P. 115. Bubo Bubb Doddington, the adviser of the Prince of Wales, and typical of his age in light-hearted and careless unscrupulousness. P. 117. A friend in exile = Bolingbroke. THOMSON. P. 119. Nature attend! join every living soul. Compare Coleridge on p. 281 of this book. the nightingale. Compare Milton on p. 46. P. 120. Philomela: = GRAY. P. 122. "ELEGY WRITTEN IN A COUNTRY CHURCHYARD." "Perhaps the noblest stanzas in our language" (Palgrave). P. 125. Madding crowd. Compare "Madded land" in Johnson (page 173), and the note to that page. GOLDSMITH. P. 137. THE TRAVELLER. Written in 1764, and dedicated to his brother, the Reverend Henry Goldsmith. = Idra's cliffs Idria, in Carniola. Arno's shelvy side. Arno, a river in Italy. P. 140. Own the kindred soil. Show by natural luxuriance that the soil is fitted for them. The pregnant quarry teemed with human form, i.e., the quarry yielded from its bosom the marble from which statues were made. Perhaps in no line has Goldsmith fallen more under the influence of the false artificiality of the day which prevails over his poetry sufficiently to make it only third-rate, while it leaves his prose untouched in its perfect purity and simple art. P. 142. He sees his little lot the lot of all. See preceding note. This line shows how simple Goldsmith could make his language when he chose. = P. 145. The tall rampire's artificial pride. Here rampire breakwater. Compare "our rampired gates," in Shakespeare. P. 150. Niagara. Note accentuation on the third syllable. Of two brothers, George and Luke crown. P. 150. Damien's bed of steel. Damiens, tortured for an attempt on the life of Louis XV., in 1757. P. 151. THE DESERTED VILLAGE. The dedication is given because it serves admirably to show that aptitude for prose writing which Goldsmith possessed in such signal perfection, whatever the merits of his poetry may be. Throughout the whole dedication there is hardly one word which could be altered without greatly marring the symmetry of the whole. No turn of sarcasm could be more happy than the last words: "one would sometimes wish to be in the right.” P. 160. THE RETALIATION. Written in 1774, only a month before Goldsmith's death. It was provoked by the jocular epitaphs which his foibles had given Goldsmith's friends, especially Garrick, the opportunity of writing upon him. Our Dean Dr. Barnard, Dean of Derry. Our Burke Edmund Burke. = Our Will Mr. William Burke, a relative of the preceding. And Dick Burke. Our Cumberland = Richard Cumberland, the dramatist. Douglas = Canon Douglas of Windsor. Our Garrick = David Garrick, the great actor, friend of Dr. Johnson and Goldsmith. Reynolds Sir Joshua Reynolds. = Ridge, Hickey. Other members of the club. = P. 161. Tommy Townshend Mr. Townshend, M.P., Lord Sydney. afterwards P. 163. Kenrick, Kelly, Woodfall. Authors or literary men of the day, of no note. Be-Rosciused. Roscius was a great Roman actor, and hence the name has become typical of his profession. JOHNSON. P. 166. Metaphysical poets. The title has been often, and very justly, objected to. Johnson seems to use the word merely in the sense of "unnatural;" or, perhaps, "oversubtle;" but neither meaning is defensible. P. 167. The father of criticism = Aristotle. P. 169. Hyperbole = exaggeration. THE VANITY OF HUMAN WISHES. P. 172. This is an imitation of the Tenth Satire of Juvenal VI. 2 B Of the same satire Dryden had previously written a translation, which appeared along with the translation of the other satires of Juvenal and of those of Persius. The poem does not stand in what we are now accustomed to reckon the first or even the second rank of poetry. But it is well to remember Scott's opinion of it: 'I asked him from what style of composition he derived most pleasure. He answered "Johnson's, and that he had more pleasure in reading London and the Vanity of Human Wishes, than any other poetical composition he could mention' (Lockhart's Life). "The last line of MS." (adds Lockhart) "that Scott sent to the press was a quotation from the same piece." P. 173. Fate wings with every wish the afflictive dart = With every wish Fate sends some misfortune. Supply with before each gift and each grace. Restless fire = In this para the impetuous ardour of courage. Massacre of gold = massacre occasioned by gold. Nor truth nor safety = neither truth nor safety. Let history tell, where rival kings command. graph the author probably alludes to the Jacobite rebellion of 1745, in which Lord Lovat and others of rank suffered the penalty of treason, although easy conditions were, for the most part, granted to their followers. The poem was published in 1749. = Madded land Maddened. In the phrase "the madding crowd's ignoble strife" (Gray's Elegy) we have the neuter used as the verb. When statutes glean the refuse of the sword = when law pounces on those rebels whom the sword has spared. The needy traveller, &c. A translation of Juvenal's lines on the satire "Cantabit vacuus coram latrone viator." P. 174. Does envy seize thee, &c. = If you envy, then destroy the source of his joy by increasing his wealth and depriving him of the boon of poverty. Vicissitude = Succession. Load the tainted gale are borne upon the winds which they taint. Democritus (460-361 B.C.), a Greek philosopher, who held peace of mind, and superiority to casual ills, to be the great end of human effort. = P. 174. Where want enchained caprice, &c. where the caprices and follies of mankind were limited by want of means, their conceit outrooted by toil, and man showed less variety in folly. Attentive truth and nature to descry = attentive to descry truth and nature. Whose joys are causeless = those whose, &c., aid the farce. P. 175. Love ends with hope as soon as the sycophant has ceased to hope for benefits, he ceases to love. Morning, an adjective. For growing names to please those whose fame is on the rise. The dedicator. The authors of Johnston's day, and before it, sought to procure a gift, and favour for their book, by dedicating it to some patron of high rank. Palladium of the place. Palladium, originally the image of Pallas at Troy, said to have fallen from heaven, and regarded as the protecting genius of the city. Hence, for anything to be preserved with studious care. The form distorted justifies the fall. In his ugliness we see a justification of his misfortunes. And detestation rids, &c. = "An abhorrence of the original makes us free the wall, which is indignant as well as wo at the insult it has suffered in having to display such a face." The line is in Johnson's worst and most artificial manner. But will not Britain hear the last appeal? Although party cliques may be fickle, yet, when the people of Britain are appealed to, will not they condemn her foes and protect the zeal of her favourites ?" No more remonstrance rings. As in the days of the Grand Remonstrance presented to Charles I. by the parliament of 1629. Septennial ale = ale distributed at the elections. Parliaments were now, by the Act of 1716, septennial, instead of triennial. P. 176. His followers fly. All except Thomas Cromwell. See Shakespeare's Henry VIII. The menial lord. Even noblemen of high rank held offices in his household. The refuge of monastic rest. He died at Leicester Abbey, "I am come," said he to the monks, "to lay my bones among you." P. 177. Villiers. Duke of Buckingham, minister of James I. and Charles I.; assassinated by Felton in 1628, on the eve of an expedition against France. Harley. Earl of Oxford, minister of Queen Anne at the close of her reign; afterwards thrown into prison on account of his treacherous dealings with the Jacobites. Wentworth. Lord Strafford, the minister of Charles I., who, along with Laud, attempted to trample on the liberties of England by his policy of "thorough," and against whom an Act of Attainder was afterwards carried. He was executed, 1641. Hyde. Earl of Clarendon, minister of Charles II. for seven years after the Restoration. His daughter was married to the Duke of York, afterwards James II. Bodley's dome. The library at Oxford, greatly extended by Sir Thomas Bodley, one of Elizabeth's ambassadors. Bacon's mansion. The tradition of Oxford was, that the study of Roger Bacon, built over a bridge, was to fall when some one more learned than Bacon should pass under it. Thy cell refrain = keep away from thy cell. P. 178. Lydiat. A theologian and mathematician of some eminence, whom his Royalist sympathies brought into poverty. He died in 1646. Galileo. Who fell under the persecution of the Inquisition for maintaining that the earth moved round the sun. Rebellion's vengeful talons. Johnson looked with no favour on the proceedings of the Long Parliament. Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, executed in 1645. The rapid Greek = Alexander the Great, who endeavoured to unite Greece, and carried his conquests into the East. The Danube and the Rhine. Referring to the victories of Blenheim and Dettingen in Marlborough's wars. This power has praise, &c. = praise has such power that virtue (courage) can scarce warm us, unless fame aid her. Where wasted nations raise a single name = where nations are wasted that one man may be famous. Mortgaged states = states burthened with a national debt. 1 |