-----
"Till quite dejected with my scorn, etc.
"Till quite dejected with my scorn, etc.
Oliver Goldsmith
-----
"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. " This couplet is
not in the first version. The old building of the College of
Physicians was in Warwick Lane; and the reference is to the
long-pending dispute, occasionally enlivened by personal
collision, between the Fellows and Licentiates respecting the
exclusion of certain of the latter from Fellowships. On this
theme Bonnell Thornton, himself an M. B. like Goldsmith, wrote a
satiric additional canto to Garth's 'Dispensary', entitled 'The
Battle of the Wigs', long extracts from which are printed in
'The Gentleman's Magazine' for March, 1768, p. 132. The same
number also reviews 'The Siege of the Castle of Aesculapius, an
heroic Comedy, as it is acted in Warwick-Lane'. Goldsmith's
couplet is, however, best illustrated by the title of one of
Sayer's caricatures, 'The March of the Medical Militants to the
Siege of Warwick-Lane-Castle in the Year' 1767. The quarrel was
finally settled in favour of the college in June, 1771.
l. 19. -----
"Go, ask your manager". Colman, the manager of Covent
Garden, was not a prolific, although he was a happy writer of
prologues and epilogues.
l. 32. -----
The quotation is from 'King Lear', Act iii, Sc. 4.
l. 34. -----
In the first version the last line runs:--
And view with favour, the 'Good-natur'd Man. '
EPILOGUE TO 'THE SISTER. '
'The Sister', produced at Covent Garden February 18, 1769, was a comedy
by Mrs. Charlotte Lenox or Lennox, 'an ingenious lady,' says 'The
Gentleman's Magazine' for April in the same year, 'well known in the
literary world by her excellent writings, particularly the Female
Quixote, and Shakespeare illustrated. . . . The audience expressed their
disapprobation of it with so much clamour and appearance of prejudice,
that she would not suffer an attempt to exhibit it a second time (p.
199). ' According to the same authority it was based upon one of the
writer's own novels, 'Henrietta', published in 1758. Though tainted with
the prevailing sentimentalism, 'The Sister' is described by Forster as
'both amusing and interesting'; and it is probable that it was not
fairly treated when it was acted. Mrs. Lenox (1720-1804), daughter of
Colonel Ramsay, Lieut. -Governor of New York, was a favourite with the
literary magnates of her day. Johnson was half suspected of having
helped her in her book on Shakespeare; Richardson admitted her to his
readings at Parson's Green; Fielding, who knew her, calls her, in the
'Journal of a Voyage to Lisbon', 1755, p. 35 (first version), 'the
inimitable author of the Female Quixote'; and Goldsmith, though he had
no kindness for genteel comedy (see 'post', p. 228), wrote her this
lively epilogue, which was spoken by Mrs. Bulkley, who personated the
'Miss Autumn' of the piece. Mrs. Lenox died in extremely reduced
circumstances, and was buried by the Right Hon. George Ross, who had
befriended her later years. There are several references to her in
Boswell's 'Life of Johnson'. (See also Hawkins' 'Life', 2nd ed. 1787,
pp. 285-7. )
PROLOGUE TO 'ZOBEIDE. '
'Zobeide', a play by Joseph Cradock (1742-1826), of Gumley, in
Leicestershire, was produced by Colman at Covent Garden on Dec. 11,
1771. It was a translation from three acts of 'Les Scythes', an
unfinished tragedy by Voltaire. Goldsmith was applied to, through the
Yates's, for a prologue, and sent that here printed to the author of the
play with the following note:-- 'Mr. Goldsmith presents his best
respects to Mr. Cradock, has sent him the Prologue, such as it is. He
cannot take time to make it better. He begs he will give Mr. Yates the
proper instructions; and so, even so, commits him to fortune and the
publick. ' (Cradock's 'Memoirs', 1826, i. 224. ) Yates, to the acting of
whose wife in the character of the heroine the success of the piece,
which ran for thirteen nights, was mainly attributable, was to have
spoken the prologue, but it ultimately fell to Quick, later the 'Tony
Lumpkin' of 'She Stoops to Conquer', who delivered it in the character
of a sailor. Cradock seems subsequently to have sent a copy of 'Zobeide'
to Voltaire, who replied in English as follows:--
9e. 8bre. 1773. a ferney.
Sr.
Thanks to yr muse a foreign copper shines
Turn'd in to gold, and coin'd in sterling lines.
You have done to much honour to an old sick man of eighty.
I am with the most sincere esteem and gratitude
Sr.
Yr. obdt. Servt. Voltaire.
A Monsieur Monsieur J. Cradock.
The text of the prologue is here given as printed in Cradock's
'Memoirs', 1828, iii. 8-9. It is unnecessary to specify the variations
between this and the earlier issue of 1771.
l. 1. -----
"In these bold times, etc. " The reference is to Cook,
who, on June 12, 1771, had returned to England in the
'Endeavour', after three years' absence, having gone to Otaheite
to observe the transit of Venus (l. 4).
l. 5.
"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. " This couplet is
not in the first version. The old building of the College of
Physicians was in Warwick Lane; and the reference is to the
long-pending dispute, occasionally enlivened by personal
collision, between the Fellows and Licentiates respecting the
exclusion of certain of the latter from Fellowships. On this
theme Bonnell Thornton, himself an M. B. like Goldsmith, wrote a
satiric additional canto to Garth's 'Dispensary', entitled 'The
Battle of the Wigs', long extracts from which are printed in
'The Gentleman's Magazine' for March, 1768, p. 132. The same
number also reviews 'The Siege of the Castle of Aesculapius, an
heroic Comedy, as it is acted in Warwick-Lane'. Goldsmith's
couplet is, however, best illustrated by the title of one of
Sayer's caricatures, 'The March of the Medical Militants to the
Siege of Warwick-Lane-Castle in the Year' 1767. The quarrel was
finally settled in favour of the college in June, 1771.
l. 19. -----
"Go, ask your manager". Colman, the manager of Covent
Garden, was not a prolific, although he was a happy writer of
prologues and epilogues.
l. 32. -----
The quotation is from 'King Lear', Act iii, Sc. 4.
l. 34. -----
In the first version the last line runs:--
And view with favour, the 'Good-natur'd Man. '
EPILOGUE TO 'THE SISTER. '
'The Sister', produced at Covent Garden February 18, 1769, was a comedy
by Mrs. Charlotte Lenox or Lennox, 'an ingenious lady,' says 'The
Gentleman's Magazine' for April in the same year, 'well known in the
literary world by her excellent writings, particularly the Female
Quixote, and Shakespeare illustrated. . . . The audience expressed their
disapprobation of it with so much clamour and appearance of prejudice,
that she would not suffer an attempt to exhibit it a second time (p.
199). ' According to the same authority it was based upon one of the
writer's own novels, 'Henrietta', published in 1758. Though tainted with
the prevailing sentimentalism, 'The Sister' is described by Forster as
'both amusing and interesting'; and it is probable that it was not
fairly treated when it was acted. Mrs. Lenox (1720-1804), daughter of
Colonel Ramsay, Lieut. -Governor of New York, was a favourite with the
literary magnates of her day. Johnson was half suspected of having
helped her in her book on Shakespeare; Richardson admitted her to his
readings at Parson's Green; Fielding, who knew her, calls her, in the
'Journal of a Voyage to Lisbon', 1755, p. 35 (first version), 'the
inimitable author of the Female Quixote'; and Goldsmith, though he had
no kindness for genteel comedy (see 'post', p. 228), wrote her this
lively epilogue, which was spoken by Mrs. Bulkley, who personated the
'Miss Autumn' of the piece. Mrs. Lenox died in extremely reduced
circumstances, and was buried by the Right Hon. George Ross, who had
befriended her later years. There are several references to her in
Boswell's 'Life of Johnson'. (See also Hawkins' 'Life', 2nd ed. 1787,
pp. 285-7. )
PROLOGUE TO 'ZOBEIDE. '
'Zobeide', a play by Joseph Cradock (1742-1826), of Gumley, in
Leicestershire, was produced by Colman at Covent Garden on Dec. 11,
1771. It was a translation from three acts of 'Les Scythes', an
unfinished tragedy by Voltaire. Goldsmith was applied to, through the
Yates's, for a prologue, and sent that here printed to the author of the
play with the following note:-- 'Mr. Goldsmith presents his best
respects to Mr. Cradock, has sent him the Prologue, such as it is. He
cannot take time to make it better. He begs he will give Mr. Yates the
proper instructions; and so, even so, commits him to fortune and the
publick. ' (Cradock's 'Memoirs', 1826, i. 224. ) Yates, to the acting of
whose wife in the character of the heroine the success of the piece,
which ran for thirteen nights, was mainly attributable, was to have
spoken the prologue, but it ultimately fell to Quick, later the 'Tony
Lumpkin' of 'She Stoops to Conquer', who delivered it in the character
of a sailor. Cradock seems subsequently to have sent a copy of 'Zobeide'
to Voltaire, who replied in English as follows:--
9e. 8bre. 1773. a ferney.
Sr.
Thanks to yr muse a foreign copper shines
Turn'd in to gold, and coin'd in sterling lines.
You have done to much honour to an old sick man of eighty.
I am with the most sincere esteem and gratitude
Sr.
Yr. obdt. Servt. Voltaire.
A Monsieur Monsieur J. Cradock.
The text of the prologue is here given as printed in Cradock's
'Memoirs', 1828, iii. 8-9. It is unnecessary to specify the variations
between this and the earlier issue of 1771.
l. 1. -----
"In these bold times, etc. " The reference is to Cook,
who, on June 12, 1771, had returned to England in the
'Endeavour', after three years' absence, having gone to Otaheite
to observe the transit of Venus (l. 4).
l. 5.
