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SANKEY & STORR. ■ ^ National Library Bibliotheq^e nationale ■ T of Canada du Canada ^a / > > I CANADA SCHOOL JOURNAL. u c H o z u 9 3 CO Vi V ■iH _ o o . u u J3 o o ja u 09 (« 3 1) I' 73 a » e s o u & o u Q ^«commend«' Bov.H. G. Maddock, M.A.I\6.S., Fellow of cfare CoUege, Camb.-idge Pro. « „ J^^^°^S^ Classics, Trinity College, Toronto. ^""iD.viage, rro- Potsdlm; n! Y.^"^" ^'■^""'P'^^ ^*'^*« Normal and Training School. S*"^' ^; f- Kemp, LL.b., Principal Brantford Young Ladles' Colleo*. Geo. Dickson, B.A., Collegiate Institute, HamiltoiL ^0U9g9, Prof. John A. Macoun, Albert College, Belleville. Rev. Prof. G. M. Meaoham, M.A., Numadza, Japan. iL^Ji ^°^?^^"l^-A'a^'1"<'^P°'^ Agricultural College, Gaalph. John C. McCabe, M.A., Principal Normal School, Ottawa. Dr. 8. P. May, Secretary Centennial Education Committeo. Prof. J. E. Wells, Canadian Literary Institute, Woodstock. Rev. J. J. Hare, B.A., Ontario Ladies' College, Whitby James Carlyle, M.D., Math. Master Normal School, Toronto, faeo. Baptie, M.D., Science Master Normal School. Ottawa/^ R. Lewis, Teacher of Elocution, Toronto. — "— Prof. R. Bawson, Belleville. J. J. Tilley, Inspector Public Schools, Durham. CANADA SCHOOL JOURNAL XB llBUed Ist of each mnnf.h from tho Offl^o «♦ P"m»«if"-v-. 11 tt» v street West. Toronto.""" P^DLca^oa. 11 Wcilinsson Subiorlption tl per year, payable In advance. ADAM MILLER &. Co., Fttblishers. I RNAL. lario. ec. nsiotch i/ranciaeo. • & Co., Toronto, f every teacher." lio. real. treal. lalifaz. B. Coll., Toronto. lege. amb.ridge, Pro- raining School, Colleg*. II WclIicgtoD & Co., Publishers. I Gi 1 Wkx d^ Co's ^htttvtbnal S^txm. I^ GOLDSMITH'S TRAVELLER kSH THE DESERTED VILLAGE iviTH introduction; life of the author, ARGUMENT, AND NOTES. BY C. SANKEY, M.A., ASSISTANT-MASTE8 AT MARLBOaOUGH."JCOIiIil!!»E. (CANADIAN COPYRIGHT EDITION.) T E N J : ADAM MILLER & Co. 1879, "^'^te'^lT"^ *; ""^ °' ''''^^^'^"^"* ''^ ^'^-^'^' - *^e Office of the Minister of Agriculture, by A.^ Mr.... * Co.. in lO^e Z \ 1 con was tior He par cess Cha lishi Rev Elp con; fam left that his to hi to w W rect< poet EHzi pron he V incoi prov LIFE AND INTRODUCTION, Q LIVER GOLDSMITH, like Swift and Steele in the preceding generation, Edmund Burke among his contemporaries, and R. B. Sheridan among his successors, was an Irishman ; for his family, though of Saxon extrac- tion, had been for some generations settled in Ireland. He was born on November 29, 1728, in an unpretending parsonage at Pallas, an out-of-the-way and almost inac- cessible hamlet in the county of Longford. His father, Charles Goldsmith, was a clergyman of the then Estab- lished Church ; his mother, Anne, was daughter of the Rev. Oliver Jones, master of the Diocesan School at Elphin. Oliver Goldsmith was the second son in a family consisting of four sons and two daughters. Of hfs strong family affection we have ample proofs. Seldom has a son left a picture of a father drawn with such fond fidelity as that of the village preacher in the Deserted Village; and his correspondence shows how warmly he was attached to his brothers, and especially to his eldest brother, Henry, to whom The Traveller is dedicated. When Oliver was two years old, his father was made rector of Lissoy, or Lishoy, in Westmeath ; here the young poet's education began at the hands of a maid- servant, Elizabeth Delap, by whom he was taught his letters, and pronounced " impenetrably stupid." In his seventh year he was promoted to the village school ; for the limited income of his father, already strained to the utmost in providing for the education of his eldest son, could ill ** GOLDSMITH. bear any increased expenditure : his new instructor-one Thomas Byrne, of aboriginal Irish descent, an enthusiastic admirer and, m his own way, an imitator of the ancient Irish bards-had been quarter-master in the army, and had seen service in the war of the Succession in Spain • and he probably formed the mind of his young pupi more by wonderful legends of banshees and rapparees and no less marvellous narratives of his own adventures' than by direct instruction in the rudimems of learning' Yet the boy, even at ei-ht years, shewed precocious si-ns of poetical genius-" he lisped in numbers, for the nmn- bers came." It had been originally determined that Oliver should be put to a trade when comparatively young, for the small mcome and large family of his father seemed to make it impossible for him to receive as thorough an education as his elder brother ; but soon after this time the entreaties of his mother produced a change in the family plans, and Oliver was removed from the village school, first to Elphin then to Athlone, and lastly to Edgeworthstown, that he might be prepared for the University. As a school-boy he was quick and clever, though certainly not too Indus- tnous ; but he gave sufficient promise of future excellence to induce some wealthy friends and kinsmen-among whom may be mentioned especially the Rev. Thomas Contarine~to contribute largely to the expenses of his education. On June ii, 1744, he was admitted as a sizar to Trinity College, Dublin ; but his career was not to be as suc- cessful as his friends had fondly hoped. The tutor under whom he was placed was harsh, violent, and unsym- pathetic; the pupil was thoughtless, eccentric, and irregular : he neglected his legitimate studies to write street-ballads, which he sold for five shillings apiece, and then broke the college-rules by stealing out of gates at M LIFE AND INTRODUCTION. night to hear them s.ing. On one occasion, to celebrate his success in gaining an exhibition of tlie value of thirty shiiUngs, he gave a dance in his attics to some gay friends in the city. Hence we find him, after receiving some perhaps unnecessarily stern chastisement from his tutor, selling books and clothes, inteiKling to em])ark at Cork to try his luck in foreign parts ; but spending his last shilling in Dublin, and finally, through his brother's intercession, sullenly consenting to a reconciliation with his tutor, and returning to college. Indolent, though occasionally bril- liant, he did not graduate till 1749 ; and then followed two years of idleness, vagrancy, and thoughtlessness. No profession could be found for which he was fitted ; the church and the bar were both attempted, but without success— a pair of scarlet breeches is said to have ex- cluded him from the one, and an imprudent fit of gambling from the other— and his perpetual escapades and adven- tures must have seriously embarrassed his widowed mother, and tried to the utmost the l.ng-suffering affection of that paragon of uncles, good Mr. Contarine. At the end of the year 1752, Goldsmith was sent to Edinburgh to study medicine, but * caelum non animum mutant qui trans mare currunt;' and his Scotch career was characterized by the same heedlessness, good nature, and desultoriness which had marked all his previous life. Though his attendance in the class-rooms of the professors had been by no means regular— for he had tried a tutor- ship with the Duke of Hamilton, travelled on pony-back in the Highlands, and gambled and sung his hours away — in a year or two's time he thought himself sufficiently advanced in medical science to ask for his uncle's consent to a sojourn at Leyden to complete his studies. Thither accordingly he set out, embarking in a Scotch ship bound for Bordeaux, choosing a somewhat circuitous route to hig journey's end. But by a fortunate mistake Goldsmith, ^ GOLDSMITH, with some others of tlif» c1,,•r^'o .no, at Newcast,e;:,:^^;tThV;:reLTn h^ ^"^'•'" and was lost with all hands at tL mout ofTh^r °''^^^ and Goldsmith reached Leyden T/Tr ?. ^^'^'■°"""' he resided about a ve.r h . ' Rotterdam. Here energy .o the ^tu Js^ \^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^i^ time and to the pleasures of the gaming .bL Th! r,' ""^ ""^ to leave Holland for tt T r '^" ^^ determined travels ; but of Ihe^o e';iTnTt: him f"'".^ ''' '^''^'^ squandered the greater pa^ In p r^Xenra 1 1^'^'^^^-' '' present of the rarest and most cos Ivflo '"'' '" ^ uncle in Ireland, and started nn r ^r''"'°°'' ^°^ ^''^ penniless pedestr an wi h n i ' European tour a but with a good r;it:i r;,^^^^^^^^^^^^^ f--^ of animal spirits. ' ^^ abundance An extract from 77/^ V/car of IVnh.A /^ mouth of the wanderer, GeXf P^'f^'^"^ P"! ^"*° ^^« nish a tolerably accurat Scofnt o Gold'; "..'"' ^° '"" mode of providing the necessaries of rf^.' °'^'""''y "I had some kno^vledg of ^nu^t^T'lV'^^^^'- and now turned what was mTamisr^^ent TntT ""'' means of subsistence T Lt a "*° ^ present peasants of K-anr^ni /^l^^t^roT.^tV!':™'- were poor enough to be very merry for r . "'^'^"'f "> -"^ sprightly in proportion to therSts ' '7'''^"""'' *="» proached a peasant's house t^aTr^g,! riX \ ^"^ of my most merry tunp^ an^ fi, . "'gntiaii I played one ^» >odging, but suh^sSelt t !:TI^ "^ "°i ™'T the foreign universities and convent, th. '" "" tain days philosophical theses S „" St" "" adventitious disputant, for which if the ^1, ^ ^'^''^ with any dexterity, he' can cti^ a g « rtTr™?'"" -- 1 lougnt my way towards England w^It^H t" Im trav thrc unci Mai in I Vcn who land T out) plaii cede first unce mon ing i soon old] phys inth fact ( patie that) "I d to pr Wii ■ ycur nume litera a litei these practi poet, But LIFE AND INTRODUCTION. j I may so express it, saw both sides of the picture." He travelled through Flanders, parts of France aivl Germany, through Switzerland and the north of Italy, taking an uncongenial tutorship at Onrva, and abandoning it at Marseilles, staying for six montlisand perhaps gradi-atin^r in medicine at P ,Um, ^siting Verona, Florence, and Venice; and fi.ially, after the death of his good uncle, who had prol'.ibiy contributed in part to his maintenance, landing at Dover in 1756. The poet arrived in London, as he himself says, "with- out friends, recommendation, money, or impudence." His plain face, shabby dress, Irish brogue, and eccentric ante- cedents, made it difficult for him to get employment. He first became an assistant master in a school, but it is uncertain how long his flighty genius endured the irksome monotony of such an occupation. He is next found help- ing in a chemist's laboratory near Fish Street Hill • and soon after, through the kind assistance of Dr. Sleigh an old Edinburgh fellow-student, he set up as an independent physician, at first at Bankside, Southwark, and afterwards m the Temple. But his medical skill was but small • th ^ fact of his degree in medicine is very doubtful ; the onlv patient whom we know that he doctored, he killed, and that was himself; and Beauclerk's witticism is well known • I do not practise," said Goldsmith ; " I make it a rule to prescribe only for my friends." « Pray, dear doctor " W-, the repV, ''alter your rule, and prescribe only for yc-.r enemie.. • His patients, by his own account, were numerous, but unremunerative, and he began to practice literature as a second string to his bow. Thus he became a literary hack, or, in his own words, « a regular Swiss in the service of the booksellers ;" and so « w ith very little practice as a physician, and v^ry little reputation as a poet, he made a shift to live." But though Goldsmith had now touched the outer lO Jill ill GOLDSMITH. circles of the literaiy world, no one seems at present to have guessed the genius of the young mUratcur,nor was he himself conscious that poetry and Lterary composition was to be henceforth his main employment. Indeed for some time he returned to the profession which he had found so disagreeable, and became, for ^20 a year, super- mtendent of a school at Peckham ; and in 1758 he was ^ippointed physician to a factory in India. The chief obstacle that prevented him from at once settin- sail to amass untold wealth in the East, on a salary of ^100 a year, was that he had not money enough to pay for his outht and passage. He had previously published works of minor importance-a "catch-penny" Life of Voltaire completed in four weeks, for twenty pounds'; and The Memoirs of a Protestant condemned to the Gallies of France for his Religion, for which he received the same sum— but now he was to venture something greater Accordingly all his friends in England and Ireland were miportuned to circulate proposals for the publication bv subscription of an Enquiry into the Present State of Polite Literature in Eurofe. This work did more for its author than raise a sum sufficient for his Indian outfit- It raised his value in the eyes of the booksellers, and as their patronage increased, his visions of Oriental riches waned. He published The Bee, contributed criticisms to r/'T/'j/'^'' ^''^ newspapers, wrote regularly for the Monthly Kevu^o for half a year, was regularly retained by Isewbery, the publisher, at a salary of ^100 a year made the acquaintance of Smollett and other literarv friends, and advanced from squalid and ill-, or almost un furnished, lodgings in Green Arbour Court, Old Bailev to a niore respectable habitation, in Wine-office Court' Fleet Street. During his residence here he first met Dr! onnsnn, who was then the king, not to say the tyrant, of the literary world. About twenty years older than Gold- present to (r, nor was )mposition [ndeed for :h he had 2ar, supcr- 58 he was The chief ng sail to )f ;^ioo a lyfor his ed works Voltaire, and The 'rallies 0/ the same greater, md were :ation by Stale oj re for its n outfit ; , and as il riches cisms to r for the retained a year, hterary ■ almost I Bailey, Court, met Dr. rant, of a Gold- LIFE AND INTRODUCTION. II smith, he had himself known what it was to fight his way through dirficulty and disappointment to eminence and fame in the world of letters. The fortitude with which he had borne his troubles had not hardancd his heart, nor was his real nature less warm and sympathetic be- cause his manners were brusque and his exterior rough. With these two acquaintance soon ripened into friend- ship, and friendship became intimacy. Here also (Gold- smith wrote The Vicar of WakcJicUi; but no sooner was this work finished than his landlady arrested him for arrears of debt. Goldsmith, in extremities, sent off to Johnson, \v;<.» came at once, and took the manuscript to Newbery, to whom he sild it for sixty pounds, and thus obtained the freedom of his friend. The book, however, was not published for two or three years, not indeed till Goldsmith had gained reputation by the publication of The Traveller^ which was even at that moment lying finished in his desk. During the years 1763, 1763, and 1764 he was engaged in literary work of a miscellaneous character : history, biography, criticism, essay-writing, occupied hiin in turn. His works include a Life of Beau Nash, an Art of Poetry, Letters on English History, and especially a series of letters reprinted from The Ledger, and republished under the title of The Citizen of the World. He was also gradually advancing, in spite of much recklessness and imprudence, to an important position in the literary society of the time. His friends were now more numerous and influential, and his first-floor apartments at No. 2, Brick Court, in the Temple, were furnished in a manner suitable to the distinguished society whom he used to entertain there. In 1764 began the meetings of that celebrated Literary Chjbj which the pages of Rnswell have rendered so familiar. It was originally proposed by Sir Joshua Reynolds to Johnson and Burke, and Goldsmith was at '* GOLDSMITH, once admitted as one of the original nine who met for supper and conversation on Fridays at the Turk's He!^ m Gerard Street, Soho. "^^^' In 1765 The Traveller v^^^ published. Part of it had been wntten by him during his travels in S it/e and but the poem had arrived very slowly at eo^p t.^n' For two years or more, encouraged by'the appTov ""; Dr. Johnson, it had been the deh'ght of Goldsmith's few obscure essayist to that of the first poet of the a4 Ve ' soon after th s The Vicar nf iVnL^ rj "" ^ But Goldsmith was now to show the wide ran-e of his power, by distinguishing hi.nself i„ an entirely fresh blanch of hteratura. I„ January, ,768, his comcdv rlt Gooa.„„tureUM„n, was produced for the firs , toe unto George Cohnan the elder, at Covent Garden it h.!? otredTcVTf""" '""^ ^='"-' -<> - orignaiy offered to Garriclt for representation at Drurv Line ■ \1 after much hesitation, in spite of the strong ecomme'nda t.on of Johnson and Burke, i, was rejected NoXdeed ' re?;;:!;:^^cc:ss^™S;;rd v^, ^-rr- ■'"' ' mental comedy were victori^and ^T^:::^ nme or ten n.ghts it was withdrawn, and Goldsmith was not heard of again as a theatrical author for five years The Deserted Villa^re appear»d in M-,- - T' ■ mtnaTs forlr^* '''' ^^' ^^^^^^^^Z matetmls for th.s poem, and that the actual composition 'ho met for Jrk's Head, t of it had vitzerland ; ompletion. pproval of inith's few asterpiece. )n visible : nths, and paratively ge. Very red; and the novel, s author's ge of his ely fresh cdy, The le, under It had riginally ne; but imenda- , indeed, roduced , did it e senti- run of ith was ears. It is ing the osition LIFE AND INTRODUCTION. «3 i extended over more than two years. This is very pro- bable ; for we know that it was only during the intervals of prose composition that he could apply himself to this labour of love. It was to his prose writmgs that he had to look for his daily bread. " Pay no regard to the muses" —such is his advice to a friend—" I have always found productions in prose more sought after and better paid for. .... By courting the muses I shall starve ; but by my other labours I shall eat, drink, have good clothes, and enjoy the luxuries of life." He wrote popular his- tories—a History of Englamf, for five hundred pounds ; a Roman History, and an abridgment of the Roman History, Lives of Parnell and Bolingbroke, besides in- troductions and prefaces to books by other authors. But these works, though highly praised by Dr. Johnson andother contemporary critics, were not of any great permanent value. Goldsmith had not the painstaking conscientious- ness in the investigation of details which alone can make a man a great historian ; nor does he take a much higher rank as a biographer. Still, in all his writings he shows that easy and fascinating style which Johnson said would make a Natural History by him as entertaining as a Persian tale. However, the reputation of Goldsmith as an historian must have been very considerable; for on the establish- ment of the Royal Academy of Painting, in 1 768, the honorary office of Professor of Ancient History was con- ferred on Goldsmith. In a letter to his brother Maurice, dated January, 1770, he alludes to his new appointment: "The king has lately been pleased to make me Professor of Ancient History in a Royal Academy of Painting which he has just established; but there is no salary annexed, and I took it rather as a compliment to the in- stitution than any benefit to myself. Honours to one in my situation are something like ruffles to one that wants »4 GOLDSMITH. a shirt » After Goldsmith's death the professorship was given to Gibbon, who was succeeded in his turn by Mit- lord, the historian of Greece. After a short visit to Paris with two ladies, named Horneck, during the summer of 1770, Goldsmith retired to the soUtude of a farm-house, near the sixth mile-stone on the Ldgware Road, where he was far enough from London smoke and noise to enjoy the refreshing air of the country, and yet near enough to partake sufficiently freely of London life and London pleasures. Here he occupied himself partly with a new comedy, partly with his Natural History. On September 7th, 1771, he writes to Bennet Langton, Esq. : - The Natural History is about half finished, and I will shortly finish the rest. God knows, I am tired of this kind of finishing, which is but bungling work, and that not so much my fault as the fault of my scurvy circumstances." However, The His- tory 0/ the Earth and of Animated Nature did not appear till 1774. For this extensive work, in eight vols Svo., the author received from his publisher ^850 He was not a naturalist any more than an historian • as deficient in powers of scientific observation as in taste for historu al research; his facts were obtained secondhand • and the most grotesque travellers' tales are told with a charming innocence and credulity ; but the book is as good as wide, though desultory reading, dignified reflec tions, and a graceful style can make it. The comedy, which he was writing at the same time, had appeared previously. After rejecting the title, The Old House a New ll Goldsmith resolved to call it, The Mistakes of a Ni^ht- or, She Stoops to Conquer. It was first acted in March 1773, under George Colman, sen., at Covent Garden! It was dedicated to Dr. Johnson ; and the author writes thkcfyjr" ^" '■''"'* '"" ^"''°" "^' "^^ ''^^'^ '^'^ ^0^^ ever, lorship was irn by Mit- ies, named lith retired mile-stone ougb from ling air of Jufiiciently Here he »artly with he writes History is the rest. , which is ult as the The His- did not ight vols. ?5o- He rian ; as taste for idhand,* i with a ok is as d reflec- y, which ;viously. ew Inn, Nights March, Garden, r writes rns every |f!i; s LIFE AND INTRODUCTION. r5 in the dedication: "The undertaking a comedy, not merely sentimental, was very dangerous ; and Mr. Col- man, who saw this piece in its various stages, always thought it so." So true was this, that Colman, probably remembering the failure of TJie Good-.iatiircd Man, was induced only by the most importunate solicitations of Goldsmith's friends to give it a trial. Ikit the play was at once a success, and has ever since held its ground as an established favourite of the British public. The story of the rest of Goklsnn'th's life is soon told. Evei] in comparative affluence he was not prosperous. It is calculated that in twelve months he received eighteen hundred pounds for his writings ; yet he was never out of debt, and was perpetually moody and perturbed on account of money matters. He spent much in various pleasures, especially in his early vice of gambling. He spent more in charity, or in what seemed to him to be charity. His ears, heart, and purse, were alike open to any tale of distress ; he was simple, credulous, impulsive as a child, and kept by his liberality an army of com- patriot scribblers out of well-merited penury. His literary labours were unremitting. His last design was to publish An Universal Dictionary of the Arts and Sciences, to which all his literary friends were to contri- bute articles on the subjects with which they were most familiar; but this design was interrupted by his last illness. Two short poems, The Haunch of Ver.ison and Retaliation, with some other fugitive verses, were written about this time, and published after his death. In the spring of 1774 a malady to which his spasmodic fits of sedentary work made him specially liable attacked him with unusual violence ; aggravating circumstances produced fever; on March 25th the case was serious; the patient persisted, contrary to the advice of his physicians, in doctoring himself; and he died on April 4th, aged 45. ' l6 GOLDSMITH. (.oldsmuh was buried in the Temple burying-ffround .nd h.s friends raised a subscription for his In'un" t in Ucstm.nster Abbey, and a large medallion by Nolk-kens ^WU. an mscnption by Dr. Johnson * was pLed in the The face on this medallion is said to be a tolerably good hkeness of Goldsniith ; but the mere bodily features are m h.s case the least interesting part of the man H s face, which mlus early childhood had given little pron^se of beauty, had been fearfully disfigured by the sn.all-pox when he was eight years old ; the wan, sickly child^rew mto a pale-faced, pock-marked, ungainly boy, and these charactenstics he always retained ; in figure, thick-set and cumsy ; in face, uninteresting even to ugliness. Yet these physical defects had doubtless considerable influence n shaping the character of the man. As a child, he was shy" as a youth proud; as a man, sensitive. Half the anec' tZT . " u''" '°'^ ^" disparagement of Goldsmith have been due either to his ill-governed pride or his mor- bid self-consciousness. His discontent with his position as sizar at Dublin, his dissatisfaction with his tutorsZ a the Duke of Hamilton's, wh.re he fancies himserf hked more as a jester than companion," his incurable objection to the subordinate situation of an usher may be traced to the former; while his sensitive disposition ren! dered him unfit to shine in society, especially in the society of the Turk's Head, where the imperious't ranny of Johnson though genial and considerate to him per- sonally, and the petty self-conceit and jealousy of Boswell "the arch malice of Garrick, and the polished sne r If Beauclerk," must have combined to s/ifle all the Utle conversational power which he possessed. This same * This epitaph contains the famous eulogium "On! nnllnm ft. •.. .. genus non tetigit, nullum qu.d tetigit non or^Wt." """ f"escnbendi ig-ground, numcnt in s^ollekens, :ed in the i and the tolerably y features lan. His I promise mall-pox lild ^rew tid these c-set and I'et these icnce in vas shy ; le anec- •Idsmith lis mor- position itorship himself curable may be on ren- in the yranny Ti per- osvvell, leer of s little same cribendi LIFE AND INTRODUCTION. 17 quality laid him open to charges of vanity and envy ; for, as Mr. Forster remarks, " Too little self-confidence begets the forms of vanity;" and a self-conscious man betrays by word or look the passing feeling which a man of greater self-control more prudently conceals. Another curious trait connected with his external peculiarities was his love of finery in dress. One fact which he never forgot was that he was a gentleman ; and yet he was conscious that nature had scarcely given him the appearance of gentility. Consequently he tried to compensate for the defect by striking, but too often laughable, effects in dress ; and from the time when the scarlet breeches secured for him his rejection as a candidate for Orders, to the purchase of the peach-blossom coat which prompted Garrick's sarcasms, this eccentricity was always exposing him to ridicule. But if he was quick to take offence, he was even quicker to pardon ; if he was ready to feel, and even to show a transient bitterness or jealousy, he was far more ready to love those who were kind to him, and to sympathize with the distressed. He was always open-hearted and open- handed; equally incapable gf niggardliness and dissimu- lation ; to give and to forgive came naturally to him. Of course there were some who failed to appreciate him, -and accordingly felt no compunction in making the sensitive nature of "little Goldy" the theme of unfeeling jokes, and more who had no scruple in playing off their impos- tures on his unsuspicious and indiscriminate generosity. Let us then make the most of his faults ; let us say the worst we can of the disappointing indolence and "mas- terly thoughtlessness " of his youth, and of the incorrigible improvidence and provoking weakness of his whole life ; but all this cannot for a moment be balanced against the virtues which have made him the most loving, loveable, and loved of British writers. Sympathy, generosity, un- tS GOLDSMITH. selfishnoss, gentleness, and purity of feeling ; these were the qualities that won the hearts of the worthiest of his contemporaries, and have endeared him to all succeedino- generations ; which made Burke burst into tears, and Reynolds desert his studio, on hearing of his death, and prompted Johnson to say to the recording Boswell: "Let not his failings be remembered ; he was a very great man ; » which crowded his staircase in the Temple with weeping outcasts, while the coffin was re-opened that the lovely Mary Horneck might obtain a lock of his hair They loved him as men love a gifted, affectionate, though sometmies wayward, child ; we love him as an example of genius in its most innocent, kind-hearted, and attrac- tive guise. In what then does the special charm and attraction of Goldsmith's writings consist? The answer is threefold • it lies partly in his diction, partly in his subjects, partly in his mode of treating his subjects. His language is always singularly refined : just as in society he never forgot that he was a gentleman, so in wntmg he never forgot what was due to himself and what to his readers. Composing with consummate ease, he is never vulgar ; handling the most familiar subjects he never condescends to buffoonery or loses his self-respect Again, his style is particularly clear and luminous : many of his sentences we read twice over; but it is not to remove an obscurity, but to deepen our admiration of the thought or expression. But though his words are happily chosen, with little apparent effort, or straining aftereffect he cannot be acquitted of occasional negligence and care' lessness ; though never vulgar, he is sometimes slipshod. Deficient m imagination, but excelling in observation Goldsmith- s< lected his subjects from within the rans-e of his own experience ; though this is more or less tr^e of many writers, perhaps of all, and especially true of Eng- ; these were thiest of his I succeeding tears, and i death, and swell ; " Let very great emple with led that the >f his hair, late, though m example and attrac- ttraction of threefold : ects, partly just as in man, so in f and what ease, he is jbjects, he elf-respect. )us : many is not to tion of the ire happily ifter effect, ; and care- 5 slipshod. )servation, e rang-e nf ;ss true of e of Eng- LIFE AND INTRODUCTION. 19 lish novelists, who, from Fielding to Dickens, have made themselves the heroes of their own novels, it applies to Goldsmith in a pre-eminent degree. It would be possible, with a small exercise of ingenuity, to reconstruct his cha- racter out of his works by the light of internal evidence ; and not only his own, but the characters of the more prominent members of his family. Indeed he was a close and accurate observer of the men and things around him, yet neither penetrative nor scientific. The short poem, Retaliation, is sufficient proof of his powers of observa- tion, where the sketch of Edmund Burke is quite inimit- able ; but he had little imagination. When he proceeds beyond the limits of his personal experience, instead of rising, like Shakespeare, to his most wonderful creations, he becomes ineffective ; thus the delineation of the horrors of the tropics, in The Deserted Village, is tawdry and inexpressive compared with the familiar picture of Irish desolation. The Vicar of W akcjield is imperfect as a sketch of English provincial life, but has created for us at least one character which will never die. It was this same defect which made Goldsmith fail lamentably as a critic ; for he gave his warmest admiration to those works which appealed least to the imagination. He had little sympathy with Shakespeare or Milton, and preferred Tickell to Thomson, Parnell to Gray. Another result was that the ideas with which he had to work were limited in number : hi ; characters reappear in new dresses, and even his images are often repeating themselves. But within this limited range he was supreme. Just as a great general with a small but well- drilled army will accomplish more than more numerous troops under inferior leader- ship, so Goldsmith, from the absolute control in which he hsid his mtCiIcctuSi forces was rnorc effective than many other writers who cannot discipline the exuberant and fantastic creations of their brain. 20 GOLDSMITH. T t^^^^'l"" *''^ featment of his subjects he was, as Dr. Johnson describes him in his epitaph, «Sive risus essent movendi, s.ve lacryma., affectuum potens, sed /en/s domi- nator : m all his humour there is pathos, and in his pathos humour. True to nature, he knows that smiles and tears are separated by no wide interval ; and his comedy never degenerates to farce, nor his sentiment to sentmientahty. His fidelity to nature forms perhaps his chief title to the position of a great poet ; a fidelity, ex- h.b.tt^d not only, as we have seen, in the delineation of 'a character, but also in the details of a description. In this he presents a marked contrast to his contemporary Gray who depicts nature as seen through the mirror of books or of classical phrases ; the recluse of the university cloister is seen in every line, while with Goldsmith we feel that we are in the company of one who has wandered amid all sorts of scenery and mixed in all kinds of society and who reproduces his genuine impressions at first hand To sum up his strength and weakness, he was at* his best naturae minister et interpres," and yet "tantum facit et mtelligit quantum de naturae ordine re vel mente observaverit : nee amplius scit aut potest." i was, as Dr. risus essent i lenis domi- and in his that smiles al ; and his >entiment to perhaps his fidelity, ex- leation of a ion. In this orary Gray, of books or sity cloister t'e feel that iered amid 'Ociety, and it hand, was at his t "tantum ! vel mente "THE TRAVELLER:" OR, "A PROSPECT OF SOCIETY." INTRODUCTION. 'THIS poem was ori^tnally published in quarto and L. T^^ " • ^PP/^^'-^nce on December 19,^1 7J4' the tV^ ^?'' •' ?76S. Goldsmith had been engaged uoon It for a long time. It is certain that a rS skSch of part of It had been previously sent by the poet to his brother Henry, probably during his travels in Sui^zei and; and it is not unlikely that other parts were desS If not actually written, during his travels. At la ? the poem was completed by the advice of d' Johnson wo himself added some of the closing lines. The poet r^ tTsl' ;r'[iS' fi S^ '" '' '"" '^' publisher, VeX^r^ s rikhia h,?. n . fV^PP^^,'"^'?'^^^^^snot instantaneously striking ; but in eight months it ran through four editions Johnson declared that it was the greatest poervvhiclS appeared since the days of Pope ; and I is^ahi tha he had been seen to weep over the lines which descr be the Lnghsh character. At any rate, in a short time the fame of Goldsmith was established ; and it was felt that a n^w ^ r/,^r/'"//" ^"'°"f ^'^" ^''^'^'^ "^-^^ of the capital The Traveller ^^s dedicated by the poet to his brother Rev Henry Goldsmith. One ox two sentences of thP dedication must be quoted : " It will throw a Sht unon SsThat if is'Iid" '''T"^^ "^^^^" *h^ re'adfr'undT stands that it is addressed to a man who, despising fame S'°n rom'eVftrtv o"^^ f ^^^'''''^ ^" ' °"'"^- 1.11 n IP ome ot torty puunds a year. I now oerceiv^' my dear brother, the wisdom of' your humble^ choc? You have entered upon a sacred office, wher^the harvesj 33 THE TRAVELLER. off tS'fi u ^r' '''^^""•■^•■s '-^"-e '^"t few: while you have nn 1 . h "f ambition, where the laboiixers are many, and the harvest scarce worth carrying away Poetry makes a principal anniscinent among unpolished nations • but in a country verging to the extremes of refinement painting and inusic come in for a share. As these offer tlie feeble mind a less laborious entertainment, they at first rival poetry, and at length supplant her, they en- gross all that favour once shown to her, and, though but younger sisters, seize upon the elder's birthright W hat reception a poem may find which has neither abuse! partv, nor blank verse to support it, I cannot tell, nor am 1 solicitous to know. My aims are right. Without esnousing the cause of any party, I have attempted to moderate the rage of all. I have endeavoured to know that there may be equal happiness in states that are ditfu-ently governed from our own, that each state has a parti.:ular principle of happiness, and that thi-: principle in each may b ) earned to a mischievous success " hroughout the poem two characters are visible— the exile, wandering in foreign lands and sighing for his Z'Tll *° ;y'^'f^djstance is lending its enchantment; and the political philosopher, inculcating his paradoxical heory that one form of government is as conduc ^e to human happiness as another. With Goldsmith in his tnrmer character all must thoroughly sympathize. He is always charming when he is drawing on the rich stores of his personal experience ; and here his own individu- ahty seems to inspire his criticisms and his complaints. But to Goldsmith as a political philosopher we must take exception. Though it is true that under the best of go- vernments some men would probably remain miserable, while under the worst some few may attain to happiness It IS far more true that some forms of government do more for the happiness of the individual than others A government conducted with a view to the greatest iood of the greatest number may possibly make mistakes, and occasionally defeat its own objects ; but it will at any rate be more productive of happiness than the rule of a selfish and irresponsible Oriental despot, a ,rom),. Xa/r- wno regards his subjects as his flock, to be fleeced or devoured at his pleasure. ile you have rs are many, .... Poetry hed nations ; refinement, s these offer ent, they at er, they en- ind, though hright. . , . either abuse, tell, nor am . Without ttempted to ed to know es that are state has a li". principle 2SS." visible — the ing for his :hantment ; paradoxical )nduc 'e to nith in his lize. He is rich stores n individu- :omplaints. ! must take best of go- miserable, happiness, rnment do others. A atest good stakes, and vill at any e rule of a aiUuhv "KnQu fleeced or c c A \ ^ s •A li T A B L O O A M ir THE TRAVELLER. T> EMOTE, unfriended, melancholy, slow, -*-^ Or b the lazy Scheld, or wandering Po • Or onward, where the rude Carinthian boor Against the houseless stranger shuts the door ; Or where Campania's plain forsaken lies, e A weary waste expanding to the skies ; Where'er I roam, whatever realms to see, My heart untravelled fondly turns to thee ; Still to my brother turns, with ceaseless pain, And drags at each remove a lengthening chain. lo Eternal blessings crown my earliest friend, •And round his dwelling guardian saints attend : Blest be that spot, where cheerful guests retire To pause from toil, and trim their evening fire : Blest that abode, where want and p lin repair, . i c And every stranger finds a ready chair : Blest be those feasts with sini t)le plentv crowned. Where all the ruddy family aiound Laugh at the jests or pranks that never fail, Or sigh with pity at some mournful tale ; 20 Or press the bashful stranger to his food, And learn the luxury of doing good. But me, not destined such delights to share, My prime of life in wnnderirsg spent and care : Impelled with steps unceasing to pursue 25 Some fleeting good, that mocks me with the view ; 24 GOLDSMITH. That, like the circle bounding earth and skies, Allures from far, yet, as I follow, flies ; My fortune leads to traverse realms alone, And find no spot of all the world my own. 30 E'en now, where Alpine solitudes ascend, I sit me down a pensive hour to spend ; And, placed on high above the storm's career, Look downward where a hundred realms appear— Lakes, forests, cities, plains extending wide, 35 The pomp of kings, the shepherd's humbler pride. When thus creation's charms around combine. Amidst the store should thankless pride repine ? Say, should the philosophic mind disdain That good which makes each humbler bosom vain? 40 Let school-taught pride dissemble all it can, These little things are great to httle man ; And wiser he whose sympathetic mind Exults in all the good of all mankind. 44 Ye ghttering towns with wealth and splendour crowned • Ye fields where summer spreads profusion round : Ye lakes whose vessels catch the busy gale ; Ye bending swains that dress the flowery vale : For me your tributary stores combine : Creation's heir, the world, the world is mine ! 50 As some lone miser, visiting his store, ' Bends at his treasure, counts, recounts it o'er; Hoards after hoards his rising raptures fill, Yet still he sighs, for hoards are wanting still : Thus to my breast alternate passions rise, cc Pleased with each good that Heaven to man supplies: Yet oft a sigh prevails, and sorrows fall, To see the hoard of human bliss so small ; And oft I wish, amidst the scene, to find Some spot to real happiness consigned. 60 U'here my worn soul, each wandering hope at rest. May gather bliss, to see my fellows blest. But, where to find that happiest spot below. Wno can direct, when all preteiid to know? so ar — ride. ne. 35 vain? 40 44 rownedj lid; 50 ,. 55 pphes : 60 est, i n w An He Co Ea A r. /in Til Th I An( Hei Lik Tha • 25 6s 75 8o THE TRAVELLER. The shuddering tenant of the frigid zone Ex ok Phrf"'""' that happiest spot his own ; Extols the treasures of his stormy seas, And his long nights of revelry and ease ; Ihe naked negro, panting at the line, ^°.tl ■ .u'^ f ^'^^'^ '^"^^ '^'^d palmy wine, 70 Basks m he glare, or stems the tepid wave ^ And thanks his gods for all the good they gave. Hif fiL' V^! P'''*"°^'' ^°''''*' ^^^^'-e'er we roam, His first, best country, ever is at home. And yet, perhaps, if countries we compare And estimate the blessings which they share Though patriots flatter, still shall wisdor^t find An equal portion dealt to all mankind • As ditferent good, by art or nature iven, To ditferent nations makes tV . ^essings even. Nature, a mother kind ah.<. to ail, Still grants her bliss at labour's earnest call: With food as well the peasant is supplied On Idra's cliff as Arno's shelvv side • And though the rocky-crested 'summits frown These rocks, by custom, turn to beds of down fi^om art more various are the blessings sent^ Wealth, commerce, honour, liberty, content Yet these each other's power so strong cont'est, ' That either seems destructive of the rest. ' \V here wealth and freedom reign, contentment f -'I. And honour sinks where comnferce TonTp"^vaiIs '' Hence every state, to one loved blessin| m-one Conforms and models life to that alone ' Each to the favourite happiness attends ; oc And spurns the plan that aims at other ends : ^^ Till, carried to excess in each domain. This favourite good begets peculiar pain. A ^"! ^^* "l^'y these truths with closer eyes And trace them through the prospect as' lies • Here for a while my proper ?ares resigned ' llere let mc sit m sorrow for mankind 7 ' Th.^^T^"^°'^'''^ ''^'■"^' '"^t '•^"dom cast, That shades the steep, and sighs at every blast 85 90 100 26 GOLDSMITH. ! ;ii Far to the rigl. ., where Apennine ascends, 105 Bright as the summer, Italy extends : Its uplands sloping deck the mountain's side, Woods over woods in gay theatric pride ; While oft some temple's mouldering tops between With venerable grandeur mark the scene. 1 10 Could nature's bounty satisfy the breast, The sons of Italy were surely blest. Whatever fruits in different climes were found, That proudly rise, or humbly court the grouml ; Whatever bloom, in torrid tracts appear, 115 Whose bright succession decks the vaiied year ; Whatever sweets salute the northern sky With vernal lives, that blossom but to di^ ; These here disporting own the kindred soil, Nor ask luxuriance from the planter's toil ; 120 While sea-born gales their gelid wings expand To winnow fragrance round the snjiling land. But small the bliss that sense alone bestows, And sensual bliss is all the nation knows. In florid beauty groves and fields appear, 125 Man seems the only growth that dwindles here. Contrasted faults through all his manners reign : Though poor, luxurious : though submissive, vain ; Though grave, yet trifling ; zealous, yet untrue; And even in penance planning sins anew. 130 AV evils here contaminate the mind, Th it opulence departed leaves behind ; For wealth was the'rs, not far removed the date. When commerce proudly flourished through the state ; At her command the palace learned to rise, 135 Again the long-fallen column sought the skies. The canvas glowed, beyond e'en nature warm. The pregnant quarry teemed with human form ; Till, more unsteady than the southern gale, Commerce on other shores displayed her sail ; 140 While nought remained of all that riches gave. But towns unmanned and lords without a slave ; And late the nation found with fruitless skill Its former strength was but plethoric ill. tween los no id, ;ar; "5 1 20 vs. 125 ;re. gn: , vain ; 130 late, the state ; 135 !S, '! i I; 140 re, ve; ii THE TRAVELLER. Yet still the loss of wealth is here supplied By arts, the splendid wrecks of former pride : From these the feeble heart and long-fallen mind An easy compensation seem to find. Here may be seen, in bloodless pomp arrayed, The pasteboard triumph and the cavalcade : Processions formed for piety and love, A mistress or -^ saint in every grove : J3y sports lilce these are all their cares beguiled ; The sports of children satisfy the child ; Each nobler aim, represt by long control, Now sinks at last, or feebly mans the soul ; While low delights, succeeding fast behind, In happier meanness occupy the mmd : As in those domes, where Caesars once bore swav, Defaced by time and tottering in decay, The^-e in the ruin, heedless of the dead, The shelter-seeking peasant builds his shed ; And, wondering man could wan', tlie larger pile, Exults, and owns his cottage with a smile. My soul, turn from them, turn we to survey Where rougher climes a nobler race display, Where the bleak Swiss their stormy mansion tread, And force a churlish soil for scanty bread ; No product here the barren hills afford But man and steel, the soldier and his sword ; No vernal blooms their torpid rocks array, But winter lingering chills the lap of May ; No zephyr fondly sues the mountain's breast, But meteors glare, and stormy glooms invest. 27 145 150 15s 160 165 170 Yet still, even here, content can spread a charm, 1 75 Redress the clime, and all its rage disarm. Though poor the peasant's hut, his feast though small He sees his little lot the lot of all ; Sees no contiguous palace rear its head. To shame the meanness of his humble shed ; 180 No costly lord the sumptuous banquet deal, To make him loathe his vegetable meal ; But calm, and bred in ignorance and toil, Each wish contracting, fits him to the soil. 28 GOLDSMITH. Cheerful at mom, he wakes from short repose iSc Breathes the keen air, and carols as he goes?' ^ With patient angle trolls the finny deep^ ' Or se?k?fh''7"'"!:°"' ploughshare to the steep ; AnH Hr .1,"^^" "^^^.^ snow-tracks mark the way And draers the stru^fr no- cn,,oo.«. ;„»„ j_.. ^'^y* 190 19s 200 205 &„j J ---- — .w^ auuw-iracKs mark Af 1-f K^' l^^ ?trugghng savage into day. At night returning, every labour sped, He sits him down the monarch of a shed • h7:Z^J ^'f f^T'"'"^ ^''' '-^"d round survey While hf.T' i^^'^'' ^hat brighten at the bla^ze ; While his loved partner, boastful of her hoard ?.!.hPI^^',^? '^'^"^y P'^"^r o'^ the boardT ' And haply too some pilgrim, thither led, With many a tale repays the nightly bed. iJ}^\^''u^ ^^"."^ ^''^ "^tive wilds impart ^^y^ K^ P-'i"^!?^ P''^^^'°" °n his heart ; And e'en those hills, that round his mans on rise Enhance the bliss his scanty fund su^phes ' Dear IS that shed to which his soul conforms And dear that hill which lifts him to the sS ms • And as a child when scaring sounds moles° ' Clings close and closer to the mother's breast iut hln V '°!T*' ^"^ '^^ whirlwind's roar/ But bind him to his native mountains more. Such are the charms to barren states assig-ned • Their wants but few their wishes all confinfd ' 210 Yet let them only share the praises ue ° If few their wants, their pleasures are but few • For every want that stimulates the breast ' Becomes a source of pleasure when redrest Whence from such lands each pleasing science flies , r r That first excites desires, and then supplies ' '^ Unknovvn to them, when sensual plea?Sres dov To fill the languid pause with fine?jX ^' Unknown those powers that raise the soul to flame Catch every nerve and vibrate through the fram?^ ',,0 Their lev el life is but a smouldering fire ^' "° Unguenched by want, unfanned bv strode desir- - Unht for raptures, or, if raptures 6heer ° ' On some high festival of once a year, 56, 1 85 teep; le way, 190 5C * rd, 195 200 rise. lis 205 .d; 210 lies, 215 ime, le. 220 ■e 1 THE TRAVELLER. » 29 In wild excess the vulgar breast takes fire, 22? Till, buried in debauch, the bliss expire. But not their joys alone tluis coarsely flow • 1 lieir morals, hke their pleasures, arc but low • l^or, as rchnLiiient stops, from sire to son, A "^^'f^''^^' unimproved, the manners run ; aw And love s and friendship's finely-pointed dart 1-all, blunted, from each indurated heart Some sterner virtues o'er the mountain's breast iviay sit hke falcons cowering on the nest ; But all the gentler morals, such as play -c Through life's more cultured walks, and charm the w-vy, I hese, fLir dispersed, on timorous pinions flv. 1. o sport and flutter in a kinder sk\ . To kinder skies, where gentler manners reign, I turn ; and I- ranee displays her bright domain 240 Gay sprightly land of mirth and sochil ease, ^ Pleased with thyself, whom all the world can please How often have I led thy sportive choir, ^ ' With tuneless pipe, beside the murmuring Loire ! Where shaduy elms along the margin giew, 245 And freshened from the wave the zephx r flew • And hap y though my harsh touch faltering st'ill. But mocked all tune, and marred the dancer's skill ; Yet vv^uld the village praise my wondrous power, And dance, forgetful of the noontide hour. 2W Alike all ages. Dames of ancient days Have led their children through the minhful maze, And the gay grandsire, skilled in gestic lore, Has frisked beneath the burden of threescore. So blest a life these thoughtless realms display : 255 Thus idly busy rolls their world away. ^ ^ ' ^> Theirs are those arts that mind to mind endear, t or honour forms the social temper here • Honour, that praise which real merit gains Or even imaginary worth obtains, ' 260 Here passes current ; paid from hand to ^>and It shifts m splendid traffic round the land • ' From courts to camps, to cottages it strays. And all are taught an avarice of praise • 30 GOLDSMITH. * I I They please, are pleased, thf y give to get esteem, 265 Till, sec ling blest, they grow .0 what they seem. But while this softer heart their bl' . supplies, It gives 'heir follies also room to rise ; For praibC too dearly loved, or warmly sought, Enfeebles all internal strength of thought : And the weak soul, within itself unblest, Leans for all pleasure on another's breast. Ht ace ostentation here, with tawdry art, Pants for the vulgar praise which fools impart ; Here vanity assumes her pert grimace. And trims her robes of frieze with copper lace ; Here beggar pride defrauds her daily cheer, To boast one splendid banquet once a year : The mind still turns where shifting fashion drav.s. Nor weighs the solid worth of self-applause. 270 275 280 To men of other minds my fancy flies, Embosomed in the deep where Holland lies. Methinks her patient sons before me stand, Where the broad ocean leans against the land ; And, sedulous to stop the coming tide, 285 Lift the tall ramptre's artificial pride. [ramjxirt Onward, methinks, and diligently slow. The firm connected bulwark seems to grow. Spreads its long arms amidst the watery roar. Scoops out an empire, and usurps the shore — 290 While the pent ocean, rising o'er the pile. Sees an amphibious world beneath him smile ; The slow canal, the yellow blossomed vale, The willow-tufted bank, the gliding sail, The crowded mart, the cultivated plain— 295 A new creation rescued from his reign. Thus, while around the wave-subjected soil Impels the native to repeated toil. Industrious habits in each bosom reign. And industry begets a love of gain. 300 Hence all the good from opulence that springs. With all those ills superfluous treasure brings. Are here displayed. Their much-loved wealth imnart" Convenience", plenty, elegance, and arts ; 270 275 28o 290 29s 300 'iftxi ta Bu Ev At Th Al He An Du Roi Wa Ho An( Wh Anc The The Cre Ext Stei Wit Pric I se Intt By 1 Fiei Tru Wh And Thii Too But Tha Kee The All( Hen Min h 31 305 310 THE TRAVELLER. But view them closer, craft and fraud appear. Even liberty itself is bartered here. At gold's superior charms all freedom flies • The needy sell it, and the rich man buys : ' A land of tyrants, and a den of slaves Here wretches seek dishonourable graves And, calmly bent, to servitude conform, ' Dull as their lakes that slumber in the storm. Heavens ! how unlike their Belgic sires of old— Rough, poor, content, ungovernably bold, War m each breast, and freedom on each brow • ^i c How much unlike the sons of Britain now ! ' ^ ^ Fired at the sound, my genius spreads her wing. And flies where Britain courts the western spring • Where lawns extend that scorn Arcadian pride ' And brighter streanis than fomed Hydaspes glide. ^20 1 here, all around, the gentlest breezes stray • There gentlest music melts on ev'ry spray • ' Creation's mildest charms are there combined • Extremes are only in the master's mind Stern o'er each bosom Reason holds her state. ?2C With daring aims irregularly great. Pride in their port, def^ :^ce in their eye I see the lords of huma:; kind pass by ' Intent on high designs, a thoughtful band, By forms unfashioned, fresh from nature's hand, -iio Fierce in their native hardiness of soul True to imagined right, above control •' While even the peasant boasts these rights to scan And learns to venerate himself as man. ' Thine, freedom thine the blessings pictured here, i« Thine are those charms that dazzle and endear • Too blest, indeed, were such without alloy ' But fostered e'en by freedom, ills annoy ; * That independence Britons prize too high Keeps man from man, and breaks the social tie • The self-dependent lordlings stand alone, Ail claims that bind and sweeten life unknown Here, by the bonds of nature feebly held. Minds combat minds, repelling and repelled • 340 33 GOLDSMITH. 345 350 Ferments arise, imprisoned factions roar, Repressed ambition struggles round her shore, 1 11], overwrought, the general system feels Its motions stopped, or frenzy fire the wheels. Nor this the worst. As nature's ties decay. As duty, love, and honour fail to sway fictitious bonds, the bonds of wealth and law, btill gather strength, and force unwilling awe.' Hence all ob:dience bows to these alone, And talent sinks, and merit weeps unknown • ril time may come, when, stripped of all her charms, 1 he land of scholars, and the nurse of arms, ii;6 U^here noble stems transmit the patriot flame, Where kings have toiled, and p.ets wrote for fame, Une sink of level avarice shall lie. And scholars, soldiers, kings, unhonoured die. 3O0 Yet think not, thus when freedom's ills I state I mean to flatter kings, or court the great. ' Ye powers of truth, that bid my soul aspire, Far from my bosom urive the low desire ' ^u^ *'',°,",' ?^'" ^'■eedom, taught alike to feel 06c i he rabble's rage, and tyrant's angry sceel ; Ihou transitory flower, alike undone By proud contempt, or favour's fostering sun, htill may thy blooms the changeful clime endure ' 1 only would repress them to secure; ' 070 For just experience tells in ev'ry soil. That those who think must govern those that toil : And all that freedom's highest aims can reach Is but to lay proportioned loads on each. Herice, should one order disproportioned grow. ^175 Its double weight must ruin all below. ^irP *'^,^.",how blind to all that truth requires, Who think it freedom when a part aspires ! Calm is my soul, nor apt to rise in arms. Except when fast approaching danger warms ; 080 But, when contending chiefs blockade the throne Contracting regal power to stretch thoir own When I behold a factious band agree ' To call it freedom when themselves are free • -c. 345 ■V, 350 ' charms, 356 fame, 360 ate. 36s ire! 370 ■oil; » 375 380 ne, ^i li i 'n Ea( La\ 'rh( Pill Fe3 Ten Till I fl^ Wh Anc Gav Ha\ Her Seei Lik( Seei Lea( And Inb Hav The Beh( The Fore Tot Whe And Ey Thrc Whe And Ther And The /o si Cast! .nd Va That ?3 385 390 THE TRAVELLER, Each wanton judge new penal statutes draw, Laws grind the poor, and rich men rule the law; 1 he wealth of climes, where savage nations roam, I illaged from slaves to purchase slaves at home • Fear, pity, justice, indignation start, ' Z^u\ °fr ^^^^^''■'^' ''^"fl '5^ie my swelling heart: 1 111 half a patriot, half a coward grown I fly from petty tyrants to the throne. ' tttY^^'J*''"^^^^'^' ^"^'^^ ^^'^^ ^^ that baleful hour When first ambition struck at regal power; And, thus polluting honour in its source, Gave wealth to sway the mind with double force. Have we not seen, round Britain's people^ shore Her useful sons exchanged for useless ore ? ' Seen all her triumphs but destruction hast-, Like flaring tapers brightening as *hey waste? oeen opulence, her grandeur to maintain, Lead stern depopulation in her train, And over fields where scattered hamlets rose. In barren solitary pomp repose? Have we not seen, at pleasure's lordly call, 1 he smiling, long-frequented village fall ? Beheld the duteous son, the sire decayed, 1 he modest matron, and the blushing maid, Forced from their homes, a melancholy train. To traverse climes beyond the western main; Where wild Oswego spreads her swamps around. And Niagara stuns with thundering sound ? Even now, perhaps, as there some pilgrim strays 1 hrough tangled forests and through dang'rous ways. Where beasts with man divided empire claim, 4I 5 And the brown Indian marks with murderous aim ; 1 here, while above the giddy tempest flies, And all around distressful veils arise. The pensive exile, bending'with his woe, ^o stop too fearful, and too faint to go, 420 Casts a long look where England's glories shine, .nd bids his bosom sympathise with mine. Vain, very vain, my weary search to find That bliss which only centres in the mird. C 395 400 405 410 ^ i' II: 34 C'OLDSMITU, Why has^e I strayed from pleasure and repose To seek a good each government bestows^? ' In every government, though terrors reign 1 hough t>Tant kings or tyrant hi« s restmin How small, of all that human hearts endure 1 hat part which laws or kings can c'v^ e or cu •- ' Still to ourselves in every pl^ce cons ed Our own felicity we make or find ' \\ith secret course, which no loud storm, annoy Chaes he smooth current of domestic jo/^ ^' The hi.ed axe, the agonising wheel, ^ ^ ' Ukc .; iron crowi. md Damicns' bed of steel ro men remote {^m po-ver but rar^'y knovvn Leave reason, faith, dd cm.cience, ^rT^n. 425 430 435 m: 3se, 425 cure ; 430 nnoy, el, 3vvn, 435 il m i H ! li': in NOTES THE TRAVELLER. (l-io) The poet assures his brother, to whom he dedicates the poem, of his affection for him, an afTection that no distance can efface no variety weaken ; and (11-22) invokes blessings on his quiet hospitable home. (23-30) Far different is the lot of tfie wandering poet, who after long journevings (ii--j6) takes his place on some Alpine height, and moralizes on the scene below, (37-50) m the spirit not of an unsympathetic or cynical philosopher, but of an open-hearted philanthropist, (a-^S) and with feelings as mixed as those of the miser counting his cold— with satisfaction with what has been gained, sorrow that so much IS absent, (58-62) The poet longs to find some abode of perfect happi- ness on earth. (62-80) Esquimaux and negro, in fact all patriots. f?,"!!8w '^'' T" ^^vif'^'y- """^ ''°'" «q"^"y good reasons (81 98) for everywhere life may be sustained, everywhere the blessings of civilization are counteracted by disadvantages (99-104) Let us prove this by induction. (105-110) Take • I. Italy, Its natural beauty, (111-122) and luxuriant fertility.' (122-144) Lut the character of the people is a compound of all the faults that the prosperity and subsequent collapse of com- merce could produce, (145-164) with just enough artistic taste o cripple nobler energies. (165-175)11. Switzerland. Though the soil IS barren, and the climate severe, (175-198) yet as all are poor all are contented. The life has its own homely joys • (199-208) so that the Swiss loves his country the more for its lack of natural advantages. (209-226) But this rough life in- capacitates him for the enjoyment of the more refined forms of pleasure, (227-23S) or for the practice of the gentler virtues. /fr^^lt trance. The people are cf a happy disposition, (255-^66) every man eager to gaiii the r .,. i opinion of the circle m which he moves ; (267-280) but Has naturally results in a 53 THE TRAVIXTER ail ' I i 1' 'i, r' 1' If 1: 1 IP: 1 ill i difficulty from the ocean /'o, '^ ".'■'""J'' ''^'''^"'^d with thrift; (^ox-3za)h.t°a"Svi2 Cii;;"'r:Jr'"r^^ ^"^ panmicnt of these qualities (112, 11^ A '''^"'?'"'-^' ''^^om- inhabuaiits free, indeuencl.-m i.iah J, ; • ? V^ "'*'"''^'' '^e ^^1' (335-3^8, l^lnSS n^it^ r^°^"'"-" threaten naUonal cle"e?^^ra?y ' "'^""" '^^ "^^ ^•"^^' «° «« to bunlens of .ocictv : 7-I' t ZT^'l^T^ adjustment of the one class- e < of V'^J-l ^^ I r ""' ^''^ ascendancy of any (392 422K:rafi "ait;tc;?.Tef r ::''f '>■'" ^^^'^--'^ ' increases, and tLe r ch man Hriv« .1 ^'"^''^'"'"•'^"ce of wealth and perilous shoie '^"'"^ '''" P°°^ ^° ^''"e on a distant futile rn^^mimlnant'Tr^. n' P""^"* government is at once the happinSs^rhSrv^du:!";:"'""""'^^ ''''''' '^^^ -^^ ^^ishtly' I Remote. Cf- 1. 437- 2 Lazy Schdd. A river in the N. of France fc flo^vuig by Tournay. Oudenarde G^ ent /f^w^mw^ />^. A river in the N. of Italy ris n passing by Turin, Piacenza, Cremona and em ' many mouths into the Ai.iatic. ^ - betweenlily.;:,n/|,-^JP— ^^^^^ More commonly used of places than of persons. of ;^nd V. twerr -hf dps, ? it r by (281-296) ;ciied with lustry and "al accom- encratioii ! ^tuie, the of luinnn ve'lop the so as to ated, and :nt of the -y of any e crown ; 3f wealth a distant < at once / slightly persons. >f a large c,' 'san- ledicine, tures or nd com- of mind vhat he of T/ig ilsmith, l,'Ve.s.' irdiness which written .L, li/e v.. of ;rp. by empire NOTES. 53 Boor A worrl adopted from the Dutch «boer,' literally 'a husbandman.; ak.n to Ger. ' l.auen.' ' to till. ' For the dc^rada- tionof meaning cf 'knave,' 'varlet,' ' pagan/ ' villain.' &c. .nwl, W'r"' ^ I"-o^''"f of Central Italy, bounded on the ZiVr '^'T' '"^' °" "^? '"""> ''y Lucania: celebrated in classical times for its extraordinary fertility. Foruxken In spite of the contrast between the past and Krr"^ ""1"^'°'"^ '?^'*' '""■"' ('•••^- ^^'-^P"^). it is still one of the most populous provinces of Italy ' '^ '* 're^ alimen"' ^'"■°"^'^' ^^'^ ^^'' ''■e'il"ie/ from a late Lat. form Foil wlTf '''^' ^^' f"-^ ^'^'^'■"' °f ^ ^"^^"^ t° his mistress in rord s well-known madrigal — " Where beauty moves, and wit delights, And signs of kindness bind me ; There, oh, there, \\here'er I go, Heave my heart behind me." Q ? i'"{f::"-' ?A ^''' Goldsmith often repeats his images So (W. Ald.ne edition) «' The farther I travel I feel the pSn o separation with stronger force. Those ties that bind me lo mv na ive country and you are still unbroken ; by every remove I only drag a greater length of chain." ^ y remove 1 .. ^ ^ . — <^'''''2''« '?/ ''^'''' ^^ ''r/fl', vol. i. lett. iii. T^'^'"'- PP'^t've = 'may eternal blessings crown.' 15 Want and pain. Abstract for concrete Cf 1 77 Keparr. This neuter verb, ' to go to,' differ, in deriv^ition as we 1 as in meaning from the active verb meaning 'to mend or restore. This is from Fr. 'repairer,' from late Lat. ' repatriare,' literally to re- visit one's native country,' while that is from La reparare,' literally to ' prepare again.' 17 Cmvned. This metaphorical use is common in all periods- e.g. > "This grief is crowned with consolation." Crown a happy life with a fair death." o n jj ' , , —Tennyson, £m'd. 18 /Huddy; t.e. the hue of health. ^ 19 y^sts. Originally a deed or exploit; Lat. 'gestum,' from gero, to do. Hence in mediaeval language the narration of anything interesting or amusing, Prani' ' A trick 'an old word, though of doubtful deriva- lon, perliaps from Welsh 'pranc,' a frolic, or akin f. Dr.tch pronk, ostentation, 'finery,' and probably to 'prance ' 22 LtlXIIVV. <"vr. Cf Porrpi-c" pi .,..- -/• fjr *^ '. , , truth once known, to bless is to.be blest." 23 'Me: This objective case is governed by 'leads' in 1. 29. lis 54 THE TRAVELLER. the natural order of the wo^is ^^"'V"|^«™'"°» variation oi /Vc./,r/^;-_"Ti,stice to cra^P nn:i ^^'^'i^'s Ode to the Lord 26 /7.r////.r Prnhoi I ; '^ -^"ccoLir, at your court." origin^^^j?-,i^^3„t^;? % ^^^^^:^-^i - substantive 'llectuess'^^" ''^"' adject:- e 'fleet,' ber:;^,;;;:fS;S f ^ir^"'^ P^°^^^^^^^ »^ '-PP^-- ^ave often poetry preserv;s archaic fS'ms ' '"' '"'^- ^°^'^« ^^^^ oftS mlX'uflslT' ^" • ^''''^^^"'='^ « P°«'tion may Ix thehigSuUainl Cf'nfT"A', ^^^'l^'^" '^"-^ve explored ilf.»;^">._ "'°""'^'"'- ^f- of the Alps m Rogers's FleaLres oj "Though far below the forked lightnin-s plav Career ^T^ '' '"' ^^'\ "^ '''""^^'- ^lies^.^va;r•' ^ ^' fb/?::^' n Jf,^":;^!!? '^^ ^''^^ 'akes.'{iterally a f pride.' uro. 'to epithet, 5oet here ilher the humani losophy. ' school- ■ Pope's )ohnan's '/-? Ages, conceal.' lumbler on ' or i I! NOTES. 55 _ ^^ Cro7vned. This repetition of one word (as in lines ir 17) IS characteristic of Goldsmith. Cf. ' realms ' in lines 7. 29 14 and stranger' in lines 16, 21, and 'bend' in 48, 52 47 Busy ; i.e. 'restless.' 48 BeiuHng ; i.e. 'stooping to their work.' Dress Lit. ' to make straight.' So ' to put or keep in order,' to deck. FromLat. 'dirigere.' So 'a vine-dress»r ' whol V'^"^'^''^'' ^•^- '^" contributing to form one pleasing SO Creation's heir. Cf. Cowper's 7aj/&. The Winter Mornino, I. 738 741— • '^' " He looks abroad into the varied field Of nature ; and though poor, perhaps, compared With those whose mansions glitter in his sight Calls the delightful scenery all his own." ' Read the whole passage. _ 51 Store. How far is its meaning in this line different from its sense in 1. 38? 52 Rerc-uifs. In its literal sense, 'counts again.' 54 Yet still he sighs. The insatiability of misers has been a common-place in all ages. " Crescit amcr nummi quantum ipsa pecumacrescit.' — JuVKNAi.. "Multa petentihus desunt multa " —Horace. Cf. Lord Lytton's My AW'el, bk. x.— " Philus " saith a Latin writer, "was not so rich as LeeHus; Ltelius was not so rich as Scipio ; Scipio was not so rich as Crassus • and Crassus was not so rich as he wislied to be." ' _ 56 n.'ased. This agrees with the personal pronoun implied m the word my in the line i)efore. 57 Prevails. In the literal sense, 'gets the mastery.' Sorraivs fall. It seems more natural to make this phrase mean, 'sorrows fall upon or oppress the heart,' than to wrest 'sorrows' into meaning 'tears of sorrow.' 60 Consig'!cd. 'Assigned' or 'appropriated.' 63 llnfind. Dependent on 'direct,' in 1. 64. 65 I-rigid zone. Gk. ^^vri, a girdle or Ijclt. Geographers have divided the earth into live great divisions : the torrid zone situated between the tropics ; tlie two teniiieratc zones ; and the two frigid zones, enclosed within the polar circles. 68 Long nights. In tiie most nortiiern parts of Lapland the sun remains below the horizon from November 20th to Tanuarv loth. ■' ^ 69 The line; i.e. the equitor, an imagimry line dividine the — HI! 11.!.! — ...^ju.vTn Hint ;uiiur-:ia hciiiispherea. 70 Golden sands. The Gold Coast. Palmy wine. This is made from the sap of the Palmyra palm the cocoa-nut palm, and numy other species. j t. t 56 THE TRAVELLER. It >•■ The word is alcln to §' 'c£.-/^SLa?^fc£s-'^''^"""^'^^- out ; but Goldsnlh was' often nSTon'' ''^^- '?"' '''' ^°"°^^'^d and Z?....-W F///^,,., 1 92°"'" "°' '°° particular. Cf. 1. 113, froin the (iernKu. "'"''' ^'^^ ^^'^■^^'^^ ^^"'^. translated 77 lytsdotfi. Cf. 1. 15. 79 Cm/; ?>. advahtages. thefown).- Derived U^Fr^p'^'frr:"^ ^".1^^^°^^^ ^° at the bottom ofalla wV' e" rollIdT^ r", '^•"^' P'-^''^^ on the banks of the little riSda I k f ^^ '^'r '"P^^^^i"-^. Sliver mines ^ »»vcr laiia. It is famous for its quick- of cliffs, cra^s, &Z Cf iTvrTnt fe/°z;'^"/]"^^'^"'"S''^^Pect "fi.„^ *i 7 ^ °" ^ ChiUe Harold, canto iii — 1 he castled crag of Drachenfels This is r^lIP n7"A/^ *-■'■ ^''^ ''''^^ ^"d ^^i'«l''"g Rhine " power ihan nature." "='"' "'"^ ™«'°"> " " grealCT nofin'^arlistl^''"''' "^ '°""'' '" "^ "'O" ''™=. »= i- 'anificiaV of If.e'^'''''"'- ''™"<"''' ""'J' ™= of Ovo. and no,, as here, one Ja^^'CCIS.^'""- ^""""^ '""S .*.™i by ,he many , i is alcln to nore natural /as followed Cf. 1. 113, :lra\vn from , translated ;imile. opposed to 'country.' n'). 1 Carniola, ills, partly ■nountains, I" its quick- :? hallows.' ith rocks.' ing aspect i iii. — onal rela- ; rocks as a greater artificial,' content- so. 2. y.' Cf. lere, one i many ; 'rality is 't * NOTES. 57 ^l Prone. 'Inclined,' literally 'bending forwards.' Forlhe sentiment cf. Pope's Essay on Man, 1. 131 2— "And hence one Master Passion in the breast, Like Aaron's serpent, swallows up the rest" — with the thirty lines which follow. 96 Spurns. 'Rejects,' ' throws aside.' Cf. D. V. 1. 106. 97 Domain. Here merely 'country,' usually 'an estate.' From Lat. 'dominium,' ' the estate ^ of, 'dominus,' 'the master' of, 'domus,' *a house.' Another form of the word is 'de- mesne.' 98 Peculiar pain. Some evil sjjecially arising from the ex- cessive development of this characteristic. As every virtue carried to excess becomes a vice, so every pleasure over-stimu- lated becomes a pain. Cf. Gray's Ode on the Pleasure of Vicissi- tude — -^ "Still where rosy jilcasure leads See a kindred grief pursue." 101 Proper. As Lat. 'proprius,' Fr. 'propre,' 'peculiar to oneself, 'personal.' 103 Like yon neglected shrub, &c. Such is the position of the melancholy traveller-poet, as he looks down from his Alpine solitudes. 105 Apennines, The general name for the great mountain system of Italy, divided into four sections, the Lit^nirian, Etrus- can, Roman, and Neapolitan Apennines. The higliest of them is Monte Corno, 9,521 feet. 108 Woods over woods. In apposition to 'uplands.' Theatric. As in a theatre, a place for sights. From Gk. Bii.oiJ.a>., ' I view.' Cf. " Silvis scena coruscis.'"— Virgil, ^n. i. 164. Is it tiattering to nature to compare her works with those of the scene-painter? in Could, tScc. The praises of Italy have often been sung by poets. Cf. Virgil, Ceorgic ii. 136-176; Ad.lison's Letter from Italy; or, as a Ion:;er description, Rogers' Italy, and espe- cially Byron's Chiide IJarold, canto iv. 113 Were found. The present tense would be more natural. Cf. 1. 72. 114 Court the ground. A natural metaphor for the creeping plant. XI 5 Torrid. Cf. on 1. 65. 118 Vernal lives. 'Short as the spring-time.' 119 Own. 'Acknowledge,' like 'confess' in D. V. 1, 76. Kindred soil. Just the san.c melaphor as in ' congeni \\.' , 120 Ask, See- ' Require the p'aiuer's toil to produce luxu- riant grovvih.' 121 Gel.'d. 'Cold,' 'cool,' scarcely naturalized in English (Lat. 'gelidus'). iiut (cf. Thomson's Summer, 1. 205— "By 58 THE TRAVELLER, noifjTn T\ '""'''•'' ""' ^° "'"^'■'") <=°'"™°» enough in poetiy of ihe last century. '^ rn/i" /^'"''r'"'' f''"-^'''!'''--'' This figure sounds sonicM-hat far- Iclche,]. I „ scatter fragrance over tlie land, as .he winnouinc- machine scalte.-s the chnlf.' Cf. the use of the veri) in Milton's Pa>.^ Lost, V. 269-" Ihen with quick fan winnows the buxom alFf 123 Sense; i.e. * the senses.' 125 florid. 'With profuMon of flowers.' 127 Planners. Used in a ileeper sense than mere 'manners/ '-I. Lat. 'mores. Cf. "And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power." ,s!^..T ,i I''' e"t''"'^'i'>tic for religion. Cf Spectator, No. l«5-- I would have every zenlous man examine his heart tho- roughly and I believe he will often find that what he calls a zeal lor his religion is either pride, interest, or ill-nature " 131 Contaminate; i.e. 'corrupt by contagion ' tiitles^''^''^"^"'^'''^'''"'''''^^''' '^''^''' '■''■ ''"comparatively recent . ^''i'; ^i.^^'-'^^'y^^'ie time when any document was P-/z/..« or issued. Cf the form used now in official papers-" 6Vzwi at our court, &c., this 19th day," &c. 134 Commerce. Venice, Florence, Genoa, Pisa were the cniet seats of Italian commerce, probably the wealthiest, cer- tainly the most refined towns of Europe in the 15th century tn '.^,ir '"'T \ ''T ^ r '• ^5- «"t il^e present hardly amomits to a personal metaphor; for 'learnt' = was taught, w^s made. 136 Long-Jallcn; i.e. since the days of Roman greatness 111 Canvas 'Hempen cloth' (from Lat. 'cannabis,' 'hemp') specially used for painting. Cf Addison's Letter from Italy— A nicer touch to the stretched canvas give, Or teach their animated rocks to live '' And sails. ^ Cf Waller's Ode to the King on his A'avy^ " Where'er thy navy spreads her canvas wings Homage to thee, and peace to all she brings " Beyond e en nature zvarm. A phrase applicable most closely perhaps to Titian (Tizinno Vecellio, a Venetian, born in 1477), of all the great Italian painters. ^"'' ^^^ V^UuK'"""' ,'-^^- ■"'"• Rogers's Pleasures of Memory- Who from the quarried mass, like Phidias, drew Forms ever fair, creations ever new " jBut the phrase is here far fetched, tor the quarry teems with human form; i.e. contains statues in posse, as much at one time as nnnther. n^ Southern gale. Why southern? Perhaps becau.se the south wind brings storms, and hence is considered as gusty or fitful. NOTES. 59 140 On other, hares. Clnedy cwing to the spread of maritime discovery, mIiicI, opened new channels for trade '"•^'«™e 142 Ln»uuui:d. In tlie literal sense of' 'dcpoinditcd ' very^ rarely so used, except of ships. ;N-hat is' Se S vedt^- Ainh.^'-nf. '." !^n '";'•'"'' ^'"''^ "^ knouled^^e. So the xxxi^J^. 12. ^^ of uistnunents of music. "-2 67.;w/. 144 /y^'//^<';7V ' I'ktl.ora ' is a medical word, ' overfnlncss of I'lood (from Gr. ,rA,;^.c., 'to he full'). So ^delh c ' ere St^v^'S'^V^ overlull ,0 an ex.e.a tinl' tlL-l'^n 1. Jll. ^'"'^'^''""'- ^^''^"^■^^ l''*-^ repetition of this epithet from 150 Pasteboard triumph. This prol.ai.ly is an allusion to the drollenes of the Carnival. For instance at K. n e 'Mhe ca! nages and horses;^are decked out in a very' fine or a very tarn emus manner." Thus a "coaclunan. dres.cd as a Spanilh ca Xr of ll,e olden t.n.es .s drivin^^ aa old Tabelione, o • not , v v th a huge w.ne-nvd< extended towards a Punch cm stilt,- and a Ron.an doc u.. with 'spectacles on nose,' while a sma! I-.r.wn Punch clunbs up the side-steps and a fdl-gre.wn Pmu hh e lo uith a squeal, mg trumpet to his lips, and a sttudy, lu Wd M-.r act as footmen." Or again'at Naples, lan-e cars "re decked out as ships, and drawn up the Toledo by sfx ho'ses S dsclmige larboaicl and stnrboard volleys of su,.u--plums. Cf MacFar ane's Popular Customs of the sLth of I'tJ Cavalcade This may refer to the rac. s of riderless horses in the Corso at Rome at the tin>e of the ( arnival. The animals guths and no le.. a peisonage than the governor of Rome was the judge of the race Or perhaps the allusion is to pagian ry gouip m nnuationol a medi;.val hunting party. orsome^simiS 154.77;^ sports of chihlrm, &c. Who docs not know the charming story of Sir J. diua Reynolds v. , arising UolZn.h engaged m teachn,g his dog to beg,\vlnle on iusdcl Srhim ^iSl'ilt? "^"^ '^'^- "' "" ''-"'""''-^ "^^ '"I^ of ^ 156 Mans. Carries on the metaphor of a vessel. IsQ JJoi/tes. 'Palaces' ("f /) V ^ im f\r. 1 r high^Ld spacious half;- and 'nft in is'co^;m''o[;^;" I'^^^r '"' lower, sense of a hemispherical structure raided above' the ro^f o a bmld.ng. Thompson uses the word similarly for the nes^s of birds (Spring], laves of bees (Autumi), &c. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) ^- 4r 1.0 I.I 11.25 us US u 2.0 liJ4 1.4 11.6 Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 iV m iV :1>^ <^ i/.. '/. '^ .4> 6o THE TRAVELLER. 162 Shelter-seeking. This epithet is inserted to bring the simple object of the peasant into prominence, \^S My soul, turn, &c. In all this description of Switzerland, there is no conception of its beauty, which now attracts to it millions of admirers every year. The love of wildness in nature has grown up since Goldsmith's time. He was himself one of the few Saxons who had then ventured to explore the Highlands; but, disgusted by the hideous wilderness, he declared that he greatly prefeired Holland. Scotland "presented a dismal landscape ;" "hills and rocks intercepted every prospect ;" how great a contrast to the country round Leyden ; "Nothing can equal the beauty " of the latter, with its "fine houses, eleeant gardens, statues, grottos, vistas." Cf. Macaulay's History of Lnglana, ch. xiii. ■' 167 Bleak Swiss. An epithet oftcner applied to places than to persons, originally meaning 'pale,' rather than 'exposed.' unsheltered.' It is akin to the verb 'to blench.' Mansion. Cf. Z>. T. 1. 140. Here rather 'an abiding-place.' 'a home,' as a district, than 'a house.' 168 Force the soil. 'Extract the scanty produce from it not without great difficulty and labour.' Churlish. 'Ill-natured,' 'surly;' but not seldom ai)plied to things ; e.g. "Spain found the war so churlish and long-ome."— Bacon. "In Essex they have a very churlish blue clay."— Mortimer, Husbandry. Originally a churl meant merely 'a country fellow.' A.S. 'ceorl.' Cf. Scotch 'carle.' 170 Soldier and his sword. The monument at Lucerne, by Thorwaitisen, commemorates the most famous exploit of the Swiss as mercenaries. 171 Torpid. 'Inactive,' 'incapable of the exertion of pro- ducing anything.' SoLat. 'torpentesgclu.' Array. Derived from Fr. 'arroi,' vvliich is either a hybrid wora from 'ad' and Teutonic 'rat,' 'counsel,' 'help;' or from Low Lat. 'arraia,' from Ger. 'reihe,' a 'row.' But had Gold- smith never seen or heard of gentians and Alpine roses? 173 Zephyr. Soft \vc3t wind. Sues. (Fr. 'suivre,' 'to follow,' Lat. 'sequor.') Phrases which speak of the wind 'wooing' or 'kissing' are perhaps more common than this ; but the metaphor is the same. 174 Meteor. Properly 'anytliing suspended above us' (from Gr. ixeTiojpos), 'any atmospheric phenomenon,' not necessarily fiery or bright ; e.g. with Aristotle dew is a meteor. Invest. Here in its literal sense, ' to cover up with a dress ' (Lat. 'vestis,' 'a robe.') 176 Redress the clime. Cf. 1. 214. 179 Contiguous. 'Touching,' 'adjoining,' from Lat. 'con- tingo ('con, 'tango,' 'I touch'). Cf. D. V. 1. 179. to bring the f Switzerland, attracts to it ness in nature limself one of le Highlands; lared that he ed a dismal xspect ;" how "nothing can ouses, elegant 's History oj places than m 'exposed,' biding-place,' 2 from it not m applied to ongsome." — )iue clay." — lit merely 'a Lucerne, by cploit of the rtion of pro- ler a hybrid -'Ip ; ' or from It had Gold- 3SCS? . ') Phrases are perhaps ime. ve us' (from t necessarily ith a dress.' Lat. 'con- 9. lilt " |1 ■\ ' il'i. :'1lp: III' or I, I; lit NOTES. 62 construclion, as the nn"vvM^f' A^'T t\e-Palatine, one of the Seven Hills of Rome, on v\liicli Augustus had iiis residence. ' In n]S n\ " ^''^^^' ^™'""tive of 'banoo,' originally from an Old High German word 'banc' ^ \Pa 9n^'L, .^'P'^f 'y ^' ^'^'"'' ^'^" ^'■'^'» '^"^T ^"^1 avarice, in. ' t)S T • .^'^J;:'^"^^ '^''>^-' ^ftcr the participle « contract- ng, which agrees -vith the nominative to 'fits.' " By nanowim; c^unry'"'- CT 1 ^''"^''^f '^/'-'-s. he suits hinLlf to II countiy. C . 1. 382. Cf. Horace-" Contracta melius jiarva cupidme Vectigalia porrigcs," &c. ^ 186 C«^^/.. 'Sings,-- from Fr. -.arole,' Italian 'carola.' 1»7 Angle. Now more commonly used as a verb. But cf Shakespeare s Anf. ami Cleop. act. ii. sc. 5-" Cue n,e mine angle; we'l to the river." The angle wa/ properly the ho look tSer" """"''' "" '"■""^'^' '"' "^^^' ^"' -^ ^•-. -" 7)-,?//j. Akin to the words 'roll,' 'drill,' &c., properly an- a ' to°tron :T1T "^'""',^.^ ^'" ''"^ I^--^ o?er\h7r2 Cf. to tioll a catch or round,' a piece of music in which the same air .s passed round to each singer in succession. rrolls the deep: It is rather a forced construe! Ime, if anythmg, is that which is trolled. ■F'nny deep. It seems a violent figure of speech to transfer the epuhet from the fish to the sea. Would ' the antlered fc esr or 'the eathered grove ' be equally admissible? Cf. however •the warbling grove,' Deserted Villa^re, \, 361. «"^. g'^'^ •'^"y «^'^^'- ^vords of the same lamily. Cf. Trench, ^tudy, of Words, lect. vi. Steep; I.e. 'up the steep hill-side.' 190 Sava^re The bear. Rarely used as a substantive except of human bemgs. Lucrally 'an inhabitant of the woods.' From Fr. 'sauvage,' Italian 'selvagg.o,' Lat. 'silvp.ticus,' from 'silva^ a wood 1^ or this sense cf. Pope's ///.,/, xviii. {-j^, of a I oul "When the grim savage, to his rifled den .^. c}"^"^ ^^^ returning, snuffs the track of men." m sped Participle of 'to speed ;' here 'accomplishea sue More haste, worse speed. ' 1 "-'"j 192 Sits him do-cun. For this use of 'him ' cf 1 la 19.^ Sni'Ies bv his cheerfuL &c Ounte t i-titiLi ',->-* c Gray's Elegy. ' ^ i-'aialltl passage from 196 Platter. Collect and connect as many words as Dossibla which are etymologically allied to this. ^ ^ Ill i; li ' THE TRAVELLER, Adverb formed from thtf* substantive 'hap'= Literally 'a man who tl .ijoes ,' and Italian innigh count lies * perc^'ilno,' 'for a suc- Cf. 1. 197 Haply. * chance. ' Pih^rim (Lat. 'per,' 'ager,'" So 'percgrinus 'pellegrino,' and \x. 'pelcrin.') 198 A%///i'. «For the night;' not, as usually, cession of nights. 200 Patriot. Used, as often, for an adi^-ctive 202 Enhance. ' Plei.diten.' Deri- at ion from Lat. 'ante' before. So 'en avaiit,' 'forwards/ thence was formed Pro- ven9al 'enansar,' 'to advance.' 203 Conforms. ' Suits itself ' 205 Scaring. 'To scare' is properly 'to drive away by frightenmg, as in the phrase 'scare-crow.' So 'to friirhten' generally. *" 211 Share Not used very accurately. They obtain all, and not a mere share of the praises that are really due 213 :yimulates From Lat. 'stimulus,' 'a goad.' 'Spurs or goads It on. 1 heir pleasures are as few as their wants, as they are merely the satisfaction of those wants. Cf the ancient definition of ribov^ as di>air\ripwa-is t^s iv8elas. 215 ^FZ/^/.v^ 'consequently.' The mind is too slugmsh to allow new desires to be created in it. Probably akin to 'clog.' 'is unknown.' 2iT Cloy. 'To glut,' 'satiate.' 218 To Jill. This infinitive is the subject to What would be the prose construction? Languid pause. The natural reaction after sensual excess 220 Notice the confusion of metaphors. Expand them into similes. 221 Level. 'Even,' 'unvaried,' 'monotonous.' Cf 1. 359 Sniouhlering. Burning very slowly, producing more dust than Hame. Some copies read 'mouldering.' 224 Of once a year. ' Of gives an adjectival force to the phrase (cf. 'of gold '=' golden ') ; 'once' is treated as ,a substantive, governed by 'of Cf. 'A child of one year 226 Debauch. A metaphor from masonry; literally 'a devi- ation from the straight line.' (From 'de' and Old Fr. 'bauche ' , 'a row of bricks,') ' Expire. Observe the mood. 227 Alone This use of the word, though common, is scarcely correct. 'Not only their joys.' ^ , 2'S\ Dart. The dart or shaft of love is a very common metaphor, which Moliere laughed at, and which is now confined to valentines and crackers. It is very naturally transferred to friendship. tive 'hap'= jh countries ' I 'pere^jiino,' ', 'for a sue- tive. Cf. 1. Lat. 'ante,' formed Pro- ve away by 'to frighten' ^tain all, and ' ' Spurs or ants, as tliey the ancient ) sluggish to to 'clog.' s unknown.' il excess, d them into Cf. 1. 359. »re dust than force to the ■eated as ra f one year lily ' a devi- r. 'bauche,' I, is scarcely Ty common ow confined insferred to Jir NOTES. 63 •Ob. 232 Lidumted. Hardened (from Lat. 'dunis,' 'hard') :Iiirfite IS perhaps a more common compound. I-all. The plural cannot be grammatically correct, thou-h theconstriiction is cnsijy exi)laint'd. ^ Cf. '^Cirief, mixed with pity, in our bosoms m^."— Crmuik the m.tS^TrEr. '^^^" ^''"^' "'""^'^ "°' ''''■"' ^^''^^''^''^ '"'1'"''^ 236 6y/<;r;;/ ///, zm^=' beguile the length or monotony of the journey of life. ■' 241 sprightly. 'Spright' or 'sprite' is but another form of 'es'rit'? " "°' iMcnchman's boast that his is the land of 242 momall.S^c The poet illustrates the dmracteristic of bemg casdy pleased by his own success. (Lines 247 -50 ) 243 Umr. 1 his word here reverts to its oiiginai sense, 'a band of dancers.' Gk. xo/)cs, Lat. 'chorus.' deficfender''""'' ^^'^ '"'''^ ''"''^ ^''^ 1'°'' exaggerates liis own Loire. Rises in the Cevennes, and falls into the Atlantic after a course c-t 530 miles. Through what pnninces and by what towns does it {Vm-^ * ^ 245 Margin. Any 'edge' or 'border.' Not uncommon in this sense in poetry. 247 J'flf>->»S-^ 'Failing,' 'being at fault.' From Lat. 'fallo' nisif "^ ^^- '^'' ^"'''" ''"°'"' '""''• ^^"^^'^^ 2\^ Village. The place put for the inhabitants: ^.r-. "the talk of the town. ' ' "^ hofd I'^r'^dale."^"" ^'^' ''^°'"'"''' ''^'' ""'''■"'' °^ " '^°"^^- 2^2 Maze. A word of uncertain derivation; perhaps akin enou-lT" "" ^Inscription of a dance, the word is common 253 Gesiclore; i^. dancing. Cf. 'gesture,' 'gesticulation.' 255 Idly busy Not an uncommon instance of 'oxymoron ' Cf the Latin phrase, " Operose nihil agendo," and Horace's ^ Su-enua nos exercet mertia." Pope's Elegy on an Unfortunate u/ 7 J '' ^"''^'^ i^^^ business at one gasp be o'er." tVor/d. In what sense is this word used here ? 25b Forms the social; i.e. regulates the temi.er of society warlJTtinctiSn!'" ""'""' "°' ""' ^"'""'' P'''"'^'^''-' ^^"' ''^^ °"'^- Tl,f l"f '^i """i?" '^-^^^ ''"'"^Se recognized or valued in society, very S' ^ '' ^''"^ '"°^' metaphors, will not bear to be pushed 262 Trajic. From Italian 'trafficare,' probably from Lat. 64 THE TRAVELLKR. •trans,' 'beyoirl,' and 'facere,' 'to do.' So 'trade done be- yond the .seas.' Cf. " Excrcent alii socii commcrcia lin,!,Miac." —Ovid, 'J'ristia, v. x. 35, 264 Avame of praise. So Horace describes tlie Greeks, Ars Pcdica, 324 — "Practer luideni nullius avaris." 265 They please. " They exert themselves to please others, and are pleased at the sii cess of their efforts, so winning the esteem and ^ooi\ oinnion of society ; hence they seem to them- selves hai)py. And what more is required for them to be so, except the continuance of ihis till it becomes habitual ?" 270 Tliouiiht. The influence which France was soon to have, and was even then beginnini,' to acquire, over the thought of Europe, seems not to have been foreseen i)y Goldsmith. ^He is as unconscious as Johnson was of the existence of D'Alembcrt, Diderot, and Heaumarchais. 273 Ostmtalwn; 275, Vanity; 277, PrUe, are here personi- fied. These personifications are a note of eighteenth century poetry. 273 Tawdry. Said to be derived from St. Audrey or St. I'.thelreda, as at fairs on that saint's day gewgaws of various sorts were sold. It had not always a depreciatory sense. 275 Pert\\^A at first no bad sense; probably akin to 'pretty. Grimace. Perhaps originally ' a grim look;' but more pro- bably from Old Scandinavian, 'grima,' 'a mask.' 276 Frieze. 'The curling nap on cloth.' So 'any coarse kind of woollen cloth.' Connected with 'to frizz' of hair, or 'frizzle,' or Fr. ' friser.' " The word gets its sense in a<-chi'tec- lure from the idea of 'frizzled work;' and so 'any kind of border.'"— Latham. Put Rev. I. Taylor {Words and Places p. 291) derives 'frieze' as a cloth from Friesland, and as an architectural term from Phrygia. Copper. Polished so as to imitate gold. ?77 B'S'^ar pride. The snobbishness which stints itself of daily comforts, to boast an occasional entertainment in the style of a class socially superior, has been sufficiently satirized. Cheer. Connect the various meanings of this word. 280 Self-applause. The satisfaction of a good conscience. 282 Embosomed. A strong metaphor exjjressing the fact "that much of the country lies actually below the sea-level. Holland. Derived either from 'ollant,' 'marshy ground' (Taylor's Words and Places, p. 55), or from Ger. 'hohl,' 'the hollow land.' Cf. 'hole.' A low-lying tract in Lincolnshire i« also called Holland. 283 Methinks. In this phrase 'me 'is the dative, and 'thinks' is impersonal. e done be- V. X. 35. le Greeks, ase others, /inning the n to them- rj to be so, 1?" an to have, thought of ith. He is 'Alembcrt, re personi- th century rey or St. of various rise, o 'pretty. more pro- Jny coarse of hair, or n a'-chitec- ly kind of utd Places, and as an :s itself of n the style :cd. cience. le fact that y ground' lohl,' 'the ■olnshire is d 'thinks' n 285 close I takinjj 286 Englis in t rem writer 288 boles The I league lent re at an : inter VI of huj: 290 by ex< Dutch 291 393 ' doub! 293 any nn Can ' a ree( Yfl/i meant. 295 ' mere: 296 276—' manne 297 rend en beneat' empIo3 302 Desertt 303 305 *handi 306 NOTES. 65 Cf. "It thinkcth me I sing as wel as thou." — Ciiaucf.r. 285 Sedulous. In original nioaninj^' like 'assiduous,' 'sittini; close to one's work' (from Lat. 'sctleo'). So 'diligent,' 'pains- taking.' 286 Kampire. The commoner form of the word in modern English is 'rampart' From Er. 'rempart' ('se renjparer,' 'to intrench oneself). But this form is common enough in older writers; e.i;;. Pope's and Dryden's translations — "The Trojans round the place a rampire cast." — Dkydk.n, ^Eneii/, vii. 213. " So down the rampires rolls the rocky shower." — Poi'K, Iliiui, xii. 180. 288 Bulwark. Properly 'a defensive work made with the boles or trunks of trees.' Ger. 'hollwerk,' Er, 'b julesard.' The Ilelder dyke is perha|)s the best instance. Nearly two leagues long, it is forty feet broad at the top, where is an excel- lent road ; and it descends into the sea by a slope of 2f o feet, at an angle of forty degrees. Huge buttresses project at certain intervals several hundred yards into the sea. It is built entirely of huge blocks of granite from Norway. 290 Scoops out ; i.e. by keeping the sea to a higher level ; not by excavating the land to a lower. So Marvell talks of the Dutch 'fishing the land to shore.' 291 Pent. Participle of 'to pen.' Cf. 'a sheep-pen.' 292 Amphibious. Usually of animals (from Gk. d^i, 'around,* 'doubly,' /i/oy, 'life'). 293 Sloav canal. 'Sluggish,' 'whose waters have scarcely any motion.' Like 'lazy ' of the Dutch Scheldt in 1. 2. Canal. From Lat. 'canalis,' 'a water-pipe;' from 'canna,' *a reed.' Yellow-blossomed. Probably the blooms of the tulips are meant. 29s Mart. Contracted from 'market,' Fr. 'marche,' Lat. 'mercatus,' from 'merx,' 'merchandise.' 296 Rescued, &c. Cf. Goldsmith's Animated Nature, i. pr 276 — "Holland seems to be a conquest upon the sea, and in a manner rescued from its bosom." (Aldine edition.) 297 Wave-subjected. ' Subject to the waves so long as to be rendered sterile and unproductive,' or perhaps ' which lies beneath the level of the waves, so that the native is constantly employed in repairing the dykes.' 302 With all those ills, &c. The subject of much of the Deserted Village. 303 Are. For this plural cf. note on 1. 232. 305 Craft, Had originally no bad sense. Cf. 'craftsman,' 'handicraft.' 306 E^en liberty, Cf. Vicar of Wakefield, ch. xix, — "Now B iiT^I: $6 the THE TRAVELLER. -— possessor of accumulated wealth, when fumixamine closely, as if they belonged to himself.' 'Boasts to scan' for 'boasts the right to scan ' is somewhat awkward. 335 'i hine, freedom, &c. In thus putting forward freedom as the mam pomt of contrast between England and foreign nations, the poet is following Addison in his Letter written front Italy to Lord Halifax — •' Oh, Liberty, thou goddess heavenly bright, Profuse of bliss, and pregnant with deliuht I « « «"^# *♦ Thee, goddess, thee Britannia's isle adores." But the courtly placeman does not impress on us the evils of freedom as vividly as the dissatisfied poet. 336 Dazzle. And so prevent the eye from steadily observing the effects. ** 337 Alloy. 'Some baser metal mixed with a finer.' From Fr. 'i la loi;' the proportions of such mixture for the pur- poses of coinage being regulated by law. 338 But. "But they are not without alloy; for fostered," &c. 341 Lordling. 'ling' is a common diminutive suffix: as in 'duckling,' 'gosling,' 'darling.' 344 Minds combat. Though members of one common country, the struggles of party are the condition of their independence. ' 345 Ferments. Agitation in politics, such as is produced by yeast m dough, or by the action of the air in certain liquids. Imprisoned. « Closely restrained within the bounds of law.' Illustrate this line from the history of the time. 347 System. Society as a connected whole, made up of various component parts. 348 Motions . . . wheels; ?.<•, of the machinery of society, the metaphor being slightly changed. 68 THE TRAVELLER. m as 3jI tictiiwus. 'Anificial.' 357 Stems. Families. J^atriot flame. Cf. 1. 200. of^tfe lati^uage'' '''■'"™ °' '^'•'"-^'' ^^'--on in all periods the ship's captain to the Duke of Suffolir~ P'"^' "' A 1 , " ^^oo^e ? Sir I'oole ? Lord ? Ay, kennel, puddle, sink; whose (ilh and dirt Troubles the sdver spring where England dWnks " Level. Cf. I. 221. "^^^'^^^^si-eare, 2 Henry VJ. iv. ,. 363 Yepcnvers of. Sec. This couplet recalls Pnn^'c r/ an Unfoitiiuate Lmiy— ^ lecaiis l ope s Elegy en " \\hy bade ye else, ye powers, her soul aspire ,fifi /> /r"'l 'i'" '"'•^'"'' ^''S''t^ of iow desire ?''^ ,^366J.VV. .A n.ol,.' Originally 'raving;^ akin to Lat. 370 7j^ secure; i.e. 'that I mighf secure thpm ' th^f^o^irt^^ ,t ^^^-/p^::Sience. .aching philosoplK>r.k ng s ISl S uS-eSr 1 "l ",' 'f'^T' ^'^'^^ Aurelius may have approx ma ed tot p'''''' ' '"'!Sh a Marcus mie Thomson's ^VaJJS St' J)-''- ^ ""' " ^™'''^'- ^^P'-^^^ion Pl„ fT, ''^^^/'^ ^^"s laborious crowds Ply the tough oar philosophy directs Iheruhnghelm." 374 Ls but to lay, &c. No class is to be exemn^ P„f • u j7S C/;^(?/. ' Class ni the state ' Wk fTf"/' ^";. Understand 'are they.' It must' l^t'be fhe p™ "e "of'.T'r F "''-^^ ^" "^"^^ ^h'-^"-- of an Athenian deiEocracydentd to h'i ,^'"'«^°'^'^'^y. o"" even or slaves. ^' ^"'^"^ ''^ '^^ ^^^er strata of serfs sto'od^rom7he%re^v?ori;;r"'' ^°^^™"^^ '^^^ -'^ under- the''roy^'ttttoS'"^rci^^^^^^^^^^^ the ln/n.bler classes S reach thelhrone '''' "" '^' ^^^'''^"^ ^^ up^reshstatutes/wVth severer pm^sh'Ss""'" .,B/; z)' i ' ■■•— "^"-*'-' ^'"iiisiunenis. 386 /^tcA men rule. Cf. note on I. 306; also Ficar of Wake- more common in all periods red or sinks.' :he spetch of 'd? dirt i-inlvs,'' ■ yy. iv, I. •e's Eiegy on )ire ikin to Lat. ce ' teaching Ji-s. Plato's ;h a Marcus r expression But wiih must share. :y, or even ata of serfs "1," under- dlow either Petitions of :f. 1. 284. usly draws y of Wake- ^ N NOTES. 69 s field, ch. xxvn.— "It were higlily („ be vishe^l that Icmslative power woultl thus rlirect t!ie law rather to lefwrmation than seventy; that it wouUl soon be convinced tliat the work of erarbcatinfr crimes is not by makin.ir punishments familiar, but form.clable." . . " I, is among the citizens of a refined com- munity that penal laws, which are in the hands of the rich are aid upon the poor. Government, wiiile it grows ohler, seems to acciune the moroseness of age ; and as if our proi^erty were become dearer m proportion as it increased, as if the more enormous our wealth the more extensive our fears, all our possessions are paled up with new et was not imfrequently hcai^ "," ^ tU H l''"'^' "'' ^''''^^ miles. "-DwiGHT r;Jv'/^/» A^: % rT ^.'^'''^"'--e is fifty 415 ^'hcre beasts, CJ. £> {-^ ]\\-r ' ■n;','llt*- "" ""= ■'»' i« t--.ive meaning, cf. Mtmhrojis. Cf. Z). P: T'jce 4; 7 ^jl'ldy-'i/. 'whirlini,r round.' lines Ivhff haSi ?S„ llS X?','""*'!'' ,"'* "''"='' '^^ concluding ,e„ |i„e, LS ,!,'.T,., """, ""> ''"= t^° ""tl "le • Ihcse arl'all of wjicl TS "bo 1 'tL^"; °"" "" »*'"'• portion 10 Ihe whole." "" °'' ^''-=- They bear a small pro- m^^Sr^iltonSSrofcliK'e''." ""^ '""'"^ '" "'—■. s:js=i-rj£3;S=rr-i!^-t "w^T ?™' "[ Sovernmen t let fools contest • Whate'er is best administered is bp.t "V ' Or even, as Goldsmith shows in SffJ.. ' ministration. Vide IntrodSon ^ ^''^ S'^^^"'* '"^lad- 434 o/?^?'« /;^|? smooth currnif n,- t u of'd^ithTS .reaf/n;!X It itied^?*? '-barons .ode else/till Franciri orderS i to bT" IS^"'^^ '^''^'> ^"y^^^^'e breaking their bones b^stoles wit ft. "P°" '■°'^^^'-^' ^''^ tjen leaving them to e'pirronth wheel "3uv"/%^ /"^ Dates. Allusions to it are commnn ':"'^^'-, T"^ydn, Diet, of Pope's Epistle to Dr. ^S'/S 308-°"^^ ^" "-^^ P^^^S- Cf. ^,fi ;- /'.'^'^"^'■^^'^s a butterfly upon a wheel?" 436 Luke, ^ron cr^.n. "GoldLi^h himtlTwas in a mis- oise is a vast . and leaving ety, lost and 1 sometime at niied nie that tance is fifty iv. letter iv. eaning. Qf. 'like 'howl,' Dr. Johnson. ' year 1766: a pencil the 420 and the • He added, a small pro. to discover, ••> the abode id;' i.e. 'is 'be attained on Man, ii. it; test malad- thinking of irons mode punishment rst in Ger- ' anywhere hbers, first club, and "f, Diet, of oets. Cf. in a mis* Ill i tal< (les the Crt wil nat of Gei thr ope the tol Bk jL inl Th, his giv( the his boi! foui 4 I 435 •ih absi NOTES. 7« take. In the RespuhUca Htm^arica there is nn account of a desperate rcl)elli(jn in the year 1514, headed by two brotlicrs of tlie name of Zeik, (Jeorge and Luke. When it wns quelled, Cnn-gc, nut Luke, was punished by his licad beinjj encircled with a rcil-hot iron crown, ' corona candescente ferrca Core- natur.'"— HosWKLi,, Life of Dr. Johnson, ch. xix. The name of the leaders of this peasant revolt was Dosa, not Zeck ; and George Dosa was punished by being seated on a red-hot iron throne, with red-hot crown and sceptre ; his veins were tlien opened, and he had to drink a glass of his own blood. He was then torn to pieces, and roasted ; and his (Icsh was given as food to his principal supporters, who had been purposely famished. B{op-(i/li Ontario. ats. io. fax, oba. » N. S. • the necflfl. le, and tha 1 tliorongh Is desiroui ly 80 much t Beeming queBtions use to all branch of ootia. ity of the any text ice. It is nd exam- fihall be a,N.8. ndidates ■ve been ly that I specially ial ieiti. lould be 5th Edition-30th Thousand. MILLER'S NEW SWINTON'S LANGUAGE LESSONS, ADAPTED TO CANADIAN SCHOOLS. By J. A. MA('^,riLLAN, B.A., OTTAWA >J0I,L-JOrvTl:i INSTITUTE. Specially arranged ac an introductory Text Book to Maunn'. Oram i^RICE. . 25 CENTS. The only edition approved of hy the Minister of Education, Ontario. The only edition approved o/ bytheSu pt. of Education, Manitoba. D. H. SMITH, A.M., Inspector of Schools, Colchester Co., N. S !,«« I!...l"r''' "««' Swinton's Language Lessons I consider is a work that has been long needed in our nubRc schools for beginners The subject S* rh^'n^ V "■"*' ^'^V^"" ^"'"'•'° '°° '""'^h studied by them Tni mechanical manner. They are allowed to commit its oriS^ tn memory without any definite understandings toThdr anpliSn'^ The '^nKlM^ natural method pursued in the^reatise I am'ful y'convinced Will break up the practise and ac complish the work with intelligence"" W. L. DANAGH, Inspector, Cumberland Co., N. S. "Miller's new Swinton's Language Lessons, bv Macmillan «r «„ "e'iuaned':'?"'^ ""'"^ °' teach'ing%rammar'it'LemsTo"nrc to bS L. S. MORSE, M.A., Inspector of Schools for Annapolis County M.J'^r*"? examined Miller's new Swinton's Language Lessons bv Macmillan, 1 must record my high appreciation of the work as an nJl^'-n^ beYn'fhe h»nH' V '' "'^" "^aptld fp7the use of °un!or craSe\';a"„d,houd' be in the hands of every young and inexperienced teacher," "no**'? J. D. McGILLIVRAY, Inspector P. S., Hants, N. S. u .L'dmirabnorkT'''"'' '""'«"'«' ^'==^°"''' "^^ ^^--'"»". » regard Rev. JOHN AMBROSE. M.A., Supt. of Scho Is, Digby, N S ''^''''er's new Swinton's Language Lessons, bv McMilHn ;. „„ .dmirr' le epitome r f English Grammar and CompnsUion avo dFn^ diffi cult words, and sin ,,,Ic ^nd clear in its explanation, vv supply a wanHn l^Juoa" ''^°°'^ '= ""^'^ ^ ''*^" """^ »han'once "iSerpublk „ w.^' ^" 'ANDREWS, Inspector for Queen's County, N. S. .eS^?„?;^:„'^''i';:L"\,fr.r»u\L-ons I consider an excellent elementwy text book, fitted alike for the exnerienred anrf i„»,.r.'' "J teacher. Its practicable adaptation to the S of the s':honfrS^'""'' admirable feature, and I shalT have much ra'nrl!n^ec„^,"lr°5^11l?" introauction ol this work into the schools uHder my inspecUoni^ ^ ^'^ TO AVOID CONFUSION ASK FOR Miller's New Swinton's Language Lessons. ^^.^^"^ SMITH'S ALGEBRA With Appendix by ALFRED BAKER Ram .T **"^' 0. MACDONALD. Prof. Mathematics, Dalhousle College. Halifax. .. *'Ihaverecelvflrtii.ao*«# „ ^,-x,.. .. ._ fa . xiamax. «,-,. "• -"""""UBiB "-oaege, Halifax. the/reXses'lfn'S^^ Publications, viz.. Ln Smith. They all seem to me admirn hi w"'"'!^''^' ^^ ^^^- Hamb- !,« .... .... books for n,pre*aathTnt'lci*I^?,^"«.'.^^^..«"<'^^ be the text book^s form^Te^hrougTand 'Icilnt.^^.".' '^"J^.A^^d'to sway into the So^ of oSr hi Jf «^ ''"? *^''5 L^? °°Pi°R« exercise's fn ^llea'^L5'«^,„^ll°l« i^?^ ac\'dSiis."'^O^f"the coVk,us exIrcTseSi^Jn^"? ^igh schools "and ceases every thorough teacher will amm.vi^?;!!''''^ alRebraic, pro- thttt. as discipline in grammaT is hFa ,!,J)!!"^° experience shews young student nfnin»o,r.™™„5.i?*".e Miain requirement of the young student of classicsX^ractlcefi nT«h.„"'^"*''^'f'«"» ^^ t^^e the fundamental requirement of thn.ir.^.^'^.'^i" "manipulations is reference of equations 1™volvi?g the t-^^^-"'*; ^J^en again, thi ■eparate and advanced sect on fnarL h« ^.f/I,* °' radicals to a •ympathy with the difficulties of be«rn'iV^^^^^^^^^ ''' one who has uniformly succinct and clear. The eeom/.;^ f he expositions are nigh. Manyof Euclid's mpfhn^pt^r-^ "^"7 ^*s merits equallv not as in Euclid deduce^frnmn ^^® improved on. and propos tions ™ wxxc u^u uuuii. will Deio manvastrikincT nrv^V^iT i fuposinons Of course, many of us. ttom\Ll^^.l?^J^°^^^^^' "'"'^ '* is uniform ciBing Euclid's element. h?darn^;edloL'°«„"P°."^^^^ '^"'1 "it^ But It may be doubted if thev are i^.„^^^ ,"* *^^ese mothodi unquestionably preferable to thn ^il^?^^"?! known. They arl' ought to be explained along w°th them' Wp^^^ ?"*=!lii'« "!«"'< Euclid, and this is the best apT^rox,mn•t,•^^'^^?lf '^'^'7 '^ nationa? We in Dalhousle include thefeK« 1° *o it that f have seen.^ mended text books in our mathemaH,^„r.T''**™''^l^'® "^"'^ rocom- Wo «re using yoor Algeb ra In ou r Acaiemy..' "Tt<.^*,^"?°^^®' ^'^speotor of Schools. Barrington N 8 those intricacies and bring the whole i,nd«V fi'°""^'°"' *° ""^vel every ordinary intellect. The e^minn^fnlf^*^® compreheuHion of and to students - a%tx^t*^JoMl|artSVjn^th^ w'oiij ^ C. T. ANDREWS, Inspector for Queen's Co N S amples Xirar/°e^?a?|e™d''ii\'S:-L'«^^^ '"""'^ *'^« «- ^tffto-'o^nZd^^^^^^^^ ^^BBEBTC.CBEE^.M.^^^^^^^^^^^^ jJgebrar^e^a^lffl'e^d^St's^lSL'^^^^^^^^^^^ ?'^'?blin Smith's rant me m racommending it to one of m? clagMiS. ' ^""^ *° ^«- itical Tutor, rio. r Quebee. alifax. lege, Halifax. ications, viz., jyMr. Harab- and fitted to 'aching than schools and iRebraic, pro- rience shews luent of the ipulations is >n again, the adicals to a one who has lositions are rits equally iiopositions, lay instance The method propositions t is uniform ug and critj se methodg . Thoy ar ■ B methodg 7 a national have seen, and recona- first year, ueritscoine College, N.S. t is needed ent is such 5 the intri- to unravel iheuHion of a vahmble iiniuend it heir work, ud the ex- y and well I shall be Scotia, n Smith's id to war- BEATTY & CLARE'S BOOK-KEEPING. A Tkbatiib on Sinolb and Double Entry Book-Kebpino, for usb IN HiQH and Public Schools. By S. G. Beatty, Principal Ontario Commercial College, Belleville, and Samuel Clare, Book-Keepingand Writing Master, Normal School, Toronto. 3rd Ed., PRICE, . 70 CENTS. Authorited by the Minister of Education, Ontario. Authorized by the Chief Supt. Education, Ma7iitoba. Bteommended by the Council of Public Instruction, Quebee. FROM NOVA SCOTIA AND MANITOBA. A. C. A, DOANE, Insp. P. Schools, Shelburne Co., Nova Scotia. " I have carefully looked over Beatty & Clare's Bookkeeping, and cannot but aiimire the simplicity of the outline, the oractical bearing of the transactions, the perspicuity of the instructions, and the varied com- mercial character of the whole work. It commends itself to teachers as a text book and to all others desifous of acquiring a knowledge of this important branch.' J. D. McGILLIVRAY, Insp. Schools, Co. Hants., Nova Scotia. Beaty & Clare's Bookkeeping.— "Besides looking over this book myself, 1 have submitted it to the inspection of practical bookkeepers who agree with me in the propriety of recommending it as a school book. Its directions are minute and to the point, and its examples ample." C. T. ANDREWS, Inspector for Queen's Co., Nova Scotia. ..•.J'^u^Vl * Clare's Bookkeeping has had a careful perusal, with which the principles of bookkeeping are explained and illustrated will recommend this work to any teacher or pupil preparing forexamina- tion, while it is sufficiently comprehensive for all practical purposes. L. S. MORSE, M.A., Insp. Schools, Annapolis Co., Nova Scotia. "I have examined Beatty & Clare's Bookkeeping and find it to be an excellent work. The definitions, forms, and transactions therein con- tained, are plain and simple, yet comprehensive and practical. It is well adapted for use in the public schools.* "wweu D. H. SMITH, A.M., Insp. Schools, Colchester County, Nova Scotia. " Beatty & Clare's Bookkeeping is an admirable work, its simplicity the"Dom^nion" '"^"" * *"'*" ^° °"' ^"^^^^^ throughout W. S. DANAGH, Inspector for Cnmberland, N. S. " I have looked into Beatty & Clare's Bookkeeping, and have much pleasure in saying that the work is just what is wanted fo^ boys who desire to acquire m a short time such k nowledg e as will fit them for business-" REV. JOHN AMBROSE, M.A., Supt. of Schools, Digby, N. S. BeauJrcaXJkflljrnJ"^'^ ""* -^P""*^ "«» thoroughhcs. of TiiOS. HART, M.A., Winnipeg. M. "Several months ago we introduced Mason's English Grammar int* klSnln^J"" wi'l^d'fh'* now we are introducinr Beatty & Cla"" Boo" keeping. We find them joat what we need in their rcspecUve eut(ject».- i A D,„,t Boo, '!?K*cSr.cr^ p READ. «tudyi8There^^ore%?S;ry^?fJ^ eo«^ ,In no branch of Many of our teachers reXLneartnh«v«° '° *^''* "^ ^^^^^ding! how reading should be Sift h^ff »;2 ^^® no conception as to 'HowtoRead'theycanSft anv c^ffi.nfr^'^ 'i^'^y «* ^«^i8' fit to give instructiL with thoj^t BSfsVaction"^^^ themselves bighl^lSn.SSd^^^^h^'a^^^^rf it rj^^e^el^^^H^-"-* ^'^ *°° The art of reading effectivelv hnp v.15^ ^ needed in our schools. hence they 8hould%'ocuro t^iJ'^'ork'lnrthS^^ cally master the rules and princiStherei^'^cont^eV"'^ ^'■^'^"■ «T ?■■ f f^^I^I^AT. InspecVjr of Schools. Co. Hanti -chooi'irthSThl^e^Beea' 'HtL^'l''^'^ ^°°^ *° ^lo'^"* on for of c«e." ® ''®®°- ^ ^*^® "ad »' over with a great deal "T h^' ^" ^T?^7^' Inspector for Queen's Co.. N. S. "I have exainined 'How toUt^nci' a,-,^ u \ pronouncing It the best Utt^^rk on^loiHnn%°°.^®l*'^"o° '^ Eas yet come under my notice A thoroishdHn ^"rf 1^*=^^" *^^* with due attention to the elemfntarv sofmria ii V? *^e exercises, illustrated by the author, Md an inLEn^ nJ^^ language as principles and suggestions thereki efven w?n ,-.*;°°'^^l\"°° o' *^e expressive reading." It cannot but be^ha^led^thnJIoo^'^^l^'^e and te.icher as it supplies a want long felUu ouTschoofB '«"n^ ^^ ^"""l^ the important subject of reading ittin\,a^^ti^' ^'^^ Sivea to art and a science-" *^eaamg its due prominence, as both an A. 0. A. DOANE, Inspector of Schools, Shelbume Co n p book SK^r.^';LteSli'p£ri«tiffl.';,' '4'/«>- principles of effective reading. P'°vex training of pupils in the Eev JOHN AMBROSE. M.AH^ector P. Schools, DIgby N 8. It.ia^t^Ib^e'^st^bl.YarThStTh^^-r;?^^ ..rr ^: ^- ^^NAGH, Inspector for Cumberland, N S How to Bead is a seasonable Bublicntinn a»»j-,.^* , expressive reading it suppUes a (fe^iderftf-n^ As a drill book for must be admitted'' thatXttor teachina on^flV"'" f°^°°l«- " needed. The work show. aMU*rn» ^i^^^J^^aft?,- f^eaUy ..mx. '^^^ ^' ^^^' ^™ad Cove, Cape Breton N fl elne a^^^*^" P^r «il°,*?«, airangements of the w^rk". common- graduaUy on"t"3"princVnies and n"r„';"Hn^''<^ vocalisation, and leading It the languagermust commend ftseiVt^ the purest gem! expressive English readin^^he tv«o.mm),fn i7 ^^r^'^ol clear, I. iiighly creditable to theUerpiSSbS^* "* *" *^« ""^^ iNO, Adaptbd minion Elocu- itario. %nitoba, er Co., N. 8. Qo branch of t of reading, eption as to ly of Lewis' tiiemselveB Co., N. a mnot be too our schools. 3w teachers, and practi- Santi. locution for t great deal r. S. ssitation in ichers that e exercises, anguage as ion of the easing and re by every id gives to as both an Jo., N. S. ihool class pils in the gby. N. a the size of S. I book for ihools. It is greatly le to the 8. comnjen- ci leading rest gems ' of clear, the work EXAMINATION PAPERS vx ARITHMETIC^ loronto. Second Edition. PRICE $1.00. From the GUELPH MERCURY. iTnif'nr; M^tP^I **"■'? '^. "^^vidod into six chapters. Tt,- first Is on th« Unitary Method, and gives solutions showinir its am. fc^tinnT. ! ™.-on th, .ubject Witt Jwch It iS „c«„pK """' " °'* ""^ ' From the ADVERTISER. they- hav; a? VrL:l%"h .? «^XZ fm ,7Zaf£^'±tlV'"'^. «any who have never' snspected the poiibility of ?c«S;/°,« much by independent methods, will be bv a nerni.1 n# Jil^ » *^ **• kind U inSyu^ce'd inio 'this coi ,^ .^"^^ Vl^ ?vS,t i^? aiipearanco of the work is of a very high character nnf»1t'.'"^ From the TELESCOPE. houses, wheri we consider the infan^cv of our c'om.V",^*^''*!?""^''''^ t has made and is making in eSUalZtt^« 'Sd"^i^,^ f5'°r?" the recently oublished educational wnrW '""""' •°<» pwrticttkriir in f (I Fir Authorized by the Minister of Education. ^f °°J^« °f ^°^^^«^ History. Edited by «jeRKv M Ckicighton. M.A., late Fellow and Tutor of Merton College. Oxford. In con- venient and cheap form, adapted to the Public and High School programme for Ontaria. The following is a full list of the Epochs : I. Early England itp to Norman Conquest. i5y Frederick York-Powell, M.A With lour maps. 25c. II. England a Continental Power, from the Conquest to Magna Charta, 1066-1216 By Louisa Creighton. With a coloured map of the Dominion of the Angevin Kings. 26c. III. TifE Rise op the People and Growth op i-ARUAMENT, FROM THE GREAT CHARTER TO THE Accession of Henry VII., 1215-1485 By James Kowley, M. A., Professor of Modern History and Literature, University College Bristol. With four maps. 25c. IV. The Tudors and the Reformation 1485- 1603. By the IIev. Mandell Creighton, M. A., late Fellow and Tutor of Merton Col- lege, Oxford, Editor of the Series. With three maps. 26c. V. Struggle Against Absolute Monarchy from 1603-1688. By Bektha M. Cordery 25c. I Authorized by the Minister of Education. Epochs of English History. Edited by Rev. M. Creighton. VI. The Settlement _ op the Constitution, FROM 1668-1778. By James Rowley, M.A„ Professor of Modern History and Literature, University College, Bristol. 25c. VII. England During the American and European Wars, from 1778-1820. By 0. W. Tancock, M. a., Assistant Master King's School, Sherbourne, Dorset. 25c. VIII. Modern England from 1820-1875. By Oscar Browning, M. A., Fellow of King's College, Cambridge. 25c. nf 'fh«cf'!f .^®.®?/P,*'°."^'>' waiting for a Canadian edition ? iafnn^r'f' '""'J'"'? ''°°'*^' '^"'1 "'^^ that «'e have tliese T-^..„ ^ „ '^°'' '^^"^ '"'o ^y classes as soon as possible." —John E. Bryant, B. A., Clinton. iJnniTiaH.^'P? *^^'^i5° "'° study of English History in its only rational way-by epochs in the life of the Engiiish Tn i^r ^"'^ ilf "■ l"stit"t'ons. ' Epochs of History ' mark Hamilton'" ^ ^^ '^^-"-Q. W. Johnston, h:m.M.S., h^'J rf,wT*^°«■";'®""""' '" saying that it is one of tha best digests of History that I have ever seen.— Wm WiLKiNaoN,M.A.,Brantford Central School. thl' w w/r'* ^''ff" *li':o»gh carefully, and consider them the best works on the .subject for the use of schaols that I have ever 8een."--K. K. Our, B. A.. H. M H and P Schools, Garletoti Place, Ontario. ' ' "You have done good service to Canadian students and teachers by issuing a Canadian edition, which, in binding Paperjind typographical execution, is all that could be Hi'lJ^vf f*^"?^ '^ admirably adapted for the use of teachers. P, hHn « V. P^Pi'"- ?"'^,*''^ "'"'■'^ advanced classes of oui^ HSlSgJKoc.:'""- ^^^'^'^•'^«"' ^- «• ^-P-'-, N. Reduction in Price. In future single volumes of the Epoch Series will be sold at 15 cents each. NOW READY, Vols. 1, 2, 3, 4, Epoch Series, bound in one vol. Price 60 cents. Vols. 5, 6, 7, 8, Epoch Series, in one vol. Price 50 cents. • Adam Miller & Co., Publishers. -J poch sach. und one cu Mlhv * Co/b (Bbucatiouitl ^txm. GRAYS ELEGY. — EDITBD — WITH JOHNSON'S LIFE. AND NOTES — BV— FRANCIS STORR, M.A. CHIEF MASTBft OF MODERN SUBJKCTS AT MBRCHANT TAYLOR'S SCHOOL. TORONTO. ADAM MILLER & 00. 1879' ( Entered according to Aot of Parliament of Canada, In the Office of ib» Minfater of AffWcrilture, by A»am Mu-tiH k Co., in the year 1879. Office of Uw irearl879. LIFE OF GRAY. From Dr. Johnson's "Lives of the most eminent English Poets.* nPHOMAS GRAY,' the son of Mr. Philip Gray= a scrivener^ of London, was born in Combill, Novem- _ ' He was the fifth child of twelve children-eleven died in infancy from fulness of blood, and the poet owed his life to his mother s nerve, who, with her own hand, opened a vein • Phihp Gray was a worthless father and a brutal husband, as we learn irom a case submitted to counsel by Mrs. Gray to ask vhclh.r her husband had any power to molest her in the busi- rcss c.f milliner, which she was carrying on with her sister, or to compel her to live with him. The case states that she "almost provided everything for her son whilst at Eton School, and now he IS ai Peterhouse at Cambridge." Before his death his father had, besides attempting to ruin his family, nearly ruined himself by neglect of ousiness and reckless expenditure in buildintr a country house. ** Gray's love of his mother in life, and his devotion to her memory, form perhaps the most pleasing trait in his character In the epitaph he wrote for her monument he describes her as the careful, tender mother of many children, one of whom only had the misfortune to survive her ; " and in a letter to Mr NichoUs, dated 1766, he writes: "It is long since I heard yoii were gone in haste into Yorkshire on account of your mother's Illness, and the same letter informed me that she was recovered- otherwise I had then wrote to you, only to beg you would take' care of her, and to inform you that I had discovered a thinf' very little known, which is, that in one's whole life one can never have any more than a single mother. You may think this is obvious, and what you call a trite observation. You are a green gosling ! I was at the same age very near as wise as you and yet I never discovered this (with full evidence and convictioA I mean) til! it w.t«=. too late. It is thirteen summers ago, and seems but yesterday, and every day I live it sinks deeper into my heart." *^ ' A scrivener is a broker and money-lender. B LIFE OP GRAV. |i ' I ber 26/ 1 7 16. His grammatical education he received at Eton,s under the care of Mr. Antrobus, his mother's brother, then assistant to Dr. George ; and when he left school, in 1734, entered a pensioner at Peterhouse, in Cambridge.* The transition from the school to the college is, to most young scholars, the time from which they date their years of manhood, liberty, and happiness ; but Gray seems to have been very little delighted with academical gratifica- tions ; he liked at Cambridge neither the mode of life nor the fashion of study, and lived sullenly on to the time when his attendance on lectures was no longer required. As he intended to profess the common law, he took no degree. When he had been at Cambridge about five years,' Mr. Horace Walpole, whose friendship he had gained at Eton, invited him to travel with him as his companion. They wandere^ through France into Italy; and Gray's Letters contain a very pleasing account of many parts of their journey. But unequal friendships are easily dis- solved : at Florence^ they quarrelled, and parted ; and Mr. Walpole is now content to have it told that it was by his fault. If we look, however, without prejudice on the • Read December 26. • Of his school-life we know very little. His uncle, Horace Walpole tells us, "Took prodigious pains with him, which answered exceedingly." He was a shy, retiring boy, with no turn for games, and used to read Vergil in play-hours for his own amusement. • His Eton uncle selected Peterhouse, being himself a fellow of the College. "The studies of the place were mathematics, the recreation was drinking, and he had no taste for either. Classical learning, which had been everything at Eton, he found was held in disdain ; and after submitting with aversion to a formal attendance on the usual routine of lectures, he came to the determination not to take a degree." — Quarterly Review. ' He left Cambridge in September, 1738, and for the next six months lived with his father and mother in London. 8 It was at Reggio. The causes of the quarrel are not far to seek. Walpole was all for society and gaieties ; Gray cared for nothing but antiquities, art, and scenery. Walpole was patron* izing, and Gray wau sensitive to a fault. It is said on fair authority that the final breach was caused by Gray's discovering 5 received 1 mother's en he left house, in s, to most heir years seems to gratifica- of life nor the time required. B took no \re years,' gained at mpanion. id Gray's y parts of asily dis- ted ; and it was by :e on the le, Horace im, which r, with no irs for his If a fellow thematics, For either. , he found rsion to a e came to Review. le next six not far to ' cared for as patron* d on fair iscovering Hi ! LIFE OF GRAY. 3 world, we shall find that men, whose consciousness of ti.e r own merit sets them above the compliances of se?- v.hty are apt enough in their association whhsuDerfors o watch heir own dignity with troublesome and ounc t.hous jealousy, and in the fervour of independence to exact that attention which they refuse to pav^ Part fhev did, whatever was the quarrel ; and the r«t^ortheir travels tTn^H^f ''"'' "^^•■^.""PJeasant to them both Gray con fo tune tit^nnr^ '" ^ "^""'^^^ '^^'^^^' to his own^ittL lortune, with only an occasional servant. He returned to England in September i7ai anrl in about two months afterwards buried Wsfalher who had by an injudicious waste of money upon a nevv house so' Zr til^Xlhe? ''""T ^^ ?W thought hinS'too poor to study the law. He therefore retired to Cambrid^f where he soon after became Bachelor of Civil Taw and ftsTn'^r ht tS\^'^ P'-^^S °^ ''' -hab;ta!it^,Tr'pTo' at"Londo°n,'tt rerof^his^hfe"'' "^^^^ ^ ^'^^^^ ^^^'^-^ Abwut this time he was deprived of Mr. West ' the son of a chancellor of Ireland, a friend on whom he appears o have set a high value, and who deserved his esteem bv SXri^Hch^Mr^M °"^ I" ^'^ ^^"^^^' and inThr^?^^ w luay, Which Mr. Mason has preserved, as well as bv the sincerii, with which, when Gray sent him oart -J Agrtpptna ^ tragedy thai he had just begun h^ eave an opinion which probably intercepted he progress^ of the work, and which the judgment of every reader wiUconfim, It was certainly no loss to the English stage that ^"e^^.' ptna was never finished. ^ ^^*^^P- In this year (1742) Gray seems to have applied himself oTy''y° P^f'^'for in this year were^priduced" he cogft^fndiJ^ ^ ^'^^""''^ ^ ^^t'" P°^"^' ^' PrincipHs It may be collected from the narrativ e of Mr. Mason, that Walpole had opened one of his letters. Walpole was auite cnpab e of such a meanness ; and though -nany yearraf?er a pa.t,al reconchation took place, the fauJf^whnf JeHt mv- hav- been, was never forgiven by Gray. ' "^ 10 '"'-f f "''^^ '° ^omi^X. on Richard West. knowledle^"^Fori'!'' '"'^'^' "■""' '^" '^« ^^^ g^^^^vays of Kiiowieage. -bora specimen see note, page 83. I'i 4 LIFE OF GRAY. that his first ambition was to have excelled in Latin poetry ; perhaps it were reasonable to wish that he had prosecuted his design ; for, though there is at present some embarrassment in his phrase, and some harshness m his lyric numbers, his copiousness of language is such as very few possess ; and his lines, even when imperfect, discover a writer whom practice would have made skilful." He now lived on at Peterhouse, very little solicitous what others did or thought, and cultivated his mind and enlarged his views without any other purpose than of im- proving and amusing himself ; when Mr. Mason," being elected Fellow of Pembroke Hall, brought him a com- panion who was afterwards to be his editor, and whose fondness and fidelity has kindled in him a zeal of admi- ration which cannot be reasonably expected from the neutrality of a stranger, and the coldness of a critic. In this retirement he wrote (1747) an ode on the Death of Mr. nalpole's Cat; and the year afterwards attempted a poein, of more importance, on Government and Edii- cation,^^ of which the fragments which remain have many excellent lines. His next production (1750) was his far-famed Elegy in the Churchyard, which, finding its way into a magazine, first, I believe, made him known to the public.'* Johnson's wish is father to the thought that Gray is but a lecciid-rate English poet. No poet has ever written verses in a loreign tongue which have obtained more than a succh d'estime Who now reads even Milton or Petrarch's Latin poems, except as 5iteitiry curiosities ? * '8 The Rev. WiUiam Mason (1725-1797). a third-rate poet, was the friend and literary executor of Gray. His character for literary fidelity received a rude shock by the publication of the works of Thomas Gray by the Rev. John Mitford, 1837- 1843. Mitford has shown that Mason deliberately altered, interpolated' and jumbled together Gray's correspondence, and, what was worse, destroyed the originals with which he had taken these unwarrantable liberties. " This fragment has not been included in this edition. It has all the faults of a didactic, philosophic poem, such as Po|)e's Essay on Man, and no- e of the knowledge of the world, the brilliant wit and happy illustration, which make us still re.td the Essay in spite of its philosophy. " In February, 1751, Gray received a letter from the editor of the Magazine 0/ Magazines, informing him that his " ingenious in Latin lat he had at present harshness ^e is such imperfect, le skilful." solicitous mind and lan of im- )n," being m a com- nd whose i of admi- from the :ritic. the Death ittempted ind Edu- ain have 3) was his nding its known to ly is but a verses in a >s d'estime. ms, except rate poet, aracter for ion of the 837-1843. erpolated, what was ken these Htion. It as Pope's vorlcl, the 1 read the the editor ingenious LIFE OF GRAY. 5 An invitation from Lady Cobham about this time gave occasion to an odd composition called A Lon^ S/ory'i which adds little to Gray's character. " K, ^M ^""n "{^"'^ ^'^"^J ^.^""^ published (1753), with designs by Mr. Bentley; and, that they might in sor-e form or other make a book, only one side of each leaf was printed 1 believe the poems and the plates recommended each other so well, that the whole impression was soon bought This year he lost his mother. Some time afterwards (1756) some young men of the college, whose chambers were near his, diverted them- selves with disturbing him by frequent and troublesome noises, and, as is said, by pranks yet more offensive and contemptuous.'* This insolence, having endured it awhile, he represented to the governors of the society, among whom perhaps he had no friends ; and, finding his com- plaint little regarded, removed himself to Pembroke Hall In 1759 he published TAe Progress of Poetry and The Hard, two compositions at which the readers of poetry were at first content to gaze in mute amazement." Some that tried them confessed their inability to understand them though Warburton said that they were understood as well as the works of Milton and Shakespeare, which it IS the fashion to admir e. Garrick wrote a few lines in poem" was in the press. In order to forestall the magazine. Gray wrote to Walpole to beg him to negotiate with Dodsley and get hini to print the elegy at once without a name. Lady Cobham, who lived at the Mansion House at Stoke- I'ogeis, near Windsor, wished to make the acquaintance of her neighbour the poet, who was at that time living with his aunt. Two adies, who were staying with Lady Cobham, volunteered to call upon him, and finding him out left their cards. Grav soon became mtimate with the ladies, and wrote the poem giving a humorous account of the visit. Gray had nothing of the playful humour and lightness of touch which vers de societi demand, and I have not cared to disinter these verses, which Gray himself would never allow to be reprinted. Gray, who was afraid of fire, had procured himself a laddei ot ropes. The opportunity for a practical joke was too good to be lost and some of the Peterhouse undergraduates raised at "^ 17"!^ 'f/ *=r): <^' fii-c in the hopes of seeing the poet descend. yoldsmuh among the number: "They have caucht the fS!TV''T'""y °^ ^;"^f'"'" "They can at best amute on^J the few," and so on.— In Monihly Review. ^ 6 - LIFE OF GRAY. their praise. Some hardy champions '« undertook to rescue them from neglect ; and m a short time many were con- tent to be shown beauties which they could not see nf r[S ^ T^P^i^'I'^l' """^ '° '""f^' ^hat, after thedeath of Cibber he had the honour of refusing the laurel which was then bestowed on Mr. Whitehead '^ ' " His curiosity, not long after, drew him away from Cam- bridge to a lodging near the Museum,- where he resided near three years, reading and transcribing; and. so far as can be discovered, very little affected by two odes on Oi>/tvion and (^ter./j,- in which his lyric performances Wh^'^^'S'^p^V'^ "'"''? contempt and much inge^uhy When the Professor of Modern History at Cambridge Kc^7-f 'fr^^'T' Cockered and spirited up," till he asked it of Lord Bute, who sent him a civil refusal- James Lomher'!'^' ^'""^ ^"^ ^^''' ^'°'^'*' '^^ ^"*°' °^ ^'' His constitution was weak, and, believing that his health TnlT.T^^'^-^y ^""^'"''^ ^"^ '^^^"^^ °f Pl^^^' he under- took (1765) a journey into Scotland, of which his account so far as it extends, is very curious and elegant • for as his comprehension was ample, his curiosity extended to all the works of art, all the appear ances of nature, and all J* Wharton and Mason in chief. » Colley Cibber, Poet Laureate, 1730-1757; W. Whitehead E^ttrxT"''^' '^^^"^'^- ^--^- -'^-' SeeTpSx.' =" In 1753 lotteries were started to purcluse the Sloane col- lee ion and the Harleian MSS., which' were combined wkh the Cottonian collection, and deposited in Montague Housr»nder ^n^VIIIth Century, vol. 1. p. 523.) It was opened to the Pn"^onS '7^?' ""?> '" '''' J»ly Of thai year Gray Slodgings m Southampton Row, m order to study and transcribe the historical and genealogical MSS. He gives in his letter an amusing account of the reading-room, where he regularly passed four hours a day. There were but five occupants-tL PmsS! • a bird gentleman who wrote for Lord Royston ; " Dr. Stukelev Who writes for himself, the very v.orst person he could wrke for '; and I, who only read to know if there is anything wo.th writing " ^^fn^rlf/n'' /^^'''"^r'"*"^' "P,""^^' '^57. accommodates th?ee hundred readers, and is generally full k t'o rescue were con- t see. ■ the death jrel, which "rom Cam- he resided nd, so far o odes on formances ngenuity. 'ambridge !d up," till il refusal ; itor of Sir his health he under- 5 account, t : for, as tended to e, and all Whitehead, Appendix, loane col- li with the jse, under ■ England sd to the c lodgings scribe the letter an riy passed Prussians ; Stukeley, write for; writing." ites three f Mason, Hi LIFE OF GRAY. 7 the moraiments of past evei.ts. He naturally contracted a friendship with Dr. Heattie," whom he found a poet, a philosopher, and a good man. The Mareschal College at Aberdeen offered him a degree of Doctor of Law-s/ winch, having omitted to take it at Cambridge, he thouirht It decent to refuse. . ^ What he had formerly solicited in vain was at last given him without solicitation. The professorship of history became again vacant, and he received (1768) an offer of 1 from the Duke of Grafton. He accepted, and retained It to his death ; always designing lectures, but never read- ing them ; uneasy at his neglect of duty, and appeasing his uneasiness with designs of reformation, and with a resolution which he believed himself to have made of resigning the office, if he found himself unable to 'dis- charge It. Ill health made another journey necessary, and he visited (1769) Westmoreland and Cumberland: He that reads his epistolary narration wish.:s, th.a to travel, and to tell his travels, had been more of his employment • but It IS by studying at home that we must obtain the ability of travelling with intelligence and improvement. His travels and his studies were now near their end 1 he gout, of which he had sustained many weak attack-; fell upon his stomach, and, yielding to no medicines, pro- duced strong convulsions, which (July 30th, 177 1) termi- nated in aoath.=3 His character I am willing to adopt as Mr. Mason has done, from a letter written to my friend M. Boswe 11, by the Rev. Mr. Temple, rector of St. Gluvias m Cornwall ; and am as willing as his warmest well-wisher to believe it true. " Perhaps he was the most learned man in Europe He was equally acquainted with the elegant and profound parts of science, and that not superficially, but thoroughly He knew every branch of history, both natural and civil • had read all the original historians of England, France and Italy ; and was a great antiquarian. Criticism, meta- physics, morals, politics, made a principal part of his study ; voyages and travels of all sorts were his favourite 2 James Beattie (1735 'S02) ; best known by his poem. TAe Minstrel, written m the stanza and manner of Spenser •; He died at Pembroke Hall, and was buried by his own desire beside his mother in the churchyard of Stoke-Pogeis 8 I.n-R OF C.KAY. v.uni,rcve . inoiigh he seemed to value other«; rhiVfl,, oflefters ; and, .h„„,h wi,L~ „f ^^^^^^^^ everything as trifling, and unworthTof thTa Uention^f.' wise man, except the pursuit of knowledge "n^pnctice Tnlw '"k^^' st'-ite wherein God hath placed us » ticJlar icounrnrr''^ ^f^.^^^as addled a n Se par- ncuiar account of Gray's skil n zooloev Hp hie rl noflikeSelieve^obe^ oy" '" "°"= """"^ "' ""' familiarly with Ihe e eie X w Sa vl ■""'"? '°"« «nversal man of Lh on ai wi' • Jd t ifm^ "'"^''''f'' ""■«' >« a Voltaire disgusted him by tte drJr,,,'^! f'"'"'^'' f T^''- »»"> be considers »-,. . ' . "l'..". "''?P"^'>'''= fopperyof desirinir to Frenchman repfel, ' that if h- had LS'IT""' '° "1"*"'= *o„.dnothave^on;et„visifht.^?ij^r„sSS/ii:;il':^:i,^^^ tinj,^ prints, id of know- instructing n, a man of ithout some atest defect effeminacy, disdain of me degree, Lich in Mr. ers chiefly cnowJedge, as a man or station, dependent aps it may len it pro- is to leave :onsidered Jmployed ; 5ed agree- lisition in ;ened, his jre shown I consider ition of a I practice us." lore par- 5 has re- t •' before ^at he is e reason II he did " But he :onversed ithei as a 'isit from esiring to i^hich the !eman he "ongrtve. ■<: >i IJFE OF GRAY. g What has occurred to me from the slight inspection of his letters m which my undertaking has^engaged me is unl mSH""'"^^^?^ ^ ^^'^^ S^^^P 5 that his furiosity was unlimited, and his judgment cultivated ; that he was a man likely to love much where he loved a all ; but thS he was fastidious and hard to please. His contempt, how- ever, IS often employed, where I hope it will be approved upon scepticism and infidelity. His short acE of bhaftesbury's j ^jH insert. " You say you cannot conceive how Lord Shaftesburv came to be a philosopher in vogue ; I will tell yoi: firs? r..H?' ^i■'A^ ' '''°"^'y' h^ ^^s ^^ ^ain as any of his readers ; thirdly, men are very prone to believe what thev do not understand ; fourthly, they will believe anything ilfth V KT'f^ '^y r ""^^'' "° obligation to believe "t^ ifthly, they love to take a new road, even when that road leads nowhere ; sixthly, he was reckoned a fine wrher, and seems always to mean more than he said. Would you have any more reasons .? An interval of about forty years has pretty well destroyed the charm. A dead lord ranks with commoners ; vanity is no longer interested in ^K"'^^^' ' ^°^ ^ "^^ ^°^d ^^^ become an old one '' Mr Mason has added, from his own knowledge, that, though Gray was poor, he was not eager of monev • and that, out of the little that he had, he was very willing to neip the necessitous. ^ As a writer he had this peculiarity, that he did not write his pieces first rudely, and then correct them, but labourti every line as it arose in the train of composition ; and he had a notion not very peculiar, that he could not write but at certain times, or at happy moments ; a fantastic foppery to which my kindness for a man of learning and virtue wishes him to have been superior.^* "» Shaftesbury (1671-1713), the moralist and metaphysician His collected works bear the title of CAaraci^mUcs. On Smv"; ktters, the judgment of Cowper, himself pre-eminent as a letter! writer, is worth quoting : " I have been reading Gray's v^okl and thmk him sublime I once thought Shift's fe ters the best that could be written, but I like Gray's better. His humour or h,s wit. or whatever t is to be called, is never illnaturTd or offensive, and yet I think equally poignant with the Dean's " fi,of *y. t^ 1"° "^^"^ pretend to inspiration, but yet I affirm that the kculty m question is by no means voluntary. It is the lO LIFE OF GRAY. !l th*! If if 'S scijoiar like Uray, the /lonre^/ Spr nff.='7 The mnralif,, :- natural, but too stale ; the concision is pretfy ^ '' sidered'aT^tHfle'trf "^^ '°"k^'^^^^ ^^^ '^"^"^hor con- biaerea as a tritie, but it is not a happy trifle In th** fircf stanza, "he azure flowers f/ia^ d/oJ'slZThowrefnl^J a rhyme ^ sometimes made when it cannoreSbe fim^H^ What female heart can gold despise? What cat 's averse to fish > Jo'th^ca^'^ TheSL*° '^' "^^^P^^' ^"^ ^^e second only Jhnf « If ■ ^^^ ^*^"^^ contains a melancholy truth that a favourite has no friend •" hut fh^ locf^ Vj • ' me m my life, may easily give cred Ulo wh« , ' v !' ,G """f flowed b„, from .he'au,IS,*51,ii'*7o ft '"veraf' 'tPffi ;f^^^.f°^a.'>i^p^.eta.^r^-^'.„--™^ s h=iiiTstsraViiet:r,:^ with the genius of the English language ^ ^^^'"^ hope not nfess that His ode langua,:,fe "iant, and e arisen a »stantives "•ed plain, hnes of a oraUty is :hor con- the first esolutely )e found, nee both made of md only ly truth, ids in a if what 'e gone ich does his long s moved jKAY to i on the happily "The ary and ;, justly opposite md the nd one Jtation. Anson's poet." eeping LIFE OF GRAY. tt into the water ; and, if she had, would not less have been drowned. J'he Prospect of Eton College, suggests nothing to Gray which every beholder does not equally think and feci. His supplication to Father Thames,'^ to cell him who drives the hoop or tosses the ball, is useless and puerile. Father Thames has no better means of knowing than himself. His epithet "buxom health"^'' is not elegant ; he seems not to understand the word. Gray chought his language more poetical as it was more remove from com- mon use: finding in Dryden "honey redolenv of spring,"3° an expression that reaches the utmost limits of our lan- guage. Gray drove it a little more beyond common appre- hension, by making "gales" to be "redolent of joy and youth." Of the Ode on Adversity, the hint was at first taken from " O Diva,gratum qucs regis Antiumj^ but Gray has excelled his original by the variety of his sentiments, and by their moral application. Of this piece, at once poetical and rational, I will not by slight objections violate the dignity. My process has now brought me to the wonderful Wonder of Wonders, the two sister odes, by which, though either vulgar ignorance or common sense at first universally rejected them, many have been since persuaded to think themselves delighied. I am one of those that are willing to be pleased, and therefore would gladly find the meaning of the first stanza of the Progress of Poetry. Gray seems in his rapture to confound the images of spreading sound and running water. A "stream of music" maybe allowed; but where does "music," however "smooth and strong," after having visited the " verdant vales, roll down the steep amain," so as that "rocks and nodding groves rebellow to the roar"? If this be said of music, "8 Lord Gren villa has most happily hoist the enginer with his own petar: "He forgets his own address to the Nile in Rasselas for a purpose so very similar, and he forgets nis readers to forget one of the most affecting passages in Virgil. Father Thames might well know as much of the sports of boys as the •great Father of Waters' knew of the discontents of men, or the Tiber himself of the obsequies of Maicellus." ^ See note on line 45. '" See note on line 19. fd LIFE OF GRAY. purpos"^!'""'' ' '^ '' ^^ '^'^ °^ ^-t^^' it is nothing to the The second stanza, exhibiting Mars' car and Tnv^'c something pleasing^ ^ ^' ^^" '*^"'^' ^^^'^^e^'' ^^^ the universal preva ence of no*>ti-„ . k./i. r i- ^"°"Sn the condusioS WiuTorrlsra « e premise?'" ?hi resiaences of glory and generous shame." But t'.,, ing, that I can forgive him who resolves to think i t true. acknowledged guardians and symbols ofthe Veaf obierf, nf nature, were naturally induced to adont « 1 ^^3 V ^^ "' those fabulous pers^naees those foilf.f .if P°*'"'' ^^"g"«ge nature, which ha'd givSUtVS dll ^Ift fnEoel U perhaps condemn as puerile in a modem poet?" " »ump.rftrrrp^s?.?i,T:irhf-''/r^ ^ing to the ind Jove's n disdains that it is be more et green" lor drawn lior drawn of words ; formerly spotted;" ^ever, has ideavours not been 1 enough "raid that es. The e not t J But tijat so pleas- it true. [e, speak- age, is an le author That it is e deeply ;kindled, It off by ed of all bjects of language itural in aoems of holar of ead with J would endless ! wool," Look LIFE OK GKAV. n The third stanza sounds big with "Delphi "and "E^ean » and Ihssus," and "Meander," and "h&ed founS'" and "solemn sound ;" but in all Gray's oderthe e is a Snd i It^sr^s^'^l^^^^ 7-'''''' 7^r''' away. Hfs po'sulon IS ai last lalse. In the time of Dante and Petrarch fmm whom we denve our first school of poetry, Ita y was o er ^f^y '^^T P^^^^'*" '-^"^ "<=oward vice "nor was ol; state much better when we first borrowed the Italian machmery. Where truth is sufficient to fill tfeTind genuin^: "'''' '^'" "'^'^^^ ' '^'^ ^^""^^'""^^''^ debases the His accourit of Milton's blindness, if we suppose it caused by study m the formation of his poem a suDoositinn surely allowable, is poetically true, and^SilySined But the .^rof Dryden, with his t^o courXUsSm^ JSaced '' " '' " "' ^" ''^''^ ^"y other 'rider r^aySf P'^Barr/ appears, at the first view, to be, as Alc.arotti33 ^"d o hers have remarked, an imitation of\he S^^^ ot Nereus Algarotti thinks it superior to its orSaP m.Hnl Pf Ir"*^^ depends only on the imagery and ani- T\nTA ^t^ ^v° P°''"'' ^'' Judgment is right There var etv Bu^^to'' ""''- f°''^\ "^°^^ ^^oughtf and morl variety. But to copy is less than to invent, and the codv has been unhappily produced at a wrong time The fict°Sn of Horace was to the Romans credible : but ts rev la^ tS.^%^i^PP--^ -^ unconWra'b^^ Zs7Zt To sele c t a sing ular event, and swell it to a giant's bulk nnlSfnl^^f'^"' ^'712 .1764). a V^UaTby bi^thTa'dirthi- guished ht era ear avfciitic, and popularizer of science A common mend Mr. Howe, introduced him to (Jray's obems beteen'l,iK;!f Cl^;-;-'^' ^^' ''^ '^' - ^ coSp?„S " From Horace, Ars Poetica, 188 : snike, *^^.j'"^'^«»°'^Phoses of Prognc into a bird, Cadmus into a t4 tiFE OF GRAY. II, Hi'l'f '^'"^'^ promotes any truth mi ' ' '^° ""t see is fi,^f.f' ■■!r^'',"« ">° long „Dec3l I ■'■' •"■ Po'ilical...! consonance 'and1°ec"u4„'^e': ""'^= P'-su.-/S^S braeedTbulrhSS fe^"™/' beginnin, has been cele mventor. I, is i„ ,tL power of "' «''" ^^'^^ o„ly"to"hJ le«,» "helm oThTuberk"'/'' ?»;'"^'ions, "ruin ruth |P,;.>e^h\T;;fhat?hVpt,?,^l%-" "escribed , but H^X£SSir^'?S5 heart with scorn. "'"'" " ™s first heard wA ever was very properly'Sre fvort'of f' "'f' 'eS, how! Theft if 1"'"S *e ">'ead ZmlnTl^"^"' « *e |^htteiSLtyTfi's:^o'^5 i^--"" S^^^^^ weaTetht '"^"r/^"'" upon ^2'^ff^°""»d incongri^f 36 \xr _ T£rSh^^te-J?.^est degree cJictions, has obable may use ; we are ; only as we do not see 5oJitical.3s es ; the ode asures, and from their been cele- only to the n abi uptly >f Johnny uin, ruth- deur of a bed ; but ythology. e stormy non bow be repe- ard, was 'd, as he re, how- s, as the thology. ivers of 'gruous. rpj and ; for it weave reading 18 LIFE OF GRAY. IS the tt/i-^ or piece ; and the first line was dearly boupht bv the admission of its wretched correspondent, "Give timo'e linTis^bad/"'^' '"""^'*'-" "' '^"'' ^°"«"^^' "" °^''^' I I'^V'k'''^ ^*^"'''' °^ ^^® '^'^""^ ternary is commended, tin./ '^/^""."^ Its merit. The personification is indis- tinct. I hirst and hunger are not alike ; and their features, to make the imagery perfect, should have br-r discriminated We are told in the same stanza l,ow 'towers are fed." But I will no longer look for par ci-lar faults; yet let it be observed that the ode might h.v^e been concluded with an action of better example ; U^t suicide IS always to be had, without expense of thouul These odes are marked by glittering accumulations jf ungraceful ornaments ; they strike rather than please • he images are magnified by affectation ; the language is aboured into harshness. The mind of the writer seems to work with unnatural violence. « Double, double, toil and trouble." He has a kind of strutting dignity, and is tall by walking on tiptoe. His art and his struggle are too visible, and there is too little appearance of else and nature. To say that he has no beauties would be unjust • a man like him, of great learning and great industry, could not but produce something valuable. When he pleases least, It can only be said that a good design was ill His translations of Northern and Welsh poetry deserve praise ; the imagery is preserved, perhaps often improved ; but the language is unlike the language of other poets. In the character of his Elegy I rejoice to concur with the common reader ; for by the common sense of readers uncorrupted with literary prejudices, after all the refine^ ments of subtilty and the dogmatism of learning, must be finally decided all claim to poetical honours The Churchyard abounds with images which find a mirror in every mmd, and with sentiments to which every bosom returns an echo. The four stanzas beginning, " Yet even these bones," are to me original : I have never seen the notions in any other place ; yet he that reads them here persuades himseli that he has always lelt them. Had Gray written often thus, it had been vain to blame, and useless to praise him. SELECTIONS FROM GRAY'S LETTERS MR. GRAY TO MR. WALPOLE. Cambridge, Feb, u, 1751. As you have brought me into a little sort of distress vou mu-sf assist me, I believe, to get out of it as well as I caT Ves"e?dav I had the misfortune of-receiving a letter from certain gentlemen (as their bookseller expresses it), who have taken theSS of Magazines into the r hands : Thev tell m«» thof In Z^ ■ Poem, called reflections in a CotmTry Chu'chJ'ArS Kf beTn communicated to them, which they ar? printing ffhwith • S they are informed that the exce/dtf author of it is I bv nnmf ^Z,f}f .^' ^''- ^^ ^ ^"^ "ot at all disposed to be either so indulgent, or so correspondent, as they desire I have hnt nnl L? way left to escape the^honour'they w^odd hfl Lrupon me a„d t.nued beyond them ; and the title must be.-Sy'^ written ^i a Country Church-vard If hp wnnU ^aa ,• *»^' "^"^'"en m it came iL his ha^VaccWeT/ should lii: U Set'' Tf you behold the Magazine of Mamzines in the ifahf thll t a you will not refuse t^o give ^ourselfthU troublVi^U^' count' * which you have taken of your own accord before rw 7f dSS do not do this immediately, he may as well let it aT^ne! ^ zmes for Apr , 17S1. Macra/inP* -. i^ol J: '?« ''^'""' ■'fTttgnztrte 0/ Maga- month. " ^viagannes, a, hat perwd came ont at ths e,,d of the OTTERS '*• i»» 1751. •ess, you must n. Yesterday lin gentlemen the Magazine '■ an ingenious rd, has been rthwith ; that 5 I by name, honour of his > be either so e but one bad 3on me ; and dsley print it week's time) Form is most haracter; he any interval places con- y, written in r two to say t better. If t that I do, . my account. If Dodsley me. "ewdays. The ruary ao. Its idon: Printed srnoster Row, for February, ine 0/ Afaga- ;hs end of the PI Ci^^T I I ( I C c 1 I ELEGY. 17 ELEGY WRITTEN IN A COUNTRY CHURCHYARD, The curfew tolls the knell of parting day, The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea The ploughman homeward plods his weary way And leaves the world to darkness and to me. Now fades the glimmering landscape on the <=ight. And all the an- a solemn stillness holds, ' Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight. And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds ; Save that from yonder ivy-mantled tower, The mopmg owl does to the moon complain Of such as, wand'ring near her secret bower, Molest her ancient solitary reign. ?xfu^^*u*^°^^ ^^^^"^ ^'"^s, that yew-tree's shade. Where heaves the turf in many a mould'ring heap, liach m his narrow cell for ever laid, The rude Forefathers of the hamlet sleep. . The breezy call of incense-breathing Morn The swallow twitt'ring from the straw-built shed. The cock's shrill clarion, or the echoing horn, Ao more shall rouse them from their lowly bed. For theni no more the blazing hearth shall bum. Ur busy housewife ply her evening care : No children run to lisp their sire's return Or climb his knees the envied kiss to sha're. Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke • How jocund did they drive their team afield ! ' How bow d the woods beneath their sturdy stroke I 10 »5 20 25 i8 THOMAS GRAY. 30 35 Let not Ambition mock their useful toil. 1 neir homely joys, and destiny obscure • Nor Grandeur hear with a disdainful smile. 1 he short and simple annals of the Poor. InH ^?WK 0/ heraldry the pomp of power, And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave. Awaits alike the inevitable hoar. The paths of glory lead but to the grave. - ^r"' ^^ P'^'i^'. '"^P"** *o tJ^ese the fault, .Memory o'er their tomb no trophies raise S'nLS^''*'"^^ ?" long-drawn aisle and fretted vault The pealing aathem swells the note of praise. 40 Can storied urn or animated bust Back to Its mansion call the fleeting breath ? Or fS»o°" ? voice provoke the silent dust,' Or F lattery soothe the Jull cold ear of Death ? Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid hJIIh tw'^u''*' pregnant with celestial fire ; Hands that the rod of empire might have swav'd Or wak'd to ecstasy the living lyrl ^ ' But Knowledge to their eyes her ample paee Ru:h with the spoils of time, did ne^er um^l'. Chill Penury repressed their noble rage. ' And froze the genial current of the soul. Full many a gem of purest ray serene, The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear • ^ull many a flower is born to blush unseen. ^ And waste its sweetness on the desert air. Some village-Hampden, that with dauntless breast The httle tyrant of his fields withstood • Some mute inglorious Milton here may'rest Some Cromwell guiltless of his countr/s blood. Th' applause of listening senates to command. The threats of pam and ruin to despise. t I J pjciity ucr a smumg land, And read their history in a nation's eyes, 45 SO 55 60 30 35 tted vault 40 1? ay'd, 45 50 55 rcast L 60 •A I II N Oi Sc Fc D( If So lo ELEGY. 0V^ Id 6s 70 , .leir lot forbade . nor circumscrib'd alone Ihe!r|rowing vi tues, but their crimes confin'd : l-ornad to wade J-.rough slaughter to a throne. And shut the gates of mercy on mankind, The struggling pangs of conscious truth to hide. Jo quench the blushes of ingenuous shame, Ur neap thii sarine of Luxury and Pride With mcense kindled at the Muse's flame. Far froii .he madding crowd's ignoble strife. I u'lr sober wishes never learned to stray • Along the cool sequester'd vale of life They kept the noiseless tenor of their way. Yet e'en these bones from insult to protect Some frail memorial still erected nigh, With uncouth rhimes and shapeless sculpture deck'd Implores the passing tribute of a sigh, ' 80 Their name, their years, spelt by th' unlettered muse, 1 he place of tame and elegy supply : And many a holy text around she strews, 1 hat teach the rustic moralist to die. 75 For who to dumb Forgetfulness a prey. This pleasing anxious being e'er resign'd Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day Nor cast one longing, lingering look behind? On some fond breast the parting soul relies Some pious drops the closing eye requires •' E'en from the tomb the voice of Nature cries E'en in our ashes live their wonted fires. ' For thee, who, mindful of th' unhonour'd dead Dost in thes. lines their artless tale relate • ' If chance, b lonely contemplation led ' Some kindred spirit shall inquire thy fate. Haply some hoary-headed swain may say : ^ft have we seen him at the peep of dawn ii^ishing with hasty step the dews away 10 meet the sun uoon the upland lawn. 85 90 95 100 if ■I 20 THOMAS GRAY. loq no There at the foot of yonder nodding beech 1 ha wreathfes its old fantastic roots to hSh His hstless length at noontide would he strelch And pore upon the brook that babbles by. m".!- ^yj^"^ "^^^^^ "ow smiling as in scorn Muttrmg hjs wayward fancies he would rove ' Sr cra/'S^S'/^'^"' "^"' "^^ °"^ ^^rlorn, ' Ur crazd with care, or cross'd in hopeless love. "One morn I miss'd him on the customed hill Along the heath and near his favourke tree ' Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood was he ; "The next with dirges due in sad array Grav'd on the stone beneath yon aged thorn!" ^ THE EPITAPH. Here rests his head upon the lap of Earth Fafr sii°Jr""f/"^ *° ^^•"^ ""known'; A i Jcience frown'd not on his humble birth And Melancholy marked him for hS own. ' He?.f.r5-J"'' ^°""*y' *"^ ^'s soul sincere, Heaven did a recompense as largely send • He gave to Misery all he had-a^Sr! ' He gained from heaven ('twas all he Wished) a friend. No farther seek his merits to disclose, rThpSTi, ' ^rl'^^ -^^ ^'""^ the''- dread abode CThere they alike in trembling hope repose) The bosom of his Father and his GoT ^' 130 125 10$ no borne. IIS 1 20 iend. I2S If 'ii^ ^ « NOTES THE ELEGY. I Cur/no. Used ^ 'rj.. . J Bacon in the literal sense of a fire.cov«»r f,f ^te The time for the curfew bell varied from ?hree to e^hf' U. SYizV^s^t^res Homeo and yulkf, not iv. scene n.il^ 1^1. • V '"^^^'''^'^^"^^cuL.khathcrow'd. 1 he curfew b 11 hath rung, 't is three o'clock. " Gray quotes Dante, Punratorio, 8— . Squilla di lontano paia 1 gioiiio pianger, che si muore." ( Hears ii vesper bell from far, mat seems to mr . . for the expiring day.") J'artttig, 'Departmg.' I'retixes ire constantly drooned in Elizabethan English -'brau I for u,,' A, '(lie for defile^?ollec^ for recollect. Dying of the fi.-st d, 'as changed toC/W to avoid the conceit. It is said that Gray had oSa ft Leighton, Hadieigh, Brenchley. &c. places- 4 Cf. Petrarch— " 8"f "^° '^ ^°^ ^^g"a in mar I'aurato cerco. /« wu .u^*" "°^V^°'. * ^^ *"•* "lente imbruna. " ( When the sun bathes in the sea his golden orb And darkens our atmosphere and my mind.") ' 6 ^^l^tr^^^^f grotesque turn to his original. ° One of Gray's favourite inversions. 7 ^\'^l^<^^^^h, act iii. scene 2— "The shard-bonie beetle, with his drowsy hums. Hath rung night's yawning peal." aa THOMAS GRAY. I»i !!|| 10 The • ignavus bubo ' of Ovid. Cf. " The wailir owl bcreams sohtary to the mourntul moon." [Point out a blot in this line.] Mnit » 11 ^^..r. Properly 'chamber.' ^''"'"• 13 Or against the rugged bark of some broad elm." 17 Milton. Paradise Lost, \x. ,9a- ^'"°^' ^''^**'- in tden on the humid flowers, that breathed Their mornmgmcense." 18 Tennyson, Princess — XT •, J.' ^''*' ^^'■''^^' P'P* °^ half-awakened birds." Vergil, ^n., viii. 455— ^' " Ir^tT •^'^ '?"'"'" '^'^^^ '"^ «""itat alma, .« A.r-, ^^™^*"''"'^°^"'=™«»subculminecantus.'' 19 Milton, Paradise Lost, viL 443— "ooTiiTnT/r"' '"'P'" " I""", n^q"' uxor 26 Vergil, oeorgics, i. 94— ., r ^^ 7. "»,?^"' ^^^^^^ 'I"' ^'^"g't inertes." 28 sv-^!$ ■ p^^'V^.^f' '^« '^^ '■eP'-esent?] Jl'rXn^rm^ SSin^^^^^^^^^^ so used by Chaucer, Gower &c ^ '' '^^^"''' contumax, ' and alti^ed^^'awaU.•\ut^a:a.^^tL"^ °i 1^^^°^ been manuscript and of the EdSprinceps 'of I'^fs^^'r °^ ^^^'^ inevitable hour' thesubiect? Sf • ^^^- • ^^ "°t 'the with Gray as almS^to aSnt to^fmTnSr " This to? "°" a more natural sense to ' awaits ' "'^""^"^»"- ^ n»s too gives .nd'^h^",ii5„c.fo?';:ixhnr&„:n;?='"f'-- generally disregarded bv thTFl Ik »i,^"Sl'sh Bible, though determined mo^t^hvi^nvCft^^^^^ ^''°'*=« being but cautious whom ye t'ras?^' """^^ " '''^'^ >°"' ^^ ^^^^ 38 [Trophies, What is the original meaning?] ■ ■*»■ J U !;• P tl NOTES-ELEGY. 23 39 ^rM The word ' fret ' represents at least three distinct forms wh.ch have been assimilated : but it is diS to i? l^Thf OM EnXr T^"'"^^.^"^ ^■^^'^'" eacl/to^^f origin : I. Ihe Old English 'freten,' 'to eat;' cf. German 'freshen' ((or ver-essen'), 'a moth fretting a garment' VVhnu.her meamng belongs to this headPjS. There is in/ther M Enghsh word (probably connected with the first 'fraet^ iraetwan,' ornament,' ' to ornament. ' 3. « Fret ' in archUer; ture and heraldry is from a Roman root; Ital an ' StL » French 'frette' properly iron grating or trel is-work so of the ozenge-shaped bars crossing one another in a Toat of arms or the cros. bands of a ceilmg; Latin 'laquearia.' 4 'Frets ''the stops or keys of a musical instrument, is of uncertain C'-iJin [Class under three heads, and explain, the following quo^^to,?; ^^e"^. ^'ifli^^PT = "This majesrical 'roof. fretterwirSr, ^'^•.> .37-— See s political ustify the lonscious. nage and Vs Life of a 'ioique [ike Bufo is." madding vho were tombs." the word 1 English m Greek NOTE'S-ELEGY. 25 " t ° '^ ',' /^°^ ^''^ '"^ as with that muse, btirred by a painted beauty to his verse." A/Zr/'^^T^- ^^i"^^ grammar would require the singular mo^lr '• ^''^ ^°°^'^^ '"-^ °"^ -^° l^-r"« or p?aSkes «,j?ii,^' '/ a moot point, which it is impossible to determine or t?' bet?" t{X^;^^^^^^^^ '^ ^''^^ '^ - apposition to .wio!' or to bemg. The first interpretation is the simplest in con struct.ou , the second, in meaning. In the first case the quesUon s really contamed m the appositional clause, • Who befnc a orev to forgetfulness resigned life ' = « Who in resign inT^ff« '^^ thought he would begotten.' InVhteS>„rrLm:am^l^ :^ 'o^enTfo^TLTif Cuel;^ '' °'"^^""''= ' ^^^° ^^^ 86 Cf. Adnam morientis ad animam— " Animula vagula blandula. • Hospes, comesque corporis, Quae nunc abi bis in loca? Pallidula, rigida, nudula, Nee, ut soles, dabis joca." 87 Cf. Lucretius, "luminis oras." 89 Compare the 'uncouth rhimes' of Drayton— " It is some comfort to a wretch to die (If there be comfort in the way of death), lo have some friend or kind alliance by, To be officious at the parting breath." afi??ti^7 '^""^'' '^^^ 'P''" ^"^"'""^' °f O^^d. 'Tears of 92 Chaucer, Rev^s Prologue, 3880, has " Vet in cure aisshen cold is fyr yrekcn (raked) " The similarity is in the words, not the sense. The Reve savs that even m old age the passions of youth are warm! Sy means even after death the yearning for afifection still l?Jes. ^ Gray hmiself quotes Petrarch, Sonnets— " ^"}^^?.^^ neJ pensier, dolce mio f' aco, i-redda una lingua e due begli ocd < chijii, Rimaner doppo noi pien di ffat/ilk " For thee. 'As for thee.' Chance. Cf. adverbial use of * fors ' honouf S.^^ ^'" ^ "" ^"^'' '"^"^'"' °f t''« ""• , 97 Sioain. First meaning, 'a boy; ' then 'a servant •' lastlv m pastoral poetry, used for 'a lover;' ^"vani, lastiy, 93 95 26 THOMAS GRAY. m i :*■;■ ii--- 98 Cf. Comus, 138 — " Ere the babbling eastern scout, The nice morn, on the Indian steep From his cabined loophole peep." 100 C/p/and. Milton (Z 'Allegro, 92) uses ' upland ' in the older sense of ' country ; ' but Gray is thinking rather of another passage of Milton {Lycidas, 25)— " Ere the high lawns appeared Under the opening eyelids of the mom." loa As You Like It, act ii. scene i — i " He lay along I Under an oak, whose antique root peeped out Upon the brook that brawls along the wood." 104 Cf. Burns, Epistle to IVilliam iiimpson— " The muse, nae Poet ever fand her. Till by himsel' he leam'd to wander Addwn some trotting burn's meander, An' no think lang ; O sweet, to stray an' pensive ponder A heart-felt sang ! " 105 From closeness of texture we get the idea of proximity. 106 Wayward. Old English 'waeward,' and so probably connected with 'woe,' not 'way.' The analogies of 'froward,' 'toward,' may, however, have influenced the meaning. 107 " Low spirits are my true and faithful companions ; they get up with me, go to bed with me, make journeys and returns as I do ; nay, and pay visits, and will even affect to be jocose, and force a feeble laugh with me ; but most commonly we sit alone together, and are the prettiest insipid company ia the world." Gray to West, August, 1737. See Macaulay's some- what brutal remarks in Essay on Moore's Life of Byron, ad fin. : "To people who are unacquainted with real calamity, 'no- thing is so dainty sweet as lovely melancholy.' This faint image of sorrow has in all ages been considered as an agreeable excite- ment. Old gentlemen and middle-aged gentlemen have so many real causes of sadness that they are rarely inclined ' to be as sad as night only for wantonness.' Indeed, they want the power almost as much as the inclination. We know very few persons engaged in active life who, even if they were to procure stools to be melancholy upon, and were to sit down with all the pre- meditation of Master Stephen, would be able to enjoy much of what somebody calls the ' ecstasy of woe.' " \.i\ Church-way path. The phrase occurs in Midsummer Night s Dream, act v., sc. i, 1. 386. There is no need to suppose a corruption of 'hay ' ('enclosure'), or to correct 'churchyard ' NOTES-ELEGY. ,; » rlS/''-^* y^^^i m^tri gratia, for 'verse.' 'Lay' is probably Before the EpUaph Gray originally inserted this stanza— " There scattered oft, the earliest of the year By hands unseen, are showers of violets found: The redbreast loves to build and warble there And little footsteps ligiitly print the ground!" Gray afterwards omitted the lines, as forming too long a K'eve? wroie '^ "' '" themselves as exquisite a, anythig 119 Cf. Horace, OJgs, iv. 3, i — " Quern tu Melpomene semel Nascentem placido lumine videris." [In what sense did scunce smile on Gray's birth ?] 124 A friend. An editor annotates: "The friend whom Gray gamed from heaven was Mason." Correct him it frorhishfe ?5' ^^^""^^ '™' '° ^'*^'' '^"*^'*'"' *' y°" ^^°°^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) IX) 1= 11.25 ^1^ 1^ ■U fii 12.2 u Hi !■» 120 U 11.6 auiuL; % // A f/i t^ \ # <^ c\ O^ "-!^ Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 ^.^■5?- ^f^ ^ A ..V i/. w SELECTIONS FROM GRAY'S LETTERS. MR. GRAY TO MR. WALPOLE, 29 Ash-Wednesdav, Cambridge, 1751. My dear Sir,— You have indeed conducted with great decency my httle misfortune: you have taken a paternal caro of It, and expressed much more kindness than could have been expressed from so near a relation. But we are all frail : and I nopt to do as much for you another time. Nurse Dodsley has given it a pinch or two in the cradle, that (I doubt) It will bear the marks of as long as it lives. But no matter: we have ourselves suffered under her hands before now; and besides, It wil only look the more careless and by accidaU as It were. I thank you for your advertisement, which saves mv honour, and m a manner bien flatteuse pour moi, who should be put to 11 even to make myself a compliment in good En.dish You will take me for a mere poet, and a fetcher and carrier of sing-song if I tell you that I intend to send you the beginning of a drama,* not mine, thank God, as you will believe, when you hear It is finished, but wrote by a person whom I have a very good opinion of. It is (unfortunately) in the manner of the ancient drama, with choruses, which I am to my shame the occasion of ; for, as great part of it was at first written in that form, I would not suffer him to change it to a play fit for the stage, and as he intended, because f-.e lyric parts are the best of It, they must have been lost. The story is Saxon, and the language has a tang of Shckespeare, that suits an old-fashioned fable very wel . In short I don't do it merely to amuse you, but for the sake of the author, who wants a judge, and so I would lend him mme : yet not without your leave, lest you should have us up to dirty our stockings at the bar of your house, for wasting the ti:iie and politics of the nation. Adieu. air !— 1 am, ever yours, t_ Gr.\y. • This wa.s the El/rida of Mr. Mason. ■ te mHtmr BMdi »B BM6h ia the Stndr of jl>* O. W. Jonnoir, H.M.M.8., Haalhw. An Acceptable Tezt-Book on English Histoi7 AT LAST FOUND I EPOCHS OF ENGLISH HISTORY, BV REV. M. CREIGHTON, M.A. Aatborlced by the Edneatlon Depaitmciit. Adopted by th* Public Schools of Montreal^ and a number of tht best Schools in Oniario. " Characterized by Brevity and Comprehensiveness."— Cattada Presbyterian. "Amonp'-* manuals in English History the Epoch Series is su take high rank."— Daily Globe. 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