only keeps close; sends out his little emissaries to be hearty in his praise; and straight, whether statesman or author, he is set down in the list of fame, continuing to be praised while it is fashionable to praise, or while he prudently keeps his minuteness concealed from the public. I have visited many countries, and have been in cities without number, yet never did I enter a town which could not produce ten or twelve of those little great men, all fancying themselves known to the rest of the world, and complimenting each other upon their extensive reputation. It is amusing enough when two of these domestic prodigies of learning mount the stage of ceremony, and give and take praise from each other. I have been present when a German doctor, for having pronounced a panegyric upon a certain monk, was thought the most ingenious man in the world, till the monk soon after divided this reputation by returning the compliment; by which means they both marched off with universal applause. The same degree of undeserved adulation that attends our great man while living, often also follows him to the tomb. It frequently happens that one of his little admirers sits down big with the important subject, and is delivered of the history of his life and writings. This may probably be called the revolutions of a life between the fireside and the easy-chair. In this we learn the year in which he was born, at what an early age he gave symptoms of uncommon genius and application, together with some of his smart sayings, collected by his aunt and mother, while yet but a boy. The next book introduces him to the university, where we are informed of his amazing progress in learning, his excellent skill in darning stockings, and his new invention for papering books to save the covers. He next makes his appearance Now in the republic of letters, and publishes his folio. the colossus is reared; his works are eagerly bought up by all the purchasers of scarce. books. The learned societies invite him to become a member; he disputes against some foreigner with a long Latin name, conquers in the controversy, is complimented by several authors of gravity and importance, is excessively fond of eggsauce with his pig, becomes president of a literary club, and dies in the meridian of his glory. Happy they who thus have some little faithful attendant, who never forsakes them, but prepares to wrangle and to praise against every opposer; at once ready to increase their pride while living, and their character when dead. For you and I, my friend, who have no humble admirer thus to attend us; we, who neither are, nor never will be, great men, and who do not much care whether we are great men or no; at least let us strive to be honest men, and to have common sense.-Adieu. (From The Traveller.) [Seating himself where Alpine solitudes ascend,' the Traveller (Goldsmith himself) passes in review the countries he looks down upon. First Italy, next Switzerland, then France.] To kinder skies, where gentler manners reign, With tuneless pipe, beside the murmuring Loire ! 240 Where shading elms along the margin grew, Have led their children through the mirthful maze, 245 250 So blest a life these thoughtless realms display; 255 Theirs are those arts that mind to mind endear, Here passes current; paid from hand to hand, 260 They please, are pleased; they give to get esteem; 265 It gives their follies also room to rise; For praise too dearly loved, or warmly sought, 270 Leans for all pleasure on another's breast. Hence ostentation here, with tawdry art, Pants for the vulgar praise which fools impart; 275 And trims her robes of frieze with copper lace; Here beggar pride defrauds her daily cheer, NOTES. 243-54. Cf. The Vicar of Wakefield, chap. xx., where Goldsmith puts his 280 own experience into the mouth of the vicar's son, George: 'I had some knowledge of music with a 243. Choir, band of dancers; as Gr. (322), page 22. 'Gestic,' connected 256. Idly busy. An example of what 258. Honour. Here outward distinction ENGLAND AND THE ENGLISH. (From The Traveller.) [After the French, the poet speaks of the Dutch, whom he contrasts unfavourably, and unjustly, with their Belgic sires of old' and with 'the sons of Britain now.'] Fired at the sound, my genius spreads her wing, 320 There all around the gentlest breezes stray; Stern o'er each bosom Reason holds her state, 325 Pride in their port, defiance in their eye, I see the lords of humankind pass by; Intent on high designs, a thoughtful band, By forms unfashioned, fresh from nature's hand, 330 Fierce in their native hardiness of soul, True to imagined right, above control, While even the peasant boasts these rights to scan, NOTES. 317. Her. Why 'her?' 320. Famed Hydaspes. Mod. Jelum, losus,' from the marvellous accounts of wild beasts, monsters, &c., inhabiting that region generally. Cf. Mandeville, Voiage and Travaile, chap. xv.: 'In that flome (river, the Indus) men find eels of 30 foot long and more.' 321-3. Poetic license, surely. 327. Port. Lat. porto (bear, carry). Cf. note (148), page 106. Saturday, Oct. 23, 1773: 'We talked of Goldsmith's Traveller, of which Dr Johnson spoke highly; and, while I was helping him on with his great-coat, he repeated from it the character of the British nation; which he did with such energy that the tear started into his eye' (Boswell). SAMUEL JOHNSON.-1709-1784. SAMUEL JOHNSON was the son of a bookseller in Lichfield. After an intermittent attendance at various local schools, he went, at nineteen, to Pembroke College, Oxford. Here he remained about three years, and then, from poverty, left without a degree. Several years of drudgery here and there followed, till in 1736 he married Mrs Porter of Birmingham, a widow, with whose help he established a boarding-school near Lichfield. This venture failing, Johnson betook himself to London to live by his pen. A quarter of a century later (1762), he received a government pension of £300 a year. Johnson's first ten years in London were largely devoted to miscellaneous work for Edmund Cave, the publisher of the Gentleman's Magazine; in particular, he wrote from memory or short notes reports of the debates in parliament. London (1738) and The Vanity of Human Wishes (1749) are poems in imitation of satires of Juvenal. The famous English Dictionary, begun in 1747, was completed in 1755. Meantime the Rambler, a periodical on the plan of the Tatler, Spectator, &c., had been appearing twice a week in 1750-2; all the papers, except only five, being from Johnson's own pen. He wrote also some papers for the Adventurer (1753) and the Literary Maga |