ADVERTISEMENT.

THERE are a hundred faults in this thing, and a hundred things might be said to prove them beauties. But it is needless. A book may be amusing with numerous errors, or it may be very dull without a single absurdity. The hero of this piece unites in himself the three greatest characters upon earth; he is a priest, a husbandman, and a father of a family. He is drawn as ready to teach, and ready to obey-as simple in affluence, and majestic in adversity. In this age of opulence and refinement, how can such a character please? Such as are fond of high life, will turn with disdain from the simplicity of his country fire-side; such as mistake ribaldry for humour, will find no wit in his harmless conversation; and such as have been taught to deride religion, will laugh at one whose chief stores of comfort are drawn from futurity.

OLIVER GOLDSMITH.

OF

OLIVER GOLDSMITH, M. B.

FEW of the poetical and miscellaneous writers of the present age have attained more fame than Dr. Goldsmith; and few have better deserved it,

His life presents a series of adventures such as are seldom experienced by men of a literary turn; and if the present sketch shall appear too short to do justice to him, it must be remembered that in the novel now before the reader, he has interwoven much of his own history with that of his hero.

He was born in the year 1731, at Pallas, in the county of Longford, Ireland; and being designed by his father, who was a clergyman, for the medical profession, he was sent to the university of Edinburgh, in 1751, and remained there until the beginning of 1754. His time, however, was not so much employed in medical study as in miscellaneous reading; nor was he qualified to give deep and serious application to any regular course.

His first frolic was a tour in Europe, which he undertook without any previous means of support, and through which he wandered on foot, trusting to casual bounty or hospitality. The series of adventures he met with are supposed to be almost literally detailed in this novel, in chapter xx.

On his arrival in London, without a penny in his pocket, he procured a recommendation to be usher at Dr. Milner's academy, Peckham; but in a short time took lodgings in London, with a view to commence author. He furnished some articles for the Monthly Review, and essays for the newspapers and magazines; but these early productions contributed but little to his fame or fortune, nor was it until 1765, when he published his Traveller, that he became known to the world as a poet, and intimate

with Dr. Johnson, Dr. Percy, Sir Joshua Reynolds, and almost all the eminent men of his day.

In

The consequence of that reputation which he gained from the publication of the Traveller was not what might have been expected. Instead of indulging literary prospects, he began to dress like a physician, and sought for practice; but the latter came in very slowly, and he confesses that although he had plenty of patients he had but few fees. 1766 he published the Vicar of Wakefield, of which a more particular account will be given hereafter; and successively published, The History of England, in a Series of Letters from a Nobleman to his Son; the comedy of The Good-natured Man; a Roman History, in two volumes octavo; and a History of England, in four volumes. In 1770, his poetical fame was completely established by the exquisite merit of his Deserted Village, which has probably been oftener read and admired than any production of the last century; and in the following year his character as a dramatic writer was considerably heightened by the success of his comedy She Stoops to Conquer. His other publications were a History of Greece, and a History of the Earth and Animated Nature, a work in which he displayed such enchantments of style, as have rarely appeared in any similar production. He was concerned likewise, more or less, in preparing for the press various compilations and new editions.

By his literary labours he acquired considerable property, and while that was passing through his hands lived genteelly in chambers in the Temple; but as he never was an economist, his distresses returned so frequently as to make him glad to undertake any literary employment that might recruit his finances. He was projecting, among other schemes, a Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, in which he was to be assisted by his friends of the Johnsonian school, when in March, 1774, he felt the symptoms of a slow fever, and having taken a very

MEMOIRS OF OLIVER GOLDSMITH.

vii

strong medicine imprudently, became so weak as to sink under the disease on April 4.

His character is a compound of various and often contradictory qualities. Imprudence and want of dignified conduct betrayed him into many follies and distresses, which rendered his comforts uncertain, and his life irregular. He was, however, generous almost to a fault, and profuse in sharing his purse with the indigent, even when he knew not where to look for a supply in his own necessities. His conversation was, like his conduct, eccentric, forward, and out of the common track. Yet such was his turn for humour and repartee, that his company was much sought after, and it is certain that he associated in the most familiar terms with the most eminent scholars of his time. As a poet, it is almost unnecessary to add, that he ranked in the first class, although none of his pieces are of that length, which, in the opinion of some critics, is necessary to the reputation of a first-rate poet.

Of his prose works the Vicar of Wakefield, now presented to the reader, is unquestionably the most original and the most popular. The history of this work is rather curious. After he became acquainted with Dr. Johnson, the latter one morning received a message from him, signifying that he was in great distress, and as it was not in his power to come to Johnson, begging that Johnson would come to him as soon as possible. Johnson, who had a most liberal heart, and felt keenly for the distresses of a brother author, sent him a guinea, and promised to come to him directly. When he went he found that Goldsmith's landlady had arrested him for his rent, at which he was in a violent passion. The Doctor found, at the same time, that Goldsmith had changed his guinea, and had got a bottle of Madeira and a glass before him. There is not, in all Goldsmith's history, a trait more descriptive of his thoughtless character. Dr. Johnson, however, put the cork into the bottle, desired he would be calm, and began to talk to him of the means by which he might