And Beaumonts and Bens be his Kellys above.# Here Hickey reclines, a most blunt pleasant creature, And slander itself must allow him good nature; Mr. Hugh Kelly, author of False Delicacy, Word to the Wise, Clementina, School for Wives, etc. etc. ↑ Mr. William Woodfall, printer of the Morning Chronicle. The following poems by Mr. Garrick, may in some mea sure account for the severity exercised by Dr. Goldsmith in respect to that gentleman. JUPITER AND MERCURY, A FABLE. Here Hermes, says Jove, who with nectar was mellow, Go fetch me some clay-I will make an odd fellow! Too courteous, perhaps, or obligingly flat? He has not left a wiser or better behind; When they talk'd of their Raphaels, Corregios, and stuff, He shifted his trumpet,* and only took snuff. POSTSCRIPT. After the fourth edition of this poem was printed, the pubfisher received the following Epitaph on Mr. Whitefoord, from a friend of the late Doctor Goldsmith. HERE Whitefoord reclines, and deny it who can, Though he merrily lived, he is now a grave man : Rare compound of oddity, frolic, and fun! Who relish'd a joke, and rejoiced in a pun; Whose temper was generous, open, sincere; A stranger to flatt'ry, a stranger to fear; Who scatter'd around wit and humour at will; Whose daily bons mots half a column might fill: A Scotchman, from pride and from prejudice free; A scholar, yet surely no pedant was he. What pity, alas! that so liberal a mind Should so long be to newspaper essays confined! Right and wrong shall be jumbled,—much gold and some Who perhaps to the summit of science could soar, dross; Without cause be he pleased, without cause be he cross; A great love of truth, yet a mind turn'd to fictions; This scholar, rake, Christian, dupe, gamester, and poet; ON DR. GOLDSMITH'S CHARACTERISTICAL COOKERY. A JEU D'ESPRIT. 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. Yet content "if the table he set in a roar;" Ye newspaper witlings! ye pert scribbling folks! Sir Joshua Reynolds was so remarkably deaf, as to be under the necessity of using an ear-trumpet in company. † Mr. Caleb Whitefoord, author of many humorous essays, 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. Mr. H. S. Woodfall, printer of the Public Advertiser. I Mr. Whitefoord has frequently indulged the town with ho morous pieces under those titles in the Public Advertiser, Merry Whitefoord, farewell! for thy sake I ad- There mangroves spread, and larger than I've seen mit That a Scot may have humour, I had almost said This debt to thy mem'ry I can not refuse, SONG: 'em [Pic Here trees of stately size-and billing turtles in 'em [Balconies Here ill-condition'd oranges abound [Staga And apples, bitter apples strew the ground: INTENDED TO HAVE BEEN SUNG IN THE COMEDY OF O, there the people are-best keep my distance: SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER.* АH me! when shall I marry me? Offers to love, but means to deceive me. Not a look, nor a smile shall my passion discover. She that gives all to the false one pursuing her, Makes but a penitent, and loses a lover. PROLOGUE TO ZOBEIDE; WRITTEN BY JOSEPH CRADDOCK, ESQ. ACTED AT THE Our captain, gentle natives! craves assistance; His honour is no mercenary trader. This is his first adventure, lend him aid, And we may chance to drive a thriving trade. Equally fit for gallantry and war. What, no reply to promises so ample? EPILOGUE, SPOKEN BY MR. LEE LEWES, IN THE CHARACTER OF sense: IN these bold times, when Learning's sons explore HOLD! Prompter, hold! a word before your non- I'd speak a word or two, to ease my conscience. My pride forbids it ever should be said, My heels eclipsed the honours of my head; That I found humour in a piebald vest, Or ever thought that jumping was a jest. [Takes off his mask. Whence, and what art thou, visionary birth? Nature disowns, and reason scorns thy mirth; In thy black aspect every passion sleeps, The joy that dimples, and the woe that weeps. Where are we driven? our reckoning sure is lost! How hast thou fill'd the scene with all thy brood This seems a rocky and a dangerous coast. Of fools pursuing, and of foole pursued! Lord, what a sultry climate am I under! Whose ins and outs no ray of sense discloses, Yon ill foreboding cloud seems big with thunder: Whose only plot it is to break our noses ; [Upper Gallery. Whilst from below the trap-door demons rise, And from above the dangling deities; SIR-I send you a small production of the late Dr. Gold- And shall I mix in this unhallow'd crew? smith, which tas never been published, and which might perhaps have been totally lost, had I not secured it. He intended May rosin'd lightning blast me if I do! it as a song in the character of Miss Hardcastle, in his admi- No—I will act, I'll vindicate the stage : "able comedy of "She Stoops to Conquer," but it was left out, Shakspeare himself shall feel my tragic rage. as Mrs. Bulkley, who played the part, did not sing. He sung Off! off! vile trappings! a new passion reigns! it himself in private companies very agreeably. The tune is a The madd'ning monarch revels in my veins. pretty Irish air, called "The Humours of Balamagairy," to which, he told me, he found it very difficult to adapt words; Oh! for a Richard's voice to catch the theme: but he has succeeded very happily in these few lines. As 1 Give me another horse! bind up my wounds!-could sing the tune, and was fond of them, he was so good as to give me them, about a year ago, just as I was leaving London, and bidding him adieu for that season, little apprehending that it was a last farewell. I preserve this little relic, in his own hand-writing, with an affectionate care. I am, Sir, your humble servant, soft-'twas but a dream. Ay, 'twas but a dream, for now there's no retreat- If I cease Harlequin, I cease from eating. Once on the margin of a fountain stood, They never have my gratitude nor thanks; Hoicks! hark forward! came thund'ring from behind, He bounds aloft, outstrips the fleeting wind: He quis the woods, and tries the beaten ways; [Taking a jump through the stage door. THE LOGICIANS REFUTED, Have strove to prove with great precision, Who ever knew an honest brute They eat their meals, and take their sport, They never to the levee go, No judges, fiddlers, dancing-masters, No pickpockets or poctasters, Are known to honest quadrupeds, No single brute his fellow leads. Brutes never meet in bloody fray Nor cut each other's throats for pay. Of beasts, it is confest, the ape Comes nearest us in human shape: Like man he imitates each fashion, And malice is his ruling passion; But both in malice and grimaces, A courtier any ape surpasses. Behold him humbly cringing wait Upon the minister of state; View him soon after to inferiors Aping the conduct of superiors: He promises with equal air, And to perform takes equal care. He in his turn finds imitators: At court, the porters, lacqueys, waiters, Their masters' manners still contract, And footmen, lords, and dukes can act. Thus at the court, both great and small Behave alike, for all ape all. THE GOOD-NATURED A Comedy; AS PERFORMED AT THE THEATRE-ROYAL, COVENT GARDEN WRITTEN BY DR. JOHNSON, AND SPOKEN BY MR. BENSLEY. Like Cæsar's pilot, dignified by fate, WHEN I undertook to write a comedy, I confess I was strongly prepossessed in favour of the poets of the last age, and strove to imitate them. The term, genteel comedy, was then unknown amongst us, and little more was desired by an audience, than nature and humour, in whatever walks of life PREST by the load of life, the weary mind they were most conspicuous. The author of the Surveys the general toil of human kind; following scenes never imagined that more would be With cool submission joins the lab'ring train, expected of him, and therefore to delineate charac-And social sorrow loses half its pain; ter has been his principal aim. Those who know Our anxious bard without complaint, may share any thing of composition, are sensible that, în pur-This bustling season's epidemic care, suing humour, it will sometimes lead us into the recesses of the mean; I was even tempted to look Tost in one common storm with all the great; for it in the master of a spunging-house; but in Distrest alike, the statesman and the wit, deference to the public taste, grown of late, per- When one a borough courts, and one the pit. haps, too delicate, the scene of the bailiffs was re- The busy candidates for power and fame trenched in the representation. In deference also Have hopes and fears, and wishes, just the same; to the judgment of a few friends, who think in a Disabled both to combat or to fly, particular way, the scene is here restored. The Must bear all taunts, and hear without reply. author submits it to the reader in his closet; and Uncheck'd, on both loud rabbles vent their rage, hopes that too much refinement will not banish hu-As mongrels bay the lion in a cage. mour and character from ours, as it has already Th' offended burgess holds his angry tale, done from the French theatre. Indeed, the French For that blest year when all that vote may rail; comedy is now become so very elevated and senti-Their schemes of spite the poet's foes dismiss, mental, that it has not only banished humour and Moliere from the stage, but it has banished all spectators too. Upon the whole, the author returns his thanks to the public for the favourable reception which "The Good-Natured Man" has met with; and to Mr. Colman in particular, for his kindness to it. It may not also be improper to assure any, who shall hereafter write for the theatre, that merit, or supposed merit, will ever be a sufficient passport to his protection. Till that glad night, when all that hate may hiss. DRAMATIS PERSONE. MR. POWELL. MR. SHUTER. has only served to spoil him. This same philosophy is a good horse in the stable, but an arrant jade on a journey. For my own part, whenever I hear him mention the name on't, I'm always sure he's going to play the fool. Sir William. Don't let us ascribe his faults to MR. WOODWARD. his philosophy, I entreat you. No, Jarvis, his good-nature arises rather from his fears of offending the importunate, than his desire of making the de MR. CLARKE. MR. BENSLEY. Jarvis. What it arises from, I don't know. But to be sure, every body has it, that asks it. MR. DUNSTALL.serving happy. MRS. BULKLey. MRS. PITT. MRS. GREEN. MRS. WHITE. GARNET Scene-London. THE GOOD-NATURED MAN. ACT I. Sir William. Ay, or that does not ask it. I have been now for some time a concealed spectator of his follies, and find them as boundless as his dissipation. Jarvis. And yet, faith, he has some fine name or other for them all. He calls his extravagance, generosity; and his trusting every body, universal benevolence. It was but last week he went security for a fellow whose face he scarce knew, and that he called an act of exalted mu-mu-munificence; ay, that was the name he gave it. Sir William. And upon that I proceed, as my last effort, though with very little hopes to reclaim him. That very fellow has just absconded, and I have taken up the security. Now, my intention is to involve him in fictitious distress, before he has SCENE-AN APARTMENT IN YOUNG HONEYWOOD's plunged himself into real calamity: to arrest him for HOUSE. Enter SIR WILLIAM HONEYWOOD, JARVIS. Sir William. Good Jarvis, make no apologies for this honest bluntness. Fidelity, like yours, is the best excuse for every freedom. that very debt, to clap an officer upon him, and then let him see which of his friends will come to his relief. Jarvis. Well, if I could but any way see him thoroughly vexed, every groan of his would be music to me; yet faith, I believe it impossible. I have tried to fret him myself every morning these three years; but instead of being angry, he sits as calmly to hear me scold, as he does to his hair-dresser. Sir William. We must try him once more, Jarvis. I can't help being blunt, and being very angry too, when I hear you talk of disinheriting so good, so worthy a young gentleman as your nephew, my master. All the world loves him. Sir William. Say rather, that he loves all the however, and I'll go this instant to put my scheme world; that is his fault. Jarvis. I am sure there is no part of it more dear to him than you are, though he has not seen you since he was a child. Sir William. What signifies his affection to me; or how can I be proud of a place in a heart, where every sharper and coxcomb finds an easy entrance? into execution: and I don't despair of succeeding, as, by your means, I can have frequent opportunities of being about him without being known. What a pity it is, Jarvis, that any man's good-will to others should produce so much neglect of himself, as to require correction! Yet we must touch his weaknesses with a delicate hand. There are some faults so nearly allied to excellence, that we Jarvis. I grant you that he is rather too good-can scarce weed out the vice without eradicating natured; that he's too much every man's inan; that the virtue. [Exit. he laughs this minute with one, and cries the next Jarvis. Well, go thy ways, Sir William Howith another; but whose instructions may he thank neywood. It is not without reason, that the world for all this? allows thee to be the best of men. But here comes Sir William. Not mine, sure? My letters to his hopeful nephew; the strange, good-natured, him during my employment in Italy, taught him foolish, open-hearted-And yet, all his faults are only that philosophy which might prevent, not de- such that one loves him still the better for them. fend his errors. Enter HONEYWOOD. Jarvis. Faith, begging your honour's pardon, Honeywood. Well, Jarvis, what messages t I'm sorry they taught him any philosophy at all; it my friends this morning? |