tleman's Magazine, vol. lxviii. GALILEO, and his history, are too well known to require a note in this place.

The VANE, who told, "what ills from beauty spring," was not Lady Vane, the subject of Smollett's memoirs, in Peregrine Pickle, but, according to Mr. Malone, she was Anne Vane, mistress to Frederick prince of Wales, and died in 1736, not long before Johnson settled in London. Some account of her was published, under the title of the Secret History of Vanella, 8vo. 1732, and in other similar works, referred to in Boswell, i. 173. In Mr. Boswell's Tour to the Hebrides, we find lord Hailes objecting to the instances of unfortunate beauties selected by Johnson, and suggesting, in place of Vane and Sedley, the names of Shore and Valière.

CATHERINE SEDLEY was daughter of sir Charles Sedley, mistress of king James the second, who created her countess of Dorchester. She was a woman of a sprightly and agreeable wit, which could charm without the aid of beauty, and longer maintain its power. She had been the king's mistress before he ascended the throne, and soon after (January 2, 1685-6) was created countess of Dorchester. Sir C. Sedley, her father, looked on this title, as a splendid indignity, purchased at the expense of his daughter's honour; and when he was very active against the king, about the time of the revolution, he said, that, in gratitude, he should do his utmost to make his majesty's daughter a queen, as the king had made his own a countess. The king continued to visit her, which gave great uneasiness to the queen, who employed her friends, particularly the priests, to persuade him to break off the correspondence. They remonstrated with him on the guilt of the commerce, and the reproach it would bring on the catholic religion; she, on the contrary, employed the whole force of her ridicule against the priests and their counsels. They, at length, prevailed, and he is said to have sent her word to retire to France, or that her pension of 4,000l. a year should be withdrawn. She then, probably, repented of having been the royal mistress, and "cursed the form that pleased the king."

See Manning and Bray's Surrey, ii. 788. where the countess's issue is also given. See, also, Christian's note on Blackstone's Com. iv. p. 65. It is remarkable, that when Johnson was asked, at a late period of his life, to whom he had alluded, under the name of Sedley, he said, that he had quite forgotten. See note on Idler, No. 36.-ED.

LONDON; A POEM:

IN IMITATION OF

THE THIRD SATIRE OF JUVENAL.

WRITTEN IN 1738.

-Quis ineptæ

Tam patiens urbis, tam ferreus ut teneat se ? Juv.

THOUGH grief and fondness in my breast rebel,
When injur'd Thales bids the town farewell,
Yet still my calmer thoughts his choice commend,
I praise the hermit, but regret the friend;
Resolv'd at length, from vice and London far,
To breathe, in distant fields, a purer air,
And, fix'd on Cambria's solitary shore,
Give to St. David one true Briton more.

For who would leave, unbrib'd, Hibernia's land,
Or change the rocks of Scotland for the Strand?
There none are swept by sudden fate away,
But all, whom hunger spares, with age decay:
Here malice, rapine, accident, conspire,
And now a rabble rages, now a fire;

Their ambush here relentless ruffians lay,
And here the fell attorney prowls for prey;

VOL. I.

JUV. SAT. III.

a Quamvis digressu veteris confusus amici, Laudo, tamen, vacuis quod sedem figere Cumis Destinet atque unum civem donare Sibyllæ.

b-Ego vel Prochytam præpono Suburæ.

Nam quid tam miserum, tam solum vidimus, ut non
Deterius credas horrere incendia, l'apsus
Tectorum assiduos, ac mille pericula sævæ
Urbis et Augusto recitantes mense poetas?

Here falling houses thunder on your head,

And here a female atheist talks you dead.

c

While Thales waits the wherry, that contains
Of dissipated wealth the small remains,

On Thames's banks, in silent thought, we stood
Where Greenwich smiles upon the silver flood;
Struck with the seat that gave Eliza* birth,
We kneel, and kiss the consecrated earth;
In pleasing dreams the blissful age renew,
And call Britannia's glories back to view;
Behold her cross triumphant on the main,
The guard of commerce, and the dread of Spain,
Ere masquerades debauch'd, excise oppress'd
Or English honour grew a standing jest.

A transient calm the happy scenes bestow,
And, for a moment, lull the sense of woe.
At length awaking, with contemptuous frown,
Indignant Thales eyes the neighb'ring town.

d Since worth, he cries, in these degen'rate days,
Wants ev'n the cheap reward of empty praise;
In those curs'd walls, devote to vice and gain,
Since unrewarded science toils in vain ;
Since hope but sooths to double my distress,
And ev'ry moment leaves my little less;
While yet my steady steps no staff sustains,
And life, still vig'rous, revels in my veins;
Grant me, kind heaven, to find some happier place,
Where honesty and sense are no disgrace;

c Sed dum tota domus reda componitur una,

Substitit ad veteres arcus

d Hic tunc Umbricius; Quando artibus, inquit, honestis

Nullus in urbe locus, nulla emolumenta laborum,

Res hodie minor est, here quam fuit, atque eadem cras

Deteret exiguis aliquid: proponimus illuc

Ire, fatigatas ubi Dædalus exuit alas,

Dum nova canities,

Porto meis, nullo dextram subeunte bacillo.

* Queen Elizabeth, born at Greenwich.

Some pleasing bank where verdant osiers play,
Some peaceful vale, with nature's paintings gay;
Where once the harass'd Briton found repose,
And, safe in poverty, defied his foes;

Some secret cell, ye pow'rs, indulgent give,
'Letlive here, for- -has learn'd to live.
Here let those reign, whom pensions can incite
To vote a patriot black, a courtier white;
Explain their country's dear-bought rights away,
And plead for *pirates in the face of day;
With slavish tenets taint our poison'd youth,
And lend a lie the confidence of truth.

Let such raise palaces, and manors buy,
Collect a tax, or farm a lottery;

With warbling eunuchs fill a + licens'd stage,
And lull to servitude a thoughtless age.

Heroes, proceed! what bounds your pride shall hold,
What check restrain your thirst of pow'r and gold?
Behold rebellious virtue quite o'erthrown,
Behold our fame, our wealth, our lives, your own.

To such the plunder of a land is giv'n,

When publick crimes inflame the wrath of heaven:
But what, my friend, what hope remains for me,
Who start at theft, and blush at perjury?
Who scarce forbear, though Britain's court he sing,
To pluck a titled poet's borrow'd wing;
A statesman's logick unconvinc'd can hear,
And dare to slumber o'er the § Gazetteer;

' Cedamus patria: vivant Artorius istic

Et Catulus: maneant, qui nigrum in candida vertunt.
Queis facile est ædem conducere, flumina, portus,
Siccandam eluviem, portandum ad busta cadaver,-
Munera nunc edunt.

b Quid Romæ faciam? Mentiri nescio librum,

Si malus est, nequeo laudare et poscere :

The invasions of the Spaniards were defended in the houses of parliament.

+ The licensing act was then lately made.

Our silenc'd.

§ The paper which, at that time, contained apologies for the court.