The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 13, No. 370, May 16, 1829Various
General
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 13, No. 370, May 16, 1829
Various
Popular literature -- Great Britain -- Periodicals
In caverns 'neath the vasty deep,
Where sea-snakes in the wreck may creep,
And feed upon man's bone;
Or in the ruins of the past.
Where thoughts that are not used are cast,
And whirlwind, and the earthquake groan
In pity, there, there, am I--
A withered thought--that cannot die.
LIGHT.
But I was born within a light
That kindled in the womb.
And I can never feel the night
When all around is gloom;
For joy looked pleased upon my birth,
And cast a ray e'en on the earth;
And fairies spun it in a ring,
With a feather from their wing,
And called it hope--a charm for tears,
And chained it to their silken ears.
DARK.
And I was formed within a light
That kindled in the womb of night,
Of loathsome withered weeds--
And fate looked on and fanned the flame,
But freed me from the touch of blame,
Of all my evil deeds.
Enchantress waited on my birth,
And bade the hypochondriac walk the earth.
BOTH, RECITATIVE.
Together, together, yet, O yet we dwell,
A glimpse of heaven in hell
A glimpse of heaven in hell
Which plays, which plays, like lightning on the tempest gloom,
Or life within a catacomb,
Or life within a catacomb,
Pointing the many passions' mood
To strange but universal good.
* * * * *
DR. JOHNSON.
(_To the Editor of the Mirror_.)
The correspondent who furnished you with the article on "Dr. Johnson's
Residence in Bolt Court," has fallen into several anachronisms, to which,
I beg leave to call your attention.
He says, "here the unfortunate Savage has held his intellectual _noctes_,
and enlivened the _old moralist_ with his mad philosophy." If you refer to
any biographical account of Johnson, you will find, his residence in Bolt
Court did not commence till nearly twenty years after the death of Savage.
Johnson had no settled habitation till after that event, and they were
both frequently obliged to perambulate the streets, for whole nights, for
want of money to pay for a lodging; and instead of Johnson being an old
moralist at this time, he was but thirty-three when his friend died,
Savage being about forty-four.
Your correspondent has given a graphic description of our great
lexicographer and his two associates, Savage and Boswell, all three
of whom, he says, met at Johnson's house in Bolt Court, and discussed
subjects of polite literature; whereas his acquaintance with Boswell began
only in 1763, and Savage died in Bristol, in 1742. The work Johnson wrote,
at the time of compiling the Dictionary, was the "Rambler," and not the
"Guardian," as your correspondent asserts. The latter was the joint
production of Addison and Steele.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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