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CHAP. iv.J THE CITIZEN OF THE WORLD.

and his pliant eur Mr. Kenrick, having taken his orders to 1760,
abstain from bark or bite, and whine approbation and JEt.32.
apology, thus, after remarking that the Chinese philosopher
had nothing Asiatic about him, did his master's bidding in
his master's name: " The public have been already made
" sufficiently acquainted with the merit of these entertaining
" Letters, which were first printed in The Ledger, and are
" supposed to have contributed not a little towards the
" success of that paper. They are said to be the work of
" the livery and ingenious Writer of An Enquiry into the
" Present State of Polite Learning in Europe; a Writer whom,
" it seems, we undesignedly offended by some Strictures
" on the conduct of many of our modern Scribblers. As the
" observation was entirely general, in its intention, we were
" surprised to hear that this Gentleman had imagined him-
" self in any degree pointed at, as we conceive nothing can be
" more illiberal in a Writer, or more foreign to the character
" of a Literary Journal, than to descend to the meanness
" of personal reflection." * Pity might be reasonably given
to men humiliated thus; but Goldsmith withheld forgiveness.
Private insults could not so be retracted; nor could impu-
tations which sink deepest in the simplest and most
honourable natures, be thus easily purged away. Mr. Griffiths
was left to the consolation of reflecting, that he had himself
eaten the dirt which it would have made him far happier to
have flung at the Citizen of the World.

In what different language, by what different men, how
highly and justly this book has since been praised, for its
fresh original perception, its delicate delineation of life and
manners, its wit and humour, its playful and diverting
satire, its exhilarating gaiety, and its clear and lively style,

* Monthly Review, xxvi. 477, June 1762.

T 2



	CHAP. iv.J THE CITIZEN OF THE WORLD. and his pliant eur Mr. Kenrick, having taken his orders to 1760, abstain from bark or bite, and whine approbation and JEt.32. apology, thus, after remarking that the Chinese philosopher had nothing Asiatic about him, did his master's bidding in his master's name: " The public have been already made " sufficiently acquainted with the merit of these entertaining " Letters, which were first printed in The Ledger, and are " supposed to have contributed not a little towards the " success of that paper. They are said to be the work of " the livery and ingenious Writer of An Enquiry into the " Present State of Polite Learning in Europe; a Writer whom, " it seems, we undesignedly offended by some Strictures " on the conduct of many of our modern Scribblers. As the " observation was entirely general, in its intention, we were " surprised to hear that this Gentleman had imagined him- " self in any degree pointed at, as we conceive nothing can be " more illiberal in a Writer, or more foreign to the character " of a Literary Journal, than to descend to the meanness " of personal reflection." * Pity might be reasonably given to men humiliated thus; but Goldsmith withheld forgiveness. Private insults could not so be retracted; nor could impu- tations which sink deepest in the simplest and most honourable natures, be thus easily purged away. Mr. Griffiths was left to the consolation of reflecting, that he had himself eaten the dirt which it would have made him far happier to have flung at the Citizen of the World. In what different language, by what different men, how highly and justly this book has since been praised, for its fresh original perception, its delicate delineation of life and manners, its wit and humour, its playful and diverting satire, its exhilarating gaiety, and its clear and lively style, * Monthly Review, xxvi. 477, June 1762. T 2