Yet may this verse (if such a verse remain)
Show, there was one who held it in disdain.
[207] Cardinal: and Minister to Louis XV.
[208] This couplet alludes to the preachers of some recent Court Sermons of a florid panegyrical character; also to some speeches of a like kind, some parts of both of which were afterwards incorporated in an address to the monarch.
[209] Dr. Conyers Middleton, author of the Life of Cicero.
[210] Queen Consort to King George II. She died in 1737.
[211] A title given to Lord Selkirk by King James II. He was Gentleman of the Bed-chamber to William III., to George I., and to George II. He was proficient in all the forms of the House, in which he comported himself with great dignity.
[212] Referring to Lady M.W. Montagu and her sister, the Countess of Mar.
SAMUEL JOHNSON.
(1709-1784.)
[XXXIX.] THE VANITY OF HUMAN WISHES.
Published in January, 1749, in order, as was reported, to excite interest in the author's tragedy of Irene. The poem is written in imitation of the Tenth Satire of Juvenal.
Let observation, with extensive view,
Survey mankind from China to Peru;
Remark each anxious toil, each eager strife,