According
to Prior ('Life', 1837, ii.
Oliver Goldsmith
But the inherent simplicity of Goldsmith's style is
curiously evidenced by the absence of those illustrations and
ingenious allusions which are Prior's chief characteristic. And
although Goldsmith included 'The Ladle' and 'Hans Carvel' in his
'Beauties of English Poesy', 1767, he refrained wisely from
copying the licence of his model.
l. 2. -----
"Jack Book-worm led a college life".
The version of 1765 reads 'liv'd' for 'led. '
l. 6. -----
"And freshmen wonder'd as he spoke".
The earlier version adds here--
Without politeness aim'd at breeding,
And laugh'd at pedantry and reading.
l. 18. -----
"Her presence banish'd all his peace".
Here in the first version the paragraph closes,
and a fresh one is commenced as follows:--
Our alter'd Parson now began
To be a perfect ladies' man;
Made sonnets, lisp'd his sermons o'er,
And told the tales he told before,
Of bailiffs pump'd, and proctors bit,
At college how he shew'd his wit;
And, as the fair one still approv'd,
He fell in love--or thought he lov'd.
So with decorum, etc.
The fifth line was probably a reminiscence of the college riot
in which Goldsmith was involved in May, 1747, and for his part
in which he was publicly admonished. (See 'Introduction', p. xi,
l. 3. )
l. 27. -----
"usage". This word, perhaps by a printer's error, is
'visage' in the first version
l. 39. -----
"Skill'd in no other arts was she". Cf. Prior:--
For in all Visits who but She,
To Argue, or to Repartee.
l. 46. -----
"Five greasy nightcaps wrapp'd her head". Cf.
'Spectator', No. 494--'At length the Head of the
Colledge came out to him, from an inner Room, with half
a Dozen Night-Caps upon his Head. ' See also Goldsmith's
essay on the Coronation ('Essays', 1766, p. 238), where
Mr. Grogan speaks of his wife as habitually 'mobbed up
in flannel night caps, and trembling at a breath of
air. '
l. 52. -----
"By day, 'twas gadding or coquetting". The first version after
'coquetting' begins a fresh paragraph with--
Now tawdry madam kept, etc.
l. 58. -----
"A sigh in suffocating smoke".
Here in the first version follows:--
She, in her turn, became perplexing,
And found substantial bliss in vexing.
Thus every hour was pass'd, etc.
l. 61. -----
"Thus as her faults each day were known". First version:
'Each day, the more her faults,' etc.
l. 71. -----
"Now, to perplex". The first version has 'Thus. '
But the alteration in line 61 made a change necessary.
l. 85. -----
"paste". First version 'pastes. '
l. 91. -----
"condemn'd to hack", i. e. to hackney, to plod.
A NEW SIMILE.
The 'New Simile' first appears in 'Essays: By Mr. Goldsmith, 1765, pp.
234-6, where it forms Essay xxvii. In the second edition of 1766 it
occupies pp. 246-8 and forms Essay xix. The text here followed is that
of the second edition, which varies slightly from the first. In both
cases the poem is followed by the enigmatical initials '*J. B. ,' which,
however, as suggested by Gibbs, may simply stand for 'Jack Bookworm' of
'The Double Transformation'. (See p. 204. )
l. 1. -----
"Long had I sought in vain to find". The text of 1765
reads--
'I long had rack'd my brains to find. '
l. 6. -----
"Tooke's Pantheon". Andrew Tooke (1673-1732) was first
usher and then Master at the Charterhouse. In the latter
capacity he succeeded Thomas Walker, the master of Addison and
Steele. His 'Pantheon', a revised translation from the Latin of
the Jesuit, Francis Pomey, was a popular school-book of
mythology, with copper-plates.
l. 16. -----
"Wings upon either side--mark that". The petasus of
Mercury, like his sandals (l. 24), is winged.
l. 36. -----
"No poppy-water half so good". Poppy-water, made by
boiling the heads of the white, black, or red poppy, was a
favourite eighteenth-century soporific:--'Juno shall give her
peacock 'poppy-water', that he may fold his ogling tail. '
(Congreve's 'Love for Love', 1695, iv. 3. )
l. 42. -----
"With this he drives men's souls to hell".
Tu. . . .
. . . . virgaque levem coerces
Aurea turbam. --Hor. 'Od'. i. 10.
l. 57. "Moreover, Merc'ry had a failing".
Te canam. . . .
Callidum, quidquid placuit, iocoso
Condere furto. --Hor. 'Od'. i. 10.
Goldsmith, it will be observed, rhymes 'failing' and 'stealing. '
But Pope does much the same:--
That Jelly's rich, this Malmsey healing,
Pray dip your Whiskers and your tail in.
('Imitation of Horace', Bk. ii, Sat. vi. )
Unless this is to be explained by poetical licence, one of these
words must have been pronounced in the eighteenth century as it
is not pronounced now.
l. 59. -----
"In which all modern bards agree".
The text of 1765 reads 'our scribling bards. '
EDWIN AND ANGELINA.
This ballad, usually known as 'The Hermit', was written in or before
1765, and printed privately in that year 'for the amusement of the
Countess of Northumberland,' whose acquaintance Goldsmith had recently
made through Mr. Nugent. (See the prefatory note to 'The Haunch of
Venison'. ) Its title was "'Edwin and Angelina. A Ballad'. By Mr.
Goldsmith. " It was first published in 'The Vicar of Wakefield', 1766,
where it appears at pp. 70-7, vol. i. In July, 1767, Goldsmith was
accused [by Dr. Kenrick] in the 'St. James's Chronicle' of having taken
it from Percy's 'Friar of Orders Gray'. Thereupon he addressed a letter
to the paper, of which the following is the material portion:--
'Another Correspondent of yours accuses me of having taken a Ballad, I
published some Time ago, from one by the ingenious Mr. Percy. I do not
think there is any great Resemblance between the two Pieces in Question.
If there be any, his Ballad is taken from mine. I read it to Mr. Percy
some Years ago, and he (as we both considered these Things as Trifles at
best) told me, with his usual Good Humour, the next Time I saw him, that
he had taken my Plan to form the fragments of Shakespeare into a Ballad
of his own. He then read me his little Cento, if I may so call it, and I
highly approved it. Such petty Anecdotes as these are scarce worth
printing, and were it not for the busy Disposition of some of your
Correspondents, the Publick should never have known that he owes me the
Hint of his Ballad, or that I am obliged to his Friendship and Learning
for Communications of a much more important Nature. -- I am, Sir, your's
etc. OLIVER GOLDSMITH. ' ('St. James's Chronicle', July 23-5, 1767. ) No
contradiction of this statement appears to have been offered by Percy;
but in re-editing his 'Reliques of Ancient English Poetry' in 1775,
shortly after Goldsmith's death, he affixed this note to 'The Friar of
Orders Gray:-- 'As the foregoing song has been thought to have
suggested to our late excellent poet, Dr. Goldsmith, the plan of his
beautiful ballad of 'Edwin and Emma [Angelina]', first printed
[published? ] in his 'Vicar of Wakefield', it is but justice to his
memory to declare, that his poem was written first, and that if there is
any imitation in the case, they will be found both to be indebted to the
beautiful old ballad, 'Gentle Herdsman, etc. ', printed in the second
volume of this work, which the doctor had much admired in manuscript,
and has finely improved' (vol. i. p. 250). The same story is told, in
slightly different terms, at pp. 74-5 of the 'Memoir' of Goldsmith drawn
up under Percy's superintendence for the 'Miscellaneous Works' of 1801,
and a few stanzas of 'Gentle Herdsman', which Goldsmith is supposed to
have had specially in mind, are there reproduced. References to them
will be found in the ensuing notes. The text here adopted (with
exception of ll. 117-20) is that of the fifth edition of 'The Vicar of
Wakefield', 1773[4], i. pp. 78-85; but the variations of the earlier
version of 1765 are duly chronicled, together with certain hitherto
neglected differences between the first and later editions of the novel.
The poem was also printed in the 'Poems for Young Ladies', 1767, pp.
91-8*. The author himself, it may be added, thought highly of it. 'As to
my "Hermit," that poem,' he is reported to have said, 'cannot be
amended. ' (Cradock's 'Memoirs', 1828, iv. 286. )
[footnote] *This version differs considerably from the others, often
following that of 1765; but it has not been considered necessary to
record the variations here. That Goldsmith unceasingly revised the piece
is sufficiently established.
l. 1. -----
"Turn, etc. " The first version has --
Deign saint-like tenant of the dale,
To guide my nightly way,
To yonder fire, that cheers the vale
With hospitable ray.
l. 11. -----
"For yonder faithless phantom flies".
'The Vicar of Wakefield', first edition, has --
'For yonder phantom only flies. '
l. 30. -----
"All". 'Vicar of Wakefield', first edition, 'For. '
l. 31. -----
"Man wants but little here below". Cf. Young's 'Complaint',
1743, 'Night' iv. 9, of which this and the next line are a
recollection.
According to Prior ('Life', 1837, ii. 83), they
were printed as a quotation in the version of 1765. Young's line
is--
Man wants but Little; nor that Little, long.
l. 35. -----
"modest". 'Vicar of Wakefield', first edition, 'grateful. '
l. 37. -----
"Far in a wilderness obscure". First version, and 'Vicar of
Wakefield', first edition:--
Far shelter'd in a glade obscure
The modest mansion lay.
l. 43. -----
"The wicket, opening with a latch". First version, and 'Vicar
of Wakefield', first edition:--
The door just opening with a latch.
l. 45. -----
"And now, when busy crowds retire". First version, and 'Vicar
of Wakefield', first edition:--
And now, when worldly crowds retire
To revels or to rest.
l. 57. -----
"But nothing, etc. " In the first version this stanza runs as
follows:--
But nothing mirthful could assuage
The pensive stranger's woe;
For grief had seized his early age,
And tears would often flow.
l. 78. -----
"modern". 'Vicar of Wakefield', first edition, reads 'haughty. '
l. 84. -----
"His love-lorn guest betray'd". First version, and 'Vicar of
Wakefield', first edition:--
The bashful guest betray'd.
l. 85. -----
"Surpris'd, he sees, etc. " First version, and 'Vicar of
Wakefield', first edition:--
He sees unnumber'd beauties rise,
Expanding to the view;
Like clouds that deck the morning skies,
As bright, as transient too.
l. 89. -----
"The bashful look, the rising breast". First version,
and 'Vicar of Wakefield', first edition:--
Her looks, her lips, her panting breast.
l. 97. -----
"But let a maid, etc. " For this, and the next two stanzas,
the first version substitutes:--
Forgive, and let thy pious care
A heart's distress allay;
That seeks repose, but finds despair
Companion of the way.
My father liv'd, of high degree,
Remote beside the Tyne;
And as he had but only me,
Whate'er he had was mine.
To win me from his tender arms,
Unnumber'd suitors came;
Their chief pretence my flatter'd charms,
My wealth perhaps their aim.
l. 109. -----
"a mercenary crowd". 'Vicar of Wakefield', first edition, has:--
'the gay phantastic crowd. '
l. 111. -----
"Amongst the rest young Edwin bow'd". First version:--
Among the rest young Edwin bow'd,
Who offer'd only love.
l. 115. -----
"Wisdom and worth, etc. " First version, and 'Vicar of
Wakefield', first edition:--
A constant heart was all he had,
But that was all to me.
l. 117. -----
"And when beside me, etc. " For this 'additional stanza,' says
the 'Percy Memoir', p. 76, 'the reader is indebted to Richard
Archdal, Esq. , late a member of the Irish Parliament, to whom it
was presented by the author himself. ' It was first printed in
the 'Miscellaneous Works', 1801, ii. 25. In Prior's edition of
the 'Miscellaneous Works', 1837, iv. 41, it is said to have been
'written some years after the rest of the poem. '
l. 121. -----
"The blossom opening to the day, etc. " For this and the next
two stanzas the first version substitutes:--
Whene'er he spoke amidst the train,
How would my heart attend!
And till delighted even to pain,
How sigh for such a friend!
And when a little rest I sought
In Sleep's refreshing arms,
How have I mended what he taught,
And lent him fancied charms!
Yet still (and woe betide the hour! )
I spurn'd him from my side,
And still with ill-dissembled power
Repaid his love with pride.
l. 129. -----
"For still I tried each fickle art, etc. " Percy finds the
prototype of this in the following stanza of 'Gentle Herdsman':--
And grew soe coy and nice to please,
As women's lookes are often soe,
He might not kisse, nor hand forsoothe,
Unlesse I willed him soe to doe.
l. 133. -----
"Till quite dejected with my scorn, etc. " The first edition
reads this stanza and the first two lines of the next thus:--
Till quite dejected by my scorn,
He left me to deplore;
And sought a solitude forlorn,
And ne'er was heard of more.
Then since he perish'd by my fault,
This pilgrimage I pay, etc.
l. 135. -----
"And sought a solitude forlorn". Cf. 'Gentle Herdsman:--
He gott him to a secrett place,
And there he dyed without releeffe.
l. 141. -----
"And there forlorn, despairing, hid, etc. " The first edition
for this and the next two stanzas substitutes the following:--
And there in shelt'ring thickets hid,
I'll linger till I die;
'Twas thus for me my lover did,
And so for him will I.
'Thou shalt not thus,' the Hermit cried,
And clasp'd her to his breast;
The astonish'd fair one turned to chide, --
'Twas Edwin's self that prest.
For now no longer could he hide,
What first to hide he strove;
His looks resume their youthful pride,
And flush with honest love.
l. 143. -----
"'Twas so for me, etc. " Cf. 'Gentle Herdsman':--
Thus every day I fast and pray,
And ever will doe till I dye;
And gett me to some secret place,
For soe did hee, and soe will I.
l. 145. -----
"Forbid it, Heaven. " 'Vicar of Wakefield', first edition,
like the version of 1765, has 'Thou shalt not thus. '
l. 156. -----
"My life. " 'Vicar of Wakefield', first edition, has 'O thou. '
l. 157. -----
"No, never from this hour, etc. " The first edition reads:--
No, never, from this hour to part,
Our love shall still be new;
And the last sigh that rends thy heart,
Shall break thy Edwin's too.
The poem then concluded thus:--
Here amidst sylvan bowers we'll rove,
From lawn to woodland stray;
Blest as the songsters of the grove,
And innocent as they.
To all that want, and all that wail,
Our pity shall be given,
And when this life of love shall fail,
We'll love again in heaven.
These couplets, with certain alterations in the first and last
lines, are to be found in the version printed in 'Poems for
Young Ladies', 1767, p. 98.
AN ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF A MAD DOG.
This poem was first published in 'The Vicar of Wakefield', 1766, i.
175-6, where it is sung by one of the little boys. In common with the
'Elegy on Mrs. Mary Blaize' (p. 47) it owes something of its origin to
Goldsmith's antipathy to fashionable elegiacs, something also to the
story of M. de la Palisse. As regards mad dogs, its author seems to have
been more reasonable than many of his contemporaries, since he
ridiculed, with much common sense, their exaggerated fears on this
subject ('v. Chinese Letter' in 'The Public Ledger' for August 29, 1760,
afterwards Letter lxvi of 'The Citizen of the World', 1762, ii. 15). But
it is ill jesting with hydrophobia. Like 'Madam Blaize', these verses
have been illustrated by Randolph Caldecott.
l. 5. -----
"In Islington there was a man". Goldsmith had lodgings at Mrs.
Elizabeth Fleming's in Islington (or 'Isling town' as the
earlier editions have it) in 1763-4; and the choice of the
locality may have been determined by this circumstance. But the
date of the composition of the poem is involved in the general
obscurity which hangs over the 'Vicar' in its unprinted state.
(See 'Introduction', pp. xviii-xix. )
l. 19. -----
"The dog, to gain some private ends". The first edition reads
'his private ends. '
l. 32. -----
"The dog it was that died". This catastrophe suggests the
couplet from the 'Greek Anthology',
ed. Jacobs, 1813-7, ii. 387:--
Kappadoken pot exidna kake daken alla kai aute
katthane, geusamene aimatos iobolou.
Goldsmith, however, probably went no farther back
than Voltaire on Freron:--
L'autre jour, au fond d'un vallon,
Un serpent mordit Jean Freron.
Devinez ce qu'il arriva?
Ce fut le serpent qui creva.
This again, according to M. Edouard Fournier ('L'Esprit des Autres',
sixth edition, 1881, p. 288), is simply the readjustment of an earlier
quatrain, based upon a Latin distich in the 'Epigrammatum delectus',
1659:--
Un gros serpent mordit Aurelle.
Que croyez-vous qu'il arriva?
Qu'Aurelle en mourut? -- Bagatelle!
Ce fut le serpent qui creva.
SONG
FROM 'THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD. '
First published in 'The Vicar of Wakefield', 1766, ii. 78 (chap. v). It
is there sung by Olivia Primrose, after her return home with her father.
'Do, my pretty Olivia,' says Mrs. Primrose, let us have that little
melancholy air your pappa was so fond of, your sister Sophy has already
obliged us. Do child, it will please your old father. ' 'She complied in
a manner so exquisitely pathetic,' continues Dr. Primrose, 'as moved
me. ' The charm of the words, and the graceful way in which they are
introduced, seem to have blinded criticism to the impropriety, and even
inhumanity, of requiring poor Olivia to sing a song so completely
applicable to her own case. No source has been named for this piece; and
its perfect conformity with the text would appear to indicate that
Goldsmith was not indebted to any earlier writer for his idea.
His well-known obligations to French sources seem, however, to have
suggested that, if a French original could not be discovered for the
foregoing lyric, it might be desirable to invent one. A clever
paragraphist in the 'St. James's Gazette' for January 28th, 1889,
accordingly reproduced the following stanzas, which he alleged, were to
be found in the poems of Segur, 'printed in Paris in 1719':--
Lorsqu'une femme, apres trop de tendresse,
D'un homme sent la trahison,
Comment, pour cette si douce foiblesse
Peut-elle trouver une guerison?
Le seul remede qu'elle peut ressentir,
La seul revanche pour son tort,
Pour faire trop tard l'amant repentir,
Helas! trop tard -- est la mort.
As a correspondent was not slow to point out, Goldsmith, if a copyist,
at all events considerably improved his model (see in particular lines 7
and 8 of the French). On the 30th of the month the late Sir William
Fraser gave it as his opinion, that, until the volume of 1719 should be
produced, the 'very inferior verses quoted' must be classed with the
fabrications of 'Father Prout,' and he instanced that very version of
the 'Burial of Sir John Moore' ('Les Funerailles de Beaumanoir') which
has recently (August 1906) been going the round of the papers once
again. No Segur volume of 1719 was, of course, forthcoming.
Kenrick, as we have already seen, had in 1767 accused Goldsmith of
taking 'Edwin and Angelina' from Percy (p. 206). Thirty years later, the
charge of plagiarism was revived in a different way when 'Raimond and
Angeline', a French translation of the same poem, appeared, as
Goldsmith's original, in a collection of Essays called 'The Quiz', 1797.
It was eventually discovered to be a translation 'from' Goldsmith by a
French poet named Leonard, who had included it in a volume dated 1792,
entitled 'Lettres de deux Amans, Habitans de Lyon' (Prior's 'Life',
1837, ii. 89-94). It may be added that, according to the 'Biographie
Universelle', 1847, vol. 18 (Art. 'Goldsmith'), there were then no fewer
than at least three French imitations of 'The Hermit' besides Leonard's.
EPILOGUE TO 'THE GOOD NATUR'D MAN. '
Goldsmith's comedy of 'The Good Natur'd Man' was produced by Colman, at
Covent Garden, on Friday, January 29, 1768. The following note was
appended to the Epilogue when printed:-- 'The Author, in expectation of
an Epilogue from a friend at Oxford, deferred writing one himself till
the very last hour. What is here offered, owes all its success to the
graceful manner of the Actress who spoke it. ' It was spoken by Mrs.
Bulkley, the 'Miss Richland' of the piece. In its first form it is to be
found in 'The Public Advertiser' for February 3. Two days later the play
was published, with the version here followed.
l. 1. -----
"As puffing quacks". Goldsmith had devoted a Chinese
letter to this subject. See 'Citizen of the World', 1762, ii. 10
(Letter lxv).
l. 17. -----
"No, no: I've other contests, etc.
curiously evidenced by the absence of those illustrations and
ingenious allusions which are Prior's chief characteristic. And
although Goldsmith included 'The Ladle' and 'Hans Carvel' in his
'Beauties of English Poesy', 1767, he refrained wisely from
copying the licence of his model.
l. 2. -----
"Jack Book-worm led a college life".
The version of 1765 reads 'liv'd' for 'led. '
l. 6. -----
"And freshmen wonder'd as he spoke".
The earlier version adds here--
Without politeness aim'd at breeding,
And laugh'd at pedantry and reading.
l. 18. -----
"Her presence banish'd all his peace".
Here in the first version the paragraph closes,
and a fresh one is commenced as follows:--
Our alter'd Parson now began
To be a perfect ladies' man;
Made sonnets, lisp'd his sermons o'er,
And told the tales he told before,
Of bailiffs pump'd, and proctors bit,
At college how he shew'd his wit;
And, as the fair one still approv'd,
He fell in love--or thought he lov'd.
So with decorum, etc.
The fifth line was probably a reminiscence of the college riot
in which Goldsmith was involved in May, 1747, and for his part
in which he was publicly admonished. (See 'Introduction', p. xi,
l. 3. )
l. 27. -----
"usage". This word, perhaps by a printer's error, is
'visage' in the first version
l. 39. -----
"Skill'd in no other arts was she". Cf. Prior:--
For in all Visits who but She,
To Argue, or to Repartee.
l. 46. -----
"Five greasy nightcaps wrapp'd her head". Cf.
'Spectator', No. 494--'At length the Head of the
Colledge came out to him, from an inner Room, with half
a Dozen Night-Caps upon his Head. ' See also Goldsmith's
essay on the Coronation ('Essays', 1766, p. 238), where
Mr. Grogan speaks of his wife as habitually 'mobbed up
in flannel night caps, and trembling at a breath of
air. '
l. 52. -----
"By day, 'twas gadding or coquetting". The first version after
'coquetting' begins a fresh paragraph with--
Now tawdry madam kept, etc.
l. 58. -----
"A sigh in suffocating smoke".
Here in the first version follows:--
She, in her turn, became perplexing,
And found substantial bliss in vexing.
Thus every hour was pass'd, etc.
l. 61. -----
"Thus as her faults each day were known". First version:
'Each day, the more her faults,' etc.
l. 71. -----
"Now, to perplex". The first version has 'Thus. '
But the alteration in line 61 made a change necessary.
l. 85. -----
"paste". First version 'pastes. '
l. 91. -----
"condemn'd to hack", i. e. to hackney, to plod.
A NEW SIMILE.
The 'New Simile' first appears in 'Essays: By Mr. Goldsmith, 1765, pp.
234-6, where it forms Essay xxvii. In the second edition of 1766 it
occupies pp. 246-8 and forms Essay xix. The text here followed is that
of the second edition, which varies slightly from the first. In both
cases the poem is followed by the enigmatical initials '*J. B. ,' which,
however, as suggested by Gibbs, may simply stand for 'Jack Bookworm' of
'The Double Transformation'. (See p. 204. )
l. 1. -----
"Long had I sought in vain to find". The text of 1765
reads--
'I long had rack'd my brains to find. '
l. 6. -----
"Tooke's Pantheon". Andrew Tooke (1673-1732) was first
usher and then Master at the Charterhouse. In the latter
capacity he succeeded Thomas Walker, the master of Addison and
Steele. His 'Pantheon', a revised translation from the Latin of
the Jesuit, Francis Pomey, was a popular school-book of
mythology, with copper-plates.
l. 16. -----
"Wings upon either side--mark that". The petasus of
Mercury, like his sandals (l. 24), is winged.
l. 36. -----
"No poppy-water half so good". Poppy-water, made by
boiling the heads of the white, black, or red poppy, was a
favourite eighteenth-century soporific:--'Juno shall give her
peacock 'poppy-water', that he may fold his ogling tail. '
(Congreve's 'Love for Love', 1695, iv. 3. )
l. 42. -----
"With this he drives men's souls to hell".
Tu. . . .
. . . . virgaque levem coerces
Aurea turbam. --Hor. 'Od'. i. 10.
l. 57. "Moreover, Merc'ry had a failing".
Te canam. . . .
Callidum, quidquid placuit, iocoso
Condere furto. --Hor. 'Od'. i. 10.
Goldsmith, it will be observed, rhymes 'failing' and 'stealing. '
But Pope does much the same:--
That Jelly's rich, this Malmsey healing,
Pray dip your Whiskers and your tail in.
('Imitation of Horace', Bk. ii, Sat. vi. )
Unless this is to be explained by poetical licence, one of these
words must have been pronounced in the eighteenth century as it
is not pronounced now.
l. 59. -----
"In which all modern bards agree".
The text of 1765 reads 'our scribling bards. '
EDWIN AND ANGELINA.
This ballad, usually known as 'The Hermit', was written in or before
1765, and printed privately in that year 'for the amusement of the
Countess of Northumberland,' whose acquaintance Goldsmith had recently
made through Mr. Nugent. (See the prefatory note to 'The Haunch of
Venison'. ) Its title was "'Edwin and Angelina. A Ballad'. By Mr.
Goldsmith. " It was first published in 'The Vicar of Wakefield', 1766,
where it appears at pp. 70-7, vol. i. In July, 1767, Goldsmith was
accused [by Dr. Kenrick] in the 'St. James's Chronicle' of having taken
it from Percy's 'Friar of Orders Gray'. Thereupon he addressed a letter
to the paper, of which the following is the material portion:--
'Another Correspondent of yours accuses me of having taken a Ballad, I
published some Time ago, from one by the ingenious Mr. Percy. I do not
think there is any great Resemblance between the two Pieces in Question.
If there be any, his Ballad is taken from mine. I read it to Mr. Percy
some Years ago, and he (as we both considered these Things as Trifles at
best) told me, with his usual Good Humour, the next Time I saw him, that
he had taken my Plan to form the fragments of Shakespeare into a Ballad
of his own. He then read me his little Cento, if I may so call it, and I
highly approved it. Such petty Anecdotes as these are scarce worth
printing, and were it not for the busy Disposition of some of your
Correspondents, the Publick should never have known that he owes me the
Hint of his Ballad, or that I am obliged to his Friendship and Learning
for Communications of a much more important Nature. -- I am, Sir, your's
etc. OLIVER GOLDSMITH. ' ('St. James's Chronicle', July 23-5, 1767. ) No
contradiction of this statement appears to have been offered by Percy;
but in re-editing his 'Reliques of Ancient English Poetry' in 1775,
shortly after Goldsmith's death, he affixed this note to 'The Friar of
Orders Gray:-- 'As the foregoing song has been thought to have
suggested to our late excellent poet, Dr. Goldsmith, the plan of his
beautiful ballad of 'Edwin and Emma [Angelina]', first printed
[published? ] in his 'Vicar of Wakefield', it is but justice to his
memory to declare, that his poem was written first, and that if there is
any imitation in the case, they will be found both to be indebted to the
beautiful old ballad, 'Gentle Herdsman, etc. ', printed in the second
volume of this work, which the doctor had much admired in manuscript,
and has finely improved' (vol. i. p. 250). The same story is told, in
slightly different terms, at pp. 74-5 of the 'Memoir' of Goldsmith drawn
up under Percy's superintendence for the 'Miscellaneous Works' of 1801,
and a few stanzas of 'Gentle Herdsman', which Goldsmith is supposed to
have had specially in mind, are there reproduced. References to them
will be found in the ensuing notes. The text here adopted (with
exception of ll. 117-20) is that of the fifth edition of 'The Vicar of
Wakefield', 1773[4], i. pp. 78-85; but the variations of the earlier
version of 1765 are duly chronicled, together with certain hitherto
neglected differences between the first and later editions of the novel.
The poem was also printed in the 'Poems for Young Ladies', 1767, pp.
91-8*. The author himself, it may be added, thought highly of it. 'As to
my "Hermit," that poem,' he is reported to have said, 'cannot be
amended. ' (Cradock's 'Memoirs', 1828, iv. 286. )
[footnote] *This version differs considerably from the others, often
following that of 1765; but it has not been considered necessary to
record the variations here. That Goldsmith unceasingly revised the piece
is sufficiently established.
l. 1. -----
"Turn, etc. " The first version has --
Deign saint-like tenant of the dale,
To guide my nightly way,
To yonder fire, that cheers the vale
With hospitable ray.
l. 11. -----
"For yonder faithless phantom flies".
'The Vicar of Wakefield', first edition, has --
'For yonder phantom only flies. '
l. 30. -----
"All". 'Vicar of Wakefield', first edition, 'For. '
l. 31. -----
"Man wants but little here below". Cf. Young's 'Complaint',
1743, 'Night' iv. 9, of which this and the next line are a
recollection.
According to Prior ('Life', 1837, ii. 83), they
were printed as a quotation in the version of 1765. Young's line
is--
Man wants but Little; nor that Little, long.
l. 35. -----
"modest". 'Vicar of Wakefield', first edition, 'grateful. '
l. 37. -----
"Far in a wilderness obscure". First version, and 'Vicar of
Wakefield', first edition:--
Far shelter'd in a glade obscure
The modest mansion lay.
l. 43. -----
"The wicket, opening with a latch". First version, and 'Vicar
of Wakefield', first edition:--
The door just opening with a latch.
l. 45. -----
"And now, when busy crowds retire". First version, and 'Vicar
of Wakefield', first edition:--
And now, when worldly crowds retire
To revels or to rest.
l. 57. -----
"But nothing, etc. " In the first version this stanza runs as
follows:--
But nothing mirthful could assuage
The pensive stranger's woe;
For grief had seized his early age,
And tears would often flow.
l. 78. -----
"modern". 'Vicar of Wakefield', first edition, reads 'haughty. '
l. 84. -----
"His love-lorn guest betray'd". First version, and 'Vicar of
Wakefield', first edition:--
The bashful guest betray'd.
l. 85. -----
"Surpris'd, he sees, etc. " First version, and 'Vicar of
Wakefield', first edition:--
He sees unnumber'd beauties rise,
Expanding to the view;
Like clouds that deck the morning skies,
As bright, as transient too.
l. 89. -----
"The bashful look, the rising breast". First version,
and 'Vicar of Wakefield', first edition:--
Her looks, her lips, her panting breast.
l. 97. -----
"But let a maid, etc. " For this, and the next two stanzas,
the first version substitutes:--
Forgive, and let thy pious care
A heart's distress allay;
That seeks repose, but finds despair
Companion of the way.
My father liv'd, of high degree,
Remote beside the Tyne;
And as he had but only me,
Whate'er he had was mine.
To win me from his tender arms,
Unnumber'd suitors came;
Their chief pretence my flatter'd charms,
My wealth perhaps their aim.
l. 109. -----
"a mercenary crowd". 'Vicar of Wakefield', first edition, has:--
'the gay phantastic crowd. '
l. 111. -----
"Amongst the rest young Edwin bow'd". First version:--
Among the rest young Edwin bow'd,
Who offer'd only love.
l. 115. -----
"Wisdom and worth, etc. " First version, and 'Vicar of
Wakefield', first edition:--
A constant heart was all he had,
But that was all to me.
l. 117. -----
"And when beside me, etc. " For this 'additional stanza,' says
the 'Percy Memoir', p. 76, 'the reader is indebted to Richard
Archdal, Esq. , late a member of the Irish Parliament, to whom it
was presented by the author himself. ' It was first printed in
the 'Miscellaneous Works', 1801, ii. 25. In Prior's edition of
the 'Miscellaneous Works', 1837, iv. 41, it is said to have been
'written some years after the rest of the poem. '
l. 121. -----
"The blossom opening to the day, etc. " For this and the next
two stanzas the first version substitutes:--
Whene'er he spoke amidst the train,
How would my heart attend!
And till delighted even to pain,
How sigh for such a friend!
And when a little rest I sought
In Sleep's refreshing arms,
How have I mended what he taught,
And lent him fancied charms!
Yet still (and woe betide the hour! )
I spurn'd him from my side,
And still with ill-dissembled power
Repaid his love with pride.
l. 129. -----
"For still I tried each fickle art, etc. " Percy finds the
prototype of this in the following stanza of 'Gentle Herdsman':--
And grew soe coy and nice to please,
As women's lookes are often soe,
He might not kisse, nor hand forsoothe,
Unlesse I willed him soe to doe.
l. 133. -----
"Till quite dejected with my scorn, etc. " The first edition
reads this stanza and the first two lines of the next thus:--
Till quite dejected by my scorn,
He left me to deplore;
And sought a solitude forlorn,
And ne'er was heard of more.
Then since he perish'd by my fault,
This pilgrimage I pay, etc.
l. 135. -----
"And sought a solitude forlorn". Cf. 'Gentle Herdsman:--
He gott him to a secrett place,
And there he dyed without releeffe.
l. 141. -----
"And there forlorn, despairing, hid, etc. " The first edition
for this and the next two stanzas substitutes the following:--
And there in shelt'ring thickets hid,
I'll linger till I die;
'Twas thus for me my lover did,
And so for him will I.
'Thou shalt not thus,' the Hermit cried,
And clasp'd her to his breast;
The astonish'd fair one turned to chide, --
'Twas Edwin's self that prest.
For now no longer could he hide,
What first to hide he strove;
His looks resume their youthful pride,
And flush with honest love.
l. 143. -----
"'Twas so for me, etc. " Cf. 'Gentle Herdsman':--
Thus every day I fast and pray,
And ever will doe till I dye;
And gett me to some secret place,
For soe did hee, and soe will I.
l. 145. -----
"Forbid it, Heaven. " 'Vicar of Wakefield', first edition,
like the version of 1765, has 'Thou shalt not thus. '
l. 156. -----
"My life. " 'Vicar of Wakefield', first edition, has 'O thou. '
l. 157. -----
"No, never from this hour, etc. " The first edition reads:--
No, never, from this hour to part,
Our love shall still be new;
And the last sigh that rends thy heart,
Shall break thy Edwin's too.
The poem then concluded thus:--
Here amidst sylvan bowers we'll rove,
From lawn to woodland stray;
Blest as the songsters of the grove,
And innocent as they.
To all that want, and all that wail,
Our pity shall be given,
And when this life of love shall fail,
We'll love again in heaven.
These couplets, with certain alterations in the first and last
lines, are to be found in the version printed in 'Poems for
Young Ladies', 1767, p. 98.
AN ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF A MAD DOG.
This poem was first published in 'The Vicar of Wakefield', 1766, i.
175-6, where it is sung by one of the little boys. In common with the
'Elegy on Mrs. Mary Blaize' (p. 47) it owes something of its origin to
Goldsmith's antipathy to fashionable elegiacs, something also to the
story of M. de la Palisse. As regards mad dogs, its author seems to have
been more reasonable than many of his contemporaries, since he
ridiculed, with much common sense, their exaggerated fears on this
subject ('v. Chinese Letter' in 'The Public Ledger' for August 29, 1760,
afterwards Letter lxvi of 'The Citizen of the World', 1762, ii. 15). But
it is ill jesting with hydrophobia. Like 'Madam Blaize', these verses
have been illustrated by Randolph Caldecott.
l. 5. -----
"In Islington there was a man". Goldsmith had lodgings at Mrs.
Elizabeth Fleming's in Islington (or 'Isling town' as the
earlier editions have it) in 1763-4; and the choice of the
locality may have been determined by this circumstance. But the
date of the composition of the poem is involved in the general
obscurity which hangs over the 'Vicar' in its unprinted state.
(See 'Introduction', pp. xviii-xix. )
l. 19. -----
"The dog, to gain some private ends". The first edition reads
'his private ends. '
l. 32. -----
"The dog it was that died". This catastrophe suggests the
couplet from the 'Greek Anthology',
ed. Jacobs, 1813-7, ii. 387:--
Kappadoken pot exidna kake daken alla kai aute
katthane, geusamene aimatos iobolou.
Goldsmith, however, probably went no farther back
than Voltaire on Freron:--
L'autre jour, au fond d'un vallon,
Un serpent mordit Jean Freron.
Devinez ce qu'il arriva?
Ce fut le serpent qui creva.
This again, according to M. Edouard Fournier ('L'Esprit des Autres',
sixth edition, 1881, p. 288), is simply the readjustment of an earlier
quatrain, based upon a Latin distich in the 'Epigrammatum delectus',
1659:--
Un gros serpent mordit Aurelle.
Que croyez-vous qu'il arriva?
Qu'Aurelle en mourut? -- Bagatelle!
Ce fut le serpent qui creva.
SONG
FROM 'THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD. '
First published in 'The Vicar of Wakefield', 1766, ii. 78 (chap. v). It
is there sung by Olivia Primrose, after her return home with her father.
'Do, my pretty Olivia,' says Mrs. Primrose, let us have that little
melancholy air your pappa was so fond of, your sister Sophy has already
obliged us. Do child, it will please your old father. ' 'She complied in
a manner so exquisitely pathetic,' continues Dr. Primrose, 'as moved
me. ' The charm of the words, and the graceful way in which they are
introduced, seem to have blinded criticism to the impropriety, and even
inhumanity, of requiring poor Olivia to sing a song so completely
applicable to her own case. No source has been named for this piece; and
its perfect conformity with the text would appear to indicate that
Goldsmith was not indebted to any earlier writer for his idea.
His well-known obligations to French sources seem, however, to have
suggested that, if a French original could not be discovered for the
foregoing lyric, it might be desirable to invent one. A clever
paragraphist in the 'St. James's Gazette' for January 28th, 1889,
accordingly reproduced the following stanzas, which he alleged, were to
be found in the poems of Segur, 'printed in Paris in 1719':--
Lorsqu'une femme, apres trop de tendresse,
D'un homme sent la trahison,
Comment, pour cette si douce foiblesse
Peut-elle trouver une guerison?
Le seul remede qu'elle peut ressentir,
La seul revanche pour son tort,
Pour faire trop tard l'amant repentir,
Helas! trop tard -- est la mort.
As a correspondent was not slow to point out, Goldsmith, if a copyist,
at all events considerably improved his model (see in particular lines 7
and 8 of the French). On the 30th of the month the late Sir William
Fraser gave it as his opinion, that, until the volume of 1719 should be
produced, the 'very inferior verses quoted' must be classed with the
fabrications of 'Father Prout,' and he instanced that very version of
the 'Burial of Sir John Moore' ('Les Funerailles de Beaumanoir') which
has recently (August 1906) been going the round of the papers once
again. No Segur volume of 1719 was, of course, forthcoming.
Kenrick, as we have already seen, had in 1767 accused Goldsmith of
taking 'Edwin and Angelina' from Percy (p. 206). Thirty years later, the
charge of plagiarism was revived in a different way when 'Raimond and
Angeline', a French translation of the same poem, appeared, as
Goldsmith's original, in a collection of Essays called 'The Quiz', 1797.
It was eventually discovered to be a translation 'from' Goldsmith by a
French poet named Leonard, who had included it in a volume dated 1792,
entitled 'Lettres de deux Amans, Habitans de Lyon' (Prior's 'Life',
1837, ii. 89-94). It may be added that, according to the 'Biographie
Universelle', 1847, vol. 18 (Art. 'Goldsmith'), there were then no fewer
than at least three French imitations of 'The Hermit' besides Leonard's.
EPILOGUE TO 'THE GOOD NATUR'D MAN. '
Goldsmith's comedy of 'The Good Natur'd Man' was produced by Colman, at
Covent Garden, on Friday, January 29, 1768. The following note was
appended to the Epilogue when printed:-- 'The Author, in expectation of
an Epilogue from a friend at Oxford, deferred writing one himself till
the very last hour. What is here offered, owes all its success to the
graceful manner of the Actress who spoke it. ' It was spoken by Mrs.
Bulkley, the 'Miss Richland' of the piece. In its first form it is to be
found in 'The Public Advertiser' for February 3. Two days later the play
was published, with the version here followed.
l. 1. -----
"As puffing quacks". Goldsmith had devoted a Chinese
letter to this subject. See 'Citizen of the World', 1762, ii. 10
(Letter lxv).
l. 17. -----
"No, no: I've other contests, etc.
