Norwich bulletin., 1922-07-21
Famous Literary Mysteries
Where Was Goldsnalth,s Deserted Ynlass9

Where Was Goldsnith's Deserted Village?
 It has always been questton~as to whether Goidsmith's Deserted Village" which he so picturesduely describes as s.SMeet Auburn loveiIest village of the plain" was wholly an invention of the poets fancy or whether 1t was an actual village that he was describing. Tie poem suggests several deserted villages in Eng land; but it is generally believed that the village he describes was that of little settlement which lies on the Yorkshire coast. near BridHngton. and others that 1t was bissoy. The desertion of the for rnG village was not caused. however, by the reason assigned by Goldsmith, but by the inroadS Of the sea, which washed away the church and the whole village with the exception of one farmhouse, which stands on the very edge of the cliff.
 In all early copies of Goldsmith's "'De- serted Village" Is shown vignette en- graved upon the title page of deserted village presenting a,plaee on the seaeoast
 with the ruined church .. the edge of a
 ciiff, features which are said to bear a striking resemblance to those of Auburn,
 now called Holderness.
 Moore, in his life of Goldsmith. Is of
 the opinion that the place was Lissoy. This is a little village a few miles away
 from Pallas, County Limerick. Ireland,
 far from the coast. But he says: "To attempt to identify any village described
 by any poet who lived before Wordsworth would be as hazardous a venture as to identify Windsor Forest from Pope
 poem, if he had not provided us with a clew on the title page"
 Many of the lines of 'oThe Deserted Village were presuhnably suggested by Goidsraiths recollection of Lissoy, and possibly some complaint made about the depredations of a local landlord, in a letter which he received froonn his broth CT, suggesting the humble tragedy of the poem. But it might be possible for a hundred villages iEt England to substan- tiate their claims to be the original of Auburn were the question to be decided solely because of their answering to the details of Identification supplied by the author
 A good many English villages could no doubt produce their nightingale, and in 1 that case Lissoy might be easily disquali- l hed for competing for the coveted posi- l tior. Regarding Lissoy, an eminent writer says: Gould anyone have seen the Irish village as 1t actually existed when I Goldsmith lived in his fathers rectory l assaredly it never would have entered anyone's head that Goldsmith had 1t ir his mind when he described it the love. l Hest village of the plain
 No doubt however. Goldsmith had nc ] Idea of reproducing village life in Ireland l in the eighteenth century when he wrote ''The Deserted Village" Though it ma, l be untrue to Lissoy in many of its de. I tails, the poem Is still true to nature 1T | its spirit, it's sentiment and, above all, sits ]! characterization.
 | Goldsmith lived in this niaea far sew l eral years. Tn fact, more than half hit | lifetime was spent in, Ireland. and yet | seeins to have been thought rerlarkabl, by a good many people that he should 4 possess So many of the cfaracteristics O I the Irish and so little emphasis placed oi l this fact by his biographers. It was dur ing these years in Ireland that his char I acter was forfned-that he acquired thos l traits which. engraved upon such na ture as he inherited, caused him totbe tn
 most unfortunate as well as the bes loved of men.
 | The perfect picture of the schocltnaete 'l in The Deserted Village IS said to hay been inspired by the poets recollection of Thomas Byrne, but equally certain it i | that the school was an English villag
 school and not the cabin where Thon1a | Byrne ''shouldered his cruteh and shove T how fields were won.''
 eI "The Deserted Village" Is undoubtedl
 the best of Goldsnith's poems. This poeI
 was written in the year 17ss. but it wa :, not until the May of the following yea
 that 1t was printed. It Is perhaps II most compact poem ever written and cor ! veys to the reader a sense of the need fc
 every word that it contains. There is Il
 superfiuous line.