22 



EEMABKS ON " THE DESERTED VILLAGE 



Danes, Saxons, and Normans ; nor in the contest which was 

 perpetually carried on between Saxons and Normans after 

 the Norman Conquest. Nor do we find the high and palmy 

 days of Feudalism and Chivalry more likely to answer the 

 poet's imagination, when instead of each man being main- 

 tained by himself, he formed part of the retinue of the baron, 

 whose vassal he was, and whom he was bound to follow and 

 to serve. Nor do the wars of the Roses, the contests of the 

 Stuarts, or the disturbances of the Great Rebellion, promise 

 more. In short, the period described cannot be found in 

 the chronicles of reality. Yet, perhaps the nearest approach 

 to this imaginary state is, after all, at the present day, when 

 the multiplied improvements in all branches of the Arts and 

 Manufactures have been diffused so abundantly, as to increase 

 the comforts and happiness of the great mass of the popu- 

 lation, and to bring within their reach enjoyments and 

 advantages which, at a comparatively recent date, were not 

 enjoyed by the nobility themselves. 



If, however, the time when every rood of land maintained 

 its man, is not easily discovered, there are nevertheless, 

 visionary speculators who would, with the same false reason- 

 ing, endeavour to persuade the ignorant, that land being the 

 favourite investment for capital, it is only necessary for the 

 working man to purchase a small portion, and, uninstructed 

 in rural arts, and unaccustomed to country life, he may 

 expect not only to gain a subsistence, but to make himself of 

 some consequence in the country. This vision has had a 

 melancholy and complete refutation by experiment, and it is 

 hoped the credulity of honest but mistaken men may not 

 again be made the means of unprincipled adventurers robbing 

 them of their limited capital. 



The poet describes the scene of desolation as carried to 

 such an extent, as to drive the inhabitants of s)veet Auburn 



" to distant climes, — a dreary scene, 



Where half the convex world intrudes between." 



