[ 9° ] 



The variety of Goldfmith's powers in defcription of charader 

 is perhaps fltewn moft flrongly in thofe two which immediaiely 

 follow each other in his Deferted Village — the clergyman and 

 the fchool-mafter. The paffage in his epitaph " Sive rifus eflent 

 movendi five lachryma?, afFeduum potens at knis dominator/' here 

 comes out an eftabliflied truth. If the line 



Carelefs their nieiits or their faults to fc: n, 



does not add much praife to the clergyman's chnrader; it wa& 

 however the undiftinguifhing liberality for which Goldfmith was 

 himfelf remarkable, and on which he prided himfelf in fpite of 

 prudence and of propriety. The profefUonal exertions of the 

 clergyman in the difchiirge of his duty, and particularly at the 

 bed of ficT^nefs, are recorded in a flile of pathetic folemnity not 

 to be exceeded. The fchool-maffer is a contraft of fuch oppo- 

 fite merit that we might almoft wonder at its being produced 

 by the fame hand. Humour cannot produce a pidure more 

 rich in the writings of thofe who could never be ferious. The 

 affedted gravity with which his multifarious learning is pro- 

 duced, the legendary ftile in which the w^hole is judicioufly de- 

 livered, and above all tlie ludicrous circumftance of ruftic wonder 

 at the conclufion, 



That one fmall head could carry all he knew 



ifhew Goldfmith's powers in this ftile of poetical compofition 



not 



