POEMS,

BY

DR GOLDSMITH.

VOL. II.

A.

PROLOGUE

WRITTEN AND SPOKEN BY THE

POET LABERIUS,

A ROMAN KNIGHT, WHOM CÆSAR FORCED UPON THE

STAGE.

PRESERVED BY MACROBIUS. *

WHAT! no way left to shun th' inglorious stage,
And save from infamy my sinking age!
Scarce half alive, oppress'd with many a year,
What in the name of dotage drives me here?
A time there was, when glory was my guide,
Nor force nor fraud could turn my steps aside;
Unaw'd by power, and unappall'd by fear,
With honest thrift I held my honour dear:
But this vile hour disperses all my store,
And all my hoard of honour is no more;
For ah! too partial to my life's decline,
Cæsar persuades, submission must be mine;
Him I obey, whom Heaven itself obeys,
Hopeless of pleasing, yet inclin'd to please.

This translation was first printed in one of our Author's earliest works, The Present State of Learning in Europe, 12mo. 1759; but was omitted in the second edition, which appeared in 1774.

Here then at once I welcome every shame, And cancel at threescore a life of fame; No more my titles shall my children tell, The old buffoon will fit my name as well; This day beyond its term my fate extends, For life is ended when our honour ends.

THE

DOUBLE TRANSFORMATION;

A TALE.*

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.

Such pleasures, unallay'd with care,
Could any accident impair?

Could Cupid's shaft at length transfix
Our swain, arriv'd 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.
So with decorum all things carried;

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

.

Need we expose to vulgar sight The raptures of the bridal night?

This and the following Poem were published by DR GOLDSMITH in his Volume of Essays, which appeared in 1765.