WEET Auburn! loveliest village of the plain, Where health and plenty cheer'd the labouring swain; And parting summer's lingering blooms delay'd; Seats of my youth,' when every sport could please ; Where humble happiness endear'd each scene! The shelter'd cot, the cultivated farm, The never-failing brook, the busy mill, The decent church that topp'd the neighbouring hill; Seats of my youth.-This epithet would indicate Lissoy or Ballyoughter, as Auburn, which was a name then unknown in Ireland. The objects and features of the landscape were certainly to be found in the former locality. There are some who contend that the description is equally appropriate to the latter. 2 The coming day.-There is no reason to suppose that the poet alluded here to saints' days. The sports and recreations described were all customary on a Sunday in Ireland at and subsequent to the date of this poem. 25 And all the village train, from labour free, The matron's glance, that would those looks reprove; Sweet smiling village, loveliest of the lawn, Thy sports are fled, and all thy charms withdrawn ; One only master grasps the whole domain,' No more thy glassy brook reflects the day, The hollow-sounding bittern guards its nest ; And the long grass o'ertops the mouldering wall; One only master grasps the whole domain.-General Robert Napier, to whom these lines seem to refer, purchased the estates of Lord Dillon, including Lissoy, in 1730. Desiring to enclose a demesne of nine miles, he ejected all the tenants (with the exception of the Goldsmiths), to the number of some hundred persons, many of whom emigrated to America. The Napier estate became the subject of a protracted litigation about a century ago, which was not brought to a close till after 1838, when Lissoy was sold. A professional gentleman concerned in the sale thus concludes some interesting details with which he kindly furnished me :-"When we were preparing the advertisement, it was a question whether or not it should be stated that the place was the scene of The Deserted Village;' but on full consideration, it was decided that such a reference might have a very discouraging effect on the majority of intending purchasers, and the allusion was abandoned." And, trembling, shrinking from the spoiler's hand, Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey,' 2 A time there was, ere England's griefs began, But times are altered; trade's unfeeling train And every pang that folly pays to pride. Those gentler hours that plenty bade to bloom, These, far departing, seek a kinder shore, Sweet Auburn, parent of the blissful hour, Amidst thy tangling walks and ruined grounds, Where once the cottage stood, the hawthorn grew, Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey —This line betrays a want of care, unusual with Goldsmith, in the use of nearly the same word twice. It is to be regretted that anything should mar the beauty of this justly celebrated passage. A time there was, ere England's griefs began.-It is plain that, wherever the scene of the poem was laid, the principle intended to be illustrated was applied to England as well as to Ireland. 3 And, many a year elapsed, return to view.-There is no reason to suppose (as some infer from this line) that Goldsmith ever re-visited the scenes of his youth, though he certainly intended to do so, after his travels. This and the following exquisite paragraph breathe that inextinguishable love of home (amounting to pain) which pervades so many of the poet's letters and compositions. Remembrance wakes with all her busy train, In all my wanderings through this world of care, And, as a hare whom hounds and horns pursue, Oh, blest retirement, friend to life's decline, Sweet was the sound, when oft, at evening's close, Resignation. This description suggested to Reynolds his picture of "Resignation," which he dedicated to Goldsmith. Up yonder hill-In front of the old parsonage house at Lissoy is a hill called Knockaruadh (the Red Hill), and now "Goldsmith's Mount," which superstition peopled with fairies. The poet, as a boy, loved to loiter there, and, as he says, "take in to me the most pleasing horizon in Nature." From it the scenery and objects described in the poem were all visible. |