Song
Not the soft sighs of vernal gales,
The fragrance of the flowery vales,
The murmurs of the crystal rill,
The vocal grove, the verdant hill;
Not all their charms, though all unite,
Can touch my bosom with delight.
Not all the gems on India's shore,
Not all Peru's unbounded store,
Not all the power, nor all the fame,
That heroes, kings, or poets claim;
Nor knowledge which the learn'd approve,
To form one wish my soul can move.
Yet Nature's charms allure my eyes,
And knowledge, wealth, and fame I prize;
Fame, wealth, and knowledge I obtain,
Nor seek I Nature's charms in vain;
In lovely Stella all combine,
And, lovely Stella! thou art mine.
Samuel Johnson
Другие работы автора
The Vanity of Human Wishes The Tenth Satire of Juvenal Imitated by Samuel Johnson
Let Observation with extensive View, Survey Mankind, from China to Peru; Remark each anxious Toil, each eager Strife, And watch the busy Scenes of crowded Life;
Lines
Written in Ridicule of Certain Poems {of Thomas Warton} Published in 1777 Wheresoe'er I turn my view, All is strange, yet nothing new; Endless labour all along,
On Hearing Miss Thrale Consulting with a Friend About a Gown and Hat
Wear the gown and wear the hat, Snatch thy pleasures while they last; Hadst thou nine lives, like a cat, Soon those nine lives would be pass'd
To Miss --
{On her playing upon the harpsichord in a room hung with flower-pieces of her own painting} When Stella strikes the tuneful In scenes of imitated Spring, Where beauty lavishes her