to speak in terms of the highest commendation. A lady (Miss Reynolds herself) I remember who had the pleasure of hearing Dr. Johnson read it from the beginning to the end, on its first coming out, to testify her admiration of it, exclaimed, ‘I never more shall think Dr. Goldsmith ugly.' In having thought so however, she was by no means singular; an instance of which I am rather inclined to mention, because it involves a remarkable one of Dr. Johnson's ready wit: for this lady one evening being in a large party was called upon after supper for her toast, and seeming embarrassed, she was desired to give the ugliest man she knew; and she immediately mentioned Dr. Goldsmith; on which a lady (Mrs. Cholmondely) on the other side of the table, rose up and reached across to shake hands with her, expressing some desire of being better acquainted with her, it being the first time they had met; on which Dr. Johnson said, Thus the ancients on the commencements of their friendships, used to sacrifice a beast betwixt them.""

All fears of its success entertained by impatient friends were dissipated by the demand for a second edition, which appeared on Thursday, March 14th,* just three months after the first; a third soon followed; and in the middle of August* a fourth; a degree of approval calculated to gratify

* London Chronicle.-St. James's Chronicle.-Lloyd's Evening Post.

'reasonable expectation. The newspapers sounded his fame; passages from his previous writings, the Enquiry into Polite Learning, the Bee, and Citizen of the World, were selected for republication; and the poem preserving a steady popularity from that time forward, reached a ninth edition during his life, being at the rate of one annually; and this, at a period when the number of readers of poetry did not amount to a sixth of those of the present day. No evidence of success could be more gratifying, and amply repaid any anxieties that the first few weeks may have occasioned.

The sum received by the author, for a work so long popular and profitable to others, forms an object of curiosity, but as usual exhibits the inadequacy of literary reward; by the following account of the publisher it would appear to have been no more than twenty guineas; the same item however occurs in one or two other memorandums, and therefore it is to be hoped, though the fact is by no means certain, that he profited by successive editions.

"Settle Dr. Goldsmith's account, and give him credit for the following copies :

1. The Preface to the History of the World, and

and}

£3 3 0

- 6 6 0

Brought forward

79 Leaves of the History of England

Copy of the Traveller, a Poem

Lent in Fleet Street at Mr. Adams's to pay for

for}

the instrument⚫ Lent him at the Society of Arts, and to pay arrears Get the Copy of Essays for which paid

as half, and Mr. Griffin to have the other.”

£9 9 0

21 0 0

While these pages are passing through the press, the second volume of Mr. Southey's Life of Cowper has appeared. Should any coincidence of thought in passages relating to the past or present opinion of Churchill, or on the state of poetry at that period appear to exist, it may be necessary to say that it is accidental, the MS. of this work having been in the hands of the publisher more than a year.

In enumerating the poets who immediately preceded or were contemporary with Cowper, it seems remarkable that this eminent writer never once mentions the name of Goldsmith; an omission on which misconstructions may arise.

"Another proof," he says, "that the school of Pope was gradually losing its influence is, that almost every poem of any considerable length which obtained any celebrity during the half century between Pope and Cowper, was written in blank verse. With the single exception of Falconer's Shipwreck, it would be in vain to look for any rhymed poem of that age and of equal extent, which is held in equal estimation with the works of Young, Thomson, Glover, Somerville, Dyer, Akenside, and Armstrong."-Vol. ii. p. 176.

And again

66

Cowper's Task appeared in the interval, when young minds were prepared to receive it, and at a juncture when there was no poet of any great ability, or distinguished name in the field. Gray and Akenside were dead. Mason was silent. Glover, brooding over his Athenaid, was regarded as belonging to an age that was past. Churchill was forgotten. Emily and Bampfylde had been cut off in the blossom of their youth. Crabbe having by the publication of his Library, his Village, and his Newspaper, accomplished his heart's immediate desire, sought at that time for no farther publicity; and Hayley ambled over the course without a competitor."-P. 181, 182.

The omission of the name of the author of the Hermit, the Traveller, and the Deserted Village in both these passages may be accidental; for it is difficult to conceive that so distinguished a professor of the art as he himself is, should intentionally seem to undervalue, by not noticing, such an author, even should his poems fall short of the "equal length" to which allusion is made. Certain theories of poetry have however almost produced a schism among the lovers, as well as among the professors of song, and the merits of a writer seem in danger of being forgotten in considering to what school he is supposed to belong. Yet after all, of what moment or of what use, is contention on this subject? Good poetry is of no sect or school. And provided it be good, the public care nothing

whence it comes; whether Spenser, Milton, Dryden, or a more modern master, be the object of worship of the writer; whether it be couched in the stanza of the former; in the blank verse of Milton, of Young, or of Thomson; in the vigorous rhymes of Dryden; or in the terseness and music of Pope. All have their merits, and it would be strange if all had not, when the world has so long agreed in rendering them its tribute of admiration. It is however not the public but poets themselves who are chiefly guilty of injustice to each other. Thus Pope is said by Cowper in one of his letters, to be an indifferent poet; Lord Byron in turn calls Cowper no poet; and a great living master of the lyre is said to designate his lordship just in the same terms, as no poet. These opinions, or perversities of opinion, can mislead no one; they may be supposed to spring rather from temper than from judgment, for every reader of taste or discrimination will rise in opposition to the decision and direct his resentment against the

accusers.

With great deference to the opinion of Mr. Southey, whose decisions cannot be often safely controverted, it may be doubted whether the influence of the school of Pope can be considered to have declined, simply because as he seems to imply, blank verse had been employed by several writers of eminence. We may with equal reason infer that it was not their blank verse but their merits otherwise, that caused them to be esteemed; and