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CHAPTER VL

WORK AND HOPE,
1759.

" SPEEDILY will be published," said the Public Advertiser of ¹⁷⁵⁹-
the 7th of February, 1759, " Memoirs of the Life of Monsieur ^M-³¹'
" de Voltaire, with critical observations on the writings of
" that celebrated poet, and a new Translation of the
" Henriade. Printed for R. Griffiths, in Paternoster Row."
Nevertheless, the publication did not take place. The
Translation was by an old fellow-student of Dublin, Edward
Purdon; the poor uncertain hack, whose notoriety rests on
Goldsmith's epigram, as his hunger was, even at this early
date, supposed to be mainly appeased by a morsel of Gold-
smith's crust;—and his share of the work was probably not
completed in time. Some months later, it appeared in a,
magazine, and the Life was given to the public through
the same bookselling channel; but it is clear that Gold-
smith, when he wrote to Ms brother, had really performed
his portion of the contract. It was but a catchpenny
matter, as he called it; yet including passages of in-
teresting narrative as well as just remark, and gracefully
written. It announces that early admiration of the genius of
Voltaire and Rousseau, which he consistently maintained

N 2



	CHAPTER VL WORK AND HOPE, 1759. " SPEEDILY will be published," said the Public Advertiser of ¹⁷⁵⁹- the 7th of February, 1759, " Memoirs of the Life of Monsieur ^M-³¹' " de Voltaire, with critical observations on the writings of " that celebrated poet, and a new Translation of the " Henriade. Printed for R. Griffiths, in Paternoster Row." Nevertheless, the publication did not take place. The Translation was by an old fellow-student of Dublin, Edward Purdon; the poor uncertain hack, whose notoriety rests on Goldsmith's epigram, as his hunger was, even at this early date, supposed to be mainly appeased by a morsel of Gold- smith's crust;—and his share of the work was probably not completed in time. Some months later, it appeared in a, magazine, and the Life was given to the public through the same bookselling channel; but it is clear that Gold- smith, when he wrote to Ms brother, had really performed his portion of the contract. It was but a catchpenny matter, as he called it; yet including passages of in- teresting narrative as well as just remark, and gracefully written. It announces that early admiration of the genius of Voltaire and Rousseau, which he consistently maintained N 2