To snatch away the best ? No wonder thou shouhVst droop with woe, Of such a child bereft ; But now thy tears must doubly flow, For ah !— the other's left. THE KHALIPH EADHI BILLAH — SHEMS ALMAALI CABUS. 97 Cassim's son, Hosein, was Vizir to the Khaliph Moctader ; and the other, Mohummed, to his succestfor, Kaher. Professor Carlyle says : " The sarcasm might apply to either without much impropriety ; for Hosein was condemned to suffer punishment for his impiefy, in the reign of Radhi ; and ]Mohammed was the favourite minister of Kaher, who appears to have been the greatest monster that ever presided over the Khaliphat." THE KHALIPH EADHI BILLAH. The twentieth Khaliph of the house of Abbas, and the hist of those princes who possessed any substantial power. He died in the 329th year of the Hegira, i.e., a.d. 951. TO A LADY UPON SEEING HEB BLUSH. Leila ! whene'er I gaze on thee My alter'd cheek turns pale, While upon thine, sweet maid, 1 see A deep'ning blush prevail. Leila, shall I the cause impart AN hy such a change takes place? The crimson stream deserts my heart. To mantle on thy face. This is on 3 of the most elegant epigrams to be foimd in any language, and deserves particular attention. SHEMS ALMAALI CABUS. Ascended the thrnnc of Georgia in the year of the Hegira 366, i.e., 4.1). 988, reigned for thirty-five years, and was then deposed. He possessed almost every virtue and every accomplishment, and was as unfortunate as he was amiable. ON TEE CAPRICES OF FORTUNE. Probably composed during the writer's exile in Khorassau, Why should I blu.sh that Fortune's frown Dooms mo life's humble paths to tread ? To live unheeded, and uidcnown ? To sink forgotten to the dead ? 98 ARABIAN EPIGBAMMATISTS. 'Tis not the good, the wise, the brave, That surest shine, or highest rise ; The feather sports upon the wave, The pearl in ocean's cavern lies. Each lesser star that studs the sphere Sparkles with undiminish'd light ; Dark and eclips'd alone appear The lord of day, the queen of night. In the " Festoon " is a translation from the Greek of Solon, which well expresses the indifference of Fortune to worth : Some w icked men are rich, some good men poor ; Yet I'd not change my virtue for their store. Virtue's a sure possession, firm as fate, While wealth now flies to this man, now to that. One of the best epigi-ams on Fortune is by Samuel Wesley, the usher of Westminster School, which he says is "From a hint in the minor poets " : No, not for those of women born. Not so unlike the die is cast ; For, after all our vaunt and scorn. How very small the odds at last ! Him rais'd to Fortune's utmost top With him beneath her feet compare ; And one has nothing more to hope, The other nothing more to fear. UNKNOWN AUTHORS. ON TAHER BEN HOSEIN, Who was ambidexter, and one-eyed. A pair of right hands and a single dim eye Must foiTQ not a man, but a monster, they cry : Change a hand to an eye, good Taher, if you can. And a monster perhaps may be changed to a man. " Taher appears to have been the most celebrated general of his time. He commanded the forces of Mamun, second son to Harotm Alrashid, and it was chic fly owing to his abilities that Mamun arrived at the throne." — Carlyle. " This epigram," says Professor Carlyle, " reminds us of the well- known lines upon a brother and sister, both extremely beautiful, but UNKNOWN AUTHORS. 99 vho had each lost an eye; and it is curious to observe how easily the same idea is modified by a different poet into a satire or a pane- fryric." The epigram alluded to is that on Aeon and Leonilla by Amaltheus. The one on Taher might have been given under that singularly elegant piece, but the want of harmony between the two would injure both if brought into juxta-position. TO A FRIEND UPON HIS BIRTHDAY. When born, in tears we saw thee drown'd, While thine assembled friends around, With smiles their joy confest ; So live, that at thy parting hour. They may the flood of sorrow pour, And thou in smiles be drest ! It may interest some readers to see a translation of this very ber.utiful epigram, which is attributed to Sir William Jones : On parents' knees, a naked new-born child, Weeping thou sat'st, while all around thee smiled : So live, that sinking to thy life's last sleep, Calm thou may'st smile, while all around thee weep. It can hardly be supposed that the old epigrammatist, Hayman, knew Anything of Arabian poetry. The similarity, therefore, of the following distich, found among his " Quodlibets," may be considered as a coinci- dence of ideas (Book I. Quod. 55) : When we are born, our friends rejoice ; we cry : But we rejoice, our friends mourn when we die. ON LIFE. Like sheep we're doom'd to travel o'er The fated track to all assign 'd, These follow those that went before, And leave the world to those behind. Ah Iho flock seeks the pasturing shade, Man presses to the future day, While death amidst the tufted glade. Like the dun* robber, waits his prey. * The wolf. 100 ARABIAN EPIGRAMMATISTS. An epigram by Samuel Wesley shows how the generations of men live and pass away : Some laugh, while others mourn ; Some toil, while others play ; One dies, and one is born : So runs the world away. The sentiment of the Arabian epigram is similar to that of a Greek one by Palladas, thus freely translated (Jacobs III. 141, cxxx.) : To Death's dark home our wand'rings lead ; To Death we all are born : As sheep, who safely o'er night feed, Unthinking die at mom. TO A LADY UPON HER REFUSAL OF A PRESENT OF MELONS, AND HER REJECTION OF THE ADDRESSES OF AN ADMIRER. Wiien I sent you iny melons, you cried out -with, scorn, " They ought to be heavy, and icrinkled, and yello'P :" When I ofler'd myself, whom those graces adorn, You flouted, and call'd me an ugly, old fellow. It was well that it was one of the opposite sex whom this lady desig- nated •■ ugly.'' Had it been one of her own sex, the epithet would have been unpardonable, according to the following anecdote. Two French ladies had a violent quarrel. As it proved inconvenient, a gentleman, a mutual friend, was asked to arbitrate between them. He consented upon one condition — that both the ladies could solemnly assure him tliat neither of them had called the other " ugly." On receiving a satisfactory reply, he said, "'In that case the quarrel can be adjusted." The lady and gentleman of the epigi-am change places in the follow- ing diiticli of Martial (Book ix. 6), thus translated by Hay : That you would wed Sir John is very wise : That he don't care to wed is no surprise. IGl MEDLEVAL AMI) EAELY MODEEN LATIN EPIGEAMMATISTS. A.D. 1265— A.D. 1678. DANTE ALIGHIEEI. Born, 1265, Died, 1321. EIS OWN EPITAPH. Tranglated by Hackett, in " Select and Eemarhable Epitaphs" 1757. Whilst Fate allow'd I snng of kings and gods, Of Lethe's lake and Pinto's dire abodes. But now the better part has wing'd its flight To its great Author, and the realms of light. Dante my name ; my birth fair Florence gave, But exil'd thence, a foreign clime's my grave. Poccianti says that Dante wrote these lines for his own epitaph, when at the point of death. , Hackett.) Leonidas of Tarentum, who is believed to have died in exile, having been carried captive from Tarentum by Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, wrote an epitaph for himself, which is singularly suitable to Dante (Jacobs I. 181, C). The translation is by Merivale : Far from Tarentimi's native soil I lie. Far from the dear land of my infancy. 'Tis dreadful to resij^u this mortal breath. But in a stranger clime 'tis worse than death ! Call it not life, to pass a fever'd age In ceaseless wanderings o'er the world's wide stage. But me the muse has ever lov'd and giv'n Sweet joys to coimterpoise the cur.se of lleav'n. Nor lets my memory decay, but l^ng To distant times preserves my deathless song. 102 MEDIiEVAL AND EARLY MODERN LATIN EPIGRAMMATISTS. JANUS PANNONIUS, Or Jcau de Cisinge, was a poet of Hungary, born in 1434. When only twenty-six years of age he was nominated by Pope Pius II., Bishop of Cing-Eglises in Lower Hungary. He died in 1472. ON AURISPA C'Delitiaj Delitiarum," 240). Translated by James Wright. Aurispa nothing writes though learn'd, for he By a wise silence seems more learn'd to be. From this Swift may perhaps have taken the following sarcasm : Arthur, they say, has wit ; fir what ? For writing ? No ; for writing not. In "The Greek and Latin Prize Poems of the University of Cam- bridge from 1814 to 1837," there is a Latin epigram by Dr. Kennedy, which closes with this distich : " Quid faciam ut propria decorem mea tempora lauru ? Die mihi, quid faciam ?" — dixit Apollo, — " tace !" TO SEVEBUS (" Delitise Delitiarum," 242). A learned work, Severus, where you teach To spurn vain glory, tho' within our reach : But if 'tis really vain, as you have said, "Why in the title is your name display'd, With rich vermilion more conspicuous made ? So, Lord Byron, satirizing a noble earl's tragedies, which were resplendently bound in morocco and gold, says in " English Bards and Scotch Reviewers " : Yes ! doif that covering where morocco shines. And hang a calf-skin on those recreant lines. Disraeli, in his " Curiosities of Literature," 1st Series, Art. "Fame contemned," says : " All men are fond of glory, and even the philoso- phers who writt,- against that noble passion, prefix, however, theu name* to their own works !" 103 MARTIALIS MONERIUS. A French Poet of the fifteenth century, born in Paris. Died 1508. ON MACHON AND HIS WOODEN LEG (" Delitise Delitiarum," 24), Translated by D. Wlien 'gainst Cales the Gallic forces drove, Machon, a soldier, raw, but smart by Jove, To the tall rampart's height most boldly dash'd, When thro' his wooden leg a bullet cra-^h'd ; " All right." he cried, " I am not hurt a peg, At home I've got iu store another leg." Butler, in "Hudibras" (Part I. Canto ii. 921), describes the wooden- legged Crowdero fighting with the Knight and Raljiho : In haste he snatch'd the wooden limb That hurt i' th' ankle lay by him. And fitting it for sudden fight. Straight di-ew it up, t' attack the knight. ***** But EalpLo * ■* * flew To rescue knight from black and blue ; Which ere he could achieve, his sconce The leg encounter'd twice and once ; And now 'twas rais'd to smite again, When Ralpho thrust himself between ; He took the blow upon his arm, To shield the knight from fmther harm, And joining wrath with force, bestow'd On th' wodden member such a load, That down it fell, and with it bore Crowdero, whom it propp'd before. TO SORBICUS (" Delitiaj Delitiarum," 26). Translated by D. Th' incentive of duty urg'd him long, SorbicuK stoutly declares ; But study's too hard he complains, — and strong The dread of failure, he swears. 104 MEDLEVAL AND EARLY MODERN LATIN EPIGRAMMATISTS. Ah, Sorbicus ! 'tis not the work so hard, ^\ hich puts fame beyond your reach; But the work's too hard because you discard The aid which boldness would teach. ANTONIUS TEBALTIUS. Antonio Tebaldeo or Tibaldeo was an Italian poet, born at Ferrara in 1456. He wrote poetry in his own language, and also Latin Epigram- mata. He died in 1538. CUPID IN TBOVBLE ("DeUti^e Delitiarum," 10.?). Translated in "Notes and Queries," 1st S. VII. Wherefore does Venus beat her boy ? He has mislaid or lost his bow : — And who retains the missing toy? Th' Etrurian Flavia. How so ? She ask'd : he gave it ; for the child, Not e'en suspecting any other, By beauty's dazzling light beguil'd, Thought he had given it to his mother Spenser has the same point in " Poems," III. : I saw, in secret to my dame How little Cupid hmnbly Cime, And said to her : " All hayle, my mother !" But, when he saw me laugh, for shame His face with bashful! blood did flame, Not knowing Venus from the other. '' Then, never blush, Cupid, quoth I, For many have err'd in this beauty." Prior, also, at the conclusion of " Cupid Mistaken ": Poor Cupid sobbing scarce could speals: ; Indeed Mama I did not know ye ; Alas ! how easy my mistake ! I took you for your likeness Cloe. The following anonymous lines on the toasting glasses of the Kit- Cat Club, in praise of Mrs. Barton, are very similar to Tebaltius' epi* gram (Nichols' " Collection of Poems," V. 170, 1782): At Barton's feet the god of Love His arrows and his quiver lays, Forgets he has a throne above, Ajid with this lovely creature stays. ACTIUS SANNAZARIUS. 105 Xot Venus' beauties are more bright, But each appear so like the otlier, That Cupid has mistook the riglit, And takes the nymph to be his mother. This lady was the -wife of Colonel Barton, and niece of Sir Isaac Newton. William Thompson, Fellow of Queen's College, Oxford, born in the early part of the Ibth century, has an epigram, " Cupid Mistaken," whicli is little more than a paraphrase of Tebaltius', applied to a beauty of the day, though he makes no acknowledgment of it : Venus whipt Cupid t' other day, For having lost his bow and quiver : For he had giv'n them both away To Stella, queen of Isis river. " Mama ! you wrong me while you strike," Cried weeping Cupid, " for I vow, Stella and you are so alike, I thought that I had lent them you." ACTIUS SANXAZAEirS, Born in 1458, was a Neapolitan, who, being patronized by King Frederick, for his poetry and scholarship, followed his fortunes, and retired with him into France when he was dethroned. On the king's death he returned to Naples, and passed the remainder of his life in the cultivation of poetry, dying in 1530. He is chiefly celebrated for his Latin verse, which, in purity and elegance, is considered scarcely inferior to that of the Augustan age. OX POFE LEO X. ("Deliti£e Delitiarum," 109). Translated in the " Quarterly Eeview," No. 233. Leo lack'd the last Sacrament. " Why," need we tell ? He had chosen the chalice and paten to sell. This, though very spirited, scarcely gives the full force of the satire in the original : Sacra sub extrema, si forte requiritis, hora Cur Leo non poterat sumere ; vendiderat. The mere material adjuncts of the Sacrament could easily have been replaced ; but Leo had done far worse tlian selling these. By tlie sale of Indulgence.s, wliich he carried to an inordinate extent, that he miglit replenish liis excliequer, exhausted by his profusion, he had made mer- chandise of the forgiveness of sins, and, like another Judas, had sold, 106 MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN LATIN EPIGRAMMATISTS. though not the Person, yet the Power, of Christ. The Latin " sacra " implies more than the externals of the Sacrament — rather the hidden mysteries — the Presence of tlie Christ. Pope Alexander VI. had been held up to scorn for the same impiety in a pasquinade of bitter severity, alluding to his simony, the first two lines of which are thus translated in Disraeli's " Curiosities of Litei'ature," 1st Series, Art. " Pasquin and IMarforio " : Alexander sells the Keys, the Altars and Christ ; As he bought thcni first, he had a right to sell them. And Buchanan has an epigram of similar character in " Fratres Fraterrimi," on Pope Paul, tlms translated by Robert Monteith : Pope Paul and Judas they agree full well ; That, Heav'n ; this, Heav'n's Lord did basely sell. ON AUFIDIU8 ("Dentin Dolitiarum," 110). Translated in " Collection of Epigrams," 1735. A lium'rous fellow in a tavern late, Being dmnk and valiant, gets a broken pate ; The snrgeon with his instruments and skill, Searches his skull, deeper and deeper still, To feel his brains, and try if they were sound ; And, as he keeps ado about the wound, The fellow cries — Good surgeon, spare your pains, ^^hen I began this brawl 1 had no brains. This translation is not very literal, but gives admirably tlie humour of the original. An epigram by Dr. Huddesford, President of Trinity College, Oxford, who died in 1770, was probably formed on the above. It is too long to give in extenso, but the point is contained in the following portion ("Select Epigrams," II. 70^ : Empty the flask, discharg'd the score, Ned stagger'd from the tavern door, And tailing in his drunken fits, Crippled his nose and lost his wits ; But from the kennel soon emerging His nose repairs by help of surgeon ; That done, the Leech peeps in Ids brain To find his wits,— but peeps in vain. " 'Tis hard," the patient cries, " to lose Wits not a whit the worse for use ; * * * ♦ * ***** Wits, which if all your wealth could buy — sir. You would not be a jot the wiser." * >t> * * «• ACTIUS SANNAZARIUS. 107 TO LESBIA ("DelitiffiDelitiarum,"110). Translated in " Collection of Epigrams," 1735. Ah ! Lesbia, now, or never, pity show ; Two dift"'rent fates, alas ! to thee I owe ; For thee in flames I'm scorch'd, in tears I drown. At once a Nilus and an vEtna grown. Let my tears quench my fire, cruel dame ! Or dry my tears up with more potent flame. Owen bewails the fute rf one, wliose unrequited love consiomes him in tears and flames. The translation is by Harvey (slightly altered) (Book I. 74) : Cold Nilus through my burning eyes doth flow, My scorching heart with iEtna's flames doth glow ; No floods of tears can quench so .great a fire. Nor burning love can make those floods retire ; So, though discordant tire and water be, United, all their force they show in me. VENICE {" DelitiEe Delitiarum," 111). Translated by John Evelyn {son of the author of " Sylva"), Neptune saw Venice on the Adria stand. Firm as a rock, and all the sea command. Think'st thou, Jove ! said he, Eome's walls excel? Or that proud cliff whence false Tarpeia fell ? Grant Tiber best, view both ; and you will say That men did those, gods these foundations lay. It is said that Sannazarius received from the Venetian Senate a sura equal to about £300 for these few lines in praise of the " glorious city in the sea." 4 MOTHER'S LAMENT OVER THE TOMB OF HEB ONLY SON ("Delitise Delitiarum," 111). Translated in the " Quarterly Review" No. 233. Why did thy parents thee misname their joy f Alas ! far better had they said their grief. The mother's dailing light, her precious boy, By fate's despite found earth a sojourn brief. Go to! what's Niobe to me? I moan Worse fate. She could, I cannot, turn to stone. 108 MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODBEN LATIN EPIGRAMMATISTS. ON PLATIXA'S ''HISTORY OF THE POPES," AND HIS TREATISE ''DE HONESTA VOLUPTATE," WHICH IN- CLUDED DIRECTIONS FOR THE KITCHEN. Translated hy GresweU. Each pontiff's talents, morals, life, and end, To scan severe, your earlier labours tend — When late — on culinary themes you shine. Even pamper'd pontiffs praise the kind design. This hit at the popes is very fair ; but Sannazarius mistakes the order of Platina's works, the treatise " De Honesta " having been written much earlier than the " History of the Popes." PETEUS BEMBUS. Born at Venice, in 1470. He became secretary to Pope Leo X., and was celebrated for the purity of the Latin in which he carried on the Pope's correspondence. He died in 1 547. EPITAPH ON RAPHAEL. Translated hy the Rev. James Davies. Here Raphael lies. While he lived. Nature's dread Was base defeat ; but death, since he is dead ! This epitaph was copied by Pope at the close of his own on Sir Godfrey Kneller, as will be found pointed out under Pope's epitapli un that painter. Cardinal Bembo wrote the epitaph, at the request of Leo X., to be placed in the Pantheon. Thomas Warton has suggested a variation, which is certainly equally expressive of the painter's wonderful powers, and more consonant with truth, which in mortuary inscriptions should never give place to hyperbole : Here Raphael lies, by whose untimely end Nature hath lost a Rival and a Friend. ON THE DEATH OF A LAP-DOG. Translated hy the Rev. James Davies. What is there, whelp Bembino, that thy lord denies to thee ; From whom thou hast thy name, thy tomb, and tearful elegy ? HERCULES STBOZA. 109 Bembo's brother Cardinal, Bellay, has an epigiam on a distinguish- ing and very accommodating dog (•' Delitise Delitiarum." 36), which is probably taken from the Greek. The translation is by James "Wright : The lover I let pass, the thief did seize : So I both master did, and mistress please. HEECULES STEOZA. A Latin poet of Ferrara, connected with the illustrious family oi Strozzi. of Florence. His end was tragical. In 1508 he married a lady of a noble house, and almost immediately afterwards was murdered by a rival. EPITAPH ON JOHN PICUS OF MIRANDOLA, I.V 8. MARK'S CHURCH, FLORENCE (" Delitiae DeUtiarum," 126). Translated in the " John Bull," of March 5, 1870. Here lies John of Mirandola ; what else there is to tell, The Tagus and the Ganges, and th' Antipodes know well. The Latin of this celebrated epitaph is as follows : Joannes jacet hie Mirandola ; csetera norunt Et Tagus, et Ganges, forsan et Antipodes. The illustrious scholar, John Picus of Mirandola, was born in 1463, the younger son of a noble family, who held that little principality as an imperial fief. He died at the early age of thirty-one. " If we talk," says Hallam in his " Introduction to the Literature of Europe," " of the admirable Crichton, who is little better than a shadow, and lives but in panegyric, so much superior and more wonderful a person as John Picus of Mirandola should not be forgotten." The epitaph is best known in Pope's parody. Spence gives the poet's own account of it : " You know I love short inscriptions, and that may be the reason why I like the epitaph on the Count of Mirandola so well. — Some time ago I made a i)arody of it for a man of very opposite character." (Spence's "Anecdotes." 1820, 165.) This was Lord Con- ingsby, who, in 1715, impeached Harley, Earl of Oxford, of "high treason and other crimes and misdemeanors " : Here lies Lord Coniugsby ; be civil, The rest God knows, jierhaps the devU. Swift applied the parody to another person. Colonel Francis Chartrcs, a man of infamous character, who by pandering to the vices and follies of mankinfl, acquired an immense fortune. Pope (*' Moral Essays," Epifltle III. 19) says that riches are : Given to the fool, the mad, the vain, the evil. To Ward, to Waters, Chartres, and the devil. 110 MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN LATIN EPIGRAMMATISTS. It is probable that Pope had Stxoza's distich in mind, when he com- posed the short epitaph intended for Dryden's monument erected by the Duke of Buckinghamshire : This Sheffield rais'd. The sacred dust below Was Di7den once : The rest who does not know ? EUEICIUS COEDUS, Born in the latter part of the loth century, at Simmershuys. in Hesse, was a physician and poet. He was a friend of Erasmus, and of many of the learned Italians. He died at Bremen in 1538. TO PHILOMUSUS (" Delitise DeUtiarum," 130). Translated in the " Quarterly Review," No. 233. If only when they're dead, you poets praise, I own I'd rather have your blame always. The original of this distich must be Martial's epigram " To Vacerra " (Book VIII. 69), which is thus translated by Hay : The ancients all your veneration have : You like no poet on this side the grave. Yet , pray, excuse me ; if to please you, I Can hardly think it worth my while to die. On this the Frenchman, Eabutin, Count de Bussy, founded an epigram, which Samuel Bishop has imitated (Bishop's Works, 1796, Ep. 73): " Praise premature is idle breath ; No fame is just till after death 1" So Clodio is for ever crying : " Excuse me, Clodio, then," say I ; " I rate not your applause so high, To think of earning it— by dying !" THE DOCTORS APPEARANCE. Translated in the " Gentleman's Magazine," XCIV. Three faces wears the doctor ; when first sought An angel's — and a god's the cure half wrought : But when, that cure complete, he seeks his fee, The devil looks then less terrible than he. " This epigram is illustrated by the following conversation, which passed between Bouvart " (a celebrated Parisian physician, born 1717, PIERITJS VALERIANtJS. Ill died 1787), " and a French marquis whom he had attended during a long and severe indisposition. As he entered the chamber on a certain occasion, he was thus addressed by his patient : ' Good day to you, Mr. Bouvart, I feel quite in spirits and think my fever has left me.' ' I am sure of it,' replied the doctor ; ' the very first expression you used convinces me of it.' ' Pray explain yourself.' ' Nothing more easy : in the first days of your illness, when your life was in danger, I was your dearest friend ; as you began to get better, I was your good Bouvart ; and now I am Mr. Bouvart ; depend upon it you are quite recovered.' " (" Gentleman's Magazine," XCIV. 343, quoting Wadd's " Nugre Chirurgicse.") The epigram is ascribed to Cordus on the authority of WadJ. One of similar character is among the epigrams of John Owen (Book V. 95;, who lived later, and may have taken the idea from Cordus. PIERIUS VALERIANUS, Whose family name was Bolzani, was born at Belluno in the Vene- tian territory, about 1477. He became Apostolic Notary, and was high in favour with the Popes Leo X. and Clement VII. He died in 1558. BACCHUS. Translated by Moore. While heavenly fire consum'd his Theban dame ; A Naiad caught young Bacchus from the flame, And dipp'd him burning in her purest lymph ; Hence, still he loves the Naiad's crystal urn, And when his native fires too fiercely burn, Seeks the cool waters of the fountain-nymph. It was the custom of the ancients to mix water with their wine, and this, in conjunction with the fable of his birth, caused Bacchus to be represented as fond of that element. Meleager has a Greek epigram on the subject (Jacobs 1. 33, cxiii.), which has been amusingly imitated by Prior, without losing the force of the original : Great Bacchus, born in thunder and in fire, By native heat asserts Ins dreadful sire, NourJHh'd near shady rills and cooling streams. He to the nympiis avows bis amorous flames: — To all the bretliren at the Bell and Vine The moral says ; mix water with your wine. 112 MEDLfflVAL AND EARL'S MODERN LATIN EPIGEAMMATIST5. SIE THOMAS MORE. Born 1480. Died 1535. ON THE UNION OF THE YORK AND LANCASTER ROSES. Written for the Coronation of Henry VIII. and Queen Catharine (Ed. Basil. 1518, IDl). Translated by Thomas Fecke {slightly altered). (The translation of this and the following epigrams by Pecke are in "Parnassi Puerperium," 1659.) The white rose was crimson'd in the dire cause, The red grew pale as let blood by fierce wars : But now the roses into one unite. By this alone was stay'd the furious fight : Both roses bud and flourish strongly still, Although subjected to a single will : One species includes both, and both agree Copartnership in beauty, majesty. They who were parties unto either side Shall need no mure well- wishes to divide : And he who envies, in his fear forlorn. Shall feel to 's cost that the rose has a thorn. Shakespeare, in " King Richard Til." (Act V. so. 3), ioaakes iiichmond eay, after the battle of Bosworth Field : And then, as we have ta'en the Sacrament, We will unite the white rose with the red : — Smile Heaven upon this fair conjunction. That long hath frown'd upon their enmity ! — ■ What traitor hears me, and says not,-— amen ? So, Diayton : In one stalk did happily unite The pui'e vermilion rose and purer white. ANTICIPATION OF EVILS (Ed. Basil. 1518, 197). Translated by Thomas Pecke. And why so stupid as to lend an ear, To the false alarms of amazing fear? If evils come not, then our fears are vain : And if they do ; dread will increase the pain. SIR THOMAS MORE. 113 Milton was, no doubt, well acquainted with Moie's epigrams, aud may have had this one in mind when he wrote in " Comus " : Peace, brother : be not over exquisite To cast the fashion of uncertain evils : For grant they be so ; while they rest unknown What need a man forestal his date of grief. And run to meet wliat he would most avoid ? Or, if they be but falsi; alarms of fear, How bitter is such self-delusion ! VPON THE UNCEBTAINTY OF THE HOUR OF DEATH (FA. Basil. 1518, 198). Translated hy Thomas Pecke (Part of Epigram). You would bewail next month to meet chill death : And can you laugh ? next hour may stop your breath. Rogers said, " I sometimes wonder how a man can ever be cheerful, when he knows that he mmt die." The late Mr. Dyce has a note upon this in Rogers' " Table Talk " (ed. 1856, 30) : " Mr. Rogers once made the same remark to Mr. Luttrell, who versified it as follows : " ' death thy certainty is such And thou'rt a tiling so fearful, That, musiag, I have wonder'd much How men were ever cheerful.' " ON A RIDICULOUS ASTROLOGER (Ed. Basil. 1518, IQQ'^ Translated by Thomas Pecke. Cumtean sybils could not more descry, Although enlightened from Divinity, Than our astrologer, whose profound art, Could through the stars a thing, when past, impart. A consilerable number of Sir Thomas More's epigrams are only Latin translations from the Greek. The above, though not a translation, may probably have lx:f'ii suggested by an epigram of Tjucillius (Jacobs III. 38, xlv.j, which Cowper has freely, but well, translated: The astrologers did all alike presage My uncli-'rt dying in exfnMuo (dd age ; One only disagreiMl. But lie was wise, Aud spoke not till he heard the funeral cries. I 114 MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN LATIN EPIGRAMMATISTS. ON NICOLAUS, AN IGNORANT PHYSICIAN (Ed. Basil, 1518, 211). Translated by C. It is not for nothing that sometimes we see Great names and professions so closely agree. There's Nicol the Gen'ral and Nicol the Leech, A like reputation attaching to each : The one slays his hosts with his sword of devotion, The other his thousands with poison and potion. The soldier may often be charg'd on the plain — None live to encounter the doctor again I Dr. Jolnison appears to have thought very highly of this epigram, from his choosing the IbUowing passage from "Peachani of Poetry," to illustrate the word " Pliysician " in his dictionary : " His gratuiatory verse to King Henry is not more witty than the epigram upon tlie name of Nicolaus, an ignorant physician, who had been the death of thousands." The subject is hackneyed, but the wit is undeniable. There is an ancient epigram, a little similar in character, in which a poet takes the place of the soldier. The author is Lucillius (Jacobs III. 44, Ixxvi.). The following translation, by Merivale, giving modern for ancient names, is fairly close, and very amusing : Not Deucalion's deluge, nor Phaeton's roast, Ever sent such a cart-load to Phlegethon's coast, As our laureate with odes and with elegies kills, And our doctor destroys with infallible piUs. Then well these four plagues with each other may vie, Deucalion and Phaeton, B m and P . The poet is Pye, who preceded Southey as laureate. The doctor is said to be Brodum, a qui.ck of the day. The following story on the subject of medical treatment derives interest from its connection with Pope. Duncombe, in a letter to Arch- bishop Herring, informs liim, that in the poet's last illness a violent altercation arose in the sick chamber between the two physicians, Burton and Thomson, each ascribing Pope's hopeless condition to the misman- agement of tiie other; that Pope remarked, all he could learn from tiieir discourse was, that he was in extremis, and desired that tlie following couplet might be added to the " Dunciad " : Dunces, rejoice ; forgive all censures past ; The greatest dunce has kdl'd your foe at last. The story is a very good one, but very improbable. Indeed, Duncombe adds, what is doubtless the truth, that the lines were written by Dr. Burton himself ; and gives the following epigram in answer to them, written bv a friend of Dr. Thomson (Archbishop Herring's Letters to WilUam Duncombe, 1777, ti7-69) : SIR THOMAS MORE, 115 As both physic and verse to Plicebus belong, So the Colic ge oft dabble in potion and song ; Hence, Burton, resolv'd his emetics shall hit, When his recipe fails, gives a puke with his wit. Burton's distich and the answer prove that doctors do not spare one another. The following not only shows this, but also the universality of the wit which has been displayed at the expense of the profession. It is an epigram upon Abou Alchair Selamu, an Egyptian physician, by George, a pliysician of Antioch, translated from the Arabic, by Professor Carlyle (" Specimens of Arabian Poetry," 1796, 147) : Whoever has recourse to thee Can hope for health no more. He's lauuch'd into perdition's sea, A sea without a shore. Where'er admission thou canst gain. Where'er thy phyz can pierce. At once the doctor they retain, The mourners and the hearse. EFITAPH FOR THE IV MB OF HIMSELF AND HIS TWO WIVES IN CHELSEA CHVECH (Ed. Basil. 1518, 270). Translated by Archdeacon Wrangham. Within this tomb, Jane, wife of More, reclines : This, More for Alice and himself designs. The first, dear object of my youthful vow, Gave me three daughters and a son to know ; The next, — ah ! virtue in a step-dame rare ! Kursed my sweet infants with a mother's care. With both my yeax'S so happily have past, Wliich most I love, I know not — first, or last. O ! had religion, destiny allow'd. How smoothly, mix'd, had our three fortunes flow'd! But be we in the tomb, in heaven allied : So kinder death .shall 'ITJS. 123 Fond Pro^e, chattering wretch, That is Medea ! there Wilt thou thy younglings hatch ? Will she keep thine, her own who could not spare ? Le^rn from her frantic face To seek some titter place. What other may st thou hope for, what desire, Save Stygian spells, wounds, poison, iron, fiie? One of the most celebrated specimens of ancient art was a picture by Timomachus, representing the murder of her children by Medea, and the hesitation exhibited by the mother in her barbarous act. On this painting there are several Greek epigrams. The following, by Antiphilus, is thus translated in " Selection of Greek Epigrams for the Use of Win- chester School, 1791 " t Jacobs 11. 159, xx.) : See fam'd Timomachus sublimely trace The varying sorrows of Medea's face ! Contending passions all his art engage, A mother's love, an injur'd woman's rage: True to his pencil, see each eye appears A doubtful stiuggle betwixt rage and tears : Such powers the artist's labours could acquire. She melts with pity now, now burns with ire. Thus far extends the painter's modest art : The rest demands Medea's vengeful heart. MARCUS ANTONIUS FLAMTNIUS, A Latin poet, whose family name was Zarrabini, was born at Serevalle in 1498. He was patronized by Pope Leo X., by Cardinal Pole, and other dignitaries of the Church ; but was suspected, notwithstanding, of leaning towarda the opinions of the Reformers. He died at Home in 1550. ON THE MARTYRDOM OF SAVOXAEOLA. TransltUed by GresweU in " Memoirs of Angelus Politianus, &c." 1801. When frenzied zealots lijijlit the penal fires, And Jerome writhes in tortures, and expires, Religion weeps ; — barbarians cease ! she cries, Religion suffers, — 'tis herself that dies. 124 5IEDI^VAL AND EAKLY MODERN LATIN EPIGEAMMATISTS. GEORGIITS BUCHANANUS. A Scotchman, born in 150G. As an historian liis style is pure, but his partiality distorts facts. As a Latin poet he shows much elegance, but his scurrility and servility mar the beauty of his verse. He was di'iven out of Scotland by the monks, who were incensed against him on account of his lampoons upon them. On his return in .1561. he openly renounced the religion of Rome, having been for many years a Lutheran at heart ; but he attended the court of Queen Mary, from whom he received a hanilsome pension, for which he showed his gratitude by the most cruel invectives against her, when she fell into misfortune. From Queen Elizabeth he also received a pension, and in return flattered her in a manner equally gross. He died in 1582. CORINNA (Book I. 4). Translated in the " Festoon." I know not whether in Narcisstiis' glass, Matchless Corinua, you e'er saw your face : But this I know, with beauties all her own, Matchless Corinna is enamour'd grown. The youth some reason for his phrensy had ; What made him so, made many others mad : Your cause is less, therefore your madness more, Without a rival you yourself adore. The original is addressed " In Posthumum." The satire may have been suggested by an equally severe epigram by the Greek Lucillius, thus translated by Philip Smyth (Jacobs III. 35, xxxiii.) : How falsely does Dorinda's glass Reflect her face whene'er she views it ! If it told truth, I think the lass Would seldom have a wish to use it. Buchanan's close may be taken from Horace (Ars Poetica, 444) : Yourself without a rival you may love. The character of Siguier Sylli, a foolish self-lover, in Massinger's play of "TheMaitl of Honour," is a good representation of a male (Jorinna. In Act I. so. 2, we have : Sylli. Yes, and they live too : marry, much condoling The scorn of their Narcissus, as they call me Because I love myself — Camilla, Without a rival. GEORGIUS BUCUANAKUS. 125 TO ZOILUS (Book I. 12). Translated by Belph. "With industry I spread your praise, With equal, you my censure blaze ; But, Zoilus, all in vain we do — The world nor credits me nor you. There is something in this wliich recalls Swift's epigram, "Ou one Delacourt's complimenting Carthy, a schoolmaster, on his Poetry " : Carthy, you say, writes well — his genius true ; You pawn your word for him— he'll vouch for you. So two poor knaves, who find their credit fail. To cheat the world, become each other's bail. James Delacourt was an Irish poet. His chief work, " The Prospect of Poetry," gained him much applause, but Swift could seldom see talent in those who were not amongst the number of his friends. ON LEONOBA (Book I. 22). Translated by live Rev. J. 0. W. Haweis. There's a lie on thy cheek in its roses, A lie echoed back by thy glass. Thy necklace on greenhorns imposes. And the ring on thy finger is brass. Yet thy tongue, I afiSrm, without giving an inch back. Outdoes the sham jewels, rouge, mirror, and pinchbeck. Solon warns against trust in a lying face and honied words. The epigram is translated from the Greek by Mr. Goldwin Smith, in the late Dr. AVellesley's "Anthologia Pulyglotta" : Beware smooth words and smiling face ! A dagger lurks within. The double tongue speaks f.dr, the heart Is foul with darkling sin. TO NEMRA (Book I. 2(;). Translated in " The Honeysuckle" 1734. As virgin lilies pluck'd from off their stems Wither and die beneath Sol's radiant beams ; So when thy eyes, my love ! first warm'd my heart, I felt a wasting fire seize ev'ry part ; 126 MEDIEVAL AND EAELT MODERN LATIN EPIGEAMMATISTS. But when you join'd your rosy lips to mine, \Varm"d by the gentle touch — O balm divine — My strength return'd, e'en as descending showers Call from the parch'd earth the beauteous flowers. Since your eyes kill, and since your kisses cure, My life and death you equally insure. Destroy me, kill me ; be it as you will, if, as I die, 1 may your kisses feel : From such a fate I'd never ask to fly, Thus oft to live, as often I would die. Milton alludes to Buchanan and the Nesera of this epigram in Lycidas, 64 : Alas I what boots it -with incessant care To tend the homely, slighted shepherd's trade, And strictly meditate the thankless muse? "Were it not better done, as others use. To sport with Amaryllis in the shade, Or with the tangles of Nesera's hair ? The oblique censure conveyed in these lines was deserved by Buchanan, who, unlike Milton, prolonged to graver years his amorous eiiusions to poetical mistresses. It might at first sight appear that Amaryllis and Nea;ra, being common poetical names, were chosen by Milton without any reference to Buchanan, and notwithstanding a long and tender poem to Amaryllis by the latter, called " Desiderium Lutitise " (Silvse, III.), bad she alone been mentioned by Milton, this might have been the case, but " the tangles of Nesera's haii- " is an expression which fixes the allusion to Buchanan, for that jioet, in his last Elegy, and also in his Epigrams Book I. 45}, romances in an extravagant manner on the tangles of Nesera's golden hair, in which he is fast bound. (See an admirable note in Warton's edition, of '" Milton's Minor Poems," ed. 1791, 474). Similar in sentiment to the latter part of Buchanan's epigram is the close of Tennyson's poem " Eleanore," whose lover, hearing " from lier rose-red lips Lis name," exclaims : I die with my delight, before I hear what I would hear from thee ; Yet tell my name again to me, I would be dying evermore, So dying ever Eleanore. A CRUEL FAIR-ONE (Book I. 31). ^Vhen with her, Neasra is always disdaining. As often, when absent, she is always complaining : HIERONYMUS AMALTHEUS. 127 Not for love of myself, to give bliss by consenting ; But in both she is mov'd by her love of tormenting. Swift's picture of " Daphne " shows a lady of much the same tem- perament : Daphne knows with equal ease, How to vex and how to please ; But the folly of her sex Makes her sole delight to vex. And Ambrose Philips sings of the lady whom "the love-sick Stre- phon flies," whilst : The fair coquet, With feign'd regiet, In\'ites him back to town ; But, when in tears The youth appears, She meets bim with a frown. EPITAPH ON EOGEB ASCHAM (Book II. 27). Translated in Arnos' " Gems of Latin Poetry." His country's mn^es join with those of Greece And mii!;hty Eome, to mourn the fate of Ascham ; Dear to his prince, and valued by his friends, Content with humble views through life he pass'd, While envy's self ne'er dared to blast his fame. This illustrious scholar was highly honoured by Queen Elizabeth, to whom he was Latin secretary, and tutor in the learned languages. With every opportunity of enriching himself, he was poor, and was contented with the respect which his talents and integrity insured him throulac'e am(mg tlu; writers of his age. Ho died in 1574. The poetic vein seems to have been common to his t'miily, '«if his brothers, Johannes and Cornelius, were scarcely interior to himself in the composition of elegant Latin verse. 128 MEDIEVAL AND EAELY MODERN LATIN EPIGRAMMATISTS. TO MART ANUS .''TiiAiiisi Delitiarum," 58). Translated in the " Quarterly Review,^' No. 233. If Nape bares her snowy breast or arm Of milky hue, or smiles with witching charm, Look thou not on them : Love, an archer keen, These snares, this chain doth for thy capture mean. On " Love, an archer keen," see an epigram by Meleager, " Cupid Proclaimed." The power of a smile is shown by Tennyson in " Madeline " : All my bounding heart entanglest In a golden-netted smile. Peter Pindar (Dr. Wolcot) closes an Anacreontic in " Pindariana "' with the line : I feel in every smile a chain. ON TWO BEAUTIFUL MONOCULI {"Belitise Delitiarum," 59). Translated in " Select Epigrams." But one bright eye young Aeon's face adorns, For one bright eye sweet Leonilla mourns. Kind youth ! to her thy single orb resign, And make her perfect, and thyself divine : For then (if Heaven the happy change allow) She shall fair Venus be, blind Cupid thou. This celebrated and singularly beautiful epigram was made, Warton says, " on Louis de Maguiron, the most beautiful man of his time, and the great favourite of Henry III. of France, who lost an eye at the siege of Issoire ; and on the Princess of Eboli, a great beauty, but who WciS deprived of the sight of one of her eyes, and who was at the same time mibtress of Philip II., King of Spain." (Warton's "Essay on the Genius and Writings of Pope." ) Passerat, who was younger than, but contemporary with, Amaltheus, has an epigram on the same subject, which, wi;h the exception of being longer, is closely similar. Hallam, in the first edition of his " Introduc- tion to the Literatiire of Europe," gave Passerat '■ credit for the inven- tion;" but in the second edition he states his belief that the one by Amaltheus was first published. (Ed. 1843, II. 145, note.) Sir Edward Sherburne has an epigram " On a Maid in Love with a Youth Blind of One Eye," wliich is extremely elegant ; and, though the subject be different, may be compared with that by Amaltheus ; Th'Righ a sable cloud benight One of thy fair twins of light. HIKBONYMUS AMALTHEUS. 129 Yet the other brighter seems As 't hail robbVl his brother's beams. Or both lights to one were run, Of two stars to make one sun : Cunning archer ! who knows yet But thou wink'st my heart to hit ; Close the other too, and all Thee the god of love will call. HIELLA (" Delitiae Delitiarum," 59). Ou me, my love Hiella casts her eyes, And then so oft my love Hiella sighs : Hence the flames, brighten'd by her breath, which dart From those deep orbs, to ashes burn my heart. Butler has an epigram on the flames of fire in a lady's eyes : Do not mine afiection slight, 'Cause my locks with age are white : Your breasts have snow without, and snow within, While flames of fire in your bright eyes are seen. AN UOVM-GLASS AS THE LOVER'S TOMB (" Dditise Delitiarum," 59; . Translated by Belph. These little atoms that in silence pour. And measure out, with even pace, the hour, "Were once, Alcippus ; — struck by Galla's eyes, Wretched he bum'd, and here in ashes lies ; Which, ever streaming, tliis sad truth attest. That Lovers count the time, and know no rest. That this epigram was early held in estimation, is evident by Ben Jonson (who was born in the same year in which Amaltheus died) I)lacinga translation of it among his own epigrams, though so bald is the rendering that it does no justice to the original. Herrick has an <}pigram " On the lloui'-glass," the idea of which is evidently taken from Amaltheus, whilst the point is quite ditferent : That hourc-glasse, which there ye see With water fill'd, sirs, credit mo. The humour was, as I have read. But Lovt-rs' tears inchristalled, Which, as they drop by drop doe passe From th' upper to the under-glassc. 130 MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN LATIN EPIGRAMMATISTS. Do in a trickling manner tell, (By many a wat'rie syllable) That Lovers' tears, in life-time shed, Du restless run when they are dead. GEOKGIUS SABINUS, A Latin poet, highly praised by Hallam, was bom in the Electorate of Brandenburg in 1508. He married a daughter of Melancthon, but was not on good terms with his father-in-law. By the princes of Ger- many he was greatly esteemed, and was employed on several embassies by the Elector of Bmndenbmg. He died in 1560. THE PBIEST AND THE THIEF ('• Delitiae DeHtiarum," 134). Translated in the '^Saturday Review" No. 546. A priest one day accompanied a thief To where the gallows makes rogues' penance brief. " Grieve riot, but only have thou faith," said he, " That soon with angels thou heaven's guest shalt be." Groaning, he answer' d, " If thy text is true, Pray let me send a substitute in you !" " Nay," cried the j^riest, " I needs must say thee nay ! This is to me no feast — but — fasting day." Owen imitated this epigiam, but spoilt it by putting the excuse of the fust-day in the mouth of the thief instead of the jjriest. The following tianslation is by Harvey, slightly altered (Book I. 123) : To the thief Bardella, condemn'd to die, A monk gave comfort, " Thou shalt sup on high :" Bardella replied, " I fast to-day. Please you to sup there in my place — you may." Sabinus' epigram Ls clearly the original, as Dr. Johnson long ago pointed out, of Prior's ballad, " The Thief and the Cordelier," which i.s, in fact, little more than a paraphrase of the Latin. To show the simi- larity, two stanzas towards the conclusion are given : Alas ! quoth the squire, howe'er sumptuous the treat, Parbleu ! I shall have little stomach to eat ; I should therefore esteem it great favour and grace, Would you be so kind as to go in my place. That I would, quoth the father, and thank you to boot, But our actions, you know, with our duty must suit. The feast I propos'd to you I cannot taste, For this night, by our order, is mark'd for a fast. 131 JOHANNES SECUNDUS, Whose family name was Eveiard, was bom at the Hague in 1511. He studied law, and becoming secretary to the Archbishop of Toledo, dis- tinguished himself so much by the classical elegance of his composi- tion, that he was appointed private Latin secretary to the Emperor Charles V., but before he could enter upon the office he died, at the early age of twenty-five. The " Basia," his chief work, is for the most part unfit for perusal. ON CHABINUS, THE HUSBAND OF AN UGLY WIFE (" Delitise Delitiarum," 172). Translated hy Wiialey {very slightly aliered). Your wife's possest of such a face and mind, So charming that, and this so soft and kind, So smooth her forehead, and her voice so sweet. Her words so tender and her dress so neat ; That would kind Jove, whence man all good derives, In wondrous bounty send me three such wives. Dear happy husband, take it on my word, To Pluto I'd give two, to take the third. ON THE STATUE OF A HEIFEB. Translated hy Whaley. Good friend, this message to my owner bear, That Myron stole me, and has fix'd me here. This is one of the many epigrams on the celebrated brazen statue of a cow by Myron. The following is translated from the Greek of Anacreon by Fawkes (" Anacreontis Teii Carmina," &c., Willielmus Baxter, 1695). Jacobs does not place this among the epigrams of Anacreon, but ascribes the same, with slight variations, to Thilippus (II. 206, xl.) : Feed, gentle swain, thy cattle far away, Lest they too near the cow of Myron stray. And thou, if chance fhllacious judgment eiT'd, Drive home the breathing statue witii the herd. Ausonius has an epigram on the statue, which closes with a point exactly similar to Anacreon 's. Gibbon says, that ^Myron's cow is cele- brated by the false wit of thirty-six Greek epigrams ("Decline and Full," chap, xxxix. L 132 MEDIEVAL AND EAKLY MODERN LATIN EPIGRAMMATISTS. Pascbasius has a Latin distich on the same subject (" Delitiae Deli- tiarum," 32), translated by James Wright : Herdsman and herd, nay Myron I deceive; And Jove, tm-u'd bull, for me would heaven leave. Among the " Fables and Epigrams from the German of Lessing," London, 1825, is an admirable epigram " On the Horse of Frederick William, on the Bridge at Berlin " : On me you gaze surpris'd, as though You doubted if I breathe or no ; Expectant half to see me stir — Enough— I only wait the spin: ! JOHANNES GIEAEDUS. Bom at Dijon about 1518 ; educated at the University of Dole ; and for some years llayor of Auxonne. He died in 1586. THE PRUDENT CHOICE ("Delitiae Delitiarum," 42). Translated by James Wright. A wife you took deform'd, yet rich 'tis said : By th' fingers, Cantulus, not eyes you wed. This epigram has little merit. It is given because it may perhaps be the original of the well-known and often quoted lines : When Lovelace married Lady Jenny, Whose beauty was tlie ready penny ; " I chose her," said he, " like old plate, Not for the fashion, but the weight !" The epigi'ammatists of all ages have written on the subject of marrying for money. Diodorus, a native of Sinope, who flourished B.C. 354, tells us his own wise rule. Cumberland translates the lines (" Observsr," No. 103j : This is my rule, and to this rule I'll hold, To choose my wife by merit, not by gold ; For on that one election must depend Whether I wed a fmy or a friend. The poet Skelton, in his " Book of Three Fools," has this quaintly expressed warning : The man that doth wed a wyfe For her goodes and her rychesse But not for lygnage femynatyfe, Procureth doloure and dystresse With infynyte payne and hevynesae ; THEODORUS BEZA. 133 For she will do hym moche sorowe Bothe at evyn and at morowe. In " Epigrams in Distich," 1740, is the following, entitled, " A Great Fortune's Difficulty " : Puzzled she is to know, which amorous speeches Belong to her, and which unto her riches. In " Papers relating to Suffolk " in the British Museum, a volume consisting chiefly of cuttings from "Kaws' Pocket-books," preserved by the Eev. J. M. Mitford, is the following amusing piece, called " True Love " : O'Leary was as poor as Job, But love and poverty can please us, He saw the widow Bonna-robe, And lov'd — for she was rich as Croesus. Mutual the love tlieir bosoms own ; Sincere was he, and none could doubt her — She lov'd him /or himself alone. And he — He could not live mithout her ! Dr. Johnson said of a person who married on no higher principle than pecuniary advantage, " Now has that fellow at length obtained a certainty of three meals a day, and for that certainty, like Ids brother dog in the fable, he will get his neck galled for life with a collar." (Mrs. Piozzi's Anecdotes of Johnson.) THEODOKUS BEZA, Celebrated for the part he took in the Eeformation on the Continent, was bom at Vezelai in France in 1519. He was intended for the Priesthood, but married and changed his religion. His early years were passed in dissipation. He afterwards became Professor of Greek at Lausanne, where lie remained for ten years; and subsequently resided at Geneva, as Rector of the Protestant Academy there, and Professor of Divinity. He married a second time at the age of seventy ; and died in 1G05. Paschasius gives him a tliird wife, but perhaps without good authority, in an <'pigram wliicli is translated from the Latin in " Selections from the French Anas," 1707, 1. 66 : In age, youth, and noanhood, three wives have I tried. Whose qualities rare all my wants have supplied. The first, goaded on by the ardour of youtli, I woo'd for the sake of her person, forsooth : The second 1 took for the sake of her purse; And the third — for wliat reason ? I wanted a nurse. 134 MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN LATIN EPIGRAMMATISTS, TO ZOILUS C" Delitise Delitiarum," 11). Translated by James Wright. My book to you, Zoilus, seems too small, I only wish it would seem so to all. Camden closes the preface to his "Britannia" with a Latin line, which in Gibson's edition is rendered by the following distich : Books take their doom from each peruser's will. Just as tLey thiuk, they pass for good or ill. LUCRETIAS SUICIDE ("Delitias Delitiarum," 14). Translated by Dr. TurnbuU. If Tarquin's wrong, Lucretia, pleased your soul, Death was but justice for a crime so foul ; But if by strength alone his will he had, To die for his misdoings proves you mad : Then be no more the matron's boast and pride, You lived a wanton, or a fool you died. A note to the"Eape of Lucrece," in the Variorum Shakespeare, 1821, XX. 202, ascribes this ejngram to Renatus Laurentius de la Barre. Marcus Antonius Casanovas, a Latin poet of the beginning of the 16th century, has an epigram on Lucretia, thus translated by Heywood the dramatist (Variorum Shakespeare, as above, : Why Lucrece better might herself have slain, Before the act, than after her black stain, Can any tell ? No crime did she commit, For of all guilt her hand did her acquit. Her ravislier she slew by that brave stroke, And from her country's neck took off the yoke ; From thine own hand thy death most willing came. To save thy country, and preserve thy fame. Elsum, in his " Epigrams on Paintings," 1700, has one on a pictura by Giorgione of Lucretia stabbing herself ( Ep. 43) : Since the vile ravisher my honour stains, What thing of worth or moment now remains I Thus cries Lucretia with grief opprest. And sheathes a poignant dagger in her breast. The heroine would die ; but you prevent, O Georgion ! her murderous intent. You have so painted her, that we conceive, She in thy table will for ever live. THEODORUS BEZA. 135 Dr. Young in his seveiith satire gives a favourable view of Lucrctia's conduct : Ambition, in a truly noble mind, With sister vii tue is for ever join'd ; As in fam'd Lucrece, who, with equal dread. From guilt and shame by her last conduct, fled : Her virtue long rebcll'd in tirm disdain. And the sword pointed at her heart in vain; But when the slave was threaten'd to be laid Dead by her side, her love of fame obey'd. ON HOLBEIN'S HALF-LENGTH PORTRAIT OF ERASMUS (" Delitise Delitiarura," 15). Translated in " Collection of Epigrams," 1735. One half this canvass shows of that great sage, \\ horn woi Ids proclaim the wonder of the age ; Why not the whole ? Cease, reader, thy surprise, Him the whole earth's not able to comprise. This frigid conceit may have its origin in an epigram by Martial (Book V. 7-1) "On Pompey and his Sons;" thus translated by Aaron Hill: Great Pompey's ashes in vile Egypt lie ; His sons in Europe, and in Asia, die : What wonder that these three so distant died. So vast a ruin coidd not spread less wide. There is an epigram on Holbein's picture in Elsimi's " Epigrams on Paintings," 17(i0, translated from Michael Silos "De Eomana Pictura et Sculptura " (Ep. 78j : The famous Swiss no little skill hath shown In painting of his generous patron. This work in England th' artist much commends, By which he was preferr'd, and gain'd his ends. Thou mad'st Erasmus. Holbein ! as 'tis said, But I .say that Erasmus Holbein made. It will be remembered that Erasmus was Holbein's earliest patron, by v/hose advice the painter came to England, with a letter of intro- duction to Sir Thomas More and the portrait of his patron, as his credentials. ON LUTHER. Translated in the " Poetical Farrago" Rome, all the world, and Rome the Pope, subdu'd ; By arms, lier empire — his, by fraud pursu'd: 136 MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN LATIN EPIGRAMMATISTS, But Luther rose superior to the two ; And from one pen alone both conquests drew. No more let Greece Aicides' honours raise, A feather'd quill his mighty club outweighs. This is one side of the picture, in which all the honour of bringing about the Reformation is given to Luther. The other side is shown in a curious book of epigrams, writtf^n in the interest of Rome, entitled, " Mirror of the New Reformation," published at Paris in 1634, in which the honour is given to another personage (Ep. 6) : Luther still vaunts himself to be the first, That by Truth's beams the Romish clouds disperst. Yet is it granted, Saten was the cause, "Which mov'd him first the sacred Mass t' oppose. Why's Satan then not Reformer ? true, He is indeed : Let's give the Devil his due. JOACHIMUS BELLAIUS, Or Du Bellay, called the Ovid of France, was born aliout 1524. He was noticed by Francis I., Henry II., and Margaret of Navarre, and was patronized by his cousin Cardinal du Bellay. Through the mis- representations of enemies he fell under the displeasure of that prelate, which caused him so much mortification that it shortened his life, and he died at the age of thirty-seven. TO AN AUTHOR WHO ENTITLED HIS BOOK "-NUG^" (« Delitiaj Delitiarum," 36). Translated by D. Paul, you have chosen the best of all titles, For nought in your book is better than trifles. This distich was written on the "Nugse," or Latin epigrams of Nicholas Borbonius. " Our countryman, Owen," says Warton, " who had no notion of Borbonius' elegant simplicity, was still more witty " ("Hist, of English Poetry," 1840, III. 340). The epigram to which Warton refers is Book I. 42 ; thus translated by Harvey : Thou Trifles thought'st not, what thou so didst call ; I call them not, but think them Trifles all ! 137 MAECUS ANTONIUS MUEETUS. A Frenchman, born in 1526. He was a learned critic, and miscellaneoua writer ; an intimate friend of Julius Csesar Scaliger ; and much patron- ized by Cardinal Hippolite d'Est. In 1576 he was ordained a priest, and devoted himself to his profession until his death in 1585. ON VENUS (" Delitise Delitiarum," 28). Tkanslated in the " Quarterly Review" No. 233. If Venus, as the lie of poets goes, From the mid-waters at her birth arose ; How is't that by herself, from ocean sprung, This heart of mine with ceaseless flames is wrung ? grief! '\\'hat worse can hopeless swains surprise, Since fire to bum them doth from waters rise. The original of this may be a Greek epigram by Meleager, thus translated by Merivale (Jacobs I. 17, li.) : Mighty is Love — mnst mighty — once again, I cry, most mighty ! writhing with my pain, And deeply groaning, — who, for mischief bom, Mocks at our woes, and laughs our wrongs to scorn. — The cold blue wave from which thy mother came. Proud boy ! should quench, not feed, that cruel flame. There is a Greek epigram by Zenodotus, on the impossibility of quench- ing the fire of love by water, which is thus translated by the late Dr. Wellesley (Jacobs II. 61, i.): Who sculptured Love beside this fountain ? — Fool, To think with water such a flame to cool. So, Shakespeare in his last sonnet : Love's fire heats water, water cools not love. The most celebrated epigram on water not only not quenching, but even increasing, the flame of love, is a Latin one by Petronius Afranius, an author of whom nothing is known. The following translation is by Christopher Smart. The subject, a lady throwing snow-balls at her lover : When, wanton fair, the snowy orb you throw, 1 feel a fire before unknown in snow, J"en coldest snow I find has pow'r to warm My breast, when flung by Julia's lovely arm. T' elude love's powerful arts I strive in vain, If ice and snow can latent fires contain. These frolics leave ; the force of beauty prove ; With equal jia.-sion cool my ardent love. 138 MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN LATIN EPIGRAMMATISTS. STEPHANUS PASCHASIUS, Whose family name was Pasquier or Paquier, was born in Paris in 1528. He was Advocate in Parliament, and afterwards Advocate-genera! in tiie Chamber of Accounts. He stood high as a lawyer and a scholar, and was esteemed as a poet. He died in 1615. MARRIED LIFE. Translated in ^' Selections from the French Anas," 1797. No day, no hour, no moment, is my house Free from the clamour of ray scolding spouse ! My servants all are rogues ; and so am I, Unless, for quiet's sake, I join the cry. I aim, in all her freaks, my wife to please ; I wage domestic war, in hopes of ease. In vain the hopes ! and my fond bosom bleeds. To feel how soon to peace mad strife succeeds : To find, with servants jarring, or my wife. The worst of lawsuits is a married life. Lavish compliments to the ladies before man-iage, and abuse of them afterwards, is too much the rule of the epigrammatists. A few of their uncourteous epigrams and epitaphs on wives may be amusing to those who have happily no experience of a Xantippe. In " Selections from the French Anas " an " Epitaph on a Bad Wife, by her Husband," is given. It is said to be from the Greek, but there is no reference : Ah ! once dear partner of my days. Willing to thee this tomb I raise : My grateful thoughts your shade pmsue, In this small gift so justly due. No envious tongue, with clamours rude, Arraign'd this act of gratitude ; For all must know, that, with my wife, I lost each hour of care and strife. Boileau has a well-known French " Epitaph on the Tomb of a W^ife," in reference to which he used to say, that the best epigrams originated in conversation; .and of all his own gave the preference to tiiis one. He was easily satisfied it may be thought : Here lies my wife ; and Heaven knows. Not less for mine, than her repose ! In " Notes and Queries," 2nd S. II. 20, the following is given from the Harl. M.S., 6894, 91, "On the Atehievement of a Married Lady Deceased, at Stanmore Magna, Middlesex" : God has to me sufficiently been kind, To take my wife, and leave me here behind. STEPHANUS PASCHASIUS. 139 James Smith (author of " Kejected Addresses '*) has a spirited and iimusing epigram which he entitles " Heraldry '\" Memoirs, lAtters, &c." 1840, II. 186) : Where'er a hatchment we discern (A truth before ne'er started), The motto miikes us surely learn The :^ex of the departed. If 'tis the husband sleeps, he deems Death's day a '' fdix dies" Of unaccustom'd quiet dreams, And cries — In coelo quies. But if the wife, she from the tomb Wounds, Parthian hke, " post tergum," Hints to her spouse his future doom, And threatening cries — Hesurgam. ON L^LIA (" Delitiae Delitiarum," 29). Translated by D. To conciliate my sweet Fair, I tried ev'ry method rare ; I kiss'd, I made gifts, and besought, Yet vain e'en were gifts richly \/Tought. But now when love is cold and dead, M}' Laelia's willing to be wed, And, dimming with salt tears her eyes, Uses Love's weapon — woman's sighs, Soft ditties, too, she sadly sings, And presents oft she shyly brings, And prayers with pretty lispings. Ah ! Laelia, 'tis too late, go seek A lover now than me more meek : You scom'd me when with love I burn'd. When now you're kind, to ice I'm turn'd. William Browne, the author of " Britannia's Pastorals," has an epi- gram on the same subject. It is found in Sir Egerton Brydges' edition, 1815, 21, of a MS. vol. of Browne's Poems, in the Lansdowne collection. No. 777 Not long agone a youthful swain. Much wronged by a maid's ditidain. Before Love's altar came ; an. With self-love Celsus burns : is he not blest ? For thus without a rival he may rest. This is perhaps the original of a well-known modern epigram : To Damon's self his love's confin'd ; No harm therein I see ; This happiness attends his choice ; Unrivall'd he wUl be. An epigram on self-love, perhaps the best ever written, will be found under Buchanan, — " Corinna." JOHANNES MEUESIUS. Born at Losdun, near the Hague, in 1579. He travelled through a great part of Europe, as tutor to the children of John Barneveldt, the Dutch statesman, and on his return was appointed professor of history and of Greek at Leyden, and soon afterwards historiographer to the States of Holland. After the execution of Barneveldt, in 1619, be was persecuted on account of his connection with him, and retired to Denmark, where he was offered the professorship of history and politics in the University of Sora. He died in 1639. THE POOB. NOT INFERIOR TO THE RICH (" Delitiffi Delitiarum," 232). Translated by D. Eich, dost thou the virtuous poor despise, And think'st thyself supreme? Fool ! in worth not wealth all the merit lies, 'Tis deeds that gain esteem : Would'st thou be honour'd 'mongst thy fellow-men ? Be just, as one who dwells in Virtue's ken. JOHANNES MEURSIUS. 155 Pope might have taken this epigram as the groundwork of several passages in his " Essay on Man," Epistle IV. For instance : What nothing earthly gives or can destroy, The feoul's Ciilm sunshine and the heartfelt joy, Is virtue's prize. * * * * * * * * ^ * To whom can riches give repute or trust, Content or pleasure, but the good and just? Judges and senates have been bought for gold ; Esteem and love were never to be sold. O fool ! to thiuk God hates the worthy mind. The lover and the love of human kind, Whose life is healthful, and whose conscience clear, Because he wants a thousand pounds a year ! Honour and shame from no condition rise ; Act well your part, there all the honour lies. Groldsmith's description of the country parson in the " Deserted Village," illustrates the truth, that not wealth but worth gains honour, for: A man he was to all the country dear. And pas-sing rich with forty pounds a year. There is a rather striking distich " On Westminster Abbey," iu " Epigrams in Distich," 1740 : Kings, statesmen, scholars, soldiers, here are dust ! Vain man, be humble ; to be great, be just. BLUSHING, THE SIGN OF MODESTY. (" Delitise Delitiarum," 233). Translated by C. 'Tis well to see the cheeks with blushes drest : For blushing is of modesty the test. A very different view is found in a song by Moth, in "Love's Labour's Lost " (Act I. sc. 2) : If she be made of white and red, Her faults will ne'er bo known ; For blushing cheeks by faults are bred, And fears by pale-white shown : Then, if she fear, or be to blame, 15y this you shall not know; For still her cheeks possess the same, Which native she doth owe. Moth adds. "A dangerous rhyme, master, against th« reason of white arid red." 156 MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN LATIN EPIGBAMMATIST8. THE POWER OF KINGS ("Delitise Delitiarum," 234). Translated by D. Vain man, wilt thou the monarch's anger dare ? To fear him learn, to yield, and to beware : He's Jove on earth, his thunder echoes wake, And what he cannot bend, his pow'r can break. A Greek epigram on the statue of Alexander the Great, executed by Lysippus, shows the monarch arrogating to himself the power of Jove on earth. The author is Archelaus, whose date is unknown. The translation is by Samuel "Wesley, usher of Westminster School (Jacobs II. 57, i.) : Lysippus' art can brass with life inspire, Show Ale.tander's features and his fire ; The statue seems to say, with up-cast eye, — 1 " Beneath my rule the globe of earth shall lie ; > Be thou, O Jove, contented with thy sky." ) Shakespeare shows the danger which would arise, if great men were allowed to use Jove's thunder (" Measure for Measiu'e," Act II. sc. 2). Isabella speaks : O, it is excellent To have a giant's strength ; but it is tyrannous To use it like a giant. Could great men thunder As Jove himself does, Jove would ne'er be quiet, For every pelting, petty ofiScer, Would use his heaven for thunder. Beaumont and Fletcher, in their play of " Philaster," show a king claiming extraordinary powers, and acknowledging his weakness (Act IV.). The king speaks : 'Tis the king Will have it so ; whose breath can still the winds, Uncloud the sun, charm down the swelling sea. And stop the floods of Heav'n. Speak, can it not ? ***** Alas ! what are we kings ? Why do you, gods, place us above the rest. To be serv'd, flatter'd, and ador'd, till we Believe we hold within our hands your thunder ? And, when we come to try the pow'r we have, There's not a leaf shakes at our threat' nings. 157 BALTHASAE BOXIFACIUS, Was born in the Venetian territory, about 1581. He had severai ecclesiastical appointments, and in 1653 was advanced to the bishopric of Capo d'Istria, which he held until his death in 1659. DANGEROUS iOFE ("DeUtiae Delitiarum," 91). Translated by C. All whom I love die young; Zoilus, I'll try, Tho' loath'd, to love thee— that thou too may'st die. The first words of this caustic distich contain a sentiment beautifully expressed by Moore in often quoted lines (" Lalla Kookh" — "The Fu'e Worshippers") : Oh ! ever thus, from childhood's hour, I've seen my fondest hopes decay ; I never lov'd a tree or flower, But 'twas the first to fade away. I never nurs'd a dear gazelle, To glad me with its soft black eye, But when it came to know me well. And love me, it was sui-e to die ! ON THE DYING CHABICLITA ("Delitise Delitiarum," 97). Translated in the " Quarterly Review," No. 233. Yon eye, that into shade the sunlight throws. Death, had he sight, would have no heart to close. My life upon 't, e'en Death himself would die Of love, at sight of yonder starry eye. This conceit, exaggerated though it be, is remarkably pretty. If it be thought open to censure as too fanciful, an observation in tho " Tutler," No. 34, may be remembered : " There's no carrying a meta- plior too far, when a lady's charms arc spoke of." Massinger gives expression to a very similar idea in " The Unnatural Combat " (Act II. sc. 3) : For she had Such smooth and high-arch'd brows, such sparkling eyes, Whose every glance stored Cupid's emptied quiver, vSuch ruby lips, — and such a lovely bloom. 158 MEDIEVAL AND EAELY MODERN LATIN EPIGRAMMATISTS, Disdaining all adulterate aids of art, Kept a perpetual spring upon her face, As Death himself lamented, being forced To blast it with his paleness. TO PHILLIS AT HER HUSBAND'S TOMB ('• Delitiae Delitiarum," 97). Translated in the " Quarterly Review," No. 233. Wreaths to your lost one's tomb you neither bring, Nor round it, Phillis, showers of perfume fling. Tears are your sole rich tribute, pour'd anew ^ O'er the dark urn that hides your love from view. Hence from the turf upspringing, many a flower Finds thy tear dew, thy glance the day-god's power. CUNRADINUS. It is difQcult to trace the history of this poet. It is probable he was one Henry Cunrad, a German physician, who lived in the first half of the 17th century. ON A FLY ENGRAVED IN A GOLDEN DRINKING-CUP ("Delitise Delitiarum," 131). Translated in the " Quarterly Review," No. 233. Deep down I drew my latest breath in a gold cup of wine. Could I have wish'd a sweeter death, or a more splendid shrine ? Herrick has an epigram " On a Fly buried in Amber," in which the tliought with regard to the richness of the shrine is similar : I saw a flie within a beade Of amber cleanly buried : The ume was little, but the room More rich than Cleopatrii's tomb. In another and longer piece, " On a Fly enclosed in an Ivory-Vjox," Herrick refers to the following epigram by Martial (Book TV. 31 ), from which, therefore, it may be inferred he took his idea of the fly buried in amlier ; or perhaps more directly from another epigram, by the same author, on a viper so buried. The translation is by Hay : JOHN MILTON. 159 The bee eucloa'd, and through the amber shown, Seems buried in the juice which was his own. So houour'd was a lite in kibour spent : Such might he wish to have his monument. JOHN MILTON. Bom 1608. Died 1674. TO CHRISTINA, QUEEN OF SWEDEN, WITH A PORTRAIT OF CROMWELL. Translated by Sir Fleetwood Shepheard. Bright martial maid, queen of the frozen zone, The northern pole supports thy shining throne ; Behold what furrows age and steel can plough, The helmet's weight oppress'd this wrinkled brow. Through fate's untrodden paths 1 move, my hands Still act my free-born people's bold commands : Yet this stern shade to you submits his fi'owns. Nor are these looks always severe to crowns. This epigram is by some ascribed to Andrew Marvell. A long and interesting note on the subject, will be found in Warton's edition of Slilton's Minor Poems, ed. 1791, 489. Mr. Bryan Proctor (better known as Barry Cornwall) has given us a portrait of Cromwell, probably as true to life as the "Shade" which was sent to the Queen of Sweden, and certainly more so than Milton's flattering lines which accompanied it : ***** * * Like some dark rock, who.«e rifts Hold nitrous grain, whereon the lightning fires Have glanced, and left a pale and livid light, So he, some corji'ral nerve being struck, stood there Glaring, but cold and pitiless. — Even hope (The brightest angel whom the heavens have given To lead and cheer us onward.sj shrank aghast From that stern look despairing. 160 MKDLEVAL AND EAELY MODERN LATIN EPIGRAMMATISTS, TO LEONORA, SINGING AT ROME. Translated by Cowper. Another Leonora once inspired Tasso with fatal love, to frenzy fired ; But how much happier lived he now, were he, Pierced with whatever pangs for love of thee ! Since could he hear that heavenly voice of thine, With Adriana's lute of sound divine. Fiercer than Pentheus' though his eye might roll, Or idiot apathy benumb his soul, You still with medicinal sounds might cheer His senses wandering in a blind career ; And sweetly breathing through his wounded breast, Charm with soul-soothing song, his thoughts to rest. Adriana of Mantua, and her daughter Leonora Baioni, were esteemed by their contemporaries the finest singers in the world. Tasso is said to have been enamoured of three ladies of the name of Leonora ; the one mentioned in the epigram is supposed by Dr. J. Warton (quoted in his brother's notes on Milton) to have been Leonora of Este, sister of Alphonso, Duke of Ferrara, at whose court Tasso resided. Milton, in " L' Allegro," has exquisitely painted the power of mus c ; and Shakespeare in the "Tempest" (Act I. sc. 2), makes Ferdmsnd say : This music crept by me upon the waters ; Allaying both their fury and my passion, With its sweet air. Pope, in his " Ode on S. Cecilia's Day," shows the influence of music over the passions, in terms which bear much resemblance to those of Slilton in his epigram : Music the fiercest grief can charm, And fate's severest rage disarm : Music can soften pain to ease. And make despair and madness please : Our joys below it can improve, And antedate the bliss above. 161 JOHN PETER BELLORT. Born at Eome about 1616. His maternal uncle, Francis Angeloiii, secretary to the Cardinal Aldobraudini, cultivated in him a love of anti- quities, and he became greatly celebrated' as an antiquary. Christina, Queen of Sweden, made him her librarian and keeper of her museum. He died in 1696, having passed his life in the composition of various works. EPITAPH ON NICHOLAS POUSSIN (" Vite de Pittori, Scultori, &c." 1672> Translated hy C. Forbear to weep where Poussin's ashes lie ; Who taught to live himself can never die ! Though silent here, from whence no language breaks, Yet in his Works he lives, and ek)quently speaks. The thought that he " being dead yet spcaketh," is quaintly expressed in an epigram on Marcus Tullius Cicero, by Nicholas Grimoald, who was born in the early part of the 16th century ; was a lecturer on rhetoric in the University of Oxford ; and is supposed to be the same as one Grimbold, mentioned by Strype as chaplain to Bishop Ridley ("Poetical Works of Surrey and others," Bell's ed. 1854, 220): For TuUy late a tomb I gan prepare, When Cynthie, thus, bade me my labour spare : " Such manner things become the dead," quoth he, " But Tully lives, and still alive shall be." There is another epigram of similar character by an anonymous nuthor of nearly the same period, which is interesting from its subject — the celebrated Sir Thomas Wyat tlie elder, the statesman and poet Ibid. 249) : Lo, dead ! he lives, that whilome lived here ; Among the dead, that quick goes on the ground ; Though lie be dead, yet quick he doth appear By lively name, that death cannot coufound. His life for aye of fame the trump shall sound. Though he be dead, yet lives he here alive, Thus can no death of Wyat life deprive. 162 MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN LATIN EPIGRAMMATISTS. JOHANNES SANTOLIUS, The Latin name under which the French poet, better known as Santeul, wrote, was born at Paris in 1630. He devoted himself wholly to poetry, and wrote almost exclusively in Latin. His reputation was chiefly gained by the hymns which, at the request of Bossuet and others, he composed for the Paris Breviary. But lie was celebrated not ouly for his poetry, but also for his wit and eccentricity, and it was said of him, that he spoke like a fool and thought like a sage. He died in 1697. ON THE DEATH OF LULLI. Translated in " Selections from the French Anas" 1797. Perfidious art thou. Death, and thy commands Harsh and tyrannic ; and too bold thy bands : Such are thy dreadful attributes ; in vain, Though pressed beneath thy yoke, would man complain. But when your dart, great Lulli to destroy, You shook, and damp'd a king's and nation's joy, And robb'd too soon each fond enraptur'd ear Of strains the earth again shall never hear ; Complain we must, although to ills resign'd. And mourn that Fate is deaf, as well as blind. John Baptist Lulli was a Florentine. His musical talents were early noticed, and after being an under-scuUion in the kitchen of Madame de Montpensier, he became superintendent of music to Louis XIV. It is related that while Santeul was composing his lines on Lulli's death, a favourite and tame finch, perching on his head, sung in so chk VI. 28, with last two lines of 2'J) : Less by his birtii than by bis merit known, A favourite lamented by tlic tr)wn, (){ friends the exquisite but shoj^-liv'd joy. Amongst the great intcrr'd, hcrMics a boy : 191 MODBEN EPIGRAMMATISTS. A chaste behaviom-, aud a modest gi'ace ; An early judgment ; and a cherub's face. But soon, alas too soon ! his race was run ! Scarce had he seen a thirteenth summer's sun i Ne'er may he grieve again, who drops a tear I Worth is short liv'd ; then nothing hold too dear. EPITAPH ON S. P., A CHILD OF QUEEN ELIZABETH'S CHAPEL (Ep. 120). Weep with me all you that read This little story ; And know, for whom the tear you shed Death's self is sorry. 'Twas a Child that so did thrive In grace and feature, As Heaven and Nature seem'd to strive Which own'd the creature. Years he number'd scarce thirteen When Fates turn'd cruel, Yet three fill'd Zodiacks had he been The stage's jewel ; And did act, what now we moan, Old men so duly As, sooth, the Parcai thought him one, He play'd so truly. So, by error, to his fate They all consented ; But viewing him since (alas, too late !) They have repented ; And have sought (to give new birth) In baths to steep him ; But, being so much too good for earth. Heaven vows to keejp him. S. P. was probably Salvadore Pavy, who had a part in " Cynthia's Kevels," and the " Poetaster," and who died at about 13 years of age. The conceit in this beautiful epitaph, of the Fates mistaking the child for an old man, on account of his excellence, appears to be much in favour with later writers ; but it was not original in Jonson, who probably adopted it from Martial's epigram on the death of the youth- ful Scorpus, who, like S. P., was celebrated for his performances in the Paiajstra (Book X. 53) ; translated by D. : BENJAMIN JONSON. 195 For me tlie Koman circus echo'd to its height ; •' Scorpns." the applause raug out, short-lived delight : Mistaken Lachesis proclaim'd my triumphs bold, And though but three times nine my span, she call'd me old. This is translated in accordance with Archdeacon Jortiu's sugges- tion (" Tracts, Philological, &c." 11. 279) that " inscia Lachesis " must be the true reading, inste.id of "■invida (envious) Lachesis." which is in all modern copies, but which is not consistent with the main thought in the epigram. There is a very pretty epigram by Kelph, which is evidently founded upon Martial's (Ep. 34) : Censure no more the hand of Death, That stopp'd so early Stella's breath ; Nor let an easy error be Charg'd with the name of cruelty : He heard her sense, her virtues told. And took her (well he might) for old. Owen has a Latin epigram, similar in character, but cast in a different form (Book V. SS). The translation is by Harvey : WTiy doth the gout, which doth to age belong, Vex thee, a soldier, scholar, and so young ? The gout mistook, it saw thee grave and sage, And took thee for an old man, full of age. EPITAPH ON ELIZABETH L. H. (Ep. 124). Would'st thou hear what man can say In a little ? Keader, stay. Underneath this stone doth lie As much beauty as could die ; "Which in life did harbour give To more virtue than doth live : If, at all, she had a fault. Leave it buried in this vault. One name was EUzahetli, Th' other let it sleep with death ; Fitter, where it died, to tell, Thau that it liv'd at all. Farewell. The thought of the beauty and virtue of the deceased is roprfidiiced with some eltgancc by Aaron Hill, in an ef)ita[)h on the tomb fif Jliury lernegan, a gold.smith and jeweller, in tlio churchyard of B. raul'.-. Covent Garden aiilla Works, 1753, HI. 1G2): 196 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. All, that accomplish'd body lends mankind, From earth receiving, he to earth reaign'd: All that e'er graced a soul, from Heaven he drew, And took back with him, as an angel's due ! The subject of this epitaph was a man of some note, a younger sun of Sir Francis Jerningham, or Jernegan, whose family had long been settled at Cossey, in Norfolk. He was an ingenious artist, and made a silver cistern, beautiful and celebrated enough for Vertue finely to engrave. This he disposed of by lottery, about the year 1740. The tickets were five or six shillings each, and the purchaser had a silver medal into the bargain, of the value of three shillings. The medal induced many persons to buy the tickets, of which it is said that 30,000 were sold (Nichols' " Literary Anecdotes," 11. 513). Note. — The celebrated epitaph on the Countess of Pembroke, which is usually given to Jonson, will be foimd under William Browne, the author of " Britannia's Pastorals," with the reasons for ascribing it to that poet. HUGH HOLLAND. Born at Denbigh. In 1589, he was elected from "Westminster School to Trinity College, Cambridge, of which he was afterwards a Fellow. He travelled in Italy, and went as far as Jerusalem. On his retiu'n, he lived for some years at Oxford for the sake of the public library. He died in Westminster, in 1G33, and was buried in the Abbey. ON PRINCE HENRY. Lo, where he shineth yonder A fixed star in heaven, Whose motion thence comes tinder None of the planets seven : If that the moon should tender The sun her love and marry, They both could not engender So bright a star as Harry. This is ascribed to Hugh Holland, on the authority of the MS. volume of William Browne's poems, iu the British Museum (Lans- downe Collection, No. 777, leaf 66). Many elegies and epitaphs were written on this accomplished young Prince. See one by Bishop Hall. The following distich by Samuel Sheppard, is very characteristic of the exaggerations of the period (look III. 15): Here lies Prince Henry, I dare say no more. Lest after times this sepulchre adore. l'J7 ROBERT HAYMAX, Wae born in Devonshire, aljout 1580, but the date is uncertain. He was entered at Exeter College. Oxford, but went to liincoln's Inn with- out taking a degree. By the advice of Drayton, Ben Jouson and others, he studied poetry more than law. "When about 40 years of age, he was made Governor of tlie Plantation of " Harbor-Grace, in Bristol- Hope, in Britaniola, anciently called Newfoundland." He is supposed to have died about 1632. In IGiiS, he published " Quodlibets lately come over from New Britaniola, Old Newfoimdland. Epigrams and other small parcels, both Morall and Divine." In the same volume are translations of some of the epigrams of Owen, and " other rare Authors." HOW AND WHEREOF TO JEST (Book I. Quod. 2C). Jest fairly, freely : but exempt from it, Men's misery, State business, Holy Writ. Mrs. Barber has an epigram on making free with Holy Writ (Barber's " Poems on Several Occasions," 1735, 239; : Since Milo rallies Sacred Writ, To win the title of a wit ; 'Tis pity but he should obtain it. Who bravely pays his soul to gain it. LOVE IS BETWIXT EQUALS (Book I. Quod. 33). Kicli friends, for rich friends, will ride, run, and row, Through dirt and dangers cheerfully they'll go : If poor friends come home to them, for a pleasure. They cannot find the gentleman at leisure. There are two fragments by AIcjeus of Mitylene, who flourisheX)hile. This trutli ihc sage of Sparta told, Aristodemuri old, — "Wtallli tn;ikistlie man." On liim that's poor Proud wiirlh looks dowTi, and hi'Ui'Ur shuts the door. Petronius Arbiter, in his " Satyricon," (Ed. Amstel. 1669, 304) lia.s » couplet on faithless friends, which is thus excellently rendered by Burton, in hia " Anatomy of Melancholy " : 198 MODERN EPIGKAMMATISTS. Whilst Fortune favour'd, friends, ye smil'd on me, But when she fled, a friend I could not see. SAD MEN'S LIVES ARE LONGER THAN KERRY MEN'S (Book I. Quod. 45). To him whose heavy grief hath no allay Of light'niiig comfort, three hours is a day : But unto him that hath his heart's content, Friday is come, ere he thinks Tuesday spent. If Hayman were acquainted with the epigrams of the Greeks, he perhaps had in mind one by Lucian (Jacobs IH. 27, xxix.), thus trans- lated by Jlerivale : In pleasure's bowers whole lives unheeded fly. But to the wretch one night's eternity. NEWFOUNDLAND POETICAL PICTURE OF TEE AD- MIRABLE YOUNG GENTLEWOMAN, MISTRESS ANNE LOWE, MY DELICATE MISTRESS. THE PREFACE TO HER PICTURE (Book III. Quod. 83). At sight. Love drew your picture on my heart, In Newfoundland I limn'd it by my art, 8o, Hughes, in " The Picture," says of Love : Smiling then he took his dart, And drew her picture in my heart. EDWAED, LOED HEEBEET OF CHERBUEY. This nobleman, who signalised himself as a soldier, an ambassador, and an historian, was born in 1581. He was the author of a remark- able work, " De Veritate," in which he endeavoui-ed to form Deism into R system ; but his inconsistencies were as singular as, in that day, were hfs views. He died in 1648, having written the following very charac- teristic epitaph for his tomb, which, however, was not engraved on l: (Ellis' " Specimens of the Early English Poets," 1803, lU. 46; : The monument which thou beholdest here Presents Edward Lord Herbert to thy sight ; A man who was so free from either hope or fear, To have or lose this ordinary light, HENEY PARROT. 199 That, when to elements his body turned were, He knew that as those elements woiild fight, So his immortal soul should find above, With his Creator, peace, joy, truth, and love. This epitaph is consonant with Lord Herbert's general inconsistency, one marked instance of which may be adduced. Being doubtful whether he should publish his deistical work, " De Veritate," he prayed for a sign from heaven of God's will, upon which, he says, ''a loud, though yet gentle, noise came forth from the heavens, for it was like nothing on earth, which did so cheer and comfort me, that I took my petition as granted, and that I had the sign I demanded ; whereupon also I resolved to print my book." Thus he who argued against the revelation of God's will to millions, had the vanity to believe that it was revealed to himself, and the folly to suppose that an individual revelation was granted, in order that the doctrine of a general revela- tion miglit be condemned. HENRY PAEEOT. Nothing is known of this author. In 1613 he published in London " Laquei llidiculosi : or Springes for Woodcocks." Warton, in his " History of English Poetry," says of the epigrams in this volume, " Many of them are worthy to be revived in modern collections." The praise is well deserved, but the wit of a large number is couched in language too gross for modern refinement. The title "Springes for Woodcocks " is from a proverbial expression of the day. Shakespeare uses it in "Hamlet" (Act I. sc. 3); Polomus saying to Ophelia when she told him of Hamlets vows of love : Ay, springes to catch woodcocks. I do know, When the blood burns, how prodigal the soul Lends the tongue vows. QUO MA JOB, I'EJOR (Book I. 5). Lajtus, that late a great divine did meet, ^\'ould, jesting, needs presume his health to gi'eet, Wlio (not oU'ended) told him he was well . Lord, then, quoth Lajtus, see what lies men tell, J^ast day I was abroad, where I did hear Your worship hath been speechless all this year. The divine might have answorfrittany : Or if you list to struggle for the bays, We'll fight with Beaumont's and with Fletcher's plays. Equally extravagant is the boast of an epigram, " Written in Pope's Works," found in " A Collection of Miscellany Poems, never beforo Vublishcd," 1737, 17: Greece justly boasts her Homer's mighty name, And Kome resounds majestic Virgil's fame ; France shows her lioileau, we witJj all can cope. For Homer, Virgil, Boileau, we have Popo. 250 MODERN EPIGEAMMATISTS, TO MY FRIEND LUCIUS VABEUS (Book IIL 10). How can I choose but like Mount Etna gloM', Though I Carussa make my drink each day, Or feed on frigid lettuce, and lay low Upon the humble earth, Love to allay? Her skin for whiteness passeth Atlas snow, Her cheeks the roses that in Jury grow : Her crisped locks do out-shine Lybian gold, Her teeth the pearls in stately Ormus sold ; Her lips as cherries, breath as incense flow. Her eyes as to pure crystal heavens show ; Her tongue, like Lydian music, doth delight. Then how can I (friend Varrus) want her sight ? Her presence can alone preserve my breath. Her loss to me is famine, war, and death. This catalogue of a lady's beauties may have been suggested to Sheppard by one of Spenser's sonnets (LXIV.) : Her lips did smell lyke unto gilly flowers ; Her ruddy cheekes, lyke unto roses red ; Her snowy browes, lyke budded bellamoures ; Her lovely eyes, lyke pineks but newly spred ; Her goodly bosome, lyke a strawberry bed ; Her neck, lyke to a bounch of cullambjTies ; Hel' breast, lyke lillyes ere their leaves be shed. SIE JOHN DENHAM. Born 1615. Died 1668. COWLEY AND KILLIGREW. The witty Thomas Killigrew, page of honour to Charles I., and groom of the bedchamber to Charles II., apijeared to little advantage in his writings, whilst his conversation was unusually brilliant. Cowley, the poet, on the other hand, shone but very moderately in company, though he excelled so much with his pen. Denham, who knew them both, thus characterizes in a distich the merit and defect of each (Chalmers' " Biog. Diet." under Thomas KUligrew) : Had Cowley ne'er spoke, Killigrew ne'er writ, Combin'd in one, they'd made a matchless wit. 251 EICHAED CEASHAW, Bern about 1616, was a Fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge. He was driven from the University by the Parliamentary forces, and retired to France, where he joined the Chiirch of Eome. The poet Cowley in- troduced him to the patronage of the Queen of Charles I., who gave him letters of recommendation to Italy. Ur. John Bnrgrave, Canon of Canterbury, saw him in Eome, as an attendant on Cardinal Palotto; and states in a MS., entitled "Pope Alexander the Seventh, and the College of Cardinals," lately edited for the Camden Society by Canon Eobertson, that Crashaw had oflended Palotto's retinue ; upon which the Cardinal " to secure his life was fain to put him from his service, and procuring him some small imploy at the Lady's of l.oretto ; whither he went in pilgrimage in summer time, and, overheating himself, died in four weeks after he came thither, and it was doubtful whether he were not poisoned." The biogiaphers of Crashaw give no hint that his death in 16,50 was by foul means, but from this account it is evident that such was the impression in Eome at the time. TO F0NTIU8 PILA TE, WASHING HIS HANDS. Thy hands are wash'd, but oh, the water's spilt, That labour'd to have wa.sh'd thy guilt : The flood, if any can that can suffice, Must have its foimtain in thine eyes. In Elsum's "Epigrams on Paintings," 1700, is one on a picture by Andrsea Sacchi, of Pilate washing his hands, translated from Michael Silos, " De Eomana Pictura et Sculpturu " (Ep. 17) : O cursed Pilate ! Villain dyed in grain, A little water cannot purge thy stain ; No, Tanais can't do 't, nor yet the main. Dost thou condemn a Deity to death, Him whose mere love gave and preserv'd thy breath ? ON THE BLESSED VIRGINS BASHFULNESS. Tliat on her lap she casts her hninble eye, 'Tis the sweet pride of her humility. The fair star is well fix'd, for where, O where Could she have fix'd it on a fairer sphere? 'Tis Heaven, 'tis Heaven she sees, Heavcm's God there lie« She can see Heaven, and ne'er lift up her eyes : This new Guest to her eyes new laws hath given, 'Twas once looh up, 'tis now look down to Heaven. 252 MODERN EPIGKAMMATISTP. Some lines, " To the Blessed Virgin at her Purification," by the old epigrammatist Bancroft, are almost as beautiful in sentiment as tliis exquisite piece (Book II. 86) : Why, favourite of Heaven, most fair, Dost thou bring fowls for sacrifice ? Will not the armful thou dost bear, That lovely Lamb of thine, suffice ? THE WATER TURNED TO WINE. Translated from the Latin hy Aaron Hill. When Christ, at Cana's feast, by pow'r divine, Inspir'd cold water with the warmth of wine, See ! cried they, while, in red'ning tide, it gu.sh'd, The bashful stream hath seen its God, and blush'd. This is a masterly translation of Crashaw's celebrated and beautiful epigram. It may be satisfactory to some to see the Latin (Crashaw's " Poemata et Epigrammata," 1670, p. 29) : Unde rubor vestris, et non sua purpura, lymphis ? Quae rosa mirantes tam nova mutat aquas ? Nuraen (couvivse) prsesens agnoscite Numen : Nympha pudica Deum vidit, et eruhuit. Crashaw has an English epigram on the same subject, " To Our Lord upon the Water made Wine " : Thou water turn'st to wine (fair Friend of life) Thy foe, to cross the sweet arts of thy reign, Distils from thence the tears of wrath and strife, And so turns wine to water back again. EPITAPH ON A HUSBAND AND WIFE, WHO DIED AND WERE BURIED TOGETHER. To these, whom Death again did wed, This grave's the second marriage-bed. For though the hand of Fate could force 'Tvvixt soul and body a divorce, It could not sever man and wife, Because they both liv'd but one life. Peace, good reader, do not weep ! Peace ! the lovers are asleep. EICHAED CRASHAW. 258 They, sweet turtles, folded lie In the last knot that Love could tie. And though they lie as they wore dead, Their pillow stone, their sheets of lead : Pillow hard, and sheets not warm, Love made the bed, they'll take no harm. Let them sleep, let them sleep on, 'Till this stoimy night be gone, And th' eternal morrow dawn ; Then the curtains will be drawn, And they waken with that light Whose day shall never sleep in night. The line, " And though they lie as they were dead," with the three following, are placed by Mr. Ellis in his " Specimens of the Early English Poets " between brackets, with a note stating that they " are in no printed edition," but "were found in a MS. copy, and are perhaps not Crashaw's" (Ellis, ed. 1803. III. 228). Mr. Ellis is mistaken. The lines are in the edition of Crashaw's poems, published in 1648, in the lifetime of the author. They are not in the edition of 164G, nor in that of 1670. After reading this beautiful epitaph, all others on the same subject must sutler by comparison. Yet there is much to be admired in the following by Bishop Hall, on Sir Edward and Lady Lewkenor. It is translated from the Latin bv the Bishop's descendant and editor, the Rev. Peter Hall (Bp. HaU's Works, 1837-9, XII. 331): In bonds of love united, man and wife, Long, yet too short, they spent a happy life : United still, too soon, however late. Both man and wife receiv'd the stroke of fate : And now, in glory clad, enraptur'd pair. The same bright cup, the same sweet draught tlicy share. Thus, first and last, a married couple see, In life, in death, in immortality ! There is much beauty also in an anonymous epitaph in the " Festoon," 143, "On a Man and his Wife" : Here sleep, whom neither life, nor love, Nor friendship's strictest tie. Could ill such close embrace as thou, Thou faithful grave, ally. — Preserve them, each dissolv'd in each, For bands of love divine; : For union only more complete, Thou faithful grave, than thine. 264 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. ABRAHAM COWLEY. Bom 1618. Died 1667. PBOMETHEUS ILL-PAINTED. How wi-etched does Prometheus' state appear, Whilst he his second lui^eiy suffers here ! Draw him no more ; lest, as he tortur'd stands, He blame great Jove's less than the painter's hands. It would the vulture's cruelty outgo, If ouce again his liver thus should grow. Pity him, Jove ! and his bold theft allow ; The flames he once stole from thee grant him now ! The original of this may be a Greek epigram by Glaucus, on a picture of Philoctetes, drawn by Parrhasius, though upon the point o^: the painter's merits the epigrams -widely differ (Jacobs III. 57, v.). The translation is in the " Festoon " : Drawn by Parrhasius, as in person view'd, Sad Philoctetes feels his pains renew'd. In his parch'd eyes the deep sunk tears express His endless misery, his dire distress. We blame the«, painter ! though thy skill commend ; 'Twas time his suflerings with himself should end ! UPON THE CHAIR MADE OUT OF SIR FRANCIS DRAKE'S SHIP ; Which was presented to the University Library of Oxford by John Davis, Esq. To this gi-eat ship, which round the globe has run, And match'd in race the chfirio' of the sun, This Pythagorean ship (for it may claim Without presumption so deserv'd a name, By knowledge once, and transformation now) In her new shape, this sacred port allow. Drake and his ship could not have wish'd from Fate A more blest station, or more blest estate ; For lo ! a seat of endless rest is given To her in Oxford, and to hi in in Heaven. Cowley has also an ode upon this chair, in which the following distich occm-8 : ABRAHAM COWLEY. 265 Let not the Pope's itself witli this compare, This is the only universal chair. Cowley, who was well acquainted with Martial, may have remem- bered aii epigram by him "On a Fragment of the Argo*' (Book VII. 19), thus translated by Elphinston : The bit of wood, you so disdain, Was the first keel that plough'd the main. Her not conflicting rocks could crash ; She mock'd the hyperborean lash. Kegardless thus of ev'ry rage, She yielded to all-conqu'ring age; And the small remnant of a slip, Became more sacred than the ship. In Camden's "Britannia" (Devonshire), a Latin epigram is pre- served on Drake's return, after his celebrated voyage round the world. The translation is taken from " Selections from the French Anas," 1797: Where'er old Ocean's boundless waters roll, Have borne, great Drake, thy bark from pole to pole. Should envious mortals o'er thy labours sleep, The stars, which led thee through the vent'rous deep, Shall tell thy praises ; and thy well-earn'd fame, The sun, thy fellow-traveller, proclaim. The following was composed "On Sir Francis Drake, drowned,"' taken from " Recreation for Ingenious Head-jjieces : or, A Pleasant Grove for their Wits to Walk in," 1654, Epitaph 182 : Where Drake first found, there last he lost his fame • And for tomb left nothing but his name. His body's buried under some ^reat wave, The sea, that was his glory, irf his grave: Of him no man true epitaph can make. For who can say, Here lies Sir Francis Drake i LOVE INCURABLE. Sol Daplmo sees, and seeing her admires, Which adds new flames to his celestial fires : Had any remedy fur love been known. The god of physic, sure, had cur'd his own. Apollo, the god of physic and other arts, and Sol, the sun, arc gene- rally rc|ireH(!iiti(l as the tame deity. 'Jhis epigram is by tradition a.-cribed to Cowley, and is Bai And am tlie great physician call'd below. ) Alas, that fields and forests can aflford No remedies to heal then- love-sick lord ! To cure the pains of love, no plant avails ; And his own physic the physician fails. Or perhaps Cowley remembered a passage in Spenser, the favciirita poet of his youth (" The Shepheards Calender — December") : But, ah ! unwise and witlesse Colin Cloute, That kydst the hidden kindes of many a weede. Yet kydbt not ene to cure thy sore heart-roote, Whose ranckling wound as yet does rifely bleede. EPITAPH. Underneath this marble stone, Lie two beauties join'd in one. Two, whose loves death conld not sever ; For both liv'd, both died together. Two, whose souls, being too divine For earth, in their own sphere now shine. Who have left their loves to fame, And their earth to earth again. Hughes, in " The Friendship of Phoebe and Asteria," has a passage which may be compared with this : So strict 's the union of the tender pair. What Heaven decrees for one, they both must share. Like meeting rivers, in one stream they fiow, And no divided joys or sorrows know. Not the bright twins, preferr'd in lieaven to shine. Fair Lcda's sons in such a league could join. One soul, as fables tell, by turns supplied That hcivenly pair, by turns they liv'd and died : But these have sworn a matc-hless sympathy, They'll live together, or together die. RICHAED LOVELACE — GEOEGE DK BREBEUF. 257 EICHAED LOVELACE, Born about 1618, was a soldier under Lord Goring. He had a con- siderable estate, but was reduced to poverty by his loyalty. In 1646 he formed a regiment for the sei-vice of the French King, and was wounded at Dunkirk. On his return to England, he lived in penury until Lis death in 1658. His poems under the title of *' Lucasta " were addressed to Lucy Sacheverel, whom he called " Lux casta," and to whom he was engaged to be married ; but, on the report of hi^ death at Dunkirk, she gave her hand to another. TO LUCASTA. EER RESERVED LOOKS. Lucasta, fro^^^^, and let me die, But smile, and see, I live ; The sad indifference of your eye Botli kills and doth reprieve. You hide our fate "wdthin its screen ; We feel our judgment, ere we hear. So in one picture I have seen An angel here, the devil there. The close of the epigram refers to the double-faced pictures, which have been common in both ancient and modern times. Gibbon, referring to Caracalla's anxiety to be thought the equal of Alexander the Great, states : " Herodian had seen very ridiculous pictures, in which a figin-e was drawn, with one side of the face like Alexander, and the other like CaracaUa." (" Decline and FaU," ed. 1846, I. 147, note, chap, vi.) Burton, in the Preface "Democritus to the Reader" to his " Anatomy of Melancholy," says : " They are like these double or turning pictures ; stand before which, you see a fair maid, on the one side an ape, on the other an owl" (ed. 1800, I. 106). In the present day such pictures are often seen, and the contrivance by which they are produced is sometimes very ingenious. GEORGE DE BREBEUF, A French poet, born in 1G18, who gained hU laurels by a translation of Lucan. He publii^hed some epigrams, among wJiich are one hundred on a lady who painted, written for a wager. The follies which Prior perpetrated on this subject, sink into insignificance when compared with those of the P'renciimau. He died in 1661. 8 258 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. ON A FATHER AND SON EQUALLY VICIOUS. Translated from the French by Bland, in " Collections from the Greek Anthologij," 1813. How little grief thy father's ashes claim ! How just was Death to hurry him from hence ! A ceaseless labourer in the work of shame, You thought him born, his Maker to incense. The self-avow'd support of impudence, With Modesty he waged insatiate strife, And lived the eternal foe of Innocence ; Thus having made Sin's empire all his own, Still, fearing to be bad by halves alone, He gave thee life. This is suflSciently severe, but a Greek epigram by Demodocus is. if possible, still more so (Jacobs II. 56, ii.). It is pointed against the Cappadocians, whose name was considered by the ancients synony- mous with infamy and vice. The following paraphrase, taken from " Fables and Epigrams from the German of Leasing," 1825, gives the sting of the original, perhaps more forcibly to modern readers than an exact translation : While Fell was reposing himself on the hay, A reptile conceal'd bit his leg as he lay ; But, all venom himself, of the wound he made light, And got well, while the scorpion died of the bite. Gibbon, in the " Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," ed. 1846, V. 232, note, says of the epigram of Demodocus : " The sting is pre- cisely the same with the French epigram against Frerou : Un serpent mordit Jean Freron — Ehbien? Le serpent en mourut. But, as the Paris wits are seldom read in the Anthology, I should be curious to learn through what channel it was conveyed for their imitation." The last stanza of Goldsmith's " Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog," is very similar : But soon a wonder came to light. That show'd the rogues they lied, The man recover'd of the bite. The dog it was that died. With the latter part of Brebeuf's epigram, the giving birth to a wicked son, may be compared an epitajih by another Frenchman, Nicolas Sells, born at Paris in 1737 ; thus translated by R. A. Daven- port (" Poetical Register " for 1802) : Within this grave a bachelor lies, By follies and by vices only known ! Ah ! when in death his father clos'd his eyes, Why could there not be written on his stone — Within this grave a bachelor lies 1 SIB EDWARD SHERBURNE. 259 This is similar to the thouglit in Suetonius, on Nero's pretended marriage vsith Sporus (Nero Claud. Cap. xxviii.) : Si Domitius pater talem habuiaset uxorem. SHAMEFACEDNESS. Translated from the French by Mericale, in " Collections from the Greek Anthology," 1813. The poets sing, but faith they're wrong, That Modesty which shuns the throng. Is but a rural grace. Sometimes in town she holds resort, Whenever Iris goes to court She hides behind her face. This is one of the epigrams mentioned in the aceoimt of Brcbeuf. That, for a joke, he should have written such rubbish, only shows that he wasted his time. That he should have published it, shows to what a poet will sometimes descend. The last line recalls an amusing Arabian epigram, by Isaac Ben Khalif, translated by Professor Carlyle, " On a Little Man with a Very Large Beard," of which the closing stanza is (" Specimens of Arabian Poetry," 1796, 148): A man lUce thee scarce e'er appear'd — A beard like thine — where shall we find it ? Surely thou cherishcst thy beard In hopes to hide thyself behind it. It was such a man that Bishop Corbet singled out, when at a confir- mation in his cathedral, the crowd pressed upon the altar-rails, and addressed as " You, Sir, behind the beard." SIR EDWAKD SHERBURNE, Born in 1C18, was Clerk of the Ordnance, but was ejected from his office at the commencement of the Kebellion. lie followed the fortunes of the King, and was made Comniissary-(Jeneral of Artillery. From 1(J54 to 10;")!*, he travelled abrrtad as tutor to Sir John Coventry. At the Kestorution, he was re-estaljlishod in his })lace iit tlic ( )nln!inc('. but at the Ilevoliition h<; was removed, as he rcfuHcd to take the oiiths to William and Mary. In his old age he sulfered from poverty, and lived in retirement. His death took place in 1702. 260 MODERN EPIGEAMMATISTS, ICE AND FIBE. Naked Love did to thine eye, Chloris, once, to warm him, fly : But its subtle flame and light Scorch'd his wings, and spoil'd his sight. Forc'd from thence, he went to rest In the soft couch of thy breast : But there met a frost so gi-eat As his torch extinguish'd straight. When poor Cupid thus (constrain'd His cold bed to leave) complain'd, " Alas ! what lodging's here for me, If all ice and fire she be ?" V«'e may compare the latter part of the Earl of EoscommoTi's imiia- tion of the 22nd Ode of the 1st Book of Horace : Set me in the remotest place That Neptune's frozen arms embrace ; "Where angry Jove did never spare One breath of kind and temperate air. Set me where on some pathless plain The swarthy Africans complain, To see the chariot of the sun So near their scorching country run. The burning zone, the frozen isles, Shall hear me sing of Cselia's smiles : All cold but in her breast I will despise. And dare all heat but that in Cselia's eyes. CELIA'S EYES. A DIALOGUE. Loiter. Love ! tell me ; may we Celia's eyes esteem Or eyes or stars ? for stars they seem. Love. Fond, stupid man ! know stars they are, Nor can heaven boast more bright or fair. Lover. Are they or erring lights, or fixed ? say. Love. Fix'd ; yet lead many a heart astray. No comparison is more common among the old English poets, than that of ladies' eyes to stars. One example will suffice. Romeo savs of Juliet (Act II. so 2) : THOMAS JORDAN. 2G1 Her eye in heaven "Would thi-ough the airy region stream so bright, That birds would sing, and think it were not night. It is not usual for ladies to liken their own eyes to stars, but William Browne, in " The Inner Temple Mask," makes the Siren sing to the sailors : Be awhile our guests, For stars, gaze on our eyes. THOMAS JORDAN, An Actor and Dramatist. He was poet to the City of London from 1671 to 168i, at which latter date he is supposed to have died. INGRATITUDE. (Nichols* "Select Collection of Poems," VH. 64, 1781.) Our God and soldier we alike adore, Just at the brink of ruin, nc^t before : The danger past, both are alike requited ; God is forgotten, and the soldier slighted. There is another version of this epigram, which Mr. Budworth, au officer in the army, who had been engaged in the defence of Gibraltar, in 1782-3, told Dr. Hurd, Bishop of Worcester, he had seen chalked upon a sentry-box on Europa Guard (Nichols' " Literary Anecdotes," III. 339) : God and a soldier all people adore In time of war, but not before : And when war is over and all things are righted, God is neglected, and an old soldier is slighted. In the " Foundling Hospital for Wit," No. 6, 87, 1749, there is an epigram on the national forgetfulness of God, which seems to have been occasioned by the rejoicings for the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. It is headed " On seeing the Workmen emjjloyed ujion the preparations for the Fire-works in the Green Park on Sunday last — Dies Solis, nou Sabbati " : Freed from the toils of war, and long distress, Her bliss increasing, tho' her merit less. Ungrateful Britain ! scanre the tempest o'er, But of the hand that still'd it thinks no more. From her once fav'rite Isle Religion's tied. And we again in heathen footsteps tread ; Like the poor Persians, we no more nsjiire. Sunk from the God of Ileav'n to serve the god of Fiie. 262 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. HENEY DELAUNE. Of this writer nothing is known, except that in 1651 he published a volume of moral and religious epigrams, entitled, " XlarpLKov Aapoy, or a Legacy to his Sons; being a Miscellany of Precepts, Theological, Moral, Political, and Economical, digested into seven books of Quadrins." It was rejjrinted in 1657. THOUGHT .iND SPEECH (1st Century, 64). Think all you speak ; but speak not all you think : Thoughts are your own ; your words are so no more. Where Wisdom steers, wind cannot make you sink : Lips never eiT, when she does keep the door. John Hosklns, a lawyer and poet, born in 1566, addressed the following epigram to his little child Benjamin from the Tower, to which he was committed for having made in a speech in Parliament, what Wood calls " a desperate allusion to the Sicilian Vesper " (Sir Henry Wotton's Poems, 1843, 3) : Sweet Benjamin, since thou art young, And hast not yet the use of tongue. Make it thy slave while thou art free. Imprison it lest it do thee. BEGINNING OF SIN (3rd Century, 4). Motions to ill resist in their first grass ; Lest gaining growth, they shoot into the ear : Custom to sin, at length will make you pass That for a bat, which was before a bear. The ground-work of this epigram, and of many similar passages in the poets, is the " Nemo repente fuit turpissimus." of Juvenal, Sat. II. 83 So, Beaumont and Fletcher, in " A King and No King," Act V., have : There is a method in man's wickedness ; It grows up by degrees. The same thought is expressed by Aaron Hill, in the last lines of his tragedy of " Athelwold " : Oh ! Leolyn, be obstinately just ; Indulge no passion and deceive no trust : Let never man be bold enough to say, Thus, and no farther, shall my passion stray . The first crime past, compels us into more, And guilt grows fate, that was but choice before. HENRY DELAUNE. 263 LEABNIXG AND DRESS (3rd Century, 20). Adorn not more j'our body than your brain ; Lest that this emblem in your teeth be flung, That you resemble houses, which remain With empty garrets though the rooms be hung. The idea is similar in Parnell's epigram on the Castle of Dubliu in the year 1715 : This house and inhabitants both well agree, And resemble each other as near as can be ; One half is decay'd, and in want of a proji, The other new-built, but not finish'd at top. DANGER OF DELAYED REPENTANCE (7th Century, 53). Cheat not yourselves as most ; who then piepare For death, when life is almost turn'd to fume. One thief was sav'd, that no man might despair : And but one thief that no man might presume. There is a remarkable epitaph in Camden's " Discourse on Epitaphs " ("Curious Discourses," edited by Hearne, 1771, I. 345), on a man who •lelayed repentance not only to the last hour, but the last moment, of his life: "A gentleman falling oft' his horse broke his neck, which sudden hap gave occasion to much speech of his former life, and some in this judging world judged the worst; in which respect a good friend made tl'iis good epitaph, remembering that of S. Augustine, misericordia Domini inter pontent etfontem" • My friend judge not me, Thou seest I judge not thee : Betwixt the slirrup and the ground, Mercy I ask'd, mercy I found. INSTABILITY OF EARTHLY POSSESSIONS (7th Century, C2). Wealth, honour, friends, wife, children, kindied, all. We so mTich dote on, and wlierein we trust : Are with'nng gourds ; blossoms that fade and fall ; Landscapes in water ; and deeds drawn in dust. A similar sentiment is exprcBsed in the following lines by an old 264 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. English poet (quoted in Bland's " Collections from the Greek An- thology," 1813): Your fond preferments are but children's toys, And as a shadow all your pleasures pass : As years increase, so waning are your joys ; Your bliss is brittle like a broken glass. Death is the salve that cease th all annoy ; Death is the port by which we sail to joy. The last line is almost word for word the same as one in an " Elegy Tvrote in the Tower, by John Harynton, confined with the Prmcess Elizabeth, 155-1 " (" Nugaj Antiquaj," 1804, n. 333) : Death is a porte whereby we pass to joye. JOHN ELIOT. Of this author no particulars can be discovered. He published " Poems or Epigrams, Satyrs, Elegies, Songs and Sonnets upon several Persons and Occasions, London, 1G5S." His name is not on the title- page. The authority for the statement that he is the author is the British Musexmi Catalogue. UPON A FELLOW THAT FEARED HE SHOULD RUN MAD FOR HIS MISTRESS (P. 17). Ealph is love si(rli, and thinks lie shall run mad, And lose his wits, a thing Ralph never had. Take comfort, man, if that be all thou fearest, A groat will pay the loss when wit's at dearest. On a witless person, the following, by Thomas Jordan, is fairly good of its kind (Nichols' " Collection of Poems," VU. 64, 1781) : Eant is, they say, indicted for a wit, To which he pleads — " not guilty," — and is quit. ENGRAVED ON A SILVER SCREEN, PRESENTED BY A GREAT LADY TO THE EARL OF PORTLAND, LORD TREASURER (P. 32). Your virtues, like this silver screen, Are known to interpuse between The flaming eyes of envious fools 'Till your clear flame their fire cools THOMAS TECKE. 265 Sit then securely, take yonr rest, And with this motto dare their test ; Detraction's sparks no more dare fly, But like these coals shall waste and die. The virtues of great men are always subject to the detractions of " envious fools." No man suffered from this more than Wellington, and no man, notwithstanding, was able to sit more securely or to take his rest more calmly. The eloquent language of the late Lord Brougham at a banquet given to the Duke at Dover in 1839, is a fitting illustra- tion of Eliot's epigram (Alison's Essays — Wellington ) : "Despising all who thwarted him with ill-considered advice ; neglecting all hostility, so he knew it to be groundless ; laughing to scorn reviling enemies, jealous competitors, lukewarm friends, ay, hardest of all, to neglect despising even a fickle public, he cast his eyes forward as a man might — else he deserved not to cummand men— cast forward his eye to observe when that momentary fickleness of the people would pass away, knowing that, in the end, the people are ever just to merit." THOMAS PECKE. Of this author nothing is known beyond the facts that he was of Spixford, in Norfolk, and a member of the Inner Temple ; and that in 1659 he published " Parnassi Puerperium," consisting of translations from Martial, Owen, and Sir Thomas More ; and a century of heroic epigrams. TO TBE RIGHT HON. THE LORD CHIEF JUSTICE GLYN (Ep. 2). One of your predecessors pleas'd to tell Posterity that the law is a well. Men are the thirst}' buckets M'hich receive More or less water, as reason gives leave : There's an eternal spring, or else no doubt, You had long since drawn all the water out. The law is a well which suitors generally find very deep. Tlie unfortunate clit^nt in Martial's epigram (liook VI. 19), thought liis counsel took a long time to get the bucket to the top. The following translation, by Hay, gives to modern ears the force of the original perhaps better than a more exact rendering : My cause concerns nor battery, nor treason ; I sue iijy mighljoiir for tliis oidy rciisou, Tliat late tliree sheep of mine to pound he drove; This is the point the court would have you jirove; 266 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. Conceming Magna Charta you run on, And all the perjuries of old King John ; Then of the Edwards and Black Prince you rant, And talk of John o' Stiles, and John o' Gaunt ; With voice and hand a mighty pother keep : — Now, pray, dear sir, one word about the sheep. TO SIR EDMUND PRIDEAUX, ATTORNEY GENEBAL (Ep.5). If law, if rlietoric, my muse avow, In you enthron'd, I sing what all men know : Of your great virtue most are ignorant, How charitable unto those that want ! You have found out the untrack'd path to bliss, — To sue for Heaven, in formd pauperis. If the subject were not a serious one, the witty conceit of the point might be said to be very amusing. In the " Church-Porch " of George Herbert, are two lines which may be compared with Pecke's subject : Let thy alms go before, and keep heaven's gate Open for thee ; or both may come too late. CHAELES COTTON, Born at Beresford, in Staffordshire, in 1630, was a voluminous writer ; he translated much from the Latin and French, and published some original poems. He was an intimate friend of Isaac Walton, and wrote instructions on angling. He died in 1G87. TO SOME GREAT ONES. Poets are great men's trumpets, poets feign, Create them virtues, but dare hint no stain : This makes the fiction constant, and doth show You make the poets, not the poets you. In " Directions for Making a Birth-day Song," Swift is satirical on Court poets : — You some white-lead ink must get, And write on paper black as jet ; Your interest lies to learn the knack Of whitening what before was black. Thus youi- encomium to be strong. Must be applied directly wrong. JOHN DBTDEN. 267 A tyrant for his mercy praise, And crown a royal dunc« with bays. If * *. * :^ it!^ * * For princes love you should descant On virtues which they know they want. P(ipo, in the "Dunciad,'" shows the position of poets with respect tt their patrons (Book II. 191): But now for authors nobler palms remain ; Room for my lord ! three jockies in his train ; Six huntsmen with a shout precede his chair : He grins, and looks broad nonsense with a stare. His honour's meaning Dulness thus exprest, " He wins this patron who can tickle best." JOHN DKYDEN. Bom 1631. Died 1701. MILTON COMPARED WITH HOMER AND VIRGIL; Under a Picture of Milton in the ith Edition of " Paradise Lost." Three Poets, in three distant ages born, Greece, Italy, and England d7d adorn. The first, in loftiness of thought surpass'd The next, in majesty ; in both the last. The force of nature could no fuither go ; To make a third, she join'd the former two. The original of these fine lines was probably a Latin distich writt'.-u by i^elvaggi at Kome (Amos' " Gems of Latin Poetry," 101), which haa been thus translated : Greece boasts her Homer, Eorne her Virgil's name, But England's Milton vies with both in fame. Cowper's lines on Milton may be compared with Dryden'e : Ages elapsed ere Homer's lamp appear'd, And ages ere the Mautuan Swan was heard To carry Nature lengths unknown before, To give a Milton birth, ask'd ages more. Thus (JeniuH rose and set at order'd times, And shot a day-spring into distant climea, Ennobling every region that he chose ; He sunk in Greece, in Italy he rose; 268 MODERN KPIGKAMMATIST8. And, tedious years of gothic darkness pass'd, Emerged all splendour in our isle at last. Thus lovely hidcyons dive into the main. Then show far off their shining pliunes again. In Bishop Gibson's edition of Camden's " Britannia," there is a very free translation of some old monkish verses on S. Oswald by Basil Kennet, brother of Bishop White Kennet. The last line, to which there is nothing corresponding in the Latin, seems to have been copied from the last line of Dryden's epigram (Camden's " Britannia," 1695, 853, Northumberland) : Cffsar and Hercules applaud thy fame, j And Alexander owns thy greater name, > Tho' one himself, one foes, and one the world o'ercarae : ) Great conquests all ! but bounteous Heav'n in thee, To make a greater, join'd the former three. ON JACOB TONSON. With leering look, bull-fac'd, and freckled fair, With two left legs, with Judas-colour'd hair, And frouzj pores that taint the ambient air. These most unpleasant lines are only interesting from their effect. Tonson, the bookseller, having refused to advance Dryden a sum of money for a work on which he was employed, the poet sent them to him with a message : " Tell the dog, that he who wrote them can write more.'' The money was paid. The triplet by some means got abroad in manuscript, and after Dryden's death was inserted in " Fnction Dis- played," a satirical poem against the Whigs (supposed to have been written by WiUiam Shippen, the great leader ot the Tories in the reigns of George I. and II.), among whom Tonson was a marked character, being the secretary of the Kit-Cat Club, which was entirely composed of the most distinguished members of that party. (See Nichols' " Lite- rary Anecdotes," I. 293.) The description of Tonson " with two left legs " arose from an awk- wardness in his gait. Pope applies a similar epithet to him in the " Dunciad " (Book II. 67) : With arms expanded, Bernard rows his state, And left-legg'd Jacob seems to emulate. '^oo Tonson was very anxioiis that Dryden should dedicate his Virgil to King William, and anticipated such a compliment by giving .^neas a hooked nose, William's marked feature, in all the plates, which pro- duced the following epigram (" Gentleman's Magazine," XCl. Part II. o33): I THOMAS BROWN. 269 Old Jacob by deep judgment swayed. To please the wise brbokkrs, Has placed old Nassau's hook-nosed head On poor J2ueas' shoulders. To make the jiarallel hold tack, Methinks there's little lacking ; — One took his father pick-a-back, And t'other sent his packing. Dryden's message to Tonson recalls a different alternative proposed by Lord Byron to the late INIr, Jlurray on a similar occasion, preserveil in Moore's" Life of Byron " : For Orford and for Waklegrave, You give much more than me you gave, Whicii is not fairly to behave, jMy Murray. * * * * * * * ♦ But now this sheet is nearly cramm'd, So, if you will, I shan't be flamm'd, And, if you won't, you may be d d, My Murray. The allusion is to Walpole's Memoirs of the Reign of George IL, and the Memoirs of Earl Waldegrave, Governor of George III., when Prince of Wales. THOMAS BEOWN, " Of facetious memory," was the son of a large farmer at Shiffnal, in Shropshire. His irregularities obliged him to leave Christ Church, Oxford, and, alter being for a short time a schoolmaster at Kingston- on-Thames, he went to London, and made literature his profession. His writings display some learning and exuberant humour ; but " he seems," says Dr. Johnson in his " Life of Dryden," " to have thought it the pinnacde of excellence to be a merry felloio ; and therefore laid out his powers upon small jests or gross buli'oouery ; so that his pcrforuianceb have little intrinsic value." His epigrams i);irt;dome peculiar views which he broached on the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, in which the unity of the Godhead appeared to be to some extent explained away. Before the Revolution, Dr. Slierlock had been a zealous advocate for the divine right of kings by consecration, and only, therefore, by changing his views could he take the oaths to William and Mary. His sou, Master of tlie Temple and afterward.s Bishop of London, in like manner, long hesitated respecting certain doctrinal tenets, but was con- verted to the winning side when James II.'s cause became hopeless, and he even preaclu d a revolutionary sermon on the very Sunday following the fatal battle in Lancashire. The following epigram was probably by a Bencher of the Temple, where it was remarked that it was unfor- tunate the sermon had not been preached at least the Sunday before (Noble's " Continuation of Granger," 1806, I. 91) : BICHABD PAKSONS, VISCOUNT KOSSE FRANCIS KEGNIER. 271 As Sherlock the elder with his jure divine, Did not comply 'till the buttle of Boyne ; So Sherlock the younger still n)ade it a question. Which side he would take, 'till the battle of Preston. The following anonjonous epigram was probably made on the elder Sherlock, but it may serve for either father or son (" Collection of Epigrams," 1735, II. Ep. 114): As Sherlock at Temple was taking a boat, The waterman ask'd him which way he would float ; Which way, says the Doctor, why, fool, with the stream. To Paul's, or to Lambeth, — 'twas all one to him. EICHARD PAKSONS, VISCOUNT ROSSE. Died 1702. TO LORD MONTAGU. When Elizabeth, Duchess of Albemarle, lost her husband Christoplier, second duke, she declared she would never take another of lower rank than a sovereign prince. As she possessed immense estates, Ralph, Lord Montagu, afterwards Duke of Montagu, paid his addresses to her as the Emperor of China, and married her in 1691. This strange courtship and marriage formed the subject of the well-known comedy of " The Double Gallant," by Colley Gibber ; and it also occasioned the following epigram by Lord Rosse, who had been Montagu's rival (Granger's " Biog. Hist.," 1779, IV. 158. See also Noble's " Continua- tion," 1806, II. 37) : Insulting rival ! never boast Thy conquest lately won ; No wonder that her heart was lost, Her senses first were gone. From one who's under Bedlam's laws \Vhat conquest can be had ? For, love of thee was not the cause, It proves that she was mad. The duchess long survived her second husband, and gave evidence oi a disordered mind by being always served on the knee as a sovereign. FRANCIS REGNTER, A French writer, born in Paris in 1632. He was secretary of the .\cademy, jmd a dignitary of the Church. lie died in 1713. 272 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. THE PETITION OF THE VIOLET. Translated from the French in Disraeli's " Curiosities of Liieratwre." Modest my colour, modest is my place, Pleased in the grass my lowly form to hide ; But mid your tresses might 1 wind with grace. The humblest flower would feel the loftiest pride. These lines were written for the Due de Montausier, and inserted in a MS. volume, containing flowers painted in miniature, with verses appropriate to each, which he sent as a New-year's gift to the beautiful Julia d'Angennes, whom he afterwards married. Disraeli tells us (" Curiosities of Literature," 1st Series, Art. " Garland of Julia"), that at the sale of the library of the Due de la Yalliere, this volume fetched the extraordinary sum of 14,510 livres. It is very likely that Jolm Cunningham was acquainted with this epigram, either in the original or a translation, so similar are his lines entitled " The Violet." The following are the first and the last stanzas : Shelter'd from the blight ambition, Fatal to the pride of rank, See me in my lew condition Laughing on the tufted bank. Modest though the maids declare me. May in her fantastic train. When Pastora deigns to wear me, Ha'n't a flow'ret half so vain. NICHOLAS DESPKEAUX BOILEAU, Was born in 1(53(3. He was intended for the Bar, but was thought such a dunce that he woidd not succeed. He then applied himself to scholastic divinity, which he abhorred ; and, at length, realised his earnest wish of becoming a poet. He died in 1711. The following translations are taken from " The Works of Monsieur Boileau. Made English by Several Hands," 1712. UPON A PALTRY SATIRE WHICH THE ABBE COTIN HANDED ABOUT UNDER BOILEAU '8 NAME (Ep. 5). Of all the pens which my poor rhymes molest, Cotin's is sharpest, and succeeds the best. Others outrageous scold and rail downright. With hearty rancour, and true Christian spite. NICHOLAS DESPREAUX BOILKATT. 273 But he, a readier method does design. Writes scoundrel verses, and then says they're mine. Had Horace and Milton been alive, they might perhaps have made a complaint of similar character against Bentley. It has been made for them by Mallet in his " Verbal Criticism " : While Bentley, long to -wrangling schools confin'd, And, but by books, acquainted with mankind, * * * * To Milton lending sense, to Horace wit, He makes them write what never poet writ. » TO MONSIEVB PERRAULT, ON HIS BOOKS AGAINST THE ANCIENTS (Ep. 23). How comes it, Perrault, I would gladly know- That authors of two thousand years ago, Whom in their native dress all times revere, In your translations should so flat appear ? 'Tis you divest them of their own sublime, By your vile crudities, and humble ihj'me. They're thine, when sufi'ering thy wretched phrase, And then no wonder, if they meet no praise. With this may be compared the " Verses sent to Dean Swift on iiis hirtliday, with Pine's Horace iinely bound," by Ur. J. Siean (in Swilt'^i Works), in which the following lines occur, Horace speaking : Attack'd by slow-devouring moths, iJy rage of barbarous Huns and GJoths ; By Bentley's notes, my deadliest foes, By Creech's rhymes and Dunster's prose ; I found my boa.'ited wit and fire In their rude hands almost cxphe. There i:* an anonymous epigram in " The London Medley," on Perrauit'.- " Parallel between the Ancients and Moderns," which may be inserted here : Perrault, the Frenchman, needs would prove The Ancieiit.s knew not bow ti> love ; Yet spite of all tiiat he lias said, 'Tis sure they wfK)'d, tliey won and wed. The case beyond disjiute is clear ; Or else how came the Moderns hero. T 271: MODERN BPIGRAMMATISTS. The following very complimentary distich, " On the celebrated dispute between the Ancients and Modems," is by Mrs. Barber (" Poems on Several Occasiuns," 1735, 170) : Swift for the Ancients has argu'd so well, "lis apparent, from thence, that the Moderns excel. The celebrated Boyle and Bentley controversy on the Epistles of Phalaris, originated in Sir W. Temple's essay on the comparative excellence of ancient and modern writers, in which he gives the pre- ference to the former. VEESES TO BE PUT UNDER THE PICTURE OF MONSIEUR BE LA BRUYERE, BEFORE HIS BOOK ENTITLED " THE MANNERS OF THE AGE " (Poesies Diverses). The Author speaks. Let the self-lover these strict lessons learn, And here himself, within himself discern ; My hook, which scorns his vanity to hide, Will cure his passion, and correct his pride. Dr. Gloster Eidley severely condemns love of self, in the moral to one of his fables (Nichols' " Collection of Poems," VIII. 132, 1782) : Self spoils the sense of all mankind, And casts a mist before the mind ; Whate'er's th' intrinsic of the coin, Youis always will be worse than mine. Each grovelling despicable elf Damns all the world besides, and deifies himself. JOHN WILMOT, EAEL OF EOCHESTER. Born 1647. Died 1680. ON A PARISH CLERK WITH A BAD VOICE. Sternhold and Hopkins had great qnalms, When they translated David's Psalms, To make the heart full glad : But had it been poor David's fate To hear thee sing and them translate, By Jove, 'twould have drove him mad. NAHXJM TATE. 275 Lord Rochester's residence was at Adderbury in Oxfordshire. TJie epigram is said to have been made on the clerk, or sexton, of Bodicot, a chapelry attached to Adderbury ('• Notes raid Queries," 2nd 8. IV. 441). The witty Tom Brown, who w:is contemporary with Lord Rochester, has the following lines in a long piece " On Sternhold and Hopkins and the New Version of David's Psalms" (Brown's Works, 1760, IV. 63} : Poor Psalmist ! he frets, and he storms, and he stares, Bemoans his composures, and renounces his pray'rs ; Blushes more at the dress which his penitence hath on, Than when told of liis faults by the prophet old Nathan. NAHUM TATE, Was born in Dublin in 1652. He succeeded Shadwell as poet laureate. He wrote a considerable portion of the " Second Part of Absalom and Achitophel," and several dramas, but he is chiefly known as tlio author, in conjunction with Dr. Brady, of the " New Version of the Psalms in Metre." He died in 1715. ON THE SPECTATOR ("Spectator," No. 4S8). When first the Tatler to a mute was tnrn'd. Great Britain for her censor's silence monrn'd ; Eobbed of his sprightly beams she wept the night, Till the Spectator rose, and blaz'd as bright. So the first, man the sun's first setting viev/'d, And sigh'd lill circling day his joys reneAv'd, Yet, doubtful how that second sun to name, Whether a bright successor or the same. So we : but now from this suspense are freed, Since all agree, who both with judgment read, 'Tis the same sun, and does himself succeed. The thought is taken from Horace (Carm. SiEC. 9) : Fair sun, who with unchanging beam, Ri.-iing anotlutr and tlie sanie, Do.4t from thy bcuiny car unfold The glorious day, Or hiJo it in thj setting ray. 276 MODERN EPIGKAM3IATISTS. DE. ARCHIBALD PJTCAIRNE, An eminent Scotch physician, was born in 1652. He published several medical treatises, and employed his leisure in writing Latin verses of considerable merit. He died in 1713. UPON TEE DEATH OF THE EARL OF DUNDEE. Translated from the Latin by Rev. John Graham. Tliy death, Dundee ! has criish'd thy country's cause, New 's her religion now, and new her laws ; As thou disdain'd her ruin to survive, Without thee now, in turn, she scorns to live. Farewell, then, Caledonia ! empty name ! Adieu, thou last of Scots, and last bold Graeme ! A beautiful paraphrase of the Latin by Dryden may be found in his works. Aytoun, in " The Burial-march of Dundee," calls his hero : Last of Scots, and last of freemen — Last of all that dauntless race Who would rather die unsullied Than outlive the land's disgrace ! And in the introduction to the poem, he says : " It would be difficult to point out another instance in which the maintenance of a great cause depended solely upon the life of a single man. Whilst Dundee survived, Scotland at least was not lost to the Stuarts But with his fall the enterprise was over." ANNE KILLIGREW, Daiighter of Henry Killigrew, Master of the Savoy and a Prebendary of Westminster, was born a short time before the Restoration. Sho was Maid of Honour to the Duchess of York. Her death took place at the age of twenty-live years. EXTEMPORE COUNSEL TO A YOUNG GALLANT IN A FROLIC. (" Poems by Eminent Ladies," 1755, H. 14.) As you are young, if you'll be also wise, Danger with honour court, but broils despise ; CHARLES MONTAGUE, EARL OF HALIFAX. 277 Believe you then are truly brave and bold, To beauty when no slave, and less to gold ; When virtue you dare own, nor think it odd, Or ungenteel to say, " I fear a God." The point of the following epigram by Graves is similar, the reasoE given by an officer for avoiding u duel (" Euphrosyne," 17S3, I. 303 1 : " What ! you re afraid, then ?" " Yes, I am ; you're right : I am afmid to sin, but not to fight. My country claims my service ; but no law Bids me in folly's cuse my sword to draw. I fear not man nor devil ; but tho' odd, I'm not asham'd to own, I fear my God." CHARLES MONTAGUE, EARL OF HALIFAX. Born 16G1. Died 171.5. VERSES WRITTEN FOB THE TOASTING-GLASSES OF THE KIT-CAT CLDB, 1703. DUCHESS OF S. ALBANS. The line of Vere, so long renown'd in arms, Concludes with lustre in S. Albans' charms. Her conquering eyes have made their race complete : They rose in valour, and in beauty set. Charles Beauclerk. first Duke of S. Albans, married Diana de Vei eldest daughter and co-heiress of Aubrey do Vere, the last Earl <>f Oxford. LADY MAIiY CHUBCHILL. Fairest and latest of the beauteous race. Blest with your parent's wit and her first blooming face ; Burn with our liberties in William's reign. Your eyes alone that liberty restrain. Ltuly Mary ChTirchill was the youngest daughter of the celebrated Duke of Marlborougli. She married the Duke of Muntiigu. 278 MODERN EPIGKAMMATISTS. LADY SUNDERLAND. All Nature's charms in Sundeiiand appear, Bright as her eyes, and as her reason clear : Yet still their force to men not safely known, Seems undiscover'd to herself alone. This was Aune, secnnd daughter of the celebrated Duke of Marl- borough, and second wife of the third Earl r>f Sunderland. The Kit-Cat Club, whose members toasted and commemorated in verse the reigning beauties, was founded about the year 1700, and con- sisted of the most di.4inguished wits and statesmen among the Whigs. The place of meeting was a house in Shire Lane, from the owner of which, Christopher Cat, it is generally believed the club took its name. He was a pastry-cook, who excelled in making mutton pies, which always formed part of the entertainment. It is the opinion of some, however, that the club derived its name from Christopher and the sign of his house, " The Cat and Fiddle ;" hence the allusion in the first stanza of the following epigram, the second stanza of which, in its joking derivation of the title of the club, is far from polite to the ladies who •were toasted : Whence deathless Kit-Cat took its name, Few critics can unriddle ; Some say from pastry-cook it came, And some from cat. and fiddle. From no trim beaux its name it boasts, Grey statesmen, or green wits ; But from this pell-mell pack of toasts Of old cats and young kits. This is found in Swift's Works, but in the " Gentleman's Mngazine," XCI. Part II. 435, it is stated to be from the pen of Dr. Arbuthnot, several of whose pieces are included in Swift's Works. In Noble's "Continuation of Granger," 1806, III. 431, the following lines are given on Cat's mutton pies : Eat mutton once, and you need eat no more, All other meats appear so mean, so poor ; Eat it again, nay oft'ner of it eat. And you will find you need no other meat. This is a parody of some lines by Sheffield, Duke of Buckinghamshire, in his " Essay on Poetry," which Pope said contained the finest praise of Homer which had ever been given to that poet : Read Homer once, and you can read no more, For all books else appear so mean, so poor. Verse will seem prose ; but still persist to read. And Homer will be all the books you need. 279 WILLIAM WALSH. Born 1663. Died 1709. WRITTEN IN A LADY'S TABLE-BOOK. With what strange raptures would my soul be blest. Were but her book an emblem of her breast ! As I from that all former marks efface. And uncontroll'd put new ones in their place ; So might I chace all others from her heart, And my own image in the stead impart. But, ah ! how short the bliss would prove, if he AV'ho seiz'd it next, might do the same by me ! The close of Swift's lines, " Written in a Lady's Ivory Table-Eook 1699," may be compared : "Who that had wit would place it here, For every peeping fop to jeer ; In power of spittle and a clout. Whene'er he please, to blot it out ; And then, to heighten the disgrace. Clap his own nonsense in the |ilace? Whoe'er expects to hold his part In such a book, and such a heart. If he be wealthy, and a fnnl. Is in all points the fittest tool ; Of wlioiu it may be justly said, He's a gold pencil tipp'd with lead. LOVE AND JEALOUSY. How much are they deceiv'd who vainly strive By jealous fears to keep our flames alive ! Love's like a torch, which if secur'd fi'om blasts, Will faintlier burn, but then it longer lasts : I]xpos'd to storms of jealousy and doubt, The blaze grows greater, but 'tis sooner out. Hcrrick took the same view of violent love not being lasting, iu " Love Me Little, Love Me Long": You say, to rae-wards your affection's strong; Pray love mo little, so you love me long. Slowly goes fa ire : The meane is best : Desire Grown violent, do's either die, or tiro. 280 MODERN KPIGRAMMATISTS. THRASO. Thraso picks qua rrels when he's drunk at night ; When sober in the morning dares not fight. Thraso, to shun those ills that may ensue, Drink not at night, or drink at morning too. Martial recommends a morning dram to those who drink at nighl (Book XII. 12) ; thus translated by Hay : In midnight cups you grant all we propose : Next morn neglect : pray, take a morning dose. Among the epigrams of Thomas Bancroft, 1639, there is a good one on the subject of drunken courage (Book I. 11) : Who only in his cups will fight, is like A clock that must be oil'd well, ere it strike. DE. FEANCIS ATTERBUEY, Born in 1663, was a man of much learning and elegant accomplish- ments. Attached to the Stuarts, and the High Church school, his life was a continual struggle with political and literary opponents, while his imperious temper made him many personal enemies. He was suc- cessively Dean of Carlisle and of Christ Church, and Bishop of Kochester. In 1716, on suspicion of being concerned in a plan in favour of the Stuart.s, he was committed to the Tower, and afterwards banished the country. He died in Paris in 1731. WRITTEN ON A WHITE FAN BELONGING TO MISS OSBORNE, AFTER WARDS HIS WIFE. (" Biographia Britannica.") Flavia the least and slightest toy Can with resistless art employ : This fan in meaner hands would prove An engine of small force in love ; Yet she, with graceful air and mien, Not to be told or safely seen, Directs its wanton motions so. That it wounds more than Cupid's bow; Gives coolness to the matchless dame, To every other breast a flame. MATTHEW PRIOR. 281 It has been thought thut Atterbury, Mhen writing this, had in his mind the 7th Ode of Auacrton. on the power of Love, which com- mences : Love, waving awful in his hand His niiigic hyacinthine wand, Forc'd me, averse, with him to nm. Li vain I strove the task to shun. The general object of the ode being to show the irresistible force of Love, in whose hands a flower is as powerful as his bow ami arrows. Lloyd may have remembered Atteibury's epigram, when he wrote the lines on a fan in the " Capricious Lovers." The last stanza is : 'Tis folly's sceptre first design'd By love's capricious boy. Who knows h'lw lightly all mankind Are goveru'd by a toy. EPITAPH FOB DRYDENS MONUMENT. In a letter to Pope the Bisliop says (Pope's Works, 1770, VIII. 93 : "If your design hulds of fixing Drydcn's name only below, and his Busto above, may not lines like these be grav'd just under the name V " This Sheffield rais'd to Dryden's ashes just, Here tix'd his name, and there his laurel'd Bust. What else the Muse in uiaible might express, Is known already ; Praise would make him less." Dryden's monument was erected in Westminster Abbey by Sheffield, Duke of Buckinghamshire, but the only inscription he placed was the poet's name. MATTHEW PRIOR. Born 1664. Died 1721. ON JOUBDAIN'S PICTURE OF SENECA DYING IN A BATH. While cruel Nero only drains The moral Spaniard's ebbing veins, By study worn, and slack with age, How dull, how thoughtless, is his rage! Heigliten'd revenge AVould lie have took, He should have burnt his tutor's book, 282 MODEEN BriGRAMMATISTS. And long have reign'd supreme in vice : One nobler wretch can only riae, 'Tis he whose fnry shall deface The stoic's image in this piece ; For while niihurt, divine Jourdain, Thy work and Seneca's remain, He still has body, still has soul, And lives and speaks, restor'd and whole. Seneca, the philosopher, a native of Corduba in Spain, was for four years tutor to Nero. When the emperor gave rein to his odious vices, the virtuous Seneca became so distasteful to him that he ordered him to destroy himself. The pliilosopher died by opening his veins in a hot batli, a common mode of death at that period. Elsum, in his "Epigrams on Paintings," 1700, has one on "Seneca teaching Nero, by Titian," the first few lines of which are (Ep. 39) : His countenance does not betray much evil, At present he's a young and harmless devil : ' But when this infant tyrant comes of age, O how his wrath and cruelty will rage ! His villanies and murders will be rife, He will not spare his rev'rend master's life. Marini, an Italian poet of the IGth century, has an epigram on Nero's cruelty, which has been translated by Sir Edward Sherburne. Thii subject is " A Marble Statue of Nero, which, fiilling, killed a Child". This statue, bloody Nero, does present To tyrants a sad document. Though marble, on his basis yet so fast He stood not, but he fell at last : And seems as when he liv'd, as cruel still. He could not fall, but he must kill. Marini probably took this thought, a very singular one, from a Greek epigram usually ascribed to Callimachus, but by Jacobs to an uncertain author (Jacobs IV. 210, ccccxxxii.). Translated by C. : As on a stepdam's tomb, a young child laid A wreath of votive flowers, t' a])pe ise her shade. It fell, and crush'd him ! Fly, sad otfspring, fly A stepdam's roof, e'en tho' entombd she lie. TO FORTUNE. Whilst I in prison or in court look down, Nor beg thy favour, nor deserve thy frown, MATTHEW PRIOR. 283 In vain, malicious Fortune, hast thou tried By taking from my state, to quell my pride : Insulting girl ! thy present rage abate, And, would'st thou have me humbled, make me great. So, Keble, in the " Christian Year " (SS. Philip and James' Day) : Thankful for all God fakes away, Hiunbled by all He gives. It is related of the late Lord Seaton that, when at the close of the great war he and another officer were addressed by a lady, " How proud you gentlemen must feel at the recollection that you had a share in those great events," he replied, "Proud! no, rather humbled I thmk" (Leeke's "Lord Seaton's Keguneut at Waterloo," 1SG7, I. 103). A REASONABLE AFFLICTION. In a dark corner of the house Poor Helen sits, and subs, and cries ; She will not see her loving spouse, JS'or her more dear picquet allies : Unless she find her eye-brows, She'll e'en weep out her eyes. Prior delighted in epigi'ams on ladies who wore false hair and teeth. and who attempted to retain the beauty of youth by means of paint and dye. They are generally imitated from Martial or from the woi st pro- ductions of the later Greek epigrammatists. Perhaps no English poet was guilty of plagiarism to such un extent as Prior, and unfortunately he had not generally the good taste to steal from the best sources. One Bjiecimen of such wortldess wit as the above is quite enough. THE POET'S DINNER. In Chaucer's style. Full oft doth Mat. with Topaz dine, Eateth baked meats, drinketh Greek wine ; But Topaz his own wcike rehearseth, And Mat. mote praise what Topaz verseth. Kow sure as priest did e't-r shrive sinner. Full hardly eanieth Mat. his dinner. Topaz, whom Mat. Prior here satirizes, was Sir Richard Blackmore. physician and jtoel. Ilia virtues rous<;d against liim the (^ninity of tlie wits, who would not allow any merit in his jioctry. Uryden and Pope 284 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. persistently persecuted him. The latter holds him up to ridicule in the " Dunciad " (Book II. 259) : But far o'er all, sonorous Blackmore's strain ; Walls, steeples, skies, bray back to him again. In Tot'nam Fields the brethren with amaze, Prick all their ears up, and forget to graze ! Long Chancery Lane retentive rolls the sound, And courts to courts return it round and round ; Thames wafts it thence to Rufus' roaring hall, And Hungerford re-echos bawl for bawl. All hail 'him victor in both gifts of song. Who sings so loudly, and who sings so long. Prior probably took the idea of his epigram from a Greek one bj Lucillius, thus translated by Merivale (Jacobs III. 43, Ixxiii.) : When Narva asks a friend to dine, He gives a pint of tavern wine, A musty loaf and stinking ham, Then overwhelms with epigram. A kinder fate Apollo gave. Who whelm'd beneath the Tyrrhene wave The impious rogues that stole his kine. Oh Narva, let their lot be mine ! Or if no river's near your cell, Show me at least yoiu- deejaest well. ON A FLOWER PAINTED BY SIMON VARELST. When fam'd Varelst this little wonder drew, Flora vouchsaf 'd the growing work to view ; Finding the painter's science at a stand, The goddess snatch'd the pencil from his hand ; And finishing the piece, she smiling said, Behold one work of mine, that ne'er shall fade. Varelst was a man of gi-eat eccentricity. Horace Walpole says of him : " His lunacy was self-admiration ; he called himself the God of Flowers ; and went to Whitehall, saying he wauted to converse with the king (Charles 11.) for two or three hours. Being repulsed, he said 'He is king of England, I am king of painting: why should we not converse together familiarly ?' " (Walpolc's Works, 1798, III. 303.) Prior's most elegant compliment to this painter, is only equalled by Sir Samuel Garth's Epigram on a poet — Gay : When Fame did o'er the spacious plain The lays she once had learn'd repeat ; Or listen'd to the tuneful strain, And wonder'd who could sing so sweet. MATTHEW PRIOK. 285 'Twas thus. The Graces held the lyre, Th" haimonioiis frame the Muses strung, The Loves and Smiles comjjos'd the choir, And Gay transcrib'd what Phoebus sung. Tennyson, in the " Gardener's Daughter," has the same thought as Prior. The subject is Eustace's pictui-e of Juliet: 'Tis not your work, but Love's. Love unperceived, A more ideal artist he thau all, Came, drew your pencil from you, made those eyes Darker than darkest pansies, aud that hair More black than ashbuds in the front of March. EPITAPH FOB HIMSELF. Nobles and Heralds by your leave, Here lies what once was Matthew Prior, The son of Adam and of Eve ; Can Bourbon or Nassau claim higher ? Mr. Singer remarked in " Notes and Queries," 1st S. I. 482 : " Prior's epitaph on himself has its prototype in one long previously written by or for one John Carnegie " : Johnnie Carnegie lais heer, Descendit of Adam and Eve, Gif ony can gang hieher, I'se williug gie him leve. The same, without name, but with only slight verbal variations, is given in " Sharpe's London Journal," XIV. 348, stated to be " taken from a monument erected in ITOiJ, in the New Church burying-ground of Dundee, to the memory of J. R." Prior had, or affected to have, a contempt for hereditary honours. In his lines on " The Old Gentry," he says : But coronets we owe to crowns, And favour to a court's affection ; By nature we are Adam's sons. And sous of Anstis by election. Jolin Anstis was then Garter King-at-arms. But Prior, though perhaps iu'lilferent to lank or noble birtli, was certainly very an.\ious for posthumous honours, for he had the vanity to leave by will .t.J0O for his monument, whicli was placed in Westminster Abbey. Gibbs, the architect of the church of S. jMartiii-iii-the-Fieids, the Badclitie Library at Oxford, aud oth( r public buildiugs crccttd at that time, was enipl'iyed to design it. Those who riiueinlier the monu- ment can judge whether the following complimentary epigram, prest^rved 286 MODERN EPIGEAMMATI8TS. in Walpole's " Anecdotes of Painting," was deserved by the architect. It is signed T. W., probably Thomas Warton : While Gibbs displays his elegant design, And Rysbrach's art does in the sculpture shine, With due composure and proportion just, Adding new lustre to the finished bust, Each artist here perpetuates his name, And shares with Prior an immortal fame. Cowper has an extremely fine thought on the subject of hereditary honours in his poem, " On the Receipt of my Mother's Picture " : My boast is not that I deduce my birth From loins enthroned, and rulers of the earth ; But higher far my proud pretensions rise — The son of parents passed into the skies. TO THE MASTER OF S. JOHN'S COLLEGE. I stood, sir, patient at your feet, Before your elbow-chair ; But make a Bishop's throne your seat, I'll l-neel before you there. One only tiling can keep you down, For your great soul too mean ; You'd not, to mount a Bishop's throne, Pay homage to the Queen. In 1712 Prior, who had lately been plenipotentiary at the court of France, went to Cambridge, and, being a Fellow of S. John's, called on the master, Dr. Jenkin, who had been elected to that dignity the previous year. The master " loved Mr. Prior's principles, had a great opinion of his abilities, and a respect for his character in the world, but then he had much greater respect for himself," and consequently kept the ex-ambassador standing. Prior struck off the epigram as he was walking from the college to the Rose Hotel. This account is chiefly taken from the "Gentleman's Magazine,'' XLIV. 16. 'J'he writer was Prior's companion on the visit to Cambridge ; but as he says of the master of S. John's, " whether Dr. Gower or Dr. Jenkin 1 cannot now recollect," it is very probable that he was thinking of the former, as one who "loved Mr. Prior's princijiles." The real cause of the indignity which Prior suffered, may have been the master's objection to his principlee, for Dr. Jenkin had resigned his preferments rather than take the oaths to William and Mary, whom Prior liad served as a statesman, and courted as a poet ; and had only the year before satisJied his conscience that he could take them to Anne. MATTHEW PKlOfi. 287 BISHOP ATTERBURYS GRAVE. Meek Francis lies here, friend : without stop or stay, As 3'ou value your peace, make the best of your way. Though at pres^ent arrested by Death's caititf paw, If be stirs, he may still have recourse to the law : And in the King's-bench should a verdict be found. That by livery and seisin his grave is his ground, He will claim to himself what is strictly his due ; And an action of trespass will straightway ensue, That yoii without right on his premises tread. On a simple surmise that the owner is dead. Bishop Atterbury, who was alive and well when this severe epigram w£is written, refers to it in a forgiving spirit in a letter to Pope, dated Sept. 27, 1721 : "I had not strength enough to attend ]Mr. Prior to his grave, else I would have done it, to have shew'd his friends that I had forgot and forgiven what he wrote on me." Leonidas of Tarentum has a Greek epigram on Hipponas the satirist, similar in spirit, and which may perhaps have suggested to Prior hia witty severity on the litigiousness of Atterbury. The translation is by Merivale (Jacobs I. 180, xcvii.) : Pass gently by this tomb — lest, while he dozes. Ye wake the hornet that beneath reposes ; Whose sting, that would not his own parents spare, Who will may risk — and touch it those who dare ! Take heed then — for his words, like fiery dart.s, Have ev'n in hell the power to pierce our hearts. Another epigram on Atterbury's grave was made when he was really dead. He died in exile, and liis body was brought over to England and privately interred in Westminster Abbey. There were some thoughts of a public funeral, which was refused. This occasioned the epigram, which is found in the " Poetical Calendar," 17G3, VIU. 79 : His foes, when dead great Atterbury lay, .Shrunk at his name, and trembled at his clay: Ten thousand dangers to their eyes appear. Great aa tlieLr guilt, and certain as their fear; T' insult a deathless corse, alas ! is vain : 1 Well for themselves, and well employ'd their pain, > Gould they secure huu— not to rise again. ) A public funeral, for a man who had died in banishment, could hardly have been seriously contemplated. Moreover, tlie same dillieuity would have arisen as aft'Twards prevented a monuuiorit iicing erected to his memory— liis rank and title. His friends hcM that he died Bishop o" Kochester. Jint tiie government had (lceliue: Socrates * * ♦ Was building of a little cot, When some one standing on the spot, Ask'd, as the folks are apt to do, " How comes so great a man as you Content with such a little hole ?" — " I wish," says he, " with all my soul, That this same little house I build Was with true friends entirely iill'd." ON WOOD'S BRASS MONEY. Carteret was welcom'd to the shore First with the brazen cannon's roar; To meet him next the soldier comes, With brazen trumps, and brazen drums; Approaching near the town he hears The brazen bells salute his oars : But, when Wood's brass began to sound, Gun.s, trumpets, drums, and bells were drown'd. In 1724, a speculator named Wood obtained a patent authorizing him to coin £180,000 in copjxT for tlie use of Ireland. Swift discovered tiiat the jnotal was debused with brass to an immense extent, and wrote a series of letters, under the title of the " Drapier," to expose the con- duct of the (iovf-rnment and their patentee. The greatest excitement was created ; tiie (government oOered a large sum for the discovery of tlie writer, but in vain ; and it was found necessary to withdraw the J^atent. The popularity of tlie " Drapier " was at its height, when Lord Carteret arrived in Dublin as Lord-Lieutenant, and the ej)igram wittily alludes to the brazen din which greeted the unfortunate Viceroy on aU eideu. 292 MODERN EPIGEAMMATISTS. EPITAPH ON DR. THOMAS SHERIDAN. Beneath this marble stone here lies Poor Tom, more merry much than wise ; Who only liv'd for two great ends, To spend his cash and lose his friends : His darling wife of him bereft, Is only griev'd— there's nothing left. This Is not found in Swift's Works. It is taken from Watkins' " Memoir of the Public and Private Life of R . B. Sheridan," J 817. Part I. 33. The hero was the grandfather of Richard Brinsley Sheridan. He was an Irish clergyman, and had some prospect of rising in his profes- sion through Government patronage, but irretrievably offended the Lord-Lieutenant, by inadvertently preaching a sermon at Cork on tlie King's birthday, on the text : " Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." He was an improvident man, and that at his death there was " nothing left " is probably true. THE POWER OF TIME. If neither brass nor marble can withstand The mortal force of Time's destructive hand ; If mountains sink to vales, if cities die, And lessening rivers mourn their fountains dry : When my old cassock (said a Welch divine) ] s out at elbows ; why should I repine ? There are several examples of this class of epigram, in which the trifling and the grand are brought into juxta-position. A Greek one by Lucilius (Jacobs III. 41, Ixiii.) is well known in the version of Bishop Sprat : Bestride an ant, a pigmy great and tall Was thrown, alus ! and got a dreadful fall Under th' unruly beast's proud feet he lies, All torn ; but yet with generous ardour cries, " Behold, base envious world, now, now laugh on, ■ For thus I fall, and thus fell Phaeton." The following anonymous epigram is amushig, and to the poict ("Select Epigrams," 1797, II. 181) : MjTtle unsheath'd his shining blade. And fix'd its point against his breast : Then gaz'd upon the wond'ring maid, And thus his dii-e resolve exprest : DR. JONATHAN SWIFT. 293 *' Since, cruel fair, witli cold disdain, You still return my raging love, Thought is but madness, lite but pain. And thus — at once — I both remove !''' "O, stay one moment !"— Chloe said, And, trembling, hasten'd to the door: " Here, iietty !— quick ! — a pail, dear moid ! — This madman else will stain the floor." ON HIS OWN DEAFNESS. Deaf, giddy, helpless, left alone, To all my friends a burden grown ; No more I bear my cburcb's bell, Than if it rang out for my knell ; At thunder now no more I start. Than at the rumbling of a cart ; And what's incredible, alack ! No more I hear a woman's clack. Swift wrote this epigram in Latin as well as English. The first line of the Latin version is : Vertiginosus, inops, surdus, male gratus amicis. Upon the false quantity of the first word it has been happily said, thnt it adds expression to the line, showing how tlie poor old man had, by his deafness, lost all power of detecting error by the ear. In the "Poetical Farrago," 1794, II. 19, there is an epigram upon Swift's : What though the Dean hears not the knell Of the next church's passing-bell ; Wliat though the thunder from a cloud, Or that from female tongue more loud. Alarm not : at tiie Drapier's ear Chink but Wood's halfpence, and he'll hear. ON THE NEW MAGAZINE FOR ARMS AND POWDEB IN DUBLIN. Behold ! a proof of Irish sense ! Here Irish wit is seen ! When nothing's loft, that's worth defence, We build a magazine. 294 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. During the lunacy of his latter years, Swift had lucid intervals, and was then taken out for a drive. On one of these occasions he observed a new building, and enquired its object ; being told that it was a magazine, he expressed surprise, and afterwards made the above epigram ; which is interesting as his last known composition. GEOEGE GKANVILLE, VISCOUNT LANSDOWNE. Born 1667. Died 1735. I TO MYBA. ' Lost in a labyriiitli of doubts and joys, Whom now her smiles reviv'd, her scorn destroys : She will, and she will not, she grants, denies, Consents, retracts, advances, and then flies, :■. Approving, and rejecting in a breath, | Now proft'ring mercy, now presenting death. I Thus hoping, thus despairing, never sure, ^ How various are the torments I endure ! ' Cruel estate of doubt ! ah, Myra, try Once to resolve — or let me live, or die. A song by Sidney Godolphin, who was born in 1610, might be thought the original of this, if Granville were likely to have ever seen it ; but Mr Ellis knew of no printed copy, and in his " Specimens of the Early English Poets," from which the following stanza is taken, he gives it extracted from a MS. (Ed. 1S03, III. 229) : Or love me less, or love me more ; And play not with my liberty : Either take all or all restore ; Bind me at least or set me free ! Let me some nobler torture find Than of a doubtful wavering mind : Take all my peace ! but you betray Mine honour too, this cruel way. SENT TO CLABINDA WITH A NOVEL ENTITLED " LES MALHEUBS DE L'AMOUB." Haste to Clarinda, and reveal Whatever pains poor lovers feel ; When that is done, then tell the fair That I endure much more for her : GEORGE GRANVILLE, VISCOUNT LANSDOWNE. 295 "Who'd truly know love's pow'r or smart, Must view her eyes and read my heart. Lord Lyttelton's address to Miss Fortescue, with a copy of Hammond's elegies, has a similar point : All that of love can be express'd In these soft numbers see ; But, Lucy, would you know the rest, It must be read in me. FORTUNE. When Fortune seems to smile, 'tis then I fear Some lurkinnj ill, and hidden mischief near ; Us'd to her frowns, I stand upon my guard, And arm'd in virtue, keep my soul prepared. Fickle and false to others she may be, I can complain but of her constancy. The noble endurance here expressed may remind us of a passage in Shakespeare's "Coriolanus" (Act IV. sc. ij, where Coriolanus, address- ing his mother, says : You were us'd To say, extremities was the trier of spirits ; That common chances common men could bear ; That, when the sea was calm, all boats alike Show'd mastership in floating : fortune's blows, When most struck home, being gentle wounded, craves A noble cunning. Johnson thus comments upon the latter part : " The sense is, ' When Fortune strikes her hardest blows, to be wnunded, and yet continue calm, requires a generous policy.' He calls this calmness, cunning. because it is the effect of reflection and phil()S(jphy. Perhaps the first emotions of nature are nearly uniform, and one man differs from anotlier in the power of endurance, as he is better regulated by precept and instruction." A stanza (last but one) in a poem, entitled " Content and Ricii," by Robert Southwell, the Jesuit, time of Queen Elizabeth, is so similar to the first part of Granville's epigram, that wo may be disposed to believe it the original from which the latter obtained the thought : No change of Fortune's calm Can east my comforts down : When Fortune smiles, I smile to think How quickly she will frown. 296 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. BEVIL HIGGONS, A younger son of Sir Thomas Higgons, and of Bridget, his second wife, daughter of Sir Bevil Grenville, of Stow, was born in 1670. He be- came a commoner of S. John's College, Oxford ; went afterwards to Cambridge ; and then to the Bliddle Temple. Being a firm adherent of James II., he followed that monarch to France, where he continued to reside, delighting all his acquaintance by his wit and humour. He wrote a few poems, a tragedy, and one or two prose works of some merit. He died in 1735. The following epigrams are taken from Nichols' " Select Collection of Poems," Vol. III. 1780. TO SIB GODFREY KNELLER. WHEN PAINTING LADY HYDE'S PORTRAIT. The Cyprian Queen, drawn by Apelles' hand. Of perfect beauty did the pattern stand. But then bright nymphs from every part of Greece Did all contribute to adorn the piece; From each a several charm the painter took (For no one mortal so divine could look). But, happier Kneller, fate presents to you In one that finish'd beauty which he drew. But oh, take heed, for vast is the design, And madness 'twere for any hand but thine. For mocking thunder bold Salmoneus dies ; And 'tis as rash to imitate her eyes. This lady, afterwards Countess of Clarendon and Rochester, is celebrated in the writings of many of the poets of the day for her great beauty, and was a reigning toast at the meetings of the Kit-Cat Club. One of the best of the club verses on her is by Garth : The god of wine grows jealous of his art, He only fires the head, but Hyde the heart. The queen of love looks on, and smiles to see A nymph more mighty than a deity. Hughes, in lines " To a Painter," who was taking the Ukenees of a '* beauteous and victorious fair,'" asks : Canst thou Love's brightest lightning draw. Which none e'er yet unwounded saw ? To what then wilt thou next aspke, Unless to imitate Jove's fire ? Which is a less adventurous pride, Though 'twas for that Salmoneus died. FRANCIS FULLER. 297 TO MR. POPE. Thy wit in vain the feeble critic gnaws ; While the hard metal breaks the serpent's jaws. Grieve not, my friend, that spite and brutal rage At once thy person and thy muse engage : Our virtues only from ourselves can flow, Health, strength and beauty, to blind chance we owe. But Heaven, indulgent to thy nobler pai-t, In thy fair mind express'd the nicest art : Nature too busy to regard the whole, Forgets the body to adorn the soul. Pope, it will be remembered, was deformed. Sh.akespeare, in " Twelfth Xight" (Act III. se. 4), shows of how little importance is personal appearance in comparison with a " fair mind " : In nature there's no blemish, but the mind ; None can be call'd deform'd, but the unkind ; Virtue is beauty ; but the benuteous-evil Are empty trunks, o'erflourish'd by the devil. NATHANIEL LEE, A dramatic poet, born in the latter half of the 17th century. He fell into dissipated habits, and became insane. TO SIR ROGER L' ESTRANGE. (Granger's " Biographical History of England," 1775, IV. 70). Faces may alter, names can't change : I am strange Lee altered ; you are still L'e-Stramje. The occasion of this flash of wit was a visit by L'Estrange to Lee in a madhouse, when he found him so altered as scarcely to l>e recognised. Epigrams which depend for their wit on play upon words, rank low in this class of foiiijKJsition, but many are amusing and chver. Thomas Fuller, in his " Holy State," in a "life of William Perkins, gives an epjgram, the original being in Latin, by Hugh Holland, on that learned divine, born in 1558, whose works were held in great estiniation, but were all written with a left-handed pen, his right hand being useless : Though Nature thee of thy right hand bereft, Right well thou writest with tliy hand that's left 298 MODERN EPIGKASIMATIST8. Another good one is by Dr. Donne, on a Lame Beggar : " I am unable," yonder beggar cries, " To stand or move ; " if he says true, he lies. The following punning epitaph in S. Michael's Church, Lewes, is a curious specimen of this style. It is on Sir Nicholas Pelham, an ancestor of Lord Chichester, who repulsed the French forces whioli attacked Seaford, compelling them to escape to their ships. He died in 1.559 : His valour's proofe, his manlie virtue's prayse Cannot be marshall'd in this narrow roome ; His brave exploit in great King Henry's dayes Among the worthye hath a worthier tombe : What time the French sought to have sack't Sea-Ford This Pelham did Ee-Pel'em back abroad. The play upon a name sometimes rises into extreme elegance, as in the following epitaph, by Crashaw, on Dr. Brook, a celebrated Master of the Charter-hou.se (" Steps to the Temple, &c." 1670, 95) : A Brook, whose stream so great, so good, Was lov'd, was honour'd as a flood, Whose banks the Muses dwelt upon, More than their own Helicon, Here at length hath gladly found A quiet passage under ground ; Meanwhile his loved banks, now dry, The Muses with their tears supply. And, as in an extempore addressed to Lady Brown, and ascribed to Lord Lyttelton in "An Asylum for Fugitive Pieces," 178G, II. 191 : When I was young and deljonnaire, The brownest nymph to me was fair ; But now I'm old, and wiser grown. The fairest nymph to me is Brown. Luttrell wrote a punning distich on Miss Tree, afterwards Mrs. Bradshaw, the celebrated singer, of which Rogers said : " It is quite a little fairy tale " (Eogers' " Table Talk," 1856, 276; : On this tree when a nightingale settles and sings. The tree will return her as good as she brings. Another specimen of the punning style, is an anonymous epigram " On the Masters of Clare Hall, and Caius (Keys) College, Cambridge " (" Select Epigrams," II. 113) : Says Gooch to old Wilcox, Come take t'other bout ! 'Tis late, says the Master, I'll not be lock'd out. Mere stufi" ! cries the Bishop, stay as long as you please, What signify gates 'i arn't I Master of Keys? Sir Thomas Gooch was Bishop of Norwich, and afterwards of Ely and also Master of Caius College. \VILLIA.lt CONGREVE. 299 " The Superiority of Machinery," by Hood, may be cited aa an amusing modern example of this class of epigram : A mechanic his labour will often discard, If the rate of his pay he dislikes ; But a clock — and its case is uncommonly hard — Will continue to work, tho' it strikes ! WILLIAM CONGREVE. Bom about 1G70. Died 1729. ABSENCE. Alas ! what pains, what racking thoughts he proves, Who lives remov'd from her he dearest loves ! In cruel absence doom'd past joys to mourn, And think on hours that will no more return ! Oh, let me ne'er the pangs of absence try, Save me from absence, Love, or let me die. Shakespeare, in the " Two Gentlemen of Verona " (Act III. so. 1), puts a similar sentiment in the mouth of Valentine, when banished by the Duke on pain of death : And why not death, rather than living torment ? To die, is to be banish'd from myself ; And Silvia is myself : banish'd from her, Is self from self; a deadly banishment! What light is light, if Silvia be not seen? What joy is joy, if Silvia be not by ? Unless it be, to think that she is by, And feed upon the shadow of perfection. So also, Spenser in one of his sonnets (Ixxxviii.) says : Dark is my day whyles her fayre light I mia, And dead my life that wants such lively blis. LESBIA, When Lesbia first I saw so heavenly fair, "With eyes so bright, and with that awful air, I thought my heart, which durst so high aspire, As bold as his who snatch'd celestial fire. Lut soon as e'er tho beauteous idiot spoke. Forth from her coral lips such folly broke, 300 MODEBN EPIGRAMKATIST8. Like balm the trickling nonsense heal'd my wound, And Avhat her eyes enthrall'd her tongue unbound. The third stanza of a ballad by Smart, " The Talkative Fair," beara much resemblance to this : Your tongue's a traitor to your face, Your fame's by your own uoise obscur'd, All are distracted while they gaze ; But if they listen, they are cur'd. Martial has an epigram on a lady who was no longer young, which is very similar in idea, the senses of hearing and seeing being trans- posed (Book VII. 101). The translation is by Steele, but it is rather a happy imitation than a literal rendering : Wliilst in the dark on thy soft hand I hung, And lieard the tempting siren in thy tongue, AVHiat flames, what darts, what anguish I endur'd ! — But, when the candle enter'd, I was cui'd. In the following, taken from " Select Epigrams," the lady liad no defect either of feature or voice. It is entitled an " Impromptu ; after reading the story of Ulysses' escape from the Sirens " : When Emily, sweet maid, appears. More dangerous charms siu-prise ; What then avails to stop our ears. Unless we shut our eyes ? KICHARD GWINNETT, Born probably about 1670, was of Christ Church, Oxford, whence he removed to the Middle Temple ; but the air of London disagreeing with his delicate health, he gave up the law and retired into the country, where he died in 1717. He was in love with the poetess, Elizabeth Thomas, tlie Corinna of Dryden, whose death was hastened by the cruel malediction of Pope in the " Dunciad." Tlie marriage was prevented by the bad health and early death of Gwinnett. The letters which passed between them, under the names of Pylades and Corinna, were afterwards publislied. ON READ AND HANNES BEING KNIGHTED BY QUEEN ANNE. (Noble's Continuation of Granger's " Biographical History," 180(5, II. 233.) ■ The queen like Heav'n shines equally on all, Her favours now without distinction fall : Great Eead and slender Hannes, both knighted, show, That none their honours shall to merit owe. JOSEPH ADDISON, 301 That popish doctrine is exploded quite, Or Kalph had been no duke, and Kead no knight. That none may virtue or their learning plead, This has no grace, and that can hardly read. Sir William Read, originally a tailor, or a cobbler, became progressively a mountebank, aud a quack "doctor, and, though he could not read, he could ride in his own chariot. He professed to cure all blindness, and even Queen Anue and George I. entrusted the care of their eyes to him, " from which," amusingly remarks Noble, " one would have thought the rulers, like the ruled, wished to be as dark as Taylor, his brother quack s coach-horses, five of which were blind, because he exercised his skill upon animals that could not complain." Sir Edward Hannes was a very dift'erent character, having been educated at Westminster, and Christ Chm-ch, Oxford, where he was .Professor of Chemistry. He was the author of several poems in the '" MusiB AnglicanaB "; and left £1000 towards completing the quadrangle at Christ Church. He was, however, satirized as a quack by the wits of the day. The Ralph of the epigram was the first Duke of Montagu, who was raised from an earldom to that rank in 1705. His chief charac- teristic was fondness for magnificence, and desire of wealth for the display of pomp. He married the mad widow of Christopher, Duke of Albemarle, for the sake of her riches. An epigram by Lord Rosse, on this marriage, will be found under his name. It was this noble- man, who, when complimented by the Duke of Marlborough on some Waterworks which he had completed at Boughtou, gave the well- turned answer, "What are they to your grace's Fireworks !" JOSEPH ADDISON. Born 1672. Died 1719. WRITTEN ON A TOASTING-GLASS OF THE KIT-CAT CLUB ON THE DUCHESS OF MANCHESTER. While haughty Gallia's dames, who spread O'er their pale cheeks an artful red. Beheld this beauteous stranger there In native charms, divinely fair. Confusion in their looks they show'd. And with unborrow'd blushes glow'd. The lady upon whom tliis b( autiful epigram was written, was tlio Lady D(jdingt<)n Grcuville, married to ChaihiS, Duke of Manchester. She accompanied her liu,-,band (then Lord Montagu), when he went us ambaasador to the court of Louis XIV. in IGyS). 302 MODERN EPIGEAMMATISTS. NICHOLAS EOWE Bom 1673. Died 1718. TO THE TWO NEW MEMBERS FOR BRAMBER, 1708. Thoixgh in the Commons' House you did prevail, Good Sir Cleeve Moore, and gentle Master Hale ; Yet on good luck be cautious of relying, Burgess for Bramber is no place to die in. Your predecessors have been oddly fated ; Asgill and Shippen have been both translated. Jolm Asgill published a treatise entitled, "An argument proving tlrnt according to the covenant of eternal life, revealed in the Scriptures, men may be translated hence into that eternal life without passing through death," &c., 1700. He was elected member for Bramber, but a committee being appointed to examine his ]x)ok, and reporting tliat his views with regard to men being translated without death were blasphemous, he was expelled the lionse— translated from public to private life. William Shippen, a strong Jacobite, succeeded Asgill as member for Bramber, in 1707. As Eowe's epigram is dated 1708, he can have sat a very short time for tliat borough, but the cause of his translation to another constituency does not appear. TO THE PRINCE OF WALES {AFTERWARDS GEORGE IE). In 1726, the king, George I., was in Hanover, when a fire broke out in Spring Gardens, which the Prince of Wales assisted in extinguish- ing. Upon which Kowe composed this epigram : Thy guardian, blest Britannia, scorns to sleep. When the sad subjects of his father weep ; Weak princes by their fears increase distress ; He faces danger, and so makes it less : Tyrants on blazing towers may smile with joy ; He knows, to save, is greater than destroy. In the " Poetical Farrago," are " Verses written under the statue oi Edward VI. at S. Thomas's Hospital " : On Edward's brow no laurels cast a shade. Nor at his feet are warlike spoils display'd : Yet here, since first his bounty rais'd the pile, The lame grow actiye, and the languid smile : See this, ye chiefs, and, struck with envj', pine , To kill is brutal, but to save, divine. JOHN HUGHES. 303 The last two lines of Rowe's epigram recall a fine passage in Pope's " Es3ay on Jian," Epistle II. 195 : Thus Nature gives us (let it check our pride) The virtue nearest to our vice allied : Eeason the bias turns to good from ill. And Xero reigns a Titus if he will. The fiery soul abhorr'd in Catiline, In Decius charms, in Curtius is divine : The same ambition can destroy or save, And makes a patriot as it makes a knave. JOHN HUGHES. Born 1677. Died 1720. WRITTEN UNDER THE PRINT OF TOM BBITTON, TEE MUSICAL SMALL-COAL MAN. Though mean thy rank, yet in thy humble cell Did gentle peace and arts unpurchas'd dwell. Well pleas'd Apollo thither led his train, And music warbled in her sweetest strain : Cyllenius so, as fables tell, and Jove, Came willing guests to poor Philemon's grove. Let useless pomp behold, and blush to find So low a station, such a liberal mind. The singular character commemorated in this epigram was born in Northamptonshire, about the middle of the 17th century, and, going to London, .set up as a small-coal man. The business was not congenial either to chemistry or music, yet he became an adept in both, and was also a collector of curious books of various kinds. In a miserable house, the ground floor of which was a repository for his small-coal, lie had regidar concerts, at which he played the viol da gamba, and which persons of all ranks attended, lie st ems to have been a modest, un- prcsuming man, of real genius, but practical habits. He died iu 1714. Prior has an epigram, " V\ ritten under the Print of Tom Britton, Painted by Mr. Woolaston": Tliough doom'd to small-coal, yet to arts allied, liji'h without wealth, and famous without pride; Music's best patron, judge of books and men, Belov'd and honour'd by Apollo's train : In (Jreecc or Pome sure never did appear 8o bright a genius, in 1-.0 dark a sphere : More of the man liad artluily been sav'd. Had Kuclli:r paintcil, and had Vcrtue grav'd. 304 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. ADVICE TO ME. POPE, ON HIS INTENDED TRANSLATION OF HOMER. O thou, who, with a happy genius born, Canst tuneful verse in flowing numbers turn. Crown'd on thy Windsor's plains with early bays, Be early wise, nor trust to barren praise. Blind was the bard that sung Achilles' rage, He sung, and begg'd, and cnrs'd th' iingiving age : If Britain his translated song would hear. First take the gold — then chaim the listening ear ; So shall thy father Homer smile to see His pension paid — though late, and paid to thee. Dr. Johnson took this hint in the publication of his edition of Shakespeare. He obtained subscribers, expecting to be able to issue bis volumes speedily ; yet nine years elapsed before the publication, which was at length hastened, Boswell supposes, by Churchill's up- braiding satire in " The Ghost," Book III. : He for subscribers baits his hook, And takes their cash— but where's the book? No matter where ; wise fear, we know, Forbids the robbing of a foe ; But what, to serve our private ends. Forbids the cheating of our friends ? Cowper, by his epigram on Oxford, resented tiie refusal of the University to subscribe to his translation of Homer : Could Homer come himself, distress'd and poor, And tune his harp at Rhedicina's door. The rich old vixen would exclaim (I fear), " Begone ! no tramper gets a farthing here." WRITTEN ON A WINDOW AT WALLINGTON HOUSE, THEN THE SEAT OF MRS. ELIZABETH BRIDGES, 1719. Envy, if thy searching eye Through this window chance to pry, To thy sorrow thou shalt find All that's generous, friendly, kind, Goodness, virtue, every grace, Dwelling in this happy place : Then, if thou would'st shun this sight, Hence for ever take thy flight. DR. ABEL EVANS. 305 In the fourth book of "Paradise Lost,' Milton paints Satan's sight of the happiness of Adam and Eve : Aside the devil turn'd For envy ; yet with jealous leer malign Eyed them askance, and to himself thus 'plain'd : " "Sight hateful, sight tormenting ! thus these two. DE. ABEL EVANS, A man of great genius, the friend of Pope and of other writers ot the period, was of S. John's College, Oxford, and took his degree of M.A. in 1699. He is generally styled " Dr. Evans, the Epigramma- tist," and it is, therefore, probable that he wrote much in that style, but very few of his epigrams are now extant. When Bursar of S. John's, he caused some very fine trees belonguig to the college to be cut down, which produced the following epigram, ascribed in the " Additions to Pope" to Dr. Tadlow; in the "Poetical Calendar" and in Nichols' " Collection " to Dr. Conyers, with some variations : Indulgent Nature to each kind bestows A secret instinct to discern its foes. The goose, a silly bii'd, yet knows the fox ; Hares fly from dogs, and sailors steer from rocks : This rogue the gallows fur his fate foresees. And bears a like antipathy to trees. The following, with the exception of the thii'd (which is in " Select Epigrams"), and other pieces by Evans, are preserved in Nichols' " Select Collection of Poems," Vol. III. 1780. ON A LEARNED DEVICE ON BLENHEIM GREAT GATE; A HUGE LION TEARING A COCK IN PIECES. Had Marlborough's troops in Gaul no better fought. Than Van, to grace his fame, in marble wrought, No more in arms, than he in emblems, skill'd, The cock had drove the lion from the field. In a longer epigram on the same subject, Evans describes the absurdity of the device : See ! the fell lion does with vengeance glow, To lix his talons in the prostrate foe, Arm'd witli dir*; wrath, tlie coward cock to maul ; Where is the builder's joke ? go, ask the GauL X iJ06 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. AN EPITAPH ON SIB JOHN VANBBUGH. Under this stone, reader, survey Dead Sir John Vanbrugh's house of clay. Lie heavy on him, earth ! for he Laid many heavy loads on thee ! Sir John Vanbrugh, the dramatic writer and architect, has never been denied the honours of a wit, but has been severely censured for his heavy and tasteless buildings. Blenheim was especially the object of ridicule, and is thus humorously condemned by Swift : . . If his Grace were no more skill'd in The art of battering walls tlian building, We might expect to see next year A mouse-trap-man chief engineer. Though he knew nothing of heraldry. Sir John was in 1704 ap- pointed Clarenceux King-at-Arms. Swift admitted that he could now build houses ! ON THE BBIDGE AT BLENHEIM. The lofty arch his high ambition shows, The stream, apt emblem of his bounty, flows. The Duke of Marlborough built a fine bridge over a paltry rivulet, which produced this epigram in reference to his well-known meanness When afterwards a large body of water was collected, and the tiny brook became a wide and full-flowing stream, Boswell remarked to Dr. Johnson, as they drove together through the park : " They have drowned the epigram." The duke's bridge was an object of general ridicule. The following distich, found in the " Festoon," is said to be by Pope : The minnows, as through this vast arch they pass. Cry — How like whales we look ! Thanks to your Grace ! Camden, in his " Britannia," gives a Latin epigram on a handsome bridge at Tadcaster, over the Warfe, a stream reduced in summer to very small dimensions ; translated by Basil Kennet, in Gibson's edition, 1G95, 715 : Nothing in Tadcaster deserves a name But the fair bridge that's built without a stream. • GEORGE JEFFREYS. 307 ON DR. TADLOW. Ten thousand tailors, with their length of line, Strove, though in vain, his compass to confine ; At length, bewailing their exhausted store, Their packthread ceas'd, and parchment was no more. Dr. Tadlow was of S. John's College, and was remarkable for his stoutness. His contemporary at Oxford, Mr. Paule, son of Dr. William Paule, bisliop of that see, was also a very stout man, but not so cor- pulent as Dr. Tadlow. Dr. Evans said he had some thoughts of writing a poem upon them, but of which he had only composed one line (Granger's " Biog. Hist." 1779, IV. 173) : Tadloides musse Paulo majora canamus. The following distich was also probably written by Evans : When Tadlow walks the streets, the paviours cry, " God bless you, sir !" and lay their rammers by. When this was first made public, a blank was left for the name, and consequently every gentleman of large bulk and some note was, by one or other of the anecdote-writers and wits of the day, conjectured to be the particular subject of tlie epigrammatist's facetiousness. Perliaps a similar joke in " Epigrams in Distich," 1740, 7, may also refer to Dr. Tadlow : The paviours bless his steps where'er they come : Chairmen dismay'd fly the approaching doom. GEOKGE JEFFEEYS, Born in 1G78, was of Trinity College, Cambridge, and was called to the Bar, but did not practise. He was for some time secretary to Dr. Hartstronge, Bishop of Derry ; and afterwards lived in the families of two Dukes of Chandos, who were; his relations. In IT.'it he pub- ILshed a volume of " Miscellanies in Verse and Prose" (including the following epigrams), and died the next year. EXTEMPORE ON THE SIGHT OF A DANCE. How ill the motion with the music suits ! So once play'd Orpheus, but so danc'd the bnites. This epigram has been given to Welsted, Budgell, and Ambrose Pliilips, and is printed (with a slight variation) in the works of the lust. 308 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. The same author takes a very diiferent view of a dance in the fol- lowing epigram, addressed " To a Lady " : Your hand and voice the judging ear delight, And in the dance you doubly charm the sight : Where shall we meet, but in the spheres and you, So smooth a motion, and such music too ! ON A GENTLEMAN WHO RAN 3IAI) WITH LOVE OF A PHYSICIAN'S DAUGHTEB. Employ'd to cure a love-distracted swain, The boasted aid of hellebore is vain ; None but the Fair the storm she rais'd can calm ; Her smiles the cordial, and her tears the balm : In Cynthia's bosom dwells the magic pow'r, Sov'reign to heal, and vital to restore : But, oh! what medicine e'er could reach the heart? The daughter's eyes have foil'd the father's art : For, matchless were the learn'd physician's skill, If he could save as fast as she can kill, Spenser's fiftieth sonnet describes the vain effort of a leech to curt a love-distracted swain : Long languishing ia double malady Of my harts wound, and of my bodies griefe ; There came to me a leach, that would apply Fit medicines for my bodies best reliefe. Vayne man, quoth I, that hast but little priefe In deep discovery of the mynds disease ; Is not the hart of all the body chiefe, And rules the members as it selfe doth please ? Then, with some cordialls, seeke for to appease The inward languor of my wounded hart ; And tlien my body shall have shortly ease : But such sweet cordialls passe physicians art. Then, my lyfes leach ! doe your skill reveale ; And, with one salve, both hart and body heale. DB. JOSEPH TRAPP. 309 ON A LADY'S HANDWRITING. In characters so fair, we trace Eliza's charming hand, That Heaven alone, who form'd her face, Could sweeter strokes command. The beauties there by Nature wrought Excel the writer's art ; For here the wondering eye is caught. But there the wounded heart. An epigram in the "Poetical Eegister" for 1810-11, by Dr. Russell (author of the "History of Modern Europe"), "On Miss W 's Drawings," gives the reason why, in her case, none " could sweeter strokes command " : Beneath a myrtle Cupid lay, His eyelids drown'd in sleep's soft dew, When Dora, passing by that way. His quiver seiz'd and straight withdrew. Hence the fair artist's drawing charms, Her slightest sketches fire our hearts : The nymph possess'd of Cupid's arms, Sports with our fate, and di-aws with darts. DR. JOSEPH TRAPP, Born in 1679, was the first Professor of Poetry at Oxford, and in later life Vicar of Christ Church, Newgate Street, and of Harlington, Middlesex. He was a voluminous writer, and a most learned pers-on. Bi.shop I'earce said of him, that he studied harder than any man in England. In translations only he failed, his " Virgil" being strongly condemned. He died in 1747. ON A REGIMENT BEING SENT TO OXFORD, AND A rUESENT OF BOOKS TO CAMBRIDGE, BY GEORGE J., IN 1715. (Nichols' "Literary Anecdotes," III. 330, and VIII. 439.) The king, observing with judicious eyes, Tlie state of l^oth his univcr.sitios, Tu Oxford sent a troop of horse ; and why? That learned body wanted loyalty : 310 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. To Cambridge books he sent, as well discerning How much that loyal body wanted learning. This epigram being repeated in the presence of Six William Browne, a physician of Lynn, in Norfolk, whose learning and eccentricity brought him into great notoriety, lie stood up for the honour of Cam- bridge, of which he was a graduate, and answered, impromptu (Nichols, as above) : The king to Oxford sent a troop of horse, For Tories own no argument but force ; With equal skill to Cambridge books he sent, For Whigs admit no force but argument. Dr. Johnson's opinion of this answer is given in Mrs. Piozzi's " Anec- dotes " : " Mr. Johnson did him the justice to say, it was one of the happiest extemporaneous productions he ever met with ; though he once comically confessed, that he hated to repeat the wit of a Whig urged in support of Whiggism." The books sent to Cambridge composed the valuable library of Dr. Moore, Bishop of Ely, which George I. purchased for 6000 guineas, and presented to the university. DE. EDWARD YOUNG. Bom 1681. Died 1765. ON MICHAEL ANGELO'S FAMOUS PICTURE OF TEE CRUCIFIXION. Whilst his Redeemer on his canvass dies, Stabb'd at his feet his brother weltering lies : The daring artist, cruelly serene, Views the pale cheek and the distorted mien ; He drains off life by drops, and deaf to cries, Examines every spirit as it flies : He studies torment, dives in mortal woe, To rouse up every pang repeats his blow ; Each rising agony, each dreadful grace. Yet warm transplanting to his Saviour's Face. Oh glorious theft ! Oh nobly wicked draught ! With its full charge of death each feature fraught • Such wondrous force the magic colours boast, From his own skill he starts in horror lost. DR. EDWARD YOUNG. 311 To account for the wonderful perfection of tlie picture, it seems to have been thought necessary to inveut the fiction upon which the epigram is founded. The tradition is this : " Michael Angelo, bcins; engaged in painting a picture of the Crucifixion, obtained permission to superintend the execution of a malefactor, who was condeamed to be broken upon the wheel. The man being stretched out upon his back, perfectly naked, the artist, eagerly scrutinizing each nerve and fibre of his frame, directed that the blows should be inflicted on those parts of his limbs and trunk, which might occasion the most lively and lingering torment, in order that, in representing the agonies of death, he might rival Nature herself !" Mr. White, from whose " Fragments of Italy and the Rhineland " this circumstantial statement of the well- known tradition has been taken, says that he was shown the picture in reference to which it is told, and which was stated to be the work of Michael Angelo, in the church of San Lorenzo in Lucina, at Rome, but that the famous altar-piece of the Crucifixion in that church is in reality the work of Nicholas Poussin. TO VOLTAIRE. When Voltaire was in England he ridiculed, in Young's presence, Milton's " Allegory of Sin and Death," which produced this extempore epigram : You are so witty, profligate, and thin, At once we think thee Milton, Death, and Sin. Sir Herbert Croft, who wrote the "Life of Young" for Ih-. Johnson, says, in reference to the epigram : " From the following passage in the poetical dedication of his ' Sea-piece ' to Voltaire, it seems that this extemporaneous reproof, if it must be extemporaneous (for what few will now affirm Voltaire to have deserved any reproof), was something longer than a distich, and something more gentle than the distich just quoted " : " Tell me, say'st thou, who courts my smile? What stranger stray'd from yonder isle ?" — No stranger, sir ! though born in foreign climes ; On Dorset Downs, when Milton's page, With Sin and Death, provok'd thy rage. Thy rage provok'd, tvhu sooth 'd with gentle rhymes? Who kindly couch'd thy censure's eye, And gave thee clearly to descry Sound judgment giving law to fancy strong? Who halt' iiiclin'd thee to confess, Nor could tliy modesty do less, That Milton's bliudnees lay not in his song? 312 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. WIT. As in smooth oil the razor best is whet, So wit is by politeness sharpest set ; Their want of edge from their oifence is seen, Both pain us least when exquisitely keen. There is an epigram in Hackett's " Collection of Select Epigrams," 1757, Ep. 144, which has some affinity with this very beautiful one of Young's : True wit is like the brilliant stone Dug from the Indian mine ; Which boasts two various powers in one, To cut as well as shine. Genius, like that, if polish'd right, With the same gifts abounds ; Appears at once both keen and bright, And sparkles while it wounds. That a " blunt will," which cannot combine true politeness with " sharp wit," is injurious, is shown in the character given of Longaville in " Love's Labour's Lost " (Act II. sc. 1) : The only soil of liis fair virtue's gloss, (If virtue's gloss will stain with any soil,) Is a sharp wit match'd with too blunt a will ; Whose edge hath power to cut, whose will still wills It should none spare that come within his power. WRITTEN WITH LOUD STANHOPE'S DIAMOND PENCIL. Accept a miracle instead of wit ; See two dull lines with Stanhope's pencil writ. This elegant compliment has been generally ascribed to Pope : it is here given to Young on the authority of Spence, who, being the in- timate friend of the former poet, would gladly have allowed him the merit of it, had there been even a doubt of the authorship at the time he collected his anecdotes. The account whicli Spence gives (appar- ently communicated by Young) of the occasion of the disticli is very circumstantial : " There was a club held at the King's Head in Pall Mall, that arrogantly called itself ' The World.' Lord Stanhope, then (now Lord Chesterfield) Lord Herbert, &c., &c., were members. Epi- grams were proposed to be written on the glasses by each member, after dinner : once, when Dr. Young was invited thither, the Doctor would have declined writing, because he had no diamond: Lord Stan- hope lent him his, and he wrote immediately " the distich given above (Spence's " Anecdotes," 1820, 377). 313 AARON HILL, A poet analunc8S did Contain; You liave the native colour, these the dye. And only flourish in your livery. Spenser, iu " Daphnaida," gives a diflfereut reason for the colour of the rose : 344 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS, It there befell, as I the fields did range, Fearlesse and free, a faire young lionesse, White as the native rose before tlie change Which Venus blood did in her leaves impresse, I spied * * * # Spenser is, however, incorrect. He alludes, of course, to the story of Venus and Adonis ; but it was from the blood of the latter that the red rose sprung, and from the tears of the foimer the anemone ; as may be seen in Bion's Idylliura on the death of Adonis. The same mistake occurs in a very beautiful epigram translated by Moore from the Latin, more to be admired in the English, especially the last line, even than in the original (Moore's '• Poetical Works ") : While the enamour'd queen of joy Flies to protect her lovely boy, On whom the jealous war-god rushes ; She ti'eads upon a thorned rose, And while the wound with crimson flows. The snowy flow'ret feels her blood, and blushes ! An epigram by Dr. John Carey, " Origin of the Red Rose," is m the "Gentleman's Magazine," LXXXIX. Part II. 67: As, erst, in Eden's blissful bow'rs, Young Eve survey'd her countless flow'rs, An op'ning rose, of purest white, She mark'd, with eyes that beam'd delight. Its leaves she kiss'd : and straight it drew, From Beauty's lip, the vermeil hue. TO DR. BEADING MATHEMATICS. Vain our pursuits of knowledge, vain our care, The cost and labour we may justly spare. Death from this coarse alloy refines the mind, Leaves us at large t' expatiate unconfin'd ; (,. All science opens to our wondering e3'es, And the good man is in a moment wise. '* The Jesuit Bernardus Bauhuiius has a Latin epigram on tlie deatli of Christopher Clavins, a German Jesuit, who wrote an elaborate work on mathematics, and who was sent for to Rome, to assist in the refor- mation of the Calendar by Pope Gregory, where he died in 1612. The translation is by James Wright (" Delitiae Delitiarum," 209): When doubting of some stars, thus Clavius cried. Let me, O God, nearer behold ; and died. The close of an epitaph on Sii- Isaac Newton may be comparwl '/'Elegant Extracts"): PHILIP DOEMEB STANHOPE, EARL OF CHESTERFIELD. 345 Who in the eye of Heaven like Enoch stood. And thro' the paths of knowledge walk'd with God : Whose fame extends, a sea without a shore ! Who but forsook one world to know the laws of more. EPITAPH ON HUGH LUMBER, A HUSBANDMAN. In cottages and homely cells Ti'ue piety neglected dwells ; Till call'd to heaven, her native seat, Where the good man alone is great : 'Tis then his humble dust shall rise. And view his Judge with joyful eyes ; While haiTghty tyrants shrink afraid, And call the mountains to their aid. liancroft, the epigrammatist of the seventeenth century, has an epigram on '■ Pride and Humility," which may be compared with Somervile's epitaph (Book II. 62) : Mountains their tallness lose, but vaUies grow Higher, by ruins on their bosom cast ; And climbing pride comes txunbling down below. But himable goodness will reach heaven at last. PHILIP DORMER STANHOPE, FOURTH EARL OF CHESTERFIELD, Was bom in 1694. He was a courtier, an ambassador, and a wit ; but \B popularly remembered now as the nobleman whose tardily-ofiered patronag(! Dr. Johnson declined with disdiiin ; and as the author of " I^etters to liis Son," which contain little grace and less morality. Ho died in 1773. ON SEEING A WHOLE-LENGTH PORTRAIT OF NASH BETWEEN THE BUSTS OF SIR ISAAC NEWTON AND POPE IN THE BOOMS AT BATH. Immortal Newton never spoke Moie truth than here you'll find ; Nor Pope himself e'er penn'd a joke Severer (Jii mankind. 346 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. The picture, plac'd the busts between, Gives satire all its strength : Wisdom and Wit are little seen, While Folly glares at length. This epigram is found in Lord Chesterfield's " Miscellaneous Works " 1777, 1. 89. The picture was painted at the expense of the Corporation of Bath. The Earl wrote a much longer piece on the same subject, tlie last verse of which is, with the exception of a few words, the same as the last verse of the epigram. Another epigram on Nash may be inserted here. Dr. Johnson, talking of infidel writers and of injudicious defenders of religion, said of the latter : " To such I would apply a stanza of a poem which I remember to have seen in some old collection " (Boswell's " Life of Johnson," year 1784). The collection is, " The Foundling Hospital for Wit," from which Boswell gives the entire epigram, " Occasioned by a Religious Dispute at Bath." The initials only of the names are printed ; but tliey are Bentley, son of the great critic, and Beau Nash : On Reason, Faith, and mystery high, Two wits harangue the table ; Bentley believes he knows not why, Nash swears 'tis all a fable. Peace, coxcombs, peace, and both agree ; Nash, kiss thy empty brother ; Religion laughs at foes like thee, And dreads a friend like t'other. Johnson remarked of the stanza which he quoted, " The point is well, though the expression is not correct ; one, and not thee, should be op- posed to t'other." The following emendation has been suggested : Peace, coxcombs, peace ! Such contests shun ! Nash, kiss thy empty brother ; Religion laughs at foes like one, And dreads a friend like t'other. TO MISS AMBROSE. At a ball given by Lord Chesterfield, when Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, on the anniversary of the battle of the Boyne, a Roman Catholic lady of great beauty, Miss Ambrose, appeared with an orange lily in her dre'as. The Earl addressed her in the following extempore lines • Say, lovely Tory, why the jest, Of wearing orange on thy breast, When that same breast betraying shows The whiteness of the rebel rose ? In allusion to the beauty of this lady. Lord Chesterfield used to mv ELIZABETH TOLLET. 347 that she was the only dangerous Papist in Ireland (" Anecdotes of Eminent Persons," 1804, I. 268). The epigram is not found in Lord Chesterfield's " IMiscellaneous Works," but is ascribed to him by almost general consent. In the " Asylum for Fugitive Pieces," however, it is given to '' the late John St. Leger, Esq." Another epigram on the same lady is in Chesterfield's Works. ELIZABETH TOLLET, Daughter of George Toilet, Esq., who, as a commissioner of the navy, had a house in the Tower in the reigns of King William and Queen Anne. She was born iu 1694, and died in 1754. THE TRIUMVIRATE OF POETS. (Nichols " Collection of Poems," VI. 67, 1780.) Britain with Greece and Rome contended long For lofty genius and poetic song, Till this Augustan age with three was blest, To fix the prize and finish the contest. In Addison, immortal Virgil reigns ; So pure his numbers, so refin'd his strains : Of nature full, with more impetuous heat, In Prior Horace shines, sublimely great. Thy country', Homer ! we dispute no more, For Pope has fix'd it to his native shore. The thought in the last two lines finds expression in an nnonymoaa epigram addressed to Pope ("The Grove," 1721, 2G5) : So much, dear Pope, thy English Iliad charms. As pity melts us, or as passion warms, That after-ages shall with wonder seek Who 'twas translated Homer into Greek. This view, however, of Pope's " Homer" is scarcely original, as very much the same was said years before of Chapman's translation, in an a.idre88 to that poet (" Wit Kestored," ed. 1817, U. 11) : Thou ghost of Homer, 'twere no fault to call His till) translation, thiue the original, Did wo not know 'twas done by thee so well ; Thou makest Homer, Homer's self excel. 348 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. Ben Jonson, in some introductory commendatory verses to " Bartas, his Divine Weeks and Works, translated, and dedicated to the King's Most Excellent Majesty, by Joshua Sylvester," 1605, has the I'cllowing, speaking of Du Bartas, and addressing Sylvester : So well in that are his inventions wrought. As his will now be the translation thought. Thine the original ; and France shall boast No more those maiden glories she hath lost. ANDREW JACKSON, Bom in 1694, was a dealer in old books, and kept a shop for many years in Clare Court, Drary Lane. He hud a love for literature, and wrote as well as read. In 1740 he published the first book of " Paradise Lost" in rhyme, and, ten years afterwards, tales from Chaucer in modern verse, placing on the title-page the following epigram to explain the object of his publication (Nichols' " Literary Anecdotes," III. 626) : The first refiner of our native lays Chaunted these tales in second Richard's days ; Time grudg'd his wit, and on his language fed ! We rescue but the living from the dead ; And what was sterling verse so long ago Is here new coined to make it current now. Jolm Skeltcn, an old English poet, bom towards the latter part of the 15th century, speaks thus of the honour due to Chaucer : O noble Chaucer, whose pullished eloquence Our Englishe rude so freshely hath set out, That bounde are we with all due reverence, With all our sti-engthe that we can bryng about, To owe to you our service, and more if we nowte. * * ie Hf if So, Akenside, in his " Inscription for a Statue of Chaucer," speaks : Of him who first with hannony inform'd The language of our fathers. And Addison, in '• An Account of the Greatest English Poets," says of Chaucer, in exact accordance with the third line of Jackson's epigram : But age has ru.sted what the poet writ, Worn out his language, and obscur'd his wit. 349 FRANCOIS MAEIE AROUET DE VOLTAIRE. Bom 1694. Died 1778. TO LAURA HABLEY, 1727. (" (Euvres de Voltaire." Paris, 1837, 11. 806.) Laura, would you know the passion You have kindled in my breast ? Trifling is the inclination, That by words can be express' d. Li my silence see the lover, True love is by silence known : In my eyes you'll best discover All the power of your own. In Dodsley's " Collection " these lines are stated to have been ad- dressed to Lady Hervey, who was the daughter of General Nicholas le Pell. Sir Walter Raleigh, in " The Silent Lover," says very much the .same of true love (Ellis' " Specimens of the Early English Poets," 1803. 11. 223) : Passions are liken'd best to floods and streams ; The shallow murmur, but the deep are dumb : So when affections yield discourse, it seems The bottom is but shallow whence they come. Tbey that are rich iu words must needs discover They are but poor in that which makes a lover. INSCRIPTION FOB A STATUE OF CUPID. (" (Euvres de Voltaire." Paris, 1837, U. 765.) Translated from the French by Granville (Lord Lansdowne). Whoe'er thou art, thy lord and master see. Thou wast my slave, thou art, or thou shalt be. Numberless passages may be found in the poets of every age on this subject. An Ode of Anacreon, thus translated by Fawkes, shows Cupid's power (Ode 58j : To Love I wake the silver string. And of his soft dominion sing : A wreath of flowers adorns his brow, The sweetest, fairest flowers that blow ; 360 MODEEN EPIGRAMMATISTS, All mortals own his mighty sway, And him the gods above obey. Alexis, a Greek comic poet, who flourished B.C. 356, thus speaks in a fragment preserved by Athena^us, Book XIII., translated, or rather paraphrased, by Cumberland (" Observer," No. 101) : The man who holds true pleasure to consist In pampering his vile body, and defies Love's great divinity, rashly maintains Weak impious war with an immortal god. The gravest master that the schools can boast Ne'er train'd his pupils to such discipline, As Love his votaries, unrivall'd power. The first great deity — and where is he, So stubborn and determinately stiif, But shall at some time bend the knee to love, And make obeisance to his mighty shrine ? Shakespeare has many passages on the power of Love. In '■ Love's Labour's Lost " (Act I. sc. 2), Armado says : '• Cupid's butt-ghaft is too hard for Hercules' club, and tlierefore too much odds for a Spaniard's rapier. . . . His disgrace is to be called boy ; but his glory is to subdue men." And in the " Two Gentlemen of "Verona " (Act H. sc. 4), Valentine says: Oh, gentle Proteus, Love's a mighty lord ; And hath so himibled me, as, I confess, There is no woe to his correction. Nor to his service, no such joy on earth ! ON TEE PHRASE, " TO KILL TIME." Translated from the French in '' Select Epigrams." Time speaks. There's scarce a point whereon mankind agree So well, as in their boast of killing me : I boast of nothing, but, when I've a mind, I think I can be even with mankind. 1'he riddle, " On Time," by Swift, or one of his friends, may be com- pared with this epigram : Ever eating, never cloying. All devouring, all destroying. Never finding full repast. Till I eat the world at last. Charles V. asserted that himself, backed by Time, was a match fot any other two. Dr. Franklin, referring to this in a letter to W. Car- i I GILBEBT WEST. 351 michael, Esq., says that he had somewhere met with an answer to it in tius distich (" Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin," by his grandson, W. T. Franklin, 1818, KI. 83) : I and Time, 'gainst any two. Chance and I, 'gainst Time and you. BELL-BIN GEES. Translated frcytn the French, in " Miscellaneous Poetical Extracts from Newspapers." Ye rascals of ringers, ye merciless foes. And disturbers of all who are fond of repose, How I wish for the quiet and peace of the land, That ye wore round your necks what you hold in your hand ! Hood, in " Up the Khine,' writes : " Past one o'clock, and here 1 am not couchant but rampant ! Yet have I been between the sheets, and all but into the soft arms of Mr. Morpheus, but oh ! Gerard, a night at Bonn is anything but a honne nuit ! . . . Partial as I am to music, I could not relish these outbreaks, nor did it comfort me a whit, that all who met or overtook these wassailers (the University students; joined most skilfully and scientifically in the tune ! " ' I like your German singers well. But hate them too, and for this reason. Although they always sing in time. They often sing quite out of season,' " GILBERT WEST. Bom towards the close of the 17th century. Died 1756. INSCRIPTION ON A CELL IN LORD WESTMORELAND'S GROUNDS. Beneath these moss-grown roots, this rustic cell, Truth, Liberty, Content, sequester'd dwell ; Say you, who dare our hermitage disdain, \\ hat drawing-room can boast so fair a train ? These lines are characteristic of West, who, delighting in the truth of Dulure, the liberty of country life, and the content which simple habits 352 MODERN EPIGKAMMATI8T8. produce, preferred his quiet seat at Wicklmm to the gaiety and con- straints of London drawing-rooms. In the very spirit of West, his intimate friend and cousin, Lord Lyttelton, addressed the following prett)' epigram to him : Fair Nature's sweet simplicity, With elegance refin'd. Well in thy seat, my friend, I see, But better in thy mind. To both, from courts and all their state, Eager I fly, to prove Joys far above a courtier's fate. Tranquillity and love. A similarity to West's lines, and also in sentiment to Ix)rd Lyttel- ton's, will be observed in the following inscription " Upon the Thatched House in the Wood of Sander&on Millar, Esq. at Radway, in Warwick- shire." It is taken from a MS. note-book, and given in " Notes and Queries," 2nd S. IV. 291. Tiie author is the Rev. James Merrick, of Trinity College, Oxford, whose chief work was "The Psahns translated or paraphrased in English Verse," 1765 : Stay, passenger, and though within Nor gold nor sparkling gem be seen, To strike the dazzled eye ; Yet enter and thy raptur'd mind Beneath this humble roof shall find What gold could never buy. Within this solitary cell Calm thought and sweet contentment dwell. Parents of bliss sincere ; Peace spreads around her balmy wings. And banisli'd from the coiu-ts of kings,^ Has fixed her mansion here. WILLIAM CLAEKE, " Was bom in Shropshire in 1696. He became rector of Buxted, in Sussex, and subsequently a prebendary and chancellor of Chichester cathedral. Antiquities were his favourite study, and he was a secret though not unsuccessful votary of the Muses. The learned Bishop Hunt- ingford speaks of his " exquisite taste and diversified erudition ;" a7id so noted was he as a peacemaker in quarrels, which seem to have been rife among the members of the Chapter of Chichester, that it was said after his death in 1771, " Tlie peace of the Church of Chichester has ex- pired with Mr. Clarke." The poet Hayley wrote an epitaph on this amiable man and his wife, which commences : Mild William Clarke and Anno his wife WILLIAM CLASEE — WILLIAM OLDTS. 353 ON SEEING THE WORDS " DOMUS ULTIMA" INSCRIBED ON THE VAULT BELONGING TO THE DUKES OF RICHMOND IN CHICHESTER CATHEDRAL. (Nichols' " Literary Anecdotes," IV. 372.) Did he, who thus inscrib'd the wall, Not read, or not believe S. Paul, Who says there is, where'er it stands, Another house not made with hands ; Or may we gather from these words, That house is not a house of Lords? Of this Hayley said : "Perhaps there are few better epigrams in our language ;" and Kapin, who declared it enough for any one man to liave composed one good epigram, would probably have acknowledged that Clarke dosc-rved the bays as an epigrammatist. The inscription, on which the epigram is founded, is (or was) on a mural tablet at the east end of the Duke's vault, near S. Mary's Chapel in the Cathedral (Nichols, as above) : Sibi et suis, posterisque eorum Hoc Hypogaeum vivus F. 0. Carolus Richmondise, Liviniae, Et Albiniaci dux. Anno aerse Christiana} 1750. Hxc est Domus ultima. WILLIAM OLDYS, Was born in 1C96. He was librarian to the Earl of Oxford, and afterwards Norroy-King-at-Arnis. He had a great knowledge of Eng- lish books, and cliiffiy supported him.self by writing for the book- sellers. " A Cdllcetioii of Epigrams, with a Dissertation on this Species of Poetry," the '2nd edition of whicli was jjublished in 1735, has been atcribf il to him, but no sufficient authority for this has been found. He died in 17tiJ. ON A FLY DRINKING OUT OF A CUP OF ALE. I'usy, cmnous, thirsty fly ! Drink witli rac, and drink as 1 ! Freely welcome to my cup, Could'st thou sip and sip it up : 2 A 354 MODEEN EPIGRAMMATISTS. Make the most of life you may ; Life is short and wears away ! Both alike are mine and thine, Hastening quick to their decline ! Thine's a summer, mine no more, Though repeated to threescore ! Threescore summers when they're gone. Will appear as short as one. Disraeli, in his " Curiosities of Literature " (Art. " Oldys aud his MSS."), confirms this Anacreontic as the production of Oldys, and gives it in its correct form, as hei-e set down, without a third stanza, which is commonly printed with it, but which is an interpo- lation. We may compare the last stanza of Dr. Johnson's " Ode on Winter" . Catch then, O ! catch the transient hour. Improve each moment as it flies ; Life's a short summer — man a flower : He dies — alas ! how soon he dies ! ON FLATMAN'S THREE VOCATIONS— POETRY, PAINTING, AND LAW. (Horace Walpole's Works, 1798, III. 300.) Should Flatman for his client strain the laws, The Painter gives some colour to the cause : Should critics censure what the Poet writ, The Pleader quits him at the bar of wit. Flatman was a barrister, but it does not appear that he ever made the law a profession. In poetry he was not very successful, but in painting attained some eminence. Granger says one of his heads is worth a ream of his Pindarics. MATTHEW GKEEN, Was born about J 696, and died at the early ago of 41. He had a place in the Custom House. He published nothing during his life, but his Poems were collected after his death ; the chief is one entitled " The Spleen," which Pope pronounced very original, and which has gained the praise of the most competent critics. MATTHEW GKEEN. 355 ON BISHOP GILBERT BURNET'S AND THE REV. LAURENCE ECEARD'S HISTORIES. ('* The Spleen and other I'oems," 1796, 59.) Gil's history appears to me Political anatomy, A case of skeletons well done, And malefactors every one. His sharp and strong incision pen Historically cuts up men, And does with lucid skill impart Their inward ails of bead and heart. Laurence proceeds another way. And well-dress'd figures doth display : His characters are all in flesh, Their hands are fair, their faces fresh ; And from his sweet'ning art derive A better scent than when alive. He wax-work made to please the sons. Whose fathers were Gil's skeletons. Of Bishop Burnet's "History of his own Time," Swift said : " His characters are miserably wrought, in many things mistaken, and aU of them detracting) except of tiiose who were friends to the Presbyterians." Lauix-nce Echard was Archdeacon of Stowe. He published a "History of England " terminating with tlie Revolution. In politics he was op- posed to Burnet, and wrote accordingly ; but his history was acknow- ledged to be fair, and Dr. Edmund Calamy, who published a pamphlet again.st some of Mr. Eciiard's conclusions, praised his clearness of method, pert-picuity of language, and the " smooth and polite way " in which the historv is written. THE MODERN LADY. Could our first fatlier, at bis toilsome plough, Thoins in bis path, and laboui- on liis brow; Cbjfli'd only in a lude, unpoli.-^b'd skin, Could he a vain fantastic nymph have seen, In all her airs, in all her modem graces. Her vaiious fashions and more vuiiuus faces; How bad it puzzled him, who late assign 'd Just appellations to each several kind, 356 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS, A right idea of the sight to frame, To guess from what new element she came, To fix the Avavering form, and give the thing a name ! Tliis is not foimd in tlie " Spleen and other Poems," but is ascribed to Green on the authority of Hacki tt, who, in '' A Collection of Select Epigrams," 1757, Ep. 58, states that it is "by the author of the ' Spleen.' " The "various fashions and more various faces " of modern nymphs, is a subject upon which epigrammatic wit has been continually exer- cised. The tbllowing " Impromptu ; To a Lady enquiring why Beards were not worn as in former times," is amusing, and very ajaplicable in tl;e days of Green, though it is not so in our own ("Gentleman's Magazine," LXXVIII. Part II. 1107): To brush the cheeks of ladies fair, With genuine charms o'erspread ; Their sapient beards with mickle care, Om- wise forefathers fed. But since our modern ladies take Such pains to paint their faces ; What liavock would such brushes make Among the Loves and Graces ! WILLIAM HOGAETH. The celebrated Painter. Born 1697. Died 1764. QUIN, MACKLIN, AND EICR. (Nichols' "Collection of Poems," VIH. 232, 1782.) " Your servant, sir," says surly Quin. " Sir, I am yours," replies Macklin. " Why, you're the very Jew you play, Your face performs the task well." " And you are Sir John Brute, they say, And an accomplish 'd Maskwell." Says Eich, who heard the sneering elves, And knew their horrid hearts, " Acting too much your very selves, Y^ou overdo your parts." This is said to be an almost unique specimen of Hogarth's wit in epigranimatic form. VINCENT BOrUNE. 357 Quin, who was famous for his playiug of Sir John Jirute, is com- luemorated by Clmrchill, in the " Kosciad," in that poet's usual strain of satire : In Brute hie shone unequall'd : all agree Garrick's not half so great a brute as he. Macklin gained his laurels as Shylock, and when he died in 1797 at the age (it is said) of 107, the epitaph was remembered, whicli Pope had, many years before, given as the most approi^riate for his tomb. The lines have appeared iu various forms, and the cireumstances under whieh they were extemporized have been told iiiditierent ways. That Pope was the author has been denied, but without sufHcieut reason. (" Collection of Epitaphs," 1806, I. 30) : Here lies the Jew That Shakespeare drew. Rich was manager of the theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields, and after- wards patentee of Covent Garden. VINCENT BOURNE, Whose Latin poems are the admiration of scholars, was born about 1698. He was educated at Westminster, whence he removed to Trinity College, Cambridge. Alter taking his degree he became an usher in We.-3tminster School, and died of a lingering disorder in 1747. TEE CAUSE WON (Ed. 1772, 195). Translated from the Latin by Cotcper. Two neighbours furiously dispute ; A field — the subject of the suit. Trivial the spot, yet such the rage With which the combatants engage, 'Twcre hai-d to tell who covets most The piize — at whatsoever cost. The pleadings swell. Wi^rds still .sufBce : No single word but has its price. No term but yields some fair pretence For novel and increased expense. Defendant thus becomes a name. Which he that bore it may disclaim ; Since both, in one dcscripti(ni blended. Are plaiutiifs — when tlie suit is ended. Boiloau's famoiiH njiigram on a law-suit, translated by Pope, is in the Works <>i' the- lutti;r jjoet. ! 358 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. An anonymous epigram on this subject is given in " Select EiDigrams," entitled " The Fatal Victory " : Unhappy Chremes, neighbour to a peer, Kept Jialf his sheep, and fatted half his deer; Each day liis gates thrown down, Ids fences broke, And injur'd still the more, the more he spoke : At length, resolv'd his potent foe to awe, And guard his riuht by statute and by law, A suit in Chancery the wretch begun ; Nine happy terms through bill and answer rim, Obtain'd his cause, — had costs, and — was undone. This brings to mind Martial's Epigram (Book VII. 65) on Gar- gilianus, who was determined to carry his cause through every court rather than lose it. The force of the original is well given in the fol- lowing free translation by Halhed (" Imitations of Some of the Epigrams of Martial," 1793-4, Part I. 27) : Full twenty years, through all the courts. One craving process George supports. You're mad, George — twenty years ! you're mad : A nonsuit's always to he had. This is probably tlie original of a Latin epigram by Owen (Book VIII. 67 >, translated by Harvey (altered; : Thy suit depends in law : better suspend, And pay the costs, than let it long depend. NO SORROW PECULIAR TO THE SUFFERER (Ed. 1772, 250). Translated from the Latin by Cowper. The lover, in melodious verses, His singular distress rehearses ; Still eloping with a rueful cr}", " Was ever such a wretch as I !" Yes ! thousands have endured before All thy distress ; some, haply, more. Unnumber'd Corydons complain. And Strephons, of the like disdain ; And if thy Chloe be of steel. Too deaf to hear, too hard to feel ; Not her alone that censure fits, Nor thou alone hast lost thy wits. I VINCENT BOURNE. 359 Shakespeare, in the "Two Gentlemen of Verona" (Act V. sc. i), makes Valentine piteously say : Here can I sit alone, unseen of any. And to the ni>>;htingale's complaining notes, Tune my distresses, and record my woes. And Proteus, in the same scene : 0, 'tis the curse in love, and still approv'd, When women cannot love, where they're belov'd. ON A SEPULCHRAL STATUE OF AN INFANT SLEEPING CEd. 1772, 329). Translated from the Latin by Charles Lamb. Beautiful infant who dost keep Thy posture here, and sleep'st a marble sleep, May the repose unbroken be, Which the fine artist's hand hath lent to thee, While thou onjoy'st along with it That which no art, or craft could ever hit, Or counterfeit to mortal sense, The heaven-infused sleep of Innocence! Cowper's beautiful "Lines on a Sleeping Infant" may perhaps have been suggested by Bourne s ; for, though the subject be different, the thoughts called forth are of t!ie same character, and Cowper was an ardent admirer of " Vinny Bourne," as he used affectionately to call him, having been under him at Westminster : Sweet babe ! whose image here express'd Does thy peaceful slumbers show ; Guilt or far, to break thy rest, Never did thy spirit know. Sootliing slumbers ! soft repose. Such as mock the painter's skill, Such as innocence bt-stows, Harmless infant ! lull thee still. The following pretty ejtitapli on a baljy, in Peterborough Cathedral, dated IfJGG, may be addeo, in memory of the vows we made. Drink not of Lethe' in the realms of shade 1 362 MODERN EPIGEASIMATISTS EPITAPH ON DB. STEPHEN HALES. (Written in Latin and English.) Of sweet simplicity, of generous breast, Godlike Religion ! thy undoubted test ; Of vivid genius, form'd for public good, Source to the wretch, of joy, — the poor, of food : Such were thy titles ; high and low the same Bespoke thee, Hales ; and these God's voice proclaim. Dr. Hales was an eminent natural philosopher. His invention of ventilators for mines, prisons, hospitals, &c., proved most valuable for the preservation of life and health. He was held in high estimation for his learning and his benevolence. Pope, in the second of his " Moral Essays," highly compliments him, and dignifies him with the appella- tion of " plain Part^on Hale " ; though the poet, from carelessness or for the sake of the rhyme, sjjells his name incorrectly. EICHARD SAVAGE. Born 1698. Died 1743. TO MIRANDA, CONSOBT OF AARON HILL, ESQ., ON READING HER POEMS. Each softening charm of Clio's smiling song, Montague's soul, which shines divinely strong, These blend with graceful ease to form thy rh3'me, Tender, yet chaste ; sweet- sounding, j^et sublime ; Wisdom and wit have made thy works their care, Each passion glows, refin'd by precept, there: To fair Miranda's form each grace is kind ; The Muses and the Virtues tune thy mind. Dr. Johnson was equally complimentary in an epigram addressed " To Lady Firebrace at Bury Assizes," which first appeared in the ^ Gentleman's Magazine," Vltl. 486 : At length must Suffolk's beauties shine in vain, So long renown'd in B n's deathless strain? Thy charms at least, lair Firebrace, might inspire Some zealous bard to wake the sleeping lyre. For such thy beauteous mind and lovely face, Thou seem'st at once, bright nymph, a Muse and Grace WILLIAM BOWTEE. 363 This lady was Bridget, daughter of Philip Bacon, of Ipswich. She married first, Edward Evers. of the same place ; secondly, Sir Cordell Firebrace ; and thirdly, William Campbell, brother of John, third Duke of Argyll. The two ladies thus commemorated were endowed with more sub- stantial advantages than those conferred by the Muses and Graces, for they both brought handsome fortunes to their husbands. Johnson mentions his lines in a letter to Cave, the editor of the " Gentleman's Magazine " : " The verses to Lady Firebrace may be had when you please, for you know that such a subject neither de- serves much thought nor requires it." Croker, in a note to BoswelFs "Life of Johnson," L 150, ed. 1835, says: "It seems quite unintel- ligible how these six silly lines should be the production of Johnson " ; and he conjectures, " that Cave may have sent some verses of another correspondent, on Lady Firebrace, to Johnson to correct or curtail." But this conjecture is scarcely consistent with the expressions used by Johnson in his letter. WILLIMI BOWYEE, A printer of great learning, and extensive acquaintance with literary men, was bom in 1099, and in 1710 admitted of S. John's College, Cambridge. He afterwards became a partner in his father's printing- house, and from that, time until his death, in 1777, was constantly engaged in his business — in literary correspondence — and in writing and editing valuable works. The following epigrams are found in Nichols' " Literary Anecdotes of the 18th Century." TO BE PLACED UNDER A HEAD OF GULLIVER. Here learn, from moral truth, and wit refin'd, How vice and foil}' have debas'd mankind ; Strong sense and honour arm in Virtue's cause; Thus her great votary vindicates her laws : ^Vhile bold and free the glowing colours strike ; Blame not the painter if the picture's like. On the subject of the last line, a passage may be quoted from Bishop Hall's postscript to his satire.-:, written as an apology for them : " Why should vices be uiiblamed, for fear of blame ? And, if thou may'st spit upon a toad unvenomed, why may'st thou not speak of a vice with- out danger ? Especially so warily as I have endeavoured : who, in tho unpartial mention of so many vices, may safely profess to be altogether giiiltli'ss in iDyHcllto the intention of any guilty person who might bo blciriished l)y the likelihood of my conceived apjilieation ; thereupon chorjsing ratJier to mar mine own verse thar^ another's name. Wliich, notwithstanding, if the injurious reader shall wrest to his own spite, 364 MODEKN EPIGRAJIMATISTS. and disparaging of others, it is a short answer, ' Art thou guilty f Com- plain not : thou art not wronged. ' Art thou guiltless f Complain not : thou art not touched." ON DEAN SWIFT. Which gave the Drapier birth tAvo realms contend : And each asserts her poet, patriot, friend : Her mitre jealous Britain ma}- deny ; That loss lerne's laurel shall supply ; Through life's low vale, she, grateful, gave him bread ; Her vocal stones shall vindicate him dead. This was written by Bowyer and Nichols conjointly, on the occasiou of the publication by them of the latter volumes of Swift's Works in 1762. The epigram is said to have been suggested by the following inscription by John Cunningham, intended for a monument to the Dean : Say, to the Drapier's vast unbounded fame Wliat added honours can the sculptor give ? None — 'Tis a sanction from the Drapier s name Must bid the sculptor and the marble live. This was probably taken from some translation of a Greek epigram by an uncertain author ; perhaps the one in the *' Spectator, ' which will be found under George Herbeit. Cunningham was not scholar enough to be acquainted with the original. With regard to the third line of Bowyer's epigram it may be noticed that Queen Anne wished Swift to be a bishop, but was cautioned against promoting him by Dr. Sharp, Archbi^llop of York, who re- marked, " that her Majesty should be sure that the man whom she was going to make a bishop was at least a Christian." The Arch- bishop was afterwards reconciled to Swift, and even asked his forgive- ness ; but the Dean, whose chance of a bishopric was gone, bitterly alludes to the occasion in " The Author upon Himself" : York is from Lambeth sent to (-how the Queen A dangerous treatise writ against the spleen ; Which, by the style, tlie matter, and the drift, 'Tis thought could be the work of none but Swift. Poor Yorji! the harmless tool of others' hate; He sues for pardon, and repents too late. The treatise was the ♦' Tale of a Tub." 365 JOHN WHALEY, Was born at the end of the 17th or the beginning of the IStb .century. He ■was a Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, and an assistant master of Eton. He published a volume of Poems in 1732 and another in 1745. The following epigrams are in the latter. He was a clergyman, but does not appear to have been an honour to his Drofession. He died in distress. ON GAMBLING. To gild o'er avarice with a specious name, To sufler torment while for sport you game, Time to reverse aud Urder to defy, To make your temper subject to a die, To curse your fate for each unlucky throw, Your reason, sense, and prudence to forego ; To call each power iufemal to your part, To sit with anxious eyes, and aching heart ; Your fortune, time, and health to throw away, Is what our modern men of taste call plaij. The following lines on gambling are by Madame des Houlieres. a French poetess, who shone among the wits of the reign of Louis XIV. The ti-anslation is taken from " Seltcttous from the French Anu.s," 1797, U. 32 : Amusement which exceeds the measure Of reason, ceases to be pleasure. Play, merely for diversion's sake, Is fair, nor risks an heavy stake. The vet'ran gamester, void of shame. Is man no longer but in name. His mind the .slave of every vice Spawn'd by that foul fiend Avarice. Though with integrity and sense The gamester may his trade commence, The lust of gold will soon impart Its subtle pfii.son to his lieart. To each mean trick inur'd to stoop, The knave soon supersedcB the dupo. An ajionymous epigram on a gambler's marriage may bo g'iven : " I'm Very rnucli Mn])rise(l," (juolli Harry, '' Tli;it Jane a gambler should marry." " I'm not at nil," lier s-ister .says, " Vou know he has such winning wava." 366 MODERN EPIGKAMMATISTS. ON A NORTHERN BEAUTY. Translated from the Latin by Dr. Timothy TJwmas. Though from ihe North the damsel came, All spring is in her breast ; Her skin is of the driven snow, But sunshine all the rest. There is a similar idea in Wordsworth's pretty poem, " She was a Phautom of Delight": Her eyes as stars of Twilight fair ; Like Twilight's, too, her dusky hair ; But all things else about her drawn From May-time and the cheerful Dawn. ON A WASP'S SETTLING ON BELLAS ARM. How sweetly careless Delia seems, (Her innocence can fear no harm) "While ronnd th' envenomed insect skims, Then settles on her snowy arm ! Ye flutt'ring beaux, and spiteful bards, To you this moral truth I sing : Sense, join'd to virtue, disregards Both Folly's buzz and Satire's sting. Very similar in spirit is Swift's view of the impotence of satire, in an epistle " To Dr. Delany on the Libels written against him " : Though splendour gives the fairest mark To poison'd arrows from the dark, Yet, in yourself when smooth and round. They glance aside without a wound. STEPHEN DUCK. This remarkable person was an agi-icultural labourer, bom about the beginning of the 18th century. He had a thirst for knowledge, and some inclination towards poetry ; and studied such books as his poverty enabled him to obtain. Some of his verses were shown to Queen Caroline, who settled upon liim an annuity of about £30 a year. In STEPHEN DUCK. 367 1733 he was made one of the yeomen of the guard, and soon afterwards, though quite unfitted iu point of learning for such a position, was ordained, and presented to the living of Byfleet, in Surrey. His last advancement was to the chaplaincy of a regiment of dragoon guards. He committed suicide in a fit of insanity in 1756. PROFEE INGREDIENTS TO MAKE A SCEPTIC. ("Poems on Several Occasions. By Stephen Duck," 1736, 157.) Would 3'ou, my friend, a finish'd sceptic make, To form his nature these materials take : A little learning ; twenty grains of sense, Join'd with a double share of ignorance ; Infuse a little icit into the scull, "Which never fails to make a might y fool ; Two drams of faith ; a tun of doubting next ; Let all be with the dregs of reason mixt : When, in his mind these jarring seeds are sown, He'll censure all things, but approve of none. In Dr. Bliss' "Reliquiae Hernianse" is the following: "'Twas a memorable saying of my Lord Bacon, that a little learning makes men atheists, but a gi'eat deal reduces them to a better sense of things." So, Pope, in his " Essay on Criticism," Part II. 15 : A little learning is a dangerous thing ; Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring. ANSWER TO THOSE WHO ENVIED THE FAVOURS SHOWN TO THE AUTHOR. (Spence's "Anecdotes," 1820, 436.) You think it, censor, mighty strange That, born a country clown, I should my first profession change, And wear a chaplain's gown! If virtue hononis the low race From which I was descended. If vices your high birth disgrace, Who should bo most coiuuiended? There is good feeling and sound sense in these lima, which form a 368 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. noble reply to the carping envy of the wits who assailed the poor poet, Swift, who too often forgot his dig-nity in the spleen which prompttil iiis satire, was one of those who had shown theu- malice. The following epigram by the Dean contrasts unfavourably with Duck's reply : The thresher Duck could o'er the Queen prevail ; The proverb says, " No fence against a flail." From threshing corn he turns to thresh his brains, For which Her Majesty allows him grains. Though 'tis confess'd that those who ever saw His poems, think them all not worth a straw. Thrice happy Duck, employed in threshing stubble ! Thy toil is lessen'd, and thy profits double. EPITAPH ON JOE MILLER. If humour, wit, and honesty could save The hum'rous, witty, honest from the grave ; The grave had not so soon this tenant found, Whom honesty, and wit, and humour crowned. Or could esteem and love preserve our breath, And guard us longer from the stroke of death, The stroke of death on him had later fell, Whom all mankind esteem'd and lov'd so well. The epitaph was inscribed on the tombstone of Joe Miller, who died in 1738, and was buried in the upper churchyard of S. Clement Danes, in Portugal Street, near Lincoln's Inn. The inscription, which time had nearly obliterated, was transferred to a new stone in 1S16. (For the epitaph and some interesting particulars of Joe Miller, see " Gentleman's Magazine," XC. Part II. 3'27, 3'28, and 487 ; and XCI. Part I. 321., ON HIS SON'S ADMISSION TO ETON. (FrankUn's "Pennsylvania Gazette," of December G, 173S.) Vast blessings, lucky child, attend Thy fate as well as mine; A gracious Queen has been my friend, A King will now be thine. Great Caroline supported me, Tho' 1 no learning knew; But Henry's bounty gives to thee ISxipport and learning too. 369 JAMES THOMSON. Bom 1700. Died 1748. TO AMANDA, WITS A COFY OF TEE "SEASOXS." Accept, loved nymph, this tribute due To tender friendship, love, and you : But vi'ith it take what breath'd the whole, O take to thine the poet's soul. If Fancy here her pow'r displays, Or if a heart exalts these lays, You fairest in that Fancy shine, And all that Heart is fondly thine. " These verses to IMiss Young were communicated, some time after Thomson's death, by Mr. Riimsay, of Ocherlyne, to the Earl of Buchan ; who appended to them this note : ' Some slight variatious have been found in diflerent copies which have been handed about in manuscript. This is from the original.' Edit." (Note to ed. of •' Thomson's Poems," ])y Nichols, 1849). Burns, who had lost his chance of praying his Amanda to " take the poet's soul," and could only otier friendship, addi'essed the following lines '■ To an old Sweetheart, after her Marriage, with a present of a copy of his Poems " : Once fondly loVd, and still remember'd dear, Sweet early object of my youthful vows, Accept this mark of fiiendshij), warm, sincere, Friendship ! — 'tis all cold duty now allows : — And when you read the simple, artless rhymes, One friendly sigli for him, he asks no more, Wlio di.-jtant burns in flaming, torrid climes, Or haply lies beneath th' Atlantic roar. This was written when Burns, unknown to fame, was making arrangements to go to Jamaica, hoping to push his fortune in that island. Tlie maiden name of the sweetheart was Ellison Begbie, a farmer's daughter. ON THE DEATH OF MB. AIRMAN. As those we love decay, we die in part: String after string is sever'd from tlie heart. Till looseu'd life, at last, but breathing clay, Without one pang is glad to fall away. 2 B 370 MODEKN EPIGRAMMATISTg, Unhappy he who latest feels the blow, Whose eyes have wept o'er every friend laid low, Dragg'd ling'ring on from partial death to death, Till, dying, all he can resign is breath. William Aikman was a Scotch painter of some celebrity. He excelled chiefly in portraits. He died in 1731. Campbell, in "A Thought suggested by the New Year," says: It may be strange — yet who would change Time's course to slower speeding ; When one by one our friend;* have gone, And left our bosoms bleeding ? Boyse has an epigram addi-essed " To Mr. Aikman, on a Piece of his Painting " ; and Mallet wrote an epitaph on Aikman and his only son (wlio died before him), who were both interred in the same grave. DE. PHILIP DODDKIDGE. Bom 1702. Died 1751. (The epigrams are preserved in Kippis' " Life of Doddridge.") ON HIS FAMILY MOTTO, ''BUM VIVIMU8 VIVAMUS." " Live, while you live " — the epicure would say, " And seize the pleasure of the present day." " Live, while you live " — the sacred preacher cries, " And give to God each moment as it flies." Lord, in my views let both united be ; I live in pleasure, when I live to thee. Dr. Johnson called this, " one of the finest epigrams in the English language." An amplification of the last line is found in Oldham's " Pindarique to the Memory of Mr. Charles Morwent," Stanza XXX. (Oldham's " Remains," 1694, 98) : Thou didst not wish a greater bliss t' accrue, For to be good to thee was to be happy too, That secret triumph of thy mind, Which always thou in doing well didst find. Were heaven enough, were there no other heaven design'd. On another part of the subject Graves has a good epigram, entitlad " Diogenes to Aristippus" (^ 'Euphrosyne," 1783, I. 303) : EGBERT DODSLEY. 371 Cloy'd with ragouts, yon scorn my simple food ; And think good-eating is man's only good. I ask no more than tt-mperance can give ; You live to eat ; L only eat to live. Aristippiis, however, could sometimes give a good answer to tliose who blamed him for his rich living. " A miser objected to him his luxurious table. Aristippiis showed him an expensive dish of dainties, and said, ' Would you not buy this, if it were sohl for a penny ?' ' Cer- tainly I would,' said the other. ' Then,' said Aristippus, ' I only give to luxury what you give to avarice.' " (Kett's " Flowers of Wit," 1. 18.) ON ONE OF HIS PUPILS, A WEAK YOUNG MAN, WHO THOUGHT HE HAD INVENTED A METHOD OF FLYING '1 THE MOON. And will Volatio quit this world so soon, To fly to his own native seat, the moon ? 'Twill stand, however, in some little stead That he sets out with such an empty head. The sixth chapter of " Rasselas," " A dissertation on the art of flying," may be read with interest in connection with this epigram. ROBERT DODSLEY, A poet and miifccllaneous writer, was born in 1703. In early life he was a footman, and, while in that situation, wrote and imblished a volume of Poems, with the singularly a])])ropriate title of " The Muse in Livery, or the Footman's MiscelliUiy." Tliis was followed by a, dramatic piece, wliich he srnt in manuscript to Pope, and which procured for him the patronage of tiiat inllueutial poet. He soon made enough money Vjy his poems to eualjle him to set up in business in Jjondon, as a 1x>oks(;ller, and in th.it position obtained great notoriety and esteem. He died in 1704. INipe's friend, Spence, and Glover, the aulhf)r of "Leonida.-," were among iiis early jiatrons, and are introduced in a malignant epistle from (Jurll, the bookseller, to I'opc, in 1737, whicl/ was evidently dictated by anger at the success of his rival (Nichols" " Literaiy Anecdotes, " II. 374) : 'Tis kind indeed a Livery Muxe to aid, Who H(Tibbl(!8 fiirces to augment his trade: Where you and Spence and (ilov(u- drive the uail, The dovila in it if the plot should fail. 372 MODERN EPIGllAMMATISTS. A DEE AM OF LOVE. As death alone the marriage knot unties, So vows that lovers make Last until sleep, death's image, close their eyes, Dissolve when they awake ; And that fond love which was to-day their theme, Is thought to-morrow but an idle dream. '&■' Au Arabian epigram, translated by Professor Carlyle, well expressea ill sarcastic terms the transient natui'e of lovers' vows. It was "ad- dressed by Waladata, daughter of Mohammed Almostakii Billah, Khalif of Spain, to some j'oung men, who had pretended a pnssion for her- self and her companions " (" Specimens of Arabian Poetry," 1796, 134) : When you told us our glances soft, timid and mild, Could occasion such wounds in the he art, Can ye wonder that yours, i-o ungovern'd and wild, Some wounds to our cheeks should impart ? The wounds on our cheeks, are but transient, I own, With a blush they appear and decay ; But those on the lieart, fickle youths, ye have shown To be even more transient than they. ON THE SLIGHT MENTION OF " ONE PRIOR " IN BURNET'S ''HISTORY OF HIS OWN TIME." One Prior ! and is this, this all the fame The Poet from the Historian can claim ? No ; Prior's verse posterity shall quote. When, 'tis forgot one Burnet ever wrote. The passage in Bishop Burnet's " History," to which the epigi-am refers, is this (Folio II. 580) : " One Prior, who had been Jersey's secre- tary, upon liis death was employed to prosecute that which the other did not live to finish. Prior had been taken a boy out of a tavern by the Earl of Dorset, who accidentally foimd him reading Horace; and he, being very generous, gave him an education in literature." Dean Swift's note upon this passage is very short but very expressive, " Malice." Burnet insinuates a falsehood by telling only part of the truth. It is the fact that the Earl of Dorset took Prior out of a tavern, and sent hun to Cambridge ; but the Bisliop should have added that the tavern was ke]it by the boy's imcle, who had given him the best possible education at Westminster, under the famous Dr. Busby. Burnet's untrutlifulness and love of malicious insinuations have pro- EOBEr.T DODSLEY. 373 duoed several epigrams. The following, found in the " Poetical .Far- rago," II. 19, is a fair speciineu : De Eetz in egotisms falls short of thee, His books are minutes, thine an history. Pride, disappointment did thy soul enrage, Against known trutlis thou ojieu war dost wage. Saint in tliy preface, Mendez in each jiage — Thy last will shows thou would'st earth's penance save, There is nor shame nor sorrow in the grave. De Retz was a celebrated cardinal who wrote his own memoirs. IMendez was Ferdinand Mendez Pinto, a celebrated Portuguese travel- ler, born about 1.510. He wrote a history of his travels and adven- tures, which abounds in gross exaggeration, and idle and extravagant hctions, so that his name became a bye- word for falsehood, as in Congreve's " Love for Love" (Act II. sc. 1) : '•Ferdinand Mendez Pinto was but a type of thee, thou liar of the first magnitude." The last two lines of the epigram refer to the " History " being a posthumous publication ; for the Bi.-hop by his will left tlie MS. to his 9xecutor, with the order "to print faithfully, as ho left it, without Hiding, suppressing, or altering it in any particular" — a direction which, as is well known, was not obeyed in the first edition. Of the many animadversions on Burnet's untruthfulness, the fol- lowing is perhaps the most unceremonious. In his book, entitled " Some Passages in the Life and Death of the Earl of Kochester," he states on the title-page, " Written by his own desire on his death-bed." In a MS. in the British Museum, "A List of Lives by Edward, Earl of I >xford and Mortimer," tliis statement is quoted witli the concise remark, " I have reason to believe that this is a lie of that Scotcli rascal." MARRIAGE IN HEAVEN. Cries Sylvia to a reverend Dean, What reason can be given, Since marriage is a holy thing, That there is none in heaven ? Th(;re are no women, he replied. She quiclc returns the jest : — AN'omen there are, but I'm afraid They cannot find a priest. Hone, in his "Evory-T)ay Bf>fik," says liiat this appeared, probably for tlie fir.-it time, in a Loiid(jii iiewspai»cr, entitled, " i'he Old VVliig, or the Conaistent Protestant," of March 24, 173G-7. 1'lie Doau wan Swift. 374 MODERN ErrOKAMMATISTS. Butler, in ' Hudibras," Part III, Canto i. 545, has: Quoth she, there are no barj^aiiis flriv'n. Nor marriages clap'd up in heaven ; And that's the reason, as some guess, There is no heaven in marriages ; * * * * Their bus'ness there is only love. Which marriage is not like t' improve. SOAME JENYNS, Was born in London in 1704. He sat in Parliament for many years, and invariably supported the minister of the day. In 1757 he published " A Free Enquiry into the Nature and Origin of Evil," which produced a brilliant refutation of his dangerous theories from the pen of Dr. Johnson. This was never forgiven by Jenyns, wlio had the bad taste to carry his enmity beyond the grave by writing a silly epigrammatic epitaph on his opponent, which served to dishonour the writer without injuring the memory of the great moralist. He died in 1787. TO THE EARL OF CHESTERFIELD, ON HIS BEING INSTALLED KNIGHT OF THE GARTER. These trophies, Stanhope, of a lovely dame, Once the bright object of a monarch's flame, Who with such just propriety can wear. As thou the darling of the gay and fair ? See ev'ry friend to wit, politeness, love. With one consent thy Sovereign's choice appiove! And liv'd Plantagenet her voice to join. Herself and Garter, both were surely thine. That the Order was founded for those who are merely " the darlings of the gay and fair," history does not attest. Gilbert West is nearer the truth in describing the foundation, in his " Institution of the Order of tlie Garter " : To Windsor, as to Fame's bright temple, haste From every shore, the noble, wise, and brave. Knights, senators, ami statesmen, lords and kings ; Ambitious each to guin the splendid prize. By Edward piomis'd to transcendent worth. For who of mortals is too great and high In the career of virtue to contend ? SOAME JENTNS. 375 The following lines were written by Captain Morris on George IV., when Prince of Wales, who, at a ball given by the Duchess of Devonshire, suddenly quitted Lady Salisbury, who was his partner, and finished the dance with the Duchess (Morris' " Lyra Urbanica," II. 318) ; Ungallunt youtli ! could royal Edward see, While Salisbury's Garter decks thy faithless knee. That thou, false knight ! hadst turn'd thy back, and fled From such a Salisbury as might wake the dead ; Quick from thy treacherous breast her badge he'd tear. And strip the star that beauty planted there. In old age, the Marchioness of Salisbury met with another misfortune. At a ball at Hatfield House, the Earl of Verulam, then Lord Grimston, accidentally knocked her down in the course of a waltz; which pro- duced the following impromptu by Jekyll (" Guardian " newspaper of Sept. 2, 1868, Table-Talk column) : Conservatives of Hatfield Housa Were surely " harura-skarum ;" W^hat could reforming Whigs do worse, Than knocking down old Sarum ? This was in 1834, and is said to have been the first use of the word " Conservative," as the modern equivalent for " Tory." WRITTEN IN A LADY'S VOLUME OF TRAGEDIES. Since thou, relentless maid, can'st daily hear Thy slave's complaints without one sigh or tear, AVhy beats thy breast, or thy bright eyes o'erflow At these imaginary scenes of woe ? Rather teach these to weep and that to heave, At real p:iins themselves to thousands give; And if such pity to feign'd love is due, Considei' how much more you owe to true. In Whaley's first Collection of Poems, there is an epigram on a young lady, weeping at Southerne's Tragedy of " Oroonoko " : At Fate's approach, see Oroonoko moan Inioinda's fate, undaunted at liis own ; Drojtiiiiig a generous tear Lucretia sighs, Anil views the hero with Imoinda's eyes. When the pnnce Htrikes, who envies not the deed? To be 80 wept, who would not wish to bleed ? The following epigram gives a different view of the effect produced 376 MODERN EI'IGEAMMATISTS. by a tran:edv. It was spoken extempore by Mr. Parsons (probably the Kev. Philip Parsons, Eectur of Eastwell, and of Bnave, and Master of Wye School, in Kent; on seeing " The Fate of Sparta ; or the Kival Kings," a tragedy by Mrs. Cowhy (quoted fiom Jones' " Biograpihia Dramatica," in the " Gentleman's Magazine," LXXXII. Part I. 348) : Ingenious Cowley ! while we yievv'd Of Sparta's sons the lot severe, We caught tlie Sjiartan fortitude. And saw their woes without a tear. ISAAC HAWKINS BKO^yNE, \V as born at Burton-upon-Trent, of which his father held the living, in 1706. Pie distinguished himself at Cambridge, became a barrister, and entered Parliament, where, however, he was too nervous to speak. His chief poem was a Latin one, on the immortality of the soul, of which there are several translations. He died in 17(30. The following epigrams are taken from Nichols " Select Collection of Poems," Vol. VI. 1780, where it is stated that they were " never before printed." Probably they were not known to be Browne's when an edition of his Poems was published in 17fjS. ON SEEING A POBTBAIT OF MISS BOBINSON, FAINTED BY MB. HIGHMOBE. I, wliom no living beauty yet could warm, Am now enamour'd of an empty form. This lady was sister of Sir Thomas Robinson, Bart., and of Lord Rokeby, Primate of Ireland. She married Dr. William Freind, Dean of Canterbury. Waller, in some verses " On the discovery of a Lady's Painting,' Bays: A real beauty, though too near, The fond Xarcissus did adniire; I doat on that which is no where ; The sign of beauty feeds my fire. ON DB. YOUNG'S ''NIGHT THOUGHTS." His Life is lifeless, and his Death shall die, And mortal is his Immortality. The fulfilment of Browne's prophetic denunciation was for some time delayed, for Rogers tells us : " In my youthful days Young's DR. NATHANIEL COTTON. 377 ' Niglit Thoughts ' was a very favomite book, especially with ladies I knew more than one lady who hail a copy of it in which particular passages were marked for her bv some popular preacher " (Rogers' "Table Talk." 1856, 31). Young told Spence t..at the title '• Night Thoughts " was not affected, for he never composed but at night, except sometimes when on horse- back. This habit of nocturnal eomposition seems to have been known to the Duke of Wharton, who, when the doctor was deeply engaged in writing one of his tragedies, procured a human skull, fixed a candle in it, and gave it to the poet as the most proper lamiJ for him to write tragedy by (Spence's " Anecdotes," 1820, '255, 378). ON A POEM CALLED '^ SILENCE." On Silence this ! What next you write, Be Chaos ! Ealph has handled Night. "Night" is a poem by James Ealph, who figures as one of the heroes of the " Dunciad," Book III. 165 : Silence, ye wolves ! while Ealph to Cynthia howls, And makes tiight hideous — answer him, ye owls I DE. NATHANIEL COTTON, A phy.sician and poet, was born in 1707. He kept a house for the reception of lunatic patients at S. Albans, and at one time had the poet Cowper under his care, whom he treated with great success, and by whom he was always remembered with aifectiou and respect. He died in 1788. LINES UNDER A SUN-DIAL IN THE CHURCIIYABD AT THOHNBY. Mark well my shade and seriously attend The silent lesson of a common friend — Since time and life speed hastily away. And neither can recall the former day, Jmprove each fleeting hour before 'tis past. And know, each fleeting hour may be thy last. The following epitaph is on the grave of an aged man in GarBingtop. Churchyard, Oxon (" Notes and Queries," Ist S. XI.): 378 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. Time, which had silver 'd o'er my aged he^d, At length has rang'd me with the peaceful dead. One hint, gay youth, from dust and ashes borrow. My days were many, — thine may end to-morrow. The poet William Hamilton of Bangour has a striking inscription, " On a Dial in my Garden" : Once at a potent leader's voice it stay'd, Once it went back when a good monarch pray'd • Mortals howeer we grieve, howe'er deplore, The flying shadow shall return no more. Tliere is a good inscription on a sun-dial near Florence, th\\% trans- lated from the Latin : Whether the heavens be foul or fair. Midst summer suns and wintry showers, Pleas'd and content my lot I bear. And only note the brightest hours. ON LOBD COBHAWS GARDENS. It puzzles much the sage's brains, Where Eden stood of yore ; Some place it in Arabia's plains, Some say it is no more. But Cobham can these tales confute As all the curious know ; For he has prov'd, beyond dispute. That Paradise is Stow. Sir Eiohard Temple, of Stow, acquired renown under the Duke of Marlborough, and was created Viscount Cobham, witli remainder, in default of male issue, to his sister, wife of Richard Grenville, who iniierited his title and estates, and through whom Stow becume the seat of the Dukes of Buckingham and Chandos;. Lord Nugent has an epigram " Upon tlie Busts of th ■ English Worthies at Stow" (" Odes and Epistles," 1739, 27) : Among the chiefs of British race, Who live in breathing stone. Why has not Cobham's bust a place ? The structure was his own. 379 ROBEET CEAGGS, EAEL NUGENT, Bom early in the ISth century, was an Irishman, — a poet, a Lord of the Treasury, and Controller of the Household of Frederick, Prince of Wales. Neither as a poet nor a politician did he ever rise to great eminence, but he excelled more in the former than the latter capacity. He died in 1788. His "Odes and Epistles" were published anony- mously by Dod.sley, but nearly all his epigrams must be sought for in Dodsley's " Collection of Poems," and similar publications. TO COBINNA. (" New Foundling Hospital for Wit," 1784, 1. 65.) While I those hard commands obey, Which tear me from thee far away ; Never did yet love-tortur'd 3'oiith, So dearly prove his doubted truth ; For never woman charm'd like thee, And never man yet lov'd like me. All creatures whom fond flames inspire. Pursue the object they desire ; But I, prepost'rous doom ! must prove By distant flight the strongest love ; And ev'ry way distress'd by fate, Must lose thy sight, or meet \\xy hate. The sorrows of a lover absent from liis mistress have been the themo of poets of all ages. Meleagcr has a Greek epigram on the subject (Jacobs I. 12, xxxiii.), translated by Benjamin Keen : Gazing on thee, sweet maid I all things I see — YoT thou art all the universe to me ; And, when thou rt absent, to my vacant sight, Though all things else be present, uU is night. So, Shakespeare, in the " Second Part of Hem-y VI.," makes SuUblk thus address Queen Slargaret (Act III. sc 2) : Tliu.-j is poor Suffolk ten times banished. Once by the king, and three times thrice by thee. 'Tis not the land I cure for, wert thou hence ; A wilderncs.s i.s populous enough, S<) iSullolk had thy heuveuly company: Ffir wliere tli(ju art, tiiere is liie world itself, Willi every several pleasure in the world; And where thou art not, desolation. 380 ' MODERN EPIGKAMMATISTS. THE SPENDTEBIFT AND THE MIS EM. (Dodsley's " Collection of Poems," 1782, 11. 247.) Tom thouglit a wild profusion great, And therefore spent bis whole estate \\ ill thinks the wealthy are ador'd, And gleans what misers blush to hoard. Their passion, merit, fate the same, They thirst and starve alike for fame. Walsh has an epigram on the same subject : Rich Gripe does all his thoughts and cimning bend, T' increase th;it wealth he wants the soul to spend. Poor Shifter does his whole contrivance set, To spend that wenlth he wants the sense to get. How hapjjy would appear to each his fate. Had Gripe his humour, or he Gripe's estate ! Kind Fate antl Fortune, blend tliem if you can, And of two wretches make one happy man ! THE SUREST REVENGE. (Dodsley's "CoUection of Poems," 1782, II. 245.) Lie on ! while my revenge shall be. To speak the very truth of thee. Indifference to the enmity of a worthless man, is well expressed in an anonymous epigram in the " Poetical Register" for 1801, 32(t: Sylla declares the world shall know That he's my most ditermiued foe! I wish him wide the tale to spread ; For all that I from Sylla dread Is, that the knave, to serve some end, May one day swear that he's my friend. That a truth may injure more than a falsehood is amusingly ex- emplified in the following old jest, which has its date in the past time when jealousy existed between the English and Scotch : " A ceitain English bishop, by nation a Scotchman, had been informed tliaL a neighbour of his had said he was a false Scot, which made him send for him, and ask him, pressingly, if he said so. The fellow absolutely denied it. 'Well, what did you say?' said the bishop. 'My lord." replied tlie man, * I only said you were a true Scot ;' which cut him to the heart as much as if he had bid him read Cleveland's satire ujion his countrymen." (Kelt's " Flowers of Wit.") Perhaps the bishop was Burnet. JOHN STKAIGHT. 381 INSCRIPTION ON THE TOMB RAISED TO THE MEMORY OF THE AUTHOR'S FATHER, AND OF OTHERS, HIS ANCESTORS. (Dodsley's " Collection of Poems," 1782, II. 243.) Unmark'd by tropliies of the great and vain, Here sleeps in silent tombs a gentle train. ]So folly wasted their paternal store, No suilt, no sordid av'rice made it more ; \\'ith honest fame, and sober plenty crown'd, They liv'd, and spread their cheering influence round. May he whose hand this pioiis tribute pays, Receive a like return of filial praise ! A good epitaph by Nathaniel Cotton, on Mr. Sibley of Studham, nay be compared : Here lies an honest man ! without pretence To more than prudence and to common sense ; Who knew no vanity, disguise, nor art, Who scorn'd all language foreign to the heart. Diflusive as the light his bounty spread, Cloth'd were the naked and the hungry led. " These be his honours !" honours that tUsclaim The blazon'd scutcheon and the herald's fame ! Honom-s ! which boast detiance to the grave, Where, spite of Anstis, rots tiie garter'd knave. John Anstis was Garter King-at-Arms. JOHN STRAIGHT, Born early in the 18th century, was Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, and Vicar of Findon in Sussex. ON MR. , SCHOOLMASTER AT . (Dodsley's " Collection of Poems," 1782, V. 276.) TV'lidld tlie lordly jxdant in his school, How stern his br<>Ui:n before the Queen when visiting Oxforii in 1702, by Ilenesigo Kincb, afttrwardB Earl of Ayli.sford (Nichols "Collection of Toems," HI. 315, 1780; : 394 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. The spreading oaks from lovely Windsor borne, Shall shelter Britain, which tliey now adorn ; With swelling sails o'er distant seas they'll go, And guard that goddess by whose care they grow. So, Campbell, in his well-known ode, " Ye Mariners of England" With thunders from her native oak She quells the floods below. And again, the same poet, in " The Launch of a First-rate" : Oaks that living did inherit Grandeur from our earth and sky, Still robust, the native spirit In your timbers shall not die. DE. JOHN FKEE. Bom at Oxford in 1711. He was of Christ Church, and became Master of the Grammar Scliool of S. Saviour's, South wark. He pub- lished many sermons, pamphlets, and poems on various subjects. Died in 1791. ON BEING STUNG IN THE FACE BY A BEE, WHOSE STING WAS TAKEN OUT BY A YOUNG LADY. ("Poetical Farrago," 1794, II. 131.; In vain my little foe inflicts the smart, For Parthenissa draws the venom 'd dart. Her hand can instantaneous ease restore, And add a thousand joys tinfelt before. Whilst the poor insect, by the wound he gave, Sickens to death, and makes his cell his grave. Thus by their malice be my foes subdued. Or made by Heav'n the in.struments of good : And thro' my life be this my lot — to feel Joys from each smart, and good o'erpaying ill. Sir Edward Sherburne has some pretty lines on the pleasure with which love can overpay grief, entitled " Weeping and Kissing" : A kiss I begg'd ; but, smiling, she Denied it me : When straight, her olieeks with tears o'erflcwn, I Now kinder grown) What smiling she'd not let me have. She weeping gave ; THOMAS SEWAED. 395 Then you whom scornful beauties awe, Hope yet relief ; For Love (who teats from smiles) can draw Pleasure from grief. THOMAS SEWARD, Father of tlie poetess Anna Seward, was Eector of Eyam in Derby- shii-e, Prebendary of Salisbury, and Canon Residentiary of Lichtield. He was a writer of some elegance, and was fond of literary pm'suits. His principiil work was an edition of Beaumont and Fletcher's plays. For the last ten years of his life his health was shattered, and tlie lowers of his mind impauxd. He died in 1790. He was a contributor to Dodsley'a " Collection of Poems," whence the following epigrams are tiiken. CHISWJCK. The potent lord, that this bright villa plann'd, Pkhibits here a Paradise regain'd ; Whate'er of verdure have hills, lawns, or woods, Whate'er of splendour, buildings, flow'rs or floods, Whate'er of fruits the trees, of birds the air. In blissful union are collected here : All with such harmony dispos'd as shows, Tliat in the midst the Tree of Knowledge grows. The Earl of Burlington seems to have succeeded better as a planter than a builder. Upon the house at Chiswick the following epigram was made by Lord Hervey (" New Foundling Hospital for Wit," 17t^4, I. 242; : Possess'd of one great liall for state, Without one room to sleep or eat ; How well you build, let llatt'ry tell, And all mankind how ill you dwell. The last four lines of an epigram, by Dr. Evans, upon Blenlieim House, may have suggested the above (Nichols' " Collection of Poems," IIL IGl, 1780;: Thanks, sir, cried I, 'tis very fine. But where d'ye sleep, or where d'ye dine? I find, by all yr)U h;iv(; been telling, Tliat 'tis a house, but not a dwelling. f)r possibly both may have their origin in an epigram by Martial, which concludes with tliese two lines (Book XII. 50) : 396 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. Apartments grand ; no place to eat or sleep ! \Vhat a most noble house you do not keep ! KNOWLEDGE. Not self-secure on earth can Knowledge dwell, Knowledge the bliss of heav'n and pang of hell, Alike the instrument of good and evil, The attribute of God and of the devil. Without her. Virtue is a powerless will : She without Virtue, is a powerful ill ; Does she then join with Vii'tue, or oppose. She proves the best of friends, or worst of foes. That mere knowledge is an evil, when imsanctified by the wisdom to which virtue is allied, is frequently expressed by the poets. Cowper says in " The Task," Book VI. : Knowledge and wisdom, far from being one, Have oft-times no connection. Knowledge dwells In heads replete with thoughts of other men ; Wisdom in minds attentive to their own. Knowledge, a rude, unprofitable mass, The mere materials with which wisdom builds, Till smoothed, and squared, and fitted to its place. Does but encumber whom it seems to eiu'ich. And Wordsworth, in "Musings near Aquapendente": O grant the crown That Wisdom wears, or take his treacherous staff From Knowledge ! There is a fine passage in " Easselas," Chap. XL., parallel to Seward's epigram : " Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful." ON SHAKESPEARE'S MONUMENT AT STRATFORD-V PON- AVON. Great Homer's birth sev'n rival cities claim, Too mighty such monopoly of fame ; Yet not to birth alone did Homer owe His wond'rous worth ; what Egypt could bestow, With all the schools of Greece and Asia join'd, Enlarg'd th' immense expansion of his mind. JOSIAH RELPn. 397 Nor yet unrivall'd the Maeonian strain, The British eagle,* and the Mantuan swan f Tow'r equal heights. But, happier Stratford, thou With incontested laurels deck t% brow ; Thy bard was thine unsclwoVd, and from thee brought More than all Egypt, Greece, or Asia taught ; Not Homer's self such matchless laurels won ; The Greek has rivals, but thy Shakespeare none. With the latter part of Seward's epigram, may be compared part of Ben Jonson's elegy on Shakespeare : And though thou hadst small Latin, and less Greek, From thence to honour thee, I would not seek For names; but call forth thuud'ring ^schylus, Euripides, and Sophocles, to us, Pacuvius, Accius, him of Cordova di ad, To life again, to hear thy buskin tread And shako a stage ; or when thy socks were on. Leave thee alone ; for the comparison Of all that insolent Greece, or haughty Rome, Sent forth, or since did from their ashes come. Seward has a distich on the cities which claim Homer's birth ; Seven wealthy towns contend for Homer dead. Through which the living Homer begg'd his bread. This is, however, not original, but taken from " The Hierarchic of the Blessed Angells," by John Heywood, the dramatist and epigram- matist (London, 1635, Book IV. 207) : Seven cities warr'd for Homer being dead ; Who living, had no roofe to shrowd his head. JOSIAH EELPH, Whose father possessed the little ostiitc of Sebcrgham in Cumberland, was bom in 1712. Ho was sent to the University of Glasgow, but wiuj soon removed, and became a schoolmaster in his native village. Ho was afterwards ordained, and presented to the small living of Scberghuni, which he held until hia death in 1743. His Poems were published at Carlisle in 1798, with engravings by Bewick. ♦ Milton. t Virgil, 398 MODEKN EPIGRAMMATISTS. A REASON FOB NOT WRITING IN PRAISE OF CMLIA (Ep. 6). For Phoebus' aid my voice I raise To make the charms of Ca3lia known ; But Phoebus cannot bear to praise A face that's brighter than his own. Matthseus Zuberus, a Latin poet, in a distich on the death of John Lauterbachius, shows that the jealousy of Phoebus may be as much roused by poetic talent as by beauty (" Delitise Delitiarum," 159). The translation is by James Wright : PhcEbus thy verse did envy ; he, thy fate, And not the Parcse, did anticipate. ADVICE TO STREPHON (E^. 8). Pensive Strepbon, cease repining. Give thy injur'd stars their due ; There's no room for all this whining, Be Dorinda false or true. If she feeds a faithful passion, Canst thou call thy fortune cross ? And if sway'd by whim and fashion, Let her leave thee — where's the loss ? The last stanza of a sonnet by George Wither (born in 1588), ex- presses a view s^imilav to Eelph's very excellent advice (Ellis' " Specimens of the Early English Poets," 1803, III. 83) : Great, or good, or kind, or fair, I will ne'er the more despair : If she love me, this believe, I will die e'er she shall grieve ; If she slight me when I woo, I can scorn and let her go ; For if she be not for me, What care I for whom she be ! THE WORM-DOCTOR (Ep. 36). Vagus, advanc'd on high, proclaims his skill, By cakes of wondrous force the wonns to kill WILLIAM SHENSTONE. 399 A scornful ear the wiser sort impart, And laugh at Vagus' pretended art ; But well can Vagus what he boasts perform, For man (as Job has told us) is a worm. The subject is not a very pleasant one, but the wit of the epigram is undeniable. The point was perhaps suggested by Pope's epistle, "To J\li-. Moore, author of the celebrated worm-powder," of which the last stanza is : Our fate thou only canst adjourn Some few short years, no more ! Ev'n Button's wits to worms shall turn, Who maggots were before. WILLIAM SHENSTONE. Born 1714. Died 1763. TO MR. DODSLEY. Come then, my friend, thy sylvan taste display, Come hear thy Faunus tune his rustic lay ; Ah, rather come, and in these dells disown The care of other strains, and tune thine own. Graves, in an ode " On the Death of Mr. Shenstone, to Mr. Eoberl Dodsley," says (" Euphrosyne," 1783, I. 294) : Yet here we fondly dreamt of lasting bliss : Here we had hop'd, from busy thoughts retir'd. To drink large draughts of friendship's cordial stream. In sweet oblivion wrapt by Damon's verse. And social converse, many a summer's day. EPITAPH ON MISS ANN POWELL, IN HALESOWEN CHOllCHYAIW. Here, here she lies, a budding rose, Blasted befoie its bloom, Whose innocence did sweets disclose Beyond that flower's perfume : 400 MODERN EPIGKAMMATISTS, To those who for her death are griev'd This consolation's given ; She's from the storms of life reliev'd To bloom more bright in Heaven. Thij young lady, who died in 1744, in the twentieth year of her age, was highly esteemed by Shenstone. She was killed by a fall from her liorse between Halesowen and Dudley ("Gentleman's Magazine," LXXXVII. Part I. 297.;. We may compare an epitaph on Dorothea dias de Faria, who was drowned in the fifth year of her age; in S. Puncras' Churchyard. Preserved in " A Collection of Epitaphs," &c., 1806, II. 145 : Soft as the balm the gentlest gale distils, Sweet as the fragrance of the new-mown hills ; Her op'ning mind a thousand charms reveal'd : Proofs of those thousands which were yet conceal'd : The loveliest flow'r in nature's garden plac'd, Permitted just to bloom, then pluck'd in haste; Angels beheld her ripe for joys to come, And call'd, by God's command, their sister home. RICHAED GEAVES, Was bom at Mickleton, in Gloucestershire, in 1715. He was a scholar of Pembroke College, Oxford, and afterwards Fellow of All Souls'. He became Eector of Claverton, and from 1750 uutil his death in 1804 was never absent from his living for more than a month at a time. His publications were numerous. His first was "The Festoon, a Collection of Epigrams, Ancient and Modern," which was much improved in a second edition published in 1767, and which has pre- served its reputation to the present day. He was himself an epigram- matist, and placed many of his own compositions in this collec- tion. He reprinted these, and added many others, in a work entitled, " Euphrosyne ; or Amusements on the Road of Life," the first edition of which was published in 1776, and which was subsequently enlarged. The 3rd edition, in two volmnes, bears date 1783. TO MRS. W . 1760. When Stella joins the blooming throng Of virgins dancing on the plain, A Giace she seems the nymphs among, Or Dian' 'midst her virgin train. EICHAKD GRAVES. 401 But when with sweet maternal air, She leads lulus through the grove, Herself appears like Venus fair, Her wanton boy the god of love. With the second stanza may be compared an epigram given in the Works of Horace Walpole, ed. 1798, IV. 431, who, in a letter to Richard West, Esq., dated Geneva, October, 1739, mentions some of •the English in the town, and amongst them " a son of — of Mars and Venus, or of Antony and Cleopatra, or, in short, of . This is the boy in the bow of whose hat Mr. Hedges pinned a pretty epigram" : Give but Cupid's dart to me. Another Cupid I shall be ; No more distinguisli'd from the other, Than Venus would be from my mother. ISIeleager has a Greek epigram of similar character, translated bv Beujtunin Keen (Jacobs I. 5, ix.) : Take away from young Cupid his wings and his bow, And give him sweet Antij^ho's bonnet and feather : So like is your boy to the god, love, I vow You'd not know your child if you saw them together. A COURT AUDIENCE. Old South, a witty Churchman reckon'd. Was preaching once to Charles the second, But much too serious for a court. Who at all preaching made a sport : He soon perceiv'd his audience nod. Deaf to the zealous man of God. The doctor stopp'd ; began to call, " Pray wake the Earl of Lauderdale : " My Lo]"d ! why, 'tis a monstrous thing ! " You snore so loud — you'll wake the King." Thifi is the well-known storj' of South versified. The words he used to Lord Lauderdale, after calling to him to awaken him, arc said to have been : " My \x>ti\, I um sorry to interrupt your repose, but I must l>eg that you will not snore quite so loud, lest you should awaken his Majesty." ^ D 402 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. A CHECK FOB MIRTH. "When I the husy, fruitless cares, The pride, the folly, hopes and fears Of mortal men survey ; Like that old Greek I sometimes think, True wisdom is to eat and drink, And laugh the live-long day. But, when I seriously reflect How much depends on our neglect, Or careful use of time. Taught of my folly to repent, I Could almost think, when turn'd of twenty, To laugh at all's a crime. John Heath, in " Two Centuries of Epigrams," 1610, has the fol- lowing (2nd Century, 25) : "Who make this earth their heaven whereon they dwell, Their heaven once past, must look to find an hell. In "The Honeysuckle, by a Society of Gentlemen," 1731, 40, are some " Extempore Lines on a Club of Freethinkers," the last two of which are to be admired, but tlie first two are open to the objection that happiness does not consist in freedom from restraint, and that the transitory joys of freethinkers commonly arise from their pride rather than their infidelity : If death's the end of life, why then Freethinkers are the happiest men ; But, if there is a life hereafter, How fatal are their jests and laughter ! In a " Collection of Epitaphs," 1806, I. 113, is one on a Petit-Maitre By fashion led, I spent my life at ease, Too gay to let a serious thought displease ; But died amaz'd, that death, that tyrant grim, Should think of one who never thought of him. These epigrams show the folly of living "like that old Greek," Democritus, of whom Graves writes. The following, by James Mont- gomery, shows the importance of the "careful use of time." It id addressed " To a Friend, with a Copy of ' Time, a Rhapsody ' " : May she for whom these lines are penn'd, By using well, make Time her friend ; Then, whether he stands still or flies. Whether the moment lives or dies, BICHARD GRAVES. 403 She need not care, — for Time will be Her friend to all eternity. Graves does not mention the weeping philosopher Heraclitus in his second stanza, but he probably had him in mind as the reverse of the laughing Democritus. On these two celebrated philosophers of antiquity there are many epigrams. The following is by Hayman in his " Quodlibets," 1G28 (Book III. Quod. 46): Heraclitus. Vain, foolish man, why dost thou always laugh ? Democritm. Man's vanity and foolish pride I scoff; " Wherefore dost thou such a sad puling keep ? Heraclitus. For man's bad sins, sad miseries I weep. Harvey thus translates one from the Latin of Owen (Book X. 57) : This wept for his times, the defaults, and crimes ; That laughed at the follies of the times. Mortals will still be foolish, wretched, frail, That this may laugh, that ever may bewail. • Prior's epigram is well known : Democritus, dear droll, revisit earth. And with our follies glut thy heighten'd mirth : Sad Heraclitus, serious wretch, return, In louder grief our greater crimes to mourn, Between you both I unconcern'd stand by ; Hurt, can I laugh ? and honest, need I cry ? UNDER AN HOUR-GLASS IN A GROTTO NEAR THE WATER. This babbling stream not uninstructive flows, Nor idly loiters to its destin'd main : Each flow'r it feeds that on its margin grows, And bids thee blush, whose days are spent in vain. Xor void of moral, tho' unheeded, glides Time's current, stealing on with silent haste ; For lo ! each falling sand his folly chides, Who lets one precious moment run to waste. The poet Lovibond has a beautiful " Inscription for a Fountain," wliich has some points of similarity with fJraves' stanzas : O you, who mark what llDw'rcts gay. What giili-H, what odours breathing near. What hlidtering shades from summer's ray. Allure my spring to linger hero: 4.04 MODERN EPIGUAMMATISTS. You see me quit this margin green. You see me deaf to pleasure's call. Explore the thirsty haunts of men, Yet see my bounty flow for all. O learn of me — no partial rill, No slumbering selfish pool be you. But social laws alike fulfil, O flow for all creation too ! EPITAPH ON A FAVOVBITE DOG. True to his master, generous, brave ; His friend, companion ; not liis slave : Fond without fawning ; kind to those His master lov'd ; but to his foes A foe undaunted ; whom no bribe Could warp, to join the faithless tribe Of curs, who prosperous friends caress, And basely shun them in distress. Whoe'er thou art, 'till thou canst find As true a friend amongst mankind, Grudge not the tribute of a tear,* To the poor dog that slumbers here. Blacklock has an epitaph " On a Favourite Lap-dog" : I never bark'd when out of season ; I never bit without a reason ; I ne'er insulted weaker brother ; Nor wrong'd by force nor fraud another. Though brutes are plac'd a rank below, Happy for man, could he say so ! The conclusion of Gay's " Elegy on a Lap-dog " may be compared : He's dead. lay him gently in the ground ! And may his tomb be by this verse renowu'd : " Here Shock, the pride of all Lis kind, is laid ; Who fawn'd like man, but ne'er like man betray'd." Porson wrote a Greek inscription for the tomb of a friend's favourite doc, which has been admitted into the Anthology of Brunck and Jacobs among the epigrams by tmcertain authors (Jacobs IV. 285, dcclv.). The following translation was found in MS. on the margin of the British Museum copy of " The Sexagenarian, or the Kecollectious of a Literary Life," by W. Beloe, where the original is given (;2nd ed. 1818, I. 231): WILLIAM WHITEHEAD. 405 Pass not whoe'er thou art this marble by, Nor smile with scorn tho' here a spaniel lie ; My master mourn'd my loss, aud placed me here To prove hia sorrow and his love sincere. WILLIAM WHITEHEAD, Bom in 1715, the son of a baker at Cambridge, was a sizer, and subsequently Fellow, of Clare Hall. He became tutor to the son of the third Earl of Jersey, and gradually rose into notice as a poet and dramatic writer. In 1758, on the death of Colley Cibber, he was appointed Poet-Laureate, an office which had fallen into contempt through the incapacity and servility of Cibber, but which he raised to much of its former dignity. For some years after he became Laureate, he lived in Lord Jersey's house as a companion and friend, and died there in 1785. JE NE SAIS QUO I. Yes, I'm in love, I feel it now, And Caslia has undone me ! And jet I'll swear I can't tell how The pleasing plague stole on me. 'Tis not her face which love creates, For there no graces revel ; 'Tis not her shape, for there the fates Have rather been uncivil. Tis not her air, for sure in that There's nothing more than common ; And all her sense is only chat. Like any other woman. Her voice, her touch might give th' alarm— 'Twas both perhaps or neither; In short, 'twas that provoking charm Of Caelia altogether. Herrick exprfases tin- indiireronce with which love regards defrcfci n hifl lines, " Love Dialikca Nuthing," of which the lust two staiizaH are : 406 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. Be she whole, or be she rent. So my fancie be content, She's to me most excellent. Be she fat, or be she leane. Be she sluttish, be she cleane, I'm a man for ev'ry sceane. And Sir Charles Sedley, in his ode " To Cloris," takes the same view as Whitehead in his concluding stanza, though with the dift'erence that Cloris had all the beauties in which Cselia was defective : No drowning man can know which drop Of water his last breath did stop : So when the stars in heaven appear, And join to make the night look clear, The light we no one's bounty call, But the obliging gift of all. INSCBIPTION FOB A COLD BATH. Whoe'er thou art, approach. — Has med'cine fail'd ? Have balms and herbs essay'd their poveers in vain ? Nor the free air, nor fost'ring sun prevail'd To raise thy drooping strength, or soothe thy pain ? Yet enter here. Kor doubt to trust thy frame To the cold bosom of this lucid lake. Here Health may greet thee, and life's languid flame. E'en from its icy grasp new vigour take. What soft Ausonia's genial shores deny, May Zembla give. Then boldly trust the wave : So shall thy grateful tablet hang on high, And frequent votaries bless tlais healing cave. A pretty epigram, translated from the Latin, " On a Natural Grotto, near a Deep Stream," may be compared with Whitehead's Inscription ("Elegant Extracts"): Health, rose-lipp'd cherub, haunts this spot. She slumbers oft in yonder nook : If in the shade you find her not. Plunge — and you'U find her in tlie brook. 407 RICHARD JAGO, A clergyman who held the livings of Snitterfield in Warwickshire, and Kimcote in Leicestershire, was born in 1715. He was an intimate friend of Shenstune, witli whom he regularly corresponded. His life was retired, and poetry was his recreation. He died in 1781. ABSENCE. With leaden foot Time creeps along, While Delia is away, AVith her, nor plaintive was the song, Nor tedious was the day. Ah ! envious pow'r ! reverse my doom, Now double thy career. Strain ev'ry nerve, stretch ev'ry plume, And rest them when she's here. Biitnca shows how tedious are the hours during a lover's absence: when she says to Cassio (" Othello," Act HI. sc. 4): What ! keep a week away? Seven days and nights ? Eight score eight hours ? and lovers' absent hours, More tedious than the dial eight score times ? O weary reckoning ! THOxMAS GRAY. Born 1716. Died 1771. THE ENQUIRY. With Beauty and Pleasure surrounded, to languish — To weep without knowing the cause of my ang-uish ; To start from short slumbers, and wish for the morning— To close my dull eyes when I see it returning ; Sighs sudden and frequent, looks ever dejected — Words that steal from my tongue, by no meaning connected I Ah, say, fellow-swains, how these symptoms befel me? They smile, but reply not — Sure Delia can tell me ! We may compare a passage in the '' Cistellaria" of Plautus (Act II. 8C. Ij, thus traiislfttid by Warner: I'm toss'd, tormented, agitated, Prick'd, rack'd upon tlio wheel of love; distracted, Tom, fainting am I hurried round ; and thus 408 MODERN EPIGKAMMATISTS. My inmost mind is in a cloud ; that where I am, I am not; where I am not, there My mind is. Such are all my faculties : I like, and like not, as the moment passes. Fatigued in mind, thus Love does draw me on, Pursues, drives, drags me, seizes, and retains, Drains me to nothing, and then gives me all : All that he gives retracts, and so deludes me. These descriptions, in which the lover is represented as having no control over himself, the mind and body being in different plai-es, recalls a singularly beautiful Greek epigram by Callimachus (Jacobs I. 212, iv.) on the Divided Soul. The translation is by Merivale: Half of my soul yet breathes : the rest I know not whether Cupid or Hades have possest ; 'Tis altogether Vanished. Among the virgin train Perhaps 'tis straying — O ! send the wanderer home again, Or chide its staying ! Perhaps on fair Cephisa's breast 'Tis captive lying. Of old it sought that haven of rest. When almost dying. TOPHET. Thus Tophet look'd ; so grinn'd the brawling fiend. Whilst frighted prelates bow'd, and call'd him friend. Our Mother Church, with half-averted sight, Blush'd as she bless'd her grisly proselyte ; Hosannas rung thro' hell's tremendous borders, And Satan's self had thoughts of taking orders. These severe lines were written under an etching of the head of the Rev. Henry Etough, of Pembroke Hall, Cambridge. An account of this clergyman is given in the " Gentleman's Magazine," LVI. 25, by the Rev. John Buncombe, who says : " Mr. Etough was, in truth, an ecclesiastical phenomenon, and a most eccentric, dangerous character. He began his career by setting out from Glasgow with a pack on his back, being a Scotch Presbyterian, afterwards hallooed in election mobs at Lynn, and, in consequence, being worshipped like the devil by the Indians, through fear, he was converted, ordained, and preferred, by the means of Sir Robert Walpole ; the valuable rectory of Tljerfield, in Hertfordshire, and another, being his reward I remembei Mr. Etough often in company at Cambridge, where he attended at the Commencements. Odd was his iigure, and mean and nasty his ap- THOMAS GRAY. 409 parol : his stockin,2;s were blue, darned, and coarse, and without feet ; and so hot and reeking was his head, that, when he entered a room, he often hung up his wig on a peg, and sat bare-headed " This amusing description is stated by another correspondent in the same volume (p. 2S1) to be in some respects untrue. He denies the story of the •' pack,'' and anxiously asserts Mr. Etough's cleanliness, declaring that he enjoyed '• a very general washing twice in a day," with other particulars to that gentleman's credit. ON HIMSELF. Too poor for a bribe, and too proud to importune, He bad not tbe method of making a fortune ; Could love and could bate, so was tbougbt something odd ; No very great wit, be believed in a God ; A post or a pension be did not desiie. But left Cburcb and State to Cbarles Townsbend and Squire. This was written in 1761, in which year Charles Townshend was made Secretary-at-War. The epigram probably alludes to the in- fluence which that statesman exercised in the House of Commons, by his eloquence and power of argument. " He is the orator ; the rest are speakers," was said of him in comparison with Barre, Conway, and others. Dr. Samuel Squire was Dean of Bristol, and in 1761 was consecrated Bishop of S. David's. ON LORD SANDWICH. The most severe of Gray's severe epigrams is " On Lord Sandwich, on the occasion of his standing for the High Stewardship of Cambridge," which commences : Wben sly Jemmy Twitcher bad smugg'd up bis face With a lick of court whitewash and pious grimace, A wooing be wont where three sisters of old, In harmless society guttle and scold. It cannot with propriety be inserted in this collection, but is Uw remarkable in it.sill', and in its effect, to be passed over without com- ment. In 17<;4, on the death of the liret Earl of Hardwicke, there was a contest for the oilice of High Steward of the University of Cambridge, between Lord Sandwich and the second Ivirl of liardwick(;. The former was noted for his tahiits as a politician and liis immorality as a man, but notwithstanding his evil life, lie was sujiported by a large' body of the electors. Gray, who, severe though he was, never jiut pen to paper without a good object, deteiTOined to endeavour, by the iniluenoe of 410 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. satire, to avert the disgrace which the election of such a man would bring upon the University. Lord Hardwicke had a majority, and it is said that the epigram was the cause of the election being decided against Lord Sandwich, — a singular instance of the power of well- directed satire. There was a strong feeling on the subject of the election. The undergraduates scouted Lord Sandwich, and a notice was dropped in the rooms of those of Trinity : " If you've any spirit don't dine in hall to-day." Their absence from hall roused the anger of the Master, Dr. Robert Smith, who favoured Lord Sandwich, and several were expelled. A paper was afterwards put about for Repentants to sign. Happily now- a-days undergraduates would neither be expelled, nor expected to re- pent, for showing their disgust at a man of Lord Sandwich's character, who (Churchill's " The Candidate") Wrought sin with greediness, and sought for shame With greater zeal than good men seek for fame. DAVID GAREICK. Born 1716. Died 1779. The main incidents in the life of this great actor are so well known that no account of him is necessary. The posi- tion which he held in the public estimation in comparison with the other actors of the day, may be gathered from the following contempo- rary epigram by the Rev. Richaid Kendal, of Peterhouse, Cambridge (" Poetical Register" for 1810-11, 369), in which he is compared with Barry, in the character of King Lear : The town has found out different ways To praise its ditferent Lears ; To Barry it gives louil huzzas, To Garrick only tears. A king ? Aye, every inch a king — Such Ban y doth appear : But Garrick' s quite another thing ; He's every inch King Lear. The following epigrams are taken from " The Poetical Works of David Garrick, Esq., ' in two vols., 1785. ON LORD CAMDEN'S PROMOTION. Soon after Lord Camden, in 17f6, was made Lord Chancellor, his purse-bearer, Mr. Wilmot, called upon Garrick, and hearing that he had not yet paid his congratulatory compliments to the Chancellor, a conversation ensued which furnished Garrick with the subject of the DAVID GARRICK. 411 following epigram, in which he turned an imputed neglect into an elegant panegyric : Wilmot. You should call at his house, or should send him a card ; Can Garrick alone be so cold ? Gairick. Shall I a poor player, and still poorer bard, Shall Folly with Camden make bold ? What joy can I give him, dear Wilmot declare ? Promotion no honours can bring ; To him the Great Seals are but labour and care, Wish joy to your Country and King. His "Country and King" had not long the benefit of Pratt's talents as Chancellor. An epigram on his retirement from that dignity may fitly find a place here. Upon the opening of the session of 1770, he declared his opposition to the Government of the Duke of Grafton, and was consequently desired to resign the Great Seal. Jeremiah Mark- land, a learned critic. Fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge, wrote at that time to Bowypr, the printer, in reference to politics: "I had expressed rav apprehensions in many political squibs anil crackers The laist was this ' Nichols' " Literary Anecdotes," IV. 298) ; ' To the Duke of Grafton'":' How strangely Providence its ways conceals ! From Pratt it takes, Yorke it takes from, the Seals. Restore them not to Pratt, lest men should say Thou'st done one useful thing in this thy day. Charles Yorke, second son of the first Earl of Hardwicke, received the Great Seal January 17, 1770, and died suddenly three days alter his promotion. VERSES WRITTEN IN SYLVIA'S PRIOR. Untouch'd by love, unmov'd by wit, I found no charms in Matthew's lyre, But unconcern'd read all he writ, Though Love and Thoebua did inspire : 'Till Sylvia took her favourite's part, Rcsolv'd to prove my judgment wrong ; Her proofs prevail'd, they reach'd my heart, And soon I felt the poet's song. Sliakeapoare, in *' Winter's Tale," express(;8 the power of a c^tpti- vating woman to make others agree in opinion with her (Act V. BC. 1): 412 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. This is a creature, Would she begin a sect, mi^fht quench the zeal Of all professors else ; make proselytes Of who she but bid follow. UPON A LADY'S EMBROIDERY. Arachne onoe, as poets tell, A goddess at her art defied ; But soon the daring mortal fell The hapless victim of her pride. then beware Arachne's fate, Be prudent, Cioe, and submit ; For you'll more surely feel her hate, Who rival both her Art and Wit. The following epigram, on one who rivalled Flora in art and beauty is in the " Festoon." " On Flowers embroidered by a Young Lady " ; Tills charming bed of flow'rs when Flora spied. By Flavia's needle wrought ; enrag'd, she cried ; Still to be vanquish'd by her is my doom ; Mine early fade, but hers sliall ever bloom ; Bloom like her face, that stings me to the heart ; Surpass'd in beauty as excell'd in art. ON JOHNSON'S DICTIONARY. 1755. Talk of war with a Briton, he'll boldly advance, That one English soldier will beat ten of France ; Would we alter the boast from the sword to the pen, Our odds are still greater, still greater our men : * In the deep mines of science though Frenchmen may toil, Can their strength he compared to Locke, Newton, and Boyle? Let them rally their heroes, send forth all their pow'rs, Tiieir verse-men, and prose-men ; then match them with ours ! First Shakespeare and Milton, like gods in the fight, Have put their whole drama and epic to flight ; In satires, epistles, and odes would they cope. Their numbers retreat before Dryden and Pope ; DAVID GARRICK. 413 And Johnson, well-arm'd, like a hero of yore, Has beat forty French, and will beat forty more. The last line of the epigram refers to the forty merabei's of the French Academy, who were for thirty years employed in compiling the dictionary of their language. QUIX'S SOLILOQUY ON SEEING THE EMBALMED BODY OF DUKE HUMPHREY AT S. ALBANS. A plague on Egypt's arts, I say ! Embalm the dead ! on senseless clay Eich wines and spices waste ! Like sturgeon, or like brawn, shall I Bound in a precious pickle, lie, Which I can never taste ? Let me embalm this tlesh of mine With turtle-fat, and Bordeaux wine, And spoil th' Egyptian trade ! Than Humphrey's Duke more happy I — Embalm'd alive, old Quin shall die A mummy ready made. The embalmed body of Humphrey, the good Duke of Gloucester, was di/scovered in 1703 in S. Albans' Abbcy-ohurch. James Quin, the celebrated actor, and rival of Garrick, was noted as an epicure, and was luxurious' in his descriptions of the turtle and venison feasts at which he had been present. He thought angling a very cruel diversion ; and on being asked why, gave this reason : " Sup- iwse some superior being sliould bait a hook with venison, and go a quinning ; I should certainly bite, and what u figure I should make dangling in the air !" An epigram in which Quin is introduced will be found under Hogartli. The conclusion at which Quin arrives in his soliloquy is exprcsseil in a passage in the 4tli Ode of Anacrcon, which Fawkes thus translates : Why on the tomb are odours shed ? Why pour libations to the dead? To mc far better, while I live, Kich wines and balmy fragrance give. An epigram by Graves shows how notorious was Quin's love of gcKxl living. It is entitled "Tlie Epicure. To W. Mdls, Esq., of Warden's Hall, Essex, on a late Act of Generosity " (" Eupbrosyne," 1783, I. 119): 414 MODEEN EPIGRAMMATISTS. You call it luxury, when, in all his glory, Quin loads his plate with turtle and John-Dory; Or snuffs the pinsjuid haunch's sav'ry steam. And crowns the feast with jellies and ic'd cream. But when, with more indulgence, you employ Your wealth to give the pensive bosom joy ; When by one lib'ral act, the mind's best treat ! You make a brother's happiness complete ; There is, you'll own, tho' rarely understood, The higljest luxury in doing good ; Nay, view his heart, and Quin will grant, I'm sure, The gen'rous man's the truest epicure. The act of generosity was, that Mr. Mills took his brother one morn- ing to the Bank, and transferred ten thousand pounds to him as a present. Garrick wrote the following epitaph on Quin, thus testifying his appreciation of his talents and character, though the rivalry between them had prevented any close bond of intimacy : That tongue, which set the table on a roar. And charm'd the public ear, is heard no more ! Clos'd are those eyes, the harbingers of wit, Which spoke, before the tongue, what Shakespeare writ ; Cold are those hands, which, living, were stretch'd forth, At friendship's call to succour modest worth. Here lies James Quin ! deign, reader, to be taught (Whate'er thy strength of body, force of thought. In nature's happiest mould however cast), To this complexion thou must come at last. EPITAPH FOB HOGARTH'S MONUMENT IN CHISWICK CHURCHYARD. Farewell, great painter of mankind. Who reach'd the noblest point of art; Whose picturd morals charm the mind. And through the eye correct the heart ! If genius fire thee, reader, stay ; If nature touch thee, drop a tear : — If neither move thee, turn away, For Hogarth's honour'd dust lies here. Dr. Johnson also wrote an epitaph on Hogarth, which for its fulness and, at the same time, its brevity may be preferred to Garrick's : HORACE WALPOLE, EARL OF OEFORD. -115 The hand of him here torpid lies, That drew the essential form of grace ; Here closed in death the attentive eyes, That saw the manners in the face. Garrick may, perhaps, have taken the idea for his first stanza from a Latin poem, by Vinct-nt Bourne, on the pictures of Hogarth, addressed to the artist, in which he calls him Corrector grave, nor wanting grace of touch. And concludes thus : Impartial and just is your censure ; More useful than the roughness of satire. Or the laugh most severe of the scornful. The last line of Johnson's epitaph may have been suggested by the praise which Pliny the elder bestowed upon Zeuxis, saying of his picture of Penelope : '• He painted the maniiers of that queen." HORACE WALPOLE, EARL OF ORFORD. Bom 1718. Died 1797. ON ADMIRAL VERNON'S APPOINTMENT TO PRESIDE OVER TEE HERRING FISHERY. 1750. Long in the senate had brave Yemen rail'd, And all mankind with bitter tongue assail'd : Sick of his noise, we wearied Heav'n with pray'r, In his own element to place the tar. The gods at length have yielded to our wish, And bade him rule o'er Billingsgate and fish. Of Admiral Vernon, Chamock says : " Of all men who have been fortunate en(jugh to obtain celebrity as naval commanders, few appear to have taken greater pains to sully their public fame by giving full scope to all tlieir private feelings ;" and unfortunately he chose the House of Commons, in which lie sat as member for Ipswich, as the arena for the display of extravagance of conduct and temper. 416 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. ON ARCHBISHOP SECKER. 1758. The bench hath oft 'posed ns, and set us a-scoffing, By signing Will. London, John Sarum, John Roffen ; But this head of the Church no expounder will want, For his Grace signs his own proper name. Thomas CJant. This was written in the year in which Dr. Seeker was translated to Canterbury. It does not appear that the sarcasm was deserved, but we learn from Nichols' " Literary Anecdotes " that, in conseqiience of it, the Archbishop was commonly called " Thomas Cant " by the clergy of Kent. Cant, was the abbreviation for Cantuaria, generally used by the Archbisliops. Cornwallis, who followed Seeker, made nO' change, but the next Primate, Dr. Moore, wrote " Citntuar.," and his successors have since done the same. It is, perhaps, an allowable conjecture that Dr. Moore had Walpole's epigram in mind, and, dreading to be called Joliu Cant by his clergy, changed the signature to John Cantuar., which certainly has a more dignified appearance. The following epigram, in " Elegant Extracts," on the death of Archbishop Seeker, displays his character in a very bright light : While Seeker liv'd, he show'd how seers should live ; "Wbile Seeker taught, hea\ en open'd to our eye ; When Seeker gave, we knew how angels give ; When Seeker died, we knew e'en saints must die. EPITAPHIUM VIVI AUCTORIS. 1792. An estate and an earldom at seventy-four ! Had I sought them or wish'd them, 'twould add one fearf more. That of making a countess when almost four-score. But Fortune, who scatters her gifts out of season, Though uukind to my limbs, has still left me my reason ; And whether she lowers or lifts me, I'll try In the plain simple style I have liv'd in, to die ; For ambition too humble, for meanness too high. It is well known that when Horace Walpole succeeded to the earldom by the death of his nephew, and to the fortune annexed to it, he made no difference in his manner of living, and did not even take his seat in the House of Lords. The following lines by Cowper, though written as an " Inscription for a Moss-house in the Shrubbery at Weston," may be well applied tc Horace Walpole's life at Strawberry Hill : HORACE WALPOLE, EARL OF ORFORD. 417 Here free from Riot's hated noise, Be mine the calmer, purer joys, A book or friend bestows ; Far from the storms that shake the great, Contentment's gale shall fan my seat, And sweeten my repose. ON MADAME DE FOECALQUIER SPEAKING ENGLISH. 1766. Soft sounds that steal from fair Forcalquier's lips, Like bee that murmuring the jasmine sips ! Are these my native accents ? None so sweet, So gracious, yet my ravish'd ears did meet. O pow'r of beauty ! thy enchanting look Can melodize each note in nature's book. The roughest wrath of ruflSans, when they swear, Pronoiinc'd by thee, flows soft as Indian air ; And dulcet breath, attemper'd by thine eyes, Gives British prose o'er Tuscan verse the prize. Allan Ramsay paid a pretty compliment of like character to a lady : A poem wrote without a tliought. By notes may to a song be brought, Tiio' wit be scarce, low the design, And numbers lame in ev'ry line : But when Mr Christy this shall sing, In consort with the trembling string, O then the poet's often prais'd. For charms so sweet a voice hath rais'd. TO MADAME DE DAMAS, LEARNING ENGLISH. Though British accents your attention fire, You cannot learn so fast as we admire. Scholars like you but slowly can improve, For who would teach you but the verb, I love ? This beautiful epigram does not appear in Horace Walpole's Works. 5 vols. 4to, 1798 (where the previous ones are found), but is always ascrited to him. The master is often more anxious to teach than the pupil to learn. Perhaps IMaf forged interpolations amongst a mass of true quotations, he en- deavoured to sliow that Milton was indebted to modern Latin poets for many parts of the " Paradise Lost." Dr. Douglas, afterwards Bisho|) ot Salisbury, detected and exposed the fraud. Ho is introduced by Gold- Bmith ia " Ketaliation " : Here Douglas retires from his toils to relax, The scourge of impostors, the terror of quacks. Johnson was imposed upon, and wrote a preface to Laudei's eissay, but there is not the slightest ground for imputing to him any desire to screen the author, when he became aware of the iraud. 424 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. William Hall, Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, wbo, from his iutimacy with men of rank, and the dignity of his manners, was called "Prince Hall," addressed a sonnet on the subject of Lauder's forgery to Mr. Nicholas Hardinge, who was noted as an enthusiastic admirer of Milton (Nichols' " Literary Anecdotes," VIII. 520) : Hardinge ! firm advocate of Milton's fame ! Avenge the honour of his injur'd muse ! The bold Salmasius dar'd not so accuse, And brand him, living, with a felon's name ! More hellish falsehood could not Satan frame Arch forger, cursed poison to infuse In Eve's chaste ear, her freedom to abuse : That lurking fiend, — Ithuriel's arm and flame, Ethereal gifts, detected : up arose In his own form the toad : But this new plot Thou hast an arm and spear, that can expose : With lashes keen, drive, to that trait'rous spot, The nurse of base impostors, to his snows, And barren mountains, the blaspheming Scot ! James Macpherson was, like Lauder, a Scotchman. He published translations of poems from the Erse language, which he asserted were the composition of Ossian, the son of Fingal, who flourished in the third century. Dr. Johnson enquired into the subject, and declared his belief that the poems were a forgery ; and it appears by a letter from Bishop Percy to Dr. Graham (Nichols' "Illustrations of Literary Hist.," VIII. 418), that before his death Macpherson acknowledged to Sir John Elliot, " he had no genuine originals of Ossian's composition." Thomas Chatterton, whose forgery consisted in publishing his own compositions as the poems of Rowley, who lived in the fifteenth century, was an infidel in profession and a libertine in practice ; and as he was the most precocious in genius, so was he the most circumstantial in falsehood, of the literary forgers of the age. That his suicide was pre- meditated is undoubted ; and that a year before the idea was present to his mind, is shown by the following lines from his pen, dated 1769 (Chatterton'a " Poems," with Notes, Cambridge, 1842, II. 439) : Since we can die but once, what matters it, If rope or garter, poison, pistol, sword. Slow-wasting sickness, or the sudden burst Of valve arterial in the noble parts. Curtail the miseries of human life ? Tho' varied is the cause, the effect's the same : All to one common dissolution tends. In 1838 it was proposed to erect a monument to his memory at Bristol, for which the following epitaph was prepared by the Rev. John Eagles /• Notes and Queries," 2nd S. IV. 32*5) : A poor and friendless boy was he, — to whom Is raised this monument, without a tomb. WILUAM MASON. 425 There seek his dust, there o'er his genius sigh. Where famished outcasts unrecorded lie. Here let his name, for here his genius rose To might of ancient days, in peace repose ! The wondrous boy ! to more than want consigned, To cold neglect — worse famine of the mind ; All uncongenial the bright world within To that without of darkness and of sin. He lived a mystery — died ! Here, reader, pause ; Let God be Judge, and mercy plead the cause. This is very sentimental and very untrue. Chatterton was not friend- less, nor was he consigned to want or neglect. He chose to leave Bristol, where he had many friends, to seek his fortune in London, where he had none ; and, when he failed, was too proud to return to his native city. To complain of the " cold neglect " of the world with regard to a boy of eighteen, however great his genius, is quite preposterous. But it was the fashion to consider he was neglected and starved, and epigrams, such as the following, were written on him ("Asylum for Fugitive Pieces," 1785, 118) : All think, now Chatterton is dead, His works are worth preserving ! Yet no one, when he was alive, Would keep the bard from starving ! Johnson, Goldsmith, and a hundred otiiers, who were nearly starved at eighteen, persevered and won their way to fame, as Chatterton might have done, had hhi character been of a higher stamp. Samuel Ireland, under whose portrait Mason's epigram was written, produced, in conjunction with his son William Henry, a large quantity of manuscripts which he asserted were in the hand-writing of Shake- speare, consisting of poems, letters, and one entire play, entitled " Vortigern and Itowena." Many critics, among whom were Dr. Parr, Boswell, and George Chalmers, subscribed to the authenticity of the forged MSS. L;eland published a list of tlie names, upon which Steevens wrote to Bishop Percy : " I am very poor, and had a serious regard for the £1000 I subscribed to Mr. Pitt's loan, by which even then I expected to be a loser; but if any one would double that sum, and give it into my hands at this very moment, I would refuse the present, if the terms of it were, that my signature should be found on that register of ••ihame^Mr. Ireland's list of believers " (^Nichols' " Illustra- tions of Literary History," Vll. 9j. EPITAPH ON JOHN DEALTEY, M.D., IN YORK MINSTEU. Here o'er the tomb where Dealtry's ashes sleep, See Health in emblematic anguish weep 426 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. She drops her faded wreath ; " No more," she cries,' " Let languid mortals with beseeching eyes, Implore my feeble aid : it fail'd to save My own and Nature's guardian from the grave." The monument has a figure of Health, with her ancient insignia, in alto-relievo, dropping a chaplet on the side of an urn. With Mason's epitaph may be compared some lines by Jemingham : Thus when the poisoned shafts of death are sped, The plant of Gilead bows ht-r mournful head ; The holy balm that heal'd another's pain On her own wound distils its charm in vain. EPITAPH ON THOMAS GRAY, ON HIS MONUMENT IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY. No more the Grecian muse unrivall'd reigns, To Britain let the nations homage pay ! She boasts a Homer's fire in Milton's strains, A Pindar's rapture in the lyre of Gray. The comparison of Gray with the Theban Pindar, is elegantly made in the following lines by Anna Seward, " Written in a Diminutive Edition of Gray's Poems " : All to the lofty ode that genius gives Within these few and narrow pages lives ; The Theban's strength, and more than Theban's grace, A lyric universe in fairy space. Note. — The most beautiful of Masons epitaphs is that on his wife, iti which he was assisted by Gray. It is omitted because very long, and well kuown. DAYID GEAHAM, Bom about 1726, was a Fallow of King's College, Cambridge, and a barrister-at-law. ON RICHARDSON'S NOVEL, " CLARISSA." (Nichols' " Literary Anecdotes," IV. 584.) This work is Nature's ; every tittle in't, She wrote, and gave it Eichardson to print. EDWARD JERNINGHAM. 427 " Mrs. Montagu's elegant compliment, in Lord Lyttelton's ' Dialogues of the Dead, bttween Plutarch, Charon, and a Modern Bookseller,' turns neaily on the same thought. ' It is pity he should print any work but /ii»- own,' says Plutarch to the bookseller," referring to " Clarissa " and " Sir Charles Grandison " (Nichols' " Literary Anecdotes," FV. 584). The thought in the epigram was expressed in old time, in one of the numerous Greek epigrams on Myron's Heifer. It is often ascribed to Auacreon, but Jacobs places it among uncertain authors (Jacobs IV. lt)3, ccxxviii.). The translation is by Fawkes : This heifer is not cast, but rolling years Harden'd the life to what it now appears : Myron unjustly would the honour claim. But Natui-e has prevented him in fame. EDWARD JERNINGHAM, Born in 1727, was descended from an ancient Eoman Catholic family in Norfolk. He devoted himself to literature, and acquired consider- able reputation as a poet. His death took place in 1812. OiV SEEING MBS. MONTAGV'S PICTURE. Had this fair form the mimic art displays Adurn'd iu Roman time the brightest days, In ev'ry dome, in ev'iy sacred place Her statue would have breath'd an added grace, And on its basis would have been enroll'd, TJiis is Minerva cast in Virtue's mould. This epigram is given to Dr. Johnson in Gilfillan's edition of his " Poetical Works," but without sufficient authority. It is found in several editions of Jeriiingham's Poems, i)ublislied in the lifetime of that poet. The lady, whose picture drew forth these complimentary lines, was the wife of Edward ISlfJutagu, grand.son of the first i''arl of Sandwich. She was greatly distinguished for lier literary acquirements, and lias gained lasting reputation by her " Essay on the Genius and Writings of Sliake:ipeare," iu answer to the frivolous objections of ^'oltaire. Jeruinj,'ham wrote another epigram on her, dated February 4th, 1785 ; " Alluding to Mrs. Montagu's fall the preceding day, as she was going down tin; stairs at St. James's ": Ye radiant fair ! yo Hebes of the day, Who heedless laugli your little hour away ! Lot caution be your guide, when uext yc sport Within the precincts of the splendid court; 428 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. Th' event of yesterday for prudence calls, 'Tis dangerous treading when Minerva falls. That tlie first epigram is in Jemingham's style may be seen by the follov/ing lines, written on seeing a landscape drawn by a lady, whicli are very similar in phraseology. They are taken from a MS. in the poet's J) and writing : That tree, how drawn ! I know by whom, 'Twas by JMinerva, no, by Coombe ; Whose father is a righteous man Who forms his life on Virtue's plan ! TO A LADY, WHO LAMENTED SHE COULD NOT SING. Oh ! give to Lydia, ye blest pow'rs, I cried, A voice ! the only gift ye have denied. " A voice !" sajs Venus, with a laughing air, " A voice ! strange object of a lover's pray'r ! Say— shall your cbosen fair resemble most Yon Philomel, whose voice is all her boast ? Or, curtain 'd round with leaves, yon mournful dove, That hoarsely murmurs to the conscious grove ?" ■ — Still more unlike, I said, be Lydia's note The pleasing tone of Philomela's throat. So to the hoarseness of the murm'ring dove, She joins ('tis all I ask) the turtle's love. OLIVER GOLDSMITH. Bom 1728. Died 1774. ON HOPE. The wretch, condemn'd with life to part, Still, still on hope relies ; And every pang that rends the heart, Bids expectation rise. Hope, like the glimmering taper's light. Adorns and cheers the way ; And still, as darker grows the night, Emits a brighter ray. OLIVER GOLDSMITH. 429 Cowley, ill his verses " For Hope " in " The Mititress," expresses the blessing of hope : Hope ! of all ills that men endure, The only cheap and universal cure ! Thou captive's freedom, and thou sick man's health ! Thou loser's victory, and thou beggar's wealth ! There is a beautiful anonymous epigram, given in " Elegant Extracts," on this subject, which is Greek in its tone, and in which the sentiment is similar to Goldsmith's: Hope, heav'n-bom cherub, still appears, Howe'er misfortune seems to lower ; Her smile the threat'ning tempest clears. And is the rainbow of the showeif. TO MEMO BY. Memory ! thou fond deceiver, Still importunate and vain, To former joys, recurring ever. And turning all the past to pain ; Thou, like the world, the opprest oppressing, Thy smiles increase the wretch's woe ! And he who wants each other blessing, In thee must ever find a foe. Shelley finely depicts the pain of remembrance of past joys, in the second stanza of his lines, entitled " The Past ": Forget the dead, the past? O yet There are ghosts that may take revenge for it ; Memories that make the heart a tomb. Regrets which glide through the spirit's gloom, And with ghastly whispers tell That joy, once lost, is pain. So Mrs. Norton, in " The Heart's Wreck " (" Sorrows of Rosalie, with other Poems," 1829, 112,: But when a word, a tone, reminds My bosfjm of its perished love, Oh ! fearful are the stormy winds Which dash the heart's wild wrecks above! That Rogers is on this subject more true to liuman experience than Goldsmith, and that the pkamrea of memory surpass its imim, few lau •'.oubt. 430 MODERN EPIGBAMMATI8TS. THE CLOWN'S REPLY. John Trott "was desir'd by two witty peers To tell them the reason why asses had ears ? " An't please you," quoth John, " I'm not given to letters, Nor dare I pretend to know more than my betters ; Howe'er, from this time I shall ne'er see your graces. As I hope to be sav'd ! without thinking on asses." Possibly Groldsmith took this idea from a witticism of Sprat (sub- sequently Bishop of Kochester), who, after the Eestoration, was made chaplain to the Duke of Buckingham. At his tirst dinner with that witty and profligate peer, the latter observing a goose near Sprat, said he wondered why it generally happened that geese were placed near the clergy. "I cannot tell you the reason," said Sprat, "but I shall never see a goose again without thinking of your grace." The duke was delighted with the readiness of the retort, which convinced him that Sprat w£is the very man he wanted as chaplain. THOMAS WAETON, Was bom in 1728 at Basingstoke, of which his father held the vicar- age. He became a Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford, and when only just of age entered the lists against Mason, answering, in a poem called " The Triumph of Isis," the attack which the Cambridge bard made upon Oxford in his " Isis." His most important work was a " History of English Poetry," which he brought down to the end of the reign of Elizabeth, but never carried farther. In 1785 he was created Poet Laureate, and raised that office to a position of honour. He died in his college rooms in 1790. INSCRIPTION FOB A SPRING IN BLENHEIM GARDENS. Here quench your thirst, and mark in me An emblem of true charity ; Who while my bounty I bestow, Am neither heard nor seen to flow. There was, and still may be, a fountain in Paris with a Latin inscrip- tion of similar import, which, perhaps, Warton may have seen ; thus translated by Samuel Boyse : Hid lies the nymph from whom this bounty flows, So let thy hand conc/cal when it bestows. THOMAS WAKTON. 431 INVOCATION TO SLEEP. Translated from the Latin. sleep, of death althougli the image true, Mtich I desire to sliare my bed with you. come and tarry, for how sweet to lie, Thus without life, thus without death to die. These beautiftil lines breathe the spirit of the purest Greek epigrams. There are many ti'anslations : the above, which is anonymous, is taken from Kett's " Flowers of Wit," and is an admirable rendering of the original. Invocations to sleep are often met with in the poets ; few can compare with Warton's ; but one by Drummond, the close of which bears much resemblance to it, is of true poetic beauty : Sleep, Silence Child, sweet father of soft rest, Prince, whose approach peace to all mortals brings, Indifferent host to shepherds and to kings, Sole comforter of minds wliicli are opprest. Lo, by thy charming rod all breathing things Lie slumb'ring, with foi-gotfulness possest, And yet o'er me to spread thy drowsy wings Thou spar'st (alas) who cannot be thy guest. Since I am thine, O come, but with that face To inward light which thou art wont to show, With feigned solace ease a true-felt woe ; Or if, deaf god, thou do deny that grace, Come as thou wilt, and what thou wilt bequeath, I long to kiss the image of my death. In Beaumont and Fletcher's " Tragedy of Valentinian." there is a song invoking sleep which, in its lighter numbers, is almost eijually beautiful (Act V. sc. 2 ) : Care-cl] arming Sleep, thou easer of all woes. Brother to Death, sweetly thyself di.spose On this aiBicted prince ; fall like a cloud In gentle showers ; give nothing that is loud. Or painful to his slumbers ; easy, sweet, And as a i)urling stream, thou son of night, Pass by his troubled senses ; sing his pain. Like hollow murmuring wind, or silver rain. Into this prince gently, oh, gently slide, And kiss him into slumbers like a bride ! Owen has an epigram, in wliich the turn of thought is very similar to Warton's i.Book IV. 19:^;. The translation is by Hayman: When I do sleep, I seem as I were dead ; Yet no part of my life's more sweeten'd : Therefore 'twere strange that death should bitter be. Since sleep, death's image, is so sweet to me. 432 MODERN EPIGEAMMATISTS. While upon the subject of sleep, it would be unpardonable to pass over two celebrated passages in Shakespeare, althousrh neither of them are, as Warton's epigram, invocations to that deity. The first, Macbeth s terrific vision, and the attributes of sleep ("Macbeth," Act II. sc. 2,: Mach. Methought I heard a voice cry, Sleep no more ! Macbeth does murder sleep, the innocent sleep ; Sleep, that knits up the ravell'd shave of care. The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath, Balm of hurt minds, great Nature's second course, ' Chief nourisher in life's feast ; — Lady M. What do you mean ? Mach. Still it cried, Sleep no more ! to all the house : Glamis hath murder'd sleep ; and therefore Cawdor Shall sleep no more, Macbeth shall sleep no more! The second. King Henry IV.'s comparison between the sleep of the monarch and of the peasant. The whole of the soliloquy is extremely beautiful, but is too long to quote in full. The first part is given (" King Henry IV." Part II. Act III. so. 1) : O gentle sleep, Nature's soft nurse, how have I fi-ighteJ tliee. That thou no more wilt weigh my eyelids down, And steep my senses in forgetfulness ? Why rather, sleep, liest thou in smoky cribs, Upon uneasy pallets stretching thee. And hush'd with buzzing night-flies to thy slumber ; Than in the perfum'd chambers of the great, Under the canopies of costly state. And lull'd with sounds of sweetest melody? Wordsworth, in one of his " Miscellaneous Sonnets " (XIII.), says o ;' Bleep : Mere slave of them who never for thee prayed. Still last to come where thou art wanted most ! AN EPIGRAM ON AN EPIGRAM. One day, in Christ- Church meadows walking, Of poetry, and such things talking, Says Kalph, a merry wag ! An epigi'am if smart and good, In all its circumstances should Be like a jelly-bag. Your simile, I own, is new ; And how dost make it out ? quoth Hugh, Quoth Ealph, I'll tell thee, friend ! JOHN CUNNINGHAM. 433 Make it at top both wide, and fit To hold a budget-full of wit, Aud point it at the end. This first appeared in the " Oxford Sausage," published by Warton in 176-1, where this note is attached to it : " N.B. This epigram is printed from the original manuscript, preserved in the archives of the ' Jelly-bag Society.' " Receipts for making epigrams are numerous, but refer generally to the modern pointed epigram. The following is, in the " Poetical Register" for 1808-9, ascribed to Don Juan de Yriarte, who was a Spanish archaeologist. It is more probable that the writer was Don Thomas de Yriarte, a Spanish poet, born in 1750 : The qualities all in a bee that we meet, In an epigram never should fail ; The body should always be little and sweet, And a sting should be felt in its tail. An anonymous distich in the " Poetical Register " for 1802, 253, describes an epigram : What is an epigram ? a dwarfish whole, Its body brevity, and wit its soul. JOHN CUNNINGHAM. Born in Dublin in 1729. His father, who was a wine-cooper, un- fortunately drew a prize in the lottery, set up as a wine-merchant, and failed. At the age of twenty he crossed to England, and, having a pa.ssion for the stage, became an actor, a profession for which he had little ability. Some of his poetry was much admired in his day, but it is now seldom read. He died at Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1773. ON AN ALDERMAN. That he was born it cannot be denied, He ate, drank, slept, talk'd politics, and died. An " Epitaph on a very Idle Fellow " may be compared with this ("Elegant Extracts"): Here lietli one that once was bom and cried, Liv'd several years, and then — and then — he died. Both may liave had tlioir origin in an epitaph by Simonidesou Tirao creou of Kliodes, tlius translated by C. (Jacobs I. 70, Iv.; : Here lies Timf)crcon : were his deeds supplied, You'M hear he liv'd, ate, drank, curs'd men, and died. 2 r 434 MODERN EPIGKAMMATISTS. ON CHURCHILL'S DEATH Says Tom to Eichard, " ChurchiU's dead!" Says Kicliard, " Tom, you lie ; Old Eancour the report has spread ; But Genius cannot die." Parrot has an epigram in his volume " Laquei Ridiculosi," ol " Fama MenJax " (Book I. 42) : Eei^ort, thou sometimes art ambitious, At other times too sparing courteous, But many times exceeding envious, And out of time most devilish furious : Of some or all of these I dare compound thee, But for a liar have I ever found thee. In the case of Churchill, " old Eancour " spread a true report of his death, and, if the inditference of posterity may be taken as a verdict, perhups of that of his genius too. The lesson, however, which the following excellent anonymous epigram teaches, may not be out of place here : Two ears and but a single tongue By nature's laws to man belong ; The lesson she would teach is clear, Kepeat but half of what you hear. The thought in Cunningham's last line was expressed by the Greek Parmenion (Jacobs II. 186, xii.); thus translated by the Rev. E Stokes, in the late Dr. WeUesley's " Anthologia Polyglotta " : False is the tale ; a hero never dies. Or Alexander lives, or Phoebus lies. GOTTHOLD EPHEAIM LESSING, A distinguished German writer, was born in Pomerania in 1729. Leopold, heir-apparent to the Duke of Brunswick, was his patron, and caused him to Ije appointed librarian at Wolfenbuttle. He published many works of very varied character, but his fame must rest upon his lighter productions. His religious opinions were deistical, and his morals very incorrect. He died at Hamburg in 1781. His epi- grams are numerous, but the majority are translations or imitations from the Greek and Latin. With the exception of the first, the following renderings are taken from "Fables and Epigrams from the German Df Lessing," 1825. GOTTHOLD EPHRAIM LESSING. 435 NAMES. Translated by S. T. Coleridge. I asked my fair one happy day, What I should call her in my lay ; By what sweet name from Eome or Greece ; Lalage, Xesera, Chloris, Sappho, Lesbia, or Doris, Arethusa or Lucrece. " Ah ! " replied my gentle fair, " Beloved, what are names but air ? Choose thou whatever suits the line ; Call me Sappho, call me Chloris, Call me Lalage, or Doris, Only, only call me Thine." The following lines on " Names," sent to a young lady on New Year's Day, are in the " Menagiana " ; thus translated from the French '" Selections from the French Anas," 1797) : May names, inspir'd by ardent love, As gifts, your grateful bosom move ; " My heart," " my lovely queen," " the prize," " The life," " the light of these fond eyes :" Choose which you will, they all are due. Exclusively, dear girl, to you. But might I act th' adviser's part. Fair Iris, you'll accept " my heart." THE ONE HIT OF LIFE. Nicander, who fain would be reckon'd a wit, In an epigram once made a capital hit ; From that day to this he still puzzles his brain To strike oif a second as sharp, but in vain. I low often the bee, in its first fierce endeavour. Leaves its sting in the wound, and is pointless for ever. Francis Beaumont, in a " Letter to Ben Jonson " (Beaumont and Fletcher's Works, 1778, I. cxxxix.), expresses the same thought : What things have we seen Done at the Mermaid ! heard words that have been 436 MODERN EPIGRAM3IATISTS. So nimble, and so full of subtile flame, As if that every one from -whence tht-y came Had meant to put bis whole wit in a jest. And had resolv'd to live a fool the rest Of his dull life. A man who has " once made a capital hit," often loses rather tbari gains by a second attempt. Bishop Warburton said to Anstey, after the publication of the celebrated " New Bath Guide " : " Young man. you have made a good hit ; never put pen to paper again." ON A STATUE OF CJPID. ■ Nay, Chloe, gaze not on his form, i Nor think the friendly caution vain, I Those eyes the marble's self may warm, i And look him into life again. Waller has some lines " To a Fair Lady playing with a Snake,' which conclude thus : Take heed, fair Eve ! you do not make Another tempter of this snake ; i A marble one, so warm'd, would speak. i Stephen Duck has an epigram, " To a Yoilng Lady who had a Cupid j given her " (^Duck's " Poems on Several Occasions," 173(3, 129j : | Fair lady, take a special care, [ This pleasing toy become no snare ; j The subtle god is full of wiles, And mischiefs most, when most he smiles : I Beware to clasp him in your arms, i Nor gaze too much upon his charms ; ] Lest in a borrow'd shape he wound, | As once unhappy Dido found ; For, while she view'd his smiling look. Her heart receiv'd a fatal stroke. ON A BATTLE-PIECE. How line the illusion ! Bramarbas breath 'd shorter. When he saw it, fell prostrate, and roar'd out for quarter This thought is, no doubt, taken from some of the numerous Greek and Latin epigrams on Myron's famous statue of the Cow. Bowles fomid the sun in a "Scene in France by Louth erbourg" f« real as was the enemy to Bramarbas. The epigram is headed " liny; Academy Exhibition, 1807 " : as al ANNE STEELE. 437 Artist, I own thy genius ; but the touch May be too restless, and the glare too much : And sure none ever saw a landscape shine, Basking in beams of such a sun as thine, But felt a fervid dew upon his phiz, And panting cried, O Lord, how hot it is ! ANNE STEELE. This lady was the eldest daughter of a minister of a dissenting congregation at Broughton in Hampsliire, where she lived and died. She published " Poems on Subjects chiefly Devotional," uuder the pseudonym of Theod(jsia. The first edition is not in the British Museum, and its date has not been ascertained. The second edition was published at Bristol in 1780, edited by Caleb Evans. When Miss Steele died is uncertain, but it was previous to 1780. EPITAPH ON MRS. ANN BERRY, IN BRADING CHURCH- YARD, ISLE OF WIGHT, Forgive, blest shade, tlie tributary tear, That mourns thy exit from a world like this ; Forgive the wish that would have kept thee here, And stayed thy progress to the realms of bliss. No more confin'd to grovelling scenes of night, No more a tenant pent in mortal clay ; We rather now should hail thy glorious flight, And trace thy journey to the lealnis of day. This celebrated ei>itaph is on Ann, wife of Robeit Berry, of Alver- stone Farm, who died at the age of twenty-five years. The Isle df Wight guide-books, including tlio valuable one by Canon Venable.s, state that it was from the pen of the Kev. John Gill, Curate of New- church. For the honour of that gentleman it is to be hoped he did nut induce the belief that the beautiful composition was his own. Some year.s ago, it was pointed out in "Notes and Queries," 1st S. X. '214, that it was taken from an elegy "On the Death of Mr. Hervey," by MisH Steele, ftuldishful atn(jng her Poems. But as tin; writer of the notice did not state the date of Mrs. lic.rry'H death, it was open to (jue'stion whetlier the ejiitapli was taken from the elegy, or the com- nienceincnt of llie elegy from tli(; epila|jli. The Vicar of IJiiuling, in a courteous reply to a questioa ou the subject, states that Mr-j. Berry 438 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. died in 1790. The second edition of Miss Steele's Poems was pub- lished in 1780. To her, therefore, undoubtedly belongs the honour of having written the epitaph, though not exactly in the form in which it appears on the head-stone. How little alteration Mr. Gill made, will be seen by comparing the commencement of Miss Steele's elegy, which consists of nine stanzas (" Poems," 1780, II. 71) : O Hervey, honoured name, forgive the tear. That mourns thy exit from a world like this ; Forgive the wish that would have kept thee here. Fond wish ! have kept thee from the seats of bliss. No more confin'd to these low scenes of night Pent in a feeble tenement of clay : Should we not rather hail thy glorious flight, And trace thy journey to the realms of day. It may be conceded that some of Mr. Gill's alterations are an improvement, but others, on the contrary, have injured the beauty of the lines. The use of the word "trace" in the second stanza is singularly beautiful, and not at all common. It is met with in an epitaph in the " Gentleman's Magazine," LV. Part II. 735, " On the Death of a much- Joved, amiable Wife " : Sweet Juliet, fare thee well ! but why this prayer ? — Allied to heaven, thou surely must be there. Grant me. Almighty Power, that I may trace Her path, to meet her in that blessed place ; Where tears and grief shall all be done away, And high-felt joys be one eternal day ! WILLIAM COWPER. Born 1731. Died 1800. ON THE BUBNING OF LORD MANSFIELD'S LIBRARY TOGETHER WITH HIS MSS., BY THE MOB IN 1780. So tlien — the Vandals of oiir isle, Sworn foes to sense and law, Have burnt to dnst a nobler pile I'han ever Eoman saw ! And Murray sighs o'er Pope and Swift, And many a treasure more, The well-judged purchase, and the gift That graced his letter'd store. WILLIAM COWPER. 439 Their pages mangled, burnt, and torn. The loss was liis alone ; But ages yet to come shall mourn The burning of his own. Lord Mansfield's house in Bloomsbury Square was burnt by the mob, in the Gordon riots, on the 7th of January, 1780. " His library," says Lord Campbell in his " Lives of the Chief Justices," " contained the collection of books lie had been making from the time he was a boy at Perth School, many of them the cherished memorials of early friendship, — others rendered invaluable by remarks in the margin, in the handwriting of Pope, or Boliugbroke, or some other of the illus- trious deceased wits and statesmen with whom he had been familiar. Along with them perished the letters between himself, his family, and his friends, which he had been preserving for half a century as materials for memoirs of his times. It is Ukewise believed that he had amused his leisure by writing, for posthumous publication, several treatises on juridical subjects, and historical essays They were all consumed through the reckless fury of illiterate wretches, who were incapable of forming a notion of the irreparable mischief they were committing." TO MISS CBEUZE, ON HER BIllTUDAY. How many between east and west Disgrace their parent earth, Whose deeds constrain us to detest The day that gave them birth ! Not 80 when Stella's natal morn Eevolving months restore, We can rejoice that she was born, And wish her bom once more ! Martial has an elegant epigram on a birthday, addressed to Quinctus Ovidius (Book IX. 53). Hay thus translates it : Believing hear, wliat you deserve to liear : Your birthday, ns rny own, to me is dear. Blest and distinguisii'd days ! which we should prize The first, the kindest, bounty of tlie skies. But yours gives most; for inino (hd only lend Me to the world, yours gavo to me a friend. GeorgG Jeffreys addressed an epigram " To a Lady on her Birth- day " (Jeffreys' " MiHrx-lianies," 1754, ir2) : As this auspicious day began tlic race Of ev'ry virtue joiu'd with cv'ry grace ; I 440 MODERN EPIGKAMMATISTS, May you, who own them, welcome its return. Till excellence, like yours, again is bom. The years we wish, will half your charms impair ; The years we wish, the better half will spare : The victims of your eyes would bleed no more, But all tlie beauties of your mind adore. WRITTEN IN MISS PATTY MORES ALBUM. 1792. In vain to live from age to age While modern bards endeavour, I w^rite my name in Pattj^'s page, And gain my point for ever. A distich of similar character is said to have been penned by Cowper, " at the request of a gentleman who importuned him to write something in his pocket album " : I were indeed indifferent to fame, Grudging two lines t' immortalize my name. EPITAPH ON FOP, A DOG BELONGING TO LADY THROCKMORTON. 1792. Though once a puppy, and though Fop by name, Here moulders one whose bones some honour claim. No sycophant, although of spaniel race, And though no hound, a martyr to the chase — Ye squirrels, rabbits, leverets, rejoice ! Your haunts no longer echo to his voice ; This record of his fiite exulting view ; He died worn out with vain pursuit of you. " Yes," — the indignant shade of Fop replies — " And worn with vain pursuit, man also dies." Robert Veel, born about 1648, has a poem on the " Vanity of Worldly Happiness," the first stanza of which has much in common with the moral of Fop's epitaph. Vetl wrote more wisely than he acted, for Wood says that he "lived after the manner of poets, in a debauchtd wav, and wrote ... to gain money to carry on the trade of folly " (Ellis' " Specimens of the Early English Poets," 1803, III. 401) : How eager are our vain pursuits Of pleasure and of worldly joys ! And yet how empty are the fruits ! How full of trouble, grief, and noise I SAMUEL BISHOP. 441 We to our ancestors new follies add. Proving ourselves less happy and more mad. An anonymous epigram of singular beauty, the author of -which it ■would be interesting to discover, warns the vain pursuer of pleasure alone against the efifects of his folly (" Select Epigrams," II. 160j : From flow'r to flow'r, with eager pains. See the blest, busy lab'rer fly ; Wlien all, that from her toil she gains, Is in the sweets she hoards — to die. 'Tis thus, would man the truth believe. With life's soft sweets, each fav"rite joy •. If we taste wisely, they relieve, But, if we plunge too deep, destroy. SAMUEL BISHOP, Born in 1731, was educated at, and in 1783 became Head Master of, Merchant Taylors' School. He held also the living of S. Martin Outwich. He died in 1795. He was a poet of considerable powers, especially in epigrammatic effusions, and has been called the Martial of England, who, with the wit of the Roman, was free from his coarse- ness. His " Poetical Works," including his epigrams, were published in two volumes, 4to, the year after his death. PAR PABI (Poemata). When seventy (as 'tis sometimes seen) Joins hands in wedlock with seventeen, We all th' unequal match abuse. But where's the odds we fret about ? Difference in age there is no doubt ; In folly — not a pin to choose ! This was written in Latin as well as English. Broome writes "To a Gentleman of Seventy, who married a Lady ot Sixteen" : What woes must such unequal union bring. When hoary winter weds the youthful spring ! You, like Mizeutius, in the nuptial )jcd, Once more unite the living to the dead. Virgil aiys of Mezentius < Ain. VIII. 48.5, Drydcn s translation): The living and tlio dead, at liis command Were coupled, face to face, and huml to hand. 442 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. THE BENEDICT'S FATE (Ep. 29). Only mark how grim Codrus' visage extends ! How unlike his ownself ! how estrang'd from his friends 1 He wore not this face, when eternally gay, He revell'd all night, and he chirrup'd all day. Honest Codrus had then his own house at his call ; 'Twas Bachelor's, therefore 'twas Liberty Hall : But now he has quitted possession for life, And he lodges, poor man ! in the Jiotise of his wife ! This is a good specimen of the epigrams on hen-pecked husbands. The subject may be amusing, but it has not produced much elegant wit. Some of the best lines on the female love of ruling are by the old epigrammatist, Henry Parrot, in "Laquei Kidiculosi," Book 1. 161 : Kind Katherine to her husband kiss'd these words, " Mine own sweet Will, how dearly do I love thee !" If true (quoth Will) the world no such affords (And that it's true I durst his warrant be) : For ne'er heard I of woman good or ill, But always loved best her own sweet will. THE AUCTION (Ep. 135). Need from excess— excess from folly growing. Keeps Christie's hammer daily, going, going ! Ill-omen'd prelude! whose dire knell brings on Profusion's last sad dying speech — " Gone ! Gone !" The thought mav, perhaps, have been taken from an epigram by Martial (Book VII. 98), thus translated by Hay : You purchase every thing, which makes it plain That every thing you soon will sell again. CONSISTENCY (Ep. 151). Tho' George, with respect to the wrong and the right, Is of twenty opinions 'twixt morning and night; If you call him a turn-coat, you injure the man ; He's the pink of consistency, on his own plan, While to stick to the strongest is always his trim ; 'Tis not he changes side, 'tis the side changes him 1 SAMUEL BISHOP. 443 George seems to have taken the Vicar of Bray as his model, or one who miitched that famous ecclesiastic, "William, Marquis of "Win- chester, who, being asked how he continued to be of the council in the troublesome times of divers princes, said : " I never attempted to be the director of others, but always suffered myself to be guidid by the most, and mightiest. I have always been a willow, and not an oak " (.Kett's " Flowers of Wit "'). MY LORD AND THE FOOL (Ep. 155). Of great connections with great men, ^ed keeps up a perpetual pother ; " My Lord knows what, knows who, knows when ; My Lord says this, thinks that, does t'other." My Lord had formerly his Fool, We know it, for 'tis on record ; But now, by Xed's inverted nile. The Fool, it seems, must have his Lord ! Graves, in an epigram called " The Dangler," shows the style of life of such a man as Ned (_" Euphrosyne," 1783, I. 93) : Charm'd with the empty sound of pompons words, Carlo vouchsafes to dine with none but lords ; "WTiilst rank and titles all his thoughts employ, For these he barters every social joy ; For these, what you and I sincerely hate. He lives in form, and often starves in state. — Carlo, enjoy thy peer ! content to be Rather a slave to liim, than friend to me : Go, sell the substance to retain the show ; May you seem happy — whilst I'm really so ! THE MAIDEN'S CHOICE (Ep. 201). A fool and knave with diflferent views, For Julia's hand apply : The knave, to mend his fortune, sues The fool, to please his eye. Ask you, how Julia will behave? Depend on't for a rule. If she's a fool, she'll wed the knave — If she's a knave, the fool. 444 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. Julia seems to have cunningly coquetted with both her suitors, and her chance of happiness was not very great. She might have read with advantage a few lines in Lord Lytteltou's " Advice to a Lady " : Be still superior to your sex's arts, Nor thint dishonesty a proof of parts : For you, the plainest is the wisest rule : A cunning woman is a knavish fool. AUDI ALTEBAM PARTEM (Ep. 221). When quacks, as quacks may by good luck, to be sure, Blunder out at hap-hazard a desperate cure, In the prints of the day, with due pomp and parade, Case, patient, and doctor, are amply display'd : — All this is quite just — and no mortal can blame it ; If the}'^ save a man's life, they've a right to proclaim it : But there's reason to think they might save more lives still. Did they publish a list of the numbers they kill ! This satire is as applicable to the present day as to the last century ; and, indeed, from the number of epigrams in all ages upon quacks, it may be supposed that the fraternity has always been numerous, and the exit of their patients as certain as those of Gil J31as' Dr. Sangrado. Many modern epigrams, however, attack not only illiterate empirics, but the whole medical profession, and indiscriminately satirize a body of men, who in honour, learning, and liberality have no superiors. Some are amusing from their clever and transparent exaggeration, but others are wanting as much in wit as in taste. Dimces and quacks are fair game for the satirist, and they have not been spared. One of the earliest epigmms on this subject is a Greek one by Lucian (Jacobs III. 25. xxiv.), thus rather freely translated in a " Selection of Greek Ei^igrams. for the Use of Winchester School," 1791 (slightly altered) : My friend, an eminent physician, Trusted his son to my tuition : The father wish'd me to explain The beauties of old Homer's strain. But scarce these lines the youth had read, " Of thousands number'd with the dead, " Of ghastly woimds and closing eyes, " Of broken limbs and heart- felt sighs" — You teach no more, the father saith, Than I can well instruct of death ; For many I to Hades send, And need no learning for this end. The following by Graves is witty (" Euphrosyne," 1783, I. 271) : ROBERT LLOYD. 445 A doctor, -who, for want of skill, Did sometimes cure — and sometimes kill ; Contriv'd at length, by many a pnfF, And many a bottle fill'd with stufi". To raise liis fortune, and his pride ; And in a coach, forsooth ! must ride. His family coat long since worn out. What arms to take, was all the doubt. A friend, consulted on the case, Thus answer'd with a sly grimace : " Take some device in your own way, Neither too solemn nor too gay ; Three Ducks, suppose ; white, grey, or black ; And let your motto be, Quack! Quack!" Dr. Edward Jenner, the celebrated discoverer of vaccination, sent the following epigram with a present of a couple of ducks to a patient ("Gentleman's Magazine," XCIII. Part I. 165, where it is stated to be taken " from Fosbroke's ' Life of Jenner,' in the History of Berkeley ") : I've dispatch' d, my dear madam, this scrap of a letter, To say that Miss is very much better ; A regular Doctor no longer she lacks, And therefore I've sent her a couple of Quacks. Impromptu, in answer to the epigram, " Sent with a Couple of Ducks to a Patient. By the late Dr. Jenner " (" Gentleman's Magazine," XCIII. Part I. 454) : Yes ! 'twas politic, truly, my very good friend, Thus a " couple of Quacks " to your patient to send ; Since there's nothing so likely, as " Quacks " (it is plain), To make work for a " Regular Doctor " again ! EGBERT LLOYD, Was the son of a worthy clergyman, whose hopes he raised by his abilities, but whose life he embittered by his in-egularities. lie was born in 1733, and educated at Westminster School, of which his father was second ma.ster, where he as.sociated with evil companions, whose example proved his ruin. He followed literature as a profession, but brought no industry to his work, and, falling into irretrievable diffi- culties, was confined in the Fleet Prison, where he died in 1704. The following anonymous epigram was composed on him when a prisoner ' " Select Epigrams ') : Wit, wisdom, pity, folly, friends. Bob uses and abuses ; No pride, but learn(;d pride commends, No liars, but the Musus. 446 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. SENT TO A LADY WITH A SEAL. Th' impression which this seal shall make, The rougher hand of force may break ; Or jealous time, with slow decay, May all its traces wear away ; But neither time nor force combin'd, Shall tear thy image from my mind ; Nor shall the sweet impression fade Which Chloe's thousand charms have made : For spite of time, or force, or art, 'Tis seaVd for ever on my heart. Campbell says, in " Lines on Receiving a Seal wath the Campbell Crest, from K. M , before her Marriage " : This wax returns not back more fair Th' impression of the gift you send, Than stamp'd upon my thoughts I bear The image of your worth, my friend ! BUSTIC SIMPLICITY. When late a simple rustic lass, I rov'd withotit constraint, A stream was all my looking-glass, And health my only paint. The charms I boast, (alas how few !) I gave to nature's care. As vice ne'er spoil'd their native hue. They could not want repair. Thomson ("Autumn," 201) describes "the lovely young Lavinia's' rustic simplicity : A native grace Sat fair proportion'd on her polish'd limbs, Veil'd in a simple robe, their best attire, Beyond the pomp of dress ; for loveliness Needs not the foreign aid of ornament, But is, when uuadorn'd, adorn'd the most. Thoughtless of beauty, she was beauty's self, Recluse amid the close embow'riug woods. So, Goldsmith, in " The Deserted VUlage" : EOBEKT LLOTD, 447 As some fair female, unadorn'd and plain, Secure to please while youth confirms her reign. Slights every borrowed charm that dress supplies, Nor shares with art the triumph of her eyes. Bishop Lowth says, in a Latin address " To a Young Lady (Miss Moliueux of Winchester) Curling her Hair," tianslated by William Duucombe (Nichols' " Collection of Poems," VI. 22, 1780; : So simple dxess and native grace Will best become thy lovely face ! For naked Cupid still suspects, In artful ornaments conceal'd defects. CUPID'S DART AND WINGS. If tyrant Love with cruel dart Transfix the maiden's tender heart, Of easy faith and fond belief, She hugs the dart and aids the thief. Till left her hapless state to mourn, Keglected, loving, and forlorn ; She finds, while grief her bosom stings. As well as darts the god has wings. The sorrows of a maiden left forlorn, are pictured in " England's Helicon," ed. 1812, 178, in a madrigal, entitled "Lycoris the Nymph, her Sad Song " : In dew of roses, steeping her lovely cheeks, Lycoris thus sat weeping: Ah Dorus false, that hast my heart bereft me, And now unkind hast left me, Hear, alas, oh hear me ! Aye me, aye me. Cannot my beauty move thee? Pity, yet pity me, Because I love thee. Aye me, thou scorn'st the more I pray thee : And this thou dost, and all to slay mo. Why do then Kill me, and vaunt thee: Yet my f^host Still shall haunt thee. So. Tennyson, in " Mariana in the South," describes the grief of a forsaken one : U8 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. And rising, from her bosom drew Old letters, breathing of her wortn, For " Love," they said, " must needs be true, To what is loveliest upon eartli." An image seem'd to pass the door, To look at her with slight and say, " Bat now thy beauty flows away, So be alone for evermore." " O cruel heart," she changed her tone, " And cruel love, whose end is scorn, Is this the end to be left alone, To live forgotten, and die forlorn !" Professor Smyth of Cambridge (late Professor of Modern History) has two lines in his ode "To Pity" ("English Lyrics," 1815), which touchingly describe the forsaken maiden : The love-lorn maid that long believed Now sinking wan, now undeceived. FRANCIS COVENTRY, Perpetual Curate of Edgware, was the author of a satirical romance entitled " Pompey the Little." He died young of the small-pox in 1759. INSCRIPTION FOR AN OAK IN PENSRURST PARK PLANTED ON THE DAY ON WHICH SIR PHILIP SID- NEY WAB BORN. (Dodsley's " Collection of Poems," 1782, IV. 59.) Stranger, kneel here ! to age due homage pay ! When great Eliza held Britannia's sway My growth began— the same illustrious morn, Joy to the hour ! saw gallant Sidney born ; Sidney, the darling of Arcadia's swains ! Sidney, the terror of the martial plains ! He perish'd early ; I just stay behind An hundred years, and lo ! my clefted rind, My wither'd boughs, foretell destruction nigh ; We all are mortal ; oaks and heroes die. Ben Jonson commemorates this tree : That taller tree, which of a nut was set, At his great birth, where all the Musf^ wet. RICHARD GOUGH. 4-i9 Afid Waller thus links it with his passion for Sacharissa : Go, boy, ami carve this passion oc the bark 0£ that old tree, which stands the sacred mark Of noble Sidney's birth Southey, in an inscription " For a Tablet at Penshurst,"' thuij com- inemorates the old tree : Upon his natal day an acorn here Was planted : it grew up a stately oak. And in the beauty of its strength it stood And flourish'd, when his perishable part Had moulder'd, dust to dust. That stately oak Itself hath moulder'd now, but Sidney's fame Endureth in his own immortal works. The oak is still standing, though much decayed. A fence has hew placed round it, to protect the trunk from injury. EICHAED GOUGH. The iUusti-ious antiquary, worthily called the Camden of the 18tl century. Born 1735. Died 1809. A GREAT LITERARY UNDERTAKING, With wliich the following epigram is connected, renders it in teresting. It is preserved, with the accompanying account of it, ir Nichols' " Literary Anecdotes," VI. 284 : '• He (Gough) assistec j\Ix. Nichols in the ' Collection of Royal and Noble Wills,' 1780, to which he wrote the preface, and compiled the glossary." . . . " The first projector of this cui-ious work was Dr. Ducarel ; and by the joint assistance of that eminent civilian and Mr. Gough it was con- ducted through the jjress. not without a very considerable inconveni- ence to the printer, who paid the whole expense occasioned by the various notes added by his h arutd frieuds; a circumstance thus pleasantly alluded to by one of them." The epigram is signed " R. G., Nov. 1770 " " ^^'ho shall decide when doctors disagree " Between the learn'd civilian and W. G. ? Hevis'd and sic orig. the Doctor cries, Kor once t' elucidate the puzzle iries. " \V rite notes," the Director says : " Again revise," And wearies out the text with grave surmise. Kichols o'en-uns, and finds at last to 's cost The plague is his, and only ours the boast. ^Vhile the compositor's and Pouncey's fees Mount high, we ecratch and scribble at our ease, 2 a 450 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. Scrawl crooked lines and words that none can read : x\nd thus far only are we both agreed. The &'st line is from Pope's " Moral Essays," Epistle III. 1. Pouncey or Pouncy was an eminent engraver, who was occasionally Dr. Ducarel's amanuensis. DR. JOHN LANGHORNE, A poet and miscellaneous writer, was Lorn in Westmoreland, in 1735. He was a Prebendary of Wells, and is well known as the trans- lator, with his brother William, of Plutarch's " Lives." He died in 1779. WRITTEN IN A SEAT IN MB. BAMPFYLDE'S WOODS AT HESTER COMBE, NEAR TAUNTON, Called the Witches' Parlour, and which commanded the prospect of his pleasant grounds. O'er Bampfylde's woods by Nature's beauties grac'd, A witch presides— but then that witch is Taste. This is not in Langhorue's Poetical Works, but is commonly ascribed to him. In Graves' " Euphrosyne,"' 1783, I. 45, is a poem addressed "To C. W. Bampfylde, Esq., after a slight Fit of the Gout," in which the Witches' Parlour is alluded to under the name of Urganda's cava • But could'st thou reach Urganda's cave, And thence direct thine eye, Where tow'ring oaks their branches wave And pierce the azm-tj sky. * * * * itc :H * 3tE That scene should lull thy cares to rest, Which still nncloy'd you view : Tho' thy own skill the scene has drest, Its charms are always new. DR. JOHN WOLCOT, Better known as Peter Pindar, was born in Devonshire in 1738. He became a physician, and in that capacity accompanied Sir William Trelawny when he went to Jamaica as Governor. He received holy orders from the Bishop of London, and, returning to the island, held a living or curacy there. On leaving Jamaica at the Governor's death, he St ttled in Cornwall, and resumed practice as a physician. He after- DR. JOHN WOLCOT. 451 wiirds went to London, where lie became noted for his satires, which were severe and popular. He died in 1819. He occasionally wrote with feeling and propriety, but the following epigrams are scarcely a fair specimen of his usual style, which was coarsely satiricd and vulgarly personal. His Works were published in 5 vols, in 1812. TO CHLOE. Dear Chloe, well I know the swain Who gladly would embrace thy chain ; And who, alas ! can blame him ? Affect not, Chloe, a surprise : Look but a moment on these eyes ; Thou'lt ask me not to name him. Shenstone has some epigrainmatic stanzas, on the willingness of the British youth to embrace "the chains forged for them by the fair sex, which thus conclude : Nor pouated spear nor links of steel, Could e'er those gallant minds subdue, Who beauty's woimds with pleasure feel, And beast the fetters wrought by you. Spenser, however, warns against embracing the chain in his i?7tb sonnet : Fondnesse it were for any, being free, To covet fetters, though they golden bee ! TO LOUD NELSON. Dr. Wolcot, when on a vi^it to Lord Nelson at Merton. was reading in bed, and accidentally .set fire to the night-cap he was wearing, which and been lent to him by his host. He returned the cap with the lollowing lines : Take your night-cap again, my good lord, I desire, For I wish not to keep it a minute : A\ hat belongs to a Nelson, where'er there's afire. Is sure to be instantly in it. The following impromptu is good. On the victory of the Nile, ro- fi-rring to Nclsfjn's previous loss of an eye and an arm ( Kelt's " y lowers of Wit," 1814, L l'J8) : Frenchmen, no more with Britons vie, — Nelson destroys your naval band, Sees your designs with half an eye, And lights and boutb you with one han could have been worse ? Parr replied : " I'll tell you, Jemmy ; Quigley was an Irisliman — he might have been a Scotchman ; he was a priest — he miglit have been a lawyer ; he was a traitor — he might have been an apostate " (" Quarterly Review," No. CCXLVI. 406). JAMES SMITH, Was born in 1775, and succeeded his father as Solicitor to the Board of Ordnance. He was celebrated for his wit and his conversational powers. On the occasion of the re-opening of Drury Lane Theatre in 1812, he produced, in conjunction with his brother Horace, the well- known volume of " Rejected Addresses.' He died in 1839. The first of the following epigrams is taken from Barham's " Life and Remains of Theodore Hook," 1849. The others from Smith's " Memoirs, Letters, and Comic Miscellanies," 1840. CRAFT. Smith produced the following witty epigram, extempore, at a dinner at Lincoln's Inn, at which Sir George Rose was present : In Craven Street, Strand, ten attorneys find place, And ten dark coal-barges are moored at its base : JAMES SMITH. 493 Fly, Honesty, fly to some safer retreat. There's craft in the river, and craft in the street. Sir George Eose immediately replied : Why should Honesty seek any safer retreat, From the lawyers or barges, odd-rot 'em ? For the lawyers are just at the top of the street, And the barges aie just at the bottom. ON MR. STBAHAN, THE KING'S PRINTER. Your lower limbs seem'd far from stout, When last I saw you walk ; The cause I presently found out, When you began to talk. The power that props the body's length In due proportion spread. In you mounts upwards, and the strength All settles in the head. At a dinner-party Smith met Mr. Strahan, who was then suffering from gout and old age, though his intellectual faculties remained un- impaired, and the next morning sent him the above. Horace Smith, the editor of his brother's " Memoirs, Letters, and Comic Miscellanies," says : " This compliment proTed so highly acceptable to the old gen- tleman, that he made an immediate codicil to his will, by which he bequeathed to the writer the sum of three hundred pounds ! Since the days of Sannazarius it may be questioned whether any bard has been more liberally remunerated for an equal number of lines." A quaint epigram by Sir John Davies shows a man. whose " strength " took an opposite course to that of Mr. Strahan (Ep. 12) : Quintus liis wit infus'd into liis brain, Mislikes the place, and fled into his feet ; And there it wanders up and down the street. Dabbled in the dirt, and soaJ:'.?! in the rain. Doubtless his wit intends not to aspire. Which leaves his head, to travel in the mire. EDMUND BURKE. The sage of Beaconsfield, who wrote "^I'lie ciimos of Oaid's degenerate crew, But little thought his name would note The murd'rous deeds his pencil drew. 494 MODERN EriGRAMMATISTS. His anti-Jacobinic work Still lives — his name preserves it still ; And— verb impassable — " to Burke," Implies to kidnap and to kill. Although unconnected with the above, an epigram on Biu-ke may be given here, found in "An Asylum for Fugitive Pieces," 1785, lLi7. entitled " Burke's Glasgow Promotion " : Unqualified in senates to declaim, Burke gains a post well suited to his knowledge : Scotch pedants zealous to enlarge his fame. Have chose him lordly rector of a college. May Burke o'er beardless and o'er bearded boys. His pow'r sublime, unenvied, long maintain ! And though S. Stephen wUl not hear his noise, In learned cells uurivall'd may it reign ! The absm-dity of the first line of this epigram must strike all modern readers. The attack upon Buike was, perhaps, occasioned by the un- popularity of the coalition ministry formed in 1783, in which he held the office of Paymaster of the Forces. WESTMINSTER BRIDGE. As late the Trades' Unions, by way of a show, O'er Westminster Bridge strutted five in a row, " I feel for the bridge," whisper'd Dick, with a shiver, " Thus tried by the mob, it may sink in the river." Quoth Tom, a crown lawyer, " Abandon your fears ; As a bridge, it can only be tried by its piers." The same pun is in the following " Lnpromptu on the Prince's Absence from the Ceremony of Laying the First Stone of Vauxhall Bridge," which is found in " The Spirit of the Public Jcurnals," XV. 209. "taken from the "Morning Chronicle" of May 11, 1811. It is signed " T. H."— Theodore Hook : An arch wag has declar'd, that he truly can say Why the Prince did not lay the first stone t'other day : The Restrictions prevented — the reason is clear ; The Kegent can't meddle in making a pier. THOMAS CAMPBELL. 495 SLAVERY.— AN IMPROMPTU WRITTEN AT GORE MOOSE. Mild Wilberforce, by all beloved, Once own'd this hallow'd spot, Whose zealous eloquence improved The fetter'd Negro's lot. Yet here still slavery attacks Whom Blessington invites ; The chains from which he freed the Blacks, She rivets on the Whites. Gore House, once the residence of Wilberforce, afterwards became that of Lady Blessington. Campbell has the same thought in a " Song on our Queen " : Victoria's sceptre o'er the deep Has touch'd and broken Slavery's chain ; Yet, strange magician ! she enslaves Oui' hearts within her own domain. Her spirit is devout, and burns With thoughts averse to bigotry ; Yet she herself, the idol, tvonas Our thoughts into idolatry. THOMAS CAMPBELL. Born 1777. Died 1844. WRITTEN IN FLORINE'S ALBUM. (" Notes and Queries," 1st S. X. 44.) Could I recall lost youth again, And be what I have been, I'd court you in a gallant strain, My young and fair Florine. But mine's the chilling ago that chides Ailcction's tender glow ; And Love — ^that conquers all besides — Finds Time a conquering foe. 496 MODEEN EPIGRAMMATISTS. Farewell ! we're sever'd by our fate, As far as night from noon. You came into the world so late, And I depart so soon ! Leigh Hunt has translated some pretty lines, from the French of Madame D'Houdetot, on " Love and Age " (Hunt's " Poetical Works ") : When young, I lov'd. At that enchanting age So sweet, so short, love was my sole delight ; And when I reach'd the time for being sage, Still I lov'd on, for reason gave me right. Snows came at length, and livelier joys depart. Yet gentle ones still kiss these eyelids dim ; For still I love, and Love consoles my heart ; What could console me for the loss of him ! The first stanza of Waller's lines, "To my Young Lady Lucy Sidney," is very similar to Campbell's last stanza : Why came I so untimely forth Into a world, which, wanting thee. Could entertain us with no worth, Or shadow of felicity ? That time should me so far remove From that which I was born to love ! TO A YOUNG LADY, WHO ASKED ME TO WRITE SOME- THING ORIGINAL FOR HER ALBUM. An original something, fair maid, you would win me To write— but how shall I begin ? For I fear I have nothing original in me — Excepting Original Sin. A request, equally diiScult to be complied with, was made by a lady to Mr. Pieydell Wilton, to write an epigram on " Nothing," which he thus answered (" Geology, and other Poems," by Pieydell Wilton, 74) : Write on nothing ? Shame so to puzzle me ! Tho' Something, lady, ne'er can Nothing be, This Nothing must be Something, and 1 see This Nothing and this Something — all in thee. The celebrated Latin epigram on the infamous Caesar Borgia's motto, " Aut Caesar aut nihil," is thus translated by the late Rev. Dr. Husen- beth. (" Notes and Queries," 2nd S. VIII. 246) : Borgia was Csesar, both in deeds and name ; " Caesar or nought," he said : he both became. i 497 SIE JOHN CHETHAM MOKTLOCK. Boru 1778. Died 1845. He was a banker at Cambridge, and a Oommissioner of the Excise. He was kniglited in 1816. TWO OF A NAME. ('• Notes and Queries,' 3rd S. IV. 303.) •' Simultaneously with the election of the late Professor Scholefield to the Chair of Greek in the University of Cambridge, a namesake, convicted of an offence then capital, with difficulty obtained a commu- tation of his sentence. The Professor was supposed to owe liis election to the following capricious chance. In the absence of one of the electors, the Master of Christ's (John Kaye, also Bishop of Lincoln), the locum tenens, not liolding tlie Master's proxy, but exercising an in- dependent right of choice, asked a friend for whom the Master of Trinity intended to vote ? ' For Hugh James Rose,' was the answer. ' Then I shall vote for Scholefield,' was the ready, if not reasonable, reply of the hcum tenens." In reading the epigram, it must be remembered that " Golgotha '' was the name given to the unsightly gallery which formerly ran across S. Mary's Church, and in which the heads of houses and professors sat during the University sermon ; and that the Johnians have the rei^u- tation ot being the most expert punsters in Cambridge : Two Scholefields in London and Cambridge of late Have met, 1 am told, with a similar fate : The one was transported to Botany Bay, The other translated to Golgotha; And the Johnians all say, there were lacking, that day. The noose of Jack Ketch and the vovs of John Kaye. This epigram was probably suggested by an anonymous one. pro- duc^riod of the Dissolu- tion." (See Taylor's ed'ition of Hegge's " Golden Legend.") DR. GEORGE CROLY. For many years Eector of S. Stephen's, Walbrook. Born 1780. Died 1860. ILLUSTRATIONS OF GEMS FROM THE ANTIQUE. Atalanta. When the young Greek for Atalanta sigh'd, He might have fool'd and follow'd, till he died ! He learn'd the sex, the bribe before her roll'd, And found, the short way to the heart is — Gold ! Allan Eamsay, in the "Morning Interview,'' gives an amusing account of Cupid's power when he has gold to aid him. The following lines occur in the middle of the poem : HENRY KIRKE WHITE 503 So now the suLtle pow'r his time espies, And threw two barbed darts in Celia's eyes: Many were broke before he could succeed ; J5ut "that of gold flew whizzing thro' her head: These were his last reserve. — -When others fail, Thau the refulgent metal must prevail. Pleasure produc'd by money now appears, Coaches-and-six run rattling in her ears. O liv'ry men ! attendants ! household plate ! Court-posts and visits ! pompous air and state I The well-known epigram will recur to many : Lucia thinks happiness consists in state ; She weds an idiot — but she eats on plate. HENRY KIRKE WHITE. Born 1785. Died 1806. ON EGBERT BLOOMFIELD. Bloomfield, thy happy-omen'd name Ensures continuance of thy fame ; Both sense and truth this A'erdict give, \\ hile^eWs shall hloom thy name shall live ! ' There is a similar play on Bloomfield's name in an " Impromptu on eeeing Flowcrdew's Poems on the same shelf with the ' Farmer's Boy ' at Bloomfield's Cottage," by Thomas Park, a man remarkable for his knowledge of old poetical literature, and who assisted Ellis iu his '• Specimens of the Early English Poets " (" Poetical Register " for 1805,31): Though scant be the poet's domain, Most ample I know is his mind ; Till- applauses of all he can gain. liis applauses to none are confin'd. Hence, even his book-stor'd retreat This liberal thought seems to yield — That the dam of iijloicer may be sweet; Though it match not the bloom of a field. 504 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. GEORGE GOEDON, SIXTH LORD BYRON. Born 1788. Died 1824. WRITTEN AT ATHENS, 1810. The spell is broke, the charm is flown ! Thus is it with life's fitful fever ; We madly smile when we should groan — Delirium is our best deceiver. Each lucid interval of thought Recals the woes of iS'ature's charter, And he that acts as wise men ought, But lives, as saints have died, a martyr. On the tlionglit in the last line of the first stanza, Shakespeare has two passages in " "Winter's Tale." The fii-st. Act IV. sc. 3 : Camillo. Be advis'd. Fhrizel. I am ; and by my fancy: if my reason Will thereto be obedient, I have reason ; If not, my senses, better pleas'd with madness, Uo bid it welcome. The second, Act V. sc. 3, where Leontes is looking at what he supposes to be the statue of Hermione : Paulina. I'll draw the curtain ; My lord's almost so far transported, that He'll think anon, it lives. Leontes. sweet Paulina, Make me think so twenty years together ; No settled senses of the world can match The pleasure of that madness. Let 't alone. ON THE EARL OF CARLISLE. Carlisle subscribes a thousand pound Out of his rich domains ; And for a sixpence circles round The produce of his brains : 'Tis thus the difference you may hit Between his fortune and his wit. Frederick, 5th Earl of Carlisle, was Lord BjTon's cousin, but the poet disliked his relative, who was a generation his senior, and was nol GEORGE GORDON, SIXTH LORD BYRON. 505 unwilling to display liis enmity. The epigram was occasioned by a pamphlet which the Earl, wlio was a great admirer of the classic Irama, published, tn show the propriety and necessity of small theatres. The donation of a thousand pounds, for some public purpose, happened to be given on the day on which the pamplilet appeareil in print. Lord Byron is never seen to le.ss advantage than when he shows his spleen, as m this epigram. It is to his credit, that he publicly acknowledged himself in the wrong in his lament tor Major Frederick Howard, of tha ] 0th Hussars, Lord Carlisle's third son, who was killed at Waterloo (" Childe Harold," Canto III. xxix.) : Their praise is hymn'd by loftier harps than mine ; Yet one I would select from that jaroud throng, Partly because they blend me with his line, And partly that 1 did his sire some wrong, And partly tiiut bright names will hallow song; And his was of the bravest, and when shower'd The death-bolts deadliest the tlann'd files along, Even where the thickest of war's tempest lower'd. They reach'd no nobler breast than thine, young, gallant Howard ! TO ME. H0BH0U8E ON HIS ELECTION FOB WESTMINSl'EH. 1820. Would you get to the House through the true gate, Much quicker than ever Whig Charley went, Let Parliament send you to Newgate — And Newgate will send you to — Parliament. Mr. John Gam Hobhouse, afterwards Lord Broughton, published " Letters to an Englishman," in which the opinions advanced were so Radical that he was committed to Newgate. Tlie populace looked upon him as a martyr, and soon after his release, the enthusiasm in his favour was displayed by his return as member for Westminster in the llailical interest. ON THE BUST OF HELEN BY CANOVA. In this beloved marble view, Above the work.s and thoughts of man, \\ hat Nature could, but ivould not, do. And lioauty and Canova can! Beyond imagination's power, P>eyond tlie liard's defeated art. With iiiiiiiortality her dower, Behold the JJelen of the heart I 506 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. Elsum, in his " Epigrams on Paintings," has one on the Helen of Zeuxis, in which the same idea is expressed, of the work being the creation of the artist, as by Byron. The iirst few lines are given, but they are too rough to please after the polished elegance of that poet's verses (Ep. 4) : Behold a Beauty, that's the painter's creature ! A Beauty never parallel'd by Nature : The sev'ral graces that lie soatter'd there. Are all collected and united here. ON WILLIAM THOMAS FITZGERALD. What's writ on me, cried Fitz, I never read ; — "What's wrote by thee, dear Fitz, none will indeed. The case stands simply thus, then, honest Fitz : Thou and thine enemies are fairly quits, Or rather would be, if, for time to come, They luckily were deaf, or thou wert dumb — But, to their pens, while scribblers add their tongues, The waiter only can escape their lungs. Byron's " English Bards and Scotch Eeviewers " opens thus : Still must I hear ? — shall hoarse Fitzgerald bawl His creaking couplets in a tavern hall, And I not sing, lest, haply, Scotch Reviews Should dub me scribbler, and denounce my Muse ? In a copy of the poem Fitzgerald wrote the following lines : I find Lord Byron scorns my muse — Our fotes are ill agreed ! His verse is safe — I can't abuse Those lines I never read. Lord Byron, seeing them, replied by the above severe epigram. A note to the passage quoted from " English Bards and Scotch Reviewers " thus explains tlie allusions : " Mr. Fitzgerald, facetiously termed by Cobbctt the ' Small-beer Poet,' inflicts his annual tribute of verse on the ' I-iterary Fund ' ; not content with writing, he spouts in person, after the company have imbibed a reasonable quantity of bad port, to enable them to sustain the operation." Byron forgot gene- rosity. Fitzgerald was a warm-hearted and intelligent man ; and the " Literary Fund," which he constantly patronized, thankfully accepted his services. See a memoir of him in the "Gentleman's i\iagazine" for 1829, the year in which he died. 507 EDMUND HENRY BARKER, Bom in 1788, went to Trinity College, Cambridge, but, from reli- gious scruples, took no degree. He settled at Thetford, and was constantly engaged in literary pursuits, but fell into difficulties and was imprisoned in the Fleet. On his release he spent his time in bad society, and died miserably in a lodging-house in London in 1831). The original of the following lines, written at Cambridge, gained the medal for the best Latin epigram : VIGOROUS IDLENESS. Translated from the Latin in " Literary Anecdotes, &c., of Porson and Others, from Barkers MS. Papers." Idly-busy squirrel, say Wherefore spend the live-long day In hopeless, fruitless toil ? The cylinder, you roll in vain, Obeys you, but revolves again, And mocks in quick recoil. You never can and wherefore try Y^onr whirling pa.s.sion thus to fly? Laborious indolence ! 'Tis self you follow, self you shun. From rising to the setting sun, Nought doing ! great pretence ! Stranger to rest, yet idling thus ! Labours the shade of Sisyphus ! So, Horace (" Epistles," Book I. xi. 28), translated by Francis : Aiixious through seas and land to search for rest. Is but laborious idleness at best. The same pregnant expression, '■ Strenua inertia," is used by Barker. But " Laborious indolence " is a happier rendering than Francis' " Laborious idleness." Gibbon, in his " Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," says of the Emperor Ilornunus XL, th:it his hours " were consumed in strenuoua idleness." 508 MODERN EPIGEAMMATISTS. PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY. Born 1792. Died 1822. TO-MORROW. \ "Where art thou, beloved To-morrow ? When young and old, and strong and weak, Rich and poor, through joy and sorrow, Thy sweet smiles we ever seek, — In thy place — ah ! well-a-day ! We find the thing we fled— To-day. Owen has an epigram on To-day and To-morrow (Book III. 50) ; thua translated by Harvey : This day was yesterday to-morrow nam'd : To-morrow shall be yesterday proclaim'd : To-morrow not yet come, nor far away, What shall to-morrow then be call'd ? To-day. THE BEGINNING AND THE END. The babe is at peace within the womb. The corpse is at rest within the tomb, We begin in what we end. This melancholy view of life — that before birth or in death is peace only to be found— is common in heathen writers. A fragment of Theognis, who flom-ished B.C. 540, is thus translated by Hookham Frere^f" Works of Hesiod, &c.," 1856, 481): Not to be born — never to see the sun — No worldly blessing is a greater one ! And the next best is speedily to die. And lapt beneath a load of earth to lie ! That not to be born is best, but without any reference to the blessing of death, is expressed by Baccliylides, who flourished B.C. 472 ; thus translated by Merivale (Jacobs I. S3, vii.) : Not to be born 'twere best, Nor view the light o' th' sun ; Since to be ever blest Is glv'n to none. Prior seems to have had this in mind when he wrote in his " Solomon " 'Book III. 235) : I HARTLEY COLEKIDGE. 509 But O ! beyond description happiest he, Who ne'er must roll on Life's tumultuous sea ; 'Who, with bless'd fieedom, from the general doom Exempt, must never force the teeming womb! Nor see the sun, nor sink into tlie tomb ! "Who breathes, must suti'er; and who thinks, must mourn; And he alone is bless'd, who ne'er whis bora. EPITAPH ON KEATS. The first line was written by Keats for his own tomb. " Here lieth one whose name was writ on water!" But ere the breath that could erase it blew, Death, in remorse for that fell slaughter, Death, the immortalizing winter flew, Athwai't the stream, and Time's monthless torrent grew A scroll of crystal, blazoning the name Of Adonais ! Hartley Coleridge has some lines on the same subject, taking as hia text the words of Iveats, " I have written my name on water " : And if thou hast, where could'st thou write it better Than on the feeder of all lives that live'? The tidi', the stream, will bear away the letter, And all that formal is and fugitive: Blill shall ihy Genius be a vital power, Feeding ihe root of many a beauteous flower. HARTLEY COLERIDGE. Son of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Born 1797. Died 1849. WRITTEN ON THE FLYLEAF OF SWIFT'S WOliKS, IN THE AVTUOU'S COPY OF ANDERSON'S ''BRITISH POETS.' First in the list behold the caustic Dean, AVhose muse was like himself compact of spleen ; \V hoso sport was ireful, and his laugh severe, His very kindness cutting, cold, austere. Swift gloried ill his power of satire, as may be seen in lii.s " Dialogrie Vjetween an Eminent Lawyer and Dr. Jonathan Swift," hi which he usks; 510 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. Since there are persons who complain There's too much satire iu my vein ; That I am often found exceeding The rules of raillery and breeding ; With too much freedom treat my betters. Not sparing even men of letters : You who are skill'd iu lawyers' lore, What's your advice ? Shall I give o'er V Nor ever fools or knaves expose Either in verse or humorous prose ; And, to avoid all future ill, In my scrutoire lock up my quill ? The third line of Colerids'e's epigram recalls the celebrated Latin one fin Erasmus, thus translated by T. Corbett (" Notes and Queries," 1st ?^. IV 437): Erasmus, standing 'fore hell's tribunal, said, For writing jest I am in earnest paid. The judge replied, jests will in earnest hurt. Sport was thy fault, then let thy pain be sport. ON A MAIDEN. She is not fair to outward view As many maidens be. Her loveliness I never knew Until she smiled on me ; Oh ! then I saw her eye was bright, A well of love, a spring of light. But now her looks are coy and cold, To mine they ne'er reply. - And yet I cease not to behold The love-light in her eye : Her very frowns are fairer far, Than smiles of other maidens are. There is so much of kindred feeling in the first part of this and some stanzas by Wordsworth, that Coleridge may have been indebted for the thouglit to his father's friend. " To " (No. XV. of the " Poems Founded on the AHections ") : Let other bards of angels sing. Bright suns without a spot ; But thou art no such perfect thing : Rejoice that thou art not ! 1 THOMAS HOOD. 511 Heed not tliough none should call thee fail' ; So, Mary, let it be, If nought in loveliness compare With whut thou art to me. True beauty dwells in deep retreats, Whose veil is uuremoved Till heart with heart in concord beats, And the lover is beloved. EPITAPH ON A MOTHER AND THREE INFANTS. From God they came, to God they went again ; No sin they knew, and knew but little pain : And here they lie, by their fond mother's side, Who lived to love and lose them, then she died. The simplicity of the close of this epitaph cannot fail to be admired, so' finely expressive of the love of the mother, who could not live after her children's death. A beautiful epigram on maternal love, by Wernicke, is translated from the German in Hone's " Table-Book," ed. 1831, II. 479 : Ere yet her child has drawn its earliest breath A mother's love begins — it glows till death — Lives before life — with death not dies — but seems The very substance of inmiortal dreams. THOMAS HOOD. Bom 1798. Died 1845. YOUTH AND AGE. Impatient of his childhood, " Ah mo I" exclaims young Arthur, Wliilst roving in tliu wild wood, " I wi.sh I were my father !" Meanwhile, to sec his Arthur So ski]), and play, and lun, "Ah nio!" exclaims the father, " I wish I were my son !" 512 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. The last stanza recalls some pretty lines, translated from the Arabic by Professor Carlyle, addressed " To Youth, by Ebn Alrabia, in his Old Age" (^"Specimens of Arabian Poetry," 1796, 165) : Yes, youth, thou'rt fled, and I am left, Like yonder desolated bower. By winter's ruthless hand bereft Of every leaf and every flower. With heaving heart and streaming eyes, I woo'd thee to prolong thy stay, But vain were all my tears and tighs, Thou only fled'st more fast away. Yet tho' thou fled'st away so fast, I can rtcall thee if I will ; For I can talk of what is past, And while I talk, enjoy thee still. Byron says (" Childe Harold," Canto II. xxiii.) : Ah ! hapi^y years ! once more who would not be a boy ? TKE HEART COMPARED TO A WATCH. My heart's wound np just like a watch, Ais far as springs will take — It wants but one more evil turn, And then the cords will break ! Herrick long ago compared, not the heart, but the life, to a wntch Man is a watch, wound up at first, but never Wound up again : once down, he's down for ever. The watch once downe, all motions then do cease ; And man'o pulse stopt, all passions sleep in peace. HONOURABLE SIR GEORGE ROSE. Master in Chancery ; Bencher of the Inner Temple ; and a Judge of the Court of Review. Born 1781. Died 1873. None of the following epigrams have, it is believed, appeared in print, with the exceptimi of the " Record of a Case." They have been -obtained through an intimate friend of the late Sir George Rose. HONOURABLE Slli GEORGE ROSE. 513 WRITTEN IN THE ALBUM OF THE HOTEL AT BOSS, TEE MOTTO OF WHICH IS " ICI L'ON RAJEUNIT." " Ici Ton rajeunit !"— 'Tis true, I'll prove to any man alive ; For I came here at sixty-two, And found myself at forty-five. Presuming on my spring of life, I made a sad mitstake indeed. For, oh ! I ventur'd on a wife, And found that I teas rajeuni'd • " Ici Ton rajeunit," I ween, Has only made a Grey-goose, green ! WRITTEN IN AN ALBUM. O thou who read'st what's wi-itten here, Commiserate the lot severe, By which, compell'd, I write them. — In vain Sophia 1 withstand, For Anna adds her dread command ; I tremble — and indite them. Blame Eve, who, feeble to withstand One single devil, rais'd her liand. And gather'd our damnation ; But do not me or Adam blame. Tempted by two, who did the same — His Wife — and her Relation. THE VEILED LADY. A morning visitor, having been shown into Sir George Rose's drawing- room, retired on weeing a lady sittinf; thoro. whom he mistook for a stranger. The lady was a near rcLition of Sir George, and one of his family; and on afterwards learning his mLstuke, the visitor addressed some verses to hor, begging pardon fur his apparent rudeness, and ascribing his error to lier wearing a thick veil. Sir George, seeing thi; verses, sent him the following: Dear I)u})y ! I've pleaded in vain for your crime, I've urg'd every reason, I've tried every rb ymo ; li I- 514 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. I've argn'd your case both in verse and in prose, I've brought to assist me my wife, Lady Eose — My wife who, in ai'gument, still has the trick To get, as I find, the best half of the stick. Sophia will have it (Sophia has sense) The culprit has only increas'd his offence. To attempt to excuse with a pitiful tale, His neglect of my charms to my wearing a veil : I could have believ'd that with nothing to screen me, Bedazzl'd, beblinded, he might not have seen me ; But this very veil, be it known, I contrive it, That mortals may venture to gaze, and survive it. The gentleman familiarly addressed as " Dear Duhy " is a barrister, whose name in full could less easily be accommodated to verse. It is possible that when writing the conclusion of these amusing lines, Sir George Rose may have had in mind a passage in " Love's Labour's Lost " (Act IV. sc. 3), in which Biron says of Rosaline : Who sees the heavenly Rosaline That, like a rude and savage man of Inde, At the tirst opening of the gorgeous east, Bows not his vassal head ; and, strucken blind. Kisses the base ground with obedient breast ? What peremptory eagle-sighted eye Dares look upon the heaven of her brow, That is not blinded by hi^r majesty ? BECORD OF A CASE. (" Quarterly Review," Vol. XCI. 474.) Mr. Leach made a speech. Angry, neat, and wrong ; Mr. Hart, on the other part. Was right, but dull and long; Mr. Parker made that darker. Which was dark enough without; Mr. Cook quoted his book ; And the Chancellor said, " I doubt." This originated in the request of a law-reporter, when leaving court, tliat Mr. Rose would make a note of anything important which should occur in his absence. On his return he found the jeu 6'esprit in his note- book. HONOUKABLE SIR GEORGE EOSE. 515 The Chancellor was Lord Eldon. Mr. Leach became Sir John Leach, VicL-Chancellor and Muster of the Rolls. JIi-. Hart became Vice- Chancellor of Inland. " I doubt," was Lord Eldon's favourite expression. A few wc ks aftir the epigi-am became public, and when it was in every one's mouth. Sir George (thenlMr.) Eose argued a case very earnestly in the Chancel- lor's Covirt, which was given against him. Lord Eldon, than whom no one was more fond of a joke, looked hard at the defeated counsel, and said : "' The judgment must be against your clients ; and here, Mr. Bose, the Chancellor does not doubt." (Lord Campbell's " Lives of the Lord Chancellors," 1847, VIL 640.) On Lord Eldon's favourite expression, the following epigram, '• The Derivation of Chancellor," is found in the " Spirit of the Public Journals" foi ISU, XVIU. 330, taken from the " Morniug Chronicle " : The Chancellor, so says Lord Coke, His title from cancello took ; And every cause before him tried. It was his duty to decide. Lord Eldon, he.-^itating ever. Takes it from chancehr, to waver ; And thinks, as this may bear liim out, His bounden duty is to doubt. The following epigram, " On Mr. Cafterwards Sir John) Leach going over from the Opjjosition to the Tories," appeared in "Notes and Queries," 1st S. XL 300 : The Leach you've just bought shoidd first have Deen tried. To examine its nature and powers ; You can hardly expect it will stick to yotir side, Having fall'n ofi" so lately from ours. ONSAmiEL WARREN. ESQ., Q.C., AND RECORDER OF HULL, AUTHOR OF ''TEN THOUSAND A YEAR,' ''NOW AND THEN," dec. AVarren, though able, yet vainest of men, Could ho guide with discretion his tongue and his pen, His course would be clear for — " Ten thousand a Year," But limited else to a brief — " Now and Then." Tlior/j lifiea were a friendly joke, and were so received by J.Ir. Warren. Another epigram of Hiiiiilar cliaractor may bo added, wliich has beiu ascribed to th(; Ilcv. William Sinclair : Sam Warren's Ilec/mler of [lull I hear : He's onc' of the best of mcii, For he not only giv<-H us "'J'eii thousand a Year^" But he adds to it " Now ud Then." 516 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. THE TWO STALLS. A connection of Sir George Eose, living in the country, had taken a pony belonging to him to keep through the winter : and on returning it, wrote word that he had just been made Honorary Canon of Chichester. Sir George replied : If that my little grateful mare Could vent her gratitude in prayer, Thus would her vows incline : " May Allen every good befall, Be he as happy in his stall, As he made me in mine !" ON BANNISTER, THE ACTOR, WHEN SEVENTY YEARS 01 AGE. With seventy years upon his back, My honest friend is still " Young Jack," Nor spirits check'd, nor fancy slack, But fresh as any daisy. Tho' Time has knock'd his stumps about. He cannot bowl his temper out. And all the Bannister is stout, Altho' the steps be crazy ! DE. EGBERT SCOTT. Dean of Rochester. ON DR. WISEMAN BEING AFFOINTED (TITULAR) ARCH- BISHOP OF WESTMINSTER BY POPE PIUS, AT THE TIME OF THE '' POPISH AGGRESSION." Cum Sapiente Pius nostras juravit in aras ; Impius heu ! Sapiens, desipiensque Pius ! Translated (it is believed) by the author of the epigram (" Guardian " newspaper of March 8, 1865) : yiv£ with Wiseman tries unr English church to ban ; Pins, man unwise ! impious Wise-man! 517 ANONYMOUS MODERN EPIGKAMS. EPITAFR ON FAIR ROSMIUND. Translated from the Latin hy Basil Kennet. (Camden's " Britannia " — Oxfordshire.) Rose of the world, not rose the fresh, pure flow'r, Within this tomb hath taken up her bow'r : She scenteth now and nothing sweet doth smell, Which erst was wont to savour passing well. This is the well-known monMsh epitaph in the nunnery at Godstow. " In Corio's ' History of Milan' it is stated to have been first placed on the tomb of Rosamunda, Queen of the Lombards, who died in the sixth century " (" Notes and Queries," 2nd S. X. 88). Two stanzas in Warner's " Albion's England," on Queen Eleanor's discovery of Kosamund's bower, and treatment of her, are interesting in connection with the epitaph. The first is singularly beautiful (chap. 41; : With that she dasht her on the lippes. So dyed them doubly red : Hard was the heart that gave the blow, Soft were those lippes that bled. Thus did faire Eose (no longer rose Nor faire, in scent, or sight) Whorno pensive Henry did inter. And soone her wrong did right. LINES FOUND BY MICHAEL ANGELO ON TEE PEDESTAL OF HIS STATUE OF ''NIGHT" Translated from the Italian hy Bland, in " Collections from the Greek Aitthohfjy," 1813, 407. Night in Ihis lovely posture you behold : An angel's art to rugged mai-blo gives This slumbering form. Because she sleeps, she lives. Doubt you? 'J'lien wako her; by herself be told. 518 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. Michael Angelo thus answered for the goddess (translated by Bland) : Grateful is sleep — but more to be of stone, While guilt and shame upon the earth appear. My lot is happy nor to see nor hear : Then wake me not — I fain would slumber on. The lines found by Michael Angelo on the pedestal of his statue are attributed to Giovanni Strozzi. GA LLATEA.—BA TTUS. (" The Mastive, or Young- Whelpe of the Olde-Dogge. Epigrams and Satyrs." By H. P.) Vera Filia Patris. Why strives young Gallatea for the wall ? If needs you'll know the cause (quoth one) you shall : Her father was a mason, and, they say, It makes her ladyship lean much that way. Ebrius Dissimulans. Battus (though bound from drinking wine of late) Can thus far with his oath equivocate : He will not drink, and yet be drunk ere noon, His manner is to eat it with a spoon. The volume from which these epigrams are taken is ascribed by some to Henry Parrot ; but this is, probably, a mistake, as the epigrams are very different in style, and very inferior in wit, to those in " Laquei Eidiculosi" by that author. Others, with better reason, ascribe it to Henry Peacham, the author of " The Compleat Gentleman." ON TEE GRAVESTONE OF SHAKESPEARE, IN STRATFORD CHURCH. (Malone's "Shakespeare," 1821, II. 506.) Good friend, for Jesus' sake forbear To dis: the dust enclosed here : • Bless'd be the man that spares these stones, And curs'd be he that moves my bones. Similar execrations are found in many ancient Latin epitaphs ; and it is probable that such lines were common in Shakespeare's time. They are supposed to allude to the custom of removing skeletons after ANONYMOUS. 519 a certain period, and depositing them in charnel-houses. There is no reason to believe that Shakespeare wrote the lines himself. They were probably placed on his gravestone by those who had the care of his funeral.' A correspondent of *' Notes and Queries," », 3rd S. II. 164), states that he found a similar inscription in Wimbledon Churchyard, on u tomb of the date of 1S47. EPITAPH OX THE WIFE OF SIR COPE D'OYLY. 1618. (Burke's " Extinct Baronetage.") Would'st thou (Reader) draw to life The perfect copy of a wife, Eead on, and then redeem from shame, That lost, that honourable name. This dust was ouce in spirit a Jael, Rebecca in grace, in heart an Abigail, In works a Doicas, to the Church a Hannah, And to her spouse Susanna. Prudently simple, providently warie, To the world a Martha, and to Heaven a Marie. In "Wit Restored," 1G58, cd. 1817, II. 233, there is a quaint epitaph of similar character on a matron : Here lies a wife was chaste, a mother blest A modest matron, all these in one chest : Sarah unto her mate, Mary to God, Martha to men whilst here she had abode. In the " Gentleman's Magazine," LXXX. Part II. 527, an epitaiih of similar character at Grays, in Esses, is given : Behold the silent grave ; it doth embrace A virtuous wife, with llachel's lovely face, Sarah's obedience, Lydia's open heart, Martha's kiud care, and Mary"s better part. EPITAPH ON WILLIAM WHEATLY. (Wood's " Athcnaj Oxonienses," ed. 1813, II. 639.) The conceits of the writers known as the Metaphysical Foots, ot whom Dr. Johiisfjn, in hiu " Life of Cowley," has given a masterly account, were sometimes carri(!d to an extent wliich nii^lit apjicar almost iucrelible. An example is exi.ibited in an epita|ili in Ihu 520 HODBKN EPIGRAMMATISTS. churchyard of Banbury over the grave of William Whatelie, or Wheatly, the vicar, a man of much learning, who died in 1639 : Whatsoe'er thou'lt say "who passest hj. Why ? here's enshrin'd celestial dust ; His bones, whose name and fame can't die. These stones, as feoffees, weep in trust. It's William Wheatly that here lies Who swam to 's tomb in 's people's eyes. There is a Latin distich of a period a little earlier, by Bernardus Bauhusius. on the death of Lipsius, in which the conceit by which grief is expressed is almost as singular. The translation, by James Wright, is of a date but little later (" Delitiaj Delitiarum," 204) : Some in rich Parian stone, in ivory And marble some, Lipsius in tears doth lie. In " A Farther Discourse on Epitaphs," by Camden, in Hearne's "■ Collection of Curious Discourses," an epigram is preserved " On the Removal of Queen Elizabeth's Body from Eiclimond to Whitehall by Water": The Queen was brought by water to Whitehall, At every stroke the oars tears let fall : More clung about the barge, iish under water Wej3t out their eyes of pearl, and swom blind after. I think the bargemen might with easier thighs, Have rowed her thither in her people's eyes. For howsoe'er, thus much my thoughts have scann'd, Sh'ad come by water, had she come by land. Camden calls this " doleful " ; Horace Walpole says it is " a most perfect example of the bathos." HUGO GEOTIUS, When confined in the fortress of Loevestein on suspicion of favour- ing the Arminians, obtained permission to borrow books, which camu in and were returned in chests. His wife enabled him to efl'ect his escape by concealing him in one of these chests, supposed by the guards to contain books. The following epigram was made on the event. It is translated from the Latin in "Selections from the' French Anns," 1797, IL 17: This chest, which to its master did convey Full many a massy volume every day. Unconscious now of greater weight and cares, A living library in Grotius bears. ANONYMOUS. 521 Owen addressed a Latin epigram " To Eoger Owen, a learned Knight " (Bouk IV. 245), wliich. Harvey tlius translates : Thou know'st the Britons' laws, their old, new rites, And all that their whole history recites : In thy discourse, thou'rt so profoundly read, A living library seems in thine head. Cowper, in the second of his odes " On the burning of Lord Mans- field's Library," rejoices in the care which preserved "his sacred head from harm,'' and adds : There Memory, like the bee that's fed From Flora's balmy store, The quintessence of all he read Had treasm-ed up before. ON A GARDENER. (" Wit Restored," published 1658. Reprinted 1817, 11. 232.) Could he forget his death that every hour "Was emblem'd to it, by the fading flower ? Should he not mind his end ? Yes, sure ho must, That still was conversant 'mongst beds of dust. Unhappily, it is too commonly the case that those who are " em- blemed to " death are the very persons who think the least of their own end. The callousness which is bred by habit is inimitably drawn out by Shakespeare in the grave-diggers' scene in " Hamlet," where the singing of the one clown and the play of wit of both, is only in- terrupted by the order of the one to the other, "Go, get thee to Yaughan, and fetch me a stoup of liquor." COLONEL JOHN LILBURN, Bom ill 1618, was called, says Granger, " Freeborn John," and was the most hardened and refractory of all the seditious libelleis of the time. He was, moreover, of such a quarrelsome di.spositidn, that it was appositely said of him, W(jod tells us, " Ihat, if there was none living but he, jolin would be against Lilburn, and Lilburn against John." This sstying was jirobably the origin of the following ejiigram on his death whi'-h is fnuud in Grey's notes to Butler's " Hudibias," cd. 180G, II. 271 ; and in other places : Is John departed, and is Lilburn gone? Farewell to both, to Lilburn and to John. 522 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. Yet being dead, take this advice from me, Let them not both in one grave buried be : Lay John here, and Lilburn theieabout. For if they both should meet, they would fall out. Butler is supposed to allude to Lilbiu-n in his description of the perverse haberdasher (" Hudibras," Part III. Canto ii. 437; : For he at any time would hang, For th' opportunity t' harangue ; And rather on a gibbet dangle, Than miss his dear delight to wrangle. An old anonymous " Epitaph on a Litigious Man," given in a " Col- lection of Epitaphs, &c.," 180G, I. 124, may be compared with the epigram on Lilburn : Here lies a man who in his life With every man had law and strife, But now he's dead and laid in grave, His bones no quiet rest can have : For lay your ear unto this stone. And you shall hear how every bone Doth knock and beat against each other ; Pray for his soul's health, gentle brother. M. Blainville, in his " Travels," preserves a ckoll epitaph on a man and his wife, from a marble found near the church of S. Agnes at Rome; thus translated from the Latin by C : Stay, traveller— a miracle behold ! A man and wife lie here, and do not scold ; But who we are I name not. — Then do I; The drunken Bebrius, traveller, here doth lie. He who calls me a drunkard. — Ha ! true wife, That tongue still wrangles, e'en deprived of life EPITAPH ON BOBERT BARGRAVE, WHO DIED IN 1G59, AGED FIVE YEARS. IN CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. (" History and Antiquities of the Cathedral Church of Rochester, &c., &c.," 1723, 60.) Farewell, sweet boy ! and farewell all in thee, Blest parents can in their best children see ; Thy life to woo us unto heaven was lent us. Thy death to wean us from the world is sent us. An epitaph by Mi-s. Barber, on a son of Lord Mountcashell. who died in childhood, may be compared (Barber's " Poems on Several Occasions," 1735, 147) : ANONYMOirS. Children are snatoh'd away, sometimes, To punish parents for their crimes. Tliy mother's merit was so great, j Heav'n hasteu'd thy untimely fate, > To make her character complete. ) Tho' many virtues fill'd her breast, 'Twas resignution crown'd the rest. 523 KING CHARLES I. Sir Isaac Newton, when at school at Glrantham, busied himself very much in drawing, and fm-nished his room in the house of Mr. Clarke, the apothecary, where he lodged, with pictures of his own making. Mrs. Vincent, whose mother was Mr. Clarke's second wife, and who lived in the same house witli Sir Isaac, told Dr. Stukeley that he wrote the fol- lowing verses under a picture of King Charles I., and thinks that he made them himself (Letter from Dr. Stukeley to Dr. Mead, Nichols' " Illustrations of Literary History," IV. 30) : A secret art my soul requires to try, If prayers can give me what the wars deny. Three crowns distinguish'cl here in order do Present their objects to my knowing view. Earth's crown, thus at mj' feet, I can disdain, Which heavy is, and, at tho best, but vain. But now a crown of thorns I gladly greet. Sharp is this crown, but not so sharp as sweet : The crown of glory that I yonder see Is full of bliss and of eternity. There is something incongruous in quoting the revolutionary Milton after tliese touching lines on tho Martyr King ; but the following passage, at the close of tho second book of " Paradise Kegained," is applicable lo the thought .expressed by tho monarch: Yet not for that a crown. Golden in show, is but a wreath of thorns, Bnngs dangers, troubles, cares, and sleepless nights, To him wlio wtjars the regal diadem, AVhen on his shoulders each man's burden lies. ♦ • * * Yet he, who reigns within himself, and rules Passions, desires, and fears, ia more a Icing. 524 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. We may comjjare, too, Prince Hem*y's language when excusing him- self to his father for removing the crown (" King Henry IV." Part II. Act iv. so. 4) : I spake unto the crown, as having sense, And thus upbraided it. The care on thee depending, Hath fed upon the body of my father ; Therefore, thou, best of gold, art worst of gold. Other, less fine in carat, is more precious, Preserving life in med'cine potable : But thou, most fine, most honour'd, most renown'd. Hast eat thy bearer up. THE COMMONS' ADDRESS TO KING CHARLES II. (" Gentleman's Magazine," XCVI. Part I. 208.) In all humility we crave Our Sovereign to be our slave, Beseeching him that he would be Betray 'd by us most loyally ; And if he please but once lay down His sceptre, dignity, and crown. We'll make him for the time to come. The greatest Prince in Christendom. Answer. Charles at this time having no need. Thanks you as much as if he did. This lampoon was commonly circulated about the year 1670. It has been almost invariably ascribed to the Earl of Kochester. But a cor- respondent in the " Gentleman's Magazine," points out that it appeared, previous to the Earl of Eochester's birth, in " A Modell of Truths ; or, a Discovery of certaino Reall Passages of this Parliament. Printed in the yeare 1G42, 4to." It was written on Charles I., and forms the fifth of a poem of nine stanzas, whicii the anonymous author, in the dedication, says, " he thought fit to deliver in habiliament of a madrigal " : In all humility they crave Then- Soveraigne to be their slave, Desiring hun that he would be Betray'd to them most loyally : For it were weakness sure in him To be a Vayvod unto Pym : ANONYMOUS. 525 And if he would awhile lay downe His sceptre, majesty, and crowne, He should be made for time to come The greatest Prince in Christendome. Charles at this time not having need, Thank'd them as much as if he did. This is the happy wisht event Of privilege of Parliament. WRITTEN UNDEB A PBINT OF A LADY OF GBEAT BEAUTY. (Granger's " Biographical History of England," 1779, m. 148.) Lo, here a beauty in her mom, who shakes Day from her hair ; and whose perfection makes The sua amaz'd, a heaven on earth to view : So much can birth and education do. Granger says the print is an ugly one of a great beauty, "her hair dressed in many formal curls, which nearly resemble bottl^screws." The lady was Elizabeth, only daughter and heiress of Laurence Wash- ington, of Garsdon, Wilts, who married the first Earl Ferrers. Such ascriptions of power over the sun and light by the Fair, arc not imcommon. Davenant, in one of his songs addressed to a lady, has : Awake— awake ! the mom will never rise. Till she can dress her beauty at your eyes. Lovelace, writing to Amarantha about her hair, says : But shake your head and scatter day. The same idea is very beautifully expressed in Mariana's song in " Measure for Measure " (Act IV. sc. 1) : Take, oh take those lips away. That so sweetly were forsworn ; And tho.-e eyes, the break of day, I>ights that do mislead the morn: But my kisses bring again, Seals of love, but seal'd in vain. 526 MODERN EPIGEAMMATISTS. TO MR. HABCOURT. OCCASIONED BY HIS VERSES TO LADY CATHERINE HYDE. (" The Grove," 1721, 280.) Dear Sim, by wits extoll'd, by wits cried down, Each way become the proverb of the town ! To Kitty's favour with success aspire, | The second place by merit you acquire, > But he who wrote the verses, must be Prior. J Nichols, in a note, in his " Collection of Poems," VII. 322, 1781, to some verses addressed to Simon Harcourt, " On his ' Judgment of Venus,' " says, that he much doubts whether ' ' The Female Phaeton," as well as " The Judgment of Venus," may not be by Harcom-t, though usually considered to be Prior's ; and thinks that the pim, intended by the concluding word of the above epigram, may have been the cause of its having been first ascribed to the latter poet. The name Prior seems to be provocative of puns. In the following epigram, " A Dialogue between Bishop Warburton and Dean Tucker," taken from the "New Foundling Hospital for AVit," 1784, I. 251, the pun is not on the poet's name, but on Prior Park, the seat of Ralph Allen, whose niece and heiress Warburton married : Tucker. My wife, father William, is ugly and old, Asthmatic, chest-founder'd, and lame. Warburton. My wife, son Josiah, you need not be told. Is as bad in the other extreme. Tucker. I have put mine away. — ( Warburton.) The deed I applaud, But, applauding, can only admire ; For you are bound only by man and by God, But my obligations are Prior. TO HENRY PUR CELL. (^Granger's " Biographical History of England," 1779, IV. 143.) To you a tribute from each Mnse is due ; The whole poetic band is rais'd by you ; For none but you, with equal skill and ease, Could add to David, and make D' Urfey please. Purcell, the celebrated composer, was born in 1658, and was appointed organist of Westminster Abbey when only eighteen. He died at the early age of 37. He is now chiefly celebrated for his church-music, but in his own day he was almost as famous for theatrical compositions, and was said to be so equally divided between the Church and the ANONYMOUS. 527 theatre, that neither could properly call liim her own. Hence the reference, in the last line of the epigram, to his power in adding to the beauties of David's Psalms, and in making even the second-rate plays of D'Urfey, who was a wit and dram;itic writer of the day, acceptable to the public. He was buiied in Westminster Abbey, where his epitaph records, much in the taste of that period, that he " is gone to that blessed place, where only his harmonies can be excelled.' The following epigi-am was written "On Tom D'Urfey" ("Festoon," 1767,137): Here lies the Lyric, who with tale and song. Did life to thi-eescore years and ten prolong : His tale was pleasant, and his song was sweet; His heart was cheerful — but his thirst was great. Grieve, reader ! grieve, that he, too soon grown old. His song has ended, and his tale has tokl. ON THE DEATH OF MOLIEBE. (Latin, in Chalmers' "Biographical Dictionary "—Moliere.) In Moliere's play of " Le Malade Imaginaire," the chief person re- presented is a sick man, who on one occasion pretends to be dead. It is related that when acted for the fourth time, Feb. 17th, 1673, Moliere, in personating the dead man, really expired. Upon this incident a variety of jeux d' esprit were written. One of the best is a Latin one, which has thus been translated : Here Moliere lies, the Eoscius of his age, Whose pleasure, while he liv'd, was to engage With human nature in a comic strife, And personate her actions to the life. But surely Death, offended at his play. Would not be jok'd with in so free a way ; He, when he mimick'd him, his breath restrain'd, And made him act in earnest what he feign'd. It is not the fact that Moliere expired during the representation of the play ; but he was taken ill whilst performing his part, and died a few hours afterwards. THE STAGE OF LIFE. Our life's a journey in a winter's day ; Some only break their fast, and so away ; Others stay dinner, and depart full fed, The deepest age but sups and gucs to bod • 528 MODERN EPIGEAMMATIST8. He's most in debt that lingers out the day ; Who dies betimes has less and less to pay. This is taken from the " Festoon," ed. 1767, 98, but the lines are probably much older than the date of that publication. They seem tu have f(3rmed a very usual inscription for grave-stones. Several versions, all more or less difi'ering from each other and from the above, may be found in the pages of " Notes and Queries," and in the various collec- tions of epigrams. The idea is at least as old as Quaxles, who in his tliirteenth Hieroglyphic has : Time voids the table, dinner's done ; And now our day's declining sun Hath hurried his dim'nal load To th' borders of the western road. Our Vjlazing taper now hath lost Her better half ; nature hath crost Her forenoon book, and clear'd that score, But scarce gives trust for so much more. The epigi-am at the close of his foui-teenth Hieroglyphic, addressed " To the Youth," has the thought .still more complete : Seest thou this good ohl man ? He represents Thy future, thou his preterperfect tense : Thou go'st to labours, he prepares to rest : Thou break'st thy fast, he sups ; now which is best ? In Pettigrew's " Chronicles of the Tombs," 1857, 220, the lines are given from inscriptions in a Cumberland and a Cornish chm'chyard (thus showing they are not confined to any one locality), but the opening is varied by reference to an inn instead of a journey Life's like an inn ; think man this truth upon. Some only breakfast and are quickly gone. This reference to an inn is found in an epitaph of similar character in the churchyard of Meiton-Mowbray (Notes and Queries," 1st. S. VII. 178): This world's an inn, and I her guest : I've eat and drank and took my rest With her awhile, and now I pay Her lavish bill, and go my way. Bishop Home, in a poem " "Written at an Inn," has the following stanza (Works, 1809, I. 2-12) : The world is like an inn ; for there Men call, and storm, and drink, and swear. While undisturb'd a Christian waits, And reads, and writes, and meditates. ANONYMOUS. 529 The same idea of the world, as only an inn in which to rest, is found in an epitaph by R. Fletcher, who published " Martial, his Epi- grams translated, with Sundry Poems and Fancies. London, 1656": Earth for a while bespake his stay, Only to bait and so away : So that what here he doated on Was mere accommodation. A different view of our earthly inn appears in an epitaph in tht churchyard of Kinver, near Stom-bridge, given in "Notes and Queries." lat S. VII. 177: Tired with wand'ring thro' a world of sin, Hither we came to Nature's common inn, To rest our wearied bodies for a night, In hopes to rise that Christ may give us light. So, Spenser, in the " Faerie Queene" (Book 11. Canto i. 59) : " Palmer," quoth he, " death is an equall doome To good and bad, the common in of rest." And again (Book III. Canto iu. 30j : And, if he then with victorie can liu. He shall his dayes with peace bring to his earthly iu. FOUND ON THE CHURCH-DOOR AT WHITEHALL, Jan. 30, 1696. (" Poems on Affairs of State," II. 267, 1703.) What, fast and pray. For the horrid murder of the day ! And at the same time drive the son away, The royal father and the royal son ? AVhilo by your praying you their rights do own. Go ask your learned bishop and your dean, What these strange contradictions mean ; And cease to fast and pray and trouble Heaven, Sins, whilst unrepented, cannot be forgiven. Iu the same volume, p. 323, the last stanza of " An Allusion to thi Seventh Epodo of Horace, 1690," refers to the same unrepented sin : Yes, Britons, yes, you groan beneath the weight Of Charles the Martyr's undeserved fate ; TfX) well you know liin uiir(|i(iitrd ftill Entails this curse, and will confound you all. 2 u 630 MODERN EPIGEAMMATISTS. ON SORREL, THE HORSE, WHICH, BY STUMBLING OVER A MOLEHILL, CAUSED THE DEATH OF WILLIAM III (" Poems on Affaks of State," 11. 323, 1703.) Illustrious steed, who should the zodiac grace, To thee the lion and the bull give place : Blest be the dam that fed thee, blest the earthy Which first receiv'd thee, and first gave thee birth ! Did wrong'd Hibernia, to revenge her slain. Produce thee, or niurder'd Fenwick strain, Or barbarously massacred Glencoes claim? Whence e'er thou art, be thou for ever blest, And spend the remnant of thy days in rest ; No servile use thy noble limbs profane. No weight thy back, no curb thy mouth restrain ; No more be thou, no more mankind a slave. But both enjoy that liberty you gave. In the same volume, p. 408, there is an answer to this panegyric commencing : Insulting ass ! who basely could'st revile The guardian angel of our wretched isle. And ending : And may for ever that unlucky steed Only on'briars and on thistles feed ! Sorrel was caressed and honoured by the Tories for causing William's death, and in their merry meetings they used To di'iuk the horse's health that tkrew him down. Even the mole, over whose hill Sorrel stumbled, came in for his share of praise, and was toasted as " The little gentleman in black velvet" by those who looked upon the revolution in the same light as the author of the following epigram, "To an Usm-per" : Usurpers are the giddy faction's tools, They know not what they're doing ; Chose not because of parts, but that they're fools, And smell not what the world's a-brewing. Poor thoughtless Thing ! how bitter is thy cup ! How tott'ring is thy empty crown ! Despis'd alike by those who set thee up, And those who strive to pidl thee down. This is taken from " Poems on Various Subjects and Occasions. By the Honourable Alexander Itobertson of Struan, Esquire," Edinburgh, no date, 187, a volume of which Gough, the antiquary, thus speaks in a ANONYMOUS. 531 letter to the Eev. Michael Tyson : '• I liave looked into the poet ot Struan. which Pennant so praises, and lind a strange m jtley mixture of Jacobitism, obscenity, devotion, and some fancy, in his Poematia" (Nichols' " Literary Anecdotes," VIII. 584). EPITAPH ON EIXG WILLIAM. 1702. ('• Poems on Affuii-s of State," II. 267, 1703.) William the Third lies here, th' Almighty's friend, A scourge to France, a check t' imperious Kome, \Vho did our rights and liberties defend, And rescu'd England from its threaten'd doom ; Heav'n snatch'd him from us whom our hearts caress'd, | And now he's king in heaven among the blest ; I Grief st^ps my pen ; reader, pray weep the rest. j The following epigram by Alexander Robertson ("Poems on Various Subjects and Occasions," 107) takes a very dift'erent view of the Dutch Prince's worth : Bright is his diadem in he;iv'n's abode Who lust his crown rather than change his God ; While the pertidious wretch who stole the prize, Pines in eternal dread of earth and skies. ARCHBISHOP TENISON'S PETITION. (Noble's continuation of Granger's " Biograjjhical iiiistory of England," ISOG, n. 203.; Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovel, in command of a portion of the English Fleet, was wrecked on tlie rocks called the "Bishop and his Clerks," oJf the Scilly Isles, in October, 1707, and was buried in Wcst- iiiinster Abbey, where a monuiiient was erected to his memory. In the previous April. Archbishop Teni.'iou, in a formulary to be used " for hu- ploring the Divine blessing on our fleets and armies," had used the ex- pression, " The Kfjck of our might," which the wits of the day did mii fail to remeruber, and the followiugepigram wasluidonSir Cloudesley'u tomb : As Lambeth pray'd, so was the dire event, Else we had wanted here a monument : That to our fleet kind Heaven would be a rock , Nor did kind Heaven the wise petition mock : To what the Metropolitan did pen. The " Jji.shop and his Cieiks" replied, Amen. 532 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. DR. WHITE KENNET, Dean of Peterborough (afterwards Bishop of that See), gave great offeuce to the High Church and Tory party in church and state by his change of opinions, and the support which he gave by his writings to the Whigs. When, in 1710, the Tories came into power consequent upon the trial of Sacheverell, an address was presentetl to the Queen by the Bishop and clergy of London, which the Dean, who laeld the living of S. Botolph, Aldgate, refused to sign. For this he was represented as an enemy to the Queen and her Ministers, and various methods were taken to expose him ; one, in particular, by Dr. Welton, Rector of Whitechapel, who caused an altar-piece of the Last Supper to be placed in his church, in which Judas was painted so closely to resemble Dr. Kennet, that no one could mistake the likeness. Upon this a Latin epigram was made, which has been attributed to Atterbury, but there is not sufficient authority for ascribing it to him. It is, perhaps, one of the most severe strokes of satii-e ever penned : Falleris liac qui te pingi sub imagine credis? Non similis Judas est tibi — pcenituit. Think not that here thou art represented, Thou'rt not like Judas — for he repented. Compton, Bishop of London, ordered the picture to be removed. It is said to have been purchased by a Captain Polehampton and given to S. Alban's Church, where it formed the altar-piece for many years, but was afterwards removed to the chapel behind the high altar. A print of this singular picture is (or was) in the Library of the Society of Antiquaries, and has the following manuscript lines by Mr. Maittaire attached to it : To say the picture does to him belong, Kennet does Judas and the painter wrong. False is the image, the resemblance faint ; Judas comparVl to Kennet is a saint. See Nichols' "Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century," I. 396, and VIII. 369, where some further curious particulars respecting the picture are given. ON THEOBALD (PRONOUNCED AND OFTEN WRITTEN TIBBALD), THE POET AND CRITIC. (" Certain Epigrams in Laud and Praise of the Gentlemen of the Dunciad." Without date. Ep. 19.) 'Tis generous, Tibbald ! in thee and thy brothers^ To help us thus to read the works of others : Never for this can jiist returns be shown ; For who will help us e'er to read thy own ? ANONYMOUS. 533 " For some time, once a week or fortnight, he (Theobald) printed in Mist's Journal a single remark, or poor conjecture, on some word or pointing of Shakespeare, either in his own name, or in letters to himself as from others without nome." f Annotator of the " Dunciad," in 1729.) In 1725, Pope published his edition of Shakespeare, and early in the following year Theobald published a criticism upon it, which so oflended that irritable poet, that in the *' Dunciad " he revenged himself by giving to Theobald the pbice of Hero, or King of the Dunces, who before his elevation to that diguitv is thus seen by the Goddess of Duluess {Svo edition of 172t», Book I.) : She ey'd the bard, where supperless he sate, And pin'd unconscious of his rising fate ; Studious he sate, with all his books around, Sinking from thought to thought a vast profound ! Plinig'd for his sense, but found no bottom there ; Then writ and flounder'd on in mere despair. Such accumulated insults induced Theobald to prove his capacity by publishing an edition of Shakespeare, which might be compared by the public with that of Pope. Th© verdict of the world showed that his position in Pope's satire was a great blemish in that clever but scurrilous poem, and consequently in the edition of 1742, Pope deposed him from his high estate, and Colley Cibber reigned in his stead. Theobald gave Pope an advantage over liim, and exposed himself to the keenest severity of his satire by the escape of one unlucky line in his •• Double Falsehood " : None but himself can be his parallel. And yet the line is not original. The Eev. E. Kynaston, in the '' Gentleman's Magazine," L. 507, says that Theobald " might have pleaded the authority of Seneca ; in whose ' Hercules Furens ' we hav^ the following very extraordinary passage : " ' quicris Alcidfe parent ? Nemo est nisi ipse : bella jam secum gerat. ' " Granger, in his "Biog. Hist." 1779, III. 378, gives a passage yet more exactly similar. It occurs in the following lines under the por- trait of Colonel Giles Strangeways, of M('lbury Sampfird, in Dorset- shire, who was Member of Parliament for that county, and one of the Privy Council to Charles II. : The rest fame speaks, and makes his virtues known, By 's zeal for the church, aTid loyalty to the throne. The artist in his draught doth art excel, None but himself, himself can parallel. But if his steel coubl his great mind express, That would appear in a much nobkr dress. Granger remarks upon this : " The thought is so very singular, that it is extremely imi)ioi)able that two persons should have hit ujion it, and varied so little in the expression. Sir AViliiam Tcinplo has varied MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. ni'ire : where, speakiiig of Cajsar, he says, that he was ' equal only to himself.' See the ' Essay on the Gardens of Epicurus.' " On the ill feeling which existed between Theobald and Fope. William Duncombe has an epigram, entitled, " The Judgment of Apollo, or the Controversy between Mr. Pope and Mr. Theobald, 1729 " (Nichols' " Collection of Poems," VI. 7, 1780) : In Pope's melodious verse the Graces smile ; In Theobald is display'd sagacious toil ; The critic's ivy crowns his subtle brow, While in Pope's numbers wit and music flow. These bards (so Fortune will'd) were mortal foes, And all Parnassus in their quarrel rose. This the dire cause of their unbounded rage, Who best could blanch dark Shakespeare's blotted page. Apollo heard, and weigh'd each party's plea, Then thus pronoune'd th' immutable decree : '• Theobald, 'tis thine to show what Shakespeare writ ; But Pope shall reign supreme in poetry and wit." APOLLO'S REVENGE ON DAPHNE. (" Certain Epigrams in I^aud and Praise of the Gentlemen of the Dunciad." W^ithout date. Ep. 13.) AVhen Phoebus gave the skittish Daphne chase, And grasp'd a tree in his deceiv'd embrace ; The god, in pique prophetic, thus express'd His certain vengeance, and the nymph address'd : Thou hast, fair vegetable, 'scap'd my pow'r, But to that form art chang'd in luckless hour ; Since thy coy pride the god of wit declin'd, Tliy leaves still curst shall witless temples bind. Many epigrams were produced by the publication of the " Dunciad,' several of which are given in the notes to that cruel poem. Colley Gibber, tlie king of the dunces, vice Theobald deposed, was attacked on all sides. He and Pope had long been at variance, and when he resented the insults of the latter he was treated with contempt by all the Pope clique. The following epigram is a specimen (Notes to the •• Dunciad ") : Quoth Cibber to Pope, though in verse you foreclose, I'll have the last word ; for by Jove I'll write prose. Poor Colley I thy reas'ning is none of the strongest. For know, the last word is the word that lasts longest. ANONTMOTTS. 535 TEE RIVAL SINGEIiS. ■; Noble's continuation of Granger's " Biographical History of England," 18UG, III. -illi.) Faustina Bordoni and Francesca Cuzzoni were rival singers at thu Italian Opera in London, in the reign of George I. The former wps of extreme beauty. The latter was of the worst character ; she afterwards married Signor Sandoni, whom she poisoned, for which she was tried and condemned to death, but the puni.shment was remitted. Both had their backers. The Coimtess of Pembroke and her party asserted the pre-eminence of Cuzzoni ; the Countess of Burlington that of the lovely rival. The cantatrices came to blows, and tlie countesses were with difficulty i)revented from taking the same course. The whole town V. as divided between the two factions, and innumerable squibs and t-pigrams kept up the excitement. Lady Pembroke was accused of encouraging the cat-calling of Faustina, which produced the following epigram, noticeable, not for its merit, but for the evidence it exhibits of the bitterness of the party feeling : Old poets sing, that beasts did dance Whenever Orpheus pleas'd ; So to Faustina's charming voice, Wise Pembroke's asses bray'd. Faustina won the day, and Cuzzoni's popularity ceased ; upon v.-hich these lines appeared as the introduction to " Faustina : or the Roman Songstress, a Satyr on the Luxury and Efieminacy of the Age," London, without date ; but, in Lord WharnclifTe's " Letters and Works 3f Lady Mary Wortley Montague," stated to have been published in 1726: Cuzzoni can no longer charm, Faustina now does all alarm. And we must buy her pipe no dear With hundreds tweuty-live a year: Either we've money over jilenty. Or else our skulls are wondrous empty ! But if Fau.stiua or Cuzzoni E'er touch a penny of my money I'll give 'em leave to call me Tony.) Ambrose Pliilips has some very pretty lines on Cuzzoni, whom he aeems to have thought a dangerous guest : Little Siren of the stage, Charmer of an idle age. Empty warbler, breathing lyre. Wanton gale of fond desire, Bane of every manly art. Sweet eufeebler (if the heart ! 536 MODERN EPIGKAMMATIST8. O, too pleasing in thy strain, Hence, to southern climes again ; Tuneful mischief, vocal spell, To this island bid farewell ; Leave us as we ought to be. Leave the Britons rough and free. " The Devil to Pay at S. James's : or a full and true account of a most horrid and bloody battle between Madam Faustina and Madam Cuzzoni," is the title of one of Dr. Arbuthnot's humorous pieces. See his "Miscellaneous Works," 1751, I. 213. TO MBS. ROBINSON, A CELEBRATED ACTRESS. ("Festoon," 1767, 21.) When Salvia sings, or acts the heroine's part, The fiction's ill-supported by her art : Still something vulgar, thro' the rich disguise, Betrays the mimic, and offends the eyes : But when your voice is heard, and beauty seen, You seem a goddess, whilst you act a queen. This was Anastasia Eobinson, of whom the celebrated Earl of Peter- borough was enamoured. He married her privately, but before his death acknowledged her as his wife. Her character was never called in question, but of her beauty a less favom-able notion is given in an epigram by Mallet, " On a certain Lord's Passion for a Singer" : Nerina's angel-voice delights ; Nerina's devil-face aifrights: How whimsical her Strephon's fate, Condemn'd at once to like and hate ! But be she cruel, be she kind. Love ! strike her dumb, or make him blind. DR. BODY'S FOETRY. (Noble's continuation of Granger's " Biographical History of England," 1806, n. 116.) Dr. Humphrey Hody, successively elia])lain to Archbishops Tillotson and Teuison, and Greek Profes.sor at Oxford, was a man of great learning. He published several works on Biblical criticism, which proved his erudition; but his attempts at poetry were miserable failures, which occasioned the following epigram : Of old, we read, there was nobody Made verses like to Humphrey Hody ; ANONYMOUS. 537 But now each chandler knows full well That Lloyd and Gardiner bear the hell. " Lloyd was probably the head of a house at Oxford. Gardiner was Warden of All Souls' " (Noble, as above). MORNING. (" Epiga-ams in Distich," 1740, 14.) The dawn increases, and retires the shade: Boors quit their bed, and Beaux the masquerade. This recalls a story told, by Rogers, of the Duke of Devonshire, husband of the beautiful Duchess Georgiana : " The Duke when walk- ing home from Brookes's, about daybreak, used frequently to pass the stall of a cobbler who had abeady commenced his work. As they were the only persons stirri^jg in that quarter, they always saluted each other. ' Good night, friend,' said the Duke. ' Good morning, sir,' said the cobbler" (Roge'-s' "Table Talk," 1856, 191 j. EPITAPH ON EDWARD RICHARDS, AN IDIOT BOY, WHO DIED IN 1728, AGED 17. IN EDGBASTON CHURCH. If innocents are the favourites of Heaven, And God but little asks where little's given. My great Creator has for me in store Eternal joys ; what Avise man can have more ? Much interest attaches to this epitaj)h, from the fact that it was cut on the tombstone by the celebrated tyi)0grapher, Baskcirville. It is given in " A Description of Modern Birmingham ; whereunto are an- nexed, Observations made during an Excursion round the Town, &c., in the Summer of 181.S." ]{y Charles I'y(!. After mentioning a tomb- stone witli ;ui iiiHorijition cut by liaskerville at Handsworth, tiie aiitlior prf/Wicds: "Mr. Baskirville was origiiiiilly a stonecutter, and after- wards kept a sc1io(j1 at Birmiiighani. 'J'lierc is only one more of his cutting known to be in existence, and that has lately been rcniovcd and placed within the church at J^dgbaston. The stone being of a llaky nature, tlie inscription is not quite perfect, but whoever takes delight in kxjking at well-formed letters, may here be gratified " In tlie "Gentleman's Magazine" for 182."), XCV. Parti. 'M-l, a corrc- sj)onilcnt htatiH, tliat the inscription was ■wriltm as well as cut by i'a.skervillc, but he givc'S 7io jiroof. Ife also states, that wlicii Ik! was at ivlglisiHton two years belore, tint stone wiis "on the iKirtli-caHt side of thechiirfhyard." lie gives the epitaph, with a very slight variation in the first line. 538 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. ON MILTON'S EXECUTIONER. (Disraeli's "Curiosities of Literature," 1st S. Art. "Bentley's Milton.") Did Milton's prose, Charles ! thy death defend ? A furious foe, unconscious, proves a friend ; On Milton's verse, does Bentley comment? know, A weak officious friend becomes a foe. While he would seem his author's fame to further, The murderous critic has aveng'd thy murder. This severe epigram appeared at the time of the publication of Dr. Bentley's edition of Milton. On Milton's treatment of King Charles in his prose Works, Yalden has some striking lines, " On the reprinting Miltdu's Prose Works with his Poems." The following is tlie last stanza : Like the fall'n angels in their happy state, Thou shar'dst their nature, insolence, and fate : To harps divine, immortal hymns they sung, As sweet thy voice, as sweet thy lyre was strimg. As they did rebels to th' Almighty grow. So thou profan'st his image here below. Apostate bard ! may not thy guilty ghost, Discover to its own eternal cost. That as they heaven, thou paradise hast lost ! LIFE. (" Collection of Epigrams," 1735, 11. Ep. 395.) In travel, pilgrims do oft ask, and know, What miles they've gone, and what they have to go, Tlieir way is tedious, and their limbs opprest. And their desire is to be at rest. In life's more tedious journey, man delays T' enquire out the number of his days : He cares, not he, how slow his hours spend. The journey's better than the journey's end. The unwillingness to part with life is beautifully expressed in the following lines by IMrs. Barbauld, written when she was very old — the last stanza of "Life"— of \\hich Rogers said, "I know few lines tiner " : ANONYI'IOCS. 539 Life ! we've been long together, Thi-ough pleasant and through cloudy weather . 'Tis hard to part when friends are dear ; Perhaps 'twill cost a sigh, a tear ; Then steal away, give little warning, Choose thine own time, Say not Good Night, bnt in some brighter clime Bid me Good Morning. Happy are those who can seriously feel that they require but "little warning "' to prepare them for a '' brighter cUme." FRONTISPIECE OF THE " DVNCIAD." A correspondent of " Notes and Queries," 2nd S. 11. 182, states that he found the following epigram on the fly-leaf of a copy of the " Dunciad.' 8vo ed. 1729 ; with a note that it appeared in the " Daily Gazetteer" about Dec. 18, 1738: Pallas for wisdom priz'd her favourite owl, Pope for its dulness chose the self-same fowl : AVhicli shall we choose, or which shall we despise ? If Pope is witty, Pallas is not wise. It is well known that the early editions of the " Dunciad " had an owl as the frontispiece. Some false editions appearing with the same, the true ones discarded the owl, and placed an ass laden with authors Ho the distinguishing mark. This being also copied in a t-purious re- print, the owl again appeared in the octavo edition. Thus the editions came to be known as those of the owl and those of the ass. An interesting collection might be made of such emblems on title- pages. One prefixed to the " Scribleriad " is worth noticing, — Satire leading an ass carrying an unconscious Sphinx (representing false science), which Satire has overthrown. ON THE DEATH OF GENERAL WOLFE. (" New Foundling Hospital for Wit," 1784, V. 188.) All-conq'ring, cruel death, more hard than rocks, Thou should'st have spar'd the Wolfe and took the Fox. At the {leriod of the taking of Quebec and the death of Wolfe, Mr. Fox (afterwards Lord Holland) was Paymaster of the Forces, and iiad rendered Jiimsolf unpojiular by accumulating a considerable fortune by the pcrquisitcH of oliice and the intcri st of money in hand. Ht-nce the satirifal jjlay ujjon his mime in the epigram. That his i)cciilulions had been enormous is evident from the fact, that after his dcatli his executor was compelled to pay into the Treasury the .--Anii of £200,000, 540 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. In the latter part of his life he amused himself by building, at a vast expense, a fantastic villa at Kingsgate, near IMargate. Some very severe stanzas by Gray were suggested by a view of this seat. The following are the opening lines : Old and abandon'd by each venal friend, Here Holland took the pious resolution To smuggle a few years, and strive to mend A broken character and constitution. ON MRS. COLLYER DEDICATING " THE DEATH OF ABEL " TO THE QUEEN. (" Poetical Calendar," 1763, XI. 97.) When Cain and Abel their first offerings made, Abel's alone th' Almighty pleas'd survey'd ; Sullen and vex'd, unpitying Cain withdrew, And soon in private virtuous Abel slew. But Britain's Queen, when Collyer homage paid, And at the throne her book of Abel laid, Fearing lest envy might attend regard, Eeceiv'd the offering, but denied reward ! She fear'd lest Abel might again be slain, And every critic prove another Cain. Mrs. Collyer, who resided at Islington, was the wife of Joseph Collyer, the author of some historical and geographical Works, who died in 1776. " The Death of Abel " was translated from the German of Gesner. Another epigram on the history of Cain and Abel is not amiss. It is a play upon the name of Dr. Abel , to whom it was addressed when he was ill, by Graves ("Festoon," 1767, 199) : Abel ! prescribe thyself; trust not anotHer : Some envious leech, like Cain, may slay his brother. ON MRS. BARBIERE'S FIRST APPEARANCE ON THE STAGE. ("Festoon," 1767, 11.) No pleasure now fiom Nicolini's tongue, In vain he strives to move us with his song ; On a fair Siren we have fix'd our choice, And wait with longing ears for Barbiere's voice : When, lo ! the nymph, by bashful awe betray'd, Her fait' ring tongue denies her looks its aid : ANONYMOUS. 541 But so miicli innocence adorns her fears, And with such grace her modesty she wears, By her disorder all her charms increase. And, had she better sung, she'd pleas'd us less. This lady seems to have overcome her " bashful awe," and to have attained reputation as a singer ; but the only notice of her in the " Gentleman's Magazine " is in the obituary for 1737 : " Feb. 5. Mrs. Barbier, formerly a noted singer in the operas." There is a severe epigram " On Nicolini's Leaving the Stage," in Steele's collection (possibly by Steele himself), of which the latter half only can fitly be given here (Nichols' " Collection of Poems," IV. 75, 178bj : Hence with thy ciu-st deluding song ! away ! Shall British freedom thus become thy prey? Freedom which we so dearly us'd to prize. We scorn to yield it — but to British eyes. Assist, ye gales ; with expeditious care Waft this preposterous idol of the Fair ; CJousent ye Fair, and let the trider go, Nor bribe with wishes adverse winds to blow r Nonsense grew pleasing by his Siren arts. And stole from Shakespeare's self our easy hearts. TRUE RICHES. (" Festoon," 1767, 99.) Irus, tho' wanting gold and lands, Lives cheerful, easy, and content ; — ■ Corvus unbless'd, with twenty hands Employ'd to count his yearly rent. Sages of Lombard ! tell me which Of these you think possesses more ? One, with his poverty, is rich ; And one, with all his wealth, is poor. There are many Greek epigrams which express this truth. An amusing one, by Lucian, on the gout (Jacobs III. 26, xxvii.), may, perhaps, come home to some readers who have experienced this accom- paniment of wealth and luxury. Tlie transliition, which is rather free, ia from a '• Selection of Greek Epigrams for the Use of Wiuchcbtei School," 17'Jl: (joddesH who shunu'st tho cottage gate, Comiiauion of the rich and great; To feet of straugens you coulide ; Your arms a crutch on either side : 54.2 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. Whilst tottering round the gilded room, You tling the costly rich perfume ; To you the talile's sumptuous fare And rose-encircl'd wreath are dear ; For you the mantling bowl shall flow, Joys, which the poor can never know, In whose sad path, with th jrns o'erspread, Your pamper'd form shall never tread ; But to the purple couch shall go, Where lies in state the great man's toe. BEYNOLDS' PORTE AIT OF MES. COLLYEB. (Northcote's " Life of Keynolds," 1819, I. 156.) In 1766, Sir Joshua Eeynolds i^ainted a portrait of Mrs. CoUyer, an eminent beauty of that time. Her face is seen in profile, and has a pensive air, as if contemplating the death of a favourite sparrow, which appears laid on the table before her. Sorrow too deep for him to trace, Timantlies did conceal ; The anguish in the father's face, He covered with a veil. The lightning of bright Collyer's eyes Keynolds despairs to show ; That vivid fire his art defies ; He bids a tear to flow. Timanthes was a painter of Sicyon in the reign of Philip, the father of Alexander the Great. He executed a celebrated pictiu-e of Iphigenia about to be immolated, with her father Agamemnon standing by, whose face he covered with a veil, thus leaving his deep sorrow to be realized by imagination. In Elsum's ■' Epigrams on Paintings," 1700, there is one on this picture (Ep. 1) : See how her near relations all lament To lose a virgin fair and innocent. The under-mourners are so full of grief, The painter's puzzled to express the chief; He finds the pencil is for this too frail, And therefore o'er his eyes he casts the veil. Thus wisely covering Agamemnon's face, He turns the art's defect into a grace. Waller refers to the pictiu-e in his poem, " Of his Majesty receiving the news of the Duke of Buckingham's death " : The famous painter could allow no place For private sorrow in a prince's face : Yet, that his piece might not exceed belief. He casts a veil upon supposed grief. ANONYMOUS. 543 W BITTEN ON A LEAF OF LOWTE'S GRAMMAR, FUE- SENTED TO A YOUNG LADY. (" Newspaper Cuttings, Poetry and Miscellaneous," in the British Museum.) Fair miniature of all thy mother's grace, Gentle Theresa ; whose first op'ning bloom, Foretells a lovely flower of rich perfume : Now that thy tender mind doth quick embrace Each character impressed ; these pages trace "With studious eye, and let thy thoughts assume, Such classic dress as grac'd the maids of Rome ; Free, elegant, and, as thy manners, chaste. These lines, which have all the simplicity and elegance of a Greek epigram, are stated to be by the Dean of Waterfbrd, but as there is no date to the newspaper cuttings, which seem to range over many years of the second half of the last century, it cannot be decided who is the dean meant. Bishop Lowth's " Short Introduction to English Granunar " was first published in 17G2, but, as it has gone through many editions, this gives little clue to the date of the epigram. ON ARCHBISHOP MOORE. (Nichols' " Literary Anecdotes," VIII. 94.) Dr. John Moore was in 1771 appointed Dean of Canterbury, and in 1775 consecrated Bii^hop of Bangor, which occasioned the folhnving " Word of Comfort from Bangor to Canterbury on the Loss of her Dean " : Cease, Canterburj-, to deplore The loss of your accomplish'd Moore, Kepining at my gain ; I soon may have most cause to mourn : To you he'll probably return. With vie will scarce remain. This was answered from Canterbury : To me, you prophesy, our mitred Moore Revolving years may probably restore. And thus in vain attempt my tears to diy : I scarcely know my masters but by name. Triennial visits, and the voice tif fame, For, ah! my palaces in luins lie. 544 MODERN EPIGPvAMMATISTS. On the death of Dr. Cornwallis in 1783, the archiepiscopal see was offered to Bishops Hurd and Lowth, who both declined it, the one from advancing years and love of lettered ease, the other from aftection to his diocese. It was reported that, upon this, the King desired each of them to recommend the bishop whom they thought most fitted for the primacy, and that, without any previous concert of opinion, they both mentioned Dr. Moore, who was, in consequence, appointed Metro- politan. After his promotion, " Bangor's Word of Comfort to Canter- bury no Prophecy " appeaxed (Nichols, as above, 95) : An impartial and competent judge of desert At sucli a conclusion must have needs been expert : And to bafifle detraction I'll venture thus far — If Moore rose like a meteor, he'll shine a true star. KING GEORGE III. AND Dli. FRANKLIN. ("Life and Writings of Benjamin Franklin." By his Grandson, W. T. Franklin, 1818, II. 81.) In the year 1777 an angry controversy arose, in consequence of Dr. Franklin having advocated pointed lightning-conductors, as preferable to the rounded ones. George III., who detested Franklin for the part he took in the American rebellion, was unwise enough to show his dislike by having the old pointed conductors removed, and replaced by rounded ones at Buckingham Palace, then called " The Queen's House." This was during the heat of the American war, and occa- sioned the following epigram : While you, great George ! for safety hunt, And sharp conductors change for blunt, The empire's out of joint : Franklin a wiser course pursues ; And all your thunder fearless views, By keeping to the point. In the " New Foundling Hospital for Wit," II. 158, there is another epigram on the same subject and occasion : Our public buildings to defend From the keen lightning's brunt, Stme pointed rods would recommend, Others prefer the Blv.rd. Let nle, too, midst this learned throng Show how to save our structures ; Alas ! we've tried the blunt too long, We now want Sharp Conductors. ANONYMOUS. 545 KEPPEL AND RODNEY. (" Gentleman's Magazine," L. 149.) The freedom of the city of London was presented to Admiral Keppel in a box made of oak ; and subsequently to Admiral Rodney in a gold one. After the coui-t which decided on the latter presentation. the following epigram appeared in the public papers : Your wisdom, London's council, far Our highest praise exceeds ; In giving each illustrious tar The very thing he needs. For Eodney, brave, but low in cash, You golden gifts bespoke : To Keppel, rich, but not so rash, You gave a heart of oak. Admiral Sir George Rodney nearly ruined himself, in 1768, in a con- tested election for the borough of Northampton. Admiral (afterwards Viscount) Keppel was tried for neglect of duty in an engagement with the French fleet off Ushant, July 27, 1778, upon charges brought by Admiral Sir Hugh Palliser, the second in command. Keppel was not only acquitted, but received the thanks of both Houses of Parliament. Palliser was then tried, when the unfor- tunate escape of the French fleet was clearly proved to have been caused by his own neglect of orders. He was only censured, but the popular feeling against him was so strong, that he was compelled to resign his offices under Government and his seat in Parliament. Notwithstanding the general opinion in favour of Keppel, the last two lines of the epi- gram refer to the Ushant engagement, as there were some who took a different view, and sought to make him unpopular. In a letter from Horace Walpole to Sir Horace Mann, the following epigram is given on the freedom of the city being presented to Pitt and Fox (Walpole's " Letters to Sir Horace Mann,'^ 1833, HI, 2G2) : The two great rivals London might content. If what he values most to each were sent : HI was the franchise coupled with the box, Give Pitt the freedom, and the gold to Fox. 2 N 546 MODEEN EPIORAMMATISTS. OlS THE DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE Canvassing for Charles James Fox at the Westminster Election in 1780 (" Asylum for Fugitive Pieces," 1785, 61.) Array 'd in matchless beauty, Devon's Fair In Fox's favour takes a zealous part : But, oil ! where'er the pilf'rer comes — beware ! She supplicates a vote and steals a heart. This is the duchess with whose name Lord Macaulay winds up hia magnificent description of Westminster Hall, at the opening of the 1 rial of Warren Hastings : '' And there the ladies whose lips, more per- ,-uasive thun those of Fox himself, had carried the Westminster elec- tion against palace and treasury, shone round Georgiana, Duchess of I »evonshire." THE EARL OF CHATHAM. The following epigram, from Owen's " Weekly Chronicle" for 1761, appeared at the time of the fall of the elder Pitt's cabinet in that year, when, as a reward for his services, his wife was created Baroness Chatham, and a pension of £3000 was settled on the lives of himself, his wife, and his eldest son : No letters mors full or expressive can be Than the once so respectable W. P. ; The first stands for wisdom, war, wonder, and wit, The last points to peerage, and pension, and Pitt. When, in 1766, Pitt was himself created a peer, he was attacked in an epigram found in the " New Foundling Hospital for Wit," 1784, IV. 83 : Says great William Pitt, with his usual emotion, " The peers are no more than a drop in the ocean." The city adores him ; how charming a thing ! To pull down the peers, and to humble the king ; But summon'd to court, he reflects on his words. And to balance the State, takes a seat with the lords. But after his death, the epigrams on the great statesman were of a very different character. The following, " Written in 1782, upon the Bust of the Earl of Chatham," id from " An Asylum for Fugitive Pieces," 1785, 33 : Her trophies faded, and revcrs'd her spear, See England's genius bend o'er Chatham's bier. No more her sails through every clime unfurl 'd, Siiall spread his dictates o'er th' admiring world; ANONYMOUS. 547 No more shall accents nervous, bold, and strong, Flow in full periods from his matchless tongue. Yet shall thy name, great Shade, from age to age, Bright in poetic and historic page, Thine, and thy country's fate congenial tell. By thee she triumph' d, and with thee she fell. ThB triumphs of England under the administration of Lord Chatham are the theme of every historian. How great was her danger offalliruj. in the year in which the above epigram was written, is thus expressed by Sir A. Alison : " Russia, Sweden, Denmark, were united in a hostile league — America, Spain, and France in an armed confederacy against (5reat Britain ; the combined fleets rode triumphant in the British Channel ; and, however strange it may sound to modern ears, it is his- torically certain that England was more nearly subdued by the wisdom of Louis XVI. and the talent of Vergennes, than by the genius of Napoleon and the address of Talleyrand" (Alison's "History of Europe," 1849, I. 318). Lord Chatham and his illustrious son, William Pitt, are commemorateti together in the following epigram, preserved in Lord Stanhope's " Mis- cellanies," 1863, 92, who says: "These lines were sent to me in November, 1861, by the Rev. Thomas Pascoe, of S. Hilary's, Marazion, Cornwall, who states in his letter that he was born in 1788, and that he remembers hearing them recited ' when quite a boy ' " : Great Chatham, who from humbled France Acquired a deathless fame, The first of statesmen stands confessed. And nations owned the claim. Yet by one act he weaker made His claim instead of stronger ; He gave the admiring world a son, And then was first no longer. Inferior in merit as an epigram, but equally complimentary to the two great statesmen, is the following, found in "An Asylum for Fugi- tive Pieces," 1785, 53 : When Chatham died, Britannia bow'd, And njourn'd his absence long in vain • Till Ileav'n iinotlier Pitt bestow'd, And Chatham's spirit rais'd again 1 But even the younger Pitt could not give universal satisfaction. In 1784, when First Lord of the Ti'easury and Chancellor of the lOxchequer, he raised the window-tax, and continued the imposition of the camlle-tax. This produced an epigram which appeared in the "Gentleman's Magazine" for that year, LIV. 693. It is sair, upon which the poet went to his shop and caned him, but by tlio inter- ference of friends the matter was adju.sted. One of these friends wu.s Johnson, which is amusing when it is remembered that he himsi If treated Osborne, another l)ook8eller, in much the same way. Cradock, in his " Memoirs," gives an extempore epigram on Johnson's feat : When Johnson, with tremendous step and slow. Fully deterriiiu'd, deigns to fell the foe. E'en the earth trembles, thunders roll around, And mighty Osborne's self lies levell'd with the gnmnd. 552 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. A DISTINGUISHING CHABAVTEBISTIC. (" Select Epigrams," 1797, II. 125.) Can you tell me (cried Celia to Damon) from whence I may know a coquette from a woman of sense ? Where the difference lies ?— Yes, said Damon, I can ; Ev'ry man courts the one, t'other courts every man. This is sound advice for a man who is seeking a wife. A Greek epigram by Rutiuus will give him some help in choosing between two extremes. The translation, taken from " Select Epigrams," is correct but free (Jacobs III. 106, xxxv.) : The damsel too prudishly shy. Or too forward, what swain would possess ? For the one will too often deny. And the other too soon will say Yes. Martial has an epigram of similar character (Book I. 58), thus freely translated in the " Collection of Epigrams," 1735 : Dick, would you know, if I should change my life, What kind of girl I'd choose to make my wife ? I would not have her be so fond to say, YeB at first dash ; nor dwell too long on Nay : These two extremes I hate ; then let her be 'Twixt both ; nor too hard-hearted, nor too free. MISS HOBNSBTS L0VEB8. (" Notes and Queries," 2nd S. XI. 233 and 295.) A fellow of Brazenose, named Halliwell, obtained the sobriquet of Dr. Toe from his lameness. He wooed and won Bell Hornsby, the daughter of the Professor of Astronomy. The day was fixed for the wedding, but ere it arrived Bell eloped with her father's footman. This occasioned the following epigram, ascribed by some to the daughter of Canon Burton, of Christ Chm-ch, who was usually known as Jack Burton ; by others, and probably with more truth, to Heber, then resi- dent in' Oxford; it was perhaps the joint production of some of the Common-room wits : 'Twixt footman John and Dr. Toe A rivalship befell, Which of the two should be the beau To bear away sweet Bell. To footman John she gave her heart ; Who could blame her? no man. The whole succeeded 'gainst the part, Footman versus Toeman. AI^ONTMOUS. S53 The following seems to have been written on the same occasion (ibid. 296) : Dear lady, think it no reproach. It show'd a generous mind, To take poor John within the coach, Wlio rode before behind. This, however, is not original, as the same point is found in an epigram in " Select Epigrams," 1797, U. 106, published previously : When Trot in coach his foot first set, He blush'd, and back a step reclin'd ; For Trot himself could not forget How many years he rode behind. An anecdote told of Secretary Craggs may possibly have produced this epigram. He began life as a footman, and " in the days of his opulence he once handed some ladies into their carriage, and then from the mere force of habit got up behind himself " (" Quarterly Review," LIX. 406). ON TWO DEANS. (" Notes and Queries," 2Dd S. XI. 170 and 296.) Cyril Jackson, Dean of Christ Church, was understood to have refused a bishopric out of proud humility. Nathan Wetherell, father of the better-known Sir Charles Wetherell, was Master of University and Dean of Hereford. He had purchased shares in the Oxford Canal at the time of their extreme depreciation, and ultimately realized a large fortune by the advance in their price. As CjTil and Nathan were walking by Queen's, Said Cyril to Nathan, " We're both of us Deans, And both of us Bishops may be :" Said Nathan to Cyril, " Bo that as it will, I shall stick to my little canal, And you may go to the see." " The Duke of York told mc that Dr. Cyril Jackson most conscienti- ously did his duty as tutor to him and his brother, the Prince of Wales. ' Jackson,' said the Duke, ' used to have a silver pencil-case in his hand while we were at our lessons ; and he has frequently given us sucli knocks with it upon our foreheads, tliat the blood followed them ' " (Rogers' " Table Talk," 1856, 161). 554 MODEEN EPIGEAMMATISTS. FORENSIC WIT. THE lawyers' glee. (Lord Campbell's " Lives of the Chief Justices," 1849, II. 183.) A woman having a settlement Married a man with none ; The question was, he being dead, If what she had was gone ? Quoth Sir John Tratt, the settlement Suspended did remain, Living the husband ; but him dead, It doth revive again. Chorus of Puisne Judges. Living the husband ;_ but him dead, It doth revive again. Chief Justice Pratt's decision with regard to suspension was reversf^i by Chief Justice Ryder, which produced another glee ilbid). A woman having a settlement, Married a man with none : He flies and leaves her destitute ; What then is to be done ? Quoth Ryuer, the Chief Justice, In spite of Sir John Pratt, You'll send her to the parish In which she was a brat. Suspension of a settlement Is not to be maintained ; That which she had by birth subsists Until another's gained. Chorus of Puisne Judges. That which she had by birth subsists Until another's gained. Sir John Pratt was Chief Justice of the King's Bench from 1718 to 1724 ; and Sir Dudley Ryder from 1754 to 1756. i\JS'ONYJIOUS. 555 Some years ago aE action was brought, at Cardifl" Assizes, by a rich pliiintilf against a poor defendiint. who was unable to pay counsel, when Abraham IMoore, Esq., of Exeter, a barrister, volunteered to defend him. Upon this the following epigram was written, entitled " Dives and Lazarus," which is ascribed to Jekyll, and which appeared in the " British Press " for July 3, 1812 (" Spirit of the Public Journals," 1813, XVI. 235): Dives, the Cardiff Bar retains, And counts thi-ir learned noses, Whilst the defendant Lazarus On Abraham's breast reposes. Mr. Scarlett, afterwards Lord Abinger, counsel for a Mr. Cole, de- fendant in a breach of promise case, tried at the Lancaster Spring Assizes in 1818, pleaded that some love-letters, likely to damage his client's case, could not be admitted in evidence, not being stamped : the judge overruled this, and a young counsel wrote and handed round the following ("Notes and Queries," 2nd S. I. 148 and 418): 'Tis said o'er his cheek the scarlet blush stole, As he asked for a stamp to a deed black as cole ; If requests such as these in " the Pleas " are admitted, Our fair countrywomen will quite be outwitted : Unless in their reticules bhmk stamps they carry, And take a receipt for each kiss till they marry. The same lawyer's name caused a joke of similar character in a trial, about the year 1827, in which Grimaldi, the famous clown, was a wit- ness. The anecdote is given in the " Life of Grimaldi," by Dickens. Sir James Scarlett commenced his examination by saying, " Dear me ! Pray, sir, are you the great Mr. Grimaldi, formerly of Covent Garden Theatre ?" The witness reddened and replied, " I used to be a panto- mime actor, sir." Sir James paused u few seconds, and looking up in his face said, " And so you really are Grimaldi, are you ?" The wit- ness got redder and redder. " Pray don't blush, Mr. Grimaldi, there is not the least occasion for it," said Sir James. This, of course, made (irimaldi hlush more and more, though lie replied, " I'm not blushing, sir." The spectators tittered, and Sir James, smiling blandly, said, " I assure you, Mr. Grimaldi, that you are blushing violently." Grimaldi was angry and nervous, but he had his wits about him, and replied, " I beg your pardon, sir, but you are really quite mistaken. The flush which you observe on my face is a Scarlet one, I admit, but I assure you that it is nothing more thau a reflection from your own." The people shouted with laughter, and Sir James bantered the witness no more. The following " Retort Legal," by the witty James Smith, is amusing 'j Memoirs, Letters, &c., of the late James Smith," 1840, 1. 204 i : " What with briefs and attending the court, self and clerk, I'm at my wits' end." muttered Drone, the attorney. " J fear 'tis a medical case," answered Shark — " You're so terribly tired by bo little a journey." 656 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. The cause of lawsuits is well put by Samuel Bishop (Works, 1796, Ep. 161): In indenture or deed, The' a thousand you read, Neither comma nor colon you'll ken : A stop intervening Might determine the meaning ; And what would the lawyers do then ? Chance for change of construction gives chance for new flaws ; When the sense is once iix'd, there's an end of the cause. ON BISHOP BLOMFIELD. (" Memoir of Charles James Blomfield, D.D.," 1863, I. 95.) Dr. Blomfield (Bishop of London) was successively Rector of Chester- ford, of Bishopsgate, and Bishop of Chester. The following epigram, on his promotion to that see in 1824, was written by one of the boys of the Grammar School of his native town, Bury S. Edmund's : Through Chester-ford to Bishops-gate Did Blomfield safely wade ; Then leaving ford and gate behind, He's Chester's Bishop made. ON NASH, THE ARCHITECT, WHO INTRODUCED THE USE OF ROMAN CEMENT IN LONDON HOUSES. Augustus at Rome was for building renown'd, And marble he left what but brick he had found ; But is not our Nash, too, a very great master ? He found London brick, and he leaves it all plaster This is an adaptation of another epigram, on the creation of paper- money in time of war ; found in the " Spirit of the Public Journals for 1806," X. 153 : Of Augustus and Rome the poets still warble, That he found it of brick and left it of marble : So of Pitt and of England, they say, without vapour, That he found it of gold, and he left it of paper. ANONYMOUS. 557 INSCRIPTION FOR THE ENTRANCE OF A " GENTLE" - WOMAN'S GARDEN. (From a Manuscript.) Pan speaks. Let no rash hand invade these sacred bowers, Irreverent pluck the fruit, or touch the flowers ; Fragrance and beauty here their charms combine, And e'en Hesperia's garden yields to mine ; For tho' no golden apples glitter round, A dragon yet more furious guards the ground. This seems to have been suggested by the inscription on the portico of the Villa Ludovisia, at Frescati, near Rome ; a flragon being borne in the arms of the Borghese family. It is given in Mons. Blainville's Travels : Thessala quid Tempe ? Quid quaevis Adonidis hortos ? Hffic tibi pro cunctis VUla Draeonis erat. Hesperidum nostris quantum viridaria cedunt Gustos est tanto mitior ore Draco. ON GIBBON. In Lord Sheffield's edition of Gibbon's " Miscellaneous "Works," is en- graved the well-known shade portrait of the historian, which, from its unfortunate singularity, gave occasion in 17;)7 to a severe poetical attack upon the then dead original, by an Oxonian. This satire pro- duced at a later period the following epigram by C. : What valiant scribe, from Isis' hallow'd glade, Dares thus to arms this Shadow of a Shade? Does blund'ring Chehum breathe th' envenom'd strain ? Has mitro-hunting Davis risen again? 'Tis great, 'tis nublc to insult the dead. And heap reproaches o'er a prostrate head. A}'©, strike tho fall'n, 'tis all that Dulness can. And spurn tho Shadcjw who had'st fear'd tlic Man. Dr. Chelsum, and Henry Edwards Davis r)f Balliol College, wore writers against (Mlihon ; tjotli were men of Icurriiug. hut they t'i'll iiitu some inaccuracies, of whi'-li (iWilxni waHiiotslow toaviiil hiiiiHcIf Davis is supp08(td to have desired to bring him8(;lf into notic(!, as an ()[iin)iiciit of tho anti-Cliristian historian, with a view to advancement in the Church, but he died at an early age. 558 MODERN EPIGBAMMATI8TS. The point is similar in an epigram, " On Mr. Mason's Abuse of the late Dr. Johnson, in his Memoirs of W. Whitehead" (" Gentleman's Magazine," LXXVIII. Part I. 429): When Johnson spake, poor Mason's wrath was dumb ; But, Johnson silenc'd, prattles o'er his tomb : Thus, at some eagle slain, once frighted crows, With dastard vengeance, aim their puny blows : Mason ! what wreath shall grace that critic's head, Who fear'd the living, but insults the dead ? On the general subject of attacks upon the dead, Moschion, a Greek dramatist, writes in strains of striking power. The translation is by Cumberland (" Observer," No. 105) : Wound not the soul of a departed man ! 'Tis impious cruelty ; let justice strike The living, but in mercy spare the dead. And why pursue a shadow that is past ? Why blander the deaf earth that cannot hear, The dmnb tliat cannot utter ? When the soul No longer takes account of human wrongs. Nor joys nor sorrows touch the mouldering heart, As well you may give feeling to the tomb, As what it covers— both alike defy you. The poet Hayley has a fine sonnet addressed to Gibbon on the publi- cation of his second and third volumes in 1781. The latter part is prophetic of the lasting fame of the history : Thou may'st deride both Time's destructive sway, And baser envy's beauty-mangling dirk ; Thy gorgeous fabrick, plann'd with wise delay. Shall baffle foes more savage than the Turk : As ages multiply its fame shall rise ; And earth must perish ere its splendour dies. Upon few men of literature have so many epigrams been written as upon Gibbon. The tone which he adopted in his history towards Christianity, is the point on which they generally turn. The two following are specimens (" Notes and Queries," 3rd S. IX. 45 and 84) : Enthusiasts, Lutherans, and Monks, Jews, Syndics, Calvinists, and Puniis, Gibbon an Atheist call ; Whilst he, unhurt, in placid mood, To prove himself a Christian good. Kindly forgives them all. Wiiich was answered thus: To smile, or to forgive, we ask thee not ; Thy hatred we prefer, and cherish well : No Christian hesitates thy name to blot, Obscene, mendacious, sneering infidel ! ANONTMOUS. 559 As a politician too, Gibbon was attacked. He is said to have pub- licly declared, that it was necessary for the safety of the country that halt' a dozen of tlie members of the cabinet should be executed ; and yet within a few weeks of this declaration, he accepted (1779) the officeof one of the Lords Commissioners of Trade and Plantations, worth about £700 per annum. Upon this an epigram appeared, which h;is been ascribed to Charles James Fox (" Notes and Queries," Ist S. VIII. 312), but upon insufficient authority : King George in a fright Lest Gibbon should write The story of Britain's disgrace, Thought no means more sure His pen to secure Than to give the historian a place. But his caution is vain, 'Tis the curse of his reign That his projects should never succeed ; Tho' he wrote not a line, Yet a cause of decline In our author's example we read. His book well describes How corruption and bribes O'erthrew the great empire of Rome ; And his writings declare A degeneracy there, Which his conduct exhibits at home. SHEEPSnANKS.—SnELFORD. f" Notes and Queries," 2nd S. XII. 98.) Mr. William Sheepshanks, tutor of Jesus College, Cambridge (who took hLs degree in 1814), wrote satyrs instead of satires in giving an exercise from Horace or Juvenal. This produced the following epigram, which was fastened on the door of the tutor's room. The satyrs of old were satyrs of note, With the head of a man, and the shanks of a goat ; Vmt the satyrs of Jesus these satyrs surpass. With the shanks of a sheep and the head of an ass. This is ascribed to Mr. H. A. Wedgwood, who graduated at J(hu.s College in 1821. The Haine wit embiilmed Shelford of Corpus, wln) was public ex;iniiner in 1821, uiul not(;i] for plucking men. Sin Mord fen is near Cambridge! : I've seen a man pluck geese on Sholford fen, And now I've Been a Shelford go(jse pluck men. 561 SUPPLEMENT OF MODEKN EPiaKAMMATISTS. SIR JOHN SUCKLING Was born at Whitton, in Middlesex, in 1609. He was a man of fortune, and spent his time and his money amongst the wits of the age. In the civil war he espoused the royal cause, and raised a troop of horse for the King. He died in 1641. The following pieces, though strictly admissible into this collection, are, like some by Sir Charles Sedley, on the border-land between epigrams and vers de society, and may be called by either name. They are taken from Tonson's edition of Suckling's Works, 1709. WHY SO PALE? Why so pale and wan, fond Lover ? Prithee why so pale ? Will, when looking well can't move her, Looking ill prevail ? Prithee why so pale ? Why so dull and mute, young sinner ? Prithee why so mute ? Will, when speaking well can't win her, Saying nothing do't? Prithee why so mute ? Quit, quit, for shame, this will not move. This cannot take her; If of herself she will not love, Nothing can make her : — The devil take her. George Wither, wlio was contemporary with Suckling, writes in tbi, same strain. The following is the lirst, of several stanzas (Kills' "Specimens of the Early English Po(;ts," 1803, HI. 83): Shall I, Witstiug in despair. Die bccnum: a woman's fair? Or make pale my cheeks with caro 'Cause another's rosy are ? 2 o 562 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. Be she fairer than the day, Or the flowery meads in May ; If she be not so to me. What care I how fair she be ? Lord Nugent has an epigram on the happy effects of a lady's disdain when constantly shown (Dodsley's "Collection of Poems," 1782. II. 244): Since tirat you knew my am'rous smart. Each day augments your proud disdain ; 'Twas then enough to break my heart, And now, thank heav'n ! to break my chain. Cease, thou scorner, cease to shun me ! Now let love and hatred cease ! Half that rigour had undone me, All that rigour gives me peace. Possibly, however, Suckling's heroine was not indifferent, but carried too far the advice given by a lady in the following lines, and lost her lover by over anxiety to keep him (" The Grove," 1721, 56) : She, that would gain a constant lover, Must at a distance keep the slave, Not by a look ber heart discover, Men should but guess the thoughts we have. Whilst they're in doubt, the flame increases, And all attendance they will pay ; When we're possess'd, their transport ceases, And vows, like vapours, fleet away. CONSTANCY. Out upon it, I have lov'd Three whole days together; And am like to love three more. If it prove fine weather. Time shall moult away his wings Ere he shall discover In the whole wide world again Such a constant lover. But the spite on't is, no praise Is due at all to me ; Love with me had made no stays Had it any been but she. SIE JOHN SUCKLING, Obd Had it any been but she. And that very face, There had been at least, ere this, A dozen dozen in her place ! Sir Charles Sedley, in an epigram " To Celia," acknowledges that, like Suckling, he would not be constant for an hour together, were not the object of his love the most charming of her sex (Sedley's " Poetical Works," 1707, 7) : Not, Celia, that I juster am Or better than the rest : For I would change each hour, like them, Were not my heart at rest. But I am tied to very thee, By every thouglit I have : Thy face I only care to see. Thy heart 1 only crave. All that in woman is adored In thy dear self I find, For the whole sex can but afford The handsome and the kind. Why then should I seek farther store. And still make love anew ? When change itself can give no more 'Tis easy to be true. The ladies to whom these poets professed such constancy, must have been the equals of her on whose girdle Waller wrote his elegant stanzas, the last of which forms in itself a beautiful little ei^igram ; A narrow compass ! and yet there Dwelt all that's good, and all that's fair: Give me but what this ribljand bound, Take all the rest the sun goes round. LOVE TURNED TO HATRED. I will not love one minute more I swear, No not a minute ; not a sigh or tear Thou gctt'st from mo, or one kind look agen, Tho' tliou should'st court me to 't, and would'st begin. I will not tliink (>{ th<* but as men do Of debts and siiis, and then I'll curse thee too ; 564 MODEEN EPIGEAMMATISTS. For thy sake Woman shall be now to me Less welcome than at midnight ghosts shall be : I'll hate so perfectly, that it shall be Treason to love that man that loves a she ; Nay, I will hate the very good, I swear, That's in thy sex, because it does lie there ; Their very virtue, grace, discourse, and wit. And all for thee. What ! wilt thou love me yet ? Charles Cotton translated the following from the Italian of Guarini : Fair and false, I burn 'tis true, But by love am no ways moved ; Since your falsehood renders you So unfit to be beloved ; Tigress, then, that you no more, May triumpli it in my smart, It is lit you know before That I now have cured my heart. Henceforth then if I do mourn, And that still I live in pain, With another flame I burn ; Not with love ; but with disdain. These poets, perhaps, excused the change in their sentiments upon the principle laid down in the following epigram by Lord Nugent (Dodsley's " Collection of Poems," 1782, it 243): I lov'd thee beautiful and kind. And plighted an eternal vow ; So alter'd are thy face and mind, 'Twere perjury to love thee now. But in Suckling's epigram, the hatred was probably assumed to try the strength of the maiden's affection — who loved notwithstanding. It recalls Moore's epigram, entitled " The Surprise " : Chloris, I swear by all I ever swore, That from this hour I shall not love thee more. — " What ! love no more ? Oh ! why this alter'd vow ?" Because I cannot love thee more — than now 1 Sm WILLIAM TEMPLE — SIR CHARLES SEDLEY. 565 SIE WILLIAM TEMPLE. Bom 1628. Died 1700. WRITTEN WHEN IN LOVE, ON A WINDOW OPPOSITE A STATUE OF LEDA. (" Gentleman's Magazine," New Series, VII. 9.) Tell me, Leda, wliich is best, Ne'er to move, or ne'er to rest ? Speak, that I may know thereby, Who is happier, yon or I ? To which Leda is supposed to have answered : Mr. Temple, hear me tell : Both to move and rest are well. Who is happier, you or I ? To that question I reply — If you^ll stand here, and let me go. Very shortly you will know. On the strength of the answer obtained by Sir William Temple, a statue in Hampton Court Gardens was questioned, with an equally favourable result : Q. Prithee, statue, tell me how I can be as fair as thou ? A. The means I speedily will name, I got whitewashed — do the same. Some license must be allowed to those who, like Sir William Temple, are in love, but the practice of scratching upon windows, especially a mail's own name, is severely and sensibly reprobated ii. the following lines " Written in pencil on the Sash of a Window of the Roadside Inn l*y Lodore " (" Notes and Queries," 4th S. VIII. 85) : When I see a man's name Scratched upon the glass, x I know he owns a diamond And his father owns an ass. SIR CHARLES SKDLEY, A dramatic writer, a wit, and a courtier, was bom about 1(J39. As a critc he was an oracle amongst the poets of the day. His own ^(Of^t* wiis gi-ncndly lic<;iiti<>UH, but some of lijs shorter pieces are elegant and lively. Il<' 2p 578 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. spare the effusion of blood " (" Gentleman's Magazine," LXXX. Part II. 646) : Says Murat to Stuart, " Of blood I'm so tender, I beg, without fighting, your force you'll surrender." Says the hero of Maida to Murat—" Excuse me ; And much your fine feelings amaze and amuse me. Here determin'd we stand; you may come when you will. Every drop in our veins we are ready to spill." Aside mutter'd Murat, " Parbleu ! when I sent, 'Twas my own blood to spare, and not yours, that I meant." HANDED AT EXETER ASSIZES TO SERJEANT (AFTER- WARDS BARON) GARRO W, WHO TRIED TO ELICIT FROM AN OLD WOMAN THAT A TENDER HAD BEEN MADE FOR SOME PREMISES IN DISPUTE. ("Notes and Queries," 2nd S. II. 168, 238.) Garrow forbear ! that tough old jade Can never prove a tender maid. Another punning epigram by JekyU is on the purple robes of the Serjeants. (" Notes and Queries," 3rd S. X. 5.) : The Serjeants are a grateful race. Their robes and speeches show it ; Their purple robes do come from Tyre, Their arguments go to it. The following, " A Legal Quibble," is in Jekyll's style, but is not ascribed to him. (" Spirit of the Public Journals," 1815, XVIII. 73. From the " Morning Chronicle" of February 12, 1814): Two learned Serjeants in the law. For a rich prize together draw ; To Serjeant Shepherd when it fell, Best, hiding his chagrin, cried " Well ;" While lucky Shepherd, in a jest. Tells him, "" Whatever is, is Best." In a cause at the Appleby Assizes, Jekyll was retained for the defen- dant, and Serjeant Raine for the plaintiff — a Mr. Hay. On hearing who was his opponent, Jekyll said, " I am glad to hear it, for rain never did hay any good." The joke was hitched into rhyme (" Notes and Queries," 4th S. VI. 364) : Serjeant Eaine was one day The counsel for Hay, In a cause that for Appleby stood. Quoth Jekyll the wit, " I have never heard yet Of the rain that did hay any good 1" JOSEI'H JEKYLL. 5/ 'J In connection with Jekyll's wit, a few general epigrams on lawyers may be given. A very amusing epigram by the Greek Nicaichus (Jacob-i III. QQ^ xxxiii.) is thus translated by the Rev. G. C. Swayne in Dr. Welleslev'-s " Anthologia Polyglotta " : Defendant and plaintiff were deaf as a post, And the judge in their cause was deafer almost ; The plaintift', he sued for a five-montlis' rent ; The defendant thought something different meant, And answer'd, " By night I did grind the corn ;" And the judge, he decided with anger and scorn, " Tlie woman 's the mother of both — why then, Maintain her between you, undatiful men." Martial has an epigram on the long speeches of certain pleaders (Book VI. 35. Translated by Elphiuston): Seven glasses, Cecilian, thou louilly didst crave ; Seven glasses the judge, full reluctantly, gave. Still thou bawl'st, and bawl'st on ; and as ne'er to bawl off, Tepid water in bumpers supine dost thou quaff. That thy voice and thy thirst at a time thou niay'st slake. We entreat from the glass of old Ghronos thou take. The glasses here mentioned were the clepsydrsc, cylindric vessels used in the law courts for measuring time by the fall of a certain quan- tity of water. The time occupied in emptying each clepsydra was an hour, and the number of hours allowed to an advocate was tktermincd by the judge. Martial proposes that tedious pleaders, instead of drink- ing from ordinary vessels, should drain the time-glass itself, and thus at once quench their thirst and hasten the close of their orations. Borbonius has a satirical epigram on easily earning a fee. The translation is by Merivale : A thief once consulted a lawyer of note, How best to ensure from the halter his throat. Said the sage, as he pocketed gravely his fee, " Kun away if you can, and perhaps you'll be free." Boileau wrote a Latin epigram, " On a Young Lawyer, the son of a Country Bea-lle" (Poesies Latines). The translation is in " Tlie Works uf Monsieur Boileau. Made English by several liaiids," 1712, II. 187 : While the fierce beadle's brat does loudly bawl, How silent are the mob ! how still the hall ! Yet think not that his rhr-.ton'ck 's rever'd. The Hon is liarmless, but iha father 's feared. The fdlowing, " The Lawyer and Client," is in "Select Epigrams," 1797, IL 'J7: Two lawyers when a knotty case was o'er, Shook hands, and were as good friends as before. 580 MODERN EPIGEAMMATI8TS. " Say," cries the losing client, " how came yaw To be such friends, who were such foes just naw ?" " Thou fool ! " one answers, " Lawyers, tho' so keen, Like shears, ne'er cut themselves, but what's between." Lawyers in this show some common sense for their own interests, but that common sense can be discovered in the law itself, a Lancashire lawyer denies in the following epigram (" Notes and Queries," 4th S. II. 605) : Jack says that of law, common sense is the base ; And, doubtless, in this he is right : Though certain am I, that in many a case The foundation is quite out of sight. Tliough the common sense of the law be out of sight, it is satisfac- tory to know that light is sometimes thrown upon it. These epigrams on lawyers cannot therefore be better concluded than by one by Lord Erskine, who, before his elevation to the Woolsack, daily practised before Mr. Justice Ashurst, on whose long, lanky visage he penned the following couplet. (Lord Campbell's " Lives of the Lord Chancellors," 1847, vi.) : Judge Ashurst, with his lantern jaws. Throws light upon the English laws. In his " Lives of the Chief Justices " (Life of Lord Kenyon), Lord Campbell makes Mr. Justice Grose, instead of Mr. Justice Ashurst, the hero of the epigram. DK. WILLIAM LORT MANSEL, Born about 1752. Educated at Trinity College, Cambridge ; became Public Orator of that University ; in 1798 appointed Master of Trinity ; and in 1808 consecrated Bishop of Bristol. He was an elegant scholar, a man of much learning, and celebrated for his wit. He died in 1820. ON DR. DOUGLAS' MARRIAGE WITH MISS MAINWARING. (Professor Pryme's " Autobiographic Recollections," 1870, 99). S. Paul has declared that persons, though twain, In marriage united one fle.sh shall remain : But had he been by when, like Pharaoh's kine pairing, Dr. Douglas of Bene't espoused Miss Mainwaring, The Apostle no doubt would have altered his tone, And said these " two splinters shall make but one bone." Dr. Philip Douglas was Master of Corpus Christi formerly called Bene't, College, from 1795 to 1822. DK. WILLIAM LOKT MAXSEL. 581- Professor Pryme gives also an epigram by the Rev. James Chartres of King's College, Cambridge, " On the marriage of Dr. Webb with Miss Gould," which was written in Latin as well as English (" Recol- lections," 277) : Single no more, a double Webb behold : Hymen embroidered it with Virgin Gould. Dr. William Webb was Master of Clare College, formerly Clare Hall, from 1815 to 1856 Bishop Hansel's epigram may be illustrated by a Greek one by Argentarius, thus freely translated in Bland's " Collections from the Greek Anthology " (Jacobs II. 244, xi.) : Dear Lyce, thou art woad'rous thin, And I'm a bag of bone and skin ; Yet thou'rt to me a Venus ! Fat lovers have not half our bliss. Our very bouls each other kiss. Fur there's no flesh between us. An epigram by Graves, " On a Droll Couple," is in " Euphrosyne," 1783, I. 268 : The wife so plump, thyself so thin ; She's flesh and blood, thou bone and skin. Epigrams which play upon the names of the bride and bridegroom nre numerous, but few are so elegant as Mr. Chartres'. The following, •'Sent to the Rev. Mr. Grylls, Rector of Bodmin, on hearing hnn publisli the Banns of Marriage between Job Wall and Mary Best, November 24th, 18GG," is by Mr. Hicks, and is found in " A Memoir of Charles Mayne Young," 1871, II. 303 : Job, wanting a partner, thought he'd be blest. If, of all womankind, he selected the Best ; For, said Ije, of all evils tliat compass the globe, A bad wife would most try the patience of Job. The Best, then, he chose, and made bone of his bone. Though 'twas clear to his friends she'd be Best left alone ; For, though Best of her sex, she's the weakest of all. If 'tis true that the weakest must go to the Wall. ON SPRAY, A BAD SINGING MAN IN TRINITY COLLEGE CHAPEL, CAMBRIDGE. (Professor Pryrae's " Autobiographic Recollections," 1870, 278.) "A Hiiip;inf^-nian and yet not ninj^! You ill icijnitc your psitron's l)oiinty." " ExcuKo mo, you niiistako the thing : My voice in in another county !" 582 MODERN EPIGEAMMATISTS. Spray was appointed by Bishop Hinchliffe, then fhe Master ol Trinity. The explanation is, that he had been recommended by the old Lord Sandwich for the Choristers' place, in return for a vote for the county or borough of Huntingdon. Ecclesiastical appointments upon the " lucus a non lucendo " prin- ciple have been common at all times. The Trinity chorister who could not sing, recalls an epigram by Sir Thomas More. The author of "Fasciculus," an eleorant book, printed for private circulation in 1869, will perhaps not object to his translation being used : So ill thou chantest, one might almost deem Tbee destined as the lord of some rich see ; So well thou reade.-t, one can never dream Aught better than thou art that thou wilt be. Chanting and reading well, in simple troth. If thou woulds't thrive i' the Church, eschew them both. This thriving by demerit recalls " An Author's Epitaph. Written by Himself," in Nicholas Amhurst's "Terrse Filius" 1726, 1. 142: Here lies the author of the " Apparition," Who died. God wot, but in a poor condition : If, reader, you would shun his fate. Nor write, nor preach for Church or State ; Be dull, exceeding dull, and you'll be great. The " Apparition," a poem occasioned by one of the publications of the deistical writer, Matthew Tindal, was by Dr. Evans of St. John's College, Oxford, who was commonly called " Dr. Evans, the Epigi'am- matist." The poem, which is full of clever satire, is printed in Nichols' " Select Collection of Poems." 1780, III. 118. Sir Thomas More's epigram recalls also one written in a copy of Garrick's pamphlet, " Directions how to read Prayers with proper Emphasis " (" Gentleman's Magazine, LXXIX. Part I. 160): Dumb dogs that knew not how to bark, The Priests were term'd in Israel's day : But now they catch Devotion's spark. When Flayers teach them how to pray. Herrick has an epigram on a parson who had voice on six days, but, like Mansel's Smging-Man, had none for his clerical duty. It is probably a fair representation of the hfe of many of the country clergy tf his day : Old Parson Beanes hunts six days of the week, And on the seaventh, he has his notes to seek. Six (layes he hollows so much breath av.-ay. That on tlve seaventh he can nor preach nor pray. The hunting clergy were dying out, when Bishop Blomfield's "Charge " was put into the form of an epigram, ascribed to that witty priest, Sydney Smith, which, however, says Mr. Timbs, he " solemnly DB. WILLIAM LORT MANSEL- 583 declared he did not write." (Timbs' " Century of Anecdote, from 1760 to 1S60," 1864, II. 188) : Hunt not, fish not, shoot not, Dance not, fiddle not, flute not ; Be sure you have nothing to do with the Whigs, But stay at home and feed your pig3 : And above all I make it my particular desire. That at least once a week you dine with the squire. As God's glory was not considered in the appointment of the Singing- Mcin to Trinity College Chapel, so has it very often been neglected in appointments to the highest ecclesiastical offices. This is reprobated in a very severe epigram in the " Festoon," 1767, 35, and the " Poetical Farrago," 1794, II. 90, " On a Prelate's going out of Church to wait on the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland." It was printed anonymously, but is now known to be from the pen of Dean Swift : Lord Pam in the church (could you think it?) kneel'd down; \Vlien, told that the Duke was just come to town, His station despising, unaw'd by the place, He flies from his God to attend on his Grace : To the court it was fitter to pay his devotion. Since God had no share in his lordship's promotion. The prelate was Dr. Josiah Hort, Bishop of Kilmore and afterwards Archbishop of Tuam. He owed his promotion to his zeal and services in support of the Hanover succession. In Swift's Works there is a humorous paper by him, entitled, " A New Proposal for the better regu- lation and improvement of Quadrille." It is said that the bookseller was imprisoned for the original publication of this, and that Swift's wrath was excited, and the epigram written, in consequence of the Bishop not indemnifying the printer. An epigram on a prelate of very diflTcrent character, is given by Horace Walpole in his "Letters to Sir Horace Mann," 1833,11.43, "On Bishop Berkeley's Tar- Water." Walpole's dictum is, " very good epigram :" Who dare deride what pious Cloyne has done ? The Church shall rise and vindicate her son ; She tills us all her Mislmifs shepherds an^ — And shepherds h. The BuVjjtct is "the e.xcessive devotion, maiiifcsted es|iecinlly by the Roman lollies of those days, at tlie funeral ccrciiionii s of a supnnii- jiontifl"." The trarishition from the I^atin isby W. Parr (Jrcswi 1! (GresweU's " Memoirs ol Angelus I'olitiaiius, &c.," 1H05, 84): AH.sembled round the breathless pontiff's bier, 1 haw, as throtig'd inch sex tlic kiss to share. His pallid e the parent of gout, but it is satisfactory to know that a nobkr origin is sometimes assigned to it. The following lines occur in a poetical epistle from Dr. Waldren (a Devonshire physician) to Dr. Chetwood. (Nichols' '• Select Collection of Poems,' 1780, III. 178) : The learned Sydenham does not doubt But profound thought will bring the gout, And that with back on couch we lie Because our reason's soar'd too high ; As cannons, when they mount vast pitches, Are tumbled back upon thcLr breeches. Those who have once experienced the malady. That does oft in privy council wait, Guarding from drowsy sleep the eyes of state ; And that upon the bench is mounted high. Warning the judges how they tread awry, are not very likely to feign it ; but Martiiil has an amusing epigram to warn his readers against the danger of doing so (Book VII. 39, Translated by Hay) : His lordship's mornings were in hurry spent. What with a levee, news, and compliment; That his griod lordship was quite wearied out ; And for his e;ise gave out he liad the gout. 'Tis fit a man of honour should say true : To show he did, what did his lordship do? His f'lot, not founder'd, he in flannels bound ; Limp'd on a crutch; nor touch'd with toi- the ground. What may not man with can; and art obtain 1 By feigning, long his lordship did not feigu. 586 MODERN EPIGKAMMATISTS. THOMAS PARK, Born in 1759, was brought up as an engraver, but made literature his study. He was an accomplished scholar in old Englisli poetry and biography, and was himself a poet. He edited Walpole's " Catalogiu; of Royal and Noble Authors," and other valuable books. For many years he resided at Hampstead, where he took an active interest in the religious and charitable societies of the parish, and where he died in November, ISSi. CBESCIT AMOR NUMMI, QUANTUM IPSA PECUNIA CBESCIT. (Park's " Sonnets and other Small Poems," 1797, 81.) Ten thousand pounds Avarus iiad before His father died, and left him twenty more. Till then a roll and egg he could allow. But eggs grow dear, a roll must dine him now. Avarus was like the miser commemorated by Lucillius (Jacobs III. iiO, ci. Translated by Merivale) : A rich man's purse, a poor man's soul is thine, Starving thy body, that thy heirs may dine. He had better have taken the advice of Horace (Satires I. I. 92. Translated by Francis) : Yet somewhere should your views of lucre cease, Nor let your fears of poverty increase As does your wealth. Misers have at all times been a fertile subject of epigrammatic wit. An epigram by Nicarchus (Jacobs IH. 63, xviii.) is thus translated by Major Macgregor : The stingy wretch had hang'd himself to-day. But for the halter tliat he grudg'd to pay: He thought its cost at sixpence all too high. Hoping perchance a cheaper death to die. Such of the dying miser the sad end, He could not part in peace — so much to spend. The first two lines of an epigram by the same author (Jacobs III. 63, xix.) are amusing, and are thus translated in " Notes and Queries," 5th S. 1.226: So Pheidon weeps, poor miser, — Not because death is near ; But because he bought a cofBn, And paid for it too dear. I THOMAS PARK. 587 I Similarly, Nicholas Borboniiis ■writes ("DelitisB Delitiarum," 41. Translated by James Wright) : Dying Avarus weeps, not to lament His death, but coin in cake and coflBn spent. Bland imitates this epitaph from the French of Maynard : Here lies a miser, who, beside Ten hundred other niggard shifts, On New Year's Eve expressly died For fear of making New Year's gifts. And Merivale translates the following epigram from the Latin : At church Harpax heard that to trample on riches. Is the holiest thing that a Christian can do ; So he forthwith took out his bank-notes from his breeches, And sew'd them all up in the sole of his shoe. In " Notes and Queries," 4th S. VIII. 446, two epigrams are given on Lord Chancellor Eldon's parsimony, entitled, " Inquests Extraor- dinary " : Died suddenly — surprised at such a rarity ! Verdict^Saw Eldou do a little bit of charity. Found dead, a rat — no case could sure be harder : Verdict — Confined a week in Eldon's larder. MORAL ARITHMETIC. (Park's " Sonnets and other Small Poems," 1797, 86.) Flam to my face is oft too kind. He over-rates both worth and talents ; But then he never fails, I find. When we're apart — to strike the balance. Ben Jonson has a quaint distich "To One who Flattered and Slandered Him" (Ep. 61): Thy praise or dispraise is to me alike : One doth not stroke me, nor the other strike. Joeiab Relph has the following : No, Varus hates a tiling that's base ; 1 own, indeed, lie's got a knack Of lliitt'ring [KOple to their face, iJut scorns to do't behind their back. Claude Mermet, Ixjrn about IfiSO, wrote an amuaing French epigriiir on Friends, which has been tlius trunslated : Friends are like melons. Shall I tell you why ? To find one good you muat a hundred try. 588 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. For too many are like the parasite desciibed in an epiufram by Mar- tial (Book IX. 15), thus translated by Thomas May (May's " Selected Epigrams of Martial, Englished," 1629) : Think'st thou his friendship ever faithful proves, Whom first thy table purchas'd '? No, he loves Thy oysters, mullets, boars, sows' paps, not thee : If I could feast him so, he would love me. Landor has a fine epigram on the outward fairness and inward false- ness of pretended friends : How calm, how bland, appears the moon above us ! Surely there dwell the Spirits who most love us. So tliink we, and gaze on ; the well-pois'd glass Suddenly bids the sweet illusion pass. And tells us, bright as may be this outside, Within are gulphs and desolation wide. Craters extinct and barren rocks around, And darkest depths no plummet-line could sound ; Then on the heart these jarring words descend . . . Man ! hast thou never found such in a friend ? A CONCEIT. (Park's " Nugse Modernss," 1818, 76.) Ned calls his wife his counter-part, With truth as well as whim ; Since every impulse of her heart Runs counter still to him. An amusing epigram on husbands and wives running counter, is given by Mark Lemon in his " Jest Book," 1864, 12. Lady Holland, at one of her dinner parties, observed in reference to Crockford's Club, then forming, that the female passion for diamonds was less ruinous than the rage for play among men. " In short, you think," said Eogera, " that clubs are worse than diamonds." Upon this, Sydney Smith wrote the following impromptu on a playing-card : Thoughtless that " all that's brightest fades," Unmindful of that Knave of Spades, The sexton and his subs : How foolishly we play our parts ! Our wives ou diamonds set their hearts, We set our hearts on clubs ! I 589 DR. EDWAED WALSH Was born at Waterford, but the date is uncertain. He graduated M.D. at Edinburgh, and commenced his professional career as physician to a West India packet. He was next appointed surgeon of a regiment, and serred during the Irish Rebellion of 1798. He aft^^rwards went with the Baltic fleet to Copeuliagen, and subsequently was in the Peninsula and at Waterloo. He died in 1832. He published "Bagatelles or Poetical Sketches " in 1793. A RHYMING LOVER. A frigid rhymer, tho' an ardent lover, The reason readily thou may'st discover That Phillis with tby passion is not pleas'd — Thy verse puts out the spark thy love had rais'd. The following anonymous epigram is on the same subject : A swain deep in love, and suitor to Nell, His prentice hand tried in verse to the belle : She'd readily sworn to him she would cling, But false were his rhymes — there ne'er was a ring. ON HIMSELF. FROM THE FRENCH OF LA FONTAINE. His accounts honest John hath now settled with Fate, And he finds — that just nothing remains ; All he got in this world he drank and he ate, Thus balancing losses and gains. Into twro equal portions his time he divided. Well knowing man's share was but small In sleeping the one imperceptibly glided, And one — doing nothing at all. This is a picture of a man who did not even pretend to work. Tiio next epigram is a pirture of the " Idly Busy" ('' Gentlema;i's Maga- zine," XC. Part II. 448) : 'Till seven at night he cannot dine. Nor eat his meat nor drink hi.s wine ; 'Twould disarrange liLj active powers. And Waste some of his precious hours. And what is his employment, say ? He docs just nothing all the day. This recaUfl Martial's epigram "To Attains " (Book II. 7), thu< tmublated by Sir Charles Elton : Fine lectures Attaius rehearflcs. Pleads finely, writes tiuu tales and verses ; 590 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. Fine epigrams, fine fdvcea, vie With grammar and astrology ; He finely sings, and dances finely; Plays tennis ; fiddles most di\dnely : All finely done, and nothing well : Then, if a man the truth may tell. This all-accomplioh'd Punchinello Is a most busy, idle fellow. Walsli's epigram, being taken from the Frencli of La Fontaine, recalls one iu which that pout's name occurs, entitled, " A Courtier's Response " (" Correspondence of the First Earl of Malmesbury," 1870,1. 141): The greatest of honours that Prior can gain Is still to be reckoned the English Fontaine ; And De la Fontaine can never go higher Than to be esteemed as the French Matthew Prior. Thus, when Elizabeth desired That Melville would acknowledge fairly, Whether herself he most admired Or his own mistress, Lady Mary, The puzzled knight his answer thus exprest, " Iu her own country, each is handsomest." This appears in a letter from " IMr. Harris to his mother," dated " Leyden, November 28, 1765," in which he describes a ball at the Princess Weilbourg's, sister of the Prince of Orange. The Princess asked him whether he had ever seen a set of Englisli ladies that danced so well or were so handsome. To which he replied : " En Angleterre les Anglaises me frappent le plus, et en HoUande les Hollandaises." He adds, " Had she been well versed in English, I should certainly have presented her Highness with this epigram, which I had then in my head." The equivoque in the " Courtier's Response," and in the anecdote, recalls a clever one by John Byrom, " Intended to allay the violence of party spirit " : God bless the King, I mean the Faitli's Defender, God bless — no harm in blessing — the Pretender; But who Pretender is, or who is King, God bless us all — that's quite another thing. A clever reply, such as that of the Courtier, is always pleasant to read, but not so amusing as ti^e witty response in the following old epigram, found in " Elegant Extracts " : A haughty courtier, meeting in the streets A scholar, him thus insolently greets: " Base men to take the wall I ne'er permit," The scholar saitl, " I do ;" and gave him it. Or Paddy's reply to the Yankee (" Notes and Queries," 4th S. VII. 71. From an old volume of the " County Magazine ") : EICHARD COLLET, MARQUIS WELLE8LEY. 591 As a Yankee so cute and Paddy quite sly Were riding to town, tl)ey a gallows pa?sM by. Said the Yankee to Pat, " If I don't make too free, Give that galLcws its due, and pray where would you be ?" Said Pat to the Yankee, "Sure, that's easily known ; Pd be riding to town by myself, all alone." EICHAED COLLEY, MAEQUIS WELLES LEY. Born 1760. Died 1842. (In addition to Epigrams at page 477.) INSCRIPTION ON THE TOMB OF THE DA UGHTER OF LORD BROUGHAM, WHO DIED AT THE AGE OF EIGHTEEN. AFTER A LIFE OF CONTINUAL ILLNESS. ("• Primitiae et Eeliquia)." Londini, 1840, 19.) Doomed to long suffering fiom your earliest years. Amidst your Parents' grief and pain alone Cheerful and gay, you smiled to soothe their tears ; And in their agonies forgot your own ; Go, Gentle Spirit ! and among the Blest From Grief and Pain eternal be thy Kest ! The Marquis wrote the inscription iu Latin, and trauslated it. " She (Lord Brougham's daughter) was buried in the cloister (of Ijincoln's Inn Chapel) at her father's earnest entreaty to the Benchers, and with a promise to be also himself interred there. . . . There is on the chapel staircase a mural slab in mrmory of Miss Brougham, con- taining some lines in Latin written by Lord Wdlesley. Far away lies her celebrated father imdi r tlie blue sky of France. How diti'erent are their resting-places ! Hers with a company of ancient lawyers, and close to the ' busy hum of men.' His where tlic air is scented by the sweetest flowers, and musical with the soft murmur of a tiileless sea." (Profes.sor Pryrae's "Autobiographic Kecolloetions," 1870, 3G4). Tiie atfecting picture of the Dying Daughter by the (jireek poetess Anyte, might have bf(!n written of the sad parting between Lord Brougliara and his sulllring daughter (Jacobs I. 133, xviii. Traus- lated by C.) : Then Erato, in tears, her fond arms threw Around his neck, and thus her last sighs drew : — My Father ! f'm no more! O'er my dim sight Death draws his dark'uing cloud of cold and night 592 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. EPITAPH FOB HIMSELF. Translated from the Latin hy the late Lord Derby. (" Translations of Poems Ancient and Modern," by Edward Geoffrey, Lord Derby, 1862, 89.) Long tost on Fortune's waves, I come to rest, Eton, once more on thy maternal breast. On loftiest deeds to fix th' aspiring gaze, To seek the purer lights of ancient days, To love the simple paths of manly truth, — These were thy lessons to my op'ning youth. If on my later life some glory shine. Some honours grace my name, the meed is thine ! My Boyhood's nurse, my aged dust receive, And one last tear of kind remembrance give! The expressive beauty of the original is finely rendered by the trans- lator, and thus English lines have been produced which are almost perfect in their graceful tenderness. JOHN HOOKHAM FREEE. Bom 1769. Died 1846. EPITAPH ON CANNING. (Frere's " Works in Verse and Prose," 1872, I. 313.) I was destroyed by Wellington and Grey. They both succeeded. Each has had his day. Both tried to govern, each in his own way ; And both repent of it — as well they may. Prime Ministers have been the heroes of many epigrams in praise or blame of their conduct. Perhaps none have been abused more heartily than Lord Bute, as in this epigram (" New Foundling Hospital for Wit,"1784, n. 118): Lord Bute, his ambition and wisdom to show, Resign'd the green ribbon, and put on the blue. To two strings already, the Peer's been preferr'd, — Odd numbers are lucky — pray give him a third. On the elder Pitt, on the other hand, praise was constantly lavished. When he was at the height of his popularity in 1757, and Bath and other cities followed the example of London in giving him the Freedom in a gold box, the following epigram appeared, " To the Nymph of I JOHN HOOKHAM FKERK. 593 Bath" (Horace Walpole's "Letters to Sir Horace Mann," 1833, III. 261) : Mistaken Nymph, thy gifts withhold ; Pitt's virtuous soul despises gold ; Grant him thy boon peculiar, health ; He'll guard, not covet, Britain's wealth. Of the numberless epigrams which were directed against Addington, very few are worth reproduction. The following is from the '■ Spirit of the Public Journals," for 180i. The wits of the day, it must be re- membered, called him " The Doctor," his father having been a physician : " What can ennoble knaves and fools and cowards ? Alas ! not all the blood of all the Howards." True Master Pope ; but had you liVd till now, You'd sttir'd to see the Howard humbly bow To beg S. George's Cross from Blister's son, The " Honi Soit," from Doctor Addington. Another from the same volume : Wit is to madness always an ally ; If so, ye ministerial hearts, be glad, For though the Doctor, all must know, can die. We all must likewise know he can't die mad. But when, in 1804, Addington resigned, a really fine epigram ap- peared in the " Times," signed T. M., possibly Thomas Moore (" Spirit of the Public Journals," for 1804, and " Gentleman's Magazine," New Series, XXI. 424) : Let others, prostrate, hail the rising sun. Prouder, I bow to that whose course is run ; — For never did the flaming orb of day. When westward darting his descending ray, From the vast empire of the .skies retire. With brighter splendour, or with purer fire. Chancellors, as well as prime ministers, have elicited many epigrams tVom the wits. Here is one from " Punch, " on Lord Brougham and Vaux : " I wonder if Brougham thinks as much as he talks?" Said a punster perusing a trial ; " I vow siacf; his lordship was made Baron Vaux, He's been Vaux (vox) et prroterea nihil." But the f-arcd-ms on Lord Westbury were, perhaps, more severe than on any other occupant of Iho Woolsack. "Tlie following is from the " Church Times," of March 18, 18G5 : Jacob of did, with reverent zeal And filled with lioiivcidy light. Placed and endowed the first Bethel On the lonely mountain's height. 2q 694 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. The Chancellor now, with iron rod, Would rule " The House of God ;" And looks around with anxious care To place a Bethell everywhere. " Punch " produced a good epigram entitled " Dividing the Wool Back " : " This Edmunds case," said Westbury, Sarcastic, smooth, and cool, " Will prove a case of ample cry. But very Little wool." Quoth Chelmsford, as on Westbury He tui'ned a scornful back, " Though we perhaps don't get the vjool, You ought to get the sack." FRANCIS WEANGHAM. Born in 1769. He was of Magdalen College, and afterwards of Trinity Hall, Cambridge ; was third Wrangler, second Mathematical Prizeman, and first Classical Medallist. He became Rector of Huu- manby, on the east coast of Yorkshire, Archdeacon of Cleveland, and subsequently of the East Riding. He died in 18 13. It is said that Wrangham missed his election to a Fellowship and Tutorsliip of Trinity Hall through a severe epigram on Dr. Jowett, Fellow of that Hall and Regius Professor of Civil Law, who fenced in a small angle of the college from the public way and converted it into a garden (Professor Pryme's " Autobiographic Recollection," 1870, 248) : A little garden little Jowett made, And fenced it with a little palisade ; A little taste hath little Doctor Jowett, His little garden doth a little show it ! Jokes being passed on the diminutiveness of the garden, Jowett turned it into a gravelled plot, upon which the author added two lines to the epigram : Because this garden made a little talk. He changed it to a little gravel walk. An inferior man was elected to the fellowship, the whole university w^as astonished, and no reason was assigned. If the epigram were the cause, it was a gross piece of injustice, for Wrangham told Professor Pryme many years afterwards, that he did not write it, but only, think- ing it clever, repeated it. It has been attributed to Porson. The style is similar to many of his playful pieces. FRANCIS WEANGHASf. 595 OX A COUPLE OF WOODCOCKS KILLED AT ONE SEOT BY SIR FRANCIS CHANTREY WHEN ON A VISIT AT HOLK- HAM. IN NOVEMBER. 1829, AND AFTERWARDS SCULP- TURED ON A MARBLE MONUMENT TO THEIR MEMORY. (Professor Muirhead's " Winged Words on Chantrey's Woodcocks,'' 1857.) Written in Latin and English. Shall Chantrey be call'd a Destroyer, or not ? He slaughters, indeed, his two birds at one shot : But pitying his victims, with generous endeavour To make more amends, by his chisel so clever He revives them to live on in marble for ever ! To us twin birds, who by one twin wound fell, The hand that smote, by some strange miracle. Gave back a life, — for ever to remain ! " How may this be ?" you ask, " I pray explain :" Chantrey's great name resolves the mystery ; — The twain his aim destroy'd, his art forbade to die. Closely in form, in life, in death allied, The hand that kill'd us and reviv'd was one ; For He, by whose sure sportsmanship we died. Has bid us live immortally in stone. A few more, from the large number of epigrams which Chantrey's beautiful work of art called forth, will prove interesting. They are taken from Muirhead's " Winged Words." This is translated by Professor Muirhead from the Greek of Dr. Scott. Deau of Rochester : Swift fire dt-stroy'd, sharp steel restor'd their lives : — Kare sliot ! Nor hapless who, thus slain, revives ! One death to both, — one life from death again, By one skill'd hand bestow'd upon the slain. They slumber, — but how lightly 1 — Passer-by, Be still, lest thou awake theui, and they fly. The next is by the late Bishop Wilberforce : Life in Death, a mystic lot. Dealt thou to the wiugJ-d band : — Death, — from 'J'Jiine unerring shot. Life, — from Thine undying hand. Lord Jeffrey wrote this distich : Their good, and ill, from tlie same source they drew ; — Here shria'd in marble by the hnud that slew ! 596 MODERN EPIGRAMMATISTS. The following is by Professor Muirhead : Amaz'd I view the consecrated spot Where Chantrey kill'd two woodcocks at a shot ; For yonder, lo ! his brtathing victims are, More deathless than in life, and lovelier far. Baron Alderson, at the time of the Reform Bill, was taiiiing with Bishop Maltby of inscriptions for the marble; and upon the Bishop producing a Greek one, he took his pen and wrote the following, avail- ing himself, in a contrary spirit to that of its originators, of the cry repeated all over the kingdom at the general election of 1831 (" Selec- tions from the Charges, &c., of Baron Alderson. With Life." By Charles Alderson, 1858, 165.) : Behold the fruits of Chantrey's gun — Two woodcocks, and the shot but one; But happier far for Cliurch and State, Had it but been the artist's fate To miss the body, and to kill " The Bill and nothing but the Bill." Professor Muirhead gives this epigram in his " Winged Words," but in a shorter and inferior form. A playful epigram may be added here, sent " To a Gentleman in Return for a Brace of Snipes " : My thanks I'll no longer delay For the birds which you shot with such skill ; For though there was nothing to pay, Yet each of them brought in his bill. I mean not, my friend, to complain, The matter was certainly right ; And when bills such as these come again, I'll always accept them at sight. Cowper's elegant " Thanks for a Gift of Plieasants " may also be placed amongst these epigrams on birds and bills : In Copeman's ear this truth let Echo tell : " Immortal bards like mortal pheasants well," And when his clerkship's out, I wish him herds Of golden clients, for his golden birds. JOHN OWEN. Of Corpus Christi, formerly called Ben't, College, Cambridge. (Gunning's "Reminiscences of the University, Town, and Countv of Cambridge," 1854, I. 212.) Some mischievous ruffians having injured some, and destroyed many, of the newly-planted shrubs and trees in S. John's garden, l<^dward Ghxistian (afterwards Professor), fellow of the college, and a barrister. GEORGE CANNING. 597 was requested to draw up a liandbill oflfering lOOZ. reward for the dis- covery of the offenders. The lunguage of the bill was extraordinary and absurd, describing the deed as a capital offence, punishable with death under tlie Black Act; and recommending tlie perpetrators to come forward, but not offering impunity for doing so. This occasioned the following epigram : Wheu Brunswick's great Duke, on a visit to France Led Austrians, and Prussians, and Hessians a dance, He thought to gain over the brave sans culottes. By kindly engaging to cut all their throats : So the Johnians, whose trees were most cruelly mawjled, And delicate sucklings atrociously strangled, Invite the sly culprit who did the black act, To swing at the gallows by owning the fact. The epigram refers to the celebrated proclamation by the Duke of Brunswick, dated Coblentz, July 25, 1792. GEOEGE CANNING. Born 1770. Died 1827. ON A CARICATURE OF HARROW OUTWEIGHING ETON. What mean ye by this print so rare ? Ye wits, of Eton jealous : Behold ! your rivals soar in air, And ye are heavy fellows ! The caricature represented two periodical publications, brouglit out respectively by the boys of Eton and Harrow, suspended in a balance, the former of which is made to '• kick the beam.'' (" Biographical Memoir of the late Bight Hon. George Caniung,' 1827, 39.) To Canning's epigram Theodore Hook rejilied thus : Cease, ye Etonians ! and no more With rival wits contend ; Feathers, we know, will float in air, And bubldes will ascend. ON THE EFFORTS MADE JlYrELUAM, BTSUOI' OF EXETER, TO OliTAlS THE lilSHOl'RIC OF WISCHESTER OS THE DEATH OF BROW SLOW NORTH IN 1820. Says priggish I'olham, " May I liint on The shoiti Kt road irom Exeter to Wiiiton?" Says Bl