The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-08 00:00:00

Lord Carlisle on Oliver Goldsmith, 1 ENGLISH

In his address at the inauguration of the Gold-
smith statute at Dublin, on Tuesday, Lord Carlisle
said :—" We contemplate a career (Goldsmith's) not
free from imprudence, from error, or even from
ridicule, but redeemed by the most guileless sim-
plicity, by "the most romantic benevolence, and
by the most manly independence. (Cheers.)
We contemplate a genius of which no more
accurate or pithy summary can be given than in the
words which his great friend, Dr. Johnson, inscribed
upon the stone which bears his name in Westminster
Abbey : ' There was no style of composition which he
did not essay—none he essayed which he did not
adorn.' But of so much variety and so much excel-
lence, if I were called upon to select the most strik-
ing specimens, I should naturally name 'The
Deserted Village,' `The Traveller,' and above
all, perhaps The Vicar of Wakefield.' Why
the walls of the Royal Academy of England would
not know themselves if a single year came round
without exhibiting a subject from the Vicar of
Wakefield.' Still, novelist, historian, satirist, essay-
ist, dramatist as he may be, it is mainly as a poet
that we represent to ourselves Oliver Goldsmith. If
I were to search for an adjective by which to dis-
tinguish his poetry, I do not think I could find one
so fitting as exquisite.' Others have soared to
greater heights, and shed intenser light in the
poetical heaven ; but where was ever combined
more perfect rhythm, more mellow harmony, more
refined simplicity, more graceful truth ? Short as
my limits must needs be, I would justify my
praise by the most convincing process I could
use, by recalling a few notes of music of his
strain to your, I am sure, not unaccustomed
ears. (Cheers.) Take the decline of a virtuous
oid age—lines I once heard with singular Effect ap-
plied by Lord Brougham to Mr. Wilberforce. (Here
his Excellency repeated the passage commencing
with the line,' For him no wretches born to work
and weep.') From this it is no violent transition to
the country clergyman. It is very refreshing to
observe how Goldsmith, amidst all his own irregu-
larities and weaknesses, cherished in his heart of
hearts the most genuine and fervid sympathy with
goodness. In the case before us this feeling is pro-
bably heightened by both his filial and fraternal
affection. (Here his Excellency quoted the pas-
sage commencing, At church, with meek and
unaffected grace,' and proceeded.) Goldsmith
had a most happy gift of satire. I consider
Pope to have been the greatest master that
ever lived, both of the most exquisite
panegyric and one of the most fierce and flaying
invective. Between these two extremes Goldsmith
could hit off the character of his acquaintance
with a touch that was keen, incisive, but never
ungentle. (Hear, hear.) Thus, he said, of his
great iriend Edmund Burke, of wham I shall still
have to say a word more—(His Excellency here
quoted the passage beginning with the line ' Here
lies our great Edmund, whose genius was such."
Then of Garrick—
Here lies David Garrick, describe him who can,
An abridgment of all that was pleasant in man, &c.

is difficult to say in these instances whether the
praise or blame predominates, as must naturally
happen when mixed characters are the subject,
save only when he comes to Sir Joshua Reynolds,
of whom he felt and delighted to feel, that there
was nothing but praise to be spoken. I re-
member no English poet except, indeed,
it be Milton—who made more harmonious use of
proper names in his verses. (His excellency re-
peated the lines in which occur On Idra's cliff, as
Arno's shelvy side.") I remember consoling my-
self with that couplet for a whole day when I was
becalmed off the mouth of the Aherne. But, above
all, the passage I quote too, for other reasons, not
the least of these being that it seems to me to be
strung to the highest chord in the whole compass
of his lyre—
And then, sweet Poetry I thou loveliest maid, &c.
Hence the full burst of harmony—
Farewell! and, oh, where'er thy voice be tried, &c.
Well, these tables are turned, at all events. Why
are we not here to-day, the goodliest of the city—
rank, amiability, talent, beauty—but to pay honour
to what he thought neglected and decried, to what
was his shame in crowds ? Here, in front of his own
university, where ho was the obscure sizar, but
where he has given occasion to every sizar since to
feel proud of his position; even here, where we are
told that he was laid prostrate on the floor by his
brutal tutor Mr. Wilder—there are no such tutors
in Trinity College now the home of all dignified and
gentle learning, under the mild survey of the vene-
rable provost—(applause)—even here we are
gathered round the poet's statue, before London has
erected a single statue in the open air to any of
England's mighty bards. Mr. Foley has amply
atoned for Mr. Wilder."

,H BANK,

MEETING THIS DAY.

The first ordinary general meeting of share-
holders of the English and Irish Bank was held
to-day--Sir Robert Carden in the chair.
The report stated that the profit and loss account
showed that the gross profits of the bank had been
£9,298 13s. 2d. Out of this sum all current ex-
penses had been defrayed, and bad and doubtful
debts fully allowed for; leaving a profit of £1,997
6s. 11d., which it was proposed to carry to profit
and loss new account, as the directors considered it
undesirable to divide it at this early period.
In estimating the tesuit it should be borne
in mind that the capital called up to June was
too small to allow of any profit to that date, and
that the expenses of a new undertaking were
always disproportionately heavy.
The CHAIRMAN, in submitting a motion for the
adoption of the report, congratulated the share-
holders upon the success the bank had attained since
its establishment. The capital was small, but the
directors had nevertheless earned a gross profit of
121 per cent., and a net profit of 5 per cent. The
stares issued numbered 7,282.
The report was unanimously adopted, and a vote
of thanks passed in favour of the directors.

Seines of our shops would Ito credit to the best trado
thoroughfares of London, and in them is to be found every
novelty, within two months of its appearance in England
Between 4,000 and 5,030 of us are volunteers—artillery,
cavalry, engineers, rifles. and naval brigade—and we are
about as efficient, and have about as great an idea of our
military appearance and talent as you fellows who volunteer
in England. We have our reviews and our annual encamp-
ments on the Werribee plains, near Geelong; and we are
told by our inspecting officers that " they never saw regular
troops execute," &c, Se that, altogether, we glorify our-
solves as you do. Besides volunteering our youth are wont
to invigorate themselves with cricket, football, and all the
other games in which young England delights. Cricket is
exceedingly popular among us ; witness cur match with the
All England Eleven, and their second visit to us, shortly
to be made. We are a charity people too. The chief public
establishments in this way are the Benevolent Asylum, the
Hospital, and the "Sierra Bend (so called from being prettily
situated at a bend of the river Yerra) Lunatic Asylum.
There are plenty of other hospitals and the like in different
parts of the colony. Having a proper regard to appear-
ances, we have decorated our city with some very fine pub-
lic buildings. Our treasury, club-house, and ecme of our
banks, are very handsome, as are also many of our mer-
chants' stores or warehouses. The Houses of Parliament,
the new Post-office, the University, and the Public Library,
will be, when completed, creditable to our architects.
People who come out to this other England with rather
green ideas about " life in the bush," and so on, are amazed
when they find what manner of place Melbourne is. As to
our means of communication, we really do not paddle from
harbour to harbour, and up and down rivers in canoes, or
make overland journeys entirely on foot or on horseback;
but we have plenty of good steamere, coaches, and railways,
and some fine engineering works connected with the last.
There is a complete system of telegraphic communication
within and between the different colonies. Melbourne
t streets are noisy with Hansoms and omnibuses, but the
principal vehicle for passenger traffic is what is known as
the low-backed car. This vehicle contains two seats, run-
ning, not tore and aft, but athwartships, accommodates five
besides the driver, has a light roof with curtains in case of
need, and is drawn by a single horse. There was a very
good specimen of one of these cars in the last Exhibition.
Most people who come out appear at first to look upon
themselves as a superior race of beings, and qualified to in-
struct us on many points. A " new chum,' as recent
arrivals are called, is known at once by the "old hands."
His elegant saunter, his very new clothes, and his air of
affability and patronage, mark him out unmistakably. But
the new chum, like the Indian griff, is soon brought to his
level, and soon becomes qualified to instruct his friends, on
his return home, as to the real state of things iu the England
tar away over the watere„—Dielani s"adll the Year liout,d."