OP OLIVEB GOLDSMITH. 



19 



existence, then perhaps his lamentations would demand our 

 sympathy ; but the fallacy lies in his imagination having 

 invested vt'ith the power and the will of devastation and ruin, 

 that Commerce which the practical facts of every-day life 

 shew to have directly the opposite tendency. If since this 

 poem was published, the whole course of events in this 

 country goes to contradict the existence of such a scene of 

 desolation, the present state of Great Britain but renders 

 the refutation more complete. If one of the most frequently 

 quoted passages of the poem be examined, it will be found to 

 be a mixture of fallacy and truth ; nor would it be worth 

 while to allude to it, were it not a favourite quotation with 

 those who seem never to be so happy as when they are 

 mourning over the anticipated ruin of their country, and 

 predicting its speedy and irreparable downfal. 



" III fares the land — to hastening ills a prey — 

 Where wealth accumulates, and men decay ; 

 Princes and lords may flourish or may fade, — 

 A breath can make them as a breath has made ; 

 But a bold peasantry, their country's pride, 

 When once destroyed, can never be supplied." 



These lines are familiar to every one ; and all must regret 

 the condition of the country given over to such an evil as the 

 accumulation of wealth, and the diminution of the population. 

 But in truth, the one is incompatible with the other* The 

 increase of wealth is attended with an enlarged population, 

 which, in fact, is one great cause of the accession of riches. 

 Instead of villages being deserted, they grow into towns, arid 

 hamlets become villages under the influence of active commer- 

 cial industry ; while capital accumulates from the additional 

 activity which the energy of an increased population brings 

 to bear upon its creation. Nor do men decay while this is 

 going forward. The greater the extension of the field of 

 manufacturing, commercial, or mercantile industry, the greater 



