June 27th. The Wind W. & by N. Sun shiny, dry & fair all day, dressed a good deal of hay to day, pd. Richard Jones the Gardiner 5s. remaining of his wages, & deteined 8s. for the time he had lost being 33 days. |
28th. The Wind S. dark & cloudy with a driveing moist mist in ye Morning, it blew fresh afterwards. & I raked some Hay– pd. Elizabeth Parry 2s. for 12 days she was here making me shirts & mending others To day I received the following Poem, written in imitation of the 3d Satire of Juvenall, upon these precious times under Walpole's ministry. Here Malice, Rapine, Accident, conspire, And now a Rabble rages, now a Fire: Their Ambush here relentless Ruffian lay, And here the fell Attorney prowls for prey; Here falling houses thunder on your head, And there [Johnson has 'here' sw] a Female Atheist talks you dead. —– Since worth, my Friend [Johnson has 'he cries' sw], in these degen'rate days, Wants ev'n the cheap reward of empty praise; In these curs'd walls, devote to Vice and gain; Since unrewarded Science toils in vain; Since hopes but sooth to double my distress, [Johnson has 'hope' and 'sooths' sw] And Every moment leaves my Little Less; While yet my steady steps no staff sustains, And life still Vig'rous revells in my Veins; Grant me, kind Heaven, to find some happier place, Where Honesty & Sense are no disgrace. ——— (6) Here let those reign, whom Pensions can incite To vote a Patriot Black, a Courtier White; Explain their Countrey's dear-bought Rights away, And plead for Pirates in the face of Day; With slavish Tenets taint our poison'd youth, And lend a Lie the Confidence of truth. (6) Cedamus Patria: vivant Arturius istic Et Catulus: maneant qui nigrum in candida vertunt. … [the poetry consist of extracts, run together, from Samuel Johnson's 'London' which was written in 1738 sw] THIS ENTRY CONTINUES WITH A SONG, WRITTEN OUT IN HANDWRITING WHICH APPEARS TO BE THAT OF LEWIS MORRIS [see entries 1 and 12 July 1738 for comparison]. |