OLIVER GOLDSMITH'S LIFE AND TIMES. C

1749. self-supported than Goldsmith's, has been broken l>y

2ESt.2l. utterly.

He took his degree of bachelor of arts on tlie &7th
February, 1749 ;* and as his name stood lowest in tlxe list of
sizars with whom he was originally admitted, so i't stands
also lowest in a list still existing of the graduates wb.o passed
on the same day, and thus became entitled to use th-<3 college
library, t But it would be needless to recount the-naro.es that
appear above his ; for the public merits of their owners ended
with their college course, and oblivion has received th-em- Nor
indeed does that position of his name necessarily indicate
his place in the examination; it being then the xxsage to
regulate the mere college standing of a student through the
whole of his course, by his position obtained at starting. But
be this as it might, Mr. "Wilder and Ms pupil now parted
for ever : and when the friend of Burke, of Johnson, and
of Reynolds, next heard the name of his college tyrant,
a violent death had overtaken him in a dissolute "forawl.

" to his having overrated ray talents, and partly to my dislike of :oafvfcliematical
•' reasonings at a time when my imagination and memory, yet unsatisfied, were
"more eager after new objects than desirous of reasoning upon those I knew.
" This, however, did not please my tutor, who observed indeed, fclia/fc I was a
"little dull; hut at the same time allowed, that I seemed to "be very gooclnaturod,
"and had no harm, in me." * Percy Memo-la-, 17.

t Shaw Mason's Statistical Account, iii. 358. " Feb. 27, 1749, he wa,s admitted
" bachelor of arts, two years after the regular time. In the roll of those
" qualified for admission to the college library, it appears that Olivei* Goldsmith
"took the oaths necessary to those who desire that privilege. The tame for this
" is immediately after obtaining the degree of bachelor of arts." MX*. Prior sup-
poses that he first had examined this library record, but Mr. Shaw Mason, had been.
there before him.