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140 OLIVER GOLDSMITH'S LIFE AND TIMES. [BOOK n.
1758. to recover estates which in the manner of the booksellers
Mt. so. a Protestant had seized, voted " all barristers, solicitors, " attorneys and proctors, who should be concerned for him," public enemies ! But, that serviceable use might be made of the early transmission to Ireland of a set of English copies of the Enquiry, by one who had zealous private friends there, was Goldsmith's not unreasonable feeling; and he would try this, when the time came. Meanwhile he began the work ; and it was probably to some extent advanced, when, with little savings from the school, and renewed assurances of the foreign appointment, Doctor Milner released him from duties which the necessity (during the Doctor's illness) of flogging the boys as well as teaching them, appears to have made more intolerable to the child- loving usher. The reverend Mr. Mitford knew a lady whose husband had been at this time under Goldsmith's cane; but with no very serious consequence.
Escape from the school might not have been so easy, but
for the lessening chances of Doctor Milner's recovery having made more permanent arrangements advisable. Some doubt has been expressed indeed, whether the worthy schoolmaster's illness had not already ended fatally; and if the kindness I have recorded should not rather be attributed to Ms son and successor in the school, Mr. George Milner. But other circumstances clearly invalidate this, and show that it must have been the elder Milner's. In August 1758, however, Goldsmith again had bidden Mm adieu ; and once more had secured a respectable town address for his letters, and, among the Graingers and Kippises and other tavern acquaintance, obtained the old facilities for correspondence with his friends, at the Temple Exchange coffee-house; Temple-bar. |
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