Each wanton judge new penal statutes draw, 385 390 I fly from petty tyrants to the throne. Yes, brother, curse with me that baleful hour, 395 400 405 410 E'en now, perhaps, as there some pilgrim strays Through tangled forests, and through dangerous ways, Where beasts with man divided empire claim, And the brown Indian marks with murderous aim; There, while above the giddy tempest flies, And all around distressful yells arise, 415 1 This passage is viewed by several editors as disclosing the same theme as that which inspired the Deserted Village, published five years later. Sir James Prior points to "Have not we" (the author addressing his brother) as evidence that Auburn was an Irish village.-ED. 2 Niagara, it will be observed. This, Prior says, was the old pronunciation of the name of the American river.-ED. The pensive exile, bending with his woe, *To stop too fearful, and too faint to go, Casts a long look where England's glories shine, Vain, very vain, my weary search to find 420 425 * That part which laws or kings can cause or cure! 430 * Still to ourselves in every place consign'd, * Our own felicity we make or find: * With secret course, which no loud storms annoy, Luke's1 iron crown, and Damien's 2 bed of steel, 435 1 In 1514, two brothers, Luke and George Zeck, headed a desperate rebellion in Hungary. When it was quelled, George, not Luke, was punished by having his head encircled with a red-hot crown, in mockery of his supposed ambitious views.-B. The real name of the brothers seems to have been Dosa. Forster says they were of the race of the Szeklers, or Zecklers, of Transylvania. Bolton Corney has on this account substituted "Zeck's" for "Luke's" in the poem.-ED. 2 Robert Francis Damien, a mad fanatic, who, in 1757, made an attempt to assassinate Louis XV. of France. He was put to the most exquisite tortures, and at last torn to pieces by horses.-B. 6 3 The nine lines to which an asterisk is prefixed were written by Dr. Johnson, when the poem was submitted to his friendly revision, previous to publication.-B. [This is on the authority of Boswell, who states (Boswell's 'Life of Johnson,' Bohn's ed., v. ii., p. 308) that Johnson marked the above ten lines, and "added, " These are all of which I can be sure."" In the original editions there are no asterisks, and no intimation of Johnson having contributed these lines; and Boswell's work of course was published after both Goldsmith and Johnson were dead. See also note at p. 45.-ED.] EDWIN AND ANGELINA; A BALLAD. 66 [SOMETIMES ENTITLED THE HERMIT."] [The first publicly printed version of this ballad appeared in the' Vicar of Wakefield' (1766). But a few copies of another version had been printed privately in 1764, or 1765, for the Countess of Northumberland, who having seen the MS. through Dr. Percy (then just bringing out his collection of similar ballads, the Reliques), wished to see the poem in print. This version was titled Edwin and Angelina'; and as it differs somewhat from that in the Vicar of Wakefield' we give its text here, referring the reader to our edition of the 'Vicar' (chap. viii.) for the author's later adopted text. Mr. Forster has said that the care bestowed by Goldsmith in amending and again amending this ballad affords an example "that young writers should study and make profit of." We think also that a comparison of the first with the later versions of the poem, as shown in the following text, its variation notes, and the text of the Vicar of Wakefield,' cannot fail of being generally interesting. The privately printed edition of Edwin and Angelina' is now extremely rare. Prior ascertained that in his day not even the Duke of Northumberland's library possessed a copy; while in the present day the British Museum library is also without a copy. The title of this edition runs : 'Edwin and Angelina; a Ballad: By Mr. Goldsmith: Printed for the Amusement of the Countess of Northumberland.' We here give the poem its original title, though The Hermit' has somewhat unaccountably become its most usual title. Goldsmith seems never to have titled it The Hermit'—though he is said to have spoken of it thus :-" As to my Hermit,' that poem, Cradock, cannot be amended." On the contrary his first, or Countess of Northumberland edition, is titled, as we have seen, 'Edwin and Angelina,' and he used the same title when he included the work in his 'Poems for Young Ladies,' 1767 (and again in 1770); while in the publication in the Vicar of Wakefield' the heading is simply A Ballad. Then, in the edition of the 'Essays and Poems' of the year after Goldsmith's death, which seems to be the first collection of the author's chief poems into one volume, the ballad still figures as 'Edwin and Angelina.' Other reasons for reverting to the original title are, it seems to us, indicated by the facts; (1) that Parnell, whose poems have been published with those of Goldsmith, (and whose 'Life' Goldsmith wrote,) has a poem entitled, "The Hermit'; and, (2) that Bishop Percy, whose work in the Reliques' is otherwise mixed up with this poem (as is shown by Goldsmith's own letter now usually prefixed to it), is the author of 'The Hermit of Warkworth.' Some controversy as to the poem's originality (besides that dealt with in Goldsmith's letter here following) is noticed in a note at p. 30.-ED.] IN THAT THE FOLLOWING LETTER, ADDRESSED TO THE PRINTER SIR,-As there is nothing I dislike so much as newspaper controversy, particularly upon trifles, permit me to be as concise as possible in informing a correspondent of yours, that I recommended Blainville's Travels because I thought the book was a good one; and I think so still. I said I was told by the bookseller that it was then first published; but in that, it seems, I was misinformed, and my reading was not extensive enough to set me right. Another correspondent of yours accuses me of having taken a ballad I published some time ago from one1 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 1 Percy attached a note here pointing out that the ballad referred to is The Friar of Orders Gray,' 'Reliques of Ancient Poetry,' v. i. book 2, No. 18 [Bohn's edition, 1876, v. i. p. 176].-ED. 2 Dr. Percy, in the Life of Goldsmith which is prefixed to the octavo edition of his Miscellaneous Works published in 1801, denies the statement in this letter, so far as regards his having adopted the plan of his ballad from that of our author. The truth is, the idea which is common to both pieces was suggested by an old ballad published in Percy's 'Reliques,' and there headed Gentle Herdsman, Tell to me: A Dialogue between a Pilgrim and Herdsman;' Percy, however, appears to have call it, and I highly approved it. Such petty anecdotes as these are scarcely worth printing; and, were it not for the busy disposition of some of your correspondents, the public 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, yours, &c. OLIVER GOLDSMITH. been indebted to Goldsmith for the idea of making the lady confess to the lover himself. Goldsmith's imitation of the old ballad is in some parts so close, that the reader may not be displeased to have an opportunity of comparing the two in this place. The following is a short abstract of the story:A young pilgrim inquires of a gentle herdsman the way to Walsingham, where was, in popish times, a famous image of the Virgin Mary. The herdsman, by way of discouraging him, urges the difficulty and uncertainty of the path; but the young pilgrim replies that these are a very inadequate penance for his offence. This leads to a confession of the penitent's sex, who turns out to be a young female in male attire; and her crime is no less than having treated a beautiful and amiable youth, her lover, with so much caprice and scorn, as to drive him to a secret retreat, where he died. She soon repents of her cruelty, and is resolved, first, to do penance for her fault, and then to die for her lover's sake. Compare the following stanzas with the thirty-third and three following stanzas of 'Edwin and Angelina' beginning," Yet still," &c. And grew so coy and nice to please, As women's lookes are often soe; Thus, being wearyed with delayes, He gott him to a secrett place, And there hee dyed without releeffe. And for his sake these weedes I weare, Thus every day I fast and praye, 'Gentle Herdsman,'' Reliques,' vol. ii. p. 72, 1765 [Bohn's edition, 1876, v. i. p. 302].—B. |