It had
originally three trunks; but when he wrote in 1807 only one
remained, 'the other two having been cut, from time to time, by
persons carrying pieces of it away to be made into toys, etc.,
in honour of the bard, and of the celebrity of his poem.'
('Essay on Light Reading', by the Rev. Edward Mangin, M.A.,
1808, 142-3.) Its remains were enclosed by a Captain Hogan
previously to 1819; but nevertheless when Prior visited the
place in 1830, nothing was apparent but 'a very tender shoot
[which] had again forced its way to the surface.' (Prior,
'Life', 1837, ii. 264.) An engraving of the tree by S. Alken,
from a sketch made in 1806-9, is to be found at p. 41 of
Goldsmith's 'Poetical Works', R. H. Newell's edition, 1811, and
is reproduced in the present volume.
l. 15. -----
"How often have I bless'd the coming day". Prior,
'Life', 1837, ii. 261, finds in this an allusion 'to the Sundays
or numerous holidays, usually kept in Roman Catholic countries.
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