for while it is not inferior in ease and elegance, it excels even the Virgil of English prose in compactness and precision.

The name of Goldsmith had now been for seven years before the public. His various works had proved him to be a man of talent, a clever, humorous, and well-informed writer; but he had as yet published no book of consequence, and he was not very eminently distinguished. He felt that he had powers within him which were not generally known, and he was not a little anxious to assume that station in the world of letters which his genius had a right to demand. The publication of his 'Traveller' at once realized his hopes, and procured him the reputation of the first poet of his age.

This poem was commenced in Switzerland, and long kept back by the author, till 29 Johnson's praise of part of it induced him to prosecute the plan, and prepare it for the press. It is said that while, for two years previous to its publication, he was employed in the drudgery of laborious compilations for the booksellers, his few vacant hours were fondly devoted to the patient revisal and correction of this his greatest poem; pruning

29 Johnson was seen to weep while he repeated Goldsmith's character of the English in his Traveller, 'Stern o'er each bosom,' &c. v. Bosw. Johnson, vol. iii. p. 40; vol. v. p. 227. I forgot to mention that Johnson wrote the four last lines of the Deserted Village. v. Bosw. Johnson, vol. ii. p. 7.

its luxuriances, or supplying its defects; till it appeared at length finished with exactness, and polished into beauty. It came out in 1765,30 was received with the applause it so well deserved, and Johnson,81 delighted with its success, pointed out its merits in a review.

And here let me claim the indulgence of the reader, while I venture a few observations, which a repeated perusal of the poetry of Goldsmith has suggested. I should say, that it is equally calculated both to satisfy the taste of the refined, and to delight the general class of readers. It does not depart too widely from our ordinary habits of thought, nor does it make too imperious

30 The manner of Carolan's death (the blind bard of Ireland) is related with several degrading circumstances in a life of him which appeared in the European Magazine, October, 1765, and in the Hibernian Magazine, November, 1765, and is ascribed to the late Dr. Goldsmith, though unworthy of the pen of that elegant writer.'- Walker's Irish Bards, App. 95.

31 Johnson wrote line 420:

'To stop too fearful, and too faint to go,'

and the concluding ten lines, except the last couplet but one. Sir Egerton Brydges (venerabile nomen) has mentioned a forgotten poem of Blackmore, called The Nature of Man, in three Books,' with the motto, Quid quæque ferat regio, et quid quæque recusat,' 1711, 8vo, in which the second book is filled with topics similar to those of Goldsmith in the Traveller; the couplet most resembling the style of our Poet, from the passage quoted by Sir Egerton, seems to be, speaking of the French,

'Still in extremes their passions they employ,
Abject their grief, and insolent their joy.'

demands on our imaginative faculties. It awakens associations which all acknowledge, and it makes an appeal to the heart with a tenderness that all enjoy. To delight in the magnificent creations of Milton, and the elaborate language in which they are embodied, we must possess a profound knowledge, drawn from books; to understand and value the brilliant poetry of Pope, we must have a thorough acquaintance with the habits of society and the characters of men. But in the poetry of Goldsmith there is at once an exercise of the understanding not too severe, and an appeal to the affections of the heart not too powerful. A soft and serene colouring pervades all his subjects; a chaste simplicity, a gentle moderation in his touch, breathes throughout. We are not, as with other poets, distracted from pursuing the views of nature or trains of thought that open before us, by too elaborate a display of skill in the artist, or too subtle and laborious a study in ourselves. His language is rich without being luxuriant, and his verse is musical without being affected. He occasionally rises on the wing into sublimity and grandeur; but he more often descends into the bosom of domestic scenes and descriptions, in which the gracefulness of his fancy, the softness and tenderness of his thoughts, and the fine delicacy of his taste, are chiefly seen. His poem, like a chaste and mellow Venetian picture, amid its varied hues, its picturesque de

scriptions, its beautiful allusions, and its vivid and minute details, possesses a pure and universal harmony of tone; there is a close unison of the thought and language that in its magic links binds and connects the whole.

The fame of his poem, and the approbation of the learned, did not deter our Poet from again forming plans of foreign travel, as undigested as the former. His wanderings were in imagination to extend into the interior parts of Asia; and he was to collect at Aleppo all the arts of life which the oriental nations possessed to enrich and adorn his native country. To assist him in procuring patronage and means for this magnificent project, he published an ingenious and eloquent essay, and made a direct application to Lord Bute. Both, however, remained unnoticed; for probably the minister was not unaware of the unfitness of the applicant, and it required not a politician's experience to inform him, that whatever discoveries in art or science may minister to the convenience, or promote the happiness of society, will not be long in extending themselves through the natural channels of commerce, nor remain undiscovered by the industry, or neglected by the interests, of other nations.

He meant to have solicited the assistance of the Duke of Northumberland; but when Lord Nugent procured him an introduction to the house, he mistook the gentleman-usher for the Duke;

exhausted on the well-dressed menial all his studied compliments and elaborate eloquence; and when his Grace arrived, the embarrassed poet blundered out a few apologies, and departed.82 This visit to the palaces of the great was not unattended with some ludicrous inconvenience. The vanity of the Poet was so delighted with the honours which rank had paid to genius, that he was constantly making them the topic of his conversation, both in private and general society. It is said that an ingenious bailiff drew him to a coffee-house under the pretence of being steward to a nobleman, who, charmed with his poetry, solicited an interview; and he was only relieved from his dilemma by the kindness of Mr. Hamilton, the printer of the Critical Review. It would, however, be doing injustice to Goldsmith's memory to omit stating, that when the Duke of Northumberland asked him in what manner he could promote his interests in Ireland, at once forgetful of himself, and his own precarious situation, he told the Duke that he had a brother in Ireland, a clergyman, who stood in need of his

32 Some few years after this, Goldsmith was fortunate enough to make another blunder in his intercourse with the Duke. At Bath, one morning as the Duke and Duchess were going to breakfast, the abstracted poet walked up into the room, and threw himself in a free and easy manner on the sofa. He at length awoke from his reverie, and, in indescribable confusion, said he had mistaken the house for Lord Nugent's, and abruptly withdrew.