been poured out of late on the other side of the question, that, merely for the sake of novelty and variety, one would sometimes wish to be in the right. I am, dear Sir, Your sincere Friend, and ardent Admirer, OLIVER GOLDSMITH. Sir Joshua Reynolds painted a particularly fine picture in point of expression, especially of Resignation, and dedicated the print taken from it to Dr. Goldsmith, with some lines under it, quoted from the Deserted Village.' This seems to have been done by Sir Joshua as a return of the compliment to Goldsmith, who had dedicated the poem to him.' . Northcote's Life of Reynolds, p. 166. THE DESERTED VILLAGE. SWEET Auburn! loveliest village of the plain, Where health and plenty cheer'd the labouring swain, Where smiling spring its earliest visit paid, The decent church that topt the neighbouring hill, D And many a gambol frolick'd o'er the ground, Succeeding sports the mirthful band inspir'd; these, With sweet succession, taught e'en toil to please; These round thy bowers their cheerful influence shed, [fled. These were thy charms-but all these charms are Sweet smiling village, loveliest of the lawn, Thy sports are fled, and all thy charms withdrawn; Amidst thy bowers the tyrant's hand is seen, And desolation saddens all thy green: One only master grasps the whole domain, And half a tillage stints thy smiling plain; No more thy glassy brook reflects the day, But, chok'd with sedges, works its weedy way; Along thy glades, a solitary guest, 1 The hollow sounding bittern guards its nest; Amidst thy desert walks the lapwing flies, The hollow] There is no sound so dismally hollow as the booming of the bittern.' Gold. An. Nat. vi. p. 2. And tires their echoes with unvaried cries. And the long grass o'ertops the mouldering wall, And, trembling, shrinking from the spoiler's hand, Far, far away thy children leave the land. Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, 2 Where wealth accumulates, and men decay: 3 Princes and lords may flourish, or may fade; A breath can make them, as a breath has made : But a bold peasantry, their country's pride, When once destroy'd, can never be supplied. A time there was, ere England's griefs began, When every rood of ground maintain'd its man; For him light labour spread her wholesome store, Just gave what life requir'd, but gave no more: 2 Where] 'Wealth in all commercial states is found to accumulate; the very laws may contribute to the accumulation of wealth, as when the natural ties that bind the rich and poor together are broken,' &c. Vic. of Wakefield, p. 102. 3 Princes] Vespasianus bene intelligit cæteros quidem amicos suos niti iis quæ ab ipso acceperint, quæque ipsi accumulare, et in alios congerere promtum est: Marcellum autem et Crispum attulisse ad amicitiam suam quod non a Principe acceperint, nec accipi possit.' De Caus. Cor. Elog. c. viii. A kynge may spille, a kynge may save, And of a knave a lord also.' Gower's Conf. Amantis, fol. 152. |