Translation of HORACE. Book II. Ode ix. Nor showers immerse the verdant plain ; Or storms afflict the ruffled main. Nor, Valgius, on th' Armenian shores Do the chain'd waters always freeze; Or bends with violent force the trees. But you are ever drown'd in tears, The wise experienc'd Grecian sage So much lament his slaughter'd son. Leave off, at length, these woman's sighs, Repeat that prince's victories, To whom all nations tribute bring. Niphates rolls an humbler wave, At length the undaunted Scythian yields, And scarce forsakes his native fields. Translation of part of the Dialogue between HECTOR and ANDROMACHE; from the Sixth Book of HOMER'S ILIAD. SHE ceas'd; then godlike Hector answer'd kind, (His various plumage sporting in the wind) The inexorable sisters have decreed That Priam's house, and Priam's self shall bleed: Yet Hecuba's, nor Priam's hoary age, Whose blood shall quench some Grecian's thirsty rage, As the sad thought of your impending fate: To a YOUNG LADY on her BIRTH-DAY.4 Thy form more lovely, more adorn'd thy mind; All pains, all cares, may favouring heav'n remove, All but the sweet solicitudes of love! May powerful nature join with grateful art Those sovereign charms with strictest care employ; Shewn in the faithful glass of ridicule ; } 4 Mr. Hector informs me, that this was made almost impromptu, THE YOUNG AUTHOUR.5 WHEN first the peasant, long inclin'd to roam, More false, more cruel, than the seas or wind. This thought once form'd, all council comes too late, 5 This he inserted, with many alterations, in the Gentleman's Magazine, 1743. [He, however, did not add his name. See Gent. Mag. vol. xiii. p. 378. MALONE.] a king of men. His schoolfellow, Mr. Hector, has obligingly furnished me with many particulars of his boyish days; and assured me that he never knew him corrected at school, but for talking and diverting other boys from their business. He seemed to learn by intuition; for though indolence and procrastination were inherent in his constitution, whenever he made an exertion he did more than any one else. In short, he is a memorable instance of what has been often observed, that the boy is the man in miniature; and that the distinguishing characteristicks of each individual are the same, through the whole course of life. His favourites used to receive very liberal assistance from him; and such was the submission and deference with which he was treated, such the desire to obtain his regard, that three of the boys, of whom Mr. Hector was sometimes one, used to come in the morning as his humble attendants, and carry him to school. One in the middle stooped, while he sat upon his back, and one on each side supported him; and thus he was borne triumphant. Such a proof of the early predominance of intellectual vigour is very remarkable, and does honour to human nature.--Talking to me once himself of his being much distinguished at school, he told me, "they never thought to raise me by comparing me to any one; they never said, Johnson is as good a scholar as such a one, but such a one is as good a scholar as Johnson; and this was said but of one, but of Lowe; and I do not think he was as good a scholar." He discovered a great ambition to excel, which roused him to counteract his indolence. He was uncommonly inquisitive; and his memory was so tenacious, that he never forgot any thing that he either heard or read. Mr. Hector remembers having recited to him eighteen verses, which, after a little pause, he repeated verbatim, varying only one epithet, by which he improved the line. He never joined with the other boys in their ordinary diversions: his only amusement was in winter, when he took a pleasure in being drawn upon the ice by a boy barefooted, who pulled him along by a garter fixed round him; no very easy operation, as his size was remarkably large. His defective sight, indeed, prevented him from enjoying the common sports; and he once pleasantly remarked to me," how wonderfully well he had contrived to be idle without them." Lord Chesterfield, however, has justly observed in one of his letters, when earnestly cautioning a friend against the pernicious effects of idleness, that active sports are not to be reckoned idleness in young people; and that the listless torpor of doing nothing alone deserves that name. Of this dismal inertness of disposition, Johnson had all his life too great. a share. Mr. Hector relates, that "he could not oblige him more than by sauntering away the hours of vacation in the fields, during which he was more engaged in talking to himself than to his companion." Dr. Percy, the Bishop of Dromore, who was long intimately acquainted with him, and has preserved a few anecdotes concerning him, regretting that he was not a more diligent collector, informs me, that "when a boy he was immoderately fond of reading romances of chivalry, and he retained his fondness for them through life; so that (adds his Lordship) spending part of a summer at my parsonage-house in the country, he chose for his regular reading the old Spanish romance of FELIXMARTE OF HIRCANIA, in folio, which he read quite through. Yet I have heard him attribute to these extravagant fictions that unsettled turn of mind which prevented his ever fixing in any profession." After having resided for some time at the house of his uncle,1 Cornelius Ford, Johnson was, at the age of 1 [Cornelius Ford, according to Sir John Hawkins, was his cousin |