The Irish standard., 1909-10-09

fame of the peet universal and i'm
mortal. The verses of Homer have
lived for $500 yee4rs and more, with
out loss OF syllable or letter, while
cities have fallen and commemorative
have perished. The poetry of Gold
smith hal. re5otced the heart of the
solitary emisrant IN our remetest coll
onies; it has sladdened the nreside in
civilized life; it has enchanted and, in
structed the rich and the poor. the. iE-
norant and the learned. the peasant
and the king. This is the true test
of poetic genius. At commands the
homage of; mankind, and sits -enthrpned
in their ahections:8 i have read within
the last few days "a; pleasing criticism
on new edition. ptg Robinson crusoe.
The critic, with ssexeellent effect ar.
gued, thatseach successive year added
to the fame of Daniel Defoe. and added
to the charms Of that incompatible
work. T bought the new edition; re-
freshed my eyes with the well-remem-
bered picture of Robinson crusoe and
his man Friday felt the force of
that criticism that q. work of genius
never dies. but can that tale be COM
pared with the Incompatible work to
which his Excellency has SO happily
referred, the Vicar ofwakefield? NJ.
The deep pathos.s the exquisite sim
plicity, the sympsthy with sunerinE .
virtue-the pictursa. Of the. man of God
in his misfortune overcoming vice, sub
DUNG wickednessIs and reforming tho
jail-present picture that will be felt,
honored, admired and loved. every
where and, for eyer. 1t has been OBJ
jected to US that lrshmen have not
been sensible of ,thel merits of their
great men; and It has been said .that
this statue comes too late. To the
first objection I answer, we live now
in a, happier time,y and we have learned
to understand that the greatness OF.
our country consists mainly in mein-.
tanning the fame of her poets, her phil
osophers, and her. petricts. Nor does
the status esfs sGoldsf ehsee1s too lat,..
iIe II ,stii /, I'll sas wsTas lfsssa HE
heart-he is as high In our esteem, he
is as heartily loved as he was on that
day when his friends of the Literary
Club laid his mortal remains in the
churchyard of the Temple. He grows
in reputation; he grows day Ivy dny:
and wherever an Irishman throughout
the world lives. he will repeat with
affection and respect the name Of OIL
iver Goldsmith. Sir, we have q model
for the course we pursue today. All
the exemplar states Of antiquity raised
to the memory of their great men the
tall column, the triumpha1 arch. the
graceful statue They still point in
Rome to the statue of him who full
minated over Greece, and in this prac-
tice there is deep Significance. Those
nations believed that by acknowleds-
ing the merits of their famous men
by paying homage to illustrious tai
ent-they might encourage the youth
Of the country to walk In. their foot
steps and emulate their fame. Let
us not fall short Of tha. noble exam
pie: and, as his Excellency faa truly
observed, in this same university where
Goldsmith learned, and struggled and
Buffered-where he showed his foibl"s
which are now forgotten, his failin3s
which are now forgiven-therc strug-
gled and learned with him another ir-
ishman-Edmund Burke AS they
were friends in life, let it be our pride
and privilege to place them here side
by side, before the university they
adorned, and in the country which
they loved. Thus we show ourselves
worthy of our country by honoring our
great dead men, and by proving that
we know how to appreciate that gem
ius which, 1t has been often said, has
been elsewhere more keenly appreci-
ated than amongst US. Nor do we fail
to find a. sculptor who can exhibit his
own genius while he portrays for US
the life, the genial good humor, the
intelligence, and the character Of OIL
yer Goldsmith e,-