AN EPIGRAM. ADDRESSED TO THE GENTLEMEN REFLECTED ON IN THE ROSCIAD, A POEM, BY THE AUTHOR.1 Worried with debts, and past all hopes of bail, His pen he prostitutes t'avoid a gaol. ROSCOM. ET not the hungry Bavius'angry stroke voke But pitying his distress, let virtue shine, And giving each your bounty, let him dine. 2 [1 From Letter cx. of The Citizen of the World, 1762, ii. 193, first printed in The Public Ledger, 14th April, 1761. The epigram, however, had been printed in the Ledger for 4th April, and so was only revived in the letter of ten days later. It is one of Goldsmith's doubtful pieces, but his animosity to Churchill is unquestioned.] 2 Charity (Author's note). 3 Settled at one shilling, the price of the poem (Author's note). TO G. C. AND R. L.1 WAS you, or I, or he, or all together, 'Twas one, both, three of them, they know not whether; This, I believe, between us great or small, You, I, he, wrote it not-'twas Churchill's all. TRANSLATION OF A SOUTH AMERICAN ODE.2 IN all my Enna's beauties blest, For though she gives me up her breast, [1 From the same letter as the preceding epigram; but not a reprint. George Colman (G. C.), and Robert Lloyd (R. L.), were supposed to have assisted Churchill in the Rosciad, the "it" of the epigram.] [2 From Letter cxiii. of The Citizen of the World, 1762, ii. 209, first printed in The Public Ledger, 13th May, 1761.] THE DOUBLE TRANSFORMATION. A TALE.1 ECLUDED from domestic strife, He drank his glass and cracked his joke, Such pleasures unalloy'd with care, Miss frown'd, and blush'd, and then was-married. [1 First printed in Essays, by Mr. Goldsmith, 1765, p. 229. The version here followed is that of the second edition of 1766, which was revised.] Need we expose to vulgar sight The raptures of the bridal night? Need we intrude on hallow'd ground, Or draw the curtains clos'd around? Let it suffice, that each had charms; He clasp'd a goddess in his arms; And, though she felt his usage rough, Yet in a man 'twas well enough. The honey-r -moon like lightning flew, The second brought its transports too. A third, a fourth, were not amiss, The fifth was friendship mix'd with bliss: Skill'd in no other arts was she, But when at home, at board or bed, Five greasy nightcaps wrapp'd her head. To be a dull domestic friend? In short, by night, 'twas fits or fretting; By day, 'twas gadding or coquetting. The 'squire and captain took their stations, And twenty other near relations; Jack suck'd his pipe, and often broke A sigh in suffocating smoke; While all their hours were pass'd between Insulting repartee or spleen. Thus as her faults each day were known, He thinks her features coarser grown ; He fancies every vice she shows, Or thins her lip, or points her nose: Whenever rage or envy rise, How wide her mouth, how wild her eyes! He knows not how, but so it is, Her face is grown a knowing phiz; And, though her fops are wond'rous civil, He thinks her ugly as the devil. Now, to perplex the ravell'd noose, The glass, grown hateful to her sight, |