CHAP. V.J TBAYELS.

" voice ; I now turned what was once my amusement into
" a present means of subsistence. I passed among the Mt.27,
" harmless peasants of Flanders, and among such, of the
" French as were poor enough to be very merry ; for I ever
" found them sprightly in proportion to their wants. When-
" ever I approached a peasant's house towards night-fall, I
"played one of my most merry tunes, and that procured me
" not only a lodging, but subsistence for the next day. I
" once or twice attempted to play for people of fashion ; but
" they always thought niy performance odious, and never
"rewarded me even with a trifle." In plain words, he
begged, as Holberg had done ; supported by his cheerful
spirit, and the thought that Holberg's better fate might one
day yet be his. Not, we may be sure, the dull round of
professional labour, but intellectual distinction, popular fame,
were now within the sphere of Goldsmith's vision ; and what
these will enable a man joyfully to endure, he afterwards
bore witness to. " The perspective of life brightens upon
" us when terminated by objects so charming. Every inter -
" mediate image of want, banishment, or sorrow, receives a
" lustre from their distant influence. With these in view,
" the patriot, philosopher, and poet, have looked with calm-
" ness on disgrace and famine, and rested on their straw
" with cheerful serenity." Straw, doubtless, was his own
peasant-lodging often; but from it the wanderer arose,
refreshed and hopeful, and bade the melody and sport
resume, and played with a new delight to the music of
enchanting verse already dancing in his brain.

rightly land of mirth and social ease,
Pleas'd with thyself, whom all the world can please
How often have I led thy sportive choir,
With tuneless pipe, beside the murmuring Loire,