"Twas joy and endless blisses all around,
And rocks forgot their hardness at the sound.
Then first, at last even Jove was taken in,
And felt her charms, without disguise, within.

OF THE DEATH OF THE RIGHT
HON. * * *1

YE muses, pour the pitying tear
For Pollio snatch'd away;
O! had he liv'd another year!
He had not died to-day.

O! were he born to bless mankind
In virtuous times of yore,
Heroes themselves had fallen behind
Whene'er he went before.

How sad the groves and plains appear,
And sympathetic sheep;
Even pitying hills would drop a tear
If hills could learn to weep.

His bounty in exalted strain
Each bard might well display:
Since none implor'd relief in vain
That went reliev'd away.

And hark! I hear the tuneful throng
His obsequies forbid,

He still shall live, shall live as long
As ever dead man did.

[From Letter ciii. of The Citizen of the World, 1762, ii. 164, first printed in The Public Ledger, 4th March, 1761. The verses are given as "a specimen of a poem on the decease of a great man.' Cf. the Elegy on Mrs. Mary Blaize, p. 57.]

"

AN EPIGRAM

ADDRESSED TO THE GENTLEMEN REFLECTED ON IN THE

ROSCIAD, A POEM, BY THE AUTHOR 1

LET not the hungry Bavius' angry stroke
Awake resentment, or your rage provoke-
But pitying his distress, let virtue 2 shine,
And giving each your bounty, let him dine.
For thus retain'd, as learned counsel can,
Each case, however bad, he'll new japan;
And by a quick transition, plainly show
"Twas no defect of yours, but pocket low,
That caus'd his putrid kennel to o'erflow.

TO G. C. AND R. L.4

'Twas 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.

[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 notorious.]

[Charity (Author's note).]

Settled at one shilling, the price of the poem (Author's note).] [From the same letter as the preceding epigram. George Colman (G. C.) and Robert Lloyd (R. L.) were supposed to have assisted Churchill in the Rosciad, the "it" of the epigram.]

TRANSLATION OF A SOUTH AMERICAN

ODE 1

In all my Enna's beauties blest,
Amidst profusion still I pine;
For though she gives me up her breast,
Its panting tenant is not mine.

THE DOUBLE TRANSFORMATION

A TALE 2

SECLUDED from domestic strife,
Jack Book-worm led a college life;
A fellowship at twenty-five
Made him the happiest man alive;
He drank his glass and cracked his joke,
And Freshmen wondered as he spoke.

Such pleasures unalloy'd with care,
Could any accident impair?
Could Cupid's shaft at length transfix
Our swain, arriv'd at thirty-six ?
O had the archer ne'er come down
To ravage in a country town!
Or Flavia been content to stop
At triumphs in a Fleet-street shop.
O had her eyes forgot to blaze!
Or Jack had wanted eyes to gaze.
O!But let exclamation cease,
Her presence banish'd all his peace.
So with decorum all things carried;
Miss frown'd, and blushed, and then was-married.

[From Letter cxiii. of The Citizen of the World, 1762, ii. 209, first printed in The Public Ledger, 13th May, 1762.]

[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-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 : But, when a twelvemonth pass'd away, Jack found his goddess made of clay; Found half the charms that deck'd her face Arose from powder, shreds, or lace; But still the worst remain'd behind, That very face had robb'd her mind.

Skill'd in no other arts was she, But dressing, patching, repartee; And, just as humour rose or fell, By turns a slattern or a belle; 'Tis true she dress'd with modern grace, Half naked at a ball or race; But when at home, at board or bed, Five greasy nightcaps wrapp'd her head. Could so much beauty condescend To be a dull domestic friend? Could any curtain-lectures bring To decency so fine a thing? In short, by night, 'twas fits or fretting; By day, 'twas gadding or coquetting. Fond to be seen, she kept a bevy Of powder'd coxcombs at her levy; 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 passed 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,
As each a different way pursues,
While sullen or loquacious strife,
Promis'd to hold them on for life,
That dire disease, whose ruthless power
Withers the beauty's transient flower:
Lo! the small-pox, whose horrid glare
Levell'd its terrors at the fair:
And, rifling ev'ry youthful grace,
Left but the remnant of a face.

7

The glass, grown hateful to her sight,
Reflected now a perfect fright:
Each former art she vainly tries
To bring back lustre to her eyes.
In vain she tries her paste and creams,
To smooth her skin, or hide its seams;
Her country beaux and city cousins,
Lovers no more, flew off by dozens :
The 'squire himself was seen to yield,
And even the captain quit the field.

Poor Madam, now condemn'd to hack
The rest of life with anxious Jack,
Perceiving others fairly flown,
Attempted pleasing him alone.
Jack soon was dazzl'd to behold
Her present face surpass the old;