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OLIYER GOLDSMITH'S LIFE AND TIMES. [BOOK i.

1749. » and Ms blunders. Surely my affection is equally ridiculous
Mb.21, « _with the Scotchman's, who refused to be cured of the itch
" because it made him unco¹ thoughtful of his wife and
" bonny Inverary. But to be serious, let me ask myself
." what gives me a wish to see Ireland again ? The country
" is a fine one perhaps ? No. There are good company in
" Ireland ? No. The conversation there is generally made
" up of a smutty toast or a "bawdy song; the vivacity
" supported by some Immble cousin, who has just folly
" enough to earn his dinner. Then perhaps there's more wit
" and learning among the Irish ? Oh, lord! no ! There
" has been more money spent in the encouragement of the
" Padareen mare there one season, than given in rewards
" to learned men since the times of Usher. All their
" productions in learning amount to perhaps a translation,
" or a few tracts in divinity; and all their productions in
" wit, to just nothing at all. Why the plague then so
"fond of Ireland! Then all at once, because you, my dear
" friend, and a few more, who are exceptions to the general
" picture, have a residence there. This it is that gives me
" all the pangs I feel in separation. I confess I carry this
" spirit sometimes to the souring the pleasures I at present
"possess."*

And perhaps still more of the secret escaped without
his knowledge, when, in that same year, he was writing
to a more intimate friend. "I have disappointed your
"neglect," he said to Bryanton, "by frequently thinking

'' none so dismally hollow as the "booming of the bittern ... I remember in the place
" where I was a hoy, with what terror this bird's note affected the whole village."
Animated Nature (Ed. 1816), iv. 316-18.

"Amongthy glades, a solitary guest,

" The hollow sounding Mttern guards its nest.'' Deserted Village,
* Percy Memoir, 42, 43. The rest of the letter is printed post, Book II.
Chap. ii.