many years has known no abatement. Those who wish to ascertain his precise rank among English poets will find many valuable remarks in an Essay on the Poetry of Goldsmith, by Dr. Aikin, prefixed to a beautiful edition of his poems published in 1804; and in a Critica! Life of Dr. Goldsmith, by Mr.Egerton Brydges, in the fifth volume of his Censura Literaria.

The present edition of his poems is copied from the octavo principally, with the addition of the Threnodia Augustalis, a piece which has hitherto escaped the re. searches of his editors. It is now printed from a copy given by the author to his friend Joseph Cradock, esq. of Gumley, author of Zobeide, &c. and obligingly lent to me by Mr. Nichols. If it adds little to his fame, it exhibits a curious instance of the facility with which he gratified his employers on a very short notice.

POEMS

OF

DR. GOLDSMITH,

DEAR SIR,

the powerful, it is still in greater danger from THE TRAVELLER: OR, A PRO- the mistaken efforts of the learned to improve SPECT OF SOCIETY.

it. What criticisms have we not heard of late

in favour of blank verse, and Pindaric odes, FIRST PRINTED IN 1765.

chorusses, anapests and iambics, alliterative care, and happy negligence! Every absurdity has

now a champion to defend it ; and as he is geTO THE REV. HENRY GOLDSMITH. * nerally much in the wrong, so he has always

much to say; for errour is ever talkative.

But there is an enemy to this art still more I AM sensible that the friendship between us dangerous, I mean party. Party entirely distorts can acquire no new force from the ceremonies the judgment, and destroys the taste. When of a dedication; and perhaps it demands an the mind is once infected with this disease, it excuse thus to prefix your name to my attempts, can oniy find pleasure in what contributes to which you decline giving with your own. But increase the distemper. Like the tiger, that as a part of this poem was formerly written to seldom desists from pursuing man after having you from Switzerland, the whole can now, with once preyed upon human flesh, the reader, who propriety, be only inscribed to you. It will also has once gratified his appetite with calumny, throw a light upon many parts of it, when the makes ever after the most agreeable feast upon reader understands that it is addressed to a man, murdered reputation. Such readers generally who, despising fame and fortune, has retired admire some half-witted thing, who wants to be early to happiness and obscurity, with an income thought a bold man, having lost the character of forty pounds a year.

of a wise one. Him they dignify with the name I now perceive, my dear brother, the wisdom of poet : bis tawdry lampoons are called satires, of your humble choice. You have entered upon his turbulence is said to be force, and his phrenzy a sacred office; where the harvest is great, and fire. the labourers are but few; while you have left What reception a poem may find, which has the field of ambition, where the labourers are neither abuse, party, nor blank verse, to support many, and the harvest not worth carrying away. | it, I cannot tell, nor am I solicitous to know. But of all kinds of ambition, what from the re- My aims are right. Without espousing the cause finement of the times, from different systems of of any party, I have attempted to moderate the criticism, and from the divisions of party, that rage of all. I have endeavoured to show, that which pursues poetical fame is the wildest.

there may be equal happiness in states that are Poetry makes a principal amusement among differently governed from our own ; that every unpolished nations; but in a country verging state has a particular principle of happiness, and to the extremes of refinement, painting and mu- that this principle in each may be carried to a sic come in for a share. As these offer the fee- mischievous excess. There are few can judge ble mind a less laborious entertainment, they at better than yourself how far these positions are first rival poetry, and at length supplant her, illustrated in this poem. they engross all that favour once shewn to her,

I am, and, though but younger sisters, seize upon the

dear sir, elder's birth-:ight.

your most affectionate brother, Yet, however this art may be neglected by

OLIVER GOLDSMITH. THE TRAVELLER.

Extols the treasures of his stormy seas,

And his long nights of revelry and ease: Remote, unfriended, melancholy, slow, The naked Negro, panting at the line, Or by the lazy Scheld, or wandering Po; Boasts of his golden sands, and palmy wine, Or onward, where the rude Carinthian boor Basks in the glare or stems the tepid wave, Against the houseless stranger shuts the door ; And thanks his gods for all the good they gave. Or where Campania's plain forsaken lies, Such is the patriot's boast, where'er we roam, A weary waste expanding to the skies;

His first, best country, ever is at home. Where'er I roam, whatever realms to see, And yet, perhaps, if countries we compare, My heart, untravell'd, fondly turns to thee: And estimate the blessings which they share, Still to my brother turns with ceaseless pain, Though patriots flatter, still shall wisdom find And drags at each remove a length’ning chain. An equal portion dealt to all mankind:

Eternal blessings crown my earliest friend, As diff'rent good, by art or Nature giv'n And round bis dwelling guardian saints attend ; To diff'rent nations, makes their blessings ev'n. Blest be that spot, where cheerful guests retire Nature, a mother kind alike to all, To pause from toil, and trim their ev'ning fire ; Still grants her bliss at labour's earnest call; Blest that abode, where want and pain repair, With food as well the peasant is supply'd And ev'ry stranger finds a ready chair;

On Idra's cliffas Arri's shelvy side; Blest be those feasts with simple plenty crowu'd, And though the rocky-crested summits frown, Where all the ruddy family around

These rocks, by custom, turn to beds of down. Laugh at the jests or pranks that never fail, From art more various are the blessings sent; Or sigh with pity at some mournful tale;

Wealth, commerce, honour, liberty, content: Or press the bashful stranger to his food, Yet these each other's pow'r so strong contest, And learn the luxury of doing good.

That either seems destructive of the rest. But me, not destin'd such delights to share, Where wealth and freedom reign, contentment My prime of life in wand'ring spent and care;

fails;

(vails Impellid with steps unceasing to pursue [view; and honour sinks where commerce long preSume fleeting good, that mocks me with the Hence ev'ry state, to one lor'd blessing prone, That, like the circle bounding earth and skies, Conforms and models life to that alone: Allures from far, yet, as I follow, flies;

Each to the fav'rite happiness attends, My fortune leads to traverse realms alone, And spurns the plan that aims at other ends ; And find no spot of all the world my own. Till, carried to excess in each domain,

Ev'n now, where Alpine solitudes ascend, This fav'rite good begets peculiar pain. I sit me down a pensive hour to spend ;

But let us try these truths with closer eyes, And plac'd on high above the storm's career, And trace them through the prospect as it lies : Look downward where an hundred realms ap- Here for a while, my proper cares resign'd, pear;

Here let me sit in sorrow for mankind; Lakes, forests, cities, plains extending wide, Like yon neglected shrub, at random cast, The pomp of kings,the shepherd's humbler pride. That shades the steep, and sighs at ev'ry blasť.

When thus creation's charms around combine, Far to the right, where Appennine ascends, Amidst the store should thankless pride repine ? Bright as the summer, Italy extends : Say, should the philosophic mind disdain (vain? Its uplands sloping deck the mountain's side, That good which makes each humbler bosom Woods over woods in gay theatric pride; Let school-taught pride dissemble all it can, While oft some temple's mould'ring tops beThese little things are great to little man;

tween And wiser be, whose sympathetic mind

With memorable grandeur mark the scene. Exults in all the good of all mankind.

Could Nature's

bounty satisfy the breast, Ye glitt'ring towns, with wealth and splendour The sons of Italy were surely blest. crown'd,

[round, Whatever fruits in diff'rent climes are found, Ye fields, where summer spreads profusion That proudly rise or humbly court the ground; Ye lakes, whose vessels catch the busy gale, Whatever blooms in torrid tracts appear, Ye bending swains, that dress the flow'ry vale, Whose bright succession decks the varied year; For me your tributary stores combine ;

Whatever sweets salute the northern sky Creation's heir, the world, the world is mine. With vernal lives, that blossom but to die ;

As some lone miser, visiting his store, These here disporting own the kindred soil, Bends at his treasure, counts, recounts it o'er, Nor ask luxuriance from the planter's toil; Hoards after hoards his rising raptures fill, While sea-born gales their gelid wings expand Yet still he sighs, for hoards are wanting still ; To winnow fragrance round the smiling land. Thus to my breast alternate passions rise,[plies: But small the bliss that sense alone bestows, Pleas'd with each good that Heav'n to man sup. And sensual bliss is all the nation knows. Yet oft a sigh prevails, and sorrows fall, In florid beauty groves and felds appear, To see the hoard of human bliss so small; Man seems the only growth that dwindles here. And oft I wish, amidst the scene to find Contrasted faults through all his manners reign; Some spot to real happiness consign'd, Though poor,luxurious; though submissive, rain; Where my worn soul, each wand'ring hope at rest, Though grave, yet trifling ; zealous, yet untrue ; May gather bliss, to see my fellows blest. And ev'nin penance plannisg sins anew.

But where to find that happiest spot below, All evils here contaminate the mind, Who can direct, when all pretend to know? That opulence departed leaves behind; The shudd'ring tenant of the frigid zone For wealth was theirs; not far remov'd the date, Boldly proclaims that happiest spot his own; When commerce proudly flourish'd thro’the state;

At her command the palace learnt to rise,

Thus ev'ry good his riative' wilds impart
Again the long-fall’n column sought the skies; Imprints the patriot passion on his heart;
The canvass glow'd, beyond e'en Nature warm, And e'eu those hills, that round his mansion rise,
The pregnant quarry teem'd with human form: Enhance the bliss his scanty fund supplies :
Till, more unsteady than the southern gale, Dear is that shed to which his soul conforms,
Commerce on other shores display'd her sail; And dear that hill which lifts him to the storms;
While nought remain’d of all that riches gave, And as a child, when scaring sounds molest,
But towns unmann'd, and lords without a slave: Clings close and closer to the mother's breast,
And late the nation found, with fruitless skill, So the loud torrent, and the whirlwind's roar,
Its former strength was but plethoric ill.

But bind him to his native mountains more,
Yet still the loss of wealth is here supply' Such are the charms to barren states as.
By arts, the splendid wrecks of former pride ;

sign'd:
From these the feeble heart and long-fallo Their wants but few, their wishes all confin'd:
mind

Yet let them only share the praises due,
An easy compensation seem to find.

If few their wants, their pleasures are but few;
Here may be seen, in bloodless pomp array'd, Por ev'ry want that stimulates the breast
The pasteboard triumph and the cavalcade: Becomes a source of pleasure when redrest :
Processions form’d for piety and love,

Whence from such lands each pleasing science
A mistress or a saint in ev'ry grove.

flies,
By sports like these are all their cares beguild, That first excites desire and then supplies;
The sports of children satisfy the child :

Unknown to them, when sensual pleasures cloy,
Each nobler aim, represt by long control, To fill the languid pause with finer joy;
Now sinks at last, or feebly mans the soul; Unknown those pow'rs that raise the soul to,
While low delights, succeeding fast behind,

flame,

[frame. In happier meanness occupy the mind :

Catch ev'ry nerve, and vibrate through the As in those domes, where Cæsars once bore Their level life is but a mould'ring fire, sway,

Unquench'd by want, unfann'd hy strong desire ;
Defac'd by time, and tott'ring in decay,

Unfit for raptures, or, if raptures cheer
There in the ruin, heedless of the dead,

On some bigh festival of once a year,
The shelter-seeking peasant builds his shed; In wild excess the vulgar breast takes fire,
And, wond'ring man could want the larger pile, Till, buried in debauch, the bliss expire.
Exults, and owns his cottage with a smile.

But not their joys alone thus coarsely flow;
My soul, turn from them, turn we to survey Their morals, like their pleasures, are but low;
Where rougher climes a nobler race display, For, as refinement stops, from sire to son
Where the bleak Swiss their stormy mansions Unalter'd, unimprov'd, the manners run;
tread,

And love's and friendship's finely pointed dart
And force a churlish soil for scanty bread: Fall blunted from each indurated heart.
No product here the barren hills afford

Some sterner virtues o'er the mountain's breast
But man and steel, the soldier and his sword : May sit, like falcons cow'ring on the nest :
No vernal blooms their torpid rocks array,

But all the gentler morals, such as play
But winter ling'ring chills the lap of May;

Thro’life's more cultur'd walks, and charm the
No zephyr fondly sues the mountain's breast,

way, But meteors glare, and stormy glooms invest. These, far dispers’d, on tim'rous pinions fly, Yet still, e'en here, content can spread a To sport and futter in a kinder sky. charm,

To kịnder skies, where gentler manners reign, Redress the clime, and all its rage disarm. I turn; and France displays her bright domain: Though poor the peasant's hut, his feas tho'Gay sprightly land of mirth and social ease, small,

Pleas’d with thyself, whom all the world can He sees his little lot the lot of all;

please,
Sees no contiguous palace rear its head,

How often have I led thy sportive choir,
To sbame the meanness of his humble shed; With tuneless pipe, beside the murm'ring Loire!
No costly lord the sumptuous banquet deal,

Where shading elms along the margin grew,
To make him loathe his vegetable meal ;

And freshen'd from the wave the zephyr flew : But calm, and bred in ignorance and toil, And haply, though my harsh touch, falt'ring still, Each wish contracting, fits him to the soil. But mock'd all tune, and marr'd the dancer's Cheerful at morn, he wakes from short repose,

skill; Breathes the keen air, and carols as he goes ;

Yet would the village praise my wond'rous pow'r,
With patient angle trolls the finny deep,

And dance, forgetful of the noontide hour.
Or drives his vent'rous ploughshare to the steep; Alike all ages. Dames of ancient days
Or seeks the den where snow-tracks mark the Have led their children thro'the mirthful inaze;
way,

And the gay grandsire, skill'd in gestic lore,
And drags the struggling savage into day.

Has frisk'd beneath the burthen of threescore. At night returning, ev'ry labour sped,

So blest a life these thoughtless realms display,
He sits him down the monarch of a shed;

Thus idly busy rolls their world away:
Smiles by his cheerful fire, and round surveys

Theirs are those arts that mind to mind endear,
His children's looks, that brighten at the blaze; For honour forms the social temper here :
While his lov'd partner, boastful of her hoard,

Honour, that praise which real merit gains,
Displays her cleanly platter on the board : Or e'en imaginary worth obtains,
And haply too some pilgrim, thither led,

Here passes current ; paid from hand to hand,
With many a tale repays the nightly bed. It shifts, in splendid traffic, round the land :

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