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To be plain, my good lord, it's but labour misplac'd,

To send such good verses to one of your taste: You've got an odd something-a kind of discern

ing

A relish a taste-sicken'd over by learning;

At least it's your temper, as very well known,
That you think very slightly of all that's

your own: So, perhaps, in your habits of thinking amiss,

You may make a mistake, and think slightly of this.

RETALIATION.

A POEM.

FIRST PRINTED IN THE YEAR 1774,

AFTER THE AUTHOR'S DEATH.

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.

RETALIATION.

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:

Our dean shall be venison, just fresh from the

plains,

Our Burke shall be tongue, with the garnish of

brains,

Our Will shall be wild fowl, of excellent flavour, And Dick with his pepper shall heighten the sa

vour:

The master of St. James's coffee-house, where the Doctor, and the friends he has characterised in this poem, occasionally dined.

* Dr. Bernard, dean of Derry in Ireland.

3 Mr. Edmund Burke.

4 Mr. William Burke, late secretary to General Conway, and

member for Bedwin.

5 Mr. Richard Burke, collector of Grenada.

Our Cumberland's sweet-bread its place shall ob

tain,

And Douglas is pudding, substantial and plain:
Our Garrick's3 a salad; for in him we see
Oil, vinegar, sugar, and saltness agree:
To make out the dinner full certain I am,
That Ridge' is anchovy, and Reynolds is lamb;
That Hickey's a capon, and, by the same rule,
Magnanimous Goldsmith, a gooseberry fool.
At a dinner so various, at such a repast,

5

Who'd not be a glutton, and stick to the last?
Here, waiter, more wine, let me sit while I'm able,
Till all my companions sink under the table;

1 Mr. Richard Cumberland, author of the West Indian, Fashionable Lover, The Brothers, and other dramatic pieces.

T

Dr. Douglas, canon of Windsor, an ingenious Scotch gentleman, who has no less distinguished himself as a citizen of the world, than a sound critic, in detecting several literary mistakes (or rather forgeries) of his countrymen; particularly Lauder on Milton, and Bower's History of the Popes.

3 David Garrick, Esq.

♦ Counsellor John Ridge, a gentleman belonging to the Irish bar.

5 Sir Joshua Reynolds.

6 An eminent attorney.

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