...breath has made; But a bold peasantry, their country's pride, When once destroyed can never be supplied. A time there was, ere England's griefs began, When...labour spread her wholesome store, Just gave what life required, but gave no more: His best companions, innocence and health; And his best riches, ignorance...

...passage in a broad Drydenian style, a kind of serious reworking of the opening of Absalom and Achitophel: A time there was, ere England's griefs began, When...labour spread her wholesome store, Just gave what life required, but gave no more. His best companions, innocence and health; And his best riches, ignorance...

...Harrison once knew as the ruins of Auburn from the 'smiling' village of Goldsmith's nostalgic memory. 'A time there was, ere England's griefs began, / When every rood of ground maintained its man' (DF, lines 57-8). In Leeds as in Auburn 'times are altered', but Harrison cannot exult with Goldsmith...

...has made; But a bold peasantry, their country's pride, When once destroyed, can never be supplied. A time there was, ere England's griefs began, When every rood of ground maintained its man; a quarter acre For him light labor spread her wholesome store, Just gave what life required, but gave...

...had written of the engrossment of land and amalgamation of estates in the later eighteenth century: "A time there was, ere England's griefs began, / When every rood of ground maintained its man" ("The Deserted Village," 57-58) in The Poems of Thomas Gray, William Collins, Oliver Goldsmith, ed....

...j. A man young in years may be old in hours, if he have lost no time. Paraphrase the following: a. For him light labour spread her wholesome store. Just gave what life required, but gave no more: His best companions Innocence and Health; And his best riches ignorance...