London: A Poem, in Imitation of the Third Satire of Juvenal

1] Eighteenth-century literary criticism recognized three types of translation from other languages, principally from Greek and Latin: "metaphrase" (word-for-word translation; what we would call a crib or trot); "paraphrase" (a version that reads well in English, a literary translation), and "imitation." An imitation follows the structure and patterns of thought of the original, but updates the content to the time of the imitation; if the original author were to write his poem here and now, this is what he would write. Thus Johnson substitutes London for Juvenal's Rome, and Frenchmen for Juvenal's contemptible but culturally dominant Greeks. In the 1730s, the leading exponent of imitation was Alexander Pope, whose "Imitations of Horace" used the Latin poet's satires to attack the administration of Sir Robert Walpole, the same target that Johnson scarifies less subtly in this poem. Johnson's 263-line poem is considerably shorter than Juvenal's 322-line original. Some of what Juvenal describes is not applicable to modern London; Johnson selects what suits his purpose and ignores the rest. In one instance, however, the account of Orgilio's recovery from a disastrous fire (194-209), Johnson later admitted that this episode was not appropriate to eighteenth-century England.The poem was first published anonymously in London in 1738. Ten years later Johnson made minor revisions to the text for publication in Dodsley's Collection of Poems. The present text is based on the revised version of 1748. In both versions Johnson printed passages from Juvenal at the foot of the page to show how closely he was imitating the Latin. These passages are usually, but not invariably, keyed to the beginning of a verse paragraph. Since such footnotes are impractical in the format of RPO, line references to Johnson's quotations from Juvenal's poem are given in the notes in square brackets, as "[Juvenal 1-3]." Johnson does not always quote complete lines. In four places he ends a brief quotation with "&c." to indicate that some following lines are relevant; these signs are reproduced here.In the 1738 and 1748 texts Johnson provided one explanatory note, to line 23. Years later he wrote some notes on a copy of the poem, which were printed in editions published after his death. They are reported here (lines 54, 59, 72, 173, 194, 245).Parallel texts (Latin and English translation) of Juvenal's poem (with notes) are available on-line at www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/juv-sat3lateng.html. In book form, the new edition in parallel Latin and English texts in the Loeb Classical Library, Juvenal and Persius, edited and translated by Susanna Morton Braund (Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press, 2004), is recommended.The standard modern edition of Johnson's poems is the sixth volume of the Yale Edition of the Works of Samuel Johnson, Poems, edited by E. L. McAdam, Jr., with George Milne (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1964).[Juvenal 1-3]. Back to Line

2] There is a persistent tradition that Thales represents Johnson's friend the poet Richard Savage, who was compelled by adverse circumstances to leave London and reside in Wales, but Johnson himself insisted that he did not know Savage at the time he wrote the poem, and that the resemblance was coincidental. In Juvenal, the departing friend is called Umbricius; Johnson enhances the authority of his speaker by giving him the name of the great astronomer and sage of ancient Greece. Back to Line

5] [Juvenal 5-9]. Back to Line

7] Cambria is Wales, of which St. David is the patron saint. In Juvenal, the poet's friend departs for Cumae, near Naples in southern Italy, the home of the Cumaean sibyl (prophetess). Back to Line

9] [Juvenal 5-9] Hibernia: Ireland. Back to Line

10] the Strand: a busy street in London, not far from Johnson's house. Back to Line

19] [Juvenal 10-11] The wherry Thales is waiting for is a rowing boat that will ferry him to a sea-going vessel. Back to Line

23] As Johnson notes in 1738 and 1755, Queen Elizabeth I was born at Greenwich, on the south bank of the Thames just below the city of London. Her name recalls the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588. Back to Line

27] her cross: the large red cross of the White Ensign, flown by the Royal Navy. Back to Line

28] In the 1730s, popular opinion in England was extremely hostile to Spain, because of commercial rivalry in the Caribbean. Attacks on British shipping by Spanish coast guards were particularly resented, and Walpole's unwillingness to avenge them by going to war was a principal grievance of his political opponents. In 1739 he was compelled to declare war against Spain. Back to Line

29] masquerades: masked balls were popular in fashionable society, but widely condemned as incitements to immorality; excise: Walpole's efforts to reform the system of duties on various goods were depicted as oppressive by his political opponents. Back to Line

35] [Juvenal 21-26]. Back to Line

38] science: knowledge and learning in general, an activity pursued for its own sake. Back to Line

41] [Juvenal 27-28]. Back to Line

50] [Juvenal 29-30]. The blanks may be filled with the name of anyone who has learned, as Thales proudly has not, to live in the depraved London that symbolizes national vice and shame. Back to Line

51] Walpole was accused, not without reason, of having corrupted public life by putting Members of Parliament on the government payroll through appointments to sinecures or the award of pensions. "Patriots" were opponents of Walpole, "courtiers" were those who voted for Walpole, the King's chief minister. Johnson notes that Spanish attacks on British interests were defended in the houses of Parliament (54). Back to Line

57] [Juvenal 31-32; 36]. Back to Line

58] farm a lottery: undertake to manage the government-sponsored lottery for an agreed amount, and keep the difference between that amount and the sum actually raised. Back to Line

59] The "warbling eunuchs" are the Italian castrati singers of the opera house, an entertainment greatly patronized by George II, and excepted in 1737 from the restrictions of the Licensing Act, which reduced the number of London theatres to two and required all plays to be approved by the Lord Chamberlain's office, thus eliminating theatrical satire on Walpole's government. The 1737 text reads "our silenc'd stage." Back to Line

67] [Juvenal 41-42]. Back to Line

72] The Daily Gazetteer, "the paper which at that time contained apologies for the Court" (Johnson's note). Back to Line

74] H----y's: John "Orator" Henley (1692-1759), a clergyman who set up his own proprietary place of worship and drew large crowds with his unconventional preaching, which often included coarse jokes. He was paid by Walpole to edit a pro-government paper. Back to Line

75] [Juvenal 45-47]. Back to Line

83] [Juvenal 49; 53-54]. Back to Line

84] Orgilio: from the French orgueil, pride; an imaginary character exemplifying any successful racketeer; he re-appears at l. 194. Back to Line

86] John Churchill, first Duke of Marlborough (1650-1722) had a reputation for avarice; George Villiers, second Duke of Buckingham (1628-87), squandered a vast fortune. Back to Line

91] [Juvenal 58-59]. Back to Line

94] common shore: the shared sewer in which the corrupt cities of continental Europe dispose of their refuse. Back to Line

99] [Juvenal 67-68] Edward III (1327-77), initiator of the Hundred Years War against France, and highly successful commander in this enterprise; the victories of Crécy (1346) and Poitiers (1356) were particularly important. Back to Line

107] at home: i.e., in France. Back to Line

108] Judicial executions in England were by hanging, in France by breaking on the wheel. Back to Line

111] [Juvenal 73-74]. Back to Line

114] [Juvenal 77-78]. Back to Line

120] lisp: here, to speak like a young child; Henry V (1413-22), won several victories in his campaigns in France, most notably at Agincourt (1415). Back to Line

121] gull'd: deluded. Back to Line

123] [Juvenal 86-87]. Back to Line

129] [Juvenal 92-93]. Back to Line

134] [Juvenal 100-01, &c.]. The principal London theatres regularly featured French dancers as members of their companies, and a French dramatic company played in a smaller London theatre throughout the 1734-35 season, attracting some patronage from the Royal Family, but French performers did not dominate the London theatre as this passage implies. Juvenal's complaint at this point is that Greek performers are the leading players in the Roman theatre. This is one point where tension arises between following Juvenal and accurately describing the London scene. Back to Line

144] [Juvenal 104-07]. Back to Line

150] Balbo: from the Latin for stammering; an imaginary character whose name conveys his incompetence as a speaker. Back to Line

151] gropes: in the obsolete sense of "grasp," "take hold"; Balbo's oratorical stance is standing with his hands on his thighs; with a monarch's air: George II's favoured method of showing displeasure at court was to turn his back on the offender while drawing the rear flaps of his coat aside to show his backside. This was known as "rumping." Back to Line

154] [Juvenal 113]. Back to Line

158] [Juvenal 147-48, &c.]. All crimes are so numerous that they provoke neither shame nor censure; the only crime now is to be poor. Back to Line

166] [Juvenal 152-153]. Back to Line

170] [Juvenal 162-63]. Back to Line

173] Johnson notes that in 1738 it was said that Spain laid claim to to some of the British colonies in America. Back to Line

177] [Juvenal 164-66; 183-84; 189]. Back to Line

181] groom: a servant of any kind, not necessarily one who looks after horses. Back to Line

190] [Juvenal 209-11]. Back to Line

194] [Juvenal 212-13]. Johnson notes that one reader "justly remarked" that this passage might be true of ancient Rome, but is not true of life in eighteenth-century London. Back to Line

200] [Juvenal 215-16, &c.; 220]. Back to Line

203] dome: massive building. Back to Line

204] The price of boroughs: the cost of bribing electors in parliamentary elections. Back to Line

208] [Juvenal 220-21]. Back to Line

210] [Juvenal 223-26; 228-29]. Back to Line

211] English rivers far from London; the Trent flows through Lichfield, where Johnson's family lived. Back to Line

213] hireling senator: a Member of Parliament who has been put on the government payroll to secure his vote. Back to Line

221] See Malachi 4: 2. Back to Line

224] [Juvenal 272-74]. here: London. Back to Line

226] [Juvenal 278-80]. A fop who has just purchased a commission in the army, and now cannot rest until he kills a man in a duel to prove his valour. Back to Line

230] [Juvenal 282-85]. Back to Line

234] flambeau: torch; the rich and powerful rode by night in coaches accompanied by numerous servants and linkboys with torches to light the way. Back to Line

236] [Juvenal 302-03, &c.]. Back to Line

242] [Juvenal 310-11] Tyburn: the place of execution on the outskirts of London (near the site of the modern Marble Arch). Back to Line

245] Ways-and-means bills were votes of money for government purposes; Johnson in a note calls "Ways and Means" a "cant [political jargon] term in the House of Commons for methods of raising money." Back to Line

247] George II of Great Britain was also the Prince-Elector of Hanover in Germany, where he liked to spend his summers; these absences were unpopular in England. Back to Line

248] [Juvenal 312-14]. Alfred the Great, king of Wessex (871-899), codified the laws and improved the administration of justice; legend held that virtually all crime had ceased throughout his realm. Back to Line

251] In 1738, this line read: "Sustain'd the balance, but resign'd the sword;" Johnson's only significant change in the 1748 text was to substitute: "Held high the steady scale, but deep'd the sword". The reason for the change appears to be that "resign" went too far; Justice may not make use of her sword, but should not give it up altogether. The word "deep'd," however, hardly makes sense. In their edition, McAdam and Milne conjecture that Johnson wrote "drop'd," (i.e., lowered), which does make sense and could well have been misread by the printer; their emendation is adopted here. Back to Line

252] A statute of 1731 had made it possible for either party to a lawsuit to demand a special jury; opponents of the government believed this was a device to win verdicts. Back to Line

254] [Juvenal 315-16]. Back to Line

256] [Juvenal 318-22]. Back to Line

259] numbers: verse. Back to Line

Publication Start Year

1738

RPO poem Editors

John D. Baird

RPO Edition

2008

Form

couplets