The solution, or attempt at solution, of _Hen. B_.'s difficulty as to what
Goldsmith means in his poem "Retaliation" when he concludes his ironical
eulogium on Edmund Burke, thus:--
"In short 'twas his fate, unemployed, or in place, sir,
To eat mutton cold, and cut blocks with a razor."
By being "unemployed" it is presumed that he was not engaged in the
ordinary avocations of life, or in other words was not engaged in those
legitimate avocations which have for their object the procuring the means
of subsistence for the masticator; but if it is meant to have a name of
extensive meaning, the solution is unanswerable.
Assuming the former to be Goldsmith's meaning, the answer to be given to
the solution might be that eating mutton cold, is eating cold mutton in
its cold state, cooked or uncooked; but if the more general meaning is
insisted upon, I cannot see how the masticator is unemployed, as his jaws
which form a most material part of himself--are set in full motion by the
operation of eating--hence full employment is given them--and as much to
the "he" who is the owner of such jaws.
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