Goldsmith, the plan of his
beautiful ballad of 'Edwin and Emma [Angelina]', first printed
[published?] in his 'Vicar of Wakefield', it is but justice to his
memory to declare, that his poem was written first, and that if there is
any imitation in the case, they will be found both to be indebted to the
beautiful old ballad, 'Gentle Herdsman, etc.', printed in the second
volume of this work, which the doctor had much admired in manuscript,
and has finely improved' (vol. i. p. 250). The same story is told, in
slightly different terms, at pp. 74-5 of the 'Memoir' of Goldsmith drawn
up under Percy's superintendence for the 'Miscellaneous Works' of 1801,
and a few stanzas of 'Gentle Herdsman', which Goldsmith is supposed to
have had specially in mind, are there reproduced. References to them
will be found in the ensuing notes. The text here adopted (with
exception of ll. 117-20) is that of the fifth edition of 'The Vicar of
Wakefield', 1773[4], i. pp. 78-85; but the variations of the earlier
version of 1765 are duly chronicled, together with certain hitherto
neglected differences between the first and later editions of the novel.
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