The Project Gutenberg EBook of Poetical Works of Johnson, Parnell, Gray, and Smollett, by Samuel Johnson, Thomas Parnell, Thomas Gray, and Tobias Smollett

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Title: Poetical Works of Johnson, Parnell, Gray, and Smollett With Memoirs, Critical Dissertations, and Explanatory Notes

Author: Samuel Johnson, Thomas Parnell, Thomas Gray, and Tobias Smollett

Release Date: February 24, 2004 [EBook #11254]

Language: English

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THE

POETICAL WORKS

OF

JOHNSON, PARNELL, GRAY,

AND

SMOLLETT.

With Memoirs, Critical Dissertations, and
Explanatory Notes

BY THE REV. GEORGE GILFILLAN. EDINBURGH

M.DCCC.LV.

CONTENTS.

JOHNSON'S POEMS.

  The Life of Samuel Johnson
  London: a Poem in imitation of the Third Satire of Juvenal, 1738
  The Vanity of Human Wishes. In imitation of the Tenth Satire of
    Juvenal

PROLOGUES:—
  Prologue Spoken by Mr Garrick, at the Opening of the Theatre-Royal,
    Drury-Lane, 1747
  Prologue Spoken by Mr Garrick before the 'Masque of Comus', acted
    for the benefit of Milton's Grand-daughter
  Prologue to Goldsmith's Comedy of 'The Good-Natured Man', 1769
  Prologue to the Comedy of 'A Word to the Wise,' spoken by Mr Hull

ODES:—
  Spring
  Midsummer
  Autumn
  Winter

MISCELLANEOUS:—
  The Winter's Walk
  To Miss ***** on her giving the Author a Gold and Silk Network
    Purse of her own Weaving
  Epigram on George II. and Colley Cibber, Esq.
  Stella in Mourning
  To Stella
  Verses Written at the Request of a Gentleman to whom a Lady had
    given a Sprig of Myrtle
  To Lady Firebrace, at Bury Assizes
  To Lycè, an Elderly Lady
  On the Death of Mr Robert Levett, a Practiser in Physic
  Epitaph on Claude Phillips, an Itinerant Musician
  Epitaph on Sir Thomas Hanmer, Bart.
  On the Death of Stephen Grey, F.R.S., the Electrician
  To Miss Hickman, Playing on the Spinnet
  Paraphrase of Proverbs, chap. iv. verses 6-11
  Horace, Lib. iv. Ode vii. Translated
  On Seeing a Bust of Mrs Montague
  Anacreon, Ode Ninth
  Lines Written in Ridicule of certain Poems published in 1777
  Parody of a Translation from the 'Medea' of Euripides
  Burlesque on the Modern Versification of Ancient Legendary Tales:
    an Impromptu
  Epitaph for Mr Hogarth
  Translation of the Two First Stanzas of the Song 'Rio Verde,
    Rio Verde', printed in Bishop Percy's 'Reliques of Ancient
    English Poetry': an Impromptu
  To Mrs Thrale, on her Completing her Thirty-Fifth Year: a
    Impromptu
  Impromptu Translation of an Air in the 'Clemenza de Tito' of
    Metastasia, beginning 'Deh! se Piacermi Vuoi'
  Lines Written under a Print representing Persons Skaiting
  Translation of a Speech of Aquileio in the 'Adriano' of Metastasio,
    beginning, 'Tu Che in Corte Invecchiasti'
  Impromptu on Hearing Miss Thrale Consulting with a Friend about a
    Gown and Hat she was inclined to Wear
  Translation of Virgil, Pastoral I
  Translation of Horace, Book i. Ode xxii.
  Translation of Horace, Book ii. Ode ix.
  Translation of part of the Dialogue between Hector and
    Andromache.—From the Sixth Book of Homer's Iliad
  To Miss * * * * on her Playing upon a Harpsichord in a Room hung
    with Flower-Pieces of her own Painting
  Evening: an Ode. To Stella
  To the Same
  To a Friend
  To a Young Lady, on her Birthday
  Epilogue intended to have been Spoken by a Lady who was to
    personate 'The Ghost of Hermione'
  The Young Author
  Friendship: an Ode. Printed in the Gentleman's Magazine, 1743
  Imitation of the Style of Percy
  One and Twenty

PARNELL'S POEMS.

  The Life and Poetry of Thomas Parnell
  Hesiod; or, the Rise of Woman
  Song
  Song
  Song
  Anacreontic
  Anacreontic
  A Fairy Tale, in the Ancient English Style
  To Mr Pope
  Health: an Eclogue
  The Flies: an Eclogue
  An Elegy to an Old Beauty
  The Book-Worm
  An Allegory on Man
  An Imitation of some French Verses
  A Night-Piece on Death
  A Hymn to Contentment
  The Hermit

GRAY'S POEMS.

The Life and Poetry of Thomas Gray

ODES:—
  I. On the Spring
  II. On the Death of a Favorite Cat
  III. On a distant Prospect of Eton College
  IV. To Adversity
  V. The Progress of Poesy
  VI. The Bard
  VII. The Fatal Sisters
  VIII. The Descent of Odin
  IX. The Death of Hoel
  X. The Triumph of Owen
  XI. For Music

MISCELLANEOUS:—
  A Long Story
  Elegy written in a Country Churchyard
  Epitaph on Mrs Jane Clarke
  Stanzas, suggested by a View of the Seat and Ruins at Kingsgate,
    in Kent, 1766
  Translation from Statius
  Gray on himself

SMOLLETT'S POEMS.

  The Life of Tobias Smollett
  Advice: a Satire
  Reproof: a Satire
  The Tears of Scotland. Written in the year 1746
  Verses on a Young Lady playing on a Harpsichord and Singing
  Love Elegy, in imitation of Tibullus
  Burlesque Ode
  Ode to Mirth
  Ode to Sleep
  Ode to Leven Water
  Ode to Blue-Eyed Ann
  Ode to Independence
  Songs

THE POETICAL WORKS

OF

SAMUEL JOHNSON.

THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON.

We feel considerable trepidation in beginning a life of Johnson, not so much on account of the magnitude of the man—for in Milton, and one or two others, we have already met his match—but on account of the fact that the field has been so thoroughly exhausted by former writers. It is in the shadow of Boswell, the best of all biographers, and not in that of Johnson, that we feel ourselves at present cowering. Yet we must try to give a rapid account of the leading incidents in Johnson's life, as well as a short estimate of his vast, rugged genius.

Samuel Johnson was born at Lichfield, Staffordshire, on the 18th of September 1709, and was baptized the same day. His father was Michael Johnson, a bookseller and stationer, and his mother, Sarah Ford. Samuel was the first-born of the family. Nathaniel, who died in his twenty-fifth year, was the second