Nor the pride nor ample pinion*
That the Theban eagle bear,
Sailing with supreme dominion

Through the azure deep of air;
Yet oft before his infant eyes would run
Such forms as glitter in the Muse's ray
With orient hues, unborrowed of the sun :

Yet shall he mount, and keep his distant way
Beyond the limits of a vulgar fate,

Beneath the good how far! but far above the great.

115. Theban eagle, Pindar.
120. With orient hues. Compare Mil-

ton (Paradise Lost, i., 546): "with orient colors waving." 122. Beyond... fate. Gray's original

manuscript has, "Yet never can he fear a vulgar fate." The change is an improvement. 123. the great, the merely worldly great, high in station.

115

120

Oliver Goldsmith

THACKERAY'S TRIBUTE TO GOLDSMITH.1

1. Who, of the millions whom Goldsmith has amused, doesn't love him? To be the most beloved of English writers, what a title that is for a man! A wild youth, wayward, but full of ten

derness and affection, quits the country village where his boyhood has been passed in happy musing, in idle shelter, in fond longing to see the great world out-of-doors, and achieve name and fortune; and after years of dire struggle, and neglect and poverty, his heart turning back as fondly to his native place as it had longed eagerly for change when sheltered there, he writes a book and a poem full of the recollections and feelings of home -he paints the friends and scenes of his youth, and peoples Auburn and Wakefield with remembrances of Lissoy. Wander he must, but he carries away a home-relic with him, and dies with it on his breast.

2. His nature is truant; in repose it longs for change, as on the journey it looks back for friends and quiet. He passes today in building an air-castle for to-morrow, or in writing yesterday's elegy; and he would fly away this hour, but that a cage and necessity keep him. What is the charm of his verse, of his style, and humor? His sweet regrets, his delicate compassion, his soft smile, his tremulous sympathy, the weakness which he owns? Your love for him is half pity. You come hot and tired from the day's battle, and this sweet minstrel sings te you.

3. Who could harm the kind vagrant harper? Whom did he ever hurt? He carries no weapon, save the harp on which he plays to you; and with which he delights great and humble, young and old, the captains in the tents or the soldiers round the fire, or the women and children in the villages, at whose porches he stops and sings his simple songs of love and beauty. With that sweet story of The Vicar of Wakefield, he has found entry into every castle and every hamlet in Europe. Not one of us, however busy or hard, but once or twice in our lives has passed an evening with him, and undergone the charm of his delightful music.

4. Think of him reckless, thriftless, vain if you like, but merciful, gentle, generous, full of love and pity. He passes out of our life, and goes to render his account beyond it. Think of the poor pensioners weeping at his grave; think of the noble spirits that admired and deplored him; think of the righteous pen that wrote his epitaph, and of the wonderful and unanimous response of affection with which the world has paid back the love he gave

it. His humor delights us still; his song is fresh and beautiful as when first he charmed with it; his words are in all our mouths; his very weaknesses are beloved and familiar. His benevolent spirit seems still to smile upon us; to do gentle kindnesses; to succor with sweet charity; to soothe, caress, and forgive; to plead with the fortunate for the unhappy and the poor.

THE DESERTED VILLAGE.

[INTRODUCTION.—The Deserted Village was first published in 1770, and immediately became exceedingly popular. The work belongs to the class of didactic poems, the purpose being to set forth the evils of the luxury that prevailed in the England of Goldsmith's day. It has often been pointed out that the poet blundered in his political economy; but it is of little moment to inquire is he right or wrong—our interest being, not in the moral of the poem, but in its art; in its charming "interiors," in its fine bits of portraiture, and in the sweetness and grace that pervade its melodious lines.]

Sweet Auburn! loveliest village of the plain;

Where health and plenty cheered the laboring swain,

Where smiling spring its earliest visit paid,

And parting summer's lingering blooms delayed:
Dear lovely bowers* of innocence and ease,
Seats of my youth when every sport could please,
How often have I loitered o'er thy green,
Where humble happiness endeared each scene!

NOTES.-Line 1. Sweet Auburn. There

have been various claimants for

raphy than the poet's own imagination.

the honor of being the village 2. swain. See Gray's Elegy, page 202. intended by Goldsmith, but it 4. parting. See Gray's Elegy, page

ever existed in any other geog- 5. bowers: poeticè for dwellings.

LITERARY ANALYSIS.-What other poem, previously studied, does the Deserted Village resemble in versification?

I. village. Grammatical construction of this word?

3, 4. Where smiling... delayed. Express the meaning of this couplet in your own language.-What figure of speech is there in this couplet? (See Def. 22.)

How often have I paused on every charm

The sheltered cot, the cultivated farm,
The never-failing brook, the busy mill,

The decent church that topped the neighboring hill,

The hawthorn bush, with seats beneath the shade,

For talking age and whispering lovers made!

How often have I blessed the coming day,
When toil remitting lent its turn to play,
And all the village train,* from labor free,

Led up their sports beneath the spreading tree,
While many a pastime circled in the shade,
The young contending as the old surveyed;
And many a gambol frolicked* o'er the ground,
And sleights of art and feats of strength went round.
And still, as each repeated pleasure tired,
Succeeding sports the mirthful band inspired:
The dancing pair that simply sought renown
By holding out to tire each other down;
The swain mistrustless of his smutted face,
While secret laughter tittered round the place;
The bashful virgin's sidelong* looks of love,

10. cot

The matron's glance that would those looks reprove.
These were thy charms, sweet village! sports like these,
With sweet succession, taught even toil to please;

cottage.

12. decent, suitable, proper.

16. remitting, being over.-lent its turn

to, gave way to.

19. circled, went round.

21. gambol frolicked, etc.: that is, many a sportive prank was played in

a frolicsome manner.

17. village train: that is, the whole 25. simply, in a simple manner, with

body of villagers drawn along

together to the sport.

simplicity.

27. smutted, blackened, dirty.

LITERARY ANALYSIS.

-9-14. The abstract term "every charm" is explained by a series of particulars that give a concrete conception of what these charms were enumerate these particulars. Could a picture be painted from the description?

14. talking age. What is the figure of speech? (See Def. 29.)

21. gambol frolicked. Give the derivation of these words.

24. band.

Is this word in the direct or poetic order?