[6.] Ere England's griefs began. The student of history finds that there never was such a time. Although there are serious evils in all civilized countries to-day, especially in the condition of the poorest people in large cities, the workingman is, on the whole, far better off than he was hundreds of years ago, or even at the beginning of the nineteenth century.
[7.] To husband out, to use or manage with economy. The out is superfluous in prose.
[8.] An hare. An was formerly used before words beginning with h, even when that letter was sounded, and also before words beginning with a vowel.
[9.] Pants to, eagerly longs for.
[10.] No surly porter, etc. While the poet was exaggerating when he said this, nevertheless it is true that the feeling of responsibility for poor and the unfortunate was less widespread among the well-to-do in his day than it is now.
[11.] The village preacher's, etc. There is no doubt that the poet was thinking of his own father when he drew the sketch that follows—one of the most charming character sketches in English literature. To find its like in poetry one must go back to Chaucer's picture of the "poor parson" in the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales. Goldsmith's "village preacher" first appeared in the Vicar of Wakefield, in that delightful character, Parson Primrose.
[12.] Passing, surpassingly.
[13.] Unpracticed he, etc. Clergymen have in some instances changed their creeds to gain favor with those in authority.
[14.] His pity gave, etc., i.e. he gave from warm human sympathy rather than from a religious, and perhaps a colder, sentiment.
[15.] Fled the struggling soul. Fled is sometimes used transitively by older writers.