OLIVER GOLDSMITH'S LIFE AND TIMES. [BOOK n.
" shall be furnished in a peculiar manner, to correct the errors of my
** mind.
m Faith! Madam, I heartily -wish to be rich, if it were only for
K this reason, to say without a blush how much I esteem you;
** bat, alas ! I have many a fatigue to encounter before that happy time
"comes, when your poor old simple friend may again give a loose to the
u luxuriance of his nature, sitting by Kilniore fire-side, recount the
"various adventures of a hard-fought life, laugh over the follies of
*lhe day, job his flute to your harpsichord, and forget that ever
** he starved in those streets where Bubler and Otway starved before
« Mm.
"And now I mention those great names—My uncle !—he is no more
u that soul of fire as when once I knew him. N"ewton and Swift grew
" dim with age as well as he. But what shall I say 1—his mind was
"too active an inhabitant not to disorder the feeble mansion of its
** abode; for the richest jewels soonest wear their settings. Yet who
** but the fool would lament his condition! He now forgets the
** calamities of life. Perhaps indulgent heaven has given him a fore-
•** taste of that tranquillity here, which he so well deserves hereafter.
K But I must come to business ; for business, as one of my maxims
** tells me, must be minded or lost. I am going to publish in London, a
** book entitled The Present tState of Taste and Literature in Europe. The
** booksellers in Ireland repuhlish every performance there without
u making the author any consideration. I would, in this respect, dis-
" appoint their avarice, and have all the profits of my labour to myself.
" I must therefore request Mr. Lawder to circulate among Ms friends
"and acquaintances a hundred of my proposals, which I have given the
u bookseller, Mr. Bradley in Dame Street, directions to send to him. If
" in pursuance of such circulation, he should receive any subscriptions,
"I entreat when collected.-they maybe sent to Mr. Bradley as afore-
"said, who will give a receipt, and be accountable for the work, or a
" return of the subscription. If this request (wMeh, if it be complied
""•with, will in some measure'be an encouragement to a man of learning)
" should be disagreeable or troublesome, I would not press it; for I
" would be the last maa on earth to have my labours go a-begging ;
*'but if I know Mr.-'Ljawder (and sure I ought to know him), he will
" accept the employiaeiit with .pleasure. All I can say—if he writes
u a book, I will get Mm two hundred subscribers, and those of the
u best wits in Europe,
" Whether this request is complied with or not, I shall not be uneasy :
"but there is one petition I must make to him and to you, which I