Oft 1 complained the time was slow, The barbed arrow left the wound; For quicker e'en than sense or thought, And I beheld with ravish'd eyes Delight o'er fields and meads to stray, That now my thoughts with ease can flow; If any joy I shall perceive, To thee my thanks for all is due. CXLIII. Lithiasis longum miseros cruciaverit artus, Non huic sufficiunt, præsens quos protulit ætas, CXLIV. UTERE QUÆSITIS SAPIENS. Cottilus auratos libros emit, ac timet uti, CXLV. ALIUSQUE ET IDEM. There goes a tale not very old, "Twas but in Anna's reign, Which some folks think might now be told With better grace again. Soon as the Queen a change had made A cunning wight in masquerade, Resolv'd to shew his wit. A party-colored vest he wore, Pick'd out of many a pack; His breast with knaves was cover'd o'er, And knaves bespread his back. His friends admire the odd disguise, And beg him to explain, To whom the merry blade replies, Survey our change with caution due, And those behind are old. CXLVI. THE FATE OF GENIUS. Homer was a beggar. Plautus turned a mill: Boethius died in gaol. Paul Borghese had fourteen trades and yet starved with them all. Tasso was often distressed for the value of five shillings. Bentivoglio was refused admittance into an hospital which he had himself erected. Cervantes died of hunger. Camoens (the celebrated author of "The Lusiad") ended his days in an alms-house. Vaugelas left his body to the surgeons to pay his debts as far as it would go. Sir Walter Raleigh died on a scaffold. Spenser, ("the charming Spencer") died forsaken and in want. Collins's death came through neglect, first causing mental derangement. Bacon lived a life of meanness and distress. Milton sold his copyright of "Paradise Lost" for fifteen pounds at three payments, and finished his life in obscurity. Dryden lived in poverty and died in distress. Otway died prematurely and through hunger. Steele lived a life of perfect warfare with the bailiffs. Goldsmith's "Vicar of Wakefield" was sold for a trifle to save him from the gripe of the law. Fielding lies in the burying ground of the English Factory at Lisbon without a stone to mark the spot. Savage died in prison at Bristol where he was confined for a debt of eight pounds. Butler lived in penury and died poor. Chatterton "the child of genius and misfortune" destroyed himself, and lies in the church-yard of a work-house. Dean Swift died in a lunatic asylum which he had himself erected. CXLVII. SATAN'S VISIT TO BIRMINGHAM. In his breakfast-room, as the Devil one morn A journey of pleasure to-day : I have but little to do at home, And that may be left undone, So I'll go and no matter wheree'er I roam I've travelled here, and I've travelled there, I have mever to Birmingham been. So I'll go and see if the climate there I'm quite aware that I need not go, To see how my work gets on, For I've plenty of staunch friends there I know- |