s, which together with his
self-sufficiency led Cowper, somewhat irreverently, to call him a
"prig." Among his few light and humorous snatches, we have lines written
in ridicule of certain poems published in 1777--

"Wheresoe'er I turn my view,
All is strange, yet nothing new;
Endless labour all along,
Endless labour to be wrong:

"Phrase that time has flung away
Uncouth words in disarray,
Tricked in antique ruff and bonnet
Ode, and elegy, and sonnet."

An imitation--

"Hermit poor in solemn cell
Wearing out life's evening grey,
Strike thy bosom sage and tell
Which is bliss, and which the way.

"Thus I spoke, and speaking sighed
Scarce repressed the starting tear
When the hoary sage replyed
'Come my lad, and drink some beer.'"

The following is an impromptu conceit. "To Mrs. Thrale, on her
completing her thirty-fifth year."

"Oft in danger, yet alive,
We are come to thirty-five;
Long may better years arrive
Better years than thirty-five,
Could philosophers contrive
Life to stop at thirty-five,
Time his hours should never drive
O'er the bounds of thirty-five.
High to soar, and deep to dive,
Nature gives at thirty-five,
Ladies stock and tend your hive,
Trifle not at thirty-five,
For howe'er we boast and strive
Life declines from thirty-five.
He that ever hopes to thrive
Must begin by thirty-five,
And all who wisely wish to wive
Must look on Thrale at thirty-five."

There is a pleasing mixture of wisdom and humour in the following stanza
written to Miss Thrale on hearing her consulting a friend as to a dress
and hat she was inclined to wear--

"Wear the gown and wear the hat
Snatch thy pleasures while they last,
Had'st thou nine lives like a cat
Soon those nine lives would be past."

Johnson's friends Garrick and Foote, although so great in the mimetic
art, do not deserve any particular mention as writers of comedy.

It is said that Garrick went to a school in Tichfield at which Johnson
was an usher, and that master and pupil came up to London together to
seek their fortunes. But although Garrick became the first of comic
actors, he produced nothing literary but a few indifferent farces. The
same may be said of Foote, who was also a celebrated wit in
conversation. Johnson said, "For loud, obstreperous, broad-faced mirth,
I know not his equal."

One of Dr. Johnson's friends was Mrs. Charlotte Lennox to whom he gives