“Revenge!” great Alexander cries; Hear the hisses that arise! E’en the snakes, they ne’er cheered; At most “numbers” they jeered. This ingratitude gives me surprise; Such cheek from _my_ band I cannot understand―― I have used them on first nights again and again But the ads shall remain In their first-arranged vein. I will show all this crew That I know what to do, Though they serve me like this, and thus dare to express _An opinion_, I’ll show I can fight against odds―― I’ll defy all these treacherous pittites and “gods”―― Go, announce it at once: “An Enormous Success!” * * * * * Not long ago (Ere Henderson received this blow) I ventured to dispute That A. in this respect was ’cute. I struck my lyre And told him that this dodge few people could admire At last, you see, to spoil his game, His dead-head “friends” rise up to blame; Henceforth, perhaps, he’ll try this trick no more, But warned by Monday’s gruesome sounds, Will run his premières upon proper grounds, And do as others do――take money at the door. So henceforth, Alec, wisdom try―― Don’t on the Public frown; A failure, e’en when “friends” _don’t_ guy, Will never draw the town CARADOS. ―――― LINES PRINTED UNDER THE ENGRAVED PORTRAIT OF JOHN MILTON. (_In Tonson’s Folio Edition of “Paradise Lost,” 1688._) Three poets, in three distant ages born, Greece, Italy, and England did adorn. The first in loftiness of thought surpassed, The next in majesty, in both the last. The force of Nature could no further go; To make a third she joined the former two. Mr. Malone suggested that the idea of these lines was borrowed by Dryden from Salvaggi’s Latin distich:―― “_Græcia, Mæonidem, jactet sibi Roma Maronem, Anglia Miltonum jactat utrique parem._” But in a little work, printed in 1676, entitled “Anima Astrologia,” a verse occurs which bears a much nearer resemblance to Dryden’s epigram:―― “Let envy burst; Urania’s glad to see Her sons thus joined in a triplicity; To Cardan and to Guido much is due, And in one Lilly we behold the two.” These lines allude to Jerome Cardan, the Astrologer (1501-1576), to William Lilly, also an Astrologer (1602-1681), and to Ubaldo Guido, an Italian Mathematician (1540-1601). Dryden was a firm believer in astrology, and as he must, in all probability, have been well acquainted with this book, it is probable these lines were in his mind when he composed his own more polished epigram. On page 233, Vol. 2, of this Collection, a number of parodies of the Epigram will be found, but the following imitations were accidentally omitted. ON HYPATIA. MADAME AGNESI, AND MRS. SOMERVILLE.