allured the vanity of the great by flattery, nor satisfied the malignity of the vulgar by scandal; but have endeavored to get an honest reputation by liberal pursuits."

382. Regal power, etc. Cf. The Vicar of Wakefield, XIX: "It is in the interest of the great to diminish kingly power as much as possible."

Also Goldsmith's History of England, Preface: "It is not yet decided in politics whether the diminution of kingly power in England tends to increase the happiness or freedom of the people. For my own part, from seeing the bad effects of the tyranny of the great in those republican states that pretend to be free, I cannot help wishing that our monarchs may still be allowed to enjoy the power of controlling the encroachments of the great at home."

386. Laws grind, etc. Cf. The Vicar of Wakefield, XIX: "What they may then expect may be seen by turning our eyes to Holland, Genoa, or Venice, where the laws govern the poor, and the rich govern the law."

411. Oswego. Cf. Goldsmith's Threnodia Augustatis, II, 82: —

"Oh! let me fly a land that spurns the brave,

Oswego's dreary shores shall be my grave."

412. Niagara. The meter required the name to be pronounced Niagára a pronunciation still heard in England.

420. To stop, etc. The line was written by Johnson.

429-438. Also written by Johnson with the exception of lines 435, 436.

436. Luke's iron crown. At the beginning of the sixteenth century, two brothers, George and Luke Dora, headed an insurrection against the Hungarian nobility. George was proclaimed king of Hungary, and as a punishment had a red-hot iron crown placed on his head. Goldsmith uses Luke instead of George, perhaps for the sake of the meter.

Damiens' bed of steel. In 1757, Robert François Damiens attempted to assassinate Louis XV of France. In order to extort from him the names of his fellow-conspirators, he was laid upon a hot bed of steel.

THE DESERTED VILLAGE

The Public Advertiser of May 26, 1770, contained the follow!ing notice: "This day at 12 will be published, price two shillings, "The Deserted Village,' a Poem. By Doctor Goldsmith. Printed for W. Griffin, at Garrick's Head in Catherine Street, Strand." At this time, Goldsmith, who was in his forty-second year, was at the height of his literary fame. The success of the poem was greater than that of The Traveller, which had been published six years before.

There is a certain resemblance between these companion poems. In The Traveller, Goldsmith contrasts conditions in different countries. In The Deserted Village, he limits himself to contrasting conditions in one country, his own. True to his eighteenth-century theme, “What constitutes a nation's prosperity," Goldsmith thought the political-economic side of The Deserted Village the best feature of the poem, but posterity thinks the pictures of old types its lasting quality.

"Sweet Auburn" is generally thought to be a memory picture of Lissoy, where Goldsmith lived in his boyhood, and where his brother Henry settled later as preacher and teacher. There has been much discussion on the subject, because the picture resembles an English hamlet more than an Irish village. Goldsmith, writing the poem at Islington, probably confused his rural English surroundings with his memories of Lissoy.

William Howitt, who visited Lissoy, says in his Haunts and Homes of the British Poets (page 203): “In all Goldsmith's description of his Auburn, he has clearly blended the Doric charm of the English village and English scenery with the fond boyish memories of his actual native place. He has evidently intended to represent the scene as in England, or at all events to make his poem of general application, though he has drawn on his memory for features connected with his native place, and imparted soul and sentiment to it by indulging the feelings of old affectionate regard. Thus the alehouse, the parsonage, the mill, the brook, the village green, the schoolmaster, the pious clergyman, were all portions of his native place, and actual inhabitants of it, yet

mixed with touches from the later observations of his English life. The very circumstances of depopulation, which no doubt had occurred at Lissoy and had sunk deep into his indignant heart, he tells us, in his dedication to Sir Joshua Reynolds, was going on in England, and that his description meant to apply to England."

But all this is rather immaterial. It is the beauty of the poem itself which we wish to see, to understand, and to appreciate. Foster says that Goldsmith "looked into his heart and wrote." So by knowing the poem we shall know the man, and shall be benefited by our knowledge of both.

1. Auburn. Lissoy, a parish in Kilkenny West, eight miles north of Athlone.

3-4. Where smiling spring, etc. Lines beautiful in thought and expression.

4. Parting. Old English. Poetic license for departing. Cf. 1. 363; also Gray's "Elegy," 1 and 89:

"The curfew tolls the knell of parting day."

"On some fond breast the parting soul relies."

5. Bowers. A rustic cottage; an attractive retreat. Here used for homes.

15. The coming day. Some saint's day; a holiday, looked forward to as a festival occasion.

17. Train. From the Latin traho, to draw. It means a longdrawn line. A favorite word with Goldsmith, occurring seven times in the poem.

21. Gambol. A skipping about in frolic; a sportive prank. 22. Sleights. Skilful feats. Used now in the phrase "sleight of hand." Cf. Macbeth, III, v, 26:

"And that distill'd by magic sleights

Shall raise such artificial sprites."

23. Still. The meaning is yet, a meaning common in the eighteenth century.

25. Simply. Artlessly.

27. Mistrustless.

Unconscious. Doubtless these same sports are still to be seen in rural country life in England. Read "A London Suburb" in Hawthorne's Our Old Home. There is a resemblance between Hawthorne's description of Greenwich Fair, and the "Sweet Auburn" of the poem.

35. Lawn. Cf. plain, l. 1.

40. Tillage. Cultivated land.

42. Works its weedy way. Eighteenth-century poets were very

fond of alliteration.

44. The hollow-sounding bittern. Cf. what Goldsmith says in his Animated Nature: "Those who have walked on an evening by the sedgy sides of unfrequented rivers must remember a variety of notes from different water-fowl; the loud scream of the wild goose, the croaking of the mallard, the whining of the lapwing, and the tremulous neighing of the jack-snipe. But of all these sounds there is none so dismally hollow as the booming of the bittern." 45. Lapwing. A plover-like bird.

51. Ill fares the land to hastening ills a prey. This line has been criticised as inartistic. Why?

52. When wealth accumulates and men decay. This subject was near to Goldsmith's heart, and is discussed by him time and again. Cf. The Vicar of Wakefield, XIX: "An accumulation of wealth, however, must necessarily be the consequence, when, as at present, more riches flow in from external commerce than arise from internal industry; for external commerce can only be managed to advantage by the rich, and they have also at the same time all the emoluments arising from internal industry; so that the rich, with us, have two sources of wealth, whereas the poor have but one. For this reason, wealth, in all commercial states, is found to accumulate, and all such have hitherto in time become aristocratical." 53-54. Princes and lords, etc. Cf. "The Cotter's Saturday Night" by Burns, XIX, 3: :

"Princes and lords are but the breath of kings."

Also Burns's "A Man's a Man for a' That," IV: —

"A prince can mak a belted knight,

A marquis, duke, and a' that;

But an honest man's aboon his might,

Guid faith, he manna fa' that."

58. Rood. Same as rod.

63. Train. Singular in form, but plural in thought; hence the plural form of the verbs.

74. Manner. Meaning here not behavior, but customs. Goldsmith probably used the word for the sake of alliteration.

87. Husband out life's taper at the close. The meaning here is to use savingly. Cf. Macbeth, II, 1, 4:—

"There's husbandry in heaven;
Their candles are all out."

89-90. I still had hopes, etc. Cf. The Vicar of Wakefield,

XXIV: "Let him see that I was a scholar."

101-102. Who quits, etc. Attention has been called to the fact that Goldsmith had many favorite words, which he used over and over again. He also repeated many phrases and thoughts. Compare the thought expressed here with the following lines from The Bee: "By struggling with misfortune, we are sure to receive some wound in the conflict: the only method to come off victorious is by running away."

107. His latter end. Old age.

110. While resignation, etc. The picture of "Resignation" by Sir Joshua Reynolds bears the following inscription: “This attempt to express a character in The Deserted Village (lines 109112) is dedicated to Dr. Goldsmith by his sincere friend and admirer, Joshua Reynolds."

124. The nightingale. Cf. the following from his Animated Nature: "The nightingale's pausing song would be the proper epithet for this bird's music." The nightingale is not found in Ireland, but the poet writing in England mingled his English surroundings with his recollections of Lissoy.

127. No cheerful murmurs fluctuate in the gale. The diction here is rather prosy and rhetorical, in the manner of the classical school.