pect_ correspond with lines 353-400 of
_The Traveller_.
The next 42 with lines 311-352.
The next 34 with lines 277-310.
The next 36 with lines 241-276.
The next 36 with lines 205-240.
The next 36 with lines 169-204.
The next 38 with lines 131-168.
The next 28 with lines 103-130.
And the remaining fragment of 18 lines with lines 73-92.

In other words, _The Prospect_ is merely an early draft of _The Traveller_
printed backwards in fairly regular sections.

But how can this have happened? The explanation is at once simple and
ridiculous. As Goldsmith finished writing out each page of his poem for
press, he laid it aside on top of the pages preceding; and, when all was
done, he forgot to sort back his pages in reverse order. That is all.
Given a good stolid compositor with no thought beyond doing his duty with
the manuscript as it reached him, you have what Mr. Dobell has recovered--
an immortal poem printed wrong-end-foremost page by page. I call the
result delightful, and (when you come to think of it) the blunder just so
natural to Goldsmith as to be almost postulable.

Upon this simple explanation we have to abandon the hypothesis that
Goldsmith patiently built a fine poem out of a congeries of fine passages
pitchforked together at haphazard--a splendid rubbish heap; and Mr.
Dobell's find is seen to be an imperfect set of duplicate proofs--fellow,
no doubt, to that set which Goldsmith, mildly objurgating his own or the
printer's carelessness, sliced up with the scissors and rearranged before
submitting it to Johnson's friendly revision.

The pleasantest part of the story (for me) has yet to come. We all know
how easy it is to turn obstinate and defend a pet theory with acrimony.
Mr. Dobell did nothing of the sort. Although his enthusiasm had committed
him to no little expense in publishing _The Prospect_, with a preface
elaborating his theory, he did a thing which was worth a hundred
discoveries. He sat down, convinced himself that my explanation was the
right one, and promptly committed himself to further expense in bringing
out a new edition with the friendliest acknowledgment. So do men behave
who are at once generous of temper and anxious for the truth.

He himself had been close upon the explanation. In his preface he had
actually guessed that the "author's manuscript, written on loose leaves,
had fallen into confusion and was then printed without any a