“Lord John Russell, even amidst all the turmoil of Office has contributed:―― LONDON IN SEPTEMBER (Not in 1831), By Lord John Russell. (After _The Traveller_, by _Oliver Goldsmith_). “Remote, unfriended, melancholy, slow, A single horseman passes Rotten row; In Brookes’s sits one quidnunc to peruse The broad dull sheet which tells the lack of news. At White’s a lonely Brummell lifts his glass To see two empty Hackney Coaches pass; The timid housemaid, issuing forth, can dare To take her lover’s arm in Grosvenor square. From shop deserted hastes the prentice dandy, And seeks――Oh bliss――the Molly――_a tempora fandi_. Meantime the battered pavement is at rest, And waiters wait in vain to spy a guest, Thomas himself, Cook, Hanen, Fenton, Long, Have all left town to join the Margate throng. The wealthy tailor on the Sussex shore Displays and drives his blue barouche and four, The Peer who made him rich, with dog and gun, Toils o’er a Scottish moor, and braves a scorching sun.” ――――:o:―――― THE HERMIT. This favourite poem originally appeared in “The Vicar of Wakefield,” which was published in the year 1765. Dr. Goldsmith was accused of having borrowed the idea of the ballad from “The Friar of Orders Gray,” and in June, 1767, he sent the following reply to the St. James’s Chronicle: “A correspondent of yours accuses me of having taken a ballad I published sometime ago, from one by the ingenious Mr. Percy. I do not think there is any great resemblance between the two pieces in question. If there be any, his ballad is taken from mine. I read it to Mr. Percy some years ago; and he (as we both considered these things as trifles at best) told me with his usual good humour, the next time I saw him, that he had taken my plan to form the fragments of Shakespeare into a ballad of his own. He then read me his little Cento, if I may so call it, and I highly approved it.” In confirmation of this statement Bishop Percy afterwards added a note to “The Friar of Orders Gray,” stating that it was only just to declare that Goldsmith’s Poem was written first, and that if there had been any imitation in the case, they would be found to be both indebted to the beautiful old ballad _Gentle Herdsman_. This ballad is reprinted below, with Goldsmith’s _The Hermit_, and a few verses from Bishop Percy’s _Friar of Orders Gray_. It will be seen that although the poems have several points of resemblance, yet each has a distinct individuality of its own. “GENTLE HERDSMAN TELL TO ME.” Gentle herdsman, tell to me, Of curtesy I thee pray―― Unto the _towne_ of _Wallsingham_ Which is the right and ready way?