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II. — Some Remarks on " The Deserted Village " of Oliver 

 Goldsmith. By Mr. J. Y. Caw, F.S.A., Scot. 



[Read November im, 1861.] 



"The Deserted Village" is a poem full of interest, from 

 the circumstance of the accuracy of its descriptions, and 

 their great fidelity, joined with its elegant and unostentatious 

 language. The simple scenes which it professes to describe 

 are so familiar, as to render the multitude qualified to judge 

 of the poet's correctness ; while the manner in which he 

 paints the characters of every-day life, draws admiration from 

 those whose powers of criticism have been cultivated by the 

 study of general literature, and whose judgment has been 

 matured by experience. The characters which severally 

 claim attention in this beautiful poem are immediately recog- 

 nised, and the accuracy of the poetical description is clearly 

 apparent. 



The scene of this poem is a village which has been deserted 

 by its inhabitants, who have emigrated to other lands and 

 left the home of their fathers, formerly full of happiness and 

 plenty, — a place 



" Where desolation saddens all the green." 



The cause assigned for the change which is so pathetically 

 described, is the advancing luxury of the age, which, not 

 content with the happy population, ejects them for the 

 purpose of extending its parks, and enlarging its drives. 



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