CHORUS.ALTRO MODO.

On the grave of Augusta this garland be plac'd,
We'll rifle the spring of its earliest bloom;
And there shall the cowslip and primrose be cast,
And the tears of her country shall water her tomb.

SONG.

INTENDED TO HAVE BEEN SUNG IN SHE

STOOPS TO CONQUER.'1

H, me! when shall I marry me?
Lovers are plenty; but fail to relieve

me:

He, fond youth, that could carry me, Offers to love, but means to deceive me.

But I will rally, and combat the ruiner :

Not a look, not a smile shall my passion discover: She that gives all to the false one pursuing her, Makes but a penitent, loses a lover.

[1 This was first printed by Boswell in the London Magazine for June, 1774. It had been intended for the part of "Miss Hardcastle," but Mrs. Bulkley, who played that part, was no vocalist. Goldsmith himself sang it very agreeably to an Irish air, The Humours of Balamagairy. (See Birkbeck Hill's Boswell, 1887, ii. 219.)]

TRANSLATION.1

Addison, in some beautiful Latin lines inserted in the Spectator, is entirely of opinion that birds observe a strict chastity of manners, and never admit the caresses of a different tribe.-(v. Spectator, No. 412.)

HASTE are their instincts, faithful is

their fire,

No foreign beauty tempts to false

desire;

The snow-white vesture, and the glittering crown,
The simple plumage, or the glossy down

Prompt not their love :—the patriot bird pursues
His well acquainted tints, and kindred hues.
Hence through their tribes no mix'd polluted flame,
No monster-breed to mark the groves with shame';
But the chaste blackbird, to its partner true,
Thinks black alone is beauty's favourite hue.
The nightingale, with mutual passion blest,
Sings to its mate, and nightly charms the nest :
While the dark owl to court its partner flies,
And owns its offspring in their yellow eyes.

[1 From Goldsmith's History of the Earth and Animated Nature, 1774, V., 312.]

EPITAPH ON THOMAS

PARNELL.1

HIS tomb, inscrib'd to gentle Parnell's

name,

May speak our gratitude, but not his

fame.

What heart but feels his sweetly-moral lay,
That leads to truth through pleasure's flowery way!
Celestial themes confess'd his tuneful aid;
And Heaven, that lent him genius, was repaid.
Needless to him the tribute we bestow-
The transitory breath of fame below:

More lasting rapture from his works shall rise,
While converts thank their poet in the skies.

[1 This epitaph was first printed with The Haunch of Venison, 1776. Parnell died in 1718, In 1770 Goldsmith wrote his life.]

THE CLOWN'S REPLY.1

JOHN TROTT was desired by two witty peers

To tell them the reason why asses had

ears.

'An't please you,' quoth John, 'I'm not given to letters,

Nor dare I pretend to know more than my betters; Howe'er from this time I shall ne'er see your

graces,

As I hope to be saved! without thinking on

asses.

EPITAPH ON EDWARD
PURDON.2

ERE lies poor Ned Purdon, from misery
freed,

Who long was a bookseller's hack;

He led such a damnable life in this

world,

I don't think he'll wish to come back.

[1 First printed at p. 79 of Poems and Plays. By Oliver Goldsmith, M.B. Dublin, 1777. It is there dated "Edinburgh, 1753."]

[2 First printed as Goldsmith's in Poems and Plays, 1777, p. 79. Purdon had been at Trinity College, Dublin, with Goldsmith. Swift wrote a somewhat similar epigram; but Goldsmith's model was probably La Mort du Sieur Etienne. (Forster's Life. 1871, ii., 59.)]

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