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Fair laughs1 the morn, and soft the zephyr blows,
While, proudly riding o'er the azure realm,
In gallant trim the gilded vessel goes;

Youth on the prow, and Pleasure at the helm;
Regardless of the sweeping whirlwind's sway,

That hushed in grim repose, expects his evening prey.

II. 3.

"Fill high the sparkling bowl,

The rich repast prepare;

Reft of a crown he yet may share the feast:

Close by the regal chair

Fell Thirst and Famine scowl

A baleful smile upon their baffled guest.
Heard ye3 the din of battle bray,

Lance to lance, and horse to horse?

4

Long years of havoc urge their destined course,
And through the kindred squadrons mow their way.
Ye towers of Julius,5 London's lasting shame,
With many a foul and midnight murder fed,
Revere his consort's faith, his father's fame,
And spare the meek usurper's holy head.
Above, below, the rose of snow,

Twined with her blushing foe, we spread:
The bristled boar in infant gore

Wallows beneath the thorny shade.

Now, brothers, bending o'er the accursed loom,
Stamps we our vengeance deep, and ratify his doom.

1 Fair laughs, &c.—This and the following lines embody one of the most perfect metaphors that was ever developed by poetic art. The diction and the measure the tone and spirit of the whole-are most happily picturesque and beautiful.

2 Fill high, &c.-In allusion to the profuse magnificence of Richard II's. style of living, succeeded by his death from starvation in Pontefract Castle, Yorkshire.

3 Heard ye the din, &c.-" Ruinous wars of York and Lancaster: "Gray. Kindred-because it was a civil war.

4

5 Ye towers of Julius, &c.—" Henry VI., George Duke of Clarence, Edward V., Richard Duke of York, &c., believed to be murdered secretly in the Tower of London. The oldest part of that structure is vulgarly attributed to Julius Cæsar:" Gray.

6 Revere, &c. In allusion to Henry VI., his wife, Margaret of Anjou, and his father Henry V.

7 The bristled boar, &c.-"The silver boar was the badge of Richard III.; whence he was usually known in his own time by the name of the Boar :'" Gray.

8 Stamp-i. e. stamp or impress on the web.

III. 1.

"Edward, lo! to sudden fate

(Weave we the woof; the thread is spun.)
Half of thy heart' we consecrate.

(The web is wove; the work is done.)—
Stay, oh stay! nor thus forlorn,

Leave me unblest, unpitied, here to mourn :
In yon bright track, that fires the western skies,
They melt, they vanish from my eyes.

But oh! what solemn scenes on Snowdon's height
Descending slow their glittering skirts unroll!
Visions of glory, spare my aching sight!

Ye unborn ages, crowd not on my soul!
No more our long-lost Arthur we bewail:
All hail,3 ye genuine kings, Britannia's issue, hail!

III. 2.

"Girt with many a baron bold,

Sublime their starry fronts they rear;
And gorgeous dames, and statesmen old
In bearded majesty appear.

In the midst a form divine!

Her eye proclaims her of the Briton-line;
Her lion-port, her awe-commanding face,
Attempered sweet to virgin grace.

What strings symphonious tremble in the air!
What strains of vocal transport round her play!
Hear from the grave, great Taliessin,+ hear;
They breathe a soul to animate thy clay.
Bright Rapture calls, and, soaring as she sings,

Waves in the eye of heaven her many-coloured wings.

1 Half of thy heart-In allusion to his affectionate and high-minded wife, "Eleanor of Castile, who died a few years after the conquest of Wales:" Gray. 2 No more, &c.-"It was the common belief of the Welsh nation, that King Arthur was still alive in Fairy-land, and would return again to reign over Britain:" Gray.

3 All hail, &c.-" Both Merlin and Taliessin had prophesied, that the Welsh should regain their sovereignty over this island; which seemed to be accomplished in the House of Tudor:" Gray.

4 Taliessin." Taliessin, chief of the bards, flourished in the sixth century. His works are still preserved, and his memory held in high veneration among his countrymen: Gray.

III. 3.

"The verse adorn1 again

Fierce war, and faithful love,

And truth severe2 by fairy fiction dressed.
In buskined measures 3 move

Pale Grief, and pleasing Pain,

With Horror, tyrant of the throbbing breast.
A voice, as of the cherub-choir,
Gales from blooming Eden bear;

And distant warblings5 lessen on my ear,
That lost in long futurity expire.

Fond impious man! think'st thou yon sanguine cloud,
Raised by thy breath, has quenched the orb of day?
To-morrow he repairs the golden flood,

And warms the nations with redoubled ray.-
Enough for me with joy I see

The different doom our fates assign.

Be thine despair, and sceptred care

To triumph and to die are mine."

He spoke; and, headlong from the mountain's height,
Deep in the roaring tide he plunged to endless night.

GOLDSMITH.

PRINCIPAL EVENTS OF HIS LIFE.-Oliver Goldsmith was born in the year 1728, at Pallas, in the parish of Ferney, Longford, Ireland, or, as other authorities state, at Elphin, Roscommon. There was little promise, in his early years, of his subsequent

The verse adorn, &c.—In allusion to Spenser, as appears plainly from the following line from the proëm of the Fairy Queen.

"Fierce wars and faithful loves shall moralise my song."

2 Truth severe, &c.-In allusion to the allegorical style and character of the Faerie Queen, in which, to use Milton's words, "more is meant than meets the ear."

3 In buskined measures, &c.-Shakspere.

4

5

Gray.

A voice, &c.-Milton.

Distant warblings &c.-"The succession of poets after Milton's time:"

literary, or any other eminence, nor did his studies at Trinity College, Dublin, distinguish him. On leaving college he became notorious only for idleness, dissipation, and imprudence, and these causes combined did much to frustrate the kind efforts that were made by his friends, to settle him in the profession of medicine. He studied a short time at Leyden, and (probably) took a degree in medicine at Padua. Before returning to England, he travelled over a considerable part of the West of Europe on foot, subsisting, it is thought, on the casual contributions of strangers, in return for the exhibition of his skill in playing on the flute. When at length he arrived in London, "he found himself," (to use his own words,) "without friends, recommendations, money, or impudence." He then tried various means of maintaining himself, but with little success, but at last becoming acquainted with Dr. Johnson, that eminent man introduced him into the world of letters, and from this time the publication of his several works chronicles the principal events of his life. He died in the year 1774, and was buried in the Temple burying ground, London.

PRINCIPAL WORKS.-"The Vicar of Wakefield," the poems entitled "The Traveller," and "The Deserted Village," and the comedy "She Stoops to Conquer," are considered Goldsmith's most important and original works.

CHARACTERISTIC SPIRIT AND STYLE.-" Goldsmith's poetry enjoys a calm and steady popularity. It inspires us, indeed, with no admiration of daring design, or of fertile invention; but it presents, within its narrow limits, a distinct and unbroken view of poetical delightfulness. His descriptions and sentiments have the pure zest of nature. He is refined without false delicacy, and correct without insipidity. Perhaps there is an intellectual composure in his manner, which may, in some passages, be said to approach to the reserved and prosaic; but he unbends from this graver strain of reflection to tenderness, and even to playfulness, with an ease and grace almost exclusively his own; and connects extensive views of the happiness and interests of society, with pictures of life, that touch the heart by their familiarity. His language is certainly simple, though it is not cast in a rugged or careless mould. He is no disciple of the gaunt and famished school of simplicity. Deliberately as he wrote, he cannot be accused of wanting natural and idiomatic expression; but still it is select and refined expression... His whole manner has a still depth of feeling and reflection,

which gives back the image of nature unruffled and minutely. He has no redundant thoughts or false transports; but seems, on every occasion, to have weighed the impulse to which he surrendered himself:"1

1

THE TRAVELLER.2

OR A PROSPECT OF SOCIETY.

REMOTE, unfriended, melancholy, slow,
Or by the lazy Scheld, or wandering Po;
Or onward, where the rude Carinthian boor
Against the houseless stranger shuts the door;
Or where Campania's plain forsaken lies,
A weary waste expanding to the skies;
Where'er I roam, whatever realms to see,
My heart untravelled fondly turns to thee;
Still to my brother turns, with ceaseless pain,
And drags3 at each remove a lengthening chain.

Eternal blessings crown my earliest friend,
And round his dwelling guardian saints attend;
Blest be that spot, where cheerful guests retire
To pause from toil, and trim their evening fire;
Blest that abode, where want and pain repair,
And every stranger finds a ready chair:
Blest be those feasts with simple plenty crowned,
Where all the ruddy family around

Laugh at the jests or pranks that never fail,
Or sigh with pity at some mournful tale;
Or press the bashful stranger to his food,
And learn the luxury of doing good.

Campbell. "Specimens, &c.," p. 525.

2 This beautiful poem was partly written in Switzerland, and dedicated by the author to his brother, the Rev. Henry Goldsmith. In the dedication the writer thus describes the purpose of the poem :-" without espousing," says he, "the cause of any party, I have attempted to moderate the rage of all; I have endeavoured to show that there may be equal happiness in states that are differently governed from our own; that every state has a particular principle of happiness, and this principle in each may be carried to a mischievous excess." 3 And drags, &c.-Goldsmith has the same idea in prose. "Those ties that bind me to my native country and you are still unbroken; by every remove I only drag a greater length of chain:" Citizen of the World, vol. i. letter 3.

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