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In 1749 he published his _Vanity of Human Wishes_, an imitation of the
tenth Satire of Juvenal, which was as heartily welcomed as _London_ had
been. It is Juvenal applied to English and European history. It contains
many lines familiar to us all; among them are the following:
Let observation with extended view
Survey mankind from China to Peru.
In speaking of Charles XII., he says:
His fall was destined to a barren strand,
A petty fortress and a dubious hand;
He left a name at which the world grew pale,
To point a moral or adorn a tale.
From Marlborough's eyes the streams of dotage flow,
And Swift expires a driveller and a show.
In the same year he published his tragedy of _Irene_, which,
notwithstanding the friendly efforts of Garrick, who was now manager of
Drury Lane Theatre, was not successful. As a poet, Johnson was the
perfection of the artificial school; and this very technical perfection
was one of the causes of the reaction which was already beginning to sweep
it away.


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