precipitates himself from the mountain, and is swallowed up by the river that rolls at its foot."

Gray may have got his idea of Edward's persecution of the Welsh bards from Carte, who says: "The only set of men among the Welsh, that had reason to complain of Edward's severity, were the bards who used to put those of the ancient Britons in mind of the valiant deeds of their ancestors: he ordered them all to be hanged, as inciters of the people to sedition." There is, however, no evidence of a general massacre of the bards.

1. Picture the scene.

2. Confusion. Destruction.

4. Cf. King John, V. i. 72.

8. Cambria's. Latin for Cymri, land of the Kymry (or Welsh). 12. King Edward conquered Wales in 1282–84.

18. Haggard. Wild, a metaphor from hawking.

28. High-born Hoël. A Welsh warrior and poet.

29. Cadwallo. A Welsh poet.

33. Modred. Not he of the King Arthur tales.

35. They lie. The bards who had been slaughtered.

40. Cf. Julius Cusar, II. i. 289.

44. Grisly band. Ghosts of the bards.

47. Note that lines 49-100 are spoken by the chorus of dead bards in unison with the original speaker. After that the one singer continues alone, the spirits having vanished.

49. Warp and woof. Meaning?

51. Verge. Meaning?

54. Severn. The river.

55. Berkley's roofs. A Norman castle, still well preserved. Edward II was killed here.

57. She-wolf of France. Isabel of France, queen of Edward II. 61. Amazement. Bewilderment, as in Shakespeare.

67. Sable warrior. "Edward the Black Prince."-GRAY.

71. "Magnificence of Richard the Second's reign. See Froissart, and other contemporary writers."-GRAY.

79-81. Alluding to the deposition and death of Richard II. 83. "Ruinous civil wars of York and Lancaster."-GRAY. 87. "Henry the Sixth, George Duke of Clarence, Edward the Fifth, Richard Duke of York, etc., believed to be murdered secretly in the Tower of London. The oldest part of that structure is vulgarly attributed to Julius Cæsar."-GRAY.

89. "Margaret of Anjou, a woman of heroic spirit, who struggled hard to save her husband and her crown; Henry the Fifth."-GRAY. 90. "Henry the Sixth, very near being canonized. The line of Lancaster had no right of inheritance to the crown.”—GRAY.

91. “The white and red roses, devices of York and Lancaster.”GRAY.

93. "The silver boar was the badge of Richard the Third; whence he was usually known in his own time by the name of the Boar."GRAY.

99. Half of thy heart. Edward's wife, Eleanor, saved his life by sucking the venom from the wound made by a poisoned dagger. She died in 1290.

101. Stay, oh stay! On whom does the bard call?

105. But oh! The bard has a vision of better times to come. 109. Long-lost Arthur. "It was the common belief of the Welsh nation, that King Arthur was still alive in Fairy-Land, and should return again to reign over Britain.”—Gray.

110. “Both Merlin and Taliessin had prophesied that the Welsh should regain their sovereignty over this island; which seemed to be accomplished in the house of Tudor."-GRAY. How?

117. Her lion-port. Is this picture of Elizabeth correct?

121. Taliessin. A Welsh poet, a few of whose poems have come down to us.

126. Cf. the dedication to Spenser's Faerie Queene.

127. Buskined. Tragic. How did the term originate?

131. "Milton.”—GRAY.

133. "The succession of poets after Milton's time."-GRAY.

140. The different doom. The house of Edward is to be destroyed; the bard is to triumph in the accession of the Tudors.

Once in possession of the necessary information, the student should read the poem aloud, seeking to realize its dramatic quality. For other examples of the ode, see Gosse, English Odes.

NOTES ON GOLDSMITH'S POEMS

THE DESERTED VILLAGE-(PAGE 27)

The Traveller is Goldsmith's earliest poem, but the Deserted Village is the best introduction to him and is here placed first. The poem was published in 1770, when the writer was at his best and already popular. It ran through five editions in three months and has always been a favorite. Goethe found it a poetical production which his little circle "hailed with transport." Sir Joshua Reynolds, to whom the piece was dedicated, responded by painting a picture called Resignation, upon which he caused to be engraved the following: "This attempt to express a character in the Deserted Village is dedicated to Doctor Goldsmith, by his sincere friend and admirer, Joshua Reynolds." Gray said: "This man is a poet." The poem is full of genuine human sympathy and contains much of beauty, pathos, and grace. It is of small moment that the conditions which Goldsmith described are partly imaginary and that his philosophy is somewhat at fault. The spirit is right. 1. Sweet Auburn. Goldsmith may have had his boyhood home at Lissoy, Ireland, in mind; but the scenes are highly idealized and not to be identified exactly with any one village, Irish or other.

5. Note the yearning tenderness with which Goldsmith paints these pictures of happy country life which he was never again to share.

12. Decent. In the old meaning, becoming.

17. Train.

Note Goldsmith's fondness for this word. 19. Circled. Cf. line 22.

23. Still. Meaning?

27. The reference is to the old trick of inducing the victim to make signs on his face while holding an object blackened on the under surface. For a description of these rude sports see the Chapter A London Suburb in Hawthorne's Our Old Home.

44. In his Animated Nature, Goldsmith speaks of the dismally

hollow booming of the bittern. "I remember," he says, "in the place where I was a boy, with what terror this bird's note affected the whole village."

51. Cf. The Traveller, 303 ff. and The Vicar of Wakefield, Chap. xix.

74. Manners. Meaning?

83, 84. To what experiences does Goldsmith refer in these lines? 124. It is said that the nightingale is not found in Ireland.

141. See the dedication to The Traveller, page 43. Cf. the description of the poor parson in Chaucer's Prologue.

196. The Village Master. The original is said to be Goldsmith's early master Thomas Byrne. Cf. Whittier's picture of an early teacher in his Snow-Bound.

209. Terms. Sessions of the law courts. Tides were times or seasons, especially those of the ecclesiastical year. Cf. Eastertide. 232. The twelve good rules ascribed to Charles I are: 1. Urge no healths. 2. Profane no divine ordinances. 3. Touch no state matters. 4. Reveal no secrets. 5. Pick no quarrels. 6. Make no companions. 7. Maintain no ill opinions. 8. Keep no bad company. 9. Encourage no vice. 10. Make no long meal. 11. Repeat no grievances. 12. Lay no wagers.

232. The royal game of goose was a kind of checkers.

244. Woodman. Probably a hunter rather than a wood-chopper. 250. On this custom see Marmion, Canto V, stanza 12, and Ben Jonson's "Drink to me only with thine eyes."

265. Are the evils of which Goldsmith complains unheard of to-day?

316. Artist. In Goldsmith's time this word was applied to any worker in the mechanic arts.

322. Chariots. Carriages. Torches were borne by link-boys to light the way.

343-359. Like most Englishmen, even of a later day, Goldsmith had very incorrect notions of American geography. Note his choice of a name which he could fit into his verse.- Altama means Altamaha.

397. Goldsmith sees in vision an emigrant band leaving England for America.

418. Torno. Probably the river Tornea or Torneo, which flows into the Gulf of Bothnia. Pambamarca is a mountain near Quito. What idea does the poet wish to bring out?

427-430. We learn from Boswell that these lines were added by Dr. Johnson. Do they sound like the remainder of the poem?

As you re-read the poem, note the succession of moods. What

memorable lines have you noticed? Is there any likeness to Gray's Elegy?

THE TRAVELLER- (PAGE 43)

Goldsmith began The Traveller in Switzerland in 1755 while on his travels, but did not complete it until 1764. It was the first of his works to be published with his name, and hence laid the foundation of his reputation as a writer. The other members of the Literary Club were astonished that he should have produced so good a poem, and at once began to hold him in high esteem. Dr. Johnson always regarded the piece as superior to the Deserted Village. The world has not agreed with him, but it has nevertheless accorded the Traveller high praise.

The order of treatment is practically that of the places visited, and, therefore, the whole constitutes a sort of poetic record of the writer's impressions, though it contains a fundamental philosophic view which serves to unify it. The social contrasts, which, in the Deserted Village are presented as appearing within a single country, are here drawn between different countries, with the Englishman's preference for his own clearly indicated. But the underlying idea is that happiness depends upon the individual and not upon the country or kind of government in which he finds himself.

1. Boswell reports that at a meeting of the Literary Club shortly after the publication of the poem, Chamier said to Goldsmith: "What do you mean by the last word in the first line of your Traveller? Do you mean tardiness of locomotion?" "Yes," replied Goldsmith. But Johnson interposed, saying: "No sir, you did not mean tardiness of locomotion; you meant that sluggishness of mind which comes upon a man in solitude." "Ah," exclaimed Goldsmith, "that was what I meant!" The incident caused a rumor that Johnson had written many of the best lines of the poem, but Johnson himself set this at rest by marking those he did write-the 420th and the last ten lines, except the 435th and 436th.

3. Carinthia is a province of Austria east of the Tyrol, which Goldsmith visited in 1755. It was noted for inhospitality.

5. Campania. Probably the Roman Campagna is meant.

10. See Citizen of the World, Letter III, and Irving's The Voyage in the Sketch-Book.

13-22. Cf. The Deserted Village, 149-152.

23. Me. Object of leads in line 29.

24, 27. Why the dashes?

33. Cf. The Deserted Village, 188-190.