A

PROSPECT OF SOCIETY

GOLDSMITH

A

PROSPECT OF SOCIETY

BY

OLIVER GOLDSMITH

BEING THE EARLIEST FORM OF HIS POEM

THE TRAVELLER

NOW FIRST REPRINTED FROM THE UNIQUE ORIGINAL

WITH A REPRINT OF THE FIRST EDITION OF

THE TRAVELLER

EDITED BY BERTRAM DOBELL

LONDON

PUBLISHED BY THE EDITOR

77 CHARING CROSS ROAD, W.C.

1902

WELL

ΤΟ

AUSTIN DOBSON, Esq.

ELL named, our Goldsmith in true metal wrought, With patient loving art and strenuous thought: A prodigal of well-directed toil,

He laboured till to labour more would spoil;

No detail slurred, allowed no careless touch,
Never a thought too little or too much :
His work no baser element alloyed,

His unbought pen no grovelling theme employed;
An age corrupt in him no evil bred,

His stainless page no youth or maid misled.
No gaudy colours did his muse array,

'Twas fresh and wholesome as a morn of May.
No fawner on the great, no faction's tool,
No satirist sour, no flatterer of a fool,

His name, with but one other's,* shines above
All whom we honour not so much as love.

As Shakespeare seems to us the type of all
That in his age was most majestical;
As Milton sums up all that was sublime,
And noble in a dark tempestuous time;
So Goldsmith stands for all that in his day
Did tenderness and gentleness display;

** Charles Lamb.