III. 3.

"The verse adorn1 again,

Fierce War, and faithful Love,

And Truth severe2 by fairy Fiction dressed.
In buskined measures 3 move

Pale Grief, and pleasing Pain,

With Horror, tyrant of the throbbing breast.
A voice, as of the cherub-choir,

Gales from blooming Eden bear;

And distant warblings 5 lessen on my ear,
That lost in long futurity expire.

Fond, impious man! think'st thou yon sanguine cloud,
Raised by thy breath, has quenched the orb of day?
To-morrow he repairs the golden flood,

And warms the nations with redoubled ray.—

Enough for me: with joy I see

The different doom our fates assign.

Be thine despair, and sceptred care;

To triumph and to die are mine."

He spoke; and, headlong from the mountain's height,
Deep in the roaring tide he plunged to endless night.

GOLDSMITH.

PRINCIPAL EVENTS OF HIS LIFE.-Oliver Goldsmith was born in the year 1728, at Pallas, in the parish of Ferney, Longford, Ireland, or, as other authorities state, at Elphin, Roscommon. There was little promise, in his early years, of his subsequent literary, or any other eminence, nor did his studies at Trinity College, Dublin, distinguish him. On leaving college, he became

(1) The verse adorn, &c.—In allusion to Spenser, as appears plainly from the following line, from the beginning of the "Faerie Queene":

"Fierce wars and faithful loves shall moralize my song."

(2) Truth severe, &c.-In allusion to the allegorical style and character of the "Faerie Queene," in which, to use Milton's words, "more is meant than meets the ear."

(3) In buskined measures,

(4) A voice, &c.-Milton.

&c.-Shakspere.

(5) Distant warblings, &c.-"The succession of poets after Milton's time."Gray.

notorious only for idleness, dissipation, and imprudence, and these causes combined did much to frustrate the kind efforts that were made by his friends to settle him in the profession of medicine. He studied a short time at Leyden, and (probably) took a degree in medicine at Padua. Before returning to England, he travelled over a considerable part of the west of Europe on foot, subsisting, it is thought, on the casual contributions of strangers, in return for the exhibition of his skill in playing on the flute. When at length he arrived in London, " he found himself" (to use his own words), "without friends, recommendations, money, or impudence." He then tried various means of maintaining himself, but with little success, till at last, becoming acquainted with Dr. Johnson, that eminent man introduced him into the world of letters, and from this time the publication of his several works chronicles the principal events of his life. He died in the year 1774, and was buried in the Temple burying-ground, London.

PRINCIPAL WORKS.-The Vicar of Wakefield," the poems entitled "The Traveller," and "The Deserted Village," and the comedy "She Stoops to Conquer," are considered Goldsmith's most important and original works.

CHARACTERISTIC SPIRIT AND STYLE.-" Goldsmith's poetry enjoys a calm and steady popularity. It inspires us, indeed, with no admiration of daring design, or of fertile invention; but it presents, within its narrow limits, a distinct and unbroken view of poetical delightfulness. His descriptions and sentiments have the pure zest of nature. He is refined without false delicacy, and correct without insipidity. Perhaps there is an intellectual composure in his manner which may, in some passages, be said to approach to the reserved and prosaic; but he unbends from this graver strain of reflection to tenderness, and even to playfulness, with an ease and grace almost exclusively his own, and connects extensive views of the happiness and interests of society, with pictures of life that touch the heart by their familiarity. His language is certainly simple, though it is not cast in a rugged or careless mould. He is no disciple of the gaunt and famished school of simplicity. Deliberately as he wrote, he cannot be accused of wanting natural and idiomatic expression; but still it is select and refined expression. His whole manner has a still depth of feeling and reflection, which gives back the image of nature unruffled and minutely. He has no redundant thoughts or false transports; but seems, on every occasion, to have weighed the impulse to which he surrendered himself." 1

(1) Campbell. "Specimens," &c., p. 525.

THE TRAVELLER;'

OR, A PROSPECT OF SOCIETY.

REMOTE, unfriended, melancholy, slow,
Or by the lazy Scheldt, or wandering Po;
Or onward, where the rude Carinthian boor
Against the houseless stranger shuts the door;
Or where Campania's plain forsaken lies,

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.
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 pain repair,
And every stranger finds a ready chair;
Blest be those feasts with simple plenty crowned,
Where all the ruddy family around

Laugh at the jests or pranks that never fail,
Or sigh with pity at some mournful tale;
press the bashful stranger to his food,
And learn the luxury of doing good.

Or

(1) This beautiful poem was partly written in Switzerland, and dedicated by the author to his brother, the Rev. Henry Goldsmith. In the dedication the writer thus describes the purpose of the poem:-" Without espousing," says he, "the cause of any party, I have attempted to moderate the rage of all; I have endeavoured to show that there may be equal happiness in states that are differently governed from our own; that every state has a particular principle of happiness, and this principle in each may be carried to a mischievous excess." (2) Slow-With regard to this word, an amusing anecdote is found in Boswell's "Life of Johnson: "-" Chamier once asked him (Goldsmith) what he meant by slow (in the above passage)- Did he mean tardiness of locomotion?' Goldsmith, who would say something, without consideration answered, 'Yes.' I (Johnson) was sitting by, and said, 'No, sir, you do not mean tardiness of locomotion; you mean that sluggishness of mind which comes upon a man in solitude.' Chamier believed then that I had written the line as much as if he had seen me write it." (3) And drags, &c.—Goldsmith has the same idea in prose :-"Those ties that bind me to my native country and you are still unbroken; by every remove I only drag a greater length of chain."-Citizen of the World, vol. i. letter 3.

But me, not destined such delights to share,
My prime of life in wandering spent and care:
Impelled, with steps unceasing, to pursue

Some fleeting good, that mocks me with the view;
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.

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,
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 dísdain

That good which makes each humbler bosom vain ?
Let school-taught pride dissemble all it can,
These little things are great to little man;
And wiser he, whose sympathetic mind

Exults in all the good of all mankind.

Ye glittering 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.

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,

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,

Where my worn soul, each wandering hope at rest,
May gather bliss to see my fellows blest.

(1) Ye glittering towns, &c.-This and the following lines are a beautiful specimen of what Campbell calls the "quiet enthusiasm " of our author.

But where to find that happiest spot below,
Who can direct, when all pretend to know?
The shuddering tenant of the frigid zone
Boldly proclaims that happiest spot his own;
Extols the treasures of his stormy seas,
And his long nights of revelry and ease:
The naked negro, panting at the line,
Boasts of his golden sands and palmy wine,
Basks in the glare, or stems the tepid wave,
And thanks his gods for all the good they gave.
Such is the patriot's boast, where'er he 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 wisdom find
An equal portion dealt to all mankind;
As different good, by art or nature given,
To different nations makes their blessings even.

Nature, a mother kind alike to all,
Still grants her bliss at labour's earnest call;
With food as well the peasant is supplied
On Idra's cliffs as Arno's shelvy side;
And though the rocky crested summits frown,
These rocks, by custom, turn to beds of down.
From art more various are the blessings sent;
Wealth, commerce, honour, liberty, content.
Yet these each other's power so strong contest,
That either seems destructive of the rest.

Where wealth and freedom reign, contentment fails;
And honour sinks2 where commerce long prevails.
Hence every state, to one loved blessing prone,
Conforms and models life to that alone.
Each to the favourite happiness attends,
And spurns the plan that aims at other ends;
Till carried to excess in each domain,
This favourite good begets peculiar pain.

(1) Either-used here for "each."

(2) Honour sinks, &c.—If "commerce be taken in its proper sense, it is not easy to see the truth of this position. There is surely nothing intrinsically dishonourable-but the contrary-in the pursuits of commerce; and if the wealth which commerce brings be sometimes unworthily employed, let the individual instances bear the blame they deserve.