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CHAP, v.j DISCIPLINE OF SORROW.

"And now imagine after his soliloquy, the landlord to make his 1758.

" appearance, in order to dun him for the reckoning r TnTn

At. 30.

Not mth that face, so servile and so gay,
That "welcomes every stranger that can pay,
With sulky eye he smoak'd the patient man,
Then pnll'd his breeches tight, and thus began, &c.

" All this is taken, you see, from nature. It is a good remark of
" Montaign's, that the wisest men often have friends, with whom they
" do not care how much they play the fool. Take my present follies
" as instances of regard. Poetry is a much easier, and more agree-
" able species of composition than prose, and could a man live by it,
" it were not unpleasant employment to be a poet. I am resolved to
" leave no space, though I should fill it up only by telling you, what
" you very well know already, I mean that I am

" Tour most affectionate

" !Friend and brother,

" OLIVER GOLDSMITH."

There is a practical condition of mind in this letter, not-
withstanding its self-reproachful pictures, and protestations
of sorrowful disgust.. It is very clear, were it only by the
alehouse hero's example, that not all the miseries which
surround him will again daunt his perseverance, or tempt
him to begin life anew. If the bowl is now to be broken, it
will be broken at the fountain. Could a man live by it, it
were not unpleasant employment to be a poet: but as he has
made up his mind to live, and on the world's beggarly terms,
he will take what practicable work he can get, and be content
with its fare till pleasant employment conies. When the
man in black describes the change of good humour with
which he went to his precarious meals; how he forbore rants
of spleen at Ms situation, ceased to call down heaven and the
stars to behold him dining on a half-pennyworth of radishes,
taught his very companions to believe that he liked salad
better than mutton, laughed when he was not in pain,
took the world as it went, and read his Tacitus for want of



	CHAP, v.j DISCIPLINE OF SORROW. "And now imagine after his soliloquy, the landlord to make his 1758. " appearance, in order to dun him for the reckoning r TnTn At. 30. Not mth that face, so servile and so gay, That "welcomes every stranger that can pay, With sulky eye he smoak'd the patient man, Then pnll'd his breeches tight, and thus began, &c. " All this is taken, you see, from nature. It is a good remark of " Montaign's, that the wisest men often have friends, with whom they " do not care how much they play the fool. Take my present follies " as instances of regard. Poetry is a much easier, and more agree- " able species of composition than prose, and could a man live by it, " it were not unpleasant employment to be a poet. I am resolved to " leave no space, though I should fill it up only by telling you, what " you very well know already, I mean that I am " Tour most affectionate " !Friend and brother, " OLIVER GOLDSMITH." There is a practical condition of mind in this letter, not- withstanding its self-reproachful pictures, and protestations of sorrowful disgust.. It is very clear, were it only by the alehouse hero's example, that not all the miseries which surround him will again daunt his perseverance, or tempt him to begin life anew. If the bowl is now to be broken, it will be broken at the fountain. Could a man live by it, it were not unpleasant employment to be a poet: but as he has made up his mind to live, and on the world's beggarly terms, he will take what practicable work he can get, and be content with its fare till pleasant employment conies. When the man in black describes the change of good humour with which he went to his precarious meals; how he forbore rants of spleen at Ms situation, ceased to call down heaven and the stars to behold him dining on a half-pennyworth of radishes, taught his very companions to believe that he liked salad better than mutton, laughed when he was not in pain, took the world as it went, and read his Tacitus for want of