Verses said to be written by Dr. Samuel Johnson, at the request of a Gentleman to whom a Lady had given a Sprig of Myrtle.
What hopes, what terrors, does thy gift create,
Ambiguous emblem of uncertain fate:
The Myrtle, ensign of supreme command,
Consign'd by Venus to Melissa's hand,
Not less capricious than a reigning fair,
Now grants, and now rejects a lover's prayer[1].
In myrtle shades oft sings the happy swain,
In myrtle shades despairing ghosts complain:
The myrtle crowns the happy lovers' heads,
Th' unhappy lover's grave[2] the myrtle spreads:
O then the meaning of thy gift impart,
And ease the throbbings of an anxious heart!
Soon must this bough, as you shall fix his doom,
Adorn Philander's head, or grace his tomb.
'Why now, do but see how the world is gaping for a wonder! (cries Mr. Johnson;) I think it is now just forty years ago[3] that a young fellow had a sprig of myrtle given him by a girl he courted, and asked me to write him some verses that he might present her in return. I promised, but forgot; and when he called for his lines at the time agreed on – Sit still a moment (says I), dear Mund[4], and I'll fetch them thee – so stepped aside for five minutes, and wrote the nonsense you now keep such a stir about[5].'
Upon revising these Anecdotes, it is impossible not to be struck with shame and regret that one treasured no more of
1 In the Gentleman's Magazine this line is given: –
'Oft favours, oft rejects a lover's prayer.'
- ↑ 1
- ↑ 'Th' unhappy lovers graves.' Ib.; but Boswell, who had seen the original manuscript, gives it 'Th' unhappy lovers' grave.' Life, i. 92.
- ↑ It was in 1731. Ib. i. 93 n.
- ↑ It was Edmund Hector at whose request these verses were written. For Johnson's habit of contracting the names of his friends, see ib. ii. 258.
- ↑ Johnson told Nichols also that he had written these verses in five minutes. Works, i. 128 n.
Boswell, who in his first edition, on the authority of the mendacious Miss Seward, 'was induced to doubt the authenticity' of Mrs. Piozzi's anecdote, says in a note to the second: – 'I am obliged in so many instances to notice Mrs. Piozzi's incorrectness of relation, that I gladly seize this opportunity of acknowledging, that however often, she is not always inaccurate.' Life, i. 93 n.
