Johnson, we are told, thought 'The Deserted Village' inferior to 'The
Traveller': but 'time,' to use Mr. Forster's words, 'has not confirmed
'that' judgment.' Its germ is perhaps to be found in ll. 397-402 of the
earlier poem. Much research has been expended in the endeavour to
identify the scene with Lissoy, the home of the poet's youth (see
'Introduction', p. ix); but the result has only been partially
successful. The truth seems that Goldsmith, living in England, recalled
in a poem that was English in its conception many of the memories and
accessories of his early life in Ireland, without intending or even
caring to draw an exact picture. Hence, as Lord Macaulay has observed,
in a much criticized and characteristic passage, 'it is made up of
incongruous parts. The village in its happy days is a true English
village. The village in its decay is an Irish village. The felicity and
the misery which Goldsmith has brought close together belong to two
different countries, and to two different stages in the progress of
society.
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