Selections from Five English Poets Part 4

NOTE.--Although many of the poet's statements are greatly exaggerated, _The Traveller_ is interesting because it contains beautiful descriptions and apt expressions of thought. The verse employed is the heroic couplet, the favorite verse of the eighteenth-century poets.

The lines rhyme in pairs, and often a couplet expresses a complete thought. Each line contains five feet, or measures.

[1.] Scheld. The Schelde, or Scheldt, empties into the North Sea near Antwerp.

[2.] Carinthian boor. Carinthia is a province of Austria.

[3.] Campania's plain. Campania includes, among other districts, the province of Naples.

[4.] My brother. Probably the poet alludes to his elder brother, Henry, who lived in Ireland. To him he is said to have sent the first part of his poem, from Switzerland.

[5.] Let school-taught pride, etc. _i.e._ let the philosopher pretend, if he will, that material things are of small importance.

[6.] Swains, a name used by poets for young men living in the country, especially lovers.

[7.] The line, the equinoctial line, the equator.

[8.] Idra's cliffs. Idria is a town among the mountains in Camiola, Austria. Near it are mines of quicksilver.

[9.] Arno's shelvy side. _Shelvy_, or _shelving_, means _sloping gradually_. Florence is on the Arno.

[10.] Either seems, etc. _Either_ properly signifies _one of two_; it has occasionally been used for _one of several_, as Goldsmith uses it here.

[11.] And honor sinks, etc., a sentiment common in the poet's day, but entertained by few persons in these times. Formerly, in many European countries, trade, even on a large scale, was considered belittling. A gentleman's son might enter the Church, the army, or the navy, but he must not become a merchant.

[12.] My proper cares, my own, my personal cares.

[13.] Gelid, cold.

[14.] To winnow, to fan.

[15.] Sensual bliss is all the nation knows. This has never been true of the Italians. At the end of the fifteenth century Italy was the center of European civilization; at the close of the sixteenth she was exhausted and helpless; in 1748, by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, she was divided among various European powers; after a long struggle the greater part of the country was united under Victor Emmanuel, who was proclaimed king in 1861. Italy has now, besides elementary and higher schools, twenty-one universities.

[16.] For wealth was theirs. Venice, Genoa, and Florence were cities of great wealth during the latter part of the Middle Ages.

[17.] The palace learnt to rise. Beside palaces, there are in Italy many noted buildings which the poet must have seen. Among these are St. Peter's in Rome, the cathedral in Milan, and St. Mark's in Venice.

[18.] Again the long-fallen column, etc. When architecture began to flourish anew in Italy, early in the Middle Ages, many of the columns used were taken from the ruins of buildings erected during the days of the Roman Empire.

[19.] The canvas glowed. Giotto, born about 1266, was one of the first of the Italian painters who gained distinction. Later came Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, t.i.tian, and many others. Michelangelo (1475-1564) was sculptor, architect, and writer, as well as painter.

Benvenuto Cellini, born in 1500, was noted as goldsmith, sculptor, and writer.

[20.] More unsteady than the southern gale, etc. The discovery of America and the opening of a route to India by the way of the Cape of Good Hope, seriously affected the commerce of the Italian seaports.

[21.] Plethoric ill, ill caused by excess.

[22.] Caesars. The name _Caesar_ was a.s.sumed by all the Roman emperors. _Kaiser_ and _tsar_, or _csar_, come from the word.

[23.] A churlish soil. Nearly three-quarters of the soil of Switzerland is productive. [Transcriber's note: the word "productive"

may be incorrect, given Switzerland's mountainous terrain, but it is what was printed in the original book.]

[24.] The soldier and his sword. In former times the Swiss frequently served as soldiers in different European countries as a means of earning a living. Many monarchs had Swiss guards for their personal safety.

[25.] Sees no contiguous palace. The peasant now sees hotels, if not palaces. The Swiss hotels, like the Swiss roads, are among the best in the world.

[26.] Bred in ignorance and toil. Switzerland has at present, beside lower schools, seven inst.i.tutions of higher learning, five of which are universities.

[27.] Savage, savage beast. Few of these can be found in Switzerland now.

[28.] With many a tale, etc. Possibly the poet alludes to his own experiences.

[29.] Such are the charms, etc. In this and the following lines the poet paints a picture that has not for centuries been true of the Swiss a people. Their princ.i.p.al cities have long been centers of refinement and of intellectual activity.

[30.] Gestic lore, the art of dancing.

[31.] Thus idly busy, etc. The French peasant has always been noted for his industry and economy. This picture was drawn before the French revolution, when the lower cla.s.ses were miserably poor and the n.o.bles reckless in their extravagance. France has now a remarkable system of public instruction and many large inst.i.tutions of higher learning. In matters where taste is concerned she still leads the world.

[32.] Frieze, coa.r.s.e woolen cloth.

[33.] Holland is now known as The Netherlands. The sovereign is the young queen Wilhelmina, who began to reign in 1898.

[34.] Rampire, a dam or dike.

[35.] From opulence that springs. Holland was a great commercial power during the seventh [Transcriber's note: should probably be "seventeenth"] century; then her commerce dwindled, and after 1713 she was of small political importance. Of course the poet's description is greatly exaggerated.

[36.] Dull as their lakes. The Netherlands can at present boast of four public universities.

[37.] Belgic sires. _Belgae_ was the name given to the early inhabitants of Holland and certain regions near that country.

[38.] Lawns, cleared places in a wood; not cultivated gra.s.sland near a house, as now.

[39.] Arcadian pride. Arcadia is an inland country in Greece, often mentioned by poets as a place of ideal beauty.

[40.] Famed Hydaspis. The river Jhelum, or Jhelam, in India, about which many fabulous stories used to be told. One was, that its sands were of gold.

[41.] The self-dependent lordlings. Probably in no country in the world have the n.o.bility been so popular as in England. It has been said that an Englishman "dearly loves a lord."

[42.] Repelling and repelled. Goldsmith, who grew up among the warm-hearted people of Lissoy, was doubtless often hurt by the apparent coldness of his English friends.

[43.] One sink of level avarice. At the time _The Traveller_ was written many noted English statesmen had low moral standards and were willing to use corrupt means to gain their ends. Still, the great body of the people were but slightly affected by this state of things, and England was soon to enter upon a new and better era.

[44.] Those who think, etc. Americans believe that the thinkers should toil and the toilers think. When Goldsmith's line was written great ignorance prevailed among the working cla.s.ses in all European countries.

[45.] Rich men rule the law. Bribery was common in England at the time. Although conditions gradually improved, many abuses remained until they were swept away by the famous Reform Bill of 1832.

[46.] The wealth of climes, etc. It will be remembered that England was having serious trouble at the time this poem was written, both with the people of India and with the American colonists.

[47.] Her useful sons, etc. The slave trade was not abolished in the British Empire until 1807.

[48.] Decayed, fallen as to social condition.