CHAPTER IV.

ESCAPE PEEYENTED.
1758.

IT -was now absolutely necessary that the proposed change
,_co in Goldsmith's life should he broken to his Irish friends; and

11So.

kewr°te to his brother Henry. The letter (which contained
also the design of a heroi-comical poem at which he had
"been occasionally working), is lost; but some passages of
one of nearly the same date to Mr. Hodson, have had a
better fortune.

" Dear Sir," it began, in obvious allusion to some staid and
rather gratuitous reproach from the prosperous brother-in-
law, " You cannot expect regularity in one who is regular .in
" nothing. Nay, were I forced to love you by rule, I dare
"venture to say that I could never do it sincerely. Take
" me, then, with all my faults. Let me write when I please,
" for you see I say what I please, and am only thinking
" aloud when writing to you. I suppose you have heard of
tc my intention of going to the East Indies. The place of
"my destination is one of the factories 011 the coast of
" Coromandel, and I go in quality of physician and surgeon ;
" for which the company has signed my warrant, which has
" already cost me ten pounds. I must also pay 501. for my
" passage, and ten pounds for my sea stores : and the othersiness ; for business, as one of my maxims