375

380

385

390

395

400

495

He only wished for worlds beyond the grave.
His lovely daughter, lovelier in her tears,
The fond companion of his helpless years,
Silent went next, neglectful of her charms,
And left a lover's for a father's arms.

With louder plaints the mother spoke her woes,
And blessed the cot where every pleasure rose,
And kissed her thoughtless babes with many a tear,
And clasped them close, in sorrow doubly dear;
Whilst her fond husband strove to lend relief
In all the silent manliness of grief.

[Luxury destroys rural virtues.]

O luxury! thou curst by Heaven's decree,
How ill exchanged are things like these for thee!
How do thy potions, with insidious joy,
Diffuse their pleasure only to destroy!
Kingdoms, by thee, to sickly greatness grown,
Boast of a florid vigor not their own:

At every draught more large and large they grow,
A bloated mass of rank unwieldy woe;

Till, sapped their strength, and every part unsound,
Down, down they sink, and spread a ruin round.

E'en now the devastation is begun,

And half the business of destruction done;

E'en now, methinks, as pondering here I stand,
I see the rural virtues leave the land.

Down where yon anchoring vessel spreads the sail
That idly waiting flaps with every gale,

Downward they move, a melancholy band,
Pass from the shore, and darken all the strand.
Contented toil, and hospitable care,

And kind connubial tenderness are there,
And piety with wishes placed above,
And steady loyalty, and faithful love.

[And also the arts. A farewell to Poetry.]

And thou, sweet Poetry, thou loveliest maid,
Still first to fly where sensual joys invade;

410

415

420

425

430

I

Unfit, in these degenerate times of shame,
To catch the heart, or strike for honest fame;
Dear charming nymph, neglected and decried,
My shame in crowds, my solitary pride.
Thou source of all my bliss, and all my woe,
Thou found'st me poor at first, and keep'st me so;
Thou guide, by which the noble arts excel,
Thou nurse of every virtue, fare thee well!
Farewell, and oh! where'er thy voice be tried,
On Torno's cliffs, or Pambamarca's side,
Whether where equinoctial fervors glow,
Or winter wraps the polar world in snow,
Still let thy voice, prevailing over time,
Redress the rigors of the inclement clime,
Aid slighted truth with thy persuasive strain;
Teach erring man to spurn the rage of gain;
Teach him, that states of native strength possessed
Though very poor, may still be very blessed;
That trade's proud empire hastes to swift decay,
As ocean sweeps the labored mole away;
While self-dependent power can time defy,
As rocks resist the billows and the sky.

NOTES

Auburn. The poet addresses the village as if it was a person. The figure is called apostrophe, i. e., personification accompanied by an address to a person, either absent or present.

2

Swain. A young man dwelling in the country, a rustic; now only used in poetry.

3 Smiling spring. Note the personification. Cf. "parting summer," line 4.

4 Parting. Departing. Cf. Gray's Elegy, 1, "The curfew tolls the knell of parting day.” Decent. Becoming, suitable for its purpose. (Lat. decere, to be fitting or becoming.) Cf. Milton's Penseroso, lines 5, 6:

12

"And sable stole of cyprus lawn,
Over thy decent shoulders drawn."

12 Topt. Stood on the top of.

Verb formed from the noun top, and very rarely used.

14 Talking age. Old people are generally fond of talking.

15

Coming day. In Ireland the saints' days are celebrated with much jollity by the Roman Catholic peasantry.

16 Toil remitting. Toil being at an end. Cf. line 95.

17 Village train. Line of villagers. (Fr. trainer, Lat. trahere, to draw along.)

17-26 Cf. description of the village sports in Milton's L'Allegro, lines 91-98.

18 Led up. Arranged in succession.

19 Circled. Seldom used as a verb. Cf. "went round," line 22.

21

Gambol. Frisking about in play. Connected with Fr. jamb, Ital. gambo, leg, Fr. gambouiller, to kick about.

22 Sleights. Tricks. Cf. the expression, "sleight of hand."

22

Feat. A clever or skillful action. (Fr. fait from faire, to do.)

28 His companions do not enlighten the swain as to the cause of their laughter.

30

Matron. A married woman, a mother. (Lat. mater, mother.)

35 Lawn. Like "plain" in line 1. Cf. Gray's Elegy, 100.

"To meet the sun upon the upland lawn."

37 This is probably a reference to the Lieutenant-General Robert Napier or Naper, who evicted some of his tenants near Ballymahon because they did not pay their rent, and annexed the land to enlarge his own estates. Cf. lines 275-278. The destruction of small holdings to enlarge great estates is a very old grievance. It is referred to in Bacon's History of Henry VII. (1622). 39 Domain. In law, the manor house and adjacent land which the owner reserves for his occupation. Demesne is another form of the same word with a similar meaning. Here it refers to the village and land belonging to it. (Lat. dominium, property; dominus, master of the house, both from Lat. domus, house.)

40 Only half the land was cultivated, and therefore the country looked desolate and cheerless. 42 Sedges. Grass-like plants, usually found growing on the banks of rivers. Note the alliteration. For other examples, cf. lines 74, 93, 121, 382.

43 Glades. Open spaces in a wood through which the light glitters. (O. E. glade, shining, bright.)

44 Bittern. A bird like a heron, of solitary habits, that frequents marshes, and is remarkable for its curious booming cry.

45 Lapwing. A bird of the plover family, often called the peewit, from its particular cry. 46 Unvaried. Monotonous, always the same. With lines 41-46 cf. Goldsmith's Animated Nature, VI., 24: "To those who have walked in an evening by the sedgy sides of unfrequented rivers must remember a variety of notes from different water-fowl: the loud scream of the wild goose, the croaking of the mallard, the whining of the lapwing but of all these sounds there is

none so dismally hollow as the booming of the bittern."

49 Spoiler. Despoiler, one who destroys.

51 Fares. Goes it with. (O. E. faran; Ger. fahren, to go.) Cf. line 295. The expression farewell means, may it go well with you.

51 Ill. An adverb.

51 Hastening ills. Misfortunes coming one on the top of the other. Cf. Hamlet, IV., 5′ 60-61:

"When sorrows come, they come not single spies,
But in battalions."

52 Accumulates. Is heaped up. (Lat. cumulus, a heap.)

52 Decay. Decrease in number.

54 The mere word of a king can make a man a nobleman, just as it can degrade him from his high titles, etc. Cf. Psalm CXLVI., 3, "Put not thy trust in princes," and Burns's Cotter's Saturday Night, 165, "Princes and lords are but the breath of kings."

55 Peasantry. The men who lived in the country and tilled the ground. (Lat. pagus, a district; Fr. paysan, peasant, from pays, country.)

58 Rood. The fourth part of an acre. The word is a form of rod.. Goldsmith refers to the time when farms were small, and farmers, consequently, more numerous.

59 Note the personification.

63 Train. Here, those who follow the pursuit of trade. Cf. line 17.

64 Usurp. To seize (unjustly) for one's own use. (Lat. usus, use, and rapere, to seize.)

65 Hamlet. A small village. Ham is O. E. for abode. Cf. Cheltenham, Buckingham, etc. Let is a diminutive ending meaning "little," Cf. rivulet, a little river.

66-68 "There are now to be found troublesome wealth and show, the desires suggested by luxury, and the follies that are the result of such pride and ostentation."

74 Manners. Customs. Cf. Lat. mores, Fr. mœurs.

76 Forlorn. Abandoned. Connected with Germ. verloren, lost.

79 Many a year elapsed. A nominative absolute. "Many years having elapsed (passed away) I," etc.

Cf. line 95.

81 Busy train. The many thoughts of the past that a return to his native village brings into his mind.

85 Crown. A figurative expression, meaning to end happily.

87, 88 "To economize, take care of life (here compared with a burning taper) by resting in peace from toil, and so preventing the flame from being wasted." Husband, a verb, to be economical. O. E. husbonda, master of the house.)

93, 94 A fine simile, i. e. a fully stated comparison. For whom, we should now write which. 95 Long vexations past. An example of the nominative absolute. Most languages have a grammatical construction in which case a can stand alone without depending on any other word in the sentence. In English this is done by means of the nominative, in Latin by the ablative, and in Greek by the genitive. Goldsmith is very fond of the construction. Cf. lines 16, 79, 157, 181, 365.

96 Cf. the poet Waller (1605-1687), who bought a small house and a little land at Coleshill Herts, his birthplace, and said that he "should be glad to die like the stag, where he was roused. 97 Note the apostrophe. Cf. line 1.

100

Age. Old age.

IOI, 102

A good example of antithesis. For other examples cf. lines 51, 62, 150, 180, 288, etc. "How blest is he who quits a world where he is much tried by tmptations, and since is hard tofight them (i. e., the temptations), learns to avoid coming into contact with them." The miner and the sailor. Tempt, venture upon.

104

106 Famine. Here, means one who is suffering hunger, a starving man. This figure, called metonymy, is when the adjunct (here the hunger from which the man is suffering) is put for the thing.

107 Latter end. Death. It is a common expression in the Bible. Cf. Proverbs XIX., 20. "Hear counsel and receive instruction, that thou may be wise in thy latter end;" and Deuteronomy XXXIII., 29, "that they would consider their latter end."

66

109 Cf. Johnson's Vanity of Human Wishes, 293, an age that melts with unperceived decay." ΙΙΟ Sir Joshua Reynolds painted a fine picture of Resignation. It was engraved in 1772 and Reynolds inscribed the print thus: "This attempt to express a character in "The Deserted Village' is dedicated to Dr. Goldsmith by his sincere friend and admirer, Joshua Reynolds." Perhaps this was in return for Goldsmith's dedication of the poem to Reynolds.

112 Cf. Wordsworth's beautiful description of old age in To a young lady who had been reproached for taking long walks in the country, 16-18:

"But an old age serene and bright,

And lovely as a Lapland night,

Shall lead thee to thy grave.'

114 Yonder. (O. E. geon; Germ. jener, that.) The d has crept in because the pronunciation of n before er is made easier by a d following: cf. "thunder" (O. E. thunor).

115 Careless. Free from care.

117 Responsive. Answering back by singing.

121

Bayed. Barked at. (Fr. aboyer, to bark.)

122 Spoke. Showed, proved.

124

122 Vacant mind. A mind free from care; cf. line 115. This line is often familiarly quoted. In his Animated Nature Goldsmith writes, "The nightingale's pausing song would be the proper epithet for the bird's music." Nightingale (O. E. niht, night, and galan, to sing) is a bird that sings at night.

126 Fluctuate. Float.

127 Grass-grown footway. Grass grows in the footpaths because they are no longer used. 128 Flush. Brightness and vigor.

129 Yon. Cf. line 114.

130 Plashy. Overflowing into puddles (Dan. plas. a puddle). Allied to splash.

132 Mantling. Covering. Cf. Gray's Elegy, 9, "ivy-mantled tower.'

136 Pensive plain. The epithet "pensive" includes the effect of the plain on the person looking at it. When he thinks of its former flourishing condition, he feels sad and melancholy. Cf. 'pallid fear," Gray's Eton College Ode, 63.

137 Copse. Contracted from coppice, a wood of low growth for cutting, used chiefly for fuel. Connected with Fr. couper, to cut.

137 Garden smiled. Note the personification. Cf. "smiling spring." line 3; "smiling land," line 299.

140 Goldsmith took the chief features of his village preacher from his father, his brother and his uncle Contarine.

140 Mansion. Abiding or resting place, here the clergyman's house. In Scotland the minister's house is still called the manse. (Lat. mansio from manere, to remain.)

142 Passing. Surpassing, more than. Cf. II. Samuel, 1., 26, "Thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women." Forty pounds was the usual amount of a country parson's income in the middle of the last century. In the dedication of The Traveller to his brother Henry, Goldsmith speaks of him as a man who "has retired early to happiness and obscurity with an income of forty pounds a year."

Place. Position in life.

145 Fawn. Flatter.

A metaphor for "he lived his life."

145, 146 He did not (like the "Vicar of Bray" in the old song) change his opinions in order to keep in favor with whatever party might be in power.

148 He was better able to help men in their misery than to attain himself to high offices. 149 Vagrant train. Troop of beggars.

150

Chid. Chided. Cf. line 100.

155 Broken. Broken down by sickness or old age, or the results of war. At the conclusion of the Seven Years' War in 1763, the soldiers were disbanded, and many of them suffered from want and sickness. Cf. Campbell's Soldier's Dream, "And fain was the war-broken soldier to stay." 158 Fields, i. e., of battle.

164 This line is often familiarly quoted.

167, 168 This fine simile may have been suggested by Deuteronomy, XXXII., 2,

"As an eagle

that stirreth up her nest, that fluttereth over her young, he spread abroad his wings, he took them and bare them on his pinions."

173 Reverend. One worthy of reverence. The epithet was formerly applied to anyone who deserved respect; now it is restricted to ministers of religion. Cf. Othello, 1., 3, 76, "Most potent, grave and reverend signiors."

173 Champion. Heaven, in the person and prayers of the clergyman, is striving with Satan (hell) for the soul of the dying man.

180 This line is often familiarly quoted.

182 Rustic. Peasant, countryman. (Lat. rus, the country.)

186

193

"Him" is understood after "distressed."

189-192 This is considered one of the finest similes in the whole of English poetry. Cf. Traveller, 33, "Placed on high above the storms' career." We may compare this description of the village preacher with Chaucer's "Poor parson of a town," Prologue, lines 477-528. Skirts. Edges, borders: a verb here. Cf. As You Like It, III., 2, 311, 312, "Here in the skirts of the forest like fringe upon a petticoat," where it has the same meaning but is a noun. 194 Unprofitably gay. Furze (gorse) blossoms are of a bright golden color, but have no particular use. In our day their beauty alone would save them from such a depreciatory epithet, but it was not until after Goldsmith's time that poets began to care deeply for the beauty of nature.

196 The portrait of the schoolmaster is probably drawn in great part from Thomas Byrne, Goldsmith's teacher at Lissoy. Byrne was the retired quarter-master of an Irish regiment, and had served under Marlborough.

198 Truant. Now used of a boy who stays away from school without the permission of his parents or master. Formerly it meant anyone who stayed away from his duty. (Fr. truand, Cf. line 186. vagabond, wanderer.) "Him," is understood after "knew."

199 Boding tremblers. The boys foreseeing reproof. "Boding," foreshowing, generally used of misfortunes. (O. E. bodan, to announce.)

200 Disaster. Misfortune, calamity. The word belonged to the old science of astrology, which taught that the study of the stars enabled men to foretell good or evil fortune. (Lat. dis, a negative prefix, and astrum, a star.)

201 Counterfeited. Pretended, not real. (Lat. contra, against facere, to make.)

205 Aught. Anything. (O. E. a wiht, a thing, a part.)

208 Cipher. To use figures, practise arithmetic. It comes from an Arabic word meaning empty. The noun "cipher" is used to express the sign o, representing nothing.

209

Tides. Seasons, as in Whitsuntide.

Some take it to mean the times of high and low water. 210 Gauge (pronounced gage). To calculate how much liquor casks and barrels could contain. A gauget or exciseman is one who measures vessels that contain liquor on which a duty is levied, The Scotch poet, Burns, held such an office.