"But what binds us, friend to friend?
'Tis that soul with soul can blend!
Soul-fraught were those hours of yore;
Let us walk in soul once more!

"Take, O boatman, thrice thy fee,
Take;-I give it willingly!
For, invisible to thee,

Spirits twain have cross'd with me."

There is something sweet as well as sad even in the very abruptness of these lines. Beautifully is the evening scene upon the river brought before us, and full of music is the couplet

"And the evening, fair as ever,

Shines on ruin, rock, and river."

Then we have the character of the two friends, and their different fate, and upon the events, arise the sad thoughts, which summon, as it were by the mysterious power of strong affection, the souls of the departed to the company of that other soul, still in the body. The last stanza gives us the conviction of the passenger that his friends were once more with him in his passage across the river. Seldom do we find so much, in so few lines, either of narrative, reflection, or simple and pathetic beauty.

45

GOLDSMITH'S TRAVELLER.

* THIS being about the time that in England

"all mankind agree

With one consent to rush across the sea,"

I remember me of my promise, made not very long ago,† to have some further and more excursive discourse about Goldsmith's simply beautiful poem "The Traveller." I have already touched upon the philosophy of the opening part of the poem-its warm affectionateness, and tender sentiment. Let us, while the attendants are packing our luggage and procuring our passports, have a few more words upon the most general of all questions, which this poem also touches upon, namely, the pursuit and attainment of happiness.

In kingdoms or communities there seems to be, as in individual men, a principle of unsatisfyingness. That which seems good while it has to be sought, is found upon attainment to be either insipid, and rather to be endured than enjoyed, or it bears with it some seeds of evil which cannot be prevented from growing up, and mixing

This was written in July.

+ In the essay which is given in this collection, under the title of " Reading for Ladies."

a poison with that which had been laboured for as altogether excellent. No man nor community can be happy upon theory, or because upon principles of ethics, or political economy, either one or the other ought to be so. The general lot, even in this world, is so far equal, that he who possesses a thing cannot feel how good it is, nearly so much as he who has it not perceives it to be. As objects require to be at some distance from the eye in order to be discerned, so it would seem, they must be some distance from actual possession in order that the agreeableness of possessing them may be appreciated.

Thus Goldsmith comes to the conclusion, that, various as are the condition and circumstances of different nations, nature is a mother kind alike to all :

"With food as well the peasant is supplied,
On Idra's cliff, as Arno's shelvy side;
And though the rocky-crested summits frown,
These rocks, by custom, turn to beds of down."

But what more concerns us in England is this:

"Where wealth and freedom reign, contentment fails; And honour sinks where commerce long prevails."

These are principles not very likely to obtain popular acceptation in an age which is mad with steam and railroads, and with a rage for getting and spending at a rate which casts all moderation

into contempt; but I believe them to be not far wrong, as deductions from experience, and even all the velocity of steam, and all the sublimities of mechanics, cannot carry us beyond that.

But our passports and baggage are now ready, so let us borrow the aid of the muse's wing, and seat ourselves beside the poet, "where Alpine solitudes ascend." The thoughts he has been indulging in about mankind have made him melancholy :

"Here for a while, my proper cares resign'd,
Here let me sit in sorrow for mankind;
Like yon neglected shrub, at random cast,
That shades the steep, and sighs at every blast."

Perhaps it might not be very easy to show the particular circumstances which constituted the resemblance between the poet sorrowfully meditating upon the condition of mankind, and the "shrub" above mentioned, nor to defend the strict accuracy of the affirmation that the said shrub was guilty of that pensive expiration which we call a sigh. I must leave these points to the vengeance of the severer critics, and beg of them to supply something better if they can. I acknowledge that in my own opinion, poetry should never be opposed to common sense. But let us hasten to the beautiful lines in which the general features of Italy are brought before the mind's eye :—

"Far to the right, where Appenine ascends, Bright as the summer, Italy extends;

Its uplands, sloping, deck the mountain's side,
Woods over woods, in gay, theatric pride;
While oft some temple's mould'ring tops between
With memorable grandeur mark the scene."

He then proceeds to dwell upon the delightful climate and luxuriant vegetation of the garden of Europe, and thus contrasts both with our northern region:

"Whatever sweets salute the northern sky,
With vernal lives, that blossom but to die,
These, here disporting, own the kindred soil,
Nor ask luxuriance from the planter's toil;
While sea-born gales their gelid wings expand
To winnow fragrance round the smiling land."

But this luxuriance of climate and of vegetation, is the sole advantage of boasted Italy. The dignity of man, and the virtues of society, belong not to that land which is so rich in nature's gifts. Goldsmith is nowhere happier than in the niceness of distinction, and justness of harmonious expression, with which the Italian people are presented to the reader's view :—

"But small the bliss that sense alone bestows,
And sensual bliss is all the nation knows.
In florid beauty groves and fields appear,
Man seems the only growth that dwindles here.
Contrasted faults through all his manners reign:
Though poor, luxurious; though submissive, vain ;
Though grave, yet trifling; zealous, yet untrue;
And, even in penance, planning sins anew."

Here one may recognise that judgment and nice discrimination of character, as applied to masses, which Goldsmith afterwards displayed