_Goldsmith_ (Vol. v., p. 63.).--Thanks to your sensible correspondent
A. E. B.! A _true poet_ always puts the right word in the right place,
and A. E. B.'s good taste assured him of Goldsmith's propriety.
We have it upon record, that Burke asked Goldsmith what he meant by the
word "slow," in the first line of his _Traveller_--
"Remote, unfriended, melancholy, _slow_."
"Do you mean, Dr. Goldsmith, _tardiness of locomotion_?" "Yes," said
Goldsmith. "No!" said Johnson, "you mean no such thing, Sir. You mean
_vacuity of action_."
A _true_ poet ever puts the _right_ word in the _right_ place. A. E. B.
has put the argument rightly, and it is to be regretted that he has been
_obliged_ to do so. To alter a word of Goldsmith's, is to gild refined
gold.