MISCELLANIES. THE CLOWN'S REPLY. John Trott was desir'd by two witty peers, "An't please you," quoth John, "I'm not given to letters, PROLOGUE, WRITTEN AND SPOKEN BY THE POET LABERIUS, A ROMAN KNIGHT, WHOM CESAR FORCED UPON THE STAGE. Preserved by Macrobius.t WHAT! no way left to shun th' inglorious stage, * [This is the only effusion preserved of several, which Goldsmith is said to have written while a student at Edinburgh.] [This translation was first printed in "The Present State of Polite Learning," in 1759; but was omitted in the second edition, which appeared in 1774. Decimus Laberius was made a Roman knight by Julius Cæsar. For a long period he maintained the first character as a farce writer; but Publius Syrus at last became his rival, and carried off the applause of the theatre. See Aulus Gellius, 1. iii., c. 7; and Hor. Sat. lib. i. sat. x.] Scarce half alive, oppress'd with many a year, THE LOGICIANS REFUTED. In imitation of Dean Swift.* Logicians have but ill defin'd As rational the human mind; [First printed in the "Busy Body," 1759; to draw attention to which publication it was announced as the production of the Dean of St. Patrick. It was included in the Dublin edition of his works, and is continued by Sir Walter Scott, who had doubtless forgotten its position in the works of Goldsmith. See Life, ch. ix. |