Page:Boswell - Life of Johnson.djvu/217

Aetat. 34.] With bright, but oft destructive, gleam,
 * Alike o'er all his lightnings fly;

Thy lambent glories only beam
 * Around the fav'rites of the sky.

Thy gentle flows of guiltless joys
 * On fools and villains ne'er descend;

In vain for thee the tyrant sighs,
 * And hugs a flatterer for a friend.

Directress of the brave and just,
 * O guide us through life's darksome way!

And let the tortures of mistrust
 * On selfish bosoms only prey.

Nor shall thine ardours cease to glow.
 * When souls to blissful climes remove;

What rais'd our virtue here below.
 * Shall aid our happiness above.'

Johnson had now an opportunity of obliging his schoolfellow Dr. James, of whom he once observed, 'no man brings more mind to his profession .' James published this year his Medicinal Dictionary, in three volumes folio. Johnson, as I understood from him, had written, or assisted in writing, the proposals for this work; and being very fond of the study of physick, in which James was his master, he furnished some of the articles. He, however, certainly wrote for it the Dedication to Dr. Mead,† which is conceived with great address, to conciliate the patronage of that very eminent man. Rh