Category: Poetry
FAST by that shore where Thames’ translucent stream Reflects new glories on his breast, Where, splendid as the youthful poet’s dream, He forms a scene beyond Elysium blest— Where sculptur’d elegance and native grace 5 Unite to stamp the beauties of the place, While sweetly ble...
YES, my companions, Heaven’s decrees are past, And our fix’d empire shall for ever last; In vain the madd’ning prophet threatens woe, In vain rebellion aims her secret blow; Sti...
7. Chapter 7Laws grind the poor, and rich men rule the law. Prior notes a corresponding utterance in _The Vicar of Wakefield_, 1766, i. 206, ch. xix:—‘What they may then expect, may be seen...
14. Chapter 14This epitaph, apparently never used, was published with _The Haunch of Venison_, 1776; and is supposed to have been written about 1770. In that year Goldsmith wrote a _Life of T...
8. Chapter 8From Letter ciii of _The Citizen of the World_, 1762, ii. 164, first printed in _The Public Ledger_, March 4, 1761. The verses are given as a ‘specimen of a poem on the decease...
9. Chapter 9This thoroughly characteristic song, for a parallel to which one must go to Congreve, or to the ‘Here’s to the maiden of bashful fifteen’ of _The School for Scandal_, has one gr...
12. Chapter 12The tune is a pretty Irish air, called _The Humours of Balamagairy_, to which, he told me, he found it very difficult to adapt words; but he has succeeded happily in these few l...
5. Chapter 5started with a loss. This, which to some critics has seemed unintelliglble, rests upon the following: ‘The first three editions, . . . resulted in a loss, and the fourth, which...
1. Chapter 1FAST by that shore where Thames’ translucent stream Reflects new glories on his breast, Where, splendid as the youthful poet’s dream, He forms a scene beyond Elysium blest— Wher...
10. Chapter 10Here lies David Garrick. ‘The sum of all that can be said for and against Mr. Garrick, some people think, may be found in these lines of Goldsmith,’ writes Davies in his _Life o...
2. Chapter 2YE captive tribes, that hourly work and weep Where flows Euphrates murmuring to the deep, Suspend awhile the task, the tear suspend, And turn to God, your Father and your Friend...
11. Chapter 11Cross-Readings, Ship-News, and Mistakes of the Press. Over the _nom de guerre_ of ‘Papyrius Cursor,’ a real Roman name, but as happy in its applicability as Thackeray’s ‘Manlius...
6. Chapter 6Heavens! how unlike, etc. Prior compares a passage from a manuscript _ Introduction to the History of the Seven Years’ War_:—‘How unlike the brave peasants their ancestors, who...
3. Chapter 3O PEACE of mind, angelic guest! Thou soft companion of the breast! Dispense thy balmy store. Wing all our thoughts to reach the skies, Till earth, receding from our eyes, 5 Shal...
13. Chapter 13Notwithstanding the condemnation of Shakespeare in the _Present State of Polite Learning_, and elsewhere, Goldsmith frequently weaves Shakespearean recollections into his work....