In gay hostility, and barb'rous pride,

With half mankind embattled at his side,
Great Xerxes 1 comes to seize the certain prey,
And starves exhausted regions in his way.
Attendant flatt'ry counts his myriads o'er,
Till counted myriads soothe his pride no more.
Fresh praise is try'd, till madness fires his mind,
The waves he lashes, and enchains the wind;
New pow'rs are claim'd, new pow'rs are still
bestow'd,

Till rude resistance lops the spreading god;
The daring Greeks deride the martial show,
And heap their valleys with the gaudy foe.
Th' insulted sea with humbler thoughts he gains,
A single skiff to speed his flight remains;

Th' encumber'd oar scarce leaves the dreaded coast

Thro' purple billows and a floating host.

The bold Bavarian,2 in a luckless hour, Tries the dread summits of Cæsarean pow'r ; With unexpected legions bursts away,

And sees defenceless realms receive his sway. Short sway! fair Austria spreads her mournful charms,

The queen, the beauty, sets the world in arms;
From hill to hill the beacon's rousing blaze
Spreads wide the hope of plunder and of praise;
The fierce Croatian, and the wild Hussar,
With all the sons of ravage, crowd the war :
The baffled prince, in honour's flatt'ring bloom
Of hasty greatness, finds the fatal doom;

1 This example Johnson takes over from Juvenal.

Charles Albert, Elector of Bavaria, was proclaimed Emperor in 1742. By her famous appeal to the Hungarian Diet Maria Theresa ("fair Austria ") rallied the Magyars to her support, and with their aid she won back her

crown.

Charles died broken-hearted in 1745.

His foes' derision and his subjects' blame,
And steals to death from anguish and from shame,
Enlarge my life with multitude of days!"
In health, in sickness, thus the suppliant prays :
Hides from himself his state, and shuns to know
That life protracted is protracted woe.
Time hovers o'er, impatient to destroy,
And shuts up all the passages of joy :

In vain their gifts the bounteous seasons pour,
The fruit autumnal, and the vernal flow'r ;
With listless eyes the dotard views the store,
He views, and wonders that they please no

more;

Now pall the tasteless meats and joyless wines, And Luxury with sighs her slave resigns. Approach, ye minstrels, try the soothing strain, Diffuse the tuneful lenitives of pain:

No sounds, alas! would touch th' impervious ear, Though dancing mountains witness'd Orpheus

near;

Nor lute nor lyre his feeble pow'rs attend,
Nor sweeter music of a virtuous friend;
But everlasting dictates crowd his tongue,
Perversely grave, or positively wrong;
The still returning tale, and ling'ring jest,
Perplex the fawning niece and pamper'd guest,
While growing hopes scarce awe the gath'ring

sneer,

And scarce a legacy can bribe to hear :

The watchful guests still hint the last offence,
The daughter's petulance, the son's expense,
Improve his heady rage with treach'rous skill,
And mould his passions till they make his will.
Unnumber'd maladies his joints invade,
Lay siege to life, and press the dire blockade ;

But unextinguish'd avʼrice still remains,

And dreaded losses aggravate his pains:

He turns, with anxious heart and crippled hands,
His bonds of debt, and mortgages of lands;
Or views his coffers with suspicious eyes,
Unlocks his gold, and counts it till he dies.

But grant, the virtues of a temp’rate prime
Bless with an age exempt from scorn or crime;
An age that melts with unperceiv'd decay,
And glides in modest innocence away;
Whose peaceful day benevolence endears,
Whose night congratulating conscience cheers;
The gen'ral fav'rite, as the gen'ral friend :
Such age there is, and who shall wish its end? 1
Yet ev'n on this her load Misfortune flings,
To press the weary minutes' flagging wings;
New sorrow rises as the day returns,
A sister sickens, or a daughter mourns.
Now kindred merit fills the sable bier,
Now lacerated friendship claims a tear.
Year chases year, decay pursues decay,
Still drops some joy from with'ring life away;
New forms arise, and diff'rent views engage,
Superfluous lags the vet'ran on the stage,
Till pitying Nature signs the last release,
And bids afflicted worth retire to peace.

But few there are whom hours like these await,
Who set unclouded in the gulfs of fate.
From Lydia's monarch 2 should the search
descend,

By Solon caution'd to regard his end,

In life's last scene what prodigies surprise,
Fears of the brave, and follies of the wise !

This passage refers to Johnson's mother. • Croesus.

From Marlb'rough's eyes the streams of dotage flow,

And Swift expires a driv'ler and a show.

The teeming mother, anxious for her race,
Begs for each birth the fortune of a face;
Yet Vane1 could tell what ills from beauty spring,
And Sedley 2 curs'd the form that pleas'd a king.
Ye nymphs of rosy lips and radiant eyes,
Whom pleasure keeps too busy to be wise,
Whom joys with soft varieties invite,
By day the frolic, and the dance by night;
Who frown with vanity, who smile with art,
And ask the latest fashion of the heart;

What care, what rules, your heedless charms shall

save,

Each nymph your rival, and each youth your
slave?

Against your fame with fondness hate combines,
The rival batters, and the lover mines.
With distant voice neglected Virtue cails,
Less heard, and less, the faint remonstrance falls ;
Tir'd with contempt, she quits the slipp'ry reign,
And Pride and Prudence take her seat in vain.
In crowd at once, where none the pass defend,
The harmless freedom, and the private friend :
The guardians yield, by force superior ply'd,
To Int'rest, Prudence; and to Flatt'ry, Pride.
Here beauty falls, betray'd, despis'd, distress'd,
And hissing Infamy proclaims the rest.

Where then shall hope and fear their objects
find?

Must dull suspense corrupt the stagnant mind ?

1 Probably Anne Vane, mistress of Frederick, Prince of Wales. She died in 1736.

* Catherine, daughter of Sir Charles Sedley, and mistress of James II, by whom she was created Countess of Dorset.

Must helpless man, in ignorance sedate,
Roll darkling down the torrent of his fate ?
Must no dislike alarm, no wishes rise,

No cries invoke the mercies of the skies?
Inquirer, cease: petitions yet remain,

Which Heav'n may hear: nor deem religion vain.
Still raise for good the supplicating voice,

But leave to Heav'n the measure and the choice.
Safe in his pow'r, whose eyes discern afar
The secret ambush of a specious pray'r,
Implore his aid, in his decisions rest,
Secure, whate'er he gives, he gives the best.
Yet when the sense of sacred presence fires,
And strong devotion to the skies aspires,
Pour forth thy fervours for a healthful mind,1
Obedient passions, and a will resign'd;
For love, which scarce collective man can fill ;
For patience, sov'reign o'er transmuted ill;
For faith, that, panting for a happier seat,
Counts death kind Nature's signal of retreat.
These goods for man the laws of Heav'n ordain,
These goods he grants, who grants the pow'r tó

gain;

With these celestial Wisdom calms the mind,
And makes the happiness she does not find.

T

IV

AKING advantage
reputation which

noti

to of passivim

of the enhanced
"The Vanity of

Human Wishes " had secured for him, Johnson, in the March of the following year, began the issue of a bi-weekly periodical

This line gains greatly in significance when we remember Johnson's lifelong dread of insanity.