The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1903-01-03

Tho' oft the Task It has been tried
to gain this gewel Rare
but disappointed we have sigh'd
to find it light as air
Goldsmith
The first of these stanzas is, OF
course, clumsy variant Of the we'll
known lines on friendship in Gold
smiths 1.-The Hermit" and the second
takes the place, awkwardly enough
OF the equally well-known lines ON
love. The two stanzas Of that ballad
are written in the memory Of all the
world, but l transcribe them here for
the sake Of comparisons:
And what is friendship but a name.
A charm that lulls to sleep:
A shade that follows wealth and fame
But leaves the wretch to weep?
And love is still an emptier sound
The modern fair ones jest;
On earth unseen, or only found
To warm the turtles nest.
The ballad of edwin and Ange-
lima" Goldsmith himself did not name
it 1.-THE Hermit"] was first printed
privately for the Countess Of Northum
herland in 1904 or 1765. Later, in
1906, it appeared in 1.-The Vicar of
Wakefield" somewhat changed in
form, although the two stanzas IN
question remained without alteration.
When and by whom, then, were these
mongrel verses written in my copy Of
don Quixote"? have builded a
dozen dreams to answer that question,
have thought they might simply
be the work Of some one of treacher
GUS memory who supposed he was
quoting Goldsmith; but the most un
trammelled memory conceivable could
scarcely have composed four lines on
an entirely different subject and called
them quotation. Or were they
copied by some friend Of Goldsmith's
from a loose scrap of paper, perhaps.
where the poet had jotted down rough
ly Il sentiment which he was after
wards to insert in his famous ballad
in a changed and developed form? Or
possibly were they spoken extempore
by the poet and so written down from
memory by some who had heard
them? The supposition that Gold
smith composed them is plausible
enough, and would give striking evil
dence OF his care in celebrating and
correcting to which Foster has called
attention. All the crudencss of the
first stanZa as it stands in the don
Qnixote'' has been eliminated, and in
place "f the supertiuous and ingram
nautical second stanZa he has added
the lines on love, as if to preach q
sermon on Shakespeare's text:
Most friendship is teigning, most low
ing mere folly
The handwriting bears every cvi-
d..nce Of having been set down long
ago, and not improbab]y during the
lifetime OF Goldsmith himself. In
fact. Il somewhat careful compar ison
Of the lines with Goldsmith's own
chirography would lead to the sup
position that the poet had traced tn,
words with his own hand-extempore
of course. But for the omission of thu
Christian name to the signature,
should have adopted this hypothesis
without hesitation, and that difficulty
is not, l think, final. Under any ono
Of these suppositions the verses must
have been composed before the date OF
the original ballad of Edwin and
Angelina" and / have often wondered
which of the grievous chances of his
| life and God had given him his share
- could have wrung these bite,
words from poor Noll. The mind nat
urhlly goes back to the year 1855
when SmOllett made his translation Of
Don Quixote." Could this version OF
Plilips's have been used by Smollett,
and could Goldsmith in some tit Of
petulAncc against his friend-and
more than once the relation between
the two authors was strained-have
scrubbed hastily these lines Of disil
fusion where Smollett might one day
see them? Idle fancies and unprofit
able, but they rise of themselves OH
reading these words in faded ink and
beneath them the signature of mucl,
loved poet.
Irish Lead in Longevity.
| According to the report of the