There, in a lonely room, from bailiffs snug,
The Muse found Scroggen stretch'd beneath a rug;
A window, patch'd with paper, lent a ray,
That dimly shew'd the state in which he lay ;
The sanded floor that grits beneath the tread;
The humid wall with paltry pictures spread :
The royal Game of Goose was there in view,
And the Twelve Rules the royal martyr drew;(1)
The Seasons, fram'd with listing, found a place,
And brave Prince William shew'd his lamp-black face.
The morn was cold, he views with keen desire

The rusty grate unconscious of a fire:

With beer and milk arrears (3) the frieze was scor'd,
And five crack'd tea-cups dress'd the chimney board;
A night-cap deck'd his brows instead of bay,
A cap by night-a stocking all the day!

(1) [Viz. 1." Urge no healths; 2. Profane no divine ordinances; 3. Touch no state matters; 4. Reveal no secrets; 5. Pick no quarrels; 6. Make no comparisons; 7. Maintain no ill opinions; 8. Keep no bad company; 9. Encourage no vice; 10. Make no long meals; 11. Repeat no grievances; 12. Lay no wagers."]

(2) ["And now imagine, after his soliloquy, the landlord to make his appearance, in order to dun him for the reckoning:

"Not with that face, so servile and so gay,

That welcomes every stranger that can pay,
With sulky eye he smoaked the patient man,

Then pulled his breeches tight, and thus began, &c."

All this is taken, you see, from nature. It is a good remark of Montaigne's, that the wisest men often have friends, with whom they do not care how much they play the fool. Take my present follies as instances of regard. Poetry is a much easier, and more agreeable species of composition than prose, and could a man live by it, it were not unpleasant employment to be a poet."-Letter to his Brother. See Life, ch. viii.]

SONG. (1)

O memory! thou fond deceiver,
Still importunate and vain,
To former joys recurring ever,

And turning all the past to pain:

Thou, like the world, the opprest oppressing,
Thy smiles increase the wretch's woe;
And he who wants each other blessing,
In thee must ever find a foe. (2)

SONG.

The wretch condemn'd with life to part,

Still, still on Hope relies ;

And every pang that rends the heart,

Bids expectation rise.(4)

(1) [From the oratorio of the Captivity, written in 1764. See p. 82, in

the present volume, and Life, ch. xiv.]

(2) [In the original MS., in the possession of Mr. Murray :

"Hence, deceiver! most distressing,

Seek the happy and the free;

They who want each other blessing,

Ever want a friend in thee."]

(3) [Also from the oratorio of the Captivity. See p. 87.]

(4) [Originally

"Fatigued with life, yet loth to part,

On Hope the wretch relies;

And every blow that sinks the heart

Bids the deluder rise.

Hope, like the taper's gleaming light,
Adorns the wretch's way," &c.]

In Mr. Murray's MS. the stanza runs thus:

"To the last moment of his breath,
On Hope the wretch relies;
And e'en the pang preceding death
Bids expectation rise.

"Hope, like the gleaming taper's light,

Adorns and cheers our way, &c."]

:

Hope, like the glimmering taper's light,
Adorns and cheers the way;

And still, as darker grows the night,
Emits a brighter ray.

THE DOUBLE TRANSFORMATION.

A TALE.(1)

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 crack'd his joke,
And freshmen wonder'd as he spoke.(2)

Such pleasures, unalloy'd with care,
Could any accident impair?
Could Cupid's shaft at length transfix
Our swain, arrived 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 exclamations cease,

Her presence banish'd all his peace. (3)

(1) [Printed in the volume of Essays which appeared in 1765.]
(2) Here followed, in the first edition :

"Without politeness, aim'd at breeding,
And laugh'd at pedantry and reading."]

(3) [Here followed in the first edition:

"Our alter'd parson now began

To be a perfect lady's man;

Made

So with decorum all things carry'd ;

Miss frown'd and blush'd, and then was-married.

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, (1)
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.

Made sonnets, lisp'd his sermons o'er,
And told the tales oft told before;
Of bailiffs pump'd and proctors bit;
At college how he show'd his wit;
And as the fair one still approv'd
He fell in love-or thought it love,
So, &c."

The allusion to the "bailiffs pump'd" applies to an incident in the Poet's own college

career. See Life, ch. iii.]

(1) [" And though she felt his visage rough." Orig.-]

"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 night-caps 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 (1)
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; (2)

While all their hours were pass'd 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 nooze, As each a different way pursues,

(1) ["Now tawdry madam kept a bevy."Orig.-] (2) ["She in her turn became perplexing,

And found substantial bliss in vexing."-Ib.]