racters are drawn from the life. The descriptions are lively and picturesque; and the whole appears so easy and natural, as to bear the semblance of historical truth more than poetical fiction. The description of the parish priest (probably intended for a character of his brother Henry) would have done honour to any poet of any age. In this description, the simile of the bird teaching her young to fly, and of the mountain that rises above the storm, are not easily to be paralleled. The rest of the poem consists of the character of the village schoolmaster, and a description of the village alehouse; both drawn with admirable propriety and force; a descant on the mischiefs of luxury and wealth; the variety of artificial pleasures; the miseries of those who, for want of employment at home, are driven to settle new colonies abroad; and concludes with a beautiful apostrophe to poetry. "The Hermit' holds equal estimation with the rest of his poetical productions. Dr. "His last poem, of ' Retaliation,' is replete with humour, free from spleen, and forcibly exhibits the prominent features of the several characters to which it alludes. Johnson sums up his literary character in the following concise manner: 'Take him [Goldsmith] as a poet, his 'Traveller' is a very fine performance; and so is his 'Deserted Village,' were it not sometimes too much the echo of his Traveller.' Whether we take him as a poet, as a comic writer, or as an historian, he stands in the first class.'" We have before observed, that his poem of "RETALIATION" was provoked by se veral jocular epitaphs written upon him by the different members of a dinner club to which he belonged. Of these we subjoin a part of that which was produced by Garrick : "HERE, Hermes, says Jove, who with nectar was mellow, Go, fetch me some clay-I will make an odd fellow. Right and wrong shall be jumbled; much gold, and some dross ; Without cause be he pleas'd, without cause be he cross: A great lover of truth, yet a mind turn'd to fictions. Set fire to his head, and set fire to his tail; For the joy of each sex on the world I'll bestow it, To these we shall add another sketch of our author (by way of Epitaph), written by a friend as soon as he heard of his death: "HERE rests, from the cares of the world and his pen, A poet whose like we shall scarce meet again; Who though form'd in an age when corruptions ran high, When Genius, with traffic too commonly train'd, "The lovers-'twas theirs to esteem and commend, For his Essays were curbs on the rage of the times. That his manners alone would have gain'd him our hearts. So ready to feel for the wants of mankind; Transform'd from himself, he grew meanly severe, "Such then were his foibles; but though they were such As shadow'd the picture a little too much, The style was all graceful, expressive, and grand, "Then hear me, blest spirit! now seated above, Where all is beatitude, concord, and love, If e'er thy regards were bestow'd on mankind, I ask it by proxy for letters and fame, As the pride of our heart, and the old English name. I demand it as such for virtue and truth, As the solace of age, and the guide of our youth. ON THE POETRY OF DR. GOLDSMITH. AMONG those false opinions which, having once obtained currency, have been adopted without examination, may be reckoned the prevalent notion, that, notwithstanding the improvement of this country in many species of literary composition, its poetical character has been on the decline ever since the supposed Augustan age of the beginning of this [the 18th] century. No one poet, it is true, has fully succeeded to the laurel of Dryden or Pope; but if without prejudice we compare the minor poets of the present age (minor, I mean, with respect to the quantity, not the quality, of their productions), with those of any former period, we shall, I am convinced, find them greatly superior not only in taste and correctness, but in every other point of poetical excellence. The works of many late and present writers might be confidently appealed to in proof of this assertion; but it will suffice to instance the author who is the subject of the present Essay; and I |