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Untitled Article
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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People do not read Goldsmith now , so much as they did in our boyish days ; yet he is not forgotten , nor ever will be ; and amongst his many pictures , which have not less heart than imagination in them , the old soldier , ' kindly bade to stay' by the fireside , and , shouldering his crutch , to show how fields were won , ' is , no doubt , a familiar and favourite one with thousands . It is
pleasant to realize the pleasure with which the villagers listened to his ' strange , eventful history . ' The enjoyment might have been , if not of so stimulating a character , yet a more pure and useful feeling , if the veteran had talked of other matters besides martial exploits ; if he had told of the scenery of the regions through which he marched , produced the beautiful flowers or shells which he had found time to pick up in his campaigns , and
recounted the antique legends or domestic histories of the inhabitants of places where he had been quartered long enough to make acquaintance . Those whose interests are in the battles of politics , and whose amusements are in the fields of literature , may find an analogous gratification in these volumes . Leigh Hunt is a veteran in politics : he served long , with little pay and many hard knocks , in the people ' s cause ; and here he comes , not to tell of his deeds or his wounds , but to discuss with
us a basket-full of relics gathered in many of the regions of thought , near and remote , recent and antique ; and who of us will not bid him ' kindly welcome V—will not be glad to see him for auld lang syne , and give the afternoon fire another poke , to make it blaze , byway of preparation for a social chuckle over the good things ferreted out by our ' Indicator , ' and the pleasantries
which seem to be as heartily participated as they are frankly imparted , by our ' Companion V The volumes are rightly titled ; they are a ' Miscellany for the Fields and the Fireside ; ' they shall be inducted forthwith into the chiffonier , ' for the good of (the house ; ' and when June comes they shail have an airing ; their bookcase should be the pocket of the sociable , ' if we had
one , but as it is , the coat-pocket or bag must suffice , we being our own sociable ; and they shall enliven our stroll , alternating pleasantly with the frolicsome motions and twittering sounds that will then be around us . ; or be read aloud by a voice like a bird ' s , as our boat glides gently down the Lea , while the fish shall perform an extra somerset when we come to the paper upon Angling . For the study , we have other companionship ; you come not there , Leigh Hunt , and you know it . Your place is not between Bacon and Hartley , nor your time the clear morning or the dead of night . We have other companionship for travelling too , when A Miscellany for the Fields and the Fireiide ; by Leigh Hunt . 2 vol « . Colburn *
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THE INDICATOR AND THE COMPANION . *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1834, page 101, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2630/page/17/
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