Here, porter-this ven'son with me to Mile-End; No words, my dear Goldsmith-my friend-my dear friend!' Thus, snatching his hat, he brush'd off like the wind, And the porter and eatables follow'd behind. Left alone to reflect, having emptied my shelf, And nobody with me at sea but myself;"* Though I could not help thinking my gentleman hasty, Yet Johnson, and Burke, and a good ven❜son pasty, Were things that I never dislik'd in my life, Though clog'd with a coxcomb, and Kitty his wife. So next day, in due splendour to make my approach, I drove to his door in my own hackney-coach. When come to the place where we all were to dine, (A chair-lumber'd closet, just twelve feet by nine) My friend bade me welcome, but struck me quite [come; dumb With tidings that Johnson and Burke could not * See the letters that passed between his Royal Highness Henry Duke of Cumberland and Lady Grosvenor, in 1769. At the sides there were spinage and pudding made hot; In the middle, a place where the pasty-was not. rogue, With his long-winded speeches, his smiles, and his And, ‘Madam, (quoth he) may this bit be my poison If a prettier dinner I ever set eyes on; Pray a slice of your liver, though may I be curst, I could eat of this tripe seven days in a week: her?) [baker; That she came with some terrible news from the And so it fell out, for that negligent sloven And now, that I think on't, the story may stop. A relish a taste-sicken'd over by learning; RETALIATION. (FIRST PRINTED IN THE YEAR 1774.) Dr. Goldsmith and some of his friends occasionally dined at the St. James's Coffee-house. One day it was proposed to write epitaphs on him. His country, dialect, and person, furnished subjects of witticism. He was called on for Retaliation, and at their next meeting produced the following poem.] Or old, when Scarron his companions invited, Each guest brought his dish, and the feast was united. If our landlord* supplies us with beef and with fish, Let each guest bring himself, and he brings the best dish: The master of St. James's coffee-house, where the Doctor, and the friends he has characterized in this poem, occasionally dined. Our Dean* shall be ven'son, just fresh from the plains, [brains, Our Burket shall be tongue, with a garnish of Our Will shall be wild fowl, of excellent flavour, And Dicks with his pepper shall heighten the savour, Our Cumberland's sweetbread its place shall obtain, And Douglas¶ is pudding, substantial and plain: That Ridgeft is anchovy, and Reynolds‡‡ is lamb; * Dr. Bernard, Dean of Derry in Ireland. + Edmund Burke, Esq. the celebrated orator. Mr. William Burke, secretary to General Conway. § Mr. Richard Burke, collector of Grenada. Richard Cumberland, Esq. author of the West Indian, Fashionable Lover, The Brothers, and other dramatic pieces. ¶ Dr. Douglas, Canon of Windsor, and Bishop of Salisbury, an ག ingenious Scotch gentleman, who no less distinguished himself as a citizen of the world, than a sound critic, in detecting several literary forgeries of his countrymen; particularly Lauder on Milton, and Bower's History of the Popes. ** David Garrick, Esq. the Roscius of England. ++Counsellor John Ridge, a gentleman belonging to the Irish bar. #Sir Joshua Reynolds, President of the Royal Academy. §§ An eminent attorney. Then, with chaos and blunders encircling my head, Let me ponder, and tell what I think of the dead. Here lies the good Dean,,re-united to earth, Who mix'd reason with pleasure, and wisdom with mirth : If he had any faults, he has left us in doubt, At least, in six weeks I could not find them out; Yet some have declar'd, and it can't be denied 'em, That sly-boots was cursedly cunning to hide 'em. Here lies our good Edmund, whose genius was such, We scarcely can praise it, or blame it too much; Who, born for the universe, narrow'd his mind, And to party gave up what was meant for mankind: Though fraught with all learning, yet straining his [vote; throat To persuade Tommy Townshend to lend him a Who, too deep for his hearers, still went on refining, And thought of convincing, while they thought of dining; Though equal to all things, for all things unfit; Here lies honest William, whose heart was a mint, * Mr. T. Townshend, Member for Whitchurch: afterwards created Viscount Sydney. |