CHAP, x.] TEE TRA VELLER AND WHAT FOLLOWED IT.

there, "began and ended with this poem. Its author is only ires.
afterwards to be traced there on one occasion, character- JEt37
isticaUy described by Hawkins. "Having one day," he
says, " a call to wait on the late Duke, then Earl, of North-
" umbeiiand, I found Goldsmith waiting for an audience in
" an outer room; I asked him what had brought him there :
" he told me, an invitation from his lordship. I made my
" business as short as I could, and, as a reason, mentioned
" that Doctor Goldsmith was waiting without. The Earl
" asked me if I was acquainted with him: I told him
" I was, adding what I thought likely to recommend him.
" I retired, and staid in the outer room-to take him home.
" Upon his coming out, I asked him the result of his con-
" versation. ' His lordship,' says he, ' told me he had red
" ' [sic] my poem,' meaning the Traveller, 'and was much
" ' delighted with it; that he was going lord-lieutenant of

'' me the hint of his ballad, or that I am obliged to his friendship and learning for
" communications of a much more important nature. lam, Sir, yours, &c. OLIVER
" GOLDSMITH." I happen to have before me a copy, now rarely met •with, of the
original "proposals" for publishing Blainville's travels, to which this letter refers;
and as it marks the new estimation in which the Traveller's success placed its
author, and the uses which the booksellers hastened to make of it, it may be worth
description. It is the first but by no means the last instance of such employment
of his name. After an elaborate description of the book, great prominence is given
to the intimation that it is "Eecommended by Doctor Goldsmith, Author of The
" Traveller, a poem, &c ;" and on the same full title page which precedes the
conditions of subscription and sale, immediately below the announcement that the
work will be "printed for J. Johnson and B. Davenport in Paternoster-row and
" sold by all Booksellers and News-carriers in Great Britain and Ireland," follows
the '' RECOMMENDATION. I have read the Travels of Monsieur De JSlainvttle with
" the highest Pleasure. As far as I am capable of judging, they are at once
'' accurate, copious and entertaining. I am told, they are now first translated
'' from the Author's Manuscript in the French Language, which has never been
'' published; and if so, they are a valuable Acquisition to ours. The Translation,
" as I am informed, has been made by Men of Eminence, and is not unworthy of
" the Original. -AH I have to add is, that, to the best of my opinion, JBlainvSlfs
" Travels is the most valuable Work of this kind hitherto published : Containing
" the most judicious Instructions to those who read for Amusement, and being the
'' surest Guide to those who intend to undertake the same Journey.
" Temple, March 2,1767. "OLIVER GOLDSMITH."tunity