PART OF A PROLOGUE WRITTEN AND

SPOKEN BY THE POET LABERIUS,

A ROMAN KNIGHT, WHOM CAESAR

FORCED UPON THE STAGE.

PRESERVED BY MACROBIUS.1

HAT! no way left to shun th' inglorious stage,

And save from infamy my sinking age! Scarce half alive, oppress'd with many a year,

What in the name of dotage drives me here?
A time there was, when glory was my guide,
Nor force nor fraud could turn my steps aside;
Unaw'd by pow'r, and unappall'd by fear,
With honest thrift I held my honour dear:
But this vile hour disperses all my store,
And all my hoard of honour is no more.
For ah! too partial to my life's decline,

[1 First printed at pp. 176-7 of Goldsmith's Enquiry into the Present State of Polite Learning, 1759 (ch. xii.-' Of the Stage'). The original lines are to be found in the Saturnalia of Macrobius, lib. ii. cap. vii. ed. Zeunii, pp. 369-70.]

Caesar persuades, submission must be mine;
Him I obey, whom heaven itself obeys,
Hopeless of pleasing, yet inclin❜d to please.
Here then at once, I welcome every shame,
And cancel at threescore a life of fame;
No more my titles shall my children tell,
The old buffoon will fit my name as well ;
This day beyond its term my fate extends,
For life is ended when our honour ends.

ON A BEAUTIFUL YOUTH STRUCK

BLIND WITH LIGHTNING.1

(Imitated from the Spanish.)

URE 'twas by Providence design'd,
Rather in pity, than in hate,
That he should be, like Cupid, blind,
To save him from Narcissus' fate.

['First printed in The Bee, 6 October, 1759.]

THE GIFT.

TO IRIS, IN BOW-STREET, COVENT-GARDEN.'

AY, cruel IRIS, pretty rake,
Dear mercenary beauty,

What annual offering shall I make,
Expressive of my duty?

My heart, a victim to thine eyes,
Should I at once deliver,

Say, would the angry fair one prize
The gift, who slights the giver?

A bill, a jewel, watch, or toy,
My rivals give-and let 'em :
If gems, or gold, impart a joy,
I'll give them when I get 'em

I'll give-but not the full-blown rose,
Or rose-bud more in fashion;
Such short-liv'd offerings but disclose
A transitory passion.

[ First printed in The Bee, 13 October, 1759. It is an adaptation of some lines headed Etrene à Iris in Part iii. of the Ménagiana.]

I'll give thee something yet unpaid,

Not less sincere than civil:

I'll give thee-Ah! too charming maid, I'll give thee-To the Devil.

THE LOGICIANS REFUTED.

IN IMITATION OF DEAN SWIFT.1

OGICIANS have but ill defin'd
As rational the human kind;
Reason, they say, belongs to man,
But let them prove it if they can.

Wise Aristotle and Smiglecius,

By ratiocinations specious,

Have strove to prove with great precision,

With definition and division,

Homo est ratione praeditum,—

But for my soul I cannot credit 'em ;
And must in spite of them maintain,

That man and all his ways are vain;
And that this boasted lord of nature
Is both a weak and erring creature ;
That instinct is a surer guide

Than reason-boasting mortal's pride;
And that brute beasts are far before 'em
Deus est anima brutorum.

Who ever knew an honest brute

[1 First printed in The Busy Body, 18 October, 1759, with the heading :-"The following poem written by DR. SWIFT, is communicated to the Public by the Busy BODY, to whom it was presented by a Nobleman of distinguished Learning and Taste." But tradition, and the early editors, ascribe the lines to Goldsmith.]