Of praise a mere glutton, he swallowed what came, Ye "Kenricks, ye 28 Kellys, and 29 Woodfalls so grave, To act as an angel, and mix with the skies. Those poets who owe their best fame to his skill, Shall still be his flatterers, go where he will; Old Shakespeare receive him with praise and with love, And Beaumonts and Bens be his Kellys above.3° 27 Vide page 132. 28 Mr. Hugh Kelly, author of "False Delicacy," "Word to the Wise," "Clementina," "School for Wives," &c., &c. 29 Mr. William Woodfall, printer of the Morning Chronicle. 30 The following poems, by Mr. Garrick, may in some measure account for the severity exercised by Dr. Goldsmith in respect to that gentleman : HERE, Hermes, says Jove, who with nectar was mellow, Be sure, as I work, to throw in contradictions; 31 Here Hickey reclines, a most blunt, pleasant creature, And slander itself must allow him good nature; He cherished his friend, and he relished a bumper; Here 32 Reynolds is laid, and, to tell you my mind, With the love of a wench, let his writings be chaste; For the joy of each sex, on the world I'll bestow it, ON DR. GOLDSMITH'S CHARACTERISTICAL COOKERY. ARE these the choice dishes the Doctor has sent us? Is this the great poet whose works so content us? This Goldsmith's fine feast who has written fine books? Heaven sends us good meat, but the devil sends cooks. 3 Vide page 129. 32 Vide page 129. His pencil was striking, resistless, and grand; His pencil our faces, his manners our heart. To coxcombs averse, yet most civilly steering; When they judged without skill, he was still hard of hearing; When they talked of their Raphaels, Correggios, and stuff, He shifted his 33 trumpet, and only took snuff. POSTSCRIPT. AFTER the fourth edition of this poem was printed, the publisher received the following epitaph on Mr. Whitefoord,34 from a friend of the late Dr. Goldsmith : HERE Whitefoord reclines, and deny it who can, 35 Though he merrily lived, he is now a grave man ; Rare compound of oddity, frolic, and fun! What pity, alas! that so liberal a mind Should so long be to newspaper esssays confined! 33 Sir Joshua Reynolds was so remarkably deaf as to be under the necessity of using an ear-trumpet in company. 34 Mr. Caleb Whitefoord, author of many humorous essays. 35 Mr. W. was so notorious a punster, that Dr. Goldsmith used to say it was impossible to keep him company, without being infected with the itch of punning. Who perhaps to the summit of science could soar, Ye newspaper witlings! ye pert scribbling folks! To deck it, bring with you festoons of the vine, Merry Whitefoord, farewell! for thy sake I admit 336 Thou best humoured man with the worst humoured 36 Mr. H. S. Woodfall, printer of the Public Advertiser. 37 Mr. Whitefoord has frequently indulged the town with humorous pieces under those titles in the Public Advertiser. On C. Whitefoord, see Smith's Life of Nollekens, vol. i. p. 338-340. See his poem to Sir Joshua Reynolds, "Admire not, dear knight," in Northcote's Life of Reynolds, p. 128. 38 When you and Southern, Moyle, and Congreve meet, The best good men, with the best natured wit." C. Hopkins. v. Nicholls' Col. Poems, ii. p. 207. Tobias Smollett. ODE то LEVEN-WATER. N Leven's banks, while free to rove, ΟΝ And tune the rural pipe to love, I envied not the happiest swain That ever trod the Arcadian plain. Pure stream, in whose transparent wave My youthful limbs I wont to lave; No torrents stain thy limpid source, No rocks impede thy dimpling course, That sweetly warbles o'er its bed, With white, round, polished pebbles spread; While, lightly poised, the scaly brood In myriads cleave thy crystal flood; The springing trout in speckled pride, The salmon, monarch of the tide; The ruthless pike, intent on war, The silver eel, and mottled par. Devolving from thy parent lake, A charming maze thy waters make, By bowers of birch, and groves of pine, And edges flowered with eglantine. Still on thy banks so gayly green, May numerous herds and flocks be seen: |