The Traveller,or,A Prospect of Society
by Oliver Goldsmith
...
63 But where to find that happiest spot below
64 Who can direct, when all pretend to know?
65 The shudd'ring tenant of the frigid zone
66 Boldly proclaims that happiest spot his own;
67 Extols the treasures of his stormy seas,
68 And his long nights of revelry and ease:
69 The naked negro, panting at the line,
70 Boasts of his golden sands and palmy wine,
71 Basks in the glare, or stems the tepid wave,
72 And thanks his gods for all the good they gave.
73 Such is the patriot's boast where'er we roam,
74 His first, best country ever is at home.
75 And yet, perhaps, if countries we compare,
76 And estimate the blessings which they share,
77 Tho' patriots flatter, still shall wisdom find
78 An equal portion dealt to all mankind;
79 As different good, by Art or Nature given,
80 To different nations makes their blessings even.
81 Nature, a mother kind alike to all,
82 Still grants her bliss at Labour's earnest call:
83 With food as well the peasant is supplied
84 On Idra's cliffs as Arno's shelvy side;
85 And though the rocky-crested summits frown,
86 These rocks by custom turn to beds of down.
87 From Art more various are the blessings sent,
88 Wealth, commerce, honour, liberty, content.
89 Yet these each other's power so strong contest,
90 That either seems destructive of the rest.
91 Where wealth and freedom reign, contentment fails,
92 And honour sinks where commerce long prevails.
93 Hence every state, to one lov'd blessing prone,
94 Conforms and models life to that alone.
95 Each to the favourite happiness attends,
96 And spurns the plan that aims at other ends:
97 Till carried to excess in each domain,
98 This favourite good begets peculiar pain.
99 But let us try these truths with closer eyes,
100 And trace them through the prospect as it lies:
101 Here for a while my proper cares resign'd;
102 Here let me sit in sorrow for mankind;
103 Like yon neglected shrub at random cast,
104 That shades the steep, and sighs at every blast.
105 Far to the right, where Apennine ascends,
106 Bright as the summer, Italy extends:
107 Its uplands sloping deck the mountain's side,
108 Woods over woods in gay theatric pride;
109 While oft some temple's mould'ring tops between
110 With venerable grandeur mark the scene.
111 Could Nature's bounty satisfy the breast,
112 The sons of Italy were surely blest.
113 Whatever fruits in different climes are found,
114 That proudly rise or humbly court the ground;
115 Whatever blooms in torrid tracts appear,
116 Whose bright succession descks the varied year;
117 Whatever sweets salute the northern sky
118 With vernal lives, that blossom but to die;
119 These, here disporting, own the kindred soil,
120 Nor ask luxuriance from the planter's toil;
121 While sea-born gales their gelid wings expand
122 To winnow fragance round the smiling land.
123 But small the bliss that sense alone bestows,
124 And sensual bliss is all the nation knows.
125 In florid beauty groves and fields appear;
126 Man seems the only growth that dwindles here.
127 Contrasted faults through all his manners reign:
128 Though poor, luxurious; though submissive, vain;
129 Though grave, yet trifling; zealous, yet untrue;
130 And e'en in penance planning sins anew.
131 All evils here contaminate the mind
132 That opulence departed leaves behind;
133 For wealth was theirs; not far removed the date,
134 When commerce proudly flourish'd through the state;
135 At her command the palace learnt to rise,
136 Again the long-fall'n column sought the skies,
137 The canvas glow'd, beyond e'en nature warm,
138 The pregnant quarry teem'd with human form;
139 Till, more unsteady than the southern gale,
140 Commerce on other shores display'd her sail;
141 While nought remain'd of all that riches gave,
142 But towns unmann'd, and lords without a slave:
143 And late the nation found with fruitless skill
144 Its former strength was but plethoric ill.
145 Yet still the loss of wealth is here supplied
146 By arts, the splendid wrecks of former pride;
147 For these the feeble heart and long-fall'n mind
148 An easy compensation seem to find.
149 Here may be seen, in bloodless pomp array'd,
150 The pasteboard triumph and the cavalcade,
151 Processions form'd for piety and love,
152 A mistress or a saint in every grove.
153 By sports like these are all their cares beguil'd;
154 The sports of children satisfy the child.
155 Each nobler aim, repress'd by long control,
156 Now sinks at last, or feebly mans the soul;
157 While low delights, succeeding fast behind,
158 In happier meanness occupy the mind:
159 As in those domes where Caesars once bore sway,
160 Defac'd by time and tott'ring in decay,
161 There in the ruin, heedless of the dead,
162 The shelter-seeking peasant builds his shed;
163 And, wond'ring man could want the larger pile,
164 Exults, and owns his cottage with a smile.
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Copyright and Credits
Together with the editors, the Department of English (University
of Toronto), and the University of Toronto Press, the following
individuals share copyright for the work that went into this
edition:
Screen Design (Electronic Edition):
Sian Meikle (University of Toronto Library)
Sharine Leung (New College Computing Facility)