THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ATOR, LENOX
TILD. N FC D TIONS
No zephyr fondly sues the mountain's breast, But meteors glare, and stormy glooms invest.
Yet still, even here, content can spread a charm, Redress the clime, and all its rage disarm. Though poor the peasant's hut, his feasts though small,
He sees his little lot the lot of all; Sees no contiguous palace rear its head,
To shame the meanness of his humble shed; No costly lord the sumptuous banquet deal, To make him loath his vegetable meal; But calm, and bred in ignorance and toil, Each wish contracting, fits him to the soil. Cheerful at morn, he wakes from short repose, Breathes the keen air, and carols as he goes; With patient angle trolls the finny deep, Or drives his venturous ploughshare to the steep; Or seeks the den where snow-tracks mark the way, And drags the struggling savage into day. At night returning, every labour sped,
He sits him down the monarch of a shed; Smiles by his cheerful fire, and round surveys His children's looks, that brighten at the blaze; While his loved partner, boastful of her hoard, Displays her cleanly platter on the board: And haply too some pilgrim thither led, With many a tale repays the nightly bed. Thus every good his native wilds impart, Imprints the patriot passion on his heart; And even those ills that round his mansion rise, Enhance the bliss his scanty fund supplies. Dear is that shed to which his soul conforms, And dear that hill which lifts him to the storms; And as a child, when scaring sounds molest, Clings close and closer to the mother's breast, So the loud torrent, and the whirlwind's roar, But bind him to his native mountains more.
[France Contrasted with Holland.]
So blest a life these thoughtless realms display, Thus idly busy rolls their world away: Theirs are those arts that mind to mind endear, For honour forms the social temper here. Honour, that praise which real merit gains, Or even imaginary worth obtains,
Here passes current; paid from hand to hand, It shifts in splendid traffic round the land. From courts to camps, to cottages it strays, And all are taught an avarice of praise; They please, are pleased, they give to get esteem, Till, seeming blest, they grow to what they seem. But while this softer art their bliss supplies, It gives their follies also room to rise: For praise too dearly loved, or warmly sought, Enfeebles all internal strength of thought; And the weak soul, within itself unblest, Leans for all pleasure on another's breast. Hence ostentation here, with tawdry art, Pants for the vulgar praise which fools impart ; Here vanity assumes her pert grimace, And trims her robe of frieze with copper lace; Here beggar pride defrauds her daily cheer, To boast one splendid banquet once a-year; The mind still turns where shifting fashion draws, Nor weighs the solid worth of self-applause. To men of other minds my fancy flies, Embosomed in the deep where Holland lies. Methinks her patient sons before me stand, Where the broad ocean leans against the land, And, sedulous to stop the coming tide, Lift the tall rampire's artificial pride. Onward, methinks, and diligently slow, The firm connected bulwark seems to grow; Spreads its long arms amidst the watery roar, Scoops out an empire, and usurps the shore:
While the pent ocean, rising o'er the pile, Sees an amphibious world beneath him smile; The slow canal, the yellow-blossomed vale, The willow-tufted bank, the gliding sail, The crowded mart, the cultivated plain, A new creation rescued from his reign.
Thus, while around the wave-subjected soil Impels the native to repeated toil, Industrious habits in each bosom reign,
And industry begets a love of gain.
Hence all the good from opulence that springs, With all those ills superfluous treasure brings,
Are here displayed. Their much-loved wealth imparts Convenience, plenty, elegance, and arts;
But view them closer, craft and fraud appear, Even liberty itself is bartered here.
At gold's superior charms all freedom flies, The needy sell it, and the rich inan buys; A land of tyrants, and a den of slaves; Here wretches seek dishonourable graves, And calmly bent, to servitude conform, Dull as their lakes that slumber in the storm.
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The Deserted Village' is limited in design, but exhibits the same correctness of outline, and the same beauty of colouring, as The Traveller.' The poet drew upon his recollections of Lissoy for most of the landscape, as well as the characters introduced. His father sat for the village pastor, and such a portrait might well have cancelled, with Oliver's relations, all the follies and irregularities of his youth. Perhaps there is no poem in the English language more universally popular than the Deserted Village.' Its best passages are learned in youth, and never quit the memory. Its delineations of rustic life accord with those ideas of romantic purity, seclusion, and happiness, which the young mind associates with the country and all its charms, before modern manners and oppression had driven them thence
To pamper luxury, and thin mankind. Political economists may dispute the axiom, that luxury is hurtful to nations; and curious speculators, like Mandeville, may even argue that private vices are public benefits; but Goldsmith has a surer advocate in the feelings of the heart, which yield a spontaneous assent to the principles he inculcates, when teaching by examples, with all the efficacy of apparent truth, and all the effect of poetical beauty and excellence.
[Description of Auburn- The Village Preacher, the Schoolmaster, and Alehouse-Reflections.]
Sweet Auburn! loveliest village of the plain, Where health and plenty cheered the labouring 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! How often have I paused on every charm! The sheltered cot, the cultivated farm; The never-failing brook, the busy mili,
The decent church that topped the neighbouring 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 labour 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 rouna.
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, The matron's glance that would those looks reprove- These were thy charms, sweet village! sports like these, With sweet succession, taught e'en toil to please.
Sweet was the sound, when oft, at evening's close, Up younder hill the village murmur rose; There as I passed, with careless steps and slow, The mingling notes came softened from below; The swain responsive as the milk-maid sung, The sober herd that lowed to meet their young; The noisy geese that gabbled o'er the pool, The playful children just let loose from school; The watchdog's voice that bayed the whispering wind, And the loud laugh that spoke the vacant mind; These all in sweet confusion sought the shade, And filled each pause the nightingale had made.
Near yonder copse, where once the garden smiled, And still where many a garden flower grows wild, There, where a few torn shrubs the place disclose, The village preacher's modest mansion rose. A man he was to all the country dear,
And passing rich with forty pounds a-year; Remote from towns, he ran his godly race,
Though round its breast the rolling clouds are spread, Eternal sunshine settles on its head.
Beside yon straggling fence that skirts the way, With blossomed furze unprofitably gay, There, in his noisy mansion skilled to rule, The village master taught his little school; A man severe he was, and stern to view; I knew him well, and every truant knew. Well had the boding tremblers learned to trace The day's disasters in his morning's face; Full well they laughed with counterfeited glee At all his jokes, for many a joke had he; Full well the busy whisper circling round, Conveyed the dismal tidings when he frowned; Yet he was kind; or, if severe in aught, The love he bore to learning was in fault; The village all declared how much he knew; "Twas certain he could write, and cipher too; Lands he could measure, terms and tides presage; And even the story ran that he could guage; In arguing, too, the parson owned his skill, For even, though vanquished, he could argue still; While words of learned length, and thundering sound, Amazed the gazing rustics ranged around; And still they gazed, and still the wonder grew, That one small head could carry all he knew. But past is all his fame: the very spot Where many a time he triumphed, is forgot. Near youder thorn that lifts its head on high,
Nor e'er had changed, nor wished to change, his place; Where once the sign-post caught the passing eye.
Unskilful he to fawn, or seek for power,
By doctrines fashioned to the varying hour; Far other aims his heart had learned to prize, More bent to raise the wretched than to rise. His house was known to all the vagrant train; He chid their wanderings, but relieved their pain. The long-remembered beggar was his guest, Whose beard descending swept his aged breast; The ruined spendthrift now no longer proud, Claimed kindred there, and had his claims allowed; The broken soldier, kindly bade to stay, Sat by his fire, and talked the night away; Wept o'er his wounds, or tales of sorrow done, Shouldered his crutch, and showed how fields were won. Pleased with his guests, the good man learned to glow, And quite forgot their vices in their wo; Careless their merits or their faults to scan, His pity gave ere charity began.
Thus to relieve the wretched was his pride, And even his failings leaned to virtue's side; But, in his duty prompt at every call,
He watched and wept, he prayed and felt for all; And, as a bird each fond endearment tries, To tempt her new fledged offspring to the skies, He tried each art, reproved each dull delay, Allured to brighter worlds, and led the way.
Beside the bed where parting life was laid, And sorrow, guilt, and pain, by turns dismayed, The reverend champion stood. At his control Despair and anguish fled the struggling soul; Comfort came down the trembling wretch to raise, And his last faltering accents whispered praise. At church, with meek and unaffected grace, His looks adorned the venerable place; Truth from his lips prevailed with double sway; And fools, who came to scoff, remained to pray. The service past, around the pious man, With ready zeal, each honest rustic ran; Even children followed with endearing wile, And plucked his gown, to share the good man's smile; His ready smile a parent's warmth expressed, Their welfare pleased him, and their cares distressed; To them his heart, his love, his griefs were given, But all his serious thoughts had rest in heaven. As some tall cliff that lifts its awful form, Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm;
Low lies that house where nut-brown draughts inspired, Where gray-beard mirth and smiling toil retired; Where village statesmen talked with looks profound, And news much older than their ale went round. Imagination fondly stoops to trace
The parlour splendours of that festive place; The white-washed wall, the nicely sanded floor, The varnished clock that clicked behind the door; The chest, contrived a double debt to pay, A bed by night, a chest of drawers by day; The pictures placed for ornament and use, The twelve good rules, the royal game of goose; The hearth, except when winter chilled the day, With aspen boughs, and flowers, and fennel gay; While broken tea-cups, wisely kept for show, Ranged o'er the chimney, glistened in a row.
Vain transitory splendour! could not all Reprieve the tottering mansion from its fall! Obscure it sinks, nor shall it more impart An hour's importance to the poor man's heart. Thither no more the peasant shall repair, To sweet oblivion of his daily care;
No more the farmer's news, the barber's tale, No more the woodman's ballad shall prevail; No more the smith his dusky brow shall clear, Relax his ponderous strength, and lean to hear; The host himself no longer shall be found Careful to see the mantling bliss go round; Nor the coy maid, half willing to be pressed, Shall kiss the up to pass it to the rest.
Yes! let the rich deride, the proud disdain, These simple blessings of the lowly train; To me more dear, congenial to my heart, One native charm, than all the gloss of art. Spontaneous joys, where nature has its play, The soul adopts, and owns their first-born sway: Lightly they frolic o'er the vacant mind, Unenvied, unmolested, unconfined. But the long pomp, the midnight masquerade, With all the freaks of wanton wealth arrayed, In these, ere triflers half their wish obtain, The toiling pleasure sickens into pain; And even while fashion's brightest arts decoy, The heart distrusting asks if this be joy?
Ye friends to truth, ye statesmen who survey The rich man's joys increase, the poor's decay,
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