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LIFE
OLIVER GOLDSMITH. M.B.
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LIFE
OF
OLIVER GOLDSMITH, M.B.
PROM
A VARIOTY OF ORiQINAL SOURCES.
JAMES PRIOR,
IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I.
LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
HDCCCXXXTII.
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THE DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND, K.G.
Mt Lobd Duke, The following p^es, and the new and more perfect edition of the Miscellaneous Works of Goldsmith, which will immediately succeed them, originated during your Administration of the Irish Government, at the time when circumstances afforded me the honour of an introduction to your Grace ; and to you they are now appropriately inscribed. An JBarl of Northumberland was the first to offer assist- ance and patronage to the Poet ; and for the amusement of his Countess, the beautiful bal-
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Tl DEDICATION.
lad of the " Hermit" was written. Were I to assign further motives for the present address, they would be the moderation of your cha- racter and measures in the Government of his native country during a period of much political disquiet ; and the princely munifi- cence extended, where it was so much wanted, toward her public Charities. These are merits which, among her many angry and unhappy contentions, admit of no diversity of opinion ; and claim from every native of Ireland that respect which is felt by,
Mt Lord Duee, Your Grace's most obedient
And very faithful servant,
JAMES PRIOR.
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PREFACE.
BioGRAPHT has been justly characterised as combining much Dsefiil inBtruetion with a large share of emusement ; and no dewriptioD of it has been more popular than the liveB of literary men. One of the reasons of this prefer- ence probably is, that we are naturally curious about what is more particularly considered the history of Mind ; and in such accounts we are often enabled to trace it in active operation while giving birth to productions that have won the admiration of mankind. Neither is the personal career of such persons without many, and sometimes un- common vicissitudes: from their lives we turn to their writings with increased interest ; and delight in contrasting perhaps the follies and weaknesses that have marked the one, with the wisdom and excellence shown in the other.
To this agreeable department of literature, Ireland, though not deficient in eminent names, has contributed less than the sister couotnes; and her zeal has been thence thought lukewarm in celebrating the praises of her off- spring. The cause, however, is not owing to indifierence to their fame, but to the fact of the individuals having com- monly transferred their talents to England, and thus lost something of that nationality which would have more par- ticularly identified them with their native country. Among her divines, philosophers, and gtatesmen, there are several whose lives yet remain to be written. The remark applies equally to her poets: indeed, there are few of those whose history is familiar to the general reader. Of Roscommon, for instance, although a nobleman and necessarily moving in a sphere of life more open to observation than men of
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inferior rank, little comparatively is known ; little at leut of tbat specieo of detail which gives biography its chief charm. The same may be said of Denham ; for Denbam, though of English ancestry, being bom in Ireland, may fairly be claimed as an Irish writer. With regard to Farquhar, whose genius for comedy was not excelled by either Congreve or Sheridan, little of a satisfactory nature is recorded of his private life; nay, we have hardly any details of his more public career, excepting the facts of his having been an actor upon the stage, and afterwards an officer in the army ; of Boyse (author of the " Deity") we know only that he was of reckless and dissipated habits; of John Cunningham, known for his ballads and a variety of poetical pieces between 1750 and 1770, tliat he was a strolling player; and even Goldsmith was enabled to glean little concerning Parnell. Southerne lived long enough to be enabled himself to contradict the story commonly told, and not yet expunged f. om some of the biographical dictionaries, of bis having been bom in England and brought up a servitor at Oxford, instead of being, as he really was, a native of Dublin, and educated at his own expense in her University. And Dr. Johnson has thought proper to consider the birthplace of Swift as in some mea- sure doubtful.
To the list of writers of whom we know less than their reputation deserves, must be added Goldsmith. A bio- graphical pre&ce is all that has been hitherto awarded him, and it will scarcely be contended that he is unworthy of any thing more. Such sketchy outlines of a life, much of it marked by honourable literary ambition, much of it by daily struggles for daily bread, and parts of it by the imprudences common to such a state of existence, can never be satisfactoTy, because they must inevitably omit all, or nearly all, that we most wish to know. Bi<^rapby to be useful must be minute; to be entertaining also it must be
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minute. Without, in short, it enters into detail, we can never know much of the iDdividual, or of the private history, often not the least interesting portion of the his- tory of bis works; we cannot indulge that rational cu- riosity, which all such persons are calculated to inspire ; we cannot trace how bis life and his writings bear upon each other; under what particular circumstances the for- mer was passed) and under what incitements or euccesses, what difBcoluee or privations, the latter were written. We shall be the more surprised at the neglect in this instance, on considering, that almost as soon as be thought proper to affix bis name to his productions, it became celebrated ; that for several years he occupied, next to Dr. Johnson, perhaps the largest space in the public eye ; and even be- fore death took his stand by common consent as a great English classic. No writer, excepdng perhaps Voltaire, has written BO variously, and, in such departments as he himself selected, so well. He stands alone in our literature for baving produced some of the beet Poems, one of the best Novels (in the opinion of all foreigners the very best), many of the best Essays, some of the best Flays, and in the estimate of Dr. Johnson — an opinion which we cannot safely controvert, since fur fifty years past popular favour has given them an unbounded circulation — some of the most useful Histories. Strong testimonies to his merit are borne by every competent writer who has had occasion to mention him. Two of these, which in addi- tion to others will be found in the concluding chapter of this work, may be new to the reader, new at least as to the knowledge of who were the authors ; one on his prose style being by the late Earl of Dudley, and the other on his poetry by Sir Walter Scott. Both are from the Quarterly Review.
That the Life of such a man should not have been written with more regard to extended iuquiry, is only to
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be explained by the circumetaitceB of bU Bitaadtm. He had lived for many years away from bis native country; he poseeesed oo connesione, and had formed no domestietifls in that which be had chosen : no relative was at hand even in his dying moments to perform the last offices of humanity, to collect the scattered fragments of bis genius, or take that active interest in his fame which in general relatives only feel. His literary friends indeed were numerous and warm ; celebrated tbemeelres, and capable of imparting celebrity to others. Some, it appears, were not unwilling to assume the office of biographer, but wanted the necessary knowledge connected with his earlier life, which bis relatives only could impart ; and they being tardy in collecting and communicating facts, the time bad passed by when those for whom the in- formation was intended were able or disposed to follow up their design.
The Poet himself probably expected that bis friend Dr. Thomas Percy, afterwards Bishop of Dromore, should have held the pen of biographer, if we may judge from a communication made to that friend on one occasion at Northumberland House. He, however, if the design was ever formed, surrendered it to Dr. Johnson for an intended edition of the Poet's works, as appears by a letter to Mr. Malone, dated June 16tb, 1785,* in which the Bishop says —
" I have long owed you my very grateful acknowledg- ments for a most obliging letter which contained much inte- resting information, particularly with respect to Oroldsmitb's Memoirs. The paper which you have recovered in my own handwridng, ^ving dates and many interesting particulars relating to his life, was dictated to me by himself one rainy day at Northumberland House, and sent by me * HS. CoTTMpondence communicated b? Dr. H. U. TbomsoD,
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to Dr. Johnson, which I had coDcladed to be irrecorembly lost. The other memoranda on the subject were trans- mitted to me by hie brother and others of his family, to afford materials for a life of Goldsmith which Jobnson was to write and publish for their benefit. But he utterly forgot them and the subject ; so that when he composed Goldsmith's Epitaph he gare a wrong place ibr that of his birth — Eiphin*, which is accordingly so sculptured in Westminster Abbey."
In extenuation of the chat^e against Dr. Johnson it should be stated, that this seeming neglect of the &me of an old friend, arose from another cause. The copy-right of one of Goldsmith's pieces (She Stoops to Conquer) was still the property of Caman the bookseller (surriviog partner of Francis Newbery) ; and Caman being " a most impracticable man and at variance with all his brethren," in the words of Malone to the Bishopf, he refused his assent, and the project for the time fell to the ground. When his term had expired, it was again resumed by the (rienda of the poet, with the view of assisting his brother Maurice, then in a state of pecuniary dis- tress. Of this design, the Bishop writes as follows to Malone :->
*' Dr. Wilson's very curious letter J, which you thought lost, I have happily in my possession, so that we may readily compile a good, at least a correct account, of the principal events of Dr. Goldsmith's life ; and, with the assistance of one or other of his friends, may be able to
â– It wu the Impreulon of Malone, in 1T78, and probably of the Biafaop alto, tbat Elphln wai the birthplace of Ooldimlth i bat labteqaent iDfor- mation corrected tbla error, a* appcan In the memoir prefixed to the mlacd- neoos worki printad In IBOl.
t MS. latter; Sept. 28th, 1766.
t Olren io a subaequert page of thii work, althouKb unaccoontably omitted, llkfl many o(b«r things, In the memoir prefixed to the mlaiella' neooi worka la 1801.
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fill up an accoQDt for almoet all the time he spent from hie leaving Edinburgh till he roee into public notice. He has an only brother living*, a cabinet-maker, who has been a decent tradesman, a very honest, worthy man, but he has been very unfortunate, and is at this time in great indigence. It has occurred to such of us here {Dublin) as were acquainted with the Doctor, to print an edition of his poem», chiefly under the direction of the Bishop of Killaloe and myself, and prefix a new, correct life of the Author, for the poor man's benefit ; and to get you, and Sir Joshua Reynolds, Mr. Steevens, &c. to recommend the same in England, especially among the members of The Chb."
Proposals were accordingly printed, one of which is in the writer's possession, and two hundred copies trans- mitted to Malone, through his brother Lord Sunderlin, then going to England, for distribution. The volume was to be a quarto, the price a guinea, and a memoir was promised, written from the immediate dictation of the Poet himself; that is to say, the memoranda taken down by the Bishop. Malone however proposed a change of plan ; he wished that there should be added to the poems, a aelectJon of his .prose miscellanies, part of which had been printed with his name, and part were unacknow- ledged, though known to be his by literary friends, printers, and booksellers : this it was considered would give more variety and novelty to the work.
A Life, however, was to be written ; and this the Bishop, although best qualtBed for the purpose by long intimacy and thorough knowledge of Goldsmith, added to his ac- knowledged talents, was too busy or too indolent to sup- ply. In compliance with bis wish, however, a memoir.
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now in the pogsesaion of the writer, waa drawn up by Dr. Thomas Campbell, a notire of Glack in the county of Tyrone, Rector of Killii)heill, Chancellor of St. Ma- cartin'B, Clogher, and author of " A PhiloBophical Surrey of the South of Ireland," and " Strictures on the Eccle- siastical and Literary History of Ireland."* To this out- line, for it was merely such, when completed, the Bishop added notes on the blank sides of the pages, which were afterward incorporated into the test, under his direction, by the Rev. Henry Boyd, his chaplain, the translator of Dante; and the MS., when placed in the hands of the publishers, between whom and that Prelate an angry dis- agreement occurred toward the conclusion of their n^o- tiation, received further additions from Mr. Samuel Rose, the friend of Cowper, with which however the Bishop and Malone, as appears by their correspondence now before the writer, were displeased. The memoranda of so many persons, at various times, disjointed in themselves, and thrown together with little regard to method, aimed at no detail, and cloimed therefore only the merit of a sketch. IVo serious attempt was made, when it might have been made with effect from the remembrance of surviving acqnaintance, to trace minutely Goldsmith's adventures on the continent of Europe, his early, or indeed later life, in London, or the miscellaneous writings known to have employed bis pen in the necessary busi- ness of supplying daily watits. Even much of the in- formation which had been communicated to the Bishop
■la B letter to Bishop Peivy, 5q)t. 6. 1 700, Dr. Cimpbell uyi,— " At to Ooldimllh of which you inquire, and concerning which Manrlca Qoldtmith iiB* been inquiring, It i> Id >uch a rtste that I think I conld finish the re- mainder earrentt jn-tlo," Auguit 13. 17B1 — " I cannot bend my »alla for Bogland before Noierober. Then I ihaii take with me ail the documents reapectlng OuldBroith." February 3. 1793, he uks the BUhop why he may not pript off the flrat iheeti, and lend the proofs to him at Bath. June 19. 1708—" I am glad to hear that yon hare bronght the afiair of Goldsmith to so good an Issae — bat alas ! poor Hanrice. He is to reoelve no comfort from your Lordship's lalMiurs in hi* behalf. He departed from a miserable lift early iMt winter, and luckily has left no ehfldren."
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was not aaed, being forgotten or tnielaid in the long interra) between the fir«t design of pobliehing in 1785, and its accompliBlunent to 1801. During this time the eabject was freqaently agitated in the correspondence of Dr. Percy with Malone, and the latter took much tronble in making arrangements for publication with the book- eeliers in London.* Still the design lingered ; and without casting the slightest reflection where the motives were so praiseworthy, it is too frequently thus with projects merely charitable where some strong personal interest is not pre- sent to push ns actively forward in their promotion. On this occasion, from the nature of the work, neither fame nor emolument was sought ; and without one or the other in view, little of value was ever achieved in literature.
The present attempt to rescue from oblivion scattered memoriala of the life and productions of this popular Author, owes its origin to the persuasions of an ingenious ClericR] friend. The writer having had the honour of being elected into the Koyal Irish Academy daring a residence in his native country in 1830, was desirous of contributing to its Transactions a paper on Goldsmith, derived from some critical remarics made on bis writinga many years before, and enlarged by soch additions in matters of fact as inquiry in Ireland might afford. With this view he wrote to the friend in quesdoui-f- who is himself a poet, a native of the town nearly adjoining the place of Goldsmith's birth, one of bis most ardent admirers, who had endeavonred, though without success, to acquire more extended in-
* The late Mr. Hurray of Pleet-atreet wu first selected for pablisher of aoldimlth'ii Woikt, but he died dariDg the Degocistlon. A f^ lettCTi of Malone to Bishop Percy, sHll extant, Btate the efrcunutancee.
t Rev. John Qniham, Rector of Tamlashtard In the diocese of Loudon- dBTTFi^'iitborof Annals of Ireland, Poemi, Ulitory of the Siege of ]>>ndon- derry, ke. Jcc. In I8SS, this gentleman attemf ted to auemhle the gentry of Wettmeath and Longford, at a public dinner !â–¡ BaDymaboo, with the Tlew of eommouelng a eabtcription fora column to the meoiory of the Poet ; few, howerer, attended; and thli patriotic dealgu Mled. Sir Walter Scott ofifered hia contributlun.
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formatioQ of his earlier life, and who also, by means of a pDblic snbscriptiou, attempted in vain to raise a column to his memory on the spot where he was bom. This gentle- man strongly urged the author of these pages to give, what he said was so mach wanted, a Life ; he had made the same proposition to him three years before (1827), which was at once declined ; a refusal was again giren on its repeti- tion ; but a renewal of these friendly persuasions, arising from a very flattering opinion of his diligence, at last in- duced the writer seriously to think of attempting what might possibly please others, though it might fail to satisfy bimself>
The great difficulty was to procure such in&rmatioa as might be new and satisfactory. Of all the distii^isfaed writers of so recent a date, hie life, or at least a lai^ por- tion of it, considering that it offered some curious Ticissi- tudes, was the least accurately known. Pfot a new fact on the subject, and scarcely one connected with his produc- tions, had transpired for thirty years ; no one was known to possess any of his remains ; and in the innumerable biographies of literary men and others, published since his death, there was not, with one exception, even a letter of Goldsmith to be found. Material as these obstacles appeared, the design when once determined upon was pursued, it is hoped, with becoming spirit. A journey was undertaken to his native spot; to tbe suteequent residence of his father at Lissoy ; to Athlone ; and to Roecommon and its vicini^, where the Poet faad spent some time in the house of one of his uncles ; commnnica-' tions were entered into with his reUtivee who were sup- posed b> be capable of communicating information; indeed, all who could be traced were applied to on the subject ; and the records of Trinity Collie searched for such facts as tbey oonid supply- With the same view, application was made by the writer to all his literary acquaintance, and removing to London in the followii^ year (1831), he
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had the advantage of pursuing there the research that would have proved unavailing elsewhere. Id proof that no reasonable diligence was wanting to the completion of an object which he considered more national (to Ire- land) than personal, it may be mentioned that several hundreds of letters have been written in furtherance of his inquiries, and personal applications nearly as numerous made to others ; while many of the periodical works^ and several of the daily journals for a period of fifteen years, have been carefully examined by himself, to ascertain the exact dates of the Poet's productions, to trace such others from the same publishers as he did not avow, and to glean all the miecellaneouB intelligence they might afford. Much of this was done amid occupations of a public nature, and necessarily coat much time and laborious inquiry. The result, however, has been a large, and it ts hoped accurate, accession of information.
One of the obvious d uties of a biographer was to discover and to collect, as fully as possible, the scattered produc- tions of his principal ; to do that for an admired writer which premature death prevented him doing for himself. The previous attempt to accomplish this object can scarcely be considered serious ; no information was given of the principle adopted in the selection, the place whence selected, or the certainty of the pieces so chosen being authentic ; it appeared without the sanction of any name ; and was not, in fact, as has been stated, the work of any one individual who could be considered accountable for its imperfectioaB. Thus the Threnodia and Oratorio in poetry, and one of the introductions to Natural History in prose, though known to Bishop Percy as his, are not even alluded to in the memoir ; while some which are men- tioned, though of undoubted merit, such as the Letters of a Nobleman to His Son, have not the preface and intro- ductory matter included, as in other instances, in the
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tour TolumM then published ; the effect of the unconnected manner in which that collection was prepared for the press. A new edition of bis Works has therefore become necesMfy ; it will include many pieces that were not known to be Goldsmith's until the present writer pursued his researches, and others which the former editor carelessly omitted. This edition, comprised in four volumes, wilt immediately succeed the present publicatioo.
Veiy little consideration made it apparent to the Editor, that Goldsmith moat have written much which he had not thought proper to acknowledge ; but to discover the nature of these labours, few of which from such a hand were likdy to be worthless, he was thrown chiefly upon his own resoarces. Some traditional notices, de- rived circnitously from his contemporaries, and one or two advertisements in the newspapers shortly after bis death, were in the first instance the chief guides ; to these fflocfa contemporary reading and minute inquiries, added others. The task of investigation proved toilsome and pn^racted. But a fiusUiar acquaintance with his admitted writii^, the habit of comparing them with pieces in periodical works to which he contributed, and with volumes issuing from booksellers by whom he was em|doyed ; coincidences <^ sentiment, repetitions of the same ideas or phraseolc^, in addition to general resem- Uanoe of style, afforded facilities for tracking him with considerable success. Occasionally the writer could satisfy himself by such means, when perhaps he might have been unable to carry similar conviction to the minds of others. But it was not a little satisiactory to find, that the judgment he had passed upon the authenticity of several detailed papers from internal evidence only, was con- firmed after the lapse of a few years by the discovery of positive testimonies to their authorship. In this manner, many of the productions written for Mr. John Newbery, VOL. I. a
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one of hiB earlier and active fiiende, have been placed beyond doubt : these were not all of equal value, and some have not been retained ; but it ib satisfactory at least to know how and by whom, he was at particular intervals employed.
Among those to whom the Editor's thanks are due for various communicBtions and attentions during the pi^ress of the work, are the Lord Bishop of Cork, who took the trouble to examine with him the records of Trinity College, Dublin ; and the Rev. Dr. Lloyd, the present Provost, and the Rev. Dr. Sadleir, the Librarian, who gave him access to the public documents of that university. He is obliged likewise to the Honourable Judge Day, now retired from the Irish Bench, for a few recollections of bis acquaint- ance with Goldsmith ; to the Rev. Dr. Handcock of Dub- lin, for copies of two original letters; to William R. Mason, Esq., for the perusal of an extensive manuscript correspondence of Dr. Percy, ihe Bishop of Dromore ; to Dr. Ncligan, grand nephew of the Poet, and the Rev. Dr. Slrean, of Athlone ; to Joseph Cooper Walker, Esq., nephewoftheauthor of Memoirs of the Irish Bards, for the perusal of letters of the Rev. Thomas Handcock addressed to his uncle respecting the Goldsmith family ; to William Crawford, Esq., for two letters of Burke and his college friends bearing upon the subject ; to Sir William Betham, Joseph Abbott, Esq., Gcoi^e Kieman, Esq., and the late lamented Matthew Weld Hartstonge, Esq. for many, and on account of the great difficulty of procuring in- formation, often troublesome, inquiries.
In England he found equal zeal expressed to forward an object which was no sooner mentioned than it excited a lively interest. His obligations are particularly due to Thomas Amyot, Esq., Treasurer of the Antiquarian Society, whose love of letters is only exceeded by a dis-
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position active and friendly in assisting all who are en- gaged in the pureuit; through him the use of several pieces was procured from the library of the late Mr. Heber. He is likewise much indebted to Wttliam Newbery, Esq., for varioas documents connected with Goldsmith's earlier literary labours for his granil&ther, and curious memorials of his life; to Major-General Sir Henry Bunbury, Bart., for copies of verses addressed to his family ; to a Lady, his near relative, for her recollections of the Poet ; to Dr. H. U. Thomson of Piccadilly, for the use of several letters of Bishop Percy addressed to Malone ; to William Nicol, Esq., of Pail Mall, William Upcott, Esq.. H. W. Singer, Esq.; and to several others whose names will be Ibund annexed to the information which they had the kindness to communicate.
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CONTENTS
THE FIRST VOLUME.
CHAPTEK i. The Goldamith Family.— PaUaa.— Birth of the Poet.— Lissoy. — Schools and early Instmctora, — Edgworth's Town ----- Page 1
CHAPTER II.
AdveDture at Ardagb. — Rev. Mr. Contarioe. — Entry into Trinity College, Dublin.— Letter of the Rev. Dr. Wilson. —His Tutor.— Ballad Writing - - 44
CHAPTER IlL
Riot of the Studeats. — Sentence upon Goldsmith and others. — Absents himself from the University.— Anec- dotes.—Takes the D^ree of B.A.—His Father 76
CHAPTER IV. Declines to take Orders.- Ballymahon. — Accepts a Tutor- ship.—Travels to Cork.- Repoted Poetical Attempts.— Adopts the Profeesion of Physic. — Edinbar^. — Mr. Laeblan Macleane - . - - 109
CHAPTER V.
Quits Edinbui^.— Letter from Leyden. — Anecdotes. —
Journey on the Continent - . - 1&8
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XXU CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VI. Arrival in England. — Early Struggles in London — Be- comes Usher in the School of Dr. Milner at Peckham. — Engages in the Monthly Review. — Dr. James Grainger . - - . p^e 200
CHAPTER VII. Visit of his Brother to London. — Letter to Mr. Hodson. — Memoirs of a Protestant. — Grand Magazine. — Letters to Mr. Mills, to Mr. Bryanton, and to Mrs. Jane Lawder. — Appointment to India. — Letter to Mr. Hodson. — Attempts to pass Surgeons' Hall - - 244
CHAPTER VIII.
Quarrel with Mr. Griffiths, and Letter to him. — Kenrick. — Letter to Rev. Henry Goldsmith. — Voltaire's Life.^ Edward Purdon. — Enquiry into Polite Learning. — Connexion with the Critical Review - - 283
CHAPTER IX.
Residence in Green-Arbour Court. — The Bee. — Busy Body. — 'Lady's Magazine.— Newbery the Bookseller. — Notes of Dr. Johnson. — Smollett. — British Magazine 323
CHAPTER X.
Public Ledger. — Chinese Letters. — Lady's Magazine. — Removes to Wine-Office Court. — Dr. Johnson. — Gar- rick. — Introduction to History of the War. — Project for visiting Asia _ _ - . 355
CHAPTER XI.
Varioas Literary Engt^ements. — Pamphlet on the Cock Lane Ghost. — History of Mecklenbnrgh. — Art of Poetry. — Plutarch. — Citizen of the World. — Additions to a History of England. — Life of Beau Nash. — Lines sup- posed to be written at Orpington. — Christian's Maga- zine.— Robin Hood Society. — Peter Annet — Lloyd. — Roubiliac ----- 387
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COSTENTS.
CHAPTER XII.
Boswell. — Residence of Goldsmith at Islington, and Con- nection with Newbery - - - P^^ 427
CHAPTER XIII.
Literary Projects. — Brookes's Natural History. — Martial Review. — Literary Club.— Prefiices and Translations. — Letters from a Nobleman to his Son - 464
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DIRECTIONS TO THE BINDER.
Goldamith'a Monument in Westminster Abbey.
Tofaxx 7%tl^age of Vol. I.
Fac Simile of Goldsmitb'a Handwriting.
To face Tltlepage of Vol. J J.
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OLIVER GOLDSMITH.
TBE GOLDBUITH PAHtLY. — PALI^S.— BIRTH OF THE POST. — LISaOY. — BCHOOU AND lARLY INITBVCTORB. — KDGWORTB'b TOWN.
The family of Goldsmith, Goldsmytli, or, as it was occasionally written, Gouldsmith, is of considerable standing in Ireland, and seems always to have held a respectable station in society. Its origin is En- glish, supposed to be derived Irom that which was long settled at Crayford, in Kent : in Wood's Athena Oxonierues, we find some of its members not unknown to literature, and a similarity in the coats of arms appears to confirm this belief. No clear detdl of pedigree has been preserved by the Irish branch, willing, as it wonid seem, even in a country where antient family sometimes assumes the place of more solid distinctions, to rest their claim to antiquity chiefly on tradition.
Que of the earliest settlers in Ireland whose
VOL. I. B
//
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2 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
name appears in public documents, was John Gold- smith, who held the office of searcher in the port of Galway, in 1541. His appointment to an office of greater importance, apparently by the request of his superiors, is thus intimated in a king's letter, dated 5th March, 34th of Henry VHI. (1542):—
" We be pleased that John Goldsmyth shall have the roome of the Clerk of our Counsaill, according to your suits and deasires."
Tradition reports that a female descendant of this gentleman married a Spaniard, named Juan Romeiro, who, travelling in Ireland as the coni' panion of a nobleman of that nation, became ena- moured of her, and marrying, settled in the country. His descendants, retaining their mother's name, fixed their abode in the province of Connaught and on its borders, particularly in the counties of Ros- common, "Westmeath, and Longford, where some- thing more than a century ago many traces of the Goldsmiths existed, which are now swept away. With the maternal name, they likewise preserved her religious laith ; one or more of the members have been usually brought up to the church, whence it has been designated a clerical family ; and one of these, the Rev. John Goldsmith, rector of Borrishoule, in the county of Mayo, narrowly es- caped the effects of the savage animosity engendered against the thinly scattered Protestant population at the breaking out of the Rebellion in 1641.
From his statement upon oath before the par- liamentary commissioners, it appears that, in the
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THE GOLDSMITH FAMILY. 3
consternation produced bj the massacres of their brethren in the vicinity of Castlebar, the survivors, to the number of sixty, including Sir Henry fiing- ham, the Bishop of KiUala, and fifteen clergymen, became anxious for safe conduct to the town of Galway, which was promised by the " lord of Mayo," Viscount Bourke, a Roman Catholic. Ac- companied by the titular archbishop, he conveyed them as far as Shrule : here they were handed over to one Edmond, or Captain, Bourke, a relative of the peer ; but the latter had no soraier de- parted than a general massacre commenced by order of their conductor. Few of the unfortunate men escaped } but among these was Mr. Gold- smith, who, being esteemed by the Viscount, had just before been detached, no doubt for the pur- pose of saving his life, to attend upon the Vis- countess, a Protestant ; and by this means was saved from the melancholy &te which awaited many others.*
A son, as is said, of this gentleman, probably in compensation for the losses of his father, or for previous services of his own, secured after the Restoration a grant originally assi^ed to him be- fore the civil war, in the following terms: — "George Goldsmith, imd Hester his wife, and their heirs, such right in law and equity in Kilbe^ and Brackughreagh, lands situate in the Barony of
* History of the Irish Rebellion, by Sir John Temple, 4to. 1G98, p. 107.
1) ^
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4> LIFE OP GOLDSMITH.
Moycashell, county of Westmeath, as was decreed to them 4th August, 16S3."
Edward, the son of the hitter, was educated in Trinity College*, Duhlin, and taking holy orders, became Dean of Elphin in July I7OO, with the vicarages of Ardcarne, Eastersnow, and Kitmac- trany, and died in I7SS. His son, the Rev. Isaac Goldsmith't', also educated at Trinity College, was promoted to the Deanery of Cloyne in 17^6, to which, from its poverty (for deaneries in Ireland by no means imply wealth,) was added the small prebends of Kilmally and Lescleary. He died in 1769.
Another son of the Rector of Borrishoule, named John, educated for the church, believed to have been at one time a fellow of Trini^ College, and who afterwards enjoyed the living of Newtown, in the county of Meath, married Jane, only daughter of Robert Madden, of Dunore, in the county of Dublin, Esq., by whom he had issue, Robert, John, and Jane. John is believed to have died unmarried ; Jane married first Robert Woods, of Lakon, in the county of Sligo, and secondly, Edward Muns, of Ussy, in the county of
* The fallowing entry u from the College Beguter; — " 1677, Jiuni deeimo quinlo—Sdtoardiu Ooldmulh peTuumaritu — jUinu Oeorffh Chddimith aimoa piindeeim — nattu ( ) Sdueatut tub ferula ( ) —Tutor Nat. Fay."
f 1720, Julii die leewido — Itaaeu* Ooldmtith petuionari%u — FiUve Edwardi Decani Elphi» — jHinim agent deeimum quar- ium — NatMS Elfin — Edueatut Carriek nth Moffisfro Matiby — Tutor Magiata^ HamiltoH."
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THE GOLDSMITH FAMILY. 5
Roscommon, by whom she had issue, Edward and Jane.
Robert, the elder son and grandfiither to the poet, who Beems to bare exercised no profession, married Catherine, daughter of Thomas Crofton, D.D., dean of Elpbin, and settled at Ballyoughter, near the residence of his &tber-in-law ; and Dr. Edward Goldsmith, his relative already mentioned, being afterwards promoted to the same deanery, the branches of the family were thus brought together. By this lady, who enjoyed a moderate fortune, he had a family of thirteen children, nine sons and four daughters. Of this numerous progeny, which through mistake of his early biographers was given to the father instead of the grandfather of the poet, several died young ; John, the elder, who had been educated at Trinity College* preparatory to study- ing for the bar, afterwards relinquishing thoughts of that profession, settled on the ^jnily property at Ballyoughter where Oliver once was an inmate, and where his talents were first supposed to be discerned.
Such is the account of the more remote con- nections of Goldsmith, derived from various sourcest after considerable research ; but where the indi- vidual has interested us, the illustration of family
* " 1697, Sep. 23°. Johannei Goldtmlh Penno : —FUitu Roberti Goidenutk generoM — ^miimi ageni \^—Natut villa die a BaUvmgkter Com : SMCommott — Educatua Stroa}ato%o» «vfi Ma^. Cugh— Tutor Eu .- Loyd."
â– f For aevenl particulaTB, I &in indebted to the IdndueM of my fHend Sir Williun Betham, Ulster King of Anna.
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b LIFE OF OOLDSHITH.
biatory becomes a matter of reasonable curiosity. He himself was accustomed to say that by the female Bide he was remotely connected with the family of the Protector, Oliver Cromwell, from whom his christian name was derived. By the father's side he claimed affinity with General Wolfe, the con- queror of Quebec, whose mother, Henrietta Gold- smith, as well as her husband, it would appear from some circumstances, were natives of Ireland.*
Charles, the second son of Robert, and &ther of the Poet, brought up to the sacred profession, passed through Trinity Collie with creditf, and is said by his son to have had, as well as his uncle John, some knowledge of the poet Pamell.J To the
* In the obituarieB of the time, this lady ia mentioned as aunt to Edward Goldsmith, Eaq., of Limerick, a promising young man. who died in 1764. Of the regard of this lady for the true interests of Ireland, the following is a proof : " On Friday, the executors of the late Mrs. Henrietta Wolfe, mother of the late braTe Oeneral Wolfe, paid the legacy of 1000/. left by her to the Incorporated Society in Dublin, for promoting English Worlcing Schoola in Ireland." UoyiTt Evemnff Post, May, 27—29. 1765.
In an Irish obituary for 1771 is mentioned the death of Major Walter Wolfe, uncle to the General, who had serred under Marlborough, and to whose early and judicious instructions, it ia said, his nephew was indebted for much of his knowledge of the art of war.
t "1707, CarohaGiOdimUhPena.—FaiuiBobi—Ann: ag : 1 7 — Natu* prope E^&m—£thie ; ibid, tub &" . GrifitA~-Tiitor Joh. Wtatherby."
X " 1692, 25'. die Novtmbru—Thomai PartuU Petuioiiaritu — Filiw Thtrmm Pametl Jrmigeri—Jtuutm agms decimuat to-' tium—Nalvs BubUmi — Edueahu ibidem tub Magiatro J Tut<^ £u. Uoyd."
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THE GOLDSMITH PAHILY.
former this acquaintance may have occurred at a later period, or by College tradition, for they were not contemporaries : but his uncle John waa there for a portion of the same time and under the same tutor. His father, it likewise appears, enjoyed the acquaintance of Thomas, grandfather of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, who was of the same standing in the UniTersity, having entered it the 18tb Octo- ber, 1707.
The Rev. Charles Goldsmith is represented to have 'first filled a curacy in the diocese of Dublin, and afterwards of a place of which there is no satisfactory account, probably from an error in or- tbography, hut supposed Dusbam or Duneham. These appear to have been but temporary employ- ments, for he was without occupation, when, in I7I8, he married Ann, daughter of the Rev. Oli- ver Jones, master of the diocesan school at Elphin, where he had received his preliminary education, and where the attachment commenced. This union was not approved of by the friends of either ; he was destitute of the means of providing for . a family, and the father of his wife having a son and three other daughters to provide for, her portion was small. As some support however became necessary for the young couple, the Rev. Mr. Grreen, uncle to Mrs. Goldsmith and rector of the parish of Kilkenny West, provided them a house about six miles distant firom himself, at a place called Pallas, in the adjoining county of Long-
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8 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
ford. Here tbey took up their abode, and continued for a period of twelve years ; Mr. Goldsmitli offici- ating partly in the church of his uncle, and partly in that of the parish in which he resided.
In the more remote districts of Ii^land, the ne* cessaries of life being cheap, come within reach of a small income ; homeliness was then and is 0003- sionally now characteristic of the country ; what are called the comforts of life in England, were not in the sister kingdom sought by many who possessed nevertheless the means of procuring them ; and to this early ftimiliarity with what many would con- sider privation, may be ascribed that indifference to it remarked of the Poet in future life, Mr. Charles Goldsmith, besides the emoluments of his profes- sion and the contributions of bis friends, sup- ported an increasing jamily, by renting some land in the vicinity upon which his leisure hours were employed. His first permanent support appears to have been a gift &om his mother-in-law of fifty acres of land, procured at a nominal rent by the exertion of that address which an Irish tenant sometimes plays off upon a necessitous landlord ; and the story is still told by her descendants. The heading of one of the leases is still in existence, of the date July 30th, 1729, between William Conolly, Esq., one of the Lords Justices, &c. &c. and Ann Jones, &c. runs thus : — " To have and to hold
, in and during the natural lives of and
Ann Goldsmith, wife of the Rev. Charles Goldsmith of Fallacemore, in the county of Longford, clerk, one
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PALLAS. 9
of the daughters of the said Ann Jones," &c. &c*
Pallas, or PaUasmore, that is the greater or higher Pallas, in the parish of Forgany or Forney, in the county of Longford, consists of an ordinary farm-house or two ; and in a direct line, is ahout a mile and half from the town of Ballymahon, though by the road, which is circuitous, double that distance. It lies to the south-east of Newcastle, a seat of the Countess Dowager of Rosse, and being on a rising ground, overlooks on one side a low tract of coun- try occasionally flooded by the river Inny ; a stream
• The activity and apirit displayed by this lady on the occa- aion of procuring the leaae are thua mentioned by Mr. Jonea Lloyd, proprietor of Sniithhill, or Arduagowan, her great grand- son :
" The Rev. Oliver Jonea had rented a eonaiderable tract of land from Mr. Conolly, one of the lords joaticea of the king- dom, which at the death of the former fell out of lease, and the widow waa told she could not have a renewal. Not diapirited by thia intimation ahe determined to try her personal influence, and undertook, what was then thought an unusual effort for a woman, a jonmey to Dublin. No public conveyance existed j the roads were in a most wretched state ; but, mounting a pil- lion behind her son on horaefaack, proceeded in this manner to the metropolis. The whole of the lands were refused to her application ; but having, as a final argument, judiciously provided herself with one hundred guineas, she once more urged her suit to the landlord, and in addition to her solicitations displayed the gold before him. This had ita due effect ; necessity has ever been master in Ireland ; and the temptation was sufficient to procure a fresh lease of hal/the lands on the some easy temu as before. She used jocularly to regret that she had not taken aaflther hundred with her, and thus secured the whole. The journey, however, in consequence of a hurt, coat her the life of her son."
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10 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
which in passing Ballymahon in its course to the Shannon, assumes a very picturesque appearance. The road to Pallas leads past Forney church : here it turns to the left, and after proceeding more than a mile, takes a second abrupt turn also to the left by a lane, which if the traveller have resolution to traverse will lead to the object of his pursuit. This place was nsited on a fine day in December ; but rocky inequalities of the lane in some parts and deep sloughs in others, rendered it inaccessible to the usual conveyance, a jaunting car ; even the common rough country cars find a portion of it difficult, and the remainder defies any wheeled vehicle whatever. The route to the house was therefore pursued on foot ; and after a fatiguing walk through fields and over hedges, the spot was at length reached, but it is feared with many poetical associations subdued by the uncivilised nature of the approach.
At Pallas Oliver Goldsmith was bom, on the 10th of November, 17^8 ; the house however in which it took place has been long levelled to the ground by the present occupier of the farm, a squalid-looking though it is said opulent person for his class, we were informed that little more than its foundation remained when he first became tenant, about forty years before ; and as may he supposed, even that is now obliterated. He pointed out a por> tion of its wall overgrown with grass, forming a part of the fence of the orchard. To several questions he replied, that it had been, as he was told, a " good
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PALLAS. 1 1
country house," the front looking toward Framey church ; and he had heard that Oliver Goldsmith, the poet, was horn in the hest bed-room, which looked in the same direction. These details were conBnned by others. Afterwards it would appear this bouse became the residence of a branch of the Edgeworth &mily*, whose property the land still coDtinaes. Few persons now visit it from curiosity, partly from being litUe known, partly from the dif- ficulties of the road j for to ladies and delicate or infirm persons it is nearly inaccessible j only one gentleman, as the farmer said, bad ventured to ex- plore it the preceding summer. The attention of literary pilgrims has been rather directed to Lissoy on the high road to Athlone, which became the subsequent residence of Mr. Goldsmith, and ofiered no difficulties of approach.
An amusing tradition respecting this house was repeated to us by a neighbouring magistrate. When from neglect and want of an occupier the roof first fell in, attempts made to repair it were con- tinually thwarted by the hostility of an ill-looking (for the peasantry are minute in their descriptions on such occasions), powerful, supernatural person- age accoutred in huge boots, who amused himself nightly in bestriding the roof as he would a horse, and by mimicking the motion of riding, pushed 'his legs through it and sometimes through the
* In an Irish MagoziDe (Exshaw's, for 1770) there is the foDowJDg aDDouncement of birth : — " The vife of FranciB White Edgeworth, Esq., of Pailasmore, Co, o/Long^trti, of a ton."
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IS LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
upper floor, thus rendering aU attempts at repar- ation unavailiDg. The reason assigned for these pranks was as fanciful as the story. Being on a rising ground, in a retired part of the country and in the vicinity of water, it was favourable for the resort of the " good people," or Fairies, during their midnight sports, who if the house became habit- able would have had their privacy broken in upon ; these means were therefore taken by this feared though imaginary race of beings to keep off in- truders. It is perhaps in the natural order of things, that the spot where an admired poet first drew breath, should be the scene of popular fiction. The place of his birth, notwithstanding the statement of his nearest relatives, is still disputed with considerable heat in the different districts which claim it ; and the province of Connaught particularly deems her honour concerned in the struggle. The rival counties are Leitrim, Ros- common, Westmeath, and Longford ; rather more than half the number of places which contended for the honour of having the father of poetry one of their fallow-citizens —
Septem vrbea eertant de ttirpe insignU Homeri,
Smyrna, EAodet, Colophon, Salaniit, Chioi, Argot, Athena.
The claim of Leitrim has never been esteemed valid ; it is confined to the towns of Drumsna and Carrick-on-Shannon, where Goldsmith had relatives residing and which he occasionally visited in early life. That of Westmeath is equally objectionable.
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BIRTH OF THE POET. 13
being merely entered in the admiaston book of Tri- nity College as the then residence of bis fotber. Ardnagan, Ardnagowau, or in correct Celtic ortho- graphy as it is said * Airdnagabha, near Elphin, the abode of hia grandfather Jones, contests the matter more vigorously ; and here, were his early biogra- phers to be trusted, we should assign his birth. Mr. Jones Lloyd, its present possessor, descended from another daughter of the Rer. Mr. Jones, points out from the information of his grandmother, the room and even the precise part of the room, where the Poet by this account first saw the light. At present this apartment forms the dairy, though at that time one of the principal in a house second only to that of the bishop of the diocese, and since considerably enlarged ; and the confinement of Mrs. Goldsmith is stated to have occurred unexpectedly during a visit to her mother. No corroboration can be ob- tained of this story : the relater of it being about the same age as the Poet, could not herself be ac- quainted with the fact, while stronger testimony elsewhere satisfactorily disproves her statement. But as eminence commonly begets admirers, and singularity is supposed to attend uncommon events, it was necessary perhaps to make the Poet peculiar even in bis birth ; and unlike the other children of the fomily, have his nativity assigned not to the house of his fother, but to another which gratified a little &mily pride by being of more importance.
* By the Rev. Dr. Streaa of Athlone, to vhom I fieel obliged for the inquirieB he hu nude.
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14 LIFE OF OOLDSMITH.
A document has been lately recovered which sets the matter at rest This is the leaf of the family Bible in which the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Goldsmith and the births of their children are recorded, now in the possession of Dr. NeUgan of Athlone, great grand-nephew of the poet, from which the following transcript was made by his pemaission during a visit to that town in 1830. The marginal portion of the leaf being unluckily worn away by age, the two last figures of the cen- tury in which Henry, Jane, and Oliver were bom are thus lost ; the age of the Poet is, however, sufficiently ascertained by the recollection of his Bister, and by calling himself when writing from London, in 1759, thirty-one. The year of his birth is therefore 172S.
*' Charles Goldsmith of Ballyoughter was mar- ried to Mrs. Ann Jones y* 4* of May I7I8.
" Margaret Goldsmith was bom at Pallismore in the county of Longford y* 22* August 1719.
" Catherine Goldsmith bom at Pallas y* 13'^ Jan- uary 1721.
" Henry Goldsmith was bom at Pallas Feb'' 9* 17 .
'* Jane Goldsmith was born at Pallas Feb'* 9""
'7 • .
" Oliver Goldsmith was bom at Pallas November
y' 10'" 17 .
" Maurice Goldsmith was born at Lissoy in y' county Westmeath y* seventh of July 1736.
" Charles Goldsmith jun' bom at Lisboy Aug'
le*' 1737.
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BIRTH OP THE POET. 15
"John Goldsmith horn at Lishoy* y* 23^ of (month ohliterated) 1740.
This paper corrects some errors into which Mrs. Hodson, elder sister of the Poet, from trusting to memory, had follen, in the account of her brother famished to Bishop Percy. His hirthday is there stated to be the S9th of November, instead of the date here assigned : Henry is also said to be eight years his senior, — an error probably repeated from seeing it in one of the Poet's letters, though the interval could not have been more than six years, if so much ; and a space of eight years, stated to have occurred between the birth of the previous child and Oliver, really took place between the latter and the succeeding son, Maurice.
About the year 1 730, Mr. Goldsmith, by the death of his wife's uncle, succeeded to the Rectory of Kilkenny West. He removed at the same time to LisBoy, a respectable house and fEirm on the verge of a small village standing in his own parish, on the right of the road leading from Bally- mabon to Athlone, and about midway between these towns. It was neither a glebe house, nor did he, as it is sometimes said, build it ; but the
* The reader will obserre many variationa in orthography ; thna Luaoy or Linhoy are naed as the whim of the moment prompts i thus also we have Pallas, Pallasmore, PaUismore, and Pallacemore, all meaning the same place ; and the ftiniily of Hodson near Athlone, into which the Poef s nster Catherine married, is now by their own relatirea called or spelt Hodson or Hudson indiacriminately ; the latter indeed most commonly. Few things perplex an inquirer in Ireland more than these need- less and ar^trary variations.
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16 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
lively interest which this spot has excited, as well in his native country as wherever the *' Deserted Village" is read, as the supposed scene pourtrayed in the poem, added to the numerous inquiries made even in Ireland whether such a village as Auburn exists, or was really deserted, make some further notice of this spot necessary.
Lissoy, in that scarce volume giving an account of the forfeited estates in Ireland, would appear to have been a species of personal property of James II. It was sold, or at least such portion of it as he claimed, amounting to ISl acres, in I7O8, to Cap- tain Richard Newstead of Westmeath, for 4SI2., the annual rent of the then tenant in possession, Robert Temple, Esq., being S9l. ; it is described as consisting of arable and pasture land, with the further recommendation of having a '* good sheep- walk," Soon after the removal of Mr. Goldsmith thither, he procured a lease from the purchaser (Newstead) of about 70 acres of this land, at the rent of eight shillings an acre, renewable for ever on the payment of half a year's rent for every new life introduced, the first lives being those of him- self, bis eldest son Henry, and daughter Cathe- rine, afterwards Mrs. Hodson. " This property
" An abfitraGt of thi« deed, dated Sunuaj 28tli, 1731, may be Been in the Register Office, Dublin ; bIbo a second, dated September 1742, fixing the sam of 261. as the ajmnal rent of the landa in question, to prevent diapnte respecting the amount of rent, the lease having specified certain boundariee, rather than the precise nomber of acrea.
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LI880Y. 17
remiuned in the family till 180S, when it waa sold by Mr. Henry Goldsmith, then in America, son of the ahove-named Henry the clergyman, and of whom an account wilt afterwards appear, to Mr. Bond, a connection of the fiunily by marriage, in whose possession it remains.
The identity of Lissoy with the scene of the poem, in the general belief of the people of the vicinity, is corroborated by an anecdote told by a traveller some years ago in the United States.
" ' The Deserted Villa^" swd he (Mr. Best, an Irish clergyman, is the speaker), relates to the scenes in which Goldsmith was an actor. Auburn is a poetical name for the village of Lissoy in the county of Westmeath, barony of Kilkenny West. The name of the schoolmaster was Paddy Bums. I remember him well. He was, indeed, a man severe to view. A woman called Walsey Cruse kept the alehouse —
' Imttginatum fondly atoopa to trace The pulonr aplendonn of that festive place.'
I have been often in the house. The hawthorn- bush was remarkably large, and stood opposite the alehouse. I was once riding with Brady, titular Bishop of Ardagh, when he observed to me, ' Ma foy*. Best, this huge overgrown bush is mightily in the way ; I will order it to be cut down.' ' What, sir I* said I, ' cut down Goldsmith's hawthorn-bush,
* The Irish Roman Catholic Clergy were then all editcatcd in Fiance, and in luigoage and manners were often more French than Irish.
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18 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
that supplies so beautifiil an image in the Deserted Vilage I' ' Ma foy I' exclaimed the Bishop, ' is that the hawthorn-hush? Then ever let it be sacred from the edge of the axe, and evil to him that would cut from it a branch I" •
An anecdote connected with this subject, and of which further notice will occur, requires to be mentioned here. In November, I7S8, a part of the townland of Lissoy, and the adjoining lands of Cannorstown to the number of 600 acres, were sold by " Jeffrey French, Esq. of the Middle Temple," to the " Honourable Robert Naper, lieu- tenant-general of his Majesty's forces in Ireland," for the sum of 3,300/ ; but the General appears to have died before the purchase was completed. Upon this property, named Ballybegg, lying be- hind the house of Mr. Goldsmith, about half a mile distant, Mr. Wm. Naper, son of the General, several years afterwards built the family residence, named Littleton. In the preliminary arrangements, some circumstances probably neither harsh nor unjust in themselves, connected with the removal of part of the tenantry, gave rise in the mind of Goldsmith, morbidly acute in his benevolent feelings and particularly towards the poorer classes of society, to tbej idea of the " De- serted Village." Proprietary rights cannot always be exercised by landlords in Ireland, even in a rea- sonable manner, without extreme jealousy on the part of the people. Circumstances therefore which
* Davie's travels in the United States of America, p. 1 13.
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LISSOY. 19
occur diuly in En^and, and produce neither cen* sure nor notice, excite in the former loud complaint, if not open hostility. ADythiog resembling severity becomes speedily known and loudly censured ; and such impressions, however untrue, taken up and acted upon by the imagination and eloquence of a poet, are dangerous assailants of reputation. An attack in simple prose may be answered, and seldom long survives the period of contention ; but em- balmed in verse, the supposed misdeeds of an offender may endure as long as the language.*
The house once occupied by the Rector of Kil- kenny West, pleasantly situated and of good dimen- sions, is now a ruin, verifying tbe truth of the pathetic lines of his son- —
"Yiin tTBiuitory B[4endonn I Could not all Bcpriere the tottering manaion from ita Call 1"
The front, including a wing, extends, as nearly as could be judged by pacing it, sixty-eight feet by a depth of twenty-four ; it consisted of two stories, with five windows in each. The roof has been off for a period of twenty years ; the gable ends re- main, but the front and back walls of the upper story have onimbled away, and if tbe hand of tbe destroyer be not stayed, will soon wholly dis-
* It may amnae the pohtical economist to know the different opinions then entertained of the inflnence of peace and war upon the ralne of landed property. In a leoae, dated March 1 744, from the above-named William N^ier to Gerald Dillon, of 141 acrea of the land around Ballybegg (adjoining liwoy), it is stipulated, that eight skitlingt an acre rent shall be paid during the war between Qreat Britain and Spain, and (m Mllmffa during peace. C 2
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20 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
appear. Two or three wretched cottages for la- boarerB, suiroimded by mud, adjoin it on the left. Behind the house is an orchard of some extent and the remains of a garden, both utterly neglected. In front, a pretty arenue of doable rows of ash trees, which formed the approach from the high road, about sixty yards distant, and at one time presented an object of interest to travellers, has like every other trace of care, or superintendence, disappeared — cut down by the ruthless hand of some destroyer. No picture of desolation can be more complete. As if an image of the impending ruin had been present, the Poet has painted with fear- ful accuracy what hie father's bouse was to be —
1" Near yonder copse, irhere once the garden amiled. And Btill There many a garden flower grows wild ; There, where a few torn shrohH the pUce disclose. The Village Preacher's modeat mansion rose,"
And we contemplate the realization of the me- lancholy scene as we do the poem of the unfortu- nate Falconer, who, while singing the story of one shipwreck, scarcely conceived he was fated to perish by a second.
A visitor to this spot will be tempted to believe, fi^m the ignorance he finds among many of the neighbouring peasantry, that little enthusiasm ex- ists regarding the name of him who nevertheless gives it all its importance. We found some unex- pected instances of this. In Ireland the legend of 8 saint, or of a miracle, is universally familiar and never forgotten : but -not so the memorials of her
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LISSOY. 21
distinguished men. These have too often passed away with contemporary generations. Nor are the middling and upper classes exempt from the charge of neglecting what should be their first ambition affectionately to cherish. It is not that they are indifferent to the (axae of their celebrated countrymen, but we require more obvious proofe of the fact ; it is in the pablic statue and the column, that their professions of admiration should be brought to the test of performance.
In the homely village* standing a few hundred yards from the house, a spirit of veneration for the memory of Goldsmith has been fostered by a neigh- bouring gentleman*, who has used all his influence to preserve from the ravages of time and passing depredators, such objects and localities as serve to mark allusions in the poem. Many of these are pointed out with sufficient resemblance to confirm an opinion, of which more extended notice will hereafter occur, of the Poet having this spot in view when engaged in its composition. Nothing could be more natural, in sketching rural character and scenery, than to look back on such as delighted his youth, and thence most forcibly impressed his memory.
* John Hogftn, Esq., who, Bucceedii^ to an estate in the Dei^bourhood, built a pretty hoiue on the opposite aide of the road, named after the aceae of the poem, Aabum ; not the poem, as some seem to imagine, called after the hoose. Thia gentleman, deserres the highest praise ; and the more, peihi^i^ because it has not been imitated in the neighbourhood.
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22 LIFE OF OOLDSHITH.
At Lissoy, Oliver, when about three yeu^ old, was given in charge of his first instructresB : she was a relative, resident in the family, who by mar- riage with a neighbouring farmer became afterwards known as Elizabeth Delap, and died about I787. In the decline of life she kept a small school in the village, and took pride in speaking to visitors of her former office. " I should have observed," writes Dr. Strean, now rector of Athlone, who was eighteen years curate of this parish, "that Elizabeth Delap, who was a parishioner of mine, and died at the age of about ninety, often told me she was the first who put a book into Goldsmith's hands; by which she meant that she had taught him his letters. She was allied to him, and kept a little schooL"
"Within the last three years," aays the Rev. Thomas Handcock, in a letter to Joseph Cooper Walker, Esq., of Dublin, for whom he was making inquiries on this subject in 1790, " I was called, in the absence of a neighbouring clergyman, to visit an old woman at Lissoy (the real name of the place. Auburn), and, almost with her last breath, she boasted to me of being the first person who had put a book into Goldsmith's hands."*
The characteristics of his mind in infancy, according to the account of Mrs. Delap, were not promising. She admitted he was one of the dullest boys ever placed under her charge, and doubted, for
* MS. comapondence, commiuiictted b; J. C. Walker, Esq., of Dublin, nephew to the withor of "Memoin of the Iriih Bards."
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LISSOY. 23
some time, whether aoy thing could be made of him ; or, ia the words used by Mr. Handcock, he seemed "impenetrably stupid.". Dr. Strean gleaned some remembrances to the same effect " He was considered,'' says that gentleman, " by his con- temporaries and schoolfellows, with whom I have often conversed on the subject, as a stupid, heavy blockhead, little better than a fool, whom every one made fiin of."
To another inquirer, a Mr. Daly, who had col- lected some particulars of his early life, and who died in France early in the Revolution*, her ac- counts were rather more favourable. She confessed he was very young at the time ; that he was docile, diffident, easily managed, and that his inaptitude for retuning his lessons might have arisen from the carelessness common to all children. Such circum- stances are no otherwise worthy of notice, than merely for the gratification of curiosity ; they indi- cate nothing. He is a bold speculator who draws decided inferences of what the man b to be, from the casual peculiarities of the mere child.
At the age of about sis years he was turned oTer to the care of the village schoolmaster, Thomas Byrne, a person characterised hy many points of
* Known to the late Dr. M'Veagh H'Donnell, of Oichard Street, Portman Square, a prot^ of Goldamith, of whom some account will hereafter he given. Mr. Daly commnnicated to that gentleman aeveral particulars of his former patron, and heliered he had discovered a few of his minor poetical piecefi, of which noticevill be taken in a future page.
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LIFE OF OOLDSHITH,
ori^nality, had the Poet thought fit to sketch him at length. He had been educated for the profession he now followed ; but, enlisting in the army, went with it to the Continent, and rose to be quarter- master of a regiment serving in Spain during the reign of Queen Ann. When reduced on the con- clusion of the peace, he returned to his original calling of an instructor of youth. His attainments were more than sufiScient for all he professed to teach, which in the want of more advanced scholars, were confined to reading, writing, and arithmetic ; and the observations on manners and character furnished by the life of a soldier, set off to advantage such knowledge as he had gleaned from hooks.
He is represented to have been eccentric in his habits, unsettled in disposition, of a romantic turn, wrote poetry, was well versed in the &iry super- stitions of the country, and, what is not less com* mon in Ireland, believed implicitly in their truth. He could likewise, according to the accounts of a few of bis scholars who were living about 1790, given to the Rev. Mr. Handcock, " translate extempora- neously Virgil's Eclogues into Irish verse, of, at least, equal elegance."* Not the least of his qualifi- cations was the art of narrating his adventures in a manner to fix the attention and curiosity of his neighbours, and the scene of these narratives was commonly the alehouse. In the school, also, when
* MS. Letter to the late Joseph Cooper Walker, Esq.
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indisposed to teach a lesson, he would often tell a story ; and among the most eager listeners on such occasions was young Goldsmith, whose imagination appears to have been bo much excited by what he heard, as to induce his iriends to attribute to this cause that wandering and unsettled turn which distinguished part of his future life.
Under the tuition of Byrne he made no material progress ; a dawning of natural powers, indeed, appeared, which relatives are happy to see and proud to record ; he began to write puerile rhymes, and destroyed them as fast as they were written : but the usual school acquirements, either from defective memory or application, scarcely kept pace with those of other boys. The seeming activity of imaginauon exhibited by his verses made a strong impression upon bis mother, who early began to believe that be was destined to make some figure in the world. His temper at this time, by the ac- count of Mrs. Hodson, though peculiar, was kind and affectionate ; his manner, for the most part, uncommonly serious and reserved, but, when in gay humour, none more cheerful and agreeable. In these words she has described her brother as he afterwards appeared to bis acquaintance in London ; solemn and yet gay, good-natured and yet irritable, petulant sometimes, and instantly appeased by the smallest concession ; so that such as did not imder- stand, or inquire into, the occasional peculiarities of genius, were puzzled by this contrariety of dispo-
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S6 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
sition } and the remark is even preserved, that he seemed to possess "two natures."*
One of the causes alleged for his backwardness was devoted attachment to the fictions and marret- lous stories which make so much of the amusement of children in all places, and of which Ireland has a more than ordinary store. He read with avidity ; but the selection then and till a very recent period found in the village schools, cottages, and houses occupied by persons even above the class of pea- santry in Ireland, was of the worst kind. His under- standing or morals could derive no benefit from the perusal of such stories as the History of the Irish Rogues and Rapparees — Lives of celebrated Pirates —History of Moll Flanders — of Jack the Bachelor (a notorious Smuggler), of Fair Rosamond and Jane Shore — of Donna Rozena, the Spanish Courtezan — the Life and Adventures of James Freney, a famous Irish Robber, and others of a similar description, then the principal books of amusement for boys at BcbooLt Whatever were their studies, a singular
* Sir John Hawkina's Ufe of Dr. Johiuon ; T. Dmas'n lait of Gurrick.
f To thia catalogue of what haa been termed tarcastioall; the Cottage Clauiea iff Ireland, and moat of which the writer has ■een in the handa of the pcaaaQtrj, a ftiend who entered a cottage in the coonty of Clare, a few yean ago, and tranacribed on the apot a tiat of their booka, added the fallowing : Orid'a Art of Lore — The Deril and Dr. Faaatoa — Panama* and Fariame- nne — The Hiitory of Witchea and Ghoata — Montelea, Knight of the Oracle — Seren Championa of Chriatendnm — Mendoza'a Art of Boxing ; and, the only good volamee, aeveral apelling hooka.
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LISSOY. 27
negligence existed as to their lighter stores of reading ; no apprehension seems to have been en- tertained of the danger likely to arise from familiar- izing the minds of youth with tales of robbery and imparity ; and it is to the credit of the people, that morals bare not been materially vitiated by the in- trodaction of such improper publications into their hands.
Another favoorite occupation was in listening to the ballads of the peasantry, which, as may be con- ceived, made so strong an impression, that he could repeat and sing several to the latest period of life. Of these, and of fairy tales and superstitionst the stock in Ireland is so abundant, or the people possess so fertile an imagination for their invention, that in the rural districts few are at a loss to fur- nish their share for the amusement of a winter's fire- side." Telling tales is to others a profession ; who travel the country in default of more steady modes of industry and find refreshment and a ready audience in farm houses to hear such wonders as diey have gleaned from memory, or by invention. To these legends Goldsmith is reported to have paid anxious attention ; their efiects were judged by his occasional reference in future life to fictions so wild and improbable. Such accidental circum- staoces are sometimes said to make poets ; they may
* H7 ftiend Mr. Gnfton Croker's Tolomes form adminbl« ■pecimeni of the ingennity and abundance of these fictions in the nuth of Ireland. In the north they are tearcely less nu' merooB, and a harvest may prob^ly be reaped there, by Buch as can derote time and dihgeoce to the pttreuit.
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38 UFB OF GOLDSMITH.
serve perhaps to strengthen an imagination al< ready poetical, but could they create the race, Ireland and Scotland would boast a numerous ofiBpring.
An attack of confluent small-poz, which had nearly deprived him of life, and left traces of its ravages in his face ever after, first caused him to be taken from under the care of Byrne. And a superior master being now necessary, he waa re- moved, on final recovery, to the same school of Elphin, in Roscommon, once superintended by his grandfather, but then under the management of tbe Rev. Mr. Griffin. Here he entered on a su- perior class of studies ; he became, likewise, an inmate of his uncle, Mr. John Goldsmith of Bally- oughter in the vicinity, and soon exhibited such evidences of talent as to be considered by that gentleman and his family a boy of the most pro. mising kind. This opinion became strengthened from a variety of trifling incidents ; among others, by the following instances of prompt wit, which they took care should be made known to his parents : Mrs. Hodson told the one, and Mrs. Johnston, another of his sisters, related the other.
A company of young persons having assembled to dance in tbe house of Mr. Goldsmith, one of the party, a youth named Gumming, a proficient on the violin, was requested to play, while Oliver, who ever continued fond of the amusement of dancing, displayed his skill in a hornpipe. The eflects of the late disease on his face, added to a
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ELPHIN. 29
short and thick %ure, led the masician to hold him up to youthful ridicule as the persoBification of ^3op i and the jest proving a source of merriment, the object of it at length stopped short in the dance, and triumphantly turned the laugh against his persecutor, by pronouncing the following dis- tich—
" Our herald hath procUim'd this saying. See Maop danciiig and his monkey playing."
A retort so sharp and ready may seem above the usual capacity of a boy nine or ten years old. Some- thing of our admiration, however, may abate, when we consider that j^^p probably formed one of his school books, and that some boyish verses, for they bear no proofe of a maturer age, lingering in his recollection, may have been altered to suit the purpose of the moment in gratifying juvenile re- sentment.
The other instance recorded of his quickness of repartee was connected with a male relative, whose imprudences bad been the subject of conversation in the family. Calling at Mr. Goldsmith's, he found Oliver in the room, and desiring him to come forward, examined his face playfully, pro- nouncing in a strain of banter, " Why, Noll, you are become a fright ; when do you mean to get handsome again ?" Annoyed by the reproach, the object of it retreated to the window without reply : when, in order to punish what was deemed a fit of sulkiness, the question was sneeringly repeated.
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9U LIFE OP GOLDSMITH.
The boy in the meantime meditated an answer, and seizing an opportunity to escape from his persecutor, called out archly as he retreated, " I mean to get better, Sir, when you do." It may diminish our ad- miration of precocious wit, to know that he was at this time a year or two older than Mrs. Hodson represents.
His destination hitherto had been a mercantile life. The confined circumstances of his father and the expense to be incurred in giving the elder son, Henry, a university education, for which he was now preparing at an eminent classical school in Longford, precluded the hope of similar advantages for the second. The proofs he exhibited of su- perior intelligence pleaded strongly for every ef- fort that could be made towards such an end ; bis mother earnestly seconded it, and his relatives promised their aid in contributing to the expense. As the first step towards it, be was sent about 1739 to a school of repute in Atblone, about five miles from his father's house, kept by the Rev. Mr. Campbell. It has been said that he exhibited no predeliction or this change of destination, which was rather submitted o than sought ; and in ma- ture life, before he bad att^ed to &me, he estimated the advantages of learning to boys generally, lower than might have been expected, " Aboy," he says, writing to his brother Henry in I759 from London, "who understands perfectly well Latin, French, arithmetic, and the principles of the civil law, and can write a fine hand, has an education that may
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ATHLON B. 31
qualify him for any undertaking." To the praises he received for supposed displays of early talent, as recorded in the preceding stories, the foUowing pas- sage in an essay on education no doubt refers : —
" Every species of flattery should be carefully avoided. A boy who happens to say a sprightly thing is generally applauded so much, that he con- tinues a coxcomb all his life after. He is reputed a wit at fourteen, and becomes a blockhead at twenty. Nurses, footmen, and such, should there- fore be driven away as much as possible. I was even going to add, that the mother herself should stifle her pleasure or her vanity, when Uttte master happens to say a good or a smart thing."
At Athlone he continued about two years ; when tbe master, who bore the character of an ingenious man, resigning his charge on account of ill health, Oliver was removed to the school of the Rev. Patrick Hughes, of Edgeworthstown, in the county of Longford, where he remtuned till his entrance into the University. The traces of him here, as may be supposed from the lapse of time, are few. Accident must commonly contribute to the pre- servation of such frail memorials. The trifling events of what is considered a trifling period of life acquire importance only when the actors have risen into celebrity, and when the world becomes anxious to trace in the boy evidences of the future man, — to know how he thought, and studied, and acted; but such information is commonly sought when it is most difficult to be procured. Many of his
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SS LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
schooI-fellowB indeed were scattered in tbe adjoin- ing countieB, who at a future penod delighted to recall anecdotes of their former companion. Among these were a Mr. Roach, a Mr. Nugent, Mr. Daly already mentioned ; the Rev. John Beatty, Vicar of Garraghy, in the diocese of Dromore, whose entry into college took place on the same day ; and Mrs. Montgomery*, the daughter of his master, who, though too young to remember any thing material herself, possessed opportunities of hearing some- thing firom others.
From these sources, gleaned in no connected form, or with the precision to be wished although not now to be expected, he was described aa a short, thick, pale-faced, pock-marked boy, awkward in manner, backward and diffident at first, but afterwards acquiring sufficient confidence to be- come a leader in boyish sports, particularly in the exercise of ball-playing, or fives, in which he dis- played great activity. In school he was considered indolent, though not destitute of talents ; his dis- position kind and generous, as far as school-boy matters were concerned ; his temper sensitive, easily ofiended, though easily appeased ; and always willing to join in sQch juvenile tricks and scenes of humour as were going forward. The general impression seems to have been, that he exhibited
* Thia Iftdy is noticed in tbe Memoin of Richard LoTel Edgworth, from the mock mumge contracted by him with her when mere girl end boy, at the period he tsb under tuition with her &ther. Her repatation, boverer, wm unspotted, and â– be afterwards married a clergyman.
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EDOEWOHTHSTOWM. 33
no marked superiority to younger eyes, although well thought of by hia master ; and that at the period of quitting school for the uniTersity, his habits were thoughtless and boyish, and his charac- ter yet unformed.
Here, however, it is certain he made consider- able advances in learning. Mr. Hughes was an acquaintance of his father ; and perceiving that the disposition of the son required forbearance and en- couragement rather than harshness for advancement in his studies, he conversed vrith him on familiar terms, and incited, not compelled, his exertions. The pupil always acknowledged the kindness he* had experienced, and the advantages derived from it, but at a future period seemed to doubt whether such a system were wise in the general government of schools. He affirms, in the essay on Educa- tion", speaking of the acquisition of languages, that " children are only to be taught through the medium of their fears." As a general position, he is probably right j the master must make, what men of judgment and discrimination in the manage- ment of youth ever will make, the proper excep- tions. The repetition of this opinion on other occasions induces the belief that he had witnessed ill effects from injudicious leniency, yet he would have been the last to practise the contrary system ; nor did he, when placed in such a situation, pursue a plan which is thus recommended for the adoption of others.
* See Works, Vol. I. Bee, Ho. n.
VOL. I. D
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S4> LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
The bent of his mind appeared to incline to- wards the LatiD poets and historians. Ovid and Horace more especially divided his regard ; the former was his chief favourite at this time, al- though afterwards the latter acquired that hold be must ever possess on a matured mind. Cicero he did not highly esteem ; with Livy he was de- lighted ; and, in the words of Mr. Daly, in speak- ing of this period of his life, " when he had once mastered the difficulties of Tacitus, he found plea- sure in the perusal and occasional translation of that writer." It is likewise said, that he exhibited *on such occasions some attention to style, in con- sequence of a reproof ftom his elder brother, to whom having written some short and confused letters from school, he was told in reply, that " if he had but little to say, he should endeavour to say it well."
The reputation acquired by Henry in the Uni- versity at this time was such as to give eflfect to his advice. He bad matriculated in 1740, at a later period of life than is represented in the college register* ; foreseeing, probably, he should be compelled, irom want of the necessary interest for rising in the church, to unite the scholastic pro>
• " Mtai A* 1741 (according to the UniTenity year) Het^- riau CroldvmthP. ettt. — FiUiu CaroH Clerici — Amaimagen* 17 —NatvM in Comitatv Longfbrd : — Edueatus i»b /erula Ma .■NeSiffon — Tutor Dr. PtUttier." Some inaccuracy cxiBts re- gBrding this geDtlenum's age. If only sis yean older than the poet, inatead of Bcven, as asierted by Mm. Hodaoo, he moat have been twenty at the time of admlMion to college.
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EDGEWORTHSTOWN. 35
fession with the clerical ; and, in such cases, the candidate not uDfrequently postpones till a nia< turer age than usual, his entrance into the uai> Tersity. He came necessarily well prepared, distinguished himself soon, and on Trinity Mon- day, 17^> was elected a scholar ; a distinction which attaches to the successfnl candidate through life, and enables him either to remain in college with advantage, or, should he decline to proceed for a fellowship, to quit it for any other pursuit with honour. The former would seem to have been the wish of his fother ; but returning into the country in the succeeding vacation, flushed probably with his recent triumph, he indulged a youthful passion, and married ; his sister says " at the early age of nineteen," but he must have been three years older, or have formed this con- nexion previous to entering the University. To some men, and in certain favourable situations, this tie becomes a sdmnlus to exertion ; to others it seems a clog upon every effort at rising in life. Finding residence in college no longer eligible, the advantages of his scholarship were sacrificed : he retired, as appears from the college books, to the country ; established a school in his father's neigh- bourhood ; and in this occupation, added to that of curate at " forty pounds a year," though pos- sessed of talents and character, he passed the re- - munder of life.
At E^geworthstown, Oliver is said to have writ- ten verses ; but on what subject, or oS what degree D 2
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3d life of goldsmith.
of merit, is not known. His taste for poetry, there is no doubt, was soon formed. Among the poems familiar in the school, &om a spirit of boyish patriotism, were the works of their countrymen Denham, Roscommon, and Pamell; the former bom, at least, in Ireland ; the second a native of the im- mediate vicinity, and a member of one of its chief families, the Dillons ; and the last not only very po- pular by bis " Hermit," but had been personally known to their relatives. From these writers Gold- . smith is believed to have first derived his style, ge^ neral taste, and devotion to what was considered the classical models of the art. The fEict may have been as stated ; but the impression, more probably, arises from Denham being deemed the founder of descrip- tive poetry, in which quality the " Traveller and " Deserted Village" are considered to excel. It is a more curious coincidence that Denham and Ros- common were noted for their propensity to gaming, and the same charge, with whatever truth, has been brought against Goldsmith.
The immediate vicinity presented two persons whose fame was recent, and their poetical attributes sufficiently prominent to draw the attention of a youth of imaginative diapoBition,
One was Carolan, or Turlogh O'Carolan, the celebrated native musician and poet, who, having spent his life in the neighbouring counties, died there in 1738 ; an event of no ordinary importance in the estimation of a people attached to every relic of ancient habits and manners, and priding them-
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CAROLAN. 37
selves on the genius of one of their countrymen exclusively in heart and character Irish. He had been brought up at Carrick-on-Shannon, where the uncle of Goldsmith, the Rev. Mr. Contarine, first settled, and expired iu the county of Roscommon, to which that gentleman afterwards removed. His fame was general as well as recent ; his name and performances consequently familiar to Oliver, whose occasional visits to his relatives took him over the ground trodden by one whom all classes were proud to talk about and to entertain. When on a visit to Ballyoughter he ia said to have been once carried to visit him.
Carolan is considered the last of the ancient Irish bards ; one of those characters around whom poetry, music, and tradition have thrown an air of veneration not extended to any of their successors in the art. By profession a retainer to rank and wealth, honoured with the familiarity and friendship of his patrons, beloved and admired by the people, he travelled the country with his horse and his harp, repaying such as performed the duties of hospitality with his music. The misfortune of blindness, from the age of eighteen, by small- pox, increased the interest attached to his occupa- tion and character. He delighted in festivities, the appropriate scene, indeed, of a harper, and indulged freely in the habits which revelling in- spires. He disdained to play merely for money. For many years be formed a welcome and admired guest among the older and more opulent &niilieB
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SB LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
of Connaught ; composed songs and music in their praise ; played with taste and skill ; and while thus acquiring feme, hestowed it ; for many of his airs and verses are called a^r the names of his enter- tainers, who have thus acquired in Ireland a species of local immortality.
Such a character among a people naturally joy- ous, attached to music, strongly national, clinging to old customs with tenacity, and not yet free from many ruder characteristics, commanded a large share of popularity. His music spoke a general language, and added much to the native stock of which Ireland can hoast* His songs, though writ- ten in Irish, found ready translation ; became a theme of praise in the conversation of all classes ;
* The f!ertUity (md merit of this remiumt of the bards, whose name and performances «re so little known in Engkmd. attest hU graias ; while the occasion of the composition of the greater part gives us a view at that period of the prinutive msnners of the people. Mr. Uardiman, with whom the writer had the |dea- suie of an acquaintance in Dnblin, and whose indnstry in the pnnnit of works of Irish genius deserrea so much praise, enu- merates about one hundred and thirty of hie compositions, many of which Gontinae highly popular, and were accompanied by words also of his own composition. They take their n^mes chiefly from himself, or from the persons whom he celebrated. Thus, " Carolan'e Concerto," " Dream," "Devotion," "Eleva- tioD," " Fairy Queens," " RecMpt for Drinking," and many more. A few ot those called after the flunilies in his iaroorite county of Roscommon are, " O'Conor Faby," " Young O'Conor Faby," "Mrs. O'Conor," "Mrs. O'Conor of Belanagari," •'Denis O'Conor," "Doctor O'Conor," "Maurice O'Conor," " Planxty Conor," " Planxty Dmry," "John Duigoan," "Hia. French," "Nelly Plunket," " Planxty Stafibrd," "M'Dermott Roe," "Mrs. M'Dermott Roe," "Anna M'Dermott Roe," " Mr. Bdward M'Dermott Roe, &c. ftc."
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LAWRENCE WHYTB. 39
and at the period of his death in the adjoining county of Roscommon, were aung with delight by the peasantry in their social meetings. Impressions produced l^ the admiration of those around us take a strong hold on juvenile minds; what we hear praised we desire to imitate, for imitation is one of the first faculties which develops itself in early life ; and of this blind native genius there is ample proof that Goldsmith beard and remem- bered much, by the account which he afterwards gave of him in a periodical work in London.*
The other local poet, Lawrence Whyte, was a bard of more humble pretensions, who, by the description of country manners and national griev- ances, acquired some rural reputation. He is said to have been a native of Westmeath, not far distant fi-om the paternal home of Goldsmith. His volume appeared about 1741, and, by the aid of a tolerable list of subscribers, among which appeara the name of Allan Ramsay, together with a few preliminary lines addressed to him, reached a second edition. It contains some thousand lines, in the measure and something in the manner of SwifK His humour, though homely, is lively and without ill-nature ; his subjects local, commencing — as it seems the gentry of Ireland have never earned a name for discharging their pecuniary obligations — with an " Essay on Dunning," which extends to seven, though short, cantos. The best piece is the " Part- ing Cup, or the Humours of Deoch an Doruis," * See Paper on Carolau, the Iruh Bud, Worki, Vol. I.
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40 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
in four cantos : it is a lively and striking picture of a Westmeath fiirmer'a life about the year I7IO, in the supposed history of Deoch an Doruis and his spouse : their former content, comparative wealth, hospitality, and sportive entertainments at the Christmas season, compared with their present (1741) distress and privations, the diminution of good feeling towards their superiors, and the dis- content engendered by the pressure of high rents.
By this and other pieces in the volume, we find that the common rural compljunts of Ireland, — the exactions of landlords, the spirit of emigration, the absenteeism of the gentry, with the neglect of their tenantry, estates, and residences, — were ae strongly urged a century ago as at present. The matter is curious, and though sung in the most homely strains, not without force ; but the verses are further deserving notice, as having been sup- posed to impress Goldsmith's mind at an early period with strong commiseration for the state of the peasantry, and to have suggested passages in the " Deserted Village."
" ThuB formers liTed liJce gentlemen. Ere Unde vere raised from five to ten ; Again irom ten to three times five. Then very few could hope to thrive ; But tnf^d against the rapid stream. Which drove them back from whence they came. At length 'twas canted* to a pound. What tenant then could keep hie ground.
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LAWRENCE WHYTE.
" Not knowing which, to ituid or fly. When rent loUa mounted senith high. They had their choice to run away, Or labour for a groat a day. Now beggar'd and of all bereft. Are dooni'd to staire or live by theft ; Take to the mountains or the roads. When banished from their old abodes ; ZA«t> nattne toil were /breed to quit, 80 Iriih landlord* thought it fit ; Who vnthovt eeremony or rout. For their iir^rotiemenit tum'd them out ; Embracing still the highest bidder. Inviting all ye tuitioiu hither, Encouragmg all etrollers, caitUb, Or any other bnt the natires.
" Now wool IB low and mutton cheap. Poor graziers can no profit reap. Alas ! you hear them now comidain Of heavy rents and little grain ; Grown sick of bai^iaina got by cant. Host be in time reduced to want ; Sow many viUagee they rated. How many pariehee laid waste. To fatten bollocks, sheep, and cows. When scarce one parish has two ploo^s ; And were it not for fbreign wheat. We now ahould want the bread we eat. Their flocks do range on every plain. That once produced oil kind of grain. Depopulating every village. Where we had husbandry and tillage ; Fat bacon, poultry, and good bread. By which the poor were daily fed. The landlords, then, at ev^y gale. Besides their rent, got nappy ale, A hearty welcome and good cheer. With rent weU paid them twice a year ; But now the case ia quite revened, The tenants every day distreaa'd j
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42 LIFE OF OOLDSUITH.
Inatetul of linng well and thriTiog,
There's DOthing nirw but leading, t
The lAnd« are all monopolized.
The tenants rack'd and sacrificed ;
Whole coUmiei to xAxn the fate
Of hang opgretJd at tveh a rate,
By tyrants who s tUl rmte their rent,
SaiFd to the Weetem continent : ■•
Bather than lire at home like Blares,
They troat tbemaelTce to winds and iraTea."
The censure of absentees has a variety of invec- tive intermixed with some humour ; but the follow- ing may suffice as a specimen of the former : —
" Our aqnires of lat« througK Europe roam. Are too well-bred to live at home j Are not content with Dublin College, But raoge abroad for greater know ledge ; To Btnit in velvets and brocades. At baUs and playa and maaqnerades ; To have their rent their chiefest cate is. In bills to London and to Paiia. Their education is so nice, thej know all chances on the dice ; Excepting when it is their fkte To throw away a good estate, Then does the sqnire with empty purse Bail at ill fortune with a cune.
* * • «
These absentees we here describe
Are mostly of our Iriat Tribe,
Who live in luxury and pleasure.
And throw away their time and treasure ;
Cause poverty and devastation,
And sink the credit of the nation.
Their mansions moulder quite away. And run to ruin and decay.
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LAWRENCE WHYTB.
Left like a desert wild and vute,
Without the track of man or beast ;
Where wild fowljiiay with safety rest.
At every gate may build a nest ;
Where gruu or weeds on pavements grow,
And every year is fit to mow.
No smoke from cbimniea does wcend.
Nor entertaioment for a friend ;
Nor sign of drink, nor smell of meat.
For hnnum creatures then to eat.*
* One of the greatest offeaces of the more opulent classes in Ireland in the eyes of the peasantry at that time, was any seeming wuit of the dnties of hospitality ; nor has the feeling though dimiulBhed. passed away. By their interpretation, com- mon to more rude communitiea, a man of rank or wealth was considered almost literally rather the steward than the proprietor of Mb property, held in trust as much for the benefit of his relatives, neighbours, and adherents, as for his own &mily ; and almost the first point noticed in the character of an Irish squire by a peasant of the present day is vhether he is or is not a hard (or doae) man. The opening scenu in the Vicar of Wakefield, and many other passages in Goldsmith, dwell apoA the duties <A hospitality.
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I.IFB OF OOLDBMITH.
ADTKNTORB AT AKDAGa.^KBV. UR. CONTABIWB.— ENTKT INTO TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN. — LETTER OF THE RKT. DR. WILSON, HIS TVTOR.— BALLAD WRITINQ.
Hrs school vacations were frequently spent in the town of Ballymahon, where, many years afterwards, a few of his boyish tricks were remembered.
" It is now about forty years," says the Rev. John Graham in a communication to the present writer, " since one of the directors of the sports of Ballymahon, Jack Fitzsimmons, an old man, who had experienced many vicissitudes and then kept the ball court, frequently amused us with stories of, as he termed him and as he was usually called when a boy, Noll Goldsmith. One of them, I remember, related to a depredation on the orchard of Tirlicken, adjoining the old mansion of that name DOW in ruins, then the property and residence of part of Lord Annaly's femily. In this adventure, which he detailed minutely, both were engaged : detection, however, either at the moment or soon afterwards, ensued ; and, had it not been for the respectability of Goldsmith's connections, which secured immunity also to his compaqions, the con- sequences might have been unpleasant. This story.
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BALLYMABON.
although it may seem like a different version of the deer-stealing of Shakspeare, I had no reason to disbelieve : the matter is common enough to most 8chool-boys in the country j and poor Jack knew no more of the history of Shakspeare than of Honier. Several other notices of the poet from the same source have now escaped my recollection ; the impression, however, remains, that he was as thoughtless as other boys of the same age, and as easily led into scrapes by his companions."
An amusing adventure, which occurred in the last journey from home to Edgeworthstown school, is believed to have given birth to the chief incident in " She Stoops to Conquer."- Having set off on horseback, there being then and indeed now no regular wheeled omveyance thither from Bally- mahoD, he loitered on the road, amusing himself by viewing the neighbonring gentlemen's seats. A friend had furnished him with a guinea ; and the desire, perhaps, of spending it in (to a school-boy) the most independent manner at an inn, tended to slacken his diligence on the road. Night overtook him in the small town of Ardagh, about half way on his journey. Inquiring for the best boose in the place, meaning the best inn, he chanced to address, as is said, a person named Cornelius Kelly, who boasted of having taught fencing to the Marquis of Granby, and was then domesticated in the house of Mr. Featherstone, a gentleman of fortune in the town. He was known as a notorious wag ; and willing to play off a trick upon one whom he no doubt disco-
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46 LIFE OF OOLDSMiTH.
vered to be a swaggering gchool-boy, directed him to the house of his patron.
Suspecting no deception, Oliver proceeded as directed ; gave authoritative orders about the care of his horse ; and, being thence conceived by the servants to be an expected guest, was ushered into the presence of their master, who imme- diatelj discovered the mistake. Being, however, a man of humour, and willing to enjoy an evening's amusement with a boy under the influence of so unusual a blunder, he encooraged it, particularly when, by the communicative disposition of the guest, it was found he was the son of an old ac- quaintance on his way to school. Nothing occurred to undeceive the self-importance of the youth, fortified by the possession of a sum he did not often possess ; wine was therefore ordered in ad- dition to a good supper, and the supposed landlord, hia wife and daughters, were invited to partake of it On retiring for the night, a hot cake was ordered for bre^&st the following morning ; nor was it until preparing to quit the house next day, that he discovered he had been entertained in a private &mily.
This story, like the plot of hia comedy, has been thought improbable i and were it told of a person in mature life, or mising much in the world, there might be, under common drcumstancei, ground for disbelief. Bat when we consider the age of Goldsmith at the time, his openness to deception at all times, that the time was night.
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ADVENTURE AT ARDAOH. 4?
while positiTe informatioii described the house as an inn, and that the sabtnission of the servants and the humour of the master confirmed the ori- ^nal idea ; moreover, when we consider that the house, however good, bore no particular mark of distinction, and that Irish landlords then, like those of America now, were inquisitive and &miliar in their manners, and believed that their guests were under more obligations to them than they to their guests, it is easy to conceive how a school-boy should be led into the error. Mrs. Hodson heard the story early in Ufe, which could scarcely have been told without some foundation ; and the late Sir Thomas Featherstone*, whose grandfather was the supposed landlord, remembered, when ques- tioned, something of the anecdote.
In connection with this play, the story illustrates another peculiarity which belongs to Goldsmith more than to any other writer of his day ; this was to draw upon his own personal and family history for many of the &cts and characters found in his writings. These, when minutely traced, show how largely he has written irom himself from his recol- lections, experience, and feelings ; and to this is owing much of that truth, vigour, and freshness, oi which we all feel the presence and the power. Thus, to his poems, novel, plays. Citizen of the World, and detached essays, actual Ufe famished most of the scenes and persons ; not only his own character
* From the Rev. John Gnhaaa.
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48 LIFE OP GOLDSMITH.
and adreDtures, but those of nearly all his relatives, were taxed for the amusement of the reader : so that when invention failed, he had only to draw upon his memory. The recollection of this fact may serve to corroborate the truth of the preceding story having really formed the groundwork of the play.
An event now occurred, which though under other circumstances gratifying, threatened in its consequences to interfere with the design of sending him to college by still further narrowing his father's resources. This was the private marriage of his elder sister, Catherine, with Mr. Daniel Hodson, the son of a gentleman of good property, residing at St. John's, near Athlone. To her the union promised to be advantageous ; while, to her husband, in conse- quence of her want of fortune, it was thought the reverse. He was besides young, though not a boy ; ' and being at the moment, or shortly before, a pupil of her brother Henry for the completion of bis studies, the match looked so much like a breach of confidence and honour on the part of the &mily, although unknown to its members, as to give rise to extreme indignation on the part of her father. The tradition is, that in the first transports of anger he uttered a wish that as she had acted like an un- dutiful child in causing suspicion to be cast on his integrity of character, she might never have one of her own to make a similar return to parental care ; in short, that she might die childless,' So harsh
* From the infonnation of one of her gnrnddangbtere to the iter. Mr. Grahun.
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MRS. H0D80N. 49
and hasty a sentence, foreign to bis general cha- racter for good nature, was soon recalled ; neither was the purport of the prayer strictly fulfilled ; as she bore three children ; but, in the superstitious feel- ing of the country, it was supposed to be not without a certain effect, as they all, though her son left a numerous ofispring, died before ber.
To remove all suspicion of being privy to the act of bis daughter, Mr. Goldsmith, inSuenced by the highest sense of honour, made a sacrifice detri- mental to the interests of the other members of his family. He entered into a legal engagement (Sept. 7, 1744), " to pay to Daniel Hodaon, Esq., of St. John's, Roscommon, 400^., as the marriage-portion of his daughter Catherine, then the wife of the said Daniel Hodson." To raise this sum, witb such limited means as he possessed, was impossible ; but in lien of it, the lands rented from Mr. Newstead, then worth about 40^. per annum, in addition to l^L per annum of tithes, were assigned, until the money should be paid.* These sums, which seem now apparently small, were in that period and country considerable ; much more than the rector of Kil- kenny West could afford. His living, though at present worth about 3501. per annum, did not then amount to 300/. The sacrifice consequently was
* See a draft of this agreemeat in tlie registry of the Foar Conrts, Dablin, B. 11?. p. 503. No. 81604. For aaaUtance in the search for this and other legal docnmenta connected vith the Goldamith family, I am indebted to Mr. Thomas Colhoun, of Dnblin, vhoM profesaional knowledge made more euy what I ihoold otherwite have found a Tork of time and labour.
VOL. I. E
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50 LIFE OF aOLDSHITH.
great ; it evinced all the sincerity of an honest, but not the consideration of a prudent man, and, though satisfactory to his pride, crippled the means of pro- Tiding for the remainder of his children.
The immediate effect of this redaction of income fell more heavily on Oliver, who instead of enter- ing college like his brother, a pensioner, was obliged to contemplate the more humble condition of sizer. From this, as a tacit confession of limited means, if not of poyerty, his pride, it is traditionally said, revolted : in his own opinion, it occasioned many subsequent mortifications, deprived him of that consideration among his companions to which youth attaches so much value, and by the priva- tions in consequence endured, depressed his spirit at the time, and even influenced the tenor of his future life, by rendering poverty so familiar that she was never afterwards riewed with terror. In vain it is said his fether endeavoured to conquer what he considered merely juvenile pride ; but a more persuasive adviser appeared in his uncle, the Rev. Thomas Contarine, who had married a sister of Mi aoldsmith. At his house the youth had been a frequent visitor during school vacations ; he had likewise contributed to the expense of his edu- cation ; and haring continued through life an active and steadfast friend, his kindness deserves some further notice here.
He derived his origin fixnn a member of the noble family of the Contarini of Venice, who, having entered into one of the monastic orders, was imprudent enough to form an attachment to a lady
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REV. MR. CONTARINE. 51
Bimilarly situated, a noble uim ; and both wanting resolution to subdue tbeir passion, an elopement and marriage took place. Unable to remain in Italy from this double violation of the laws of the church, they fled to France, where his wife died of small-pox. Here he found himsself pursued by ecclesiastical hostility, and for better security pro- ceeded to England. In London his faith probably formed no introduction to favour, and Ireland was sought as a more congenial asylum. At Chester, on his way thither, he met with a young lady named Chaloner, related to Doctor ChaJoner some time provost of Trinity College, Dublin, who possessing a fluent knowledge of his native lan- guage, tbey found pleasure in the society of each other, until the intercourse terminated in marriage. Attachment to his original faith had probably become loosened by the persecution he had expe- rienced. Conforming, therefore, to the Protestant Church, he obtained by the interest of his wife*8 connections ecclesiastical preferment in the diocese of Elphio ; and of this couple Mr. Contarine was the grandchild.
He was bom at Cheshire, sent to school at Wrexham, in the adjoining county of Denbigh j but removing to Ireland at the age of seventeen, entered Trinity CoUege the following year (I702),*
* "I702 OetobrU die V.—Tko. Contarine Sitator —Filmu Auttin Cmtterine Coloni — Annum agem 18 — Natvi Cettma — Educatv* Wrexom in Wallus tub Ma. MaxKeil—lSUor, Sni, 7Virdaa."~Coll^ Seguter.
E 2 â–
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53 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
where he became distinguished for talents and dili- gence, as well as for the possession of those moral qualities that confer on talents their highest value. A proof of the esteem in which he was held, and of which any one might be proud, was an intimate friendship with the celebrated Bishop Berkley, then his senior in the university about a year, and by whom be is said to have been selected to attend him in the dangerous experiment of ascertaining the degree of pain suffered during strangulation, on which occasion he saved the life of the philoso- pher. Taking orders, he procured the living of Killmore, near Carrick on Shannon, and afterwards that of Oran, near Roscommon, where be built and resided in a pretty house called Emblemore, changed by its subsequent possessor, Mr. Edward Mills, a relative of Goldsmith, for the more clas- sical appellation of Tempe. He lies buried in his church, about a mile and half distant from the house.
Here he was frequently visited by Mr. Charles O'Connor, also residing in the county of Roscom- mon, distinguished for his knowledge of Irish antiquities, who found reason to be pleased with his taste and intelligence. The grandson of this gentleman, the late Dr. O'Connor, librarian at Stowe, in Memoirs of his relative, printed but not published, thus speaks of Mr. Contarine : —
*' Mr. O'Connor was not yet known as an author, but he began to be noticed as an ingenious man. The first acquaintance with whom he opened a
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REV. MR. CONTARINB. 53
literary correspondence was Dr. Fergus ; the next was the Rev. Thomas Contarine, a clergyman of the Established Church, and the well-known com- panion of Bishop Berkley. He was son to an Italian of the Contarini femily at Venice. His parts and the goodness of his heart procured him the friendship of one of the greatest geniuses of the age, and it is to him Goldsmith alludes in his Deserted Village." Here follow the lines, beginning
" Near yonder copse, wliere once the garden Bmiled, &c.
By the following passage from the same work, it would appear as if the Poet had seen under the roof of his uncle another of the characters sketched in the poem, — that of the Veteran, — in an officer of some rank. This may be correct ; hut the terms in which the invitation to the supposed visitor are couched, " kindly bade to stay," imply more of a dependant than the rank assigned him by Mr. O'Connor would warrant, unless we believe the condescension is assumed for the sake of poetic effect :
" It is not generally known that Major M'Der- mott, of Emlagh, in the county of Roscommon, was the old soldier to whom Goldsmith alluded in the following lines —
' The broken «oldier, kuidlf bade to stay. Sate by the fire and talk'd the ni^t away ; Wept o'er his vounda, and tales of Borrov done, Sboulder'd hia crutch, and show'd how fields were won.'
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54 LIFB OF GOLDSMITH.
" I had this anecdote (adds Dr. O'Connor) from Mr. O'Connor, who often saw the Major at Con- tarine's house, and enjoyed his society so much, that he repeatedly spoke of him, even in his last years, as a person whom he never could forget, on account of the rivacity of his temper, and the affect- ing emotions with which he would tell the history of his own adTentures." *
"With his uncle Oliver spent most of the time he was absent from school, and is believed by the family to have derived advantage from his superintendence not only in study, but in the cultivation of those generous feelings by which he was afterwards distinguished. This kind and considerate man saw in him a warmth of heart requiring some skill to direct, and a latent genius that wanted time to mature ; and these impressions none of his subsequent follies and irregularities wholly obliterated. His purse and affection there- fore, as well as his house, were ever open to him : the nephew knew the value of his regard ; and however pleasure or thoughtlessness led him to neglect the admonitions of so benevolent and judicious a Mend, his gratitude and attachment, whenever he had occasion to write or apeak of him, were not the less ardent and sincere.
More attention was probably shown him by this gentleman on account of having no son of his own,
• " Memoin of the Life and Writings of the late Charles O'CoDQor, of Belaganore, by hia Grandson, the Eev. Charles O'Connor, D.D.," obligingly couununicated by Mr, Smith, libra- liau at Stowe.
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BEV. MR. CONTARINC. 55
the only child by his marriage with Miss Goldsmith being a daughter, afterwards Mrs. Jane Lawder, a few years older than the poet, and to whom he wrote some letters, still in existence, when in Lon- don. The death of Mrs. Contarine, in June, 1744, produced no diminution of regard in his uncle.* He is said to have taken the trouble to point out to the youth, in affectionate terms, the advantages of entering college in the only manner his father's circumstances now permitted ^ that no degradation was implied by it, for he had himself entered in a similar manner ; that he had thus acquired the IHendship of the eminent and the good ; and that it would be highly to his credit, and probably benefit his future prospects, to enter the universi^
* Mr. M. A. Mills, a reladve of tlie OoLdemith Cunily, vith whou father the Poet wm iutiiniitely acquainted at college, and who is now the proprietor of Tempe, which waa visited by the writer in 1830, thna conunonicateB some particular* of the monumental remains of that &mily : —
" After three Buccesaive days' excavation among the ruins of Oran Church, I discovered the monnmental stone placed over the remaina of the Contarine &mily. It wu erected by the Ber. Thomaa Contarine, vicar of this parish, to the memory of several of his family, concluding with ' his dearest wife, Jane Contarine, who, after a well-spent life, departed out of it the 12th day of June, 1744, in the 63rd year of her age.' But al- though Dr. Contarine died in this house, and was buried in the same place, the stoue contains no notice of the time of his death or of hie age. The sculpture is in relief, of a very rode description. One comer of the stone is broken, by which a word is defaced ; but as a foe-simile may gratify you, I will make an attempt at it. * * * Mrs. Contarine, formerly Misa Jane Goldsmith, and aunt of the poet, was likewise aunt to my father ; thus our connection, or rather relationship."
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56 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
in a class into ithich admission, of itself, implied some advaDcement in his studies.
A story told him by this gentleman of two of his relatives by the female side, illustrates the pre- vailing propensity of the Poet to introduce his family history into his writings. Id an essay printed in 1760, and now first included in his works, called " A True History for the Ladies*," appears a story contrasting romantic with reason- able love. It is told of Thomas and James Cha- loner, maternal relatives of his uncle. The names are given at length, and the circumstances, with slight embellishment, were true.
The former of these gentlemen, Thomas, married above his own rank, clandestinely and for love, a lady of beauty and fortune ; the latter took a homely partner in his own sphere of life, and without the least touch of romance in their court- ship or union. Both brothers were soon after called by a question of property to Ireland ; but a storm arising, threatened the vessel with destruc- tion on the rocks lining the Irish coast. Thomas, in this emergency, determined to remain and die with his bride : James, who was something more of a philosopher, found there was a chance of escape by swimming j and, telling his wife he would save her if he could, plunged into the sea and reached the shore. Contrary to all expecta- tion the vessel was saved. The more romantic pair felt pride in the superior ardour of their attach- ment, and fondly believed that the same feeling of
* See Works, toI, i.
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KEV. Hit. CONTARINB. 6?
devotion could never cease. The sacrifice, how- ever, meditated on this alarming occasion eaiue to be expected afterward on all the minor matters of life by one, while proportionate gratitude for such compliances were sought or exacted from the other. Both were disappointed ; each expected too much from the other, and could not conceal their dissatis- fection when undeceived. Constraint was mutually felt ; for love, to be lasting, must be free. Slight negligences arose, followed by jealousies and cooi- plaints; and these produced recriminations, cool- ness, and sullen silence. Returning affection caused the first disagreements to be made up; but the original error of demanding more from human nature than its imperfections permit, constantly re- newed them. Gradually they became more serious, causing first indifference, and then alienation ; so that aversion, and, at length, separation, was the result. On the other hand, James and his wife, the more sober couple, of cooler temperaments and expectations, went through life with equa- nimity,— their content greater if their raptures fewer; lived very comfortably, entertained their friends hospitably, and reared a numerous family, for which they contrived to provide.
The moral be inculcates in this story is, that *' Lore between the sexes should be regarded as an inlet to friendship ; nor should the most beau- tiful of either hope to continue the passion a month beyond the wedding day. Marriage strips love of all its finery ; and if friendship does not
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58 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
appear to supply its place, there is then an end of matrimonial felicity." I The time having arrived for entering the uni- versity, Oliver was admitted a sizer of Trinity Col- lege, Dublin, Jmie 11, 1745. An error in the year of admission has prevailed in all accounts hitherto given of him, which arises Irom the university year commencing on the 9th July, so that the six previous months appear, to an inadvertent examiner, to be of earlier date than they really are.
The following is the entry extracted from the official register, in which however there are two errors ; one, stating him to be bom in Westmeath, which arose irom the abode of his &ther being in that coun^ ; and the other, in representing him to be only fifteen years old when he was really more than sixteen, if the date of his birth, November 1728, be, as we must believe, correct : —
irM r Ollvn I Plllni lABomnl Nitui In I EdncUiu ITnuir.lia. (RullvlTW) GoUanllk, Canll Ainu ComlMiii nb (Cnia Wilder. llo. luli. I BU. ICIcrtcLl Si. | WHUHilh. | Ma. HotbEk |
In a list of eight sizers entered on the same day, his name is the last enrolled. His answering, therefore, in the previous examination, it is pre- sumed, was less satisfactory than that of others, there being on such occasions a contest for su- periority among such as apply for the benefits of the foundation. But, considering that be was the junior candidate of the party, and no doubt triumphed over many other competitors, the fact of admission at all is evidence of con- siderable proficiency in classical knowledge.
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TBINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN. 59
There are five classes of students in Trinity Col- lege ; noblemeii, noblemen's sons, fellow-commoners, pensioners, and sizers or servitors, or, as they have been sometimes called in familiar language, in Ire- land, poor scholars : one of those judicious and considerate arrangements of the founders of such in- stitutions, that gives to the less opulent the oppor- tunity of cultivating learning at a trifling expense. The sizer has his commons and tuition free, and pays for his chambers a sum little more than no- minal; while, by officiating as chanter at chapel, vrhat is called regulator at commons, or other minor offices, he has the opportunity, if industriously dis- posed, of gaining sums that may, with economy, render him nearly independent of assistance from his friends.
To obtain these advantages he is expected to come more advanced in classical learning than others : he is commonly of a riper age , is expected to display application in his studies ; and in time to acquire, or to struggle for, university honours, such as a scholarship or premiums. He wears a black gown of coarse staff without sleeves ; a plain black cloth cap without a tassel ; and dines at the Fellows* table after they have retired. At the period in question they wore red caps, and were compelled to perform derogatory offices, such as sweeping part of the courts in the morning, carrying up the dishes from the kitchen to the Fellows' dinner table, and waiting in the hall until that body had dined. From the more menial compliances they have .long been relieved; and from the last, that of
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DO LIFE OP OOLD5HITH.
carrying up dinner, about fifty years ago, by a sizer flinging one of the dishes with its contents at the head of a citizen, who, on Trinity Sunday, when many assembled to witness the scene, made imper- tinent remarks on the duty he was obliged to per- form. When brought before the then provost (Murray), who had himself been a sizer, for this irregularity, the latter had the manliness to tell the student that it was but a paltry species of pride to be above the performance of what college regula- tions required ; that he (the provost) had performed them with humility and thankfulness in return for the advantages received, and which had raised him from nothing to the situation he then held. With a sharp rebuke to the offender, porters were thence- forward appointed to relieve the sizers from this mark of servitude.
In the routine of these duties. Goldsmith no doubt took his share; and the indignant feeling they occasioned in a sensitive mind breaks out in the Essay on Polite Literature in Europe, when speaking of universities :^" Sure pride itself has dictated to the fellows of our colleges the absurd passion of being attended at meals and on other public occasions, by those poor men who, willing to be scholars, come in upon some charitable foun- dation. It implies a contradiction, for men to be at once learning the liberal arts and at the same time treated as slaves ; at once studying freedom and practising servitude." * -
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TEINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN. 61
ScHnething of the same kind appears again in a letter to his brother written soon after this time, in which, however, the unquestionable benefits derived to indigence from the institution are admitted : —
*' The reasons you have given me for breeding up your son a scholar are judicious and convincing. I should however be glad to know for what particular profession he is designed. If he be assiduous and divested of strong passions (for passions in youth always lead to pleasure), be may do very well in your college ; for it must be owned that the in- dustrious poor have good encouragement there, perhaps better than in any other in Europe. But if he has ambition, strong passions, and an exquisite sensibility of contempt, do not send him there, unless you have no other trade for him except your
At present, students of this description have no just cause for complaint in Dublin. It is obviously for the advantage of the class of persons whom it is meant to benefit that some difierencc, though neither derogatory nor unreasonable, should exist between them and other students. Were all dis- tinction abrogated, the sons of those whose circum- stances do not require the indulgence would not hesitate to become sizers ; and in time the really indigent, who are too often likewise the friendless, would either be excluded, or the number of candi- dates so much increased, — and there are always many more than can be admitted, — as to diminish materially the chance of being received.
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One of those precediog him on the list on the day of entry, was his friend and school-fellow from Edgeworthstown, afterwards the Rev. John Beatty, his senior in years and superior in attainments ; an advanti^e which, as appears from the records, he retained during the whole of their stay in college. They were placed under the same tutor, and became, as is believed by the relatives of the latter, for a time, what is familiarly called among the students chums, that is, occupied the same apartments ; these were the top rooms adjoining the library of the building now numbered 35, and where the name of the poet, scratched on a window pane with a diamond, in one of his idle moods, is still to he seen. Another, who is said to have stood in the same familiar relation to him at a subsequent period, was the Rev. Josiah Marshall, afterwards rector of Garvagh, in the county of Londonderry. Others have been named who died at a more remote period J and a few contemporaries who remembered him survived in various parts of Ireland at the commencement of this century.
Among such as are known to have been his intimate associates were Mr. Edward Mills, a relative, Robert Bryauton, Charles and Edward Purdon, James Willington (with whom he after- wards became associated in London) and Doctors Thomas Wilson and Michael Kearney, afterwards fellows of the college. The Rev. Mr. Wolfen and Mr. Laucfalan Madeane knew him well ; and he appears to have been slightly remembered by
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TBINITY COLLEGE, DUBL[N. 63
Burke and Flood ; Richard Malone, afterwards Lord Sunderlin ; Bishops Bernard, Marlay, and Stopford ; the two former afterwards well known in the literary circles of London.
The first notice of his college career was derived from Dr. Thomas Wilson. Early in I776. Mr. Edmond Malone, to whose critical labours our poetical literature is eo much indebted, having collected the works of the poet for publication in Dublin, in two volumes '12mo. (1777) — afterwwxJs republished in I78O by Evans, a bookseller in London — applied to that gentleman for such me- morials as official records supplied, and in return received the following letter, transcribed from the original now in possession of the writer.* It was never before printed. A few memoranda were added of his entry into college, and the time of obtaining his degree, which being erroneous in part, need not appear here ; the former is already, and the latter will be hereafter given correctly} with a notice of a youthful indiscretion in which the poet became involved.
" I send you," writes Dr. Wilson, Feb. 24, I776, " all the intelligence I can derive from the College Registry relating to Dr. Goldsmith. 'Twill clear up one point, which will prove a satis^tion to his surviving friends, as it will show that he was never expelled, and that the offence for which he was
* B7 fiiTOvi of Dr. H. U. Thonuan, o£ Piccadilly, Loadon.
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64 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
censured was only a juvenile indiscretion, and did not in tile least affect his moral charater.
" While he resided in the college, he exhihited no specimens of that genius which in his maturer years raised his character so high. Squalid poverty and its coDComitants, idleness and despondence, probably checked every aspiring hope, and repressed the exertion of his talents ; and the savage hnitality that shone so conspicuous in the truly amiable gentleman (Mr. Wilder) who was to rule his studies under the notion of a tutor, was better calculated to frighten than to allure.
" I well remember, for he was in the class below me, that his tutor examining him in the Sen. Soph, class, commenced his judgments with a Male, and concluded them with a Valde Bene. 'Twas a mistake that the good Doctor (the tutor) often fell into, to think he was witty when he was simply malicious. Possibly the world is obliged for his (Goldsmith's) works to his idleness and miscarriages in the coUege, which deprived him of all hope of rising in the church to a curacy, on which he might have comfortably starved to a good old age."
The character of the unhappy person to whom the direction of his studies was entrusted, " under the notion of a tutor," as Dr. Wilson expresses it, appears to have been wholly unfit, either in temper or general conduct for the superintendence of youth. Many unfavourable stories are still told of him in the university ; and the mortifications endured by his
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MR. WILDER. bo
pupil from mingled caprice and harshness, were supposed to have not only obstructed his progress in teaming but in producing despondency and irregularities, tinged with a darker hue parts of his fnture life. This person was fixed upon from being the younger son of a gentleman living within a few mites of the Rev. Mr. Goldsmith, and Oliver had been especially recommended to his care. He possessed considerable scientific attain- ments, clouded by a disposition represented as almost savage, and passions so irregular ae to re- quire for himself that indulgence he rarely extended to others. In Dublin he was noted for strength, agility, and ferocity; an instance of which was exhibited in the streets by springing, at a bound, from the pavement on a hackney coach proceeding at a fast pace, and felling to the ground the driver, who had accidentally touched his face with the whip. ~ Of his strange caprice or injustice in the performance of his public duties, the Rev. Dr. Marsh mentioned an instance. When filling the Senior Lecturer's chair, the first three places were admitted to be the right of Marsh, Mead, and Hans, the best answerers in the order of their names, which he thought fit to transpose in the order of Hans, Mead, and Marsh, assigning as the reason the superior euphony of the latter arrangement.
To such students as incurred his dislike, he proved a bitter pereecutor at the public examin- ations ; and an illustration of this disposition appears in the vindictive conduct adopted towards another.
VOL. I. F
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06 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
When a student himself, he found constant means of evading college discipline, and gaining egress from its walls at night by the connivance of a companion, whoso window in the front square being secured hj an iron palisading, a moveable bar had been skilfully introduced unknown to the authorities, which admitted of removal at pleasure. Soon afterwards (1744), be was elected to a fellowship : the office of Subdean, who has charge of the general conduct of the students, came to him in rotation ; and now, from being an offender against discipline he became its most strict, and often severe preserver. The first exertion of authority was a visit to the apartment of which he had formerly so often made use, but unexpectedly he found the outlet already secured. On sternly in- quiring of its then possessor, a friend of the previous occupier, whether there had not been a screw bar before the window, the reply was in the affirm- ative, and that he very well knew it. To further questions uttered in an insulting manner, by whom the alteration was made, the student (afterwards
the Rev. Mr. G , an amiable man) was tempted
to reply, " By me, sir ; for I Anew you." The re- mark was never forgiven ; he assailed him unremit- tingly ever afterwards at the public examinations, and when his proficiency admitted of little censure, found a handle for ill nature and sarcasm in the personal peculiarities of the youth. These in re- turn produced retorts" not quite in keeping with subordination, or the decorum of the place and
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Ha. TVILUBR. 67
occasion, until at length an opportuoity offered of turning him down to the bottom of his class.
With passions so uncontrolled and unamiable, he could be considerate and charitable. On the death of Dr. Maguire, about I768, he succeeded to the mathematical chair ; at his own expense, he published, for the benefit of the widow and family, an edition of Newton's Arithmetic, prepared for the press by the deceased, with copious notes by himself. He intimated likewise a design of completing and publishing, from the same kind motives, three other unfinished treatises of his pre- decessor, on Arithmetic, Equations, and Ratios. And it may be remarked that at the moment (1770) he first appeared in the press, his quondam pupil, after long struggling with obscurity and poverty, had attained the summit of literary reputation. The end of this gentleman proved as melancholy as his habits had been exceptionable. Early in 1770, he quitted the university for one of its livings, that of Rathmelton in the county of Donegal. Here, it is said, a female of equivocal character exeraised such influence in his house as to deny him admission when he chose to stop out late at night, and on attempting at such times to enter by the window, usually met with strong resistance, until certain terms of capitulation with the party within had been proposed and accepted. It is therefore scarcely matter of surprise that he was found dead one morning on the floor of his room, with traces F S
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68 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
of severe contusion, £he cause of which, as no investigation took place, remained unknown.*
Few things could be more unfortunate for the pupil than the selection — innocently, indeed, for his peculiarities were not then developed — of such a preceptor. His age and thoughtlessness required forbearance ; his temper and habits some indulge ence ; bis indolence, if it at this time existed, rather persuasion than harsh reproois and disgraces ; and It further appeared that bis tastes and favourite pursuits were classical, while those of bis tutor were devoted to science. This did not tend to allay latent prejudices formed by the latter : for the first eighteen months indeed no particular instance of hostility on the one side, or dislike on the other, is recorded, though we had evidence of strong distaste to the usual science course in the university having been early imbibed by him, and a remembrance of the mortification it occasioned, retained by him through life. Poetry and the more abstract studies have little in common ; matters of fact and of imagin- ation rarely retain an equal degree of regard in the same minds j and we can readily conceive a young man of lively fancy fonder ofexerdsing its qualities, such as they are, than of treasuring up for future use the scientific speculations and acquisitions of philosophers.
As from the first, he did not hesitate to avow
* CommDaicated by s gnmd niece of the Poet, vho, becaoie, by marriage, singularly enough, connected with the nnfortunate tutor, to the Rev. John Oraham.
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TRINITT COLLEGE, DUBLIN. 69
dislike to all the graver studies of the place, be at a future time appeared to seek an excuse for it ; and many years afterwards, when writing the Life of Famell, seemed willing hypothetically to infer, what he made no attempt to prove, that a similar feeling was entertained by that poet. "His progress," he Bays, "through the college course of study, was probably marked with but little splendour ; bis imagination might have been too warm to relish the cold logic of Burgersdicius, or the dreary subtleties of Smiglesius."* By the accounts of his friend Beatty, who reasoned with him on his neglect, and the offence likely to be taken by bis tutor on this account, he expressed repeatedly his contempt for mathematics, and greater dislike, if possible, toward ethics and logic In the same spirit he tells us, in the Essay on Polite Literature in Earope — '* Mathematics are, perhaps, too much studied at our universities. This seems a science to which the meanest intellects are equal. I forget who it is that says, ' All men might understand mathematics if they would.' "t
Displeasure, arising from the recollection of re- proofs incurred by neglect of this study, may be traced in several passages of the same work. In the following, in addition to an implied condemnation of science, we have an indirect apology for another
• See Works, vol. iii.
t See Works, vol. i. The dislike of Oray to mathematicB uid metapbyaics geeniB to huve been quite u great sa tbat of OoldBmith.
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70 LIFE OP GOLDSMITH.
of his characteristica soon afterwards developed — a love of gaiety and social enjoyiaents, — mnch mota easy to censure than at his age to resist :
' " Upon this principle (that of giving, as he says, too much encouragement to seminaries of learning) all our magnificent endowments of college are erroneous, and, at hest, more frequently enrich the prudent than reward the ingenious. A lad whose passions are not strong enough in youth to mislead him from that path of science which hia tutors and not his inclination have chalked out, by four or five years* perseverance will probably obtain every advantage and honour his college can bestow. I forget whether the simile has been used before, but I would compare the man whose youth has been thus passed in the tranquillity of dispassionate pru- dence to liquors that never ferment, and, conse- quently, continue always muddy. Passions may raise a commotion in the youthful breast, but they disturb only to refine it. However this be, mean talents in colleges are oflen rewarded with an easy subsistence. The candidates for preferment of this kind often regard their admission as a patent for future laziness ; so that a life begun in studious labour is often continued in luxurious affluence."
There is, in these remarks, with perhaps some- thing of truth, more of a querulous spirit arising from his own position while in college, the little consideration he enjoyed in it, or the mortifications it was his lot to experience. It is obviously easy, but fallacious, to censure general systems of education,
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TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN. 71
because maoy of the details may be inapplicable to particular individdalB. Were it distinctly foreseen, that the youth of to-day is to be the distinguished poet, statesman, or matbematician of a future pe- riod, his education might be varied, possibly with advanta^, though this by no means follows ; for exclusive devotion to one pursuit is as objectionable in education as in other things. But the bent of a boy's mind cannot always be ascertained with pre- cision ; even his wishes cannot safely be trusted ; and he must, therefore, as the sure method of dis- cipliniog and enlarging his faculties, follow " that path which his tutors, and not his inclinations, have chalked out."
That colleges enrich the prudent, is someUmes true ; bat who are to be rewarded, — the atten- tive or the negligent F That the ingenious are neglected is so far from being the fact, that young men who exhibit proofs of talent at college are noticed, praised, and even remembered long after the occasion, in a greater degree than their share of merit probably deserved ; as the future lives of many have furnished little evidence of superiority. Inge- nuity, therefore, in whatever form displayed, rarely passes without its reward. But if the implied com- pact entered into with such institutions, that of con- forming to the system by which they are conducted, be disregarded, no just cause for complaint can fairly exist if their benefits be withheld. Poets, indeed, may think otherwise ; and severM of our distinguished nfunes in that class looked back with little satisfac-
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72 UF£ OF GOLDSMITH.
tioo to the period of their lives spent at a University ; willing, perhaps, to forget their own errors or negli- gences in the occasional defects or mistakes observed in their instructors ; but it is idle for the inex- perienced to find fault with modes of study or the restraints of discipline. When a student complains of his college, the probability is, that the college has much more reason to complain of him.
The truth of the simile employed as illustrative of the force of juvenile passions, although repeated in three other passages of his writings, is very questionable ; for many of our greatest men require no such apology for their youth : the allusion, however, is to himself. A certain thoughtlessness, supposed to belong to the poetical temperament, became early developed, and a facility of temper that rarely resisted importunity of any kind, gave him the character of good nature. His dispositicm, naturally social and generous, found encouragement in kindred associations with youth. Passions at such seasons, he informs us, lead to pleasure ; and his, from all the accounts that can now be gleaned, appear not to have been inactive, although no specific breaches of propriety, or of college discipline, were at that period laid to his charge. The general eff^t is supposed to have fostered that disinclin- ation to the proper studies of the place, which on other occasions he felt disposed to attribute wholly to taste : the expenses incurred in amusements but ill Buited the nature of his supplies, at all times of a scanty description. A stor}' has been told of his
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DEATH OF HIS FATHER. 73
having at this period formed an imprudent female attachment ; which, but for mterposition of some of his friends, was likely to have terminated in marriage.
One of the qualifications which ensured popularity among fellow-students, but often dangerous to the possessor from the temptations to which it leads, was the talent of singing a good song. His voice, natu- rally tolerable, acquired more power by cultivation, and by a little taste and skilful management became very agreeable. In London, to a lat« period of life, he amused his friends with Irish songs, exhibiting much of the peculiar humour of his country. A taste for mxmc formed an additional recommend- ation, though perhaps with no considerable know- ledge of it as a science.' He played tolerably well on the German fiute ; it is recorded that even at this time whenever vexed by temporary annoyances he had recourse to this instrument, and blew it with a kind of mechanical vehemence till his equanimi^ of temper returned.
Early in 1747) his &ther, whose character he took pleasure in sketching in several of his produc- tions, died ; the induction of his successor, the Rev. Mr.. Wynne, taking place in the March of that year. The wealth of the family, never as we have seen great, or as he himself hints, well hus- banded, necessarily suffered a serious diminution :
* See " Of the Opera in England," " Schools of Mtuic," Works, vol. i., and various passages in his writings.
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74 LIFB OF GOLDSMITH.
the means of the widow were little more than suffi- cient to provide the necessaries of life for the other branches of her family ; remittances to Oliver therefore ceased, and liis prospects became darker than ever. In this situation it would have been necessary to have withdrawn from college, hut for the occasional contribations of Mends, among whom his uncle Contarine formed the principal ; these were from their nature limited, and perhaps irregular. His difficulties were consequently con- siderable, during the whole of bis subsequent stay in the universi^, and no doubt often occasioned that state of " squalid poverty" of which Dr. Wilson speaks. In this situation a constitutional buoyanc}- or, as he phrases it in another place, " a knack at hoping," kept him from despair ; hut, when com- bined with the reproaches of his tutor, rendered frequent despondency and depression unavoidable. Under such circumstances, he was more than once driven to the necessity of pawning his books, until the stated supply arrived, or some friendly hand interposed to release them ; when on such emergen- cies Beatty* would lead him others for the purposes of study. The disposal of the books coming to the knowledge of the tutor, he, in addition to hitter taunts and reprehension, said that he was like the siUy fellow in Horace — Mutat quadrata rotvndu. There is, we are assured, np stimulus to ingo-
* CoDunuiucatecl by hia md, the Be*. Blr. Beatty.
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DEATH OF HIS FATHER. 7^
noity like distress. Goldsmith was now taught for the first time to draw upon his resources in a mode which, however heneath the dignity, was not inappropriate to the calling of the future poet. This was the composition of street hallads, to which Beatty* knew him frequently to resort when in want of small sums for present exigencies. The price of these was 6ve shillings each, and all that he wrote found a ready sale at a ahop known . as the sign of the Rein-deer, in Mountrath Street. None of the names of these verses were recollected at the time Mr. Beatty related the fact to his friends, but popalar occurrences commonly supplied the 8ubjects.t Poor as they may be supposed to have been in character, from the remuneration received, and the class for whom intended, he is said to have exhibited for his ofi^pring all the par- tiality of a parent, by strolling the streets at night to hear them sung, and marking the degree of applause which each received from the auditors.
* Commomcated by his son, the Rer. Mr. Beatty.
t Mr. Crofton Croker is now making an extensiTe collection of the btdlad« of Ireland ; and it is jnst possible that by pecu- liar alliuion or phraseology, aomething of Goldsmith may be detected.
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76 LIFE OF GOLDBHITU.
CHAP. III.
WOT OF THE STUDENTS. SENTENCE UPON GOLDfiMITH AND
OTHERS. ABSENTS HIUSELF FROM THE UNIVBR8ITY.
ANECDOTES. TAKES T
In May, l?*?! * "ot of the students of Trinity College in which he took part, had nearly involved him in more serious difficulties than any yet expe- rienced, although his tutor* (for such was the character of this gentleman) was sud to have encouraged privately what he ' was afterwards called upon to punish in his corporate capacity. A few of the particulars are given by Dr. Wilson, in the postscript to the letter to Malone already quoted : —
" Several scholars were expelled for raising a sedition and riot in the city of Dublin. 'Twaa occasioned by a report that a scholar had been arrested in Fleet Street. To revenge this supposed insult, a numerous body of scholars rushed into town under the command of Gallows Walsh, — who in those days was controller-general of riots, — explored the dens of the bailiffs, conducted the prisoners in triumph to the college, and pumped
• CommunictUd by Mr. Webbe, author of " Travels on (he Rhine, in Switzerland, and Italy."
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RIOT OF THE STUDENTS. 77
them soundly in the old cistern. In those days of primitive simplicity, the pumping of constables was a very fashionable amusement. The com- mander then proposed breaking open Newgate, and making a general jail delivery. The enter- prise was attempted, but failed for want of cannon. Roe, who was the constable of the castle, and was well supplied with artillery, repulsed the assailants ; and some townsmen, whose curiosity induced tbem to become spectators of this futile attempt, were killed in the action.
" Goldsmith, though not a prioapal, was present at the transaction, and was publicly admonished for aiding and abetting the riot, — in the words of the sentence, guod seditioni favisset et tumutiuantibus opem tulisset."
In a portion of the juvenile correspondence of Edmund Burk§ lately discovered, and of which the writer has to regret he had not the use on a previous occasion, another account of this transac- tion appears, written by a fellow-student, after- wards the Rev. William Dennis, LL.D., Rector of Dunmore in the diocese of Tuam.* This gen- tleman was, with a few youthful friends in col- lege named Hamilton, Mohun, Buck, Brennan, and one or two more, a member of the debating society formed by Burke — private in its nature, and
* To thiB wM added that of Clare and Clonshainbo, in the diocese of Kildare, throagh the interest of Burke. The cor- respondence is in the hands of his grandson, Mr. W. Crawford, now a member of the English Bar, and to whom I am indebted for the perusal of this and many more letters.
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78 LIFE OF aoU>SMlTH.
meant merely for their own amusement. Many of the
exercises, amusements, iriendehips, and even letters of these youthful associates, seem from a large packet of correspondence atill in existence, to have been in common ; and their proceedings were communi- -cated in joint letters to Kichard Shackleton, sod of their former schoolmaster at Ballitore, of irhich the following is one. The subjects discussed were usually literary — chiefly poetry, criticism, and the drama ; and furnish evideDce of what the writer has elsewhere adTaaced*, that the mind of Burke was as active in degree in very early, as in later life. No apology will be necessary for giving the letter at length, although the latter part only re- lates to our subject ; it is illustrative of the cha- racteristics, perhaps the operations, of mind. We find here in juxta-position the different occupations at the same university, at the sai^e moment, and when nearly of the same age, of Burke and Gold- smith ; the sedateness of pursuit, the industry and labour . for self-improvement of the future states- man, contrasted with the inconsiderate love of froHc and careless jollity of the future poet ; yet both destined to become distinguished ornaments of their country. The first part of the letter, though written by Burke, is not signed by him, this being left for Dennis, who was to conclude it, which he does with a mock heroic account of the riot, as indeed all their communications were
* Life of Burke, 2d eA. vol. i. p. 1.^. and passim.
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JUVENILE LETTER OF BURKE. 79
couched in a jocular vein. Shackleton's letters in return were likewise addressed to them in common.
"May 28. 1747. - " Scene I. — Buhke, Dennis. — The Club-room.
— Dennis goes away about some Business.
Manet Burke solus.
" As the committee appointed for the trial of Dennis has just now broke up without doin^ any thing, for want of members sufficient, I have time enough on my hands to write what you desire — ' an account of the proceedings of our society since your departure ; in which you have been a perfect prophet, for Mohun was formally expelled last lustrum by the censor, Mr. Dennis. After an ' examination of his conduct from the first found- ation of the society, it was found exceeding bad, without one virtue to redeem it, for which he suffered the above sentence. He was tried some time before (Burke, pres.) for his bad behaviour ; but behaved still worse at trial, which brought fresh punishments on him, and at length expulsion. This is not the only revolution in our club. Mr. Buck's conduct much altered for the worse ; we seldom see him, for which he has not been spared.
Dennis, Hamilton, and your humble ha I ha!
attend constantly ; Cardegrif, as we expected, middling. You all this while are uneasy to know
* A name given to one of the party, bnt to whom does not
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80 LIFE OF OOLDSMITH.
the cause of Dennis's accusation ; it is no less than an attempt to overtum this society, by an insolent behaviour to the president and society. I am the accuser ; and when you know that, yon will tremble for him. I must congratulate you likewise on the censor's minor thanks, which you received with a declaration that had you entered earlier into the society you had been entitled to the grand thanks. The censor gave himself the grand thanks, and the same to me.
" We had, during your absence, the following debates very well handled : — On the Stadtholder — Burke, an oration ; lenity to the rebels, a debate — Dennis for, Burke against ; Prince of Orange to harangue his troops — Dennis ; the sailors in a ship turning pirates — Dennis for,' Burke and Hamilton against ; Catiline to the AUobroges — Dennis ; General Hueke for engaging at Falkirk — Burke ; Hawley against Dennis ; Brutus the First to the Romans — Burke. Hamilton is now president, and a very good one. You use me oddly in your letter ; you accuse me of laziness, and what not (though I am likely to fill this sheet). I did not expect this from your friend- ship, that you should think I would, in your ab- sence, refuse you my company for a few lines, when I attended you in town for many a mile. You behave to me just after the manner that a vile prologue I've read desires the audience to use the actors — 'But if you damn, be it discreetlv done \ flatter us here, and damn us when you're
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JUVEHILS I.ETTER OP Bl/SKE. 81
gone' (you see I have not lost my faculty of quoting Grub Street) ; just so, when here you blarney me ; in the coimtry you abuse me ; but that shall not hinder me from writing on, for (to show you my Latin) ' tenet insanabile multos scribendi cacoethes.' Come we now to Shar* — the begin- ning is dark, indeed, but not quite void of connec- tion, < for whose good effects, &c.* connects with the first line ; all the rest is, properly, between parenthesis. Phteton * sells well still ; tell me exactly what is said concerning his appearance in print in the country. Miss Cotterf is quite charmed with your writings, and more of them would not be disagreeable to that party. I have my- self almost Bnished a piece — an odd one ; but yon shall not see it until it comes out, if ever : write the rest, Pantagruel, for I can stay no longer ;~~ past nine. — I am now returned, and no Pantagruel, — Your oration on Poverty is, I think, very good, and has in some parts very handsome touches ; you shall have the club's opinion next time, which was deferred till we should have a full house. I re- ceived your novel, «nd will read it (and peruse it?) carefully.
* Jnvenile pTodnc1ioTl^ the nature of' which does not appear. Shflf^leton and Bnilce commniucated their vritiiiga to each other for mntiiBl correction.
â– f Supposed to be the daughter of a bookseller, vith whom these yonng writers were connected in their publioatioiis.
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83 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
(Continuation of the same letter.')
"Dablin, May 28, 1747. "Bear Richard, (Shackleton.) " You may be surprised to see the date in the middle of a letter, hut I have heard of your resent* ment at letters not heing dated, and I most tell you, though I don't read news, or consult propOBala for Grubean works, yet I know the day of the month as well as Burke, who does both, yet does not give an account of it. Now I have got so far upon that important matter of time (for we chro- nologists ar-e very careful of it), I'll come to business ; and, first, I have prosecuted Mohun (while a private member) with the utmost vigour, and when Censor expelled him ; and now for my good services, I am threatened with expulsion by Burke, who is a terrible fellow, and is very active (at getting me punished) in the club, though I have hitherto shown myself a good member. I am now accused of a design of destroying the club (thus modem patriots urge every thing an introdaction to popery and slavery which they don't like), when, alas 1 no one has a greater desire to preserve it ; nay, so strong is it, that though I find in myself a strong desire to keep the chair when I get it, yet my regard for four or five members quells it. The approbation I met vrith in the character of Cato (Cen$or) has made me so much the more a stickler for liberty, that not bearing any encroachment on it in our assembly, I am deemed a criminal ; and
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JUVENILE LBTTBR OF BDRKE, ETC. 83
what's worse, my accuser a violent one, and my judge the person whom 1 have injured; you see the justice.
(Same letter contintied.)
" Friday morning, M«y 29, (1747.)
" Burke is now writing the proceedings of the assembly, and just saying hell pass over part of the debates because he ia tired ; you find he is semper eadem j as lazy as you imagined, though I must do him the justice to say he designed writing hist night ; what prevented it heretofore was our expectation of your first challenge, and likewise Ned (Burke) thought it prepraterous to be threshing his brains for you when he is writing for the public } pray laugh heartUy now lest you should split when you see the subject he has chosen and the manner he has treated it ; but I will not anticipate your plea^ sure by acquainting you any more.
" I wonder Ned (Burke) did not acquaint yon with several important afiairs which have happened in town, but I'll snpply his place. Jupiter, perceiv- ing the days devoted to him * had passed equally disregarded with those of the other gods, was resolved to fiii&e it now more remarkable, for lo ! a sudden fury seized the Trinitarians t j asA with impetuous haste they poured through all the streets, in hopes to free a wight, by catchpole's powerful
* Ttraraclay — Die Jovic — ^the day of the riot, t Members of Trinity College.
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84 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
hand to durance hard conveyed. Sol, fearful of their swift approach, now • • • was hastening to unyoke his steeds — sure most just it is to call him God of wisdom — for had he stayed, what might he not expect irom those hiades who with Tictorious arms had now overthrown the myrmidons of Dublin's mighty Lord. Now see the chance of war ; the wight who erst in triumph led the hopeless victim to the prison vile, now fell himself a prey to those whose fury heretofore he'd braved j who with Joe as great as when Achilles caught old Priam's murdering son and with relentless fury tied him to his chariot, so they, with fury equal and no less relentless, forced the wretched captive to tlieir own dominions, there spoiled him of his armour, and with force as when the great Hercules the fierce Antseus from the ground uprear'd, then plunged him in the horrid gulph for catchpoles vile prepared, where no kind nymph or dolphin huge, him bearing might relieve.* Thus plunged in water and in grief, long time he lay. At length his arms uplifting, he implores their kind relief, which they in brief afford, and save the wretched captive from his &te, — but naked led him midst the admiring crowd, to the great building where the varied race of merchants, catchpoles, alder- men and dons, wh , thieves, and judge fill up
the noisy choir. Thus with many a shout victorious
* AUnding to docking the BherifTB o£Qcera in b great cistern then in the «rea of Trinity CdUge, as punishment for presum- ing to airest » student.
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^!^^\ JUVENILE LBTTER OF BUBKE, ETC. 85
marched the glorious youth, till the dun night now warned them to retreat.
" The remainder you must take in plain prose. The mob attempting to force the Black dog*, the gaoler fired, killed two, and wounded others. Five scholars -were expelled for the riot, and five more admonished : so ended an affair which made great noise in the city. Another man was killed since a fighting. Thus a former Thursday was remarkable ; and yesterday was signalized by the receipt of your letter and paper, which I like much, but wish you bad wrote in quarto ; pray write the other so, and send it speedily. Brennsn is well, and so is Garret']', who gives bis service to you, Ned desires me to tell yon the caps he will send by the next opportu- nity. Excuse the shortness of this, but I shall be more prolix in my nest ; till when, believe me your sincere iriend and bumble servant,
" William Dennis, or Cato
" THE Unfortunate.
" Ned (Burke) got your letter first and keeps it to join with those he has of yours : he insists I have no right to it, though it was directed to me : pray settle that point in your next. — Adieu,
" Si Vales Valeo."
* Newgate, it ia preBnmed, firom the prenooB atatement of Dr. ^lUon. It was then, as appean from other notices of this riot, a dilapidated and insecare bnilding, which accounts for the stodenta attempting to force it.
t Elder bntber of Edmund Bnrke.
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86 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
So flagrant a breach of University discipline as
this riot proved, and the loss oi life by which it was attended, called for the moat serious inquiry and punishment. In conaequence four of the ring- leaders, (not five, as stated in the preceding account,) were expelled, and four others some- thing leas guilty though prominent in the iray, among whom was Goldsmith, publicly admonished. Such a punishment though not slight at that time, would now preclude the offender from a degree. The following is the sentence passed on this occa- sion, after noticing the expulsion of the others : —
" £t oum constat xTisuper OHverum Goldsmith (three other names are likewise mentioned), Autc aeditioni faome et tumultuantibus opera tulisae vi- sum et pnepogito et sociis aenioribus prcBdictos OHverum Goldsmith (cum aliis) publice admonere et hanc admonitionem in album CollegH referri."
To efiace as much as possible the unfavourable impression made by this occurrence, as well as to add to his means of support, he appears to have exerted himself with some effect. In the month following the reprimand, June \5, l?^?* he seems to have tried for a scholarship â– , but, failing in this great object of ambition, was elected an exhibi- tioner on the foundation of Erasmus Smyth ; a person who dying in 1669, left a large fortune to charitable uses under the management of the prin- cipal official personages in Ireland, and among other bequests, sums for two fellowships and thirty- five exhibitions in the University ; twenty being
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TRINITY COLLEQE, DUBLIN. 87
of the lai^r, and fifteen of the smaller description. Goldsmith's was one of the latter; out of the nine- teen elected on this occasion, his name stands seven- teenth on the list ; the emoloment was trifling, being no more than about thirty shillings* ; but the credit something, ibr it was the first distinction he had obtained in his college career. It seems, however, to have been but a short time enjoyed. In the September, December, and following March quarters, a cross appears against his name in the books, signifying either suspension or absence in the country, though the former is said to have been the reason; and in June, 1748, it is omitted alto- gether in the list of exhibitioners. The cause is considered to have been an act of venial impru- dence mentioned by his sister, and probably pro- duced by joy for the recent honour he had received ; so that its celebration would seem to have proved the occasion of its loss.
He had invited a party of young Mends of both sexes from the city, to supper and a dance in his chambers, when his tutor hearing of the irregu- larity proceeded thither, addressed him in gross terms of abuse before his guests, and being pro- bably irritated by the replies of the pupil, at length proceeded to the uDwarrantable extremity of per-
* Such would appear to luiTe b«en the Bmonnt ai that period, aa the Rev. Dr. Sadleir, Librarian of theUniTenity, did me the &Toiiito point oat; bat at preflent (1832) Eraamm Smyth'a ezlubitionB are more valaable ; tvent; prodadng 81., and fifteen 61, per annnm.
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88 LIFE OP GOLDSMITH.
sonal chastisement. The effect of this violence upon a sensitive mind like that of Goldsmith may he conceived : he thought himself irretrievahly dis- graced ; and with that " exquisite sensibility of contempt," of which he speaks on another occasion, determined to forsake- not only the scene of his mortification, but bis country } and, unknown even to his friends, seek his fortune in a kinder region.
With this view, be disposed of bis books and clothes and quitted the University, but loitered in Dublin until with no more than a shilling left, he set out for Cork. His intention was to embark there for some other country, he knew not whither. On this shilling he supported himself, as he affirmed, for three days ; and then parting by degrees with his clothes, was at length reduced to such extre- mity of famine, that after fasting twenty-four hours, he thought a handfiil of grey peas given him by a girl at a wake, the most comfortable repast be had ever made. Fatigue and privation produced what, perhaps, persuasion might not have effected, —con- viction of his folly and imprudence. The prefect of going to America (for this seemed his destination) was therefore for the present abandoned ; his steps turned gradually homeward ; and when near enough to communicate with his brother, he sent forward a messenger to announce bis situation ; and Henry, who immediately went to the assistance of the wanderer, clothed and carried him back to college, where something of a reconciliation was attempted with the tutor.
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THINITT COLLEGE, DUBLIN. 89
It is not to be supposed this was very cordial or permanent : he who descends to personal out- rage upon a youth nearly of man's estate will scarcely forgive the object of his violence j nor will the latter look for a iriend or instructor in one whom he must consider as a tyrant. These feelings, no doubt, operated in the minds of both : the pupil became despondent, and if not sulky, indifferent probably to applause or censure ; while the tutor, irritated by what he deemed n^Iect or dislike, persecuted him, as we learn from Dr. Wilson and others, at the quarterly examinations by sar- castic taunts or ironical praises, galling in the extreme to a youth of sensibility. One of the scenes to which this mutual aversion gave rise was related by his Mend Mr. Beatty, a witness on the occasion ; and it is characteristic of others which occurred in the public intercourse of the tutor not with one only but several of his pupils.
While lecturing his class in the spring of 1748, he desired Goldsmith to explain the centre of gravity, which however he was unable to do. The former then went through a formal explanation, and when be had finished, sternly called out, " Now, blockhead, where is your centre of gravity ?" An- noyed by the terras of the reproof, and probably de- sirous of indulging his humour at the expense of the lecturer's dignity, Oliver in his usual slow, hollow tone of enimciation, after the preface of " Why, doc- tor, by your definition, I think it must be some- , where " added a term too coarse for repetition.
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90 LIFE OF OOLDSHITH.
This totally diacompoBed the gravity of all the audi- tors, and excited not imreaeonably the anger of their inatructor, who, after a severe rebuke for ignorance and impertinence, turned him down to the bottom of the class. This anecdote, which was often told in coUTersation to Bishop Percy, is confirmed by a memorandum recently discovered by the writer in the senior lecturer's book under the date of May 9th, 1748 J where it is briefly recorded, •' Goldsmith turned down."
The other memoranda relating to him in the University books are few : twice he is " cautioned" for neglectiog Greek lecture, and thrice com- mended for diligence in attending it, or in the phrase used on such occasions, " receives the thanks of the house." In the buttery books the fines against him are numerous, though not more so than are affixed to the names of many others, and all very trifling in amount ; his general conduct there- fore, does not seem to have been marked, in the opinion of the high college authority who obli- gingly r^idered his aid in the search for these par- ticulars, by any unusual irregularity. He was said by Dr. Michael Kearney, a contemporary during the last year of residence, and afterwards fellow of the college, to have gained a premium at a Christmas examination -, which being more strict than others, is considered the most honourable of any given during the year. But, after a diligent examination, no trace of this honour is to be found ; the fact, nevertheless, may have been as stated i for the Doc-
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TRiirmr college, dublin. 91
tor was coDsidered good authority, and some of the records of that period are mialaid. The probable year was 17^8; for in the preceding Christmas quarter his exhibition, as we have seen, was sua* pended, and in that of 1746 he had been cautioned on the subject of Greek lecture.
The records which supply these notices, slight though not uninteresting in their details, furnish evidence of the diligence and success which at- tended his friend Beatty ; who in mentioniiig the misadventures of the poet, seldom adverted to his own merits or distinctions obtained when a fellow student. These appear to have been numerous } his name is constantly to he found among those commended for diligence ; he receives a premium when poor Goldsmith is "turned down;" and certificates, considered as substitutes for other premiums, were awarded on other occasions. Yet, how capricious are the ultimate distributioDs of fame I Beatty thus commended and successful, entered into the church, encountered no material difficulties in life, found his sphere, perhaps, circum- scribed by the useful though unostentatious duties of a parish priest, and though always known as a clever man, found no inducement to come before the world as a candidate for further distinction. While Goldsmith, sometimes idle, sometimes neg- lected or noticed only to be censured, pursuing, it may be said, no certain calling, a wanderer for no inconsiderable portion of his life, friendless and long obscure, living in difficulties and dying in
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93 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
them, has left a reputation which premies to he unfading. Contrasts of this kind have given rise to the common though inconsiderate censure applied to colleges* for not hetter discriminating the cha- racters of youth ; as if discrimination were at such time practicahle to any sagacity. Besides, circum- stances so continually modify or even create talent, that all the practical conclusion we can draw is, not hastily to attempt to guage the exact dimensions of youthful intellect.
When free &om the influence of indolence or despondency, and no longer seen " lounging about the college gate," in the words of a contemporary, (Dr. Wolfen), he seems not to have neglected a talent for poetry. Instances of this appear to have been remembered by that gentleman and others ; being partly original compositions of a light de- scription, or translations from the classics : these, like other college exercises, when not preserved by the parties themselves, interested no one else, and were forgotten with the occasion. In allusion to this poetical talent, and when the ^t would have been readily known by inquiry, he many years after- wards told Mr. Malone in London, when convers- ing about the University, that "though he made no great %ure in mathematics, which was a study much in repute there, he could turn an ode of Horace into English better than any of them." To this date is assigned the translation from Macro- bins, which appeared in the firat edition (1759) of the Enquiry into Polite Learning in Europe. It
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HIS OHEEK LEXICON. 9^
is likewise believed that at this time was sketched the tale of the *' Double Tranaformation," which appears in bis works, commencing, —
" Secladed from domeitic strife, *
Jock Bookwonn led a college life : A feUowabip at twenty-fiTC
Made him tht happieat man alire. i
He drank his glass, and crack'd his joke. And freshmen wondered as he spoke."
For in the original draught the following allusion, \ afterwards omitted, occurs to the adventure for | which he received the public admonition —
I .' "And told the tales oft told h^n, ! '
Of bail^$ pmigi'd and proetori bit, /
At college how he shoVd his wit.
At the period of quitting college and selling his books in consequence of the tutor's assault upon him, his Greek Lexicon, no doubt as being of some value, was among the number. This volume. Scapula's folio, the writer has every reason to be- lieve is now in his possession ; the gift of a lady whose scholarship is among the least of her merits, whose piety is as unfeigned as her philanthropy is extensive, and in whom the unostentatious chari> ties of Dublin find one of their most persevering and zealous supporters.* By the account of this
* Hiss K ) whose name the writer wonld have pleasure
in giring at length, were he not apprehensive of offending that female reserre which frequently renders ns nnable to bestow by name dne praise on the greatest benc&cton of our species.
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94 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
lady it appears that, when in search of a lexicon several years ago, she met with it on the stall of an illiterate hookseller, who howerer placed some additional value on the volume fi^m the autographs of the Poet, of which there are more than a dozen scattered in the margins, and hearing every mark of heiog his handwriting. Some are simply his name ; others in imitation of the then style of franking are marked "Free, Oliver Goldsmith ; " one or two containing certain promises more fami- liar to him than that of the assumed parliamentary privilege, namely, " I promise to pay. Sec &c., Oliver Goldsmith ;" all indicative of what we may conceive to have heen his employment in .an idle or musing mood. Few details of the history of this volume could be given at the time of the pur- chase, and even these are fisrgotten, excepting that it had passed through one or two other hands ; the title page is wanting, and it bears traces of very venerable age. From the expensive nature of the work, it had probably been the gift of his uncle Goldsmith* and used by him when in the same retreat of learning.
The poor are commonly said to be improvident ; and Goldsmith by all accounts, foiled to manage his scanty finances with the care that his necessities required ; an imprudent benevolence as it would seem to distressed objects proving the cause of se- rions inconvenience to himself. Illustrative of this point of character, Mr. Edward Mills of Mount Prospect in Roscommon, his relative, and who
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TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN. 95
entered the coU^e about two yeara after him, told a ludicroas story which, though obviously exag- gerated, may have had some foundation in truth ; he was a professed wit and a punster, and therefore the anecdote probably lost nothing In the narration ; it may likewise owe something to the whim of the Poet, whose humour was sometimes sufficiently broad and practical.
Mills, whose family in Roscommon was opulent, possessing a handsome allowance at the University, occasionally furnished his relative with small sup- plies and frequently invited him to breakfast. On being summoned on one occasion to this repast, he declared from within to the messenger bis inability to rise, and that to enable him to do so they must come to his assistance, by forcing open the door. This was accordingly done by Mills ; who found his coosin not on his bed, but literally in it, having rip- ped part of the ticking and immersed himself in the feathers, from which situation, as alleged, he found difficulty in extricating himself. By bis own account in explanation of this strange scene, after the mer- riment which it occasioned had subsided, it appeared that while strolling in the suburbs the preceding evening, he met a poor woman with five children, who told a pitiful story of her husband being in the hospital, and herself and oflspring destitute of food, and of a place of shelter for the night ; and that being from the country, they knew no person to whom under such circumstances they could apply with hope of relief. The appeal to one of
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yb LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
his sensitive disposition was irresistible ; but unfor- tunately be had no money. In this situation he brought her to the college gate, sent out his blankets to cover the wretched group, and part of his clothes in order to sell for their present sub- sistence ; and finding himself cold during the night from want of the tuual coTering, had hit upon the expedient just related for supplying the place of his blankets.
The substance of this story will scarcely be thought improbable, when we know that on several occasions in future life he reduced himself, from similar motives, to equal inconvenience; though he saw and felt and had resolution to stig- matize his imprudence at the very moment he was guilty of it. His justice through life seems to have maintuned a constant though inefiectual contest with his generosity ; none could read more impressive lessons on prudence, or practise them less even against his own conviction. " Frugality, and even avarice, in the lower orders of mankind," he writes to his brother in 1759, " are true ambition. These afford the only ladder for the poor to rise to preferment. Teach then, my dear Sir, to your son thrift and economy: let his poor wandering uucWs example be placed before hia eyes." Much more in the same strun will be found in a subse- quent letter.
" Misers," he says in an essay written in the same year, when it will be seen that he had suffered from the neglect of his own maxims, " are
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FRUGAL RESOLUTIONS. 97
generally characterized as men without honour or without humanity, who live only to accumulate, and to this passion sacrifice every other happiness. They have been described as madmen, who, in the midst of abundance, banish every pleasure, and make irom imaginary wants real necessities. But few, very few, correspond to this exaggerated picture ; and perhaps there is not one in whom all these circumstances are united. Instead of this, we find the sober and industrious branded by the vain and the idle with this odious appellation j men who, by frugality and labour, raise themselves above their equals, and contribute their share of industry to the common stock."'
Full of the subject, he returns to it in another paper of the Bee ; and the exhortations are so earnest as to impress the belief of the moat con- summate prudence in him who could state its advantages so eloquently :
" The ancient Romans, more rational than we in this particular (their estimation of frugality), were very far from misplacing their admiration or praise : instead of regarding the practice of parsimony as low or vicious, they made it synonymous even with probity. They esteemed those virtues so insepa- rable, that the known expression of Vir Frugi signified at one and the same time, a sober and managing man, an honest man, and a man of sub- stance." Not yet satisfied with admonitions, meant
* See Works, yoI. i., Bee, No. III. t Ibid. No. V.
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98 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
to impress his convictions in the strongeBt manner, he recurs a fourth time to the same theme, which seems at this period to have possessed his mind in the spirit of determined economy ; but it is not necessary to quote his sentiments at length here. Were not principle and practice constantly seen at variance in the conduct of the wisest men, it would be difficult to conceive how such a m£ui could be improvident.
, On the 27th of February, 1749, he was admitted to the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Mr. Malone first ascertained the date from the communication of Dr. Wilson ; but on subsequent search being made, the official document could not be found : doubts were consequently entertained of the accuracy of
: the statement, and belief generally expressed that
i he had never taken a degree at all ; though it now
' appears without cause.
His name was first found by the present writer in the list of such as had right of access to the college library, to which by the rules graduates only are admissible, and who previous to admission write their names in a volume kept for that purpose. Pursuing the inquiry, by permission of the college authorities, he was shown by the Rev. Dr. Phibbs, the registrar, the original record ; where in this his final connec- tion with the University, his name appears last upon the list of those who acquired a similar degree on the same day, as it is last in the list of sizers on the day of entering it.*
* At that period tb& names were often written hy the Jibra- rian ; and the fter* Dr Sadlier, vho now fills that office, and did
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BIS DEGREE. 99
Misled by hasty examination of the records, Dr. Wilson, in the commonication to Malone already mentioned, concluded that the degree had been ob- tained two years after the regular time ; but this is likewise a mistake. On reference to dates it will he found that his period of residence was no more than four years ; and on further inquiry of the heads of the University, they agreed that he had been ad- mitted in due course.
The attainment of this distinction, all that he now expected or sought from his college, caused a speedy return to the country, — ^not indisposed to quit a scene of which the mortifications, in his estimate, counterbalanced some of the advantages. His career while there was considered at home a failure ; his father had lived to witness only a partial irustration of his hopes ; and although Mr. Con- tarine, as his daughter Mrs. Lawder very well re- membered, still formed a good opinion of his talents, it was otherwise with many of his nearest connec- tions, who from the straitened circumstances of his mother, left nearly destitute herself, found their generosity occasionally taxed for his support. To this feeling there is obvious allusion, aa Mrs. Hod- son acknowledged, in one of the papers in the " Citizen of the World," where, under the character of the Man in Black, he adverts, with characteristic
me the txrova to aBBut in the search, believes that the name ia not an autograph, but, trora BimiUrity to others, written by hu predecewor of that day.
H 2
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100 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
love of family history, to this period of bis life, and to his distaste for mathematicB :
'* The first opportunity he (his father) had of finding his expectations disappointed, was in the middling figure I made at the University : he had flattered himself that he should soon see me rising into the foremost rank in literary reputation, but was mortified to find me utterly unnoticed and unknown. His disappointment might have been partly ascribed to his having over-rated my talents, and partly to my dislike of mathematical 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 tutors, who observed indeed that I was a little dull i but at the same time allowed, that I seemed to be very good- natured, and bad no barm in me." *
To this very amiable father, the son, by his power in the delineation of character, has given celebrity in three of his sketches ; one in the paper just quoted ; a second in Dr. Primrose, in the " Vicar of Wakefield j " and a third as the family always stated, in reference to his spiritual character, in the Preacher in the " Deserted Village." Each has peculiarities that distinguish it from the other, yet touched bo skilfully, that with some variation, they cannot be said to ofier a contradiction. By traditional notices gleaned from his descendants and in the neighbourhood, before all who had known him personally bad passed away, he appears to have * Letter xxrii. See Works, vol. ii.
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HIS FATHER. 101
been one of that numerous class in Ireland who, with very warm hearts, want coonterbataDcing dis- cretion to keep within the rules of necessary pru- dence ; who are henevolent as much from impulse as principle ; hospitable sometimes at the expeose of their families ; and prone from this national pro- pensity or weakness, to prize the reputation of gene- rosity above more thriving virtues. He was learned, sincere, of simple manners, hut possessed of little knowledge of the world beyond the sphere of bis calling and the rural affairs of the vicinity ; and to a deception practised upon bim at the iair of Athlone, in some unthrifty bargain, is ascribed the origin of the story of Moses and the green spectacles.
Inattention to worldly matters, a certain eccen- tricity of character, and inability to get forward in life, seem to have characterised the Goldsmith race; for in conversing with three of its branches, in as many difierent quarters of Ireland, the remark of each ran in nearly the same words : — '* The Gold- smiths were always a strange family ; they rarely acted like other people : their hearts were always in the right place, but their heads seemed to be doing anything but what they ought" A competent authority, resident in the neighbourhood, made a similar ol»ervation, when communicating some tra- ditional notices of the poet twenty-five years ago j and the remark is said to hold good to the present time: — "Several of the fiimily and name," writes this gentlemui, " live near Elphin, who as well as the Poet, were and are remarkable for their
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109 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
worth, but of DO cleverness in the affairs of the world."*
In the sketch of his &ther, in the history of the *' Man in Black," it will be, observed how tenderly the son touches upon the parental or family felling of improvidence, which is made almost to " lean to Virtue's side j" and in writing it, he probably meant to apologise for that disregard of the maxims of prudence in himself, arising from an overflow of benevolence, which we may thus be induced to be- lieve had its origin in paternal example : —
" My fether, the younger son of a good family, was possessed of a small living in the church. His education was above his fortune, and his generosity greater than bis education. Poor as he was, he had his flatterers still poorer than himself: for every dinner he gave them, they returned him an equivalent in praise ; and this was all he wanted. The same ambition that actuates a monarch at the head of his army, influenced my fether at the head of his table : he told the story of the ivy-tree, and that was laughed at ; he repeated the jest of the two scholars and one pair of breeches, and the company laughed at that ; but the story of Tafiy in the sedan-chair was sure to set the table in a roar. Thus his pleasure increased in proportion to the
* The It«r. Dr. Streao ; in an " Essay on Light Reading," by the Rev. Ed. Man^D. This int^gent clergymaii Aimuibed eereral anggestiouB likewise to the writer, for which he is obhged. The name of Goldsmith is now, as is said bjr some of its branches, extinct in that neighbourhood, Elphio, but several rdatif es by the female branches remain.
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IN THE COUNTRY. lUO
pleasure he gave ; he loved all the world ; and be fancied all the world loved him.
" As his fortune was but small, be lived up to the very extent of it : he bad no intention of leaving his children money, for that was dross ; he was resolved they should have learning, for learning he used to observe, was better than silver or gold. For this purpose be undertook to instruct us himself, and took as much care to form our morals as to improve our understanding. We were told that universal benevolence was what first cemented society ; we were taught to consider all the wants of mankind as our own j to regard the hujnanface divine with affection and esteem ; he wound us up to be mere machines of pity, and rendered us inca- pable of withstanding the slightest impulse made either by real or fictitious distress. In a word, we were perfectly instructed in the art of giving away thousands, before we were taught the more neces- sEu-y qualifications of getting a farthing."
However disposed to quit tbe University, Oliver found little to allure him to the country ; the pecuniary circumstances of his nearest connections enabling them to do little more than aSbrd him a temporary home. Mr. and Mrs. Hodson lived in the house at Lissoy after the death of his father. His mother remained there also for a time; but removing soon afterwards to Ballymahon, occupied a small house, f still an object of interest to visitors, forming one comer of the road to Edgworthstown,) and sur- vived about twenty years, as would appear, in very
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104 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
confined circumstances.* Heory, the clergymaD, who served the curacy of his late father's parish and whose school was at this period limited, lived at the original &intly residence of Pallas ; as appears by the copy of a deed in the Registry of Duhlin, stating " that the Rev. Henry Goldsmith, Clerk, of Pallismore in the County of Longford, as eldest son and heir-at-law of the late Charles Goldsmith, confirms to Daniel Hodson the lands assigned to him by his late &ther, in lieu of the marriage portion with his daughter Catherine." It bears date December Idth and 14tb. 1750.
For about two years, according to the verbal ac- count given by Mrs. Hodson to the Rev. Mr. Hand-
* My friend, the Rev. Mr. Oraham, sappliea the folloiriiig note, first printed in Mr. Shsv Mason's " Statistical Snrrey :"
" The vriter of this account purchased some old papers sere- nil years ago, at an auction at Ballymahon, and among them an account-book, kept by a Mrs. Edwards and a Miss Shore, who lived in the next house to Mre. Goldsmith. In this tillage lecord were several shop accounts, irom the year 174Q to 1756. Bome of the entries, in the earliest of these accounts, nm thus : — ' Tea, by Master Noll' — ' Cash by ditto' — from Thich it appears, that Oliver was hia mother's principal messenger. One of the accoontSjin 1756, maybe considered a curiosity, ascertaining the use and the price of green tea in this part of the country nearly eighty years ago.
" Mrs. Goldsmith to Sarah Shore, Dr. Brought forward - - - -0155
Jan. 16. Half an ounce of green tea - - 0 0 3^
A qaar(«r of a pound of lump sugar - 0 0 3^
A pound of Jamaica sugar - - 0 0 8
An ounce of green tea - - - 0 0 7
Half a pound of rice - - -002
A quarter of an ounce of green tea - 0 0 2"
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IN THE COUNTRY. lOo
cock in 1790, the future poet " having no fixed object in view, continued visiting about among his friends," which may have tended to render habits naturally careless, still more unsettled and irregular. Occasionally he is said to have assisted his brother in his school, the only return in his power to make for unintermitted protection and friendship ; but to one of his temperament, an effort of no ordinary resolution. To this first initiation into the drudgery of teaching, was probably owing that disgust to the exercise of a profession honourable in itself, which he ever afterwards felt and hesitated not to avow, although compelled to resort to it as the means of subsistence when thrown upon his own resources. At Lissoy he likewise spent a considerable portion of time, entering into the rural sports and occu- pations of his brother-in-law with the usual ardour of a young and onoccupied mind. Through life he preserved the fondest attachment to this spot ; often revisiting it, as he said, in ima^nation, although restrained by circumstances he could not control, from realising in person what memory delighted to retrace ; and indeed a man of warm affections looks back upon few things with more satisfaction than the scenes and the friends of his youth. One of his subsequent letters enters strongly into these feelings : he remembers his acquaintance and country, be says, with the strongest affection, — yet stops to ask why this is, — when from the one be experienced no more than common civility, and from the other brought nothing away but his brogue and
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106 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
liis blunders ? On the same occasion he alludes, in a strain of fond recollection, to the scenery around Lissoy, presenting, he warmly says, " the most pleasing horizon in nature."
Under the influence of similar feelings and nearly in the same language as in these letters, he com- mences one of his Essays ; the locality though not expressly named, will be immediately obvious to the reader-: —
" When I reflect on the unambitious retirement in which I passed the earlier part of my life in the coimtry, I cannot avoid feeling some pain in think- ing that those happy days are never to return. In that retreat all nature seemed capable of afiording pleasure : I then made no refinements on happiness, but could be pleased with the most awkward efforts of rustic mirth ; thought cross-purposes the highest stretch of human wit ; and questions and commands the most rational way of spending the evening. Happy could so charming an illusion still continue! I find that age and knowledge only contribute to sour our dispositions. My present enjoyments may be more refined, but they are infinitely less pleasing. The pleasure the best actor gives can no way com- pare to that I have received &om a country wag who imitated a quaker's sermon. The music of the finest singer is dissonance to what I felt when our old dairy-maid sung me into tears with Johnny Armstrong's last Good Night, or the cruelty of Barbara Allen." •
• See Worki, yoI. i. Bee, No. II.
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IN THE COUNTRY. 107
In convereation he has heen known to refer to this spot with something of pride as his family residence ; and in his writings, on more than one occasion, felt pleasure in recalling a scene where his father had fed the hungry, and sometimes lodged the houseless. The " Deserted Village" points to the exertion of this henevolence in several points of view J while the " Vicar of Wakefield," in de- scribing his abode and the inmates to whom it formed an occasional home, is made to advert to it in others ; the resort of idle and poor relatives, or to those who claim to be such, to families raised a little above them in condition, will be ^.miliar to all acquainted with Ireland, in the following sketch : —
" As we lived near the road, we often had the traveller or stranger visit us to taste our gooseberry wine, for which we had great reputation ; and I profess, with the veracity of an historian, that I never knew one of them to find fault with it. Our cousins, too, even to the fortieth remove, all remembered their afiinity without the help of the herald's office, and came very frequently to see us. Some of them did us no great honour by these claims of kindred; as we had the blind, the maimed, and the halt amongst the number. However, my wife always insisted that, as they were the same Jlesh and blood, they should sit with us at the same table. So that if we had not very rich, we gene- rally had very happy friends about us ; for this remark will hold goo<l through life, that the poorer
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the guest the better pleased he ever is with being treated ; and as some men gaze with admiration at the colours of a tulip, or the wing of a butterfly, so I was by nature an admirer of happy feces.
" However, when any one of our relations was found to be a person of very bad character, a troublesome guest, or one we desired to get rid of, upon his leaving my house I ever took care to lend him a riding coat, or a pair of boots, or sometimes a horse of small value ; and I always had the satisfacUon of finding he never came back to return them. By this the house was cleared of such as we did not like j but never was the family of Wakefield known to turn the traveller or the poor dependant ou t of doors."*
• SeeWorke. Tol.iii. Vicar of Wakefidd, chap. i.
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CHAP. IV.
DECLINBS TO TAKE OBDEBS.— BALLYHABON.'- ACCKPTS A
TUTOBSHIP. TRAVELS TO COBK. BEP17TKD POETICAL
ATTEMPTS. ADOPTt THE PROFESSION OF PHYSIC. —
BDINBURQH.— MR. LACHLAN MACLEANE.
Goldsmith's family, desirous of securing a respect- able profession as well as provision for one without either, wished him to take orders under the belief that they could advance him in the church ; but to this he felt a settled repugnance. " For the clerical profession," said Mrs. Hodson, " he had no liking j having always a strong inclination for visiting foreign countries."
The real motives, judging from sentiments ex- pressed in future life, and which he probably did not now think proper to disclose, appear to have been conscientious conviction of being unfitted by temperament for the sacred office, and a consequent dislike to undertake the performance of duties which he knew he wanted the requisite inclination to fulfiL All men, even such as are estimable in many respects, are not necessarily fitted for clergy- men ; they should be naturally disposed toward the calling, and not the calling made matter of con- venience to their &milies or to themselves. So high an opinion had he formed of the purity of conduct necessary to such as attempted to admonish or
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to instruct their fellows from the sacred rolume, that at a late period of life, as will be hereafter seen, when even requested to read prayers in a private family, he declined with the remark, " that he did not deem himself good enough."
At length, induced by the persuasions of Mr. Contarine, whom it would have been ingratitude to disobey, be presented himself before the Bishop of Elphin, Dr. Synge, for ordination, and by the account of his sister, was rejected on the plea of being too young. The tradition in the diocese is, that he had neglected the proper professional studies, and that an exaggerated statement had reached the Bishop of his irregularities at College ; while Dr. Strean alludes to a rumour, not at all improbable (rota his thoughtlessness and reputed love of gay dress, of some prejudice being formed against him from appearing before the Bishop in scarlet breeches. Whatever was the cause of rejection, be does not seem to have made a second attempt ; the first he probably supposed enough to satisfy his friends ; and the result did not displease himself, in escaping from what he considered the restraints of a clerical life. One of these restraints, frivolous no doubt and boyish as be afterwards considered it, was dislike to the usual dress of the profession ; and in the paper already mentioned in the "Citizen of the World," it is thus alluded to :—
" After 1 had resided at college seven years, my
father died and left me his blessing. Thus
shoved from shore, without ill-nature to protect, or
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cunning to guide, or proper stores to subsist me in so dangerous a voyage, I was obliged to embark in the wide world at twenty-two. But, in order to settle in life, my friends advised (for they always advise, when they begin to despise us), they advised me, I say, to go into orders.
" To be obliged to wear a long wig when 2 liked a short one, or a black coat when I generally dressed in brown, I thought was such a restraint upon my liberty, that I absolutely rejected the proposal. A priest in England is not the same mortified creature with a bonze in China. * * I rejected a life of luxury, indolence, and ease, from no other consideration than that boyish one of dress. So that my friends were now perfectly satisfied I was undone ; and yet they thought it a pity, for one that had not the least harm in bim, and was so very good-natured"
The vicinity of Ballymahon to his usual places of residence carried him frequently tbither, to enjoy such society as a small town in a rude district of country afibrded. The province of Connaiight and its borders have been always considered, even in Ireland, backward and unpromising ; the land in many places for miles together, sterile ; cultiva- tion, where it exists, imperfect ; the houses of the gentry fewer in number and more widely scattered than in the other provinces j and the people less advanced in the arts, comforts, and knowledge of civilized life. There was at the period in question, still more traces of Celtic manners and peculiarities
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among them than at present : much simplicity, hos- pitality, and pride, ningled with hahits of a ruder kind, little intercourse with strangers, defective education, and little appreciation of the advantages of literature. He adverts to the state of society as he found it, in one of his letters : inquiring why *' he should be fond of a spot where the country is not fine and the company not good ; where vivacity is sqpported by some humble cousin who has just folly enough to earn his dinner i and where more money has been spent in the encouragement of the Padareen mare* (a celebrated racer of that day) in one season, than given in rewards to learned men since the times of Usher."
In society thus characterised, and although mingling with it, despised, he is said to have indulged in the usual propensities of a young man of lively imagination, but destitute of the con- sideration necessary to guide bim in the business of life. Conscious of the possession of superior talents, of which, it is said, occasional proofe were given, and ambitious of being at the head of his company, his companions very willingly tendered their admiration in return for his efforts to please. "George Conway's Inn,'* mentioned in one of his letters, which stood and still stands,
* In ridiculing natioDal chancterifltics, in aapposed eztractB from t neirspaper (Citizen of the World, Letter V,), he Bgain olludea to the same topic. "Dablin. — We hear that there is a benevolent Buhscription on foot among the nobility and gentry of tbi> kingdom, vho are great patrons of merit, in order to aasiBt Black and all Black in his contest with the Fadareen
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though shorn of its honours by rival establishments, opposite the residence of his njpther, had more of his time than his brother thought becoming or pru- dent. Without being seriously open to the charge of dissipation, the attractions of a coDTinal evening were strong enough to draw him from more sober pursuits. This inn formed the scene of some of his triumphs over more unlettered opponents : here he delighted to argue, to exhibit bis classical attain- ments and general learning, to quote verses and occasionally to write them ; and when these ceased to be attractive, he found equal pleasure in amusing his party by telling a story or sinpng a song. He seems to have been naturally, as be says of one of his characters, " an admirer of happy human faces," and with this gay and joyous spirit, so long as he saw the effect, did not much study the means by which it was produced. AU this, though it itid not corrupt his heart, tended to deteriorate his man- ners. It imparted that tinge of what afterwards, in the societies of London, some rather harshly termed uncouthness, but which might have been more appropriately named rusticity. It possibly fostered that passion for applause also laid to his charge in future life, yet inseparable from a man of talents -, and no doubt tended to impair habits of order, regularity, and steady application. From some of the scenes in which he mingled in Bally- mahon and its vicinity, and the peculiar circum- stances of bis life for some years afterwards, often cast into society which he felt to be far beneath VOL. r. I
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1 14 LIFS OF GOLDSMITH.
him, it is believed he drew the first idea of Tony Lumpkin ; leaving piuch necessarily to be filled up by comic exaggeration and invention. Yet such scenes could not be wititiout their use to so good a painter of tumour and character; to profit by them is the province of genius -, and in one of his prefaces we are expressly told that " in pursuing humour it will sometimes lead us into the recesses of the mean."
There is reason to believe that at this time he followed no systematic plan of study. Traditionary accounts represent his iavourite and almost constant reading to have been of the miscellaneous and amusing kind ; chiefly biography, travels, poetry, novels, and plays ; Eastern adventures and fictions took strong bold of his imagination, and were sup- posed by his family to have occasioned in part, the desire long entertained but never gratified of visit- ing those countries in person. But our own ficti- tious and romantic narratives became one of bis chief sources of interest, first impressing, as he confessed afterwards with strong regret, as if more than ordinarily p«iiicious, erroneous ideas of life ; a common occurrence in youthful minds of every description, and with such as axe most ingenious the most. It is perhaps but a natural result, that none should be more alive to such impressions than those who possess and are fated to exercise the power of producing them in others.
" Above all things," he writes to his brother, some years afterwards, regarding the education of
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his son, " let him never touch a T(»nance or a novel ; thoae.paint beauty in colours more charming than nature, and deecribe happiness that man never tastes. How delusive, how destructive are those pictures of consummate bliss 1"
The respectable families in Ballymahon were not numerous. One of these, in which he spent many agreeable hours and by whom he was remembered with affecticNDate interest, was that of Mr. Robert Bryanton, his companion in school and in college*, now an associate in his pleasures, and to whom he afterwards addressed several letters when absent from Ireland, disclosing his situation and prospects with even less reserve than to his own &mily. Two only of these remain in possession of the descendants of that gentleman ; they breathe the vrarmest regard for hica and his relatives j and in the postscript to mm he even adds, after expressing attachniMit to its members — " If there be a fa- vourite dog in the family, let me be remembered to him."
In company with this gentleman, hesidm their convivial scenes to which slight allusion is made in the same letter, he made frequent excursions on foot through the country ^ sometimes for the pur- pose of shooting, sometimes to fish in the course of the river Inny, which flows through the town,
* " 1746 NoMo^ria 19-.— Jloierhw Brymtm Pmt.—Filim Sieardi Gater. — Jtmum agent 15 — Nalttg in Comitatu Long- Jbrd :~Edueattu tub /mtla Mr. Hynea (Hugkei)— Tutor Mr. WiUer." College Regitter.
I 2
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and with a few greeo islets and the ruins of a mill, then in full activity, presents a pretty picturesque scene. BaHymnlvey, an ^reeable house and grounds in the vicinity and afterwards the resi- dence for some years of his friend Bryantoo, was a frequent resort. Here, by the river side, he is said to have amused himself with his flute ; and here likewise and in the neighbouring pieces of water communicating with the Shannon, as well as in the course of that river, sometimes joined or led an otter hunt ; for (speaking of that animal) he says in Animated Nature, " With us, its young are never found till the latter end of summer ; and I have frequently, when a boy, discovered their retreats and hunted them at that season." In this Ticinity also at the house of a gentleman named Gannon, he gained his only actual acquaintance with the seal tribe as mentioned in the same work — " How long this animal lives is unknown : a gentl^nan whom I knew in Ireland kept two of them, which he had taken very young, in his house for ten years ; ai^d they appeared to have the marks of age at the time I saw them, for they vrere grown grey about the muzzle." One of the rustic exercises pursued by him as a source of amusement was throwing the sledge, a common feat of strength and activity in Ireland ; and a blacksmith who boasted to the Rev. Mr. Handcock of having taught him the art, still survived about the year I787.
His uncle Contarine, to whom he paid fre-
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qaent visits in Roscommoa, at length procured him the situation of tutor in the fiunily of a gentleman in that county, whose name, as communicated hy Mrs. HodsoD to Mr. Handcock though not to Bishop Percy, was Flinn. In what light he con- sidered himself here, whether in the character of tutor or flatterer, is doubtful ; for either to this period, or to a visit paid as tradition reports to his relative. Dr. Goldsmith, Dean of Cloyne, he is supposed to allude in the following passage from the story of the Man in Black. If the visit to the Dean ever really took place, it was, we are certain, unsatis&ctory to him ; but that some circumstance of this kind had made a strong impression on his mind, appears from a similar notice in the story of George Primrose, and again in aUusion to the situation of Thomhill after his disgrace, in the same tale : —
" Poverty naturally begets dependence, and I was admitted as flatterer to a great man. At first I was surprised that the situation of a flatterer at a great man's table could be thought disagreeable ; there was no great trouble in listening attentively when his lordship spoke, and laughing when he looked round for applause. This even good man- ners might have obliged me to perform. I found, however, too soon, that his lordship was a greater dunce than myself ; and from that very moment flattery was at an end. I now rather aimed at setting him right, than at receiving his absurdities with submission. To flatter those we do not know
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118 LIFE OF OOLDSHITH.
is an easy task ; but to flatter our intimate ac- quaintances, all whose foibles are strongly in our eye, is drudgery insupportable. Every time I now opened my lips in praise, my felsehood went to my conscience. His lordabip soon perceiTed me to be very unfit for service j I was therefore dis- charged ; my patron at the same time being graciously pleased to observe, tbat he believed I was tolerably good natured, and had not the least harm in me."
In the family of Mr. Flinn he remiuned about a year, and becoming tired of the confinement consequent on the situation, quitted it with the determination to go abroad. Such was Mrs. Hodson's account to Bishop Percy. Her verbal statement to the Rev. Mr. Handcock, in 1790, attributes his immediate removal to an altercation with one of the family, in consequence of sitting down to cards on the receipt of his salary, and by a train of ill luck, or as he did not hesitate to say by unfair play, losing the sum that bad been paid him. Securing, however, according to her iccount, though it does not appear from what quarter, about thirty pounds and a good horse, be quitted the country, none of his family knew whither.
At the end of six weeks he unexpectedly re- turned, destitute of money or the horse on which he set out, but provided with an inferior animal facetiously denominated by him Fiddleback. In reply to the anxious inquiries of his iriends, he
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ADVENTURES TO AND FROU CORE. 119
gave the .following account of his adventures ; first verbally, aod then in a letter to his mother, who had expressed some doubts of its truth, and to whom he said with characteristic simplicity on observing her coolness, " And now, my dear mother, after having struggled so hard to come home to you, I wonder you are not more rejoiced to see me."
The origioal of this letter is not to be found ; but a copy seems to have been in the possession of Mrs. HodsoQ, who communicated the material facts in the memoranda furnished of the early por- tion of her brother's lite. It is now in the pos- session of the gentleman who holds the original manuscript memoir, and was probably sent by her at a subsequent period.
"Mr DEAR MOTHBR,
" If you will sit down and calmly listen to what I say, you shall be folly resolved in every one of those many questions you have asked me. I went to Cork and converted my horse, which you prize so much higher than Fiddleback, into cash, took my passage in a ship hound for America, and, at the same time, paid the captdn for my freight and all the other expenses of my voyage. But it so happened that the wind did not answer for three weeks; and you know, mother, that I could not command the elements. My misfortune was that when the wind served I happened to be with a party in the country, and my friend the captain
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190 LIFE OF OOLDSHITH.
never inqnired after me, but set sail with as much indifference as if I had been on board. The re- mainder of my time I employed in the city and its environs, viewing every thing curious, and you know no one can starve while he has money in his pocket.
" Reduced, however, to my last two guineas, I began to think of my dear mother and friends whom I had left behind me, and so bought that generous beast Fiddleback and hade adieu to Cork with only five shillings in my pocket. This to be sure was hut a scanty allowance for man and horse towards a journey of above an hundred miles ; but I did not deeper, for I knew I must find friends on the road.
" I recollected particularly an old and faithful acquaintance I made at college, who had often and earnestly pressed me to spend a summer with him, ' and he lived but eight miles from Cork.' This circumstance of vicinity he would expatiate on to me with particular emphasis.- — ' We shall,' says he, ' enjoy the delights of both city and country, and you shall command my stable and my purse.'
" However upon the way I met a poor woman all in tears, who told me her husband had been arrested for a debt he was not able to pay, and that his eight children must now starve, bereaved as they were of his industry, which had been their only
* AlmoBt the exact diatance of Cloyne ; but bad this been the reported visit to th« Dean, we ahould probably have had a more diatmct cine to the fiict.
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support. I thought myself at home, being not far from my good friend's house, and therefore parted with a mgiety of all my store ; and pray, mother, ought I not to have given her the other half-crown, for what she got would be of little use to her ? — However I soon arrived at the mansion of my affectionate friend, guarded by the vigilance of a huge mastijOf, who flew at me and would have torn me to pieces, but for the assistance of a woman whose countenance was not less grim than that of the dog ; yet she with great humanity relieved me from the jawB of this Cerberus, and was prevailed on to carry up my name to her master.
"Without suffering me to wait long, my old friend, who was then recovering from a severe fit of sickness, came down in his night-cap, night-gown and slippers, and embraced me with the most cordial welcome, showed me in, and after giving me a history of his indisposition, assured me that he considered himself as peculiarly fortunate in having under his roof the man he most loved on the earth, and whose stay with him must, above all things, contribute to perfect his recovery. I now repented sorely I had not given the poor woman the other half-crown, as 1 thought all my bills of humanity would be punctually answered by this worthy man. I revealed to him my whole soul ; I opened to him all my distresses ; and freely owned that I had but one half-crown in my pocket, but that now, like a ship after weathering out the storm, I considered myself secure in a safe and hospitable harbour. He
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made do answer, but walked about tbe room, rub- bing bis hands, as one in deep study. Tbis I ini' puted to the sympathetic feelings of a tender.beart, which increased my esteem for him, and as that increased I gave tbe most &TOurable interpretation to his silence. I construed it into a delicacy of sentiment, as if be dreaded to wound my pride by expressing bis commiseratioD in words, leaving bis generous conduct to speak for itself.
" It now approached six o'clock in tbe evening, and as I bad eaten no break&st, and as my spirits were raised, my appetite for dinner grew uncom- monly keen. At length tbe old woman came into the room, with two plates, one spoon, and a dirty cloth, which she laid upon the table. This appear- ance, without increasing my spirits, did not diminish my appetite. My protectress soon returned with a small bowl of sago, a small porringer of sour milk, a loaf of stale brown bread, and tbe heel of an old cheese all over crawling with mites. My friend apologised that his illness obliged him to live on slops, and that better fare was not in tbe house ; observing at the same time that a milk diet was certainly tbe most healthful ; and at eight o'clock be again recommended a regular life, declaring that for bis part he would lie doum with the lamb and rise with the lark. My hunger was at tbis time ab exceedingly sharp that I wished for another slice of the loaf, but was obliged to go to bed without even that refreshment.
" The lenten entertainment 1 had received made
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me resolve to depart as soon as possible ; accord- ingly next morning, when I spoke of going, he did not oppose my resolution ; he rather comTnended my design, adding soine very sage counsel upon the occasion. ' To be sure,' said he, ' the longer you stay away from your mother, the more you will grieve her and your other friends; and possibly they are already afflicted at hearing of this foolish expedition you have made.* Notwithstanding all this, and without any hope of softening such a sordid heart, I again renewed the tale of my distress, and asking ' how he thought I could travel above an hundred miles upon one half-crown?* I begged to borrow a single guinea, which I assured him should be repaid with thanks. 'And you know, Sir,' said I, ' it is no more than I have often done for you.' To which he firmly answered, *Why look you, Mr. Goldsmith, that is neither here nor there. J have paid you all you ever lent me, and this sickness of mine has left me bare of cash. But I have bethought myself of a conveyance for you ; sell your horse and I will furnish you a much better one to ride on.' I readily grasped at bis proposal, and begged to see the nag, on which he led me to bis bedchamber, and from under the bed be pulled out a stout oak stick. ' Here he is,' SEud he, ' take this in your hand, and it will carry you to your mother's with more safety than such a horse as you ride.' I was in doubt when I got it into my hand whether I should not, in the firgt place, apply it to his pate ; but a rap at the street
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124 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH. '
door made the wretch fly to it, and when I re- turned to the parlour, he introduced me, as if nothing of the kind had happened, to the gentleman who entered, as Mr. Goldsmith, bis moat ingenious and worthy friend, of whom he had so often heard him speak with rapture. I could scarcely compose myself; and must have betrayed indignation in my mien to the stranger, who was a counsellor at law in the neighbourhood, a man of engaging aspect and polite address.
" After spending an hour he asked my friend and me to dine with him at bis bouse. This I declined at first, as I wished to have no further communication with my old hospitable friend ; but at the solicitation of both I at last consented, de- termined as I was by two motives ; one, that I was prejudiced in favour of the looks and manner of the counsellor ; and the other, that I stood in need of a comfortable dinner. And there indeed I found every thing that I could wish, abundance without profusion, and elegance without afiectation. In the evening when my old friend, who had eaten very plentifully at his neighbour's table, but talked again of lying down with the lamb, made a motion to me for retiring, our generous host requested I should take a bed with him, upon which I plainly told my old friend that be might go home and take care of the horse he had ^ven me, but that I should never re-enter bis doors. He went away with a laugh, leaving me to add this to the other little things the counsellor already knew of his plausible neighbour.
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" AqcI now, my dear mother, I found sufficient to reconcile me to all my follies ; for here I spent three whole days. The counsellor had two sweet girls to his daughters, who played enchantingly on the harpsichord ; and yet it was hut a melancholy pleasure I felt the first time I heard them ; for that being the first time also that either of them had touched the instrument, since their mother's death, I saw the tears in silence trickle down their father's cheeks. I every day endeavoured to go away, but every day was pressed and obliged to stay. On my going, the counsellor offered me his puree, with a horse and servant to convey me home; but the latter I declined, and only took a guinea to bear my necessary expenses on the road.
" Oliver Goldsmith. " To Mra. Anne Goldsmith, Ballymahon."
This curious story which however bears not a few traces of the manner and characteristic simpli- city of the writer, appeared so strange to Malone as to induce him to consider it mere invention of Oliver in order to answer some whim of the mo- ment, or divert curiosity from further inquiry into the real cause of his absence. His opinion is thus communicated to Dr. Percy, June 5th, 1802, soon after the publication of the memoir prefixed to the works.
" In the beginning of this letter I quite forgot to thimk you for the entertainment which Goldsmith's Life afforded me. I only lamented that there was
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not more of it. Surely I ODce read two or three more letters than we have in print. Have you any faith to the story that hie sister tells of his giving a dance in college, when he had not a shilling in the world ; and of his excursion to the county of Cork, where we have a long story furnished by this lady without a single name or date ? For my part, I do not believe a word of either. They were mere inventions of the poet, to satisfy the whim of the moment Why did he not name the Cork hu- mourist, who ofiered him the wooden horse ? Give me but time, place, and names, and the genuineness or falsehood of any story may be easily ascer- tained." *
From a very cautious inquirer like Malone, such suspicion was to be expected ; yet it exhibits, perhaps, more of caution than consideration of all the circumstances, as in the allusion, for instance, to the danoe ; for though Goldsmith no xloubt was usually poor, the arrival of a supply would proba^ bly to one <^ his disposition, prove the cause and the apology for such an act of extravagance. The story, if a fiction, could answer no obvious pur- pose ; it does not attempt to extenuate the fault of quitting his friends in so abrupt a manner, to explain his motives for going abroad, or give satis&ctoiy reasons for relinquishing his design ; on the contrary, the whole is but an admission of continued tbought-
* From MS. correapondeiice in the posKuion of W. R. Mason, Esq., of the Tensile.
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lesBoesa and imprudence. If considered 'merely in the light of an improbahle tale, the critic did not remember bow much of Goldsmith's career exhibits scenes still more strange and eventful, and pecu- liarities of character quite as strongly marked ; some already known, and others now for the first time, perhaps, to be disclosed. That he proceeded to Cork and returned penniless, there seems no reason to doubt ; nor could this be deemed strange in one who being then provided with a horse and money, should afterwards set out to travel over the continent of Europe on foot destitute of either. It is possible that the inbospitality of his acquaint- ance may be exaggerated. The incident of the staff, whether literally true or not, is introduced on another occasion; — "You are, my boy," said the Vicar of Wakefield to his son, " going to London on foot in the manner Hooker, your great an- cestor, travelled there before you. Take from me the same horse that was given him by the good Bishop Jewel, this staff, and take this book too ; (the Bible) it will be your comfort on the way."
The question of names and dates is thus fairly disposed of by Bishop Percy in reply, July 1 *th, 1803. Had Ireland chanced to be the scene of Malone's critical researches, his progress wt)uld iiave been impeded every moment, by the want, even in important things, of what he here seems to think essential in a comparatively trifling matter : —
" Upon reconsidering your last obliging letter of
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148 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH
June 5th, I cannot concur in thinking that Mrs. Hodson's long story of Goldsmith's juvenile rambles is improbable because it is devoid of names and dates. It was at least forty years after the events that she wrote the account from memory ; and it would have been very incredible that she should have given dates concerning which she probably did not inquire at the time, or names of persons whom it is likely she never knew." •
It being at length necessary to choose a profes- sion, the law was determined upon ; and with this view Mr. Contarine supplied Goldsmith with fifty pounds, according to the account of Mrs. Hodson, and sent him off to the Insh metropolis on his way to London, in order to keep the usual terms com- mon to Irish students. In Dublin, however, the same authority informs us, his evil genius again prevailed y for being tempted into a gaming house, according to traditionary accounts, by a Roscom- mon acquaintance, no inconsiderable adept in the art, he was stripped of all his money, and again left; to become a burthen and a subject of reproach to his friends.
The shame and mortification occasioned by this imprudence were very sincere ; for, however prone to &11 into error, few felt more acutely or la- mented more strongly, when too late, its usual results. He continued some time in Dublin without
* MS. correspondence furnished by Dr. H. U.Thomson.
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havitig couirage to commuiiicate his loss. This, however, being at length made known, he was again invited to the country and forgiven by his uncle, but less readily by his mother ; who ex- perienced no ordinary vexation and evinced some resentment, at such repeated imprudences and miscarriages. He lived for a few months after- wards with his brother Heury ; until a quarrel fuising from some trifling cause, proceeded to undue extremities*, and for a time terminated all regard and intercourse between the brothers. We know it was not permanent ; none were more aware of their own faults than Oliver, or more grateful for the kindness and exertions of his relatives for his interests, although continually subject to that weak- ness, which, however conscious of doing wrong, seems unable to perform what is right. This mo- mentary anger, though carried &rther on the part of both than propriety warranted, gradually sub- sided, and we have seen trith what respect and tenderness he addresses him in the dedication to and introductory lines of the " Traveller." An- other profession was chosen, not only with the con- currence of his immediate relatives, but the advice, as was asserted by the poet himself, of Dean Gold- smith of Cloyne ; the design now being to proceed to Edinburgh and commence the study of physic
* Gommuiuoted to the Rer. Mr. Handcock, by Hra. Hod- son, who, however, wm loth that bU the circnmatsncea attending what was at firat coniidered a aerions qnaml between them efaonld transpire publicly.
VOL. r. K
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During the two years he passed in the country, not unfavourable even in the want of fixed occupa- tion for the exercise of a talent for poetry, he is said to have amused Miss Contarine and her father with occasional specimens of his verses, chiefly songs and light pieces ; and to have drawn up, in compliance with the wish of his uncle, for some purpose not now rememhered, remarks on the more popular poets, their comparative merits and defects ; none of these were preserved by that lady ; but when questioned many years afterwards, as Mrs. Lawder* , by Mr. Daly, she said she understood they had been subsequently published in London, and when shown the Lady's Magazine, believed she recollected a few. Age and illness, however, ren- dered this evidence less precise and satisfectory than might be wished, though not wholly without value. Two of the songs, if inferior in poetical merit, re- semble those among his acknowledged pieces which express simply a sentiment, and without vouching
* The husband of this lady, long after the death of the Poet, vss barbarou^y murdered ; she henelf, narrowly escaping the aame fate, died in Dublin, about 1790.
He had bought an iron chest for the greater security of his papers and money, which occasioned the belief among his serranta and labourers of its containing great treasures ; they conspired in consequence to murder the &mily, rob the house, and bum it, in order to conceal all traces of theur atrodties. Mr. Lawder was shot with his own blunderbuM, and hU wife it waa likewise supposed had been despatched ; they carried off the plate, besides about 300^ ia money, but failed in setting fire to the house. No less than six of the wtetchea concern^ in this crime were detected and executed.
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for their authenticity, are transcribed for the in- formation of the reader. The prose piece alluded to is still more doubtful ; in an enlarged and altered state, it is supposed to be the same printed in the Literary Magazine after Dr. Johnson had ceased to write in that Journal, and of which some notice will hereafter be taken.
THE STORY OF PROHBTHBUS APPLIED.
VPON STKALINQ A KISS FROM A LADY A81.KBP.
Thia ! This ia life I All eUe ft dream ! This is the true PrometheaD flame : Prom faeav'n by daring theft conve^'d. Though by the prize the risk's o'erpaid. Bnt if to ateal thoee heav'nly fires An eqnal panighment requires. While recent from the theft T glow. Oh I fix me oa that breaat of anor. Well plesaed to langniah life away. Love shall upon my ritak prey ; Nor will I wid) wliilat there I 'm hud, Alcidea near to give me aid.
I.
Life's a garden rich in treasure, Bniyd like the seeds in earth ;
There lies joy, contentment, pleasure, But 'tis loTe must give them birth.
II. From that sun its md denying.
We DO h^pinesB can taate ; But in cold obatruetiou lying,
Life is all one barren waste.
K 3
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Jnother.
Hgv happy is the homble cell. How blest the deep retreat.
Where careM billows never nrell, Nor puuon'a tempctta beat.
II.
Bat uMj thnmgh the aeas of life, Cafan reuon vsfts oa o'er;
Free from ambition, care, and atrife* To death's sll ailent ahore.
TO A YOUNG LADY ON VALBNTINB'S DAY.
WITH THE DRAWING OV A HKART.
With Bubmiaaion at jotir shrine. Cornea & heart your Valentine ; From the side where once it grew. See it panting flies to yon. Take it, fair one, to yonr breast. Sooth the flnttering thing to reat ; Let the gentle, spoUeis toy. Be yonr sweetest, greateat joy ; Erery night when wrapp'd in aleep, Next yonr heart the conqneat keep ; Or if dieams yoor fimcy more, Heu it whiiper me and love ; Then in pitj to the swain. Who must heartless else remain. Soft as gentle dewy show'm, Ellow descend on April flow*!* : Soft M gentie rir'leta glide. Steal unnoticed to my side ; If the gem yon have to spare. Take yonr own and place it there.
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EDINBURGH. 133
By tbe united contributions of his uncle, brother, and sister (Mrs. Hodson), and their promise of continued support, as she stated to Mr. Handcock, he reached Edinburgh in the autumn of 17^2, toward the commencement of the medical season. The change no doubt possessed much interest for one who, by the fruits of his observations, seems to have examined mankind with higher views than merely idle curiosity, and who contemplated the study on which he was about to enter with the more &T0ur, as it promised increased opportunitieB of gratifying this favourite propensity by enabling him to turn his knowledge to use in whatever region he thought proper.
The professions of divinity and law exclusively confine the individual who follows either to one people and one country ; that of medicine has a more extended sphere of action, and belongs alike to all countries. The physician is, or may be, literally a citizen of the world ; for there is no creed, or code, or locality, to which he is of necessity confined ; his calling is of universal application, and seems equally in request in all communities of men, whether civilised or savage. But with this advantage, it is not the fitting pursuit of an ambitious or worldly man ; for though by its exercise subustence may be procured in almost any place, yet in none, with a few exceptions, is it the road to wealth, and never, vrith us at least, to the highest honours ; it founds DO great families, ensures no great estates, and receives no peerages. The trader, the mann-
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lOi LIFE OP GOLDSMITH.
facturer, the lawyer, and the divine, however humble their pretensions to merit, may by favour or by circumstances acquire the highest rank their country can bestow ; but from the possessor of a degree of skill which may benefit the whole human race, and to which society is hourly and largely in- debted, often for the unpaid and always for the unostentatious alleviation of an infinite portion of human misery, such h<n]our3 are in England, at least in practice, withheld.
An instance of the habitual thoughtlessness be- longing to Goldsmith's character, occurred at the moment of first setting foot in the northern metro- polis. Having procured a lodging and deposited Ms luggs^, he eagerly sallied forth to gratify cu- riosity by viewing the city, in which having occu- pied the whole of the day, the approach of night re- minded htm that he had neither inquired the name of his landlady, nor the street in which she lived : in this dilemma, having wandered about in a search which might have been useless, an accidental meet- ing with the cawdy, or porter, whom he had employed in the morning in removing to his new abode, obviated a difficulty that might have occa- sioned incdnvenience.
In this house, which from the state of his finances may be presumed not to have been of the first description, he also agreed to board ; and the economy of the table afterwards afibrded a subject of ludicrous merriment when disposed to imbend in the more social circles of London by relating
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EDtyBDROH. 1S5
anecdotes of bis early life. A leg of mutton, as he told the story, dished up in various ways by the in- genuity of his hostess, served for the better part of dinner during a week, a dish of brotb beinf^ made on the seventh day from the bones ■, to which there seems an allusion in one of his works. — " We seem to be pretty much in the situation of travellers at a Scotch inn : vile entertunment is served up, com- plained of, and sent down ; up comes worse, and that also is changed ; and every change makes our wretched cheer more unsavoury," But having no relish for this system of management, he soon joined several fellow students, his acquaintance and coun- trymen, who were better accommodated in another quarter of the town.
His studies were commenced under the usual professors, among whom the elder Monro was more than once mentioned by him with respect, who then filled the chair devoted to medical science with a degree of reputation that drew many students to Edinburgh. Goldsmith probably felt the want of previous initiation into the elementary and practical parts of the art ; for medicine, unlike the pure sciences, is not to be wholly learnt from professors, or in colleges ; it has been said that he attended a course of anatomy in Dublin, but as his &mily made no allusion to this, it is probably incorrect Willing however to commence with spirit, and avful himself of every source of professional in- forntation or discussion, he became, not long after bis urival, a member of the Medical Society in that
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136 LIFE OF OOLDSMITH.
city, a voluntary association of the students which still continues to flourish with increased reputation. On reference to the hooks, his admission into it hears date January 13th, IJSS, and it would seem, without having fulfilled the usual present condition required from a new memher, that of reading a paper on a medical subject, which it may be very well conceived he could not, (nm his recent initia- tion into the profession, draw up himself.
The record of students in the University at this period being, as represented by the authorities, not now in existence, bis name or course of studies cannot be more accurately traced. Chemistry is known to have been one of bis favourite pursuits ; and it is believed, from the mention of bis name on more than one occasion by the late celebrated Dr. Joseph Black, who graduated in Edinburgh in I754i, and became known as the discoverer of latent heat and other enlargements of chemical science, that be was at this period one of his acquaintance.
From anecdotes remembered by fellow-students who afterwards settled in London, and who told them when their subject had risen into celehrit}', he appears to have been known more far his con- vivial qualities than the ardour of bis studies ; he sang Irish songs, and told stories with considerable humour. It appears likewise, that his fadlity of temper in obliging others, and a large portion of that exuberance of animal spirits common to youth, drew him into occasional pecuniary difficulties ill
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EDINBURQH. 137
suited to scanty supplies ; theBe were rendered less regular, as his sister stated, by his own negligence m not writing with the requisite exactness promised on his departure, or giving such statements as were expected of his occupations and progress. He seemed to take a lead in convivial meetings of the students; and for the purpose, as he i magged, of preserving the fancied honour of this position, felt or assumed a careless air on money matters, of which he himself related an instance to a party of firiends at the Grecian Coffee House, when a similar &olic or bravado on the part of a young Templar became the subject of conversation. A new piece being announced for performance in the Edinburgh theatre, the intention of witnessing it was men- tioned by some students with whom he passed the evening,, when a proposal came in an off-hand manner from Goldsmith, as if the amount was of little moment to his purse, to draw lots with any one of the number, which of the two should treat the whole party to the play. " To my great though secret joy," he said, " they all declined the chal- lenge. Had it been accepted, and had I proved to be the loser, part of my wardrobe must have been pledged in order to raise the money."
While here, he was known to display poetical powers, but in what way exerted, excepting in songs for the amusement of his companions, no distinct account is preserved ; few have an interest in remembering such things beyond the moment, and a general impression of the fact is all that can
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be communicated to the biographer, after the lapse of a few years. Whatever their nature, they no doubt found their nay into the periodical works with which he was subsequently connected in London. An Epigram, not the best of its kind, inserted in his works, bears the date of Edinburgh, 1753 ; and of letters the numbers written thence were inconsiderable. One of the few dated from this city after being resident in it about a year, was ad- dressed to his Mend Bryanton, and seems in the nature of a general acquittance of his debt of cor- respondence. It exhibits, contrary to an opinion expressed by some persons at the time of his death of his original style of writing being stiff, aU his characteristic ease, humour, and viTacity. A copy, purchased in a sale of miscellaneous efiects at Ballymahon, found its way into the Anthologia Hibernica, in 1793, from which imperfect tran- scripts have been made into more than one pub- lication. The orig^al, written on a foUo sheet, has been submitted to the present writer by the Rev. Dr. Handeock, of Dublin, son-in-law of the gentleman to whom it was addressed, and in whose possession it remains.
All which it may be supposed he knew of Scot- land at this time, he tells ; the design is obviously, as indeed be in some measure intimates, to amuse his friend, and therefore we allow for a Uttle comic exaggeration in his descriptions ; but the admitted weaknesses of our- northern countrymen, their ex- treme nationality, and rather too ardent admira-
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LETTER FBOH EDINBURGH. 139
tioQ of themselves, could not escape so keen an observer of character. It is amusing to consider how this letter, while it touches on this foible, fur- nishes in its bt« an exemplification of the fact ; for notwithstanding its excellence, and the scarcity of the Poet's epistolary communications, which are fewer in number than those of any other of our eminent writers, it has been omitted in the usual biographical notices prefixed to most of the Scottish editions of his works, for no other reason, as it appears, than containing a few harmless jests upon Scotland.
" To Robert Bryanton, at BalymahoTit Ireland.
" Edinboi^h, Sept. 26th, 1753. " Mt dear Bob, " How many good excuses (and you know I was ever good at an excuse) might I call up to vindicate my past shameful silence. I might tell how I wrote a long letter on my first coming hither, and seem vastly angry at my not receiving an answer ; I might allege that business (with business you know I was always pestered) had never given me time to finger a pen. But I suppress those and twenty more as plausible, and as easily invented, since they might be attended with a slight inconvenience of being known to be lies. Let me then speak truth. An hereditary indolence (I have it from the mother's Iside) has hitherto prevented my writing to you, and still prevents my writing at least twenty-
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five letters more, due to my friends in Ireland. No turnspit dog gets up into his wheel with more reluctance than I sit down to write ; yet no dog ever loved the roast meat he turns hotter than I do him I now address.
*< Yet what shall 1 say now I am entered ? Shall I tire you with a description of this unfruitful country ; where I must lead you over their hiUs all brown with heath, or their valleys scarcely able to feed a rabbit ? Man alone seems to be the only creature who has arrived to the natural size in this poor soil. Every part of the country presents the same dismal landscape. No grove*, nor brook, lend their music to cheer the stranger, or make the inhabitants forget their poverty. Yet with all these disadvantages to call him down to humility, a Scotchman is one of the proudest things alive. The poor have pride ever ready to relieve them. If mankind should happen to despise them, they are masters of their own admiration ; and that they can plentifully bestow upon themselves.
" From their pride and poverty, as I take it, results one advantage this country enjoys -, namely, the gentlemen here are much better bred than among us. No such characters here as our fox- hunters ; and they have expressed great surprise when I informed them, that some men in Ireland of one thousand pounds a year, spend their whole lives in running after a hare, drinking to be
* Goldsmith haa here (uiticip&ted his friend Johnson, in the veil known censure of Scotland for vaut of trees.
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LETTER PROU EDINBURGH. 141
dmok* and getting every girl with child that will let them. Truly, if such a being, equipped in his hunting dress, came among a circle of Scotch gentry, th^ would behold him with the same astonishment that a countryman does King George on horseback,
"The men here have generally high cheek bones, and are lean and swarthy, fond of action, dancing in particular. Now that I have men> tioned dancing, let me say something of their balls, which are very frequent here. When a stranger enters the dancing hall, he sees one end of the room taken up by the ladies, who sit dis- mally in a group by themselves : — in the other end stand their pensive partners that are to be ; — but no more intercourse between the sexes than there is between two countries at war. The ladies indeed may ogle, and the gentlemen sigh ; but an embargo is laid on any closer commerce. At length, to interrupt hostilities, the lady directress, or intendant, or what you will, pitches upon a lady and gentleman to walk a minuet ; which they perform with a formality that approaches to de- spondence. After five or six couple have thus walked the gauntlet, all stand up to country dances ; each gentleman furnished with a partner from the aforesaid lady directress ; so they dance much, say nothing, and thus concludes onr as- sembly. I told a Scotch gentleman that such profound silence resembled the ancient procession of the Roman matrons in honour of Ceres ; and
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142 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
the Scotch gentleman told me, (and, faith, I believe he was right) that I was a Tery great pedant for my pains.
" Now I am come to the ladies ; and to show that I love Scotland, and every thing that belongs to so charming a country, I insist on it, and will give him leave to break my head that denies it — that the Scotch ladies are ten thousand times finer and handsomer than the Irish. To be sure, now, I see your sisters Betty and Peggy vasUy surprised at my partiality, — ^but tell them flatly, I don't value them — or their fine skins, or eyes, or good sense, or — — , a potato ; — for I say, and will maintain it ; and as a convincing proof (I am in a great passion) of what I assert, the Scotch ladies say it themselves. But to be lees serious ; where will you find a language so prettily become a pretty mouth as the broad Scotch ? And the women here speak it in its highest purity ; for instaoce, teach one of your young ladies at home to pronounce the " Whoar wall I gong ?" with a becoming widening of mouth, and I'll lay my life they'll wound every hearer.
" We have no such character here as a coquet, but alas I how many envious prudes I Some days ago I walked into my Lord Kilcoubry*s (don't be surprised, my lord is but a glover)", when the
* WilliAm Maclellan, who claimed the title, uid whose son nicceeded is establiohing the claim in 1773. The l^tther i« said Ui have voted at the electaon of the sixteen Peers for Scotland ; and to have sold giloves in the lobby at this and other public as- Mmblagn.
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Duchess of Hamilton (that fair who sacrificed her beauty to her ambition, and her inward peace to a title and gilt equipage) passed by in her chariot* j
* Her Grace tu one of the beautiful and celebrated Miu OuniiingB. Her marriage with Jamee, fonrth Duke of Hanul- ton, whidi took place about eighteen months before, excited much attentioa iu the fashionable vorld, aod is thua amusingly, though perhaps not very correctly, told in one of the letters of Horace Walpole, February 1752. "The erent that baa made most noise since my last, is the extempore wedding of the youngest of the two Gunnings, who have made so Tehement a noise. Lord Coventry, a grave yonng lord, of the remains of the patriot breed, has long dangled after the eldest, virtuonsly with regard to her virtue, not very hononrably with regard to his own credit. About six weeks ago, Duke Hamilton, the very reverse of the Earl, hot, debauched, estravsgant, and equally damaged in tus fortune and person, fell in love with the youngest at the masquerade, and determined to marry her in the spring. About a fortnight since, at an immense assembly at my Lord Chesterfield's, made to show the house, which is really most magnificent, Duke Hamilton made violent love at one end of the room, while he was playing at pharo at the other end ; that is, he saw neither the bank nor his own cards, which wera of three hundred pounds each : he soon lost a thousand. I own I was so little a professor in love, that I thought all this parade looked ill for the poor ^rl ; and coold not conceive, if he was so much engaged with his mistress as to diar^ard such sums, why he played at all. However, two nights afterwards, being left alone with her while her mother and sister were at Bedford House, he found himself so im- patient, that he sent for a paraon. The doctor refused to per- tana the ceremony without licence or ring : the Duke swore he would send for the Archbishop ; — at laet they were married with a ring of the bed-curtain, at half an hoar after twelve at night, at Mayfhir chapel. The Scotch are enraged; the women mad that so much beauty has had its effect ; and what is most silly, my Lord Coventry declares that now he wiU marry the other."
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her battered busband, or more properly the guar- dian of her cbarmB, aat by her side. Straight envy began, in the shape of no less than three ladies who sat with me, to find fEiults in her faultless form. — "For my part," says the first, '*I think, what I always thought, that the Duchess has too much of the red in her complexion." — "Madam, I am of. your opinion," says the second ; " I think her face has a palish cast too much on the delicate order." — "And let me tell you," added the third lady, whose mouth was puckered up to the size of an issue, " that the Duchess has fine lips, hut she wants a mouth." — At this every lady drew up her mouth as if going to pronounce the letter P.
" But how ill, my Bob, does it become me to ridicule women with whom I have scarcely any correspondence? There are, 'tis certain, hand- some women here ; and 'tis as certain they have handsome men to keep them company. An ugly and a poor man is society only for himself j and such society the world lets me enjoy in great abundance. Fortune has given you circumstances, and nature a person to look charming in the eyes of the fair. Nor do I envy my dear Bob such blessings, while I may sit down and laugh at the world, and at myself — the most ridiculous object in it. But you see I am grown downright splenetic, and perhaps the fit may continue till 1 receive an answer to this. 1 know you cannot send me much news from Ballymahon, but such as it is, send it all } every thing you send will be agreeable to me.
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LETTER TO MR. CONTARINE. 14o
" Has George Conway put up a sign yet ; or John Btnely left off drinking drams ; or Tom Allen got a new wig? But I leave you to your own choice what to write. While I live, know you have a true friend in yours, &c. &c. &c.
" Oliver Goldsmith.
" P. S. Give my sincere respects (not compli- ments, do you mind) to your agreeable family, and give my service to my mother if you see her ; for, as you express it in Ireland, I have a sneaking
kindness for her still. Direct to me, , Student
in Physic, in Edinburgh."
Since the preceding pages were printed off, two additional letters of the Poet, written to his uncle Contarine from Scotland, which had been long though vfunly sought in various quarters, have at length come to hand. The first, which b anterior in date to the preceding, describes the professors under whom he studied ; states the pleasure he takes in the sciences ; and adverts to a month's tour ac- complished or rather as it would seem in progress, in the Highlands, reserving the description of it, he says, for a succeeding letter. No trace of this communication, which we may believe from his humour and skill in narration to have been of an amusing character, has been found.
. " To the Rev, Tho8. Contarine.
"Mays, 1753. " My DEAR Ukcle, " In your letter (the only one I received from
VOL. I. L
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146 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
Kilmore), you call me the philosopher who carries all his goods ahout him. Yet how can such a chaTacter fit me, who have left behinil in Ireland every thing I think worth possessing ; friends that I loved, and a society that pleased while it in- structed ? Who but must regret the loss of such enjoyments ? Who but must regret his absence from Kilmore, that ever knew it as I did ? Here, as recluse as the Turkish Spy at Paris, I am almost unknown to every body, except some few who attend the professors of physic as I do.
" Apropos, I shall give you the professors' names, and, as far as occurs to me, their characters ; and first, as most deserving, Mr. Munro, Professor of Anatomy ; this man has brought the science he teaches to as much perfection as it is capable of; and not content with barely teaching anatomy, he launches out into all the branches of physic, when all his remarks are new and useful. 'Tis he, I may venture to say, that draws hither such a number of students from most parts of the world, even frtim Russia. He is not only a skilful physician, but an able orator, and delivers things in their nature obscure in so easy a manner, that the most un- learned may understand him. Plume, Professor of Chemistry, understands his business well, but de- livers himself so ill, that he is but little regarded. Alston, Professor of Materia Medica, speaks much, but little to the purpose. The Professors of Theory and Practice (of physic) say nothing but what we may find in books laid before us, and speak that in so
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DESCUIBES THE EDINBURGH PROFESSORS. 147
drowsy and heavy a manner, that their hearers are not manydegrees in abetter state than their patients.
" You Bee then, dear sir, that Muoro is the only great man among them ; &o that I intend to hear him another winter, and go then to hear Albinus, the great professor at Leyden. I read (with satis- fection) a science the most pleasing in nature, so that my lahours are but a relaxation, and, I may trulysay, the only thing here that gives me pleasure. How I enjoy the pleasing hope of returning with skill, and to find my Mends stand in no need of my assistuice 1 How many happy years do I wish you I and nothing hut want of health can take from you happiness, since you so wdl pursue the paths that conduct to virtue.
" I am, my dear Uncle, your most obli^d, " Most affectionate nephew,
" Oliver Goldsmith.
*' P.S. — I draw this time for 6/., and will draw next October but for 4/., as I was obliged to buy every thing since I came to Scotland, shirts not even excepted. I am a little more early the first year than I shall be for the future, for I absolutely will not trouble you before the time hereafter.
" My best love attend Mr. and Mrs. Lawder, and Heaven preserve them I lam again your dutiful nephew, O. G.
" I have been a month in the Highlands. I set out the first day on foot, but an ill-natured com I have got on my toe has for the future prevented L 2
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1 fO LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
that cheap method of travelling ; so the second day I hired a horse, of aboat the size of a ram, and he walked away ^trot he could not) as pensive as his master. In three days we reached the Highlands. This letter would be too long if it contained the description I intend giving of that country, so shall make it the subject of my next."
Having now resided about eighteen months in Edinburgh, and the sanction of his uncle obtained to fufil the long meditated design of visiting the Continent on the plea of professional improve- ment, he prepared for his departure. Montpellier, which had then some reputation for physic, as well as Paris, are said to have been his original destina- tion. But shortly before setting out, an interrup- tion, one of the effects of good nature unable to resist importunity or what he considered the claims of {riendship, retarded the design.
A fellow student named Kennedy, under the plea of great distress and a pledge of the speedy arrival of his own remittances, persuaded him to become answerable for a portion of his debts, which however failed to be discharged at the specified time promised by the debtor. Goldsmith was in consequence called upon for payment, but unable to raise the amount, was in turn obliged to have recourse to the assistance of two fellow students to escape a dilemma that threatened his personal liberty. These were men of considerable attain- ments, and not undistinguished in their respective spheres in life. One was Dr. Joseph Fenn Sleigh,
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HR. LAUCHLAN HACLEANE. 14fQ
an amiable and intelligent Quaker, the schoolfellow of Burke at Ballitore, the first Mend of Barry the painter, and who died prematurely in I77I, an eminent physician in Cork, The other was Mr. Lauchlaa Macleane, a former associate in Trinity College, whose career seems to have embraced many changes of scene, and who afterwards by the public situations he held, the pamphlets he wrote, a chal- lenge sent to Wilkes and not accepted, and the party with which he was connected, drew consider- able notice in the political circles of London between the years 1765 and 1776'
The son of a gentleman of small fortune in the north of Ireland, and bom about the year I7S8, he was transferred at the age of eighteen from a school near Bel&st, to Trinity Collie, Dublin.* Here he became known to Burke and Goldsmith, and proceeding to Edinburgh to study physic, his name appears in the list of the Medical Society, January 4th, 1754s a year after that of Goldsmith, by whom he was introduced. He afterwards visited America — whether at first as a private practitioner, or medical officer in the army, does not appear; probably, as was then not unusual, officiating in both capacities. While in this country he acquired great medical reputation ; followed by its common attendant envy from the less fortunate of his bre-
• "1745 (1746) Jtfmi 29" iMiehlin M-^Leme Petu :— FUiiu Johanni generon — Atmitm agent \ 8 — Natu* in Comitatu Jntrim. — Educahu tub ferula M"^ SeHtiiton — Tutor M' Read,' College It«gUter.
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1^0 - LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
threD } and an anecdote is told of him at this time which Almon quotes in one of his publications, as an instance of what he terms " true magnanimity." A rival practitioner extremely jealous of his sue* eess, and who had adopted every means, not escepf- ing the most un&iir, of injuring his credit, was at length afflicted hy the dangerous iUness of an only son ; a consultation became necessary ; and as pos- sessing the first character for professional skill, Mr. Macleane was solicited to attend. His zeal proved unremitting ; he sat up with the patient many nights, and chiefly by his sagacity and indefatigable efforts succeeded beyond expectation in restoring the young man to health ; refusing all consideration for his labours, and saying to his friends, " Now am I amply revenged.''
In I76I, while surgeon of Otway's regiment, quartered in Philadelphia, a quarrel took place with the Governor, against whom Macleane, who was a man of superior talents, wrote a paper distinguished for ability and severity, which drew general atten- tion. Colonel Barr^*, subsequently so well known in political life, then serving there with his regiment
* No memoir of this genUemaD, who aiterwardi occupied eo large a share of public attention during the American irar by his speechea in Parliament, by the high offices he occasionally held under government, and as being the personal friend of Lord Shelbnrae, is said to exist. The following entry from the Register of Dublin University may assist the future inquirer : — " 1740, Novembrit 19".— Jaaac. Barre Pena. — FUnu Petri Mertalor — Annnm agent 14 — Natut Dubltiiii — £dutatiu mi D" loyd— Tutor If Pelutier."
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MR. LAUCHLAN MACLEANB. lol
and who was probably involved in the quarrel, is said to have formed a regard for him in consequence of the part he took ; but it is more likely that a previous acquaintance existed, as the Colonel bad been likewise a member of Trinity College. Under the patronage of this officer he came to England, renewed his acquaintance with Burke, and procured an office under government. While travelling on the Continent in 1766, he proved useful to Barry, then on his way to Italy, who became known to him through the introduction of bis first patrons, Burke and Dr. Sleigh. Soon afterwards he became successively private secretary to Lord Shelbume, and Under Secretary of State for the Southern Department, retiring from office with his patron on the dissolution of the ministry drawn together by the Duke of Grafton. In May, 1771. Lord North gave him the situation of superintendent of lazaret- toes, with, as the newspapers of the day state, " a salary of £1000 a year, and two pounds per diem travelling expenses." In January following, he received the coUectorship of Fhtladelpbia : this was soon exchanged for an appointment in India, where he afterwards became a kind of agent to Mr. Hastings. In that capacity he brought home the Governor General's conditional resignation of office ; yet the latter, with that singularity which often influenced his proceedings in the government of India, took a speedy opportunity of disavowing both bis agent and bis act, although communicated to the Court of Directors in his own handwriting. In
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loS LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
proceeding again to India, intending it is said to take strong measures for an explanation of behaviour that seemed to throw censure upon his honesty or honour, the ship in which he embarked foundered, and all on board perished, with papers seriously criminatory, according to report, of the admioistra- tioD of Mr. Hastings.
Mr. Macleane enjoyed the credit of being quick, clear-headed, and well informed ; and by some was considered as possessing " wonderful powers : " an impediment in speech precluded him from being useful in Parliament, or shining in conversatirai. He is one of the many persons supposed to have ' written the letters of Junius ; but this conjecture is untenable irom the ftict that his patron, Lord Shelbume, had been virulently attacked by that writer under another signature in 1767*. when Macleane was his Under Secretary. And having published a pamphlet or two on the affairs of Falk- land's Islands, in defence of the ministry which had dismissed him from office, was himself ridiculed by Junius, writing under the signature of Vindexfj in March, 177I. From these and other circum- stances, the question of the authorship of these letters cannot therefore be decided by any claims put forward for Mr. Macleane. His private cha- racter for benevolence and several good qualities stood high in the opinion of the Burkes, and is ex-
* Tide 'Woodfall'* Junius, ed. 1812 ; vol. ii. p. 470. t Ibid. vol. iii. p. 343.
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DB. FARR. }5S
pressed without reserve in correspcaideDce with Barry.
Another fellow-student with whom GoldBmith preserred an intimacy in future life, was Mr, (afterwards Dr.) William Fair, a Fellow of the Royal Society, who having entered into the medi- cal service of the navy ahout 17^> for a long term of years filled the office of physician to the great Naval Hospitals o! Haslar and Plymouth. He had been educated under the eminent Dr. Doddridge of Northampton, had Bpent two years at Aberdeen previous to coming to Edinburgh, possessed literary tastes, and by his manners and attainments found ready admission into many of the literary circles of London, to which Goldsmith sometimes formed the channel of introduction. From him part of the little which is known of the latter while in the Scottish metropolis is derived ; and more would have been gleamed ol' their subsequent intercourse in London, but for the habit of writing his daily remarks in a short hand which could not be de- ciphered. A few autograph memorials of the Poet remain in his family, one of which is the original copy of the dialogue-epilogue meant to be spoken by Mrs. Bulkley and Miss Catley, presented by himself to Dr. Farr, and since printed in his works.*
" From the iDfomiAtion of Mr. WUliam Farr Rose, of the Navy Pay Office, his grandaon, and aon of Mr. Roae, the fHend of Cowper. One of the incidenta in their meetings in Edin* burgh, in which Qoldamith hore a part, though not a conspicuous one, vas thus told by Dr. Farr. The qneetion was started in
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154 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
The second recently discovered letter, without date, though written in January 1754, or the end of the previous December, states his intention to go to Paris in the spring, and to Leyden the following winter. By this also it would seem a new incident in his life is disclosed, that of having been an in- mate of the Duke of Hamilton ; on what occasion, in what capacity, or by whose introduction does not appear, but it is evident he did not like his po- sition in the family. In the letter to Bryanton from Edinburgh, it will be remembered, he alludes to the Duchess, with whom, it is possible, some acquaintance may have been afterwards formed through her Irish connections.
an eTening UMcUtion of students, whether it was probable the apiiita of deceased friends were pennitted to revisit their former luiaiits, and some ingenuity it was thought was exhibited in the aigaments for and against it brongbt fonrard during the dts- cniaioD. One of the disputants sailed, with the knowledge of all the party, for London Ibe following morning ; bnt on the ensning day, anknovn to them, the vessel was obliged to put back. Meeting with a companion of the previous night on re- entering the dty, he was requested to keep out of sight till the evening, when thesLi^ment was to be resumed ; accordingly, on re -assembling, one of the most sturdy opponents of the question, who professed utter incredulity as to appontions, second sight, and other popular superstitions of Scotland, was asked whether his unbelief would give way to demonstration ; and after some preliminary tnanoenvres calculated to excite awe and anxiety, the ftiend who was supposed to be on his way to London suddenly qipeared. The effect upon the object of this boyish experiment was said to have been fainting at first, and afterwards deprivation
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HIS PREVIOUS STUDIES USEFUL.
" To the Rev. Thomas Cbntonne.
" My dear Umclb, " After haviDg spent two winters in Edinburgh, I now prepare to go to France the 10th of next February. I have Been all that this country can exhibit in the medical way, and therefore intend to visit Paris, where the great Mr. Farhein, Petit, and Du Hammel de Monceau instruct their pupils in all thebranches of medicine. They speak French*, and consequently I shall have much the advantage of most of my countrymen, as I am perfectly ac- quainted with that language, and few who leave Ireland are so.
" Since I am upon so pleasing a topic as self applause, give me leave to say that the circle of science which I have run through, before I under- took the study of physic, is not only useful, but absolutely necessary to the making a skilful phy- sician. Such sciences enlarge our understanding, and sharpen our sagacity ; and what is a practitioner without both but an empiric, for never yet was a disorder found entirely the same in two patients, A quack, unable to distinguish the particularities in each disease, prescribes at a venture : if he finds such a disorder may be called by the general name of fever for instance, he has a set of remedies which he applies to cure it, nor does he desist till
* He means no doabt in contradistinction to otlier Continental medical schoola, where they may ha*e lectoiedin Latin.
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156 LIFE r>F GOLDSMITH.
his medicines are run out, or his patient has lost his life. But the skilful physician distinguishes the symptoms, manures the sterility of nature, or prunes her luxuriance ; nor does he depend so much on the efficacy of medicines as on their proper appli- cation. I shall spend this spring and summer in Paris, and the heginning of next winter go to Leyden. The great Albinus is still alive there, and 'twill be proper to go, though only to have it said that we have studied in so famous an uni- versity.
" As I shall not have another opportunity of re- ceiving money from your bounty till my return to Ireland, so 1 have drawn for the last sum that' I hope I shall ever trouble you for ; 't is Wl. And now, dear Sir, let me here acknowledge the humi- lity of the station in which you found me ; let me tell how I was despised by most, and hateful to myself. Poverty, hopeless poverty, was my lot, and Melancholy was beginning to make me her own.
When you > but I stop here, to inquire how
your health goes on ? How does my cousin Jenny, and has she recovered her late complaint ? How does my poor Jack Goldsmith ? I fear his disorder is of such a nature as he won't easily recover. I wish, my dear Sir, you would make me happy by another letter before I go abroad, for there I shall hardly hear from you. I shall c^rry just 33/. to France, with good store of clothes, shirts, kc. &c., and that with economy will serve.
" I have spent more than a fortnight every second
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LETTER TO MR, CONTARIME. 15?
day at the Duke of Hamilton's, but it seems they like me more as a jester than as a companion ; so I disdiuned so servile an employment ; 'twas unworthy my calling as a physician.*
" I have nothing new to add ftom this country ; and I heg, dear Sir, you will excuse this letter, so filled with egotism. I wish you may he revenged on me, by sending an answer filled with nothing but an account of yourself.
*' I am, dear Uncle,
" Your most devoted
'* Oliver Goldsmith.
*• Give my how shall I express it ? Give
my earnest love to Mr. and Mrs. Lawder."
* Notice has 1>een taken in a preceding psge of his allnaioua to Uie Bitnation of dependent to a great man, aa if aomething of that kind lingered in hia recollection.
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L1P£ OF GOLDSMITH.
QUITS BDINBDRGB. — LETTEK PROH LBYDEN.- — ANBCDOTEB.
lOVRNEY ON THE CONTINENT.
To have gained the regard of men of sense and
character, who had abundant opportunities in the
familiar intercourse of students, of judging justly of
lus heart and understanding, is proof that his general
conduct was free from reproach. Neither is there
I any doubt that they had formed a high estimate of
> his learning and talents. By their assistance he
(-,.-., was saved from arrest; and quitting Edinburgh,
'. I though probably not with all the wealth (dSA) he
' i had calculated upon, is said to have passed a short
time in the north of England for the gratification
of his curiosity ; where we shall see that the first
object of interest in his eyes was the beauty of the
" formers' daughters."
At Sunderland be was said by his Edinburgh acqufuntance to have been arrested by one Barclay a tailor ; and at Newcastle, according to others, the same misfortune occurred to him again.*
* By an obliging commanication iVom tlie Rev. Dr. Bliu of Oxford, tlie writer is informed that the veiierable president of Magdalea College, in relation to tbis subject, states, that his
tutor at Qneen's, a Mr. M , a north conntryman, who
had known Ooldsmith, told a story of his getting into debt to a tailor in Newcastle, and of either being arrested, or going off without payment. All tbe»e accounts, no donbt, originated with the Poet himself, for the reason assigned to his uncle.
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LETTER FROM LETDEK. 159
Strange as it may seem, these stories ori^nated with the Poet himself, in order to conceal the &ct of imprisonment upon another, though unfounded charge, the mere name of which he believed might cause faia degree to be withheld. This charge, and the story at length, is told in the following letter to his uncle, written from Leyden, which he desired to visit as a favourite school of physic, though acci- dent carried him thither sooner than originally intended. The escape from perishing by shipwreck which it describes, is another of those singular occurrences that throw an air of romance over parts of his history, that nevertheless there are not the slightest reasons to disbelieve.
" To the Rev. Thomas Qmtarine,
" Leaden (the date wanting, but no doubt April or May, I7M.) " Dear Sir,
" I suppose by this time I am accused of either neglect or ingratitude, and my silence imputed to ray usual slowness of writing. But believe rae, Sir, when I say, that tiU now I had not an oppor- tunity of sitting down with that ease of mind which writing required. You may see hy the top of the letter that I am at Leyden ; hut of my journey hither you must he informed.
" Sometime after the receipt of your last I em- barked for Bourdeaux, on hoard a Scotch ship called the St. Andrew's, Captain John Wall master. The ship made a tolerable appearance ; and as another inducement, I was let to know that six
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â– 160 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
agreeable passengers were to ' be my compao}-. Well, we were but two days at sea, when a storm drove us into a city of England called Newcastle- upon-Tyne. We all went on shore to reiresh us after the fatigues of our yoyage. Seven men and I were one day on shore ; and on the following evening, as we were all very merry, the room door bursts open y enters a sergeant, and twelve grena- diers with their bayonets screwed, and puts us all under the King's arrest. It seems my company were Scotchmen in the French service, and had been in Scotland to enlist soldiers for the French army. I endeavoured all I could to prove my in- nocence ; however, I remained in prison with the rest a fortnight, and with difficulty got off even then. Dear Sir, keep this all a secret, or at least say it was for debt ; for if it were once known at the University, I should hardly get a degree. But hear how Providence interfered in my favour : the ship was gone on to Bourdeaux before I got from prison, and was wrecked at the mouth of the Ga- ronne, and every one of the crew were drowned. It happened the last great storm. There was a ship at that time ready for Holland : I embarked, and in nine days, thank my God, I arrived safe at Rotterdam ; whence 1 travelled by land to Leyden ; and whence I now write.
You a ay espect some account of this country ; and though I am not well qualified for such an undertaking, yet I shall endeavour to satisfy some part of your expectations. Nothing surprised me
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HOLLAND. 161
more than the books eveiy day published descrip- tive of the manners of this country. Any young man who takes it into his head to publish his trar Tela, visits the cotmtries he intends to describe ; passes through them with as much inattention as bis valet de cbambre ; and consequently not having a fund himself to fill a volume, he applies to those who wrote before him, and gives us the manners of a country, not as he must have seen them, but such as they might have been fifty years before.
" The modem Dutchman is quite a different creature from him of former times ; he in every thing imitates a Frenchman, but in his easy disen- gaged air, which is the result of keeping polite company. The Dutchman is vastly ceremonious, and is perhaps what a Frenchman might have been in the reign of Louis XIV. Such are the better bred. But the downright Hollander is one of the oddest figures in nature : upon a head of lank htar, he wears a half-cocked narrow hat, laced with black ribbon ; no coat, hut seven waistcoats, and nine pair of breeches ; so that his hips reach almost up to hisarm-pits. This well-clothed vegetable is now fit to see company, or to make love. But what a pleasing creature is the object of his appetitel Why, she wears a large fur cap with a deal of Flanders lace ; and for every pair of breeches he carries, she puts on two petticoats.
" A Dutch lady hums nothing about her phleg- matic admirer but his tobacco. You must know, sir, every woman carries in her hand a atove with
V0I» I, H
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l62 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
coals ia it, which when she sits, she snugs under her petticoats ; and at this chimnej, dozing Strc- phon lights his pipe. I take it that this continual smoking is what gives the man the ruddy, health- iiil complexion he generally wears, hy draining his superfluous moisture, while the woman, deprived of this amusement, overflows with such viscidities as tint the complexion, and give that paleness of visage which low fenny grounds and moist air con- spire to cause.
" A Dutch woman and Scotch will well hear an opposition. The one is pale and fat, the other lean and ruddy : the one walks as if she were straddlmg after a go-cart, and the other takes too masculine a stride. I shall not endeavour to de- prive either country of its share of beauty ; hut roust say, that of all objects on this earth, an English former's daughter is most charming. Every woman there is a complete beauty, while the higher class of women want many of the requisites to make them even tolerable. Their pleasures here are very dull, though very various. You may smoke, you may doze, you may go to the Italian comedy, — as good an amusement as either of the former. This entertainment always brings in harlequin, who is generally a magician ; and in consequence of his diabolical art, performs a thousand tricks on the rest of the persons of the drama, who are all fools. I have seen the pit in a roar of laughter at this humour, when with his sword he touches the glass from which . another was drinking. 'Twas not his
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HOLLAND, lt>3
face they laughed at, for that was masked. They must have seen aomething vastly queer in the wooden sword, that neither I, nor you, sir, were you there, could see.*
" In winter, when their canals are frozen, every house is forsaken, and all people are on the ice ; sleds drawn by horses, and skating, are at that time the reigning amusements. They have boats here that slide on the ice, and are driven by the winds. When they spread all their sails they go more than a mile and a half a minute, and their motion is so rapid that the eye can scarcely ac- company them. Their ordinary manner of tra- velling is very cheap and very convenient : they sail in covered boats drawn by horses; and in these you are sure to meet people of all nations. Here the Dutch slumber, the French chatter, and the English play at cards. Any man who likes company may have them to his taste. For my part, I generally detached myself &om all society, and was wholly taken up in observing the face of the country. Nothing can equal its beauty ; wherever I turn my eyes, fine houses, elegant gardens, statues, grottoes, vistas, presented them- selves ; but when you enter their towns, you are charmed beyond description. No misery U to be seen here : every one is usefully employed.
" Scotland and this country bear the highest
* Thia description of the Dutch drama vould aeem (hy the remarlH of Mr. D'Isneli, Cunorities of laterature, vol. ii. p. 165.) not to be orerchu^ed.
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1G4 LIFE OF aOLDSHITH.
contrast. There hills and rocks intercept ever; prospect i here, 't is all a continued plain. There you might see a well-dressed duchess issuing from a dirtj- close ; and here, a dirty Dutchman inhabit- ing a palace. The Scotch may he compared to a tulip planted in dung ^ but I never see a Dutchman in his own house, hut I think of a magnificent Egyptian temple dedicated to an ox.
" Physic is by no means taught so well here as in Edinburgh ; and in all Leyden there are but four British students, owing to all necessaries being so extremely dear, and the professors so very lazy (the chemical professor excepted), that we don't much care to come hither. I am not certain how long my stay here may be ; however I expect to have the happiness of seeing you at Kilmore, if I can, next March,
" Direct to me, if I am honoured with a letter from you, to Madam DialUon's at Leyden.
" ThoQ best of men, may Heaven guard and pre- serve you, and those you love I
" Outer Goldsmith."
Nothing imparts a better idea of the philosophical indifference of the Poet to evils merely temporary or physical, than the little concern expressed about an event that would have been, to other men, a theme of loud and angry complaint — the being imprisoned a fortnight on an unfounded suspicion. His only anxiety seems to have been respecting his degree ; and however conscious of innocence.
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HOLLAND. 165
he probably believed, from the equivocal situation in wbich he was found, and the general attachment to the Stuarts then prevailing in Scotland, that difficulties might occur in proving it to the satisfac- tion of the College authorities. It is believed, that testimonials of conduct and character from bis acquaintance in Edinburgh were found necessary previous to bis final enlargement.
In Ireland a story is told that, being plunged into further difficulties by the departure of the ship with a portion of bis baggage on board, he was recommended to follow her on his releaoe from prison rather than proceed to Holland, but ex- claimed with characteristic simplicity, " What is the use of that ? Sure it will he sent after me any where I" Another jest against him, taken like several more from his own writings, has likewise found currency j that in a moment of absence he committed the blunder imputed to the philosophic wanderer in his novel, of proceeding to Holland to teach the natives English, when he himself knew nothing of Dutch. And considering the diversity of route between that which he intended to take and that actually pursued, Bourdeaux and Rotterdam, without stating more explicitly the reasons for deviating so widely from his first route, it may be difficult to disprove any story however absurd, excepting we believe what is probably true, that committing his destiny to chance he cared not on what part of the Continent he was flung.
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166 Llirs OF GOLDSMITH.
His 6rst impressions of Holland, and the objects natural and artificial presented to view, were those of admiration and surprise. " A youth just landed at the Brille," he observes*, " resembles a clown at a puppet-show ; carries his amazement from one miracle to another ; from this cabinet of curio- sities to that collection of pictures \ but wondering is not the way to grow wise." Extending his view over the country, he tells us in another place, in a sketch at once poetical and accurate, that the ocean —
" S«e8 an amphibiouB world beneath faim amUe ; The alow canal, the yellor bbBSom'd Tale, The viUow-tufted hank, the gliding sail. The crowded mart, the crdtivated plain, I A new creatioa rescued from his reign."
The character of the people, as may be supposed from one of his temperament, is less favourably estimated than by more sober inquirers ; not that any importance is to be attached to first opinions, when with the common error of a young man and a young traveller, he attempts to judge the habits and manners of foreigners by the standard of his own country, and stamps their deviations as defects. But he has gone further, and Eiffixed in his poem a general stigma on the Dutch nation, ungenerous and undeserved : —
â– ' " Etcd liberty itself b barter'd here ;
At gold's superior charms all freedom fliei ; The needy sell it, and the rich man buys : A land of tyrants and a den of Blaves."
' Inqniry into Folite lieaming, Works, vol. i.
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HOLLAND. 167
Viewed with the eye of a poet, the people of Holland may appear more stroogly intent on the pursuit of wealth than of fame or unprofitable honours ; but the atateamao can never consider them otherwise than with interest and favour, for services rendered on many tr3ring occasions to the commonwealth of Europe. They may not be eminent for oratory or poetry, for wit or ingenuity, for literary acquirements or for winning manners ; but they are far from being unlearned, and are otherwise deserving of sincere esteem ; they are moral, induBtrioua, and free ; they stru^led long and bravely for liberty, and obtained it ; they had sufficient good sense and reflection to seek, in com- mon with the most enlightened nations of Europe, reformation of the abuses of religion ; and if undue love of money be a vice, it is at least more usefiil to their country, and more innocent in itself than that devotion to pleasure and laxity of morals cha- racteristic of some of their neighbours.
On another occasion he could be more just. " The best and most useful laws I have ever seen are generally practised in Holland. When two men are determined to go to law with each other, they are first obliged to go before the reconciling judges, called the peace-makers. If the parties come at- tended by an advocate or solicitor, they are obliged to retire, as we take fuel from the fire we are de- sirous of extinguishing.""
* Bee, Ho. v. Upon Politica] Frugality, Worki, to], i.
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168 LIFB OF GOLDSMITH.
The Dutch he likewise preferred to the Flem- ings : — the distinction drawn between two of their chief towns exhibits something of the superiority of national character which exists even more strongly in the present day. " In Rotterdam you may go through eight or ten streets without finding a pub- lic house. In Antwerp almost every second house seems an ale-house. In the one city, all wears the appearance of happiness and warm affluence ^ in the other, the young fellows walk about the streets in shabby finery ; their fathers sit at the door darning or knitting stockings, while their ports are filled with dunghills."
At Leyden he is sud to have been less atten- tive to the acquisition of professional than miscel- laneous knowledge, particularly a more familiar acquaintance with the language and literature of France, preparatory to an intended tour through th^ country. Physic, he remarks, was not so well taught there as in Edinburgh, and he charges the professors, excepting one, with inactivity. Yet the celebrated Albinus was then professor of ana- tomy ; a laborious author and editor, whose anato- mical plates were not merely the most accurate, but the most splendid things of that description seen in Europe. The chemical professor, possessed of at least equal reputation, was Gaubius, and him he exempts from the general imputation : with this eminent person, as an admirer of the science which he taught, he was probably more intimate ; and of whom, when stating that among the universities
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LETDEN. 169
aI>road he bad ever observed their stupidity in reciprocal proportion to their opulence, be relates the following remarks : —
" Happening once, in conversation with Gaubius of Lejden, to mention the College of Edinburgh, be began by complaining that all the English students who formerly came to his university, now went entirely there ; and the fact surprised him more, as Leyden was now as well as ever fomisbed with masters excellent in their respective profes- sions. He concluded by asking if the professors at Edinburgh were rich. I replied, that the salary of a professor there seldom amounted to more than thirty pounds a year. < Poor men I ' says he, ' I heartily wish they were better provided for ; until they become rich, we can have no expectation of English students at Leyden.' "*
Of the few young men of that description then resident there, one was his couatryman, Dr. Ellis, who, having graduated in Dublin, had visited Ley- den to extend his knowledge. He continued there for two or three years, commencing on his return a course of philosophical lectures in the Irish me- tropolis, and subsequently it is believed, settled as physician in Monaghan, whence he removed to Dublin on being appointed derk to the Irish House of Commons. He died in 1791-t From accounts
* Inqniry into Polite Learaing, Worlu, vol. i.
i From the information of M. Weld Hftrtatonge, Eoq. of Dablin, to whoK politeness the vriter is indebted for Beveral inquiries connected with this work, and whose recent death he has, in common with others, to hunent.
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170 LIFE OP G0LI>3MITH.
given by this gentleman in conversation in various societies in Dublin, it appears that the Poet was often in his usual pecuniary distress ; sometimes reduced to great straits, obliged to borrow small sums from such as could afford to lend until his own remittances arrived, or other mode of repay- ment o£Fered : occasionally he taught his native language; and sometimes resorted to play, fre- quently the forlorn hope of the necessitous as well as the amusement of the idle or the dissipated, in the hope by some lucky effort of extricating himself from difficulties. Such habits we may lament more than condemn, for the needy are ahnost necessarily among the irregular in conduct ; and it requires some self-denial and strength of mind to prevent poverty from relaxing even rigid morality. But it bad little influence on his good humour ; he was usually gay and cheerful ; and when taxed with imprudence for risking such small sums as he pos- sessed, admitted the fact and promised amendment for the future. In all his peculiarities it was re- marked there was about him an elevation of mind, a philosophical tone and manner, which added to the language and information of a scholar made him an object of interest to such as could estimate cha- racter.
Having had a successful run at play, according to Dr. Ellis, Goldsmith called upon that gentleman the following morning, and counted out a consider- able sum, which he was advised not again to trust to chance, but hoard as a provision for future
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LEYDEN. 171
necessities. This recommendation he promised to follow, and prohably meant to fulfil ; but he was again seduced to the scene of his former success, and with the usual lot of the dupes to this passion, lost the whole of what he had previously gained.
At Leyden, from the information to be obtained at present, he took no degree* ; but having resided there about a year, formed the resolution to travel, in defiance of want of the necessary pecuniary means. Privation and hardship being habitual to one so frequently suffering from straitened finances, pre- sented a less forbidding aspect to him than to most other men. He possessed an ardent curiosity, a buoyant spint, and a constitutionid inclination to look rather to the bright than dark side of the pros- pect ; a disposition in some degree national, for it is a well known and avowed peculiarity of the lower orders of his countrymen, to put as large a share of their faith in chance as in conduct, in much of the business of life. Reliance was, no doubt, placed upon his own ingenuity, his learning, and medical knowledge : he was young ; his frame, though short in stature, vigorous and accustomed to fatiguing exercises ; he had learned from others of his coun-
* " Mr. Hndflon presents his complimenta to Mr. Prior, and begs to infmn him, that Dr. Wenckebach of Breda has had the kindness to request of FrofesBor Reinwardt to ascertain, from the Album Academicum of the Univenity of Leyden, whether Goldsmith was a student from 1754 to 1756, or whe- ther any degree was conferred upon him by that University ; and the result of the inquiry is in each case in the negatiTe." It was not then usual, perhaps, to record the names of all students. '
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173 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
trymcn, occasional yisitors at Leyden irom the con- tinental univeraities, that travelling presented fewer difficulties than might be supposed, and he expected in the chief towns to find Mends or occasional remittances irom home. Something of the romantic interest attending such an enterprise undertaken in • such a manner, is lost from its having of late been accomplished by several naval and military officers, who by skilful and rigid economy, have traverstd Flanders, France, Switzerland, and parts of Ger- many on foot at trifling expense, which, as they state, had circumstances required it, might have been reduced to a still smaller sum.
A more immediate encouragement to meet the difficulties of the enterprise, was probably the knowledge that it had been before accomplished by a literary adventurer worse provided than himself, the Baron Louis de Holberg, who had then ( 1754>) recently died. The outline of his story, as given by Goldsmith, shows that this example was in his eye, and in (act became the model of his conduct : —
" The history of polite learning in Denmark may be comprised in the life of one single man ; it rose and fell with the late famous Baron Holberg. This was, perhaps, one of the most extraordinary personE^CB that has done honour to the present century. His being the son of a private centinel did not abate the ardour of his ambition, for he learned to read without a master. Upon the death of his father, being left entirely destitute, he was involved in all that distress which is common
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BARON DB HOLBERG. 173
among tbe poor, and of which the great have scarce any idea. However, though only a boy of nine years old, he still persisted in pursuing his studies, travelled about from school to school, and begged his learning and bis bread.
" When at the age of seventeen, instead of ap- plying himself to any of the lower occupations, which seem best adapted to such circumstances, be was resolved to travel, for improvement, from Nor- way, the place of his birth, to Copenhagen, the capital city of Denmark. He lived here by teach- ing French, at the same time avoiding no oppor- tunity of improvement that his scanty funds would permit. But his ambition was not to he restrained, or bis thirst of knowledge satisfied until he had seen the world. Without money, recommendationt, or friends, he undertook to set out upon his travels, and make the tour of Europe on foot. A good voice and a trifling sMllin music were the only f nances he had to support an undertakiTig so extensive ; so he travelled by day, and at night sang at the doors of peasants^ houses, to get himself a lodging. In this manner yonng Holberg passed through France, Germany, and Holland, and, coming over to Eng- land, took up his residence in the University of Oxford. Here he subsisted by teaching French and music, and wrote his Universal History, his earliest but worst performance. Furnished with all the learning of Europe, he at last thought proper to return to Copenhagen, where his ingenious pro- ductions quickly gained him that favour he deserved.
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174 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
He composed not less than eighteen comedies; those in his own language are said to excel, and those which are wrote in French have peculiar merit. He was honoured with nobility, and en- riched by the bounty of the King ; so that a life, begun in contempt and penury, ended in opulence and esteem."*
When about to quit I^eyden, his purse being at a low ebb, application was made to Dr. Ellis for assistance, but an effort of affectionate gratitude of the borrower towards bis uncle, rendered the sup- ply received from that gentleman of little use. For having wandered into the garden of a florist whose productions he had admired during the summer, and some of which were at one time raised into an extravagantly fictitious value in Holland, the recollection of Mr. Contarine's taste for the cul- tivation of those beautiful productionB, induced him to purchase a supply of the roots for trans- mission to Ireland. This imprudence, as it may be considered in a situation so impoTerished, left him by the statement of the lender, with scarcely any money, and but one clean shirt, to set forward. Probably there is in this some error : he may have been poor enough, but reports of extreme destitu- tion, like that of great wealth, are sometimes ex- aggerated for the sake of effect.
Few particulars of this tour are accurately known, while recent and diligent inquiries have thrown
* Inquiry into the Present State of Polite Learning. See Worlw, toI. i.
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HIS JOURNEY. 175
only small additional light on the subject. He kept no journal, wrote only occasionally to his friends, though as we know he gave the Rev. Mr. Percy verbally an outline of his route, which might have been rendered sufficiently complete and pro- bably very amusing, had the requisite questions which he alone could answer, been put at the moment. No more than one or two of his letters, written from the Continent, although several were remembered by Mrs. Hodson, are believed to be now in existence. These were first traced to Ros- common, next to Dublin, back again to a different part of the same county, thence to Greenock in Scotland, from this again to Ireland, next to Brighton, afterwards to Passy near Paris, and finally to England, besides letters on the same errand to Nice and Nova Scotia j and though the clue is not wholly lost, the writer has failed to obtain their perusal. In conversation he is known to have occasionally detailed incidents in his ad- ventures, the particulars of which are now forgot- ten ; others, and from his destitute condition perhaps the most curious, he probably never did or would, from very excusable reserve, discloso to any one. But his condition is pretty plainly inti- mated in the expressive lines commencing the Traveller, and marking nearly the extreme points of his journey —
"Remote, vnJHmded, melancholy, tlou>. Or by the kzy Scheldt or TUkdeiiiig Fo," —
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176 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
and the descriptive account in the same poem of the French peasantry.
The only detailed account prohably committed by him to paper, was a letter to Doctor Radcliff, fellow of Trinity College, who having occasionally lectured Wilder's pupils and being an amiable man, was applied to by Goldsmith on his return from the Continent for a favour hereafter to be menlioDed, and in return wrote him an account of his travels. The letter was long, and in the opi- nion of that gentleman, one of the most able and interesting of all his productions. Nothing except its general purport is remembered, the original being consumed by fire which destroyed the house of the Doctor, and the greater part of the street (Great Cuffe Street, Dublin) in which he resided. It had been deposited with others of his letters for greater security in the plate chest, which a servant on the alarm of fire being given, rushed up stairs to save, but by mistake seized another of similar appearance filled with books of divinity ; and there was no time to return and rectify the error. The plate and letters were therefore de- stroyed.*
Incidents connected with his own adventures occur no doubt in the story of what he terms a ' philosophic vagabond' in the Vicar of Wake- field ; not literally true perhaps in detail, but with
* Commnnickted to the writer b; Dr. Radclif^ Jndge of the FrerogstiTe Court in Dublin, to irhoK fether the letten wen addnned.
LOUVAIN. 177
such variatioDs as suited a work of imaginatioo, leaving himself at liberty by this arrangement of denying or admitting the accuracy of such parts as he thought proper. In familiar moments, he confessed his poverty, his musical efforts to amuse the peasantry, and his disputations at seats of learn- ing ; other hints may be gleaned from the Traveller and Inquiry into Polite Learning j and other cir- cumstances again, it is obvious, were wholly ima- ginary, or represented differently from what really occurred. Thus, he makes his hero embark for Holland to teach the natives English without knowing Dutch ; lands him at Amsterdam instead of Rotterdam ; takes him to Louvfun to teach the professors Greek ; says nothing of Leyden, or of Switzerland, and no more of Italy than that his pupil embarked for England at Leghorn ; while this person, described as inheriting the property of an uncle in the West Indies, was said to have really been heir to a well known pawnbroker in Holbom, of great wealth, named Smyth, or Smyly.
He set out about February 1755 j a proof, perhaps, of being better furnished with resources than is supposed by choosing such a season. One of his chief resting places in Flanders is said to have been Louvain, not to instruct the professors in the manner humorously mentioned in the novel, but to gain some knowledge of its learning and system of discipline ; for the remark put into the mouth of his hero, speaking of literary topics, held true with regard to himself, " I always foreot the
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178 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
meannesa of my circumBtances when I could con- verse upon sucb subjects." Here he was said, in a short memoir published after bis death, written by a person named Glover, known as an occasional ac- quaintance, to have taken th^ degree of M.B. It is doubtful, however, whether such intermediate step to the Doctorate is common in the universities on the Continent, though certtunly granted in some ; the records at Louvain however for that period are lost" ; the statement, therefore, cannot be dis- proved, but from a comparison of circumstances it is improbable. At Antwerp he spent a short time, and likewise at Brussels : in the former he saw and spoke of a criminal, whose gaiety though maimed, deformed, and suffering the punishment of chains and slavery for life, is made the subject of one of his essayst ; and at Maestricht examined an exten- sive and well known cavern, or stone quarry, an object of interest then to travellers.
* Fron the Abb^ d« Foere, CluvpUin to the English Nnne at Bruges, the foUovisg letter hu been received by the writer :
" SiK, " Brages, June 19, 1832.
" My Menda at the Univeraity of LonTain bare perused the umalB of that funous Bchool, and have msde every possible inquiry to get some information about Oliver Goldsmith, but they did not sacceed. The annals of that period, including the years 1754 — 55 — 56, are wanting, and probably lost during the various disturbances our country nuderveut since the latter end of last century. I am sorry, Sir, I have not been able to answer your inquiries in a more sattsfoctory way. I have the honour to be. Sir, &c. " Dk Foere."
t "Happiness dependent on Constitution." Bee, Oct. 13, 1759. Wo^k^ vol. i.
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FRANCE. 179
Id France, judging from admissions in works both of fact and fiction, his adventures seem to have been as unusual as his situation, and they are turned to his usual benevolent purpose of shewing the poorer classes in an amiable light. " I had some know- ledge of music," he says in the Vicar of Wakefield, " with a tolerable voice, and now turned what was my amusement into a present means of subsistence. I passed among the harmless peasants of Flanders, and among such of the French as were poor enough to be very merry ; for I ever found them sprightly in proportion to their wants. Whenever I ap- proached a peasant's house towards night-fall, I played one of my most merry tunes, and that pro- cured me not only a lodging, but subsistence for the next day. I once or twice attempted to play for people of fashion ; but they always thought my performance odious, and never rewarded me even with a trifle."
No ordinary love of learning, of novelty, of acquaintance with men and manners, or of perse- vering determination to examine them alt as far as circumstances permitted, could induce any one to subject himself to such a precarious existence ; yet we know, by what has been stated and by specific avowal of the fact in his poem, that such was occa- sionally his own condition. One of the spots where, and the mode in which, this musical skill was exerted, and even the degree of that skill so exactly correspondent with fact, for his performance was
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InU LIFE OF OOLDSHITH.
not first-rate, is tbus nuautely and poetically paint- ed:—
" Hov often have I led the HportiTe choir. With tuDeleos pipe, beeide the murmuring Loire ! Where shading elmi along the margin grew. And freshened from the wave the zephyr &ew ; And haply, though my harsh touch, faltering atill. But mock'd all tune and nurr'd the dancers' akiU, Yet would the village praise my wondraua power. And dance foi^;etfnl of the noon-tide hour."
His mode of travelling is again expressly in- timated in a work of fact : — '* Comitries wear very different appearances to travellers of different circumstances. A man who is whirled through Europe in a post chaise, and the pilgrim who walks the grand tour on foot, will form very different conclusions. Hand inexpertus loguor."*
At Paris he attended the lectures of Rouelle, an eminent professor of chemistry, who first ascer- tained the composition of the diamond by sub- mitting it to combustion. In allusion to the scientific tastes of the fair sex of that day in that metropolis, he says, in the work just quoted, " I have seen as bright a circle of beauty at the che- mical lectures of Rouelle as gracing the court of Versailles."
While here, he wrote to Ireland for pecuniary assistance, intimating his wants in a simple yet
* Enquiry into Polite Learning, irS9,p. 161. Intheaecond edition, {rabUsbed in 1774 with his name, the Latin clause — probably a sacrifice to pride — ^was omitted. See Works, vol. i.
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VOLTAIRE AND FONTENELLE. 181
humorous strain.* Here likewise be met severed persoDS he knew; a Mr. Macdonnell of Dublin, a gentleman from Roscommon, whose name is for- gotten, and a few college acqu^tance from Dublin and Edinburgh.
It would appear he had the honour of an introduction to Voltaire id Paris, which pro- bably produced the admiration of the genius of that extraordinary person, found in some of his subsequent writings. Two allusions are made to this honour ; one in a letter in the Public Ledger, another in an account of his life hereafler to be noticed : —
" I remember to have heard Mr. Voltaire ob- serve in a large company at his house at Monrion, that at the battle of Dettingen the English exhibited prodigies of valour } but they soon lessened their well-hought conquest by lessening the merit of those they had conquered."
In the memoir, he enters more into det^ of his usual manner in conversation : —
" In the year 1720 Mr. Voltaire came over to England. A previous acquaintance with Atter- bury, Bishop of Rochester, and the Lord Boling- broke. was sufficient to introduce him among the polite, and his fame as a poet got him the acquaint-
* A cop7 of this letter was once in the poMeseion of Mr. Carleton, nephew of the late DoblemaQ of that nunei who gave it to a Miss Metcalf, now dead ; among vhoee papers it haa not been found. Other copiea are known to be in London, but, from some unaccountable iUiberality, are withheld.
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183 LIFB OF GOLDSMITH.
ance of tlie learned, in a country where foreigners generally find bat a cool reception. He only wanted introduction ; his own merit was enough to procure the rest. As a companion no man ever exceeded him when he pleased to lead the conversa- tion ; which, however, was not always the case. In company which he either disliked or despised, few could be more reserved than he : but when he was warmed in discourse, and had got over a hesitating manner which sometimes he was subject to, it was rapture to hear him. His meagre visage seemed insensibly to gather beauty, every muscle in it had meaning, and his eye beamed with unusual brightness.
" The person who writes this memoir, who had the honour and the pleasure of being his acquaint- ance, remembers to have seen him in a select company of wits of both sexes at Paris, when the subject happened to turn upon English taste and learning, Fontenelle, who was of the party, and who, being unacquainted with the language or au- thors of the country he undertook to condemn, with a spirit truly vulgar began to revile both. Diderot, who liked the English, and knew some- thing of their literary pretensions, attempted to vindicate their poetry and learning, but with un- equal abilities. The company quickly perceived that Fontenelle was superior in the dispute, and were surprised at the silence which Voltaire had preserved all the former part of the night, particu-
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VOLTAIRE AND FONTBNELLE. 188
larly as the conversation turned upon one of his favourite topics.
"Fontenelle continued his triumph till about twelve o'clock, when Voltaire appeared at last roused from his reverie. His whole frame seemed animated. He began his defence with the utmost elegance, mixed with spirit, and now and then let fell the finest strokes of raillery upon his antago- nist i and his harangue lasted till three in the morn- ing. I must confess that, whether from national partiality or from the elegant senfiibility of his man- ner, I never was so much charmed, nor did I ever remember so absolute a victory as he gained in this dispute."
One of the few allusions to his abode in Paris at this time, is the following from " Animated Nature," vol. V. p. 207. : —
" I never walked out about the environs of Paris, that I did not consider the immense quantity of game that was running almost tame on every side of me, as a badge of the slavery of the people ; and what they wished me to observe as an object of triumph, I always regarded with a kind of secret compassion : yet this people have no game laws for the remoter parts of the kindom."
By the recommendation of some of the friends found in this capital, be accompanied an English gentleman to Switzerland, taking the route of Stras- burgh ; and crossing the Rhine, remained a short time in Germany. At this time therefore, for he is not known to have visited it subsequently, such know-
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184 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
ledge aa he possessed of that country seems to have been acquired ; not, we may helieve, of a very minute description, as no sketch of country or people is attempted in the " Traveller." The " Enquiry into Polite Learning" censures with some justice its innumerable critics aud commentators as destructive of true taste and genius ; but the fol- lowing scene irom the learned institutions of that country, although drawn eighty years ago, was even then probably overcharged : —
" But let the Germans have their due ; if they are often a little dull, no nation alive assumes a more laudable solemnity, or better understands all the little decorums of stupidity. Let the discourse of a professor run on never so heavily, it cannot be irksome to his dozing pupils, who frequently lend him their sympathetic nods of approbation. I have sometimes attended their disputes at gradation. On this occasion they often dispense with learned gra- vity, and seem really all alive. The disputes are managed between the followers of Cartesius, whose exploded system they call the new philosophy, and those of Aristotle. Though both parties are wrong, they argue with an obstinacy worthy the cause of truth ; Nego, Probo, and Distinguo grow loud. The disputewits grow warm ; the moderator cannot be heard, the audience take part in the debate, till at last the whole hall buzzes with erro- neous philosophy."
Entering Switzerland, he visited the falls of Schaffhausen, either at an early period of the year,
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SWITZERLAND. 185
or when the season was more than usually late ; for in speaking of rivers, and such cataracts as neither time nor art are likely to remove, he says, " Of this kind are the cataracts of the Rhine, one of which I have seen exhibit a very strange appear- ance ; it was that at Schaffhausen, which was Irozen quite across, and the water stood in columns where the cataract had formerly fallen."*
In this country he remained for some time, visiting Basle, Berne, and other places of note or interest, hut fixing more permanently at Geneva. Every part presented something romantic and gra- tifying to the eye or the imagination ; and contem- plation of such scenery as he had never witnessed, and scarcely conceived, acting upon a susceptihle and reflective mind with all the force of novelty and grandeur, seems to have first produced the dis- position to clothe his thoughts and observations in the garh of poetry. To a poetical mind the excite- ment was irresistible. From Switzerland, he ex- pressly tells us, the first sketch of the " Traveller" was sent to bis brother.
Hilly countries, which poetical theorists are prone to consider favourable to the production of poets, may perhaps more truly he sud rather to draw out their faculty, than to create it. Persons are seldom excited by what is femiliar to them } and a native of mountainous regions cannot be supposed to view with enthusiasm what is daily under his eye. Moun- tains are not in &ct in any country prolific in men • Animated N»ture, vol.i. p. 221. Ed. 1774.
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186 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
of high mental powers ; genius is rarely developed there ; the people are more rude ; wealth and com- fort, which with a few exceptions seem essential to the cultivation of intellect, less frequent ; and the resort of strangers thither, which has its share in contributing to knowledge, only occasional and tem- porary. Switzerland has not produced her propor- tion of eminent men ; and if any part of our own country be scant of celebrated names, it is Wides and the Highlands of Scotland.
But to him familiar only with the plains, who has not seen Nature in her grander aspects and varieties, such countries burst upon the view with all the freshness and interest of a new world, and rarely foil powerfully to impress minds the most ignorant and unimpassioned. To the poet and the philo- sopher they become a study ; create a new train of ideas and associations ; and while the former is tempted to dwell upon the variety, the novelty, and the magnificence of nature, the latter will be not less inquisitive respecting their moral attributes, and their influences on the condition and character of the people. Uniting both characters within himself, Goldsmith sat down to meditate upon and describe what he saw, and under such circumstances the first draught of the " Traveller*" was made ; with what truth of description and vigour of senti- ment need not be said, for he has left little for suc- ceeding poets touching upon the same countries to add. AU traces of this sketch, transmitted as he informs us, to his brother Henry in Ireland, and
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GENEVA. 187
consisting of about seventy or eighty lines according to current report among his relatives, are now lost ; being considered probably of no further value when the poem had been published.
From Geneva he made excursions on foot to the Alpine ranges in the vicinity, with which he after- wards professed to be very conversant in the know- ledge of their localities. The time occupied in this way was the early part of the summer of 1755, as may be inferred from that passage in the " Tra- veller" where, in describing the country, we are told, either in allusion to the severity of the season when he was there, or the lateness of spring gene- rally, that
" No yernal blooms theii torpid rocks amy. But winter linfferatff ehilU the lap of Miry."
A more precise statement of the time appears in the " History of Animated Nature." Speaking of woodcocks being found in the Alps all the sum- mer, he says, " I myself have flushed them, on the top of Mount Jura, in June and July." A few other notices of his familiarity with this region occur in parts of the same work. Adverting to an erroneous though prevalent idea, of the sense of taste being impaired by the state of the air on the tops of mountains, he denies it : " All substances have their tastes as well on the tops of mountains as in the bottom of the valley ; and I have been one of many who have ate a very savoury dinner on the Alps." Speaking of sheep on another occa-
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188 LIFE OF GOLDSUITU.
sion, he Bays there is but one proof of their attach- ment to persona. " What I allude to is their fol- lowing the sound of the shepherd's pipe. Before I had seen them trained in this manner, I had no conception of those descriptions of the old pastoral poets, of the shepherd leading his flock from one country to another. As I had been used only to see these harmless creatures driven before their keepers, I supposed that aU the rest was but invention j but in many parts of the Alps, and even some provinces of France, the shepherd and his pipe are stUl continued with true antique sim- plicity."
At this city he is said to have had consigned to him the care of a young gentleman travelling to the south of France and to Italy ; but the connection according to the same accounts, was dissolved upon the borders of the latter country, the pupil to em- bark at Marseilles for England, and the tutor to pursue his tour in penury and on foot. The degree of credibility due to this story, repeated by all the early memoir writers, is not precisely ascer- tiuned. Bishop Perty withoat denying its truth, felt dbposed to attribute its origin to the story told by the Vicar of Wakefield's son. It is certain it was not among the memoranda dictated to that prelate at Northumberland House ; while it is equally true, that many more important particulars of his life, from the hurried perhaps unpre- meditated nature of the communication, were omitted on the same occasion. Such an event, if
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GENEVA. 189
it ever occurred, might not have been thought worthy of notice by himself in a statement not meant to be detailed or minute ; or the recollection might have been unpleasant from some circum- stances of the quarrel ; or he may have been in- fluenced at this period as we know him to have been on other points, by the reserve, common to most men, of withholding fi:x>m general knowledge during life the difficulties and struggles which marked its commencement.
That some such connection was formed ap- pears probable, Irom consideration of all the cir- cumstances: — the habit of the Poet to tell some- thing of himself, however tinged with fiction ; the very probable occurrence of a tutorship, which would enable him to travel to advanta^ ; the con- trasted characters of tutor and pupil, of which the former so much resembled his own ; the seeming truth of the detful, as given in the novel, and the name of the uncle of the youth being known ; and finally, the cause of the premature separation, which from the allusions dropped, and the very different estimates formed of the value of money by the governor and the governed, we may readily believe to have been pecuniary matters. Between the improvident and the parsimonious, there can be no permanent bond of union : if positive antipa- thy be not engendered between persons of such opposite qualities, their acquaintance never ripens into friendship, for they cannot pardon the pecu- liarities of each other. The improvidence of the
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190 LITE OF GOLDSMITH.
poor always astonishes tbe wealthy. The avarice of the rich on the other hand, is ever incompre- hensible to the'-poor ; it is the first peculiarity of character they notice, and probably the last which they forget or forgive ; and in sketching the follow- ing character, it is difficult to believe that Gold- smith, whose disposition was so opposite to that of his presumed companion, did not copy from tbe life :—
" I was to be the young gentleman's governor, but with a proviso that he should always be per- mitted to govern himself. My pupil, in fact, un- derstood the art of guiding in money concerns much better than I. He was the heir to a fortune of about two hundred thousand pounds, left him by an uncle in the West Indies ; and his guardians, to qualify him for the management of it, had bound him apprentice to an attorney. Thus avarice was bis prevailing passion ; all bis questions on the road were, how money might be saved, — which was tbe least expensive course to travel, — whether any thing could be bought that would turn to account when disposed of again in London ? Such curiosi- ties on the way as could be seen for nothing, he was ready enough to look at ; but if the sight of them was to be paid for, he usually asserted that be had been told they were not worth seeing. He never paid a bill that he would not observe how amazingly expensive travelling was ; and all this though not yet twenty-one. When arrived at Leghorn, as' we took a walk to look at the port
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ITALY. 191
and Bhipping, he inquired the expense of the pas- sage by sea home to England. This he was in- formed was but a trifle compared to his returning by land j he was therefore unable to withstand the temptation ; so, paying me the small part of my salary that was due, he took leave, and embarked with only one attendant for London."
Italy was now before him : and who, at some period of life, has not yearned to visit a region consecrated in imagination by the remembrance of its ancient reputation ? by its poetry, heroism, and power ; its literature, oratory, and art ?
Descending into Piedmont, we find an allusion to the fact of his acqu^ntance with that country, in noticing a part of its rural economy, the manage- ment of bees, where in the case of flowers being scarce or exhausted in one place, the insects are made to change their neighbourhood for fresh sup- plies, by a simple and eflicacious plan of their owners : — " For a knowledge of this, in some parts of France and Piedmont, they have contrived, as I have often seen, a kind of floating bee-house. They have on board one barge threescore or an hundred bee-hives, well defended from the incle- mency of an accidental storm ; and with these, the owners suffer themselves to float gently down the river. As the bees are continually choosing their flowery pasture along the banks of the stream, they are furnished with sweets before unrifled ; and thus a single floating bee-house yields the proprietor a considerable income. Why a method similar to
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192 LIFE OP GOLDSMITH.
this has never been adopted in England, where we have more gentle rivers and more flowery banks than in any other part of the world, I know not ; certainly, it might be turned to advantage, and yield the possessor a secure, though, perhaps, a moderate income."
In his progress he visited Florence, Verona, Mantua, Milan, and, crossing the base of the Pen- insula to the eastern shore, frequently meeting what he terms " the wandering Fo," found an ob- ject of much interest in Venice ; personally, from its connection with the ori^n of his uncle Conta- rine's femily ; poetically, by associations arising firom the popular productions of English genius : though even her accredited history resembles a portion of romance. Carinthia was likewise visited ; and being once questioned by Mr. Hickey on the justice of the censure passed upon a people whom other travellers praised for being as good if not better than their neighbours —
" Or onward. There the nide Carinthian boor Against the houselesE Btnnger ahuta the door," —
gave as a reason his being once after a fatiguing day's walk, obliged to quit a hoase he had entered for shelter, and pass part or the whole of the night in seeking another. His progress there is no reason to doubt was attended by much privation, but supported with a spirit that penury and lone- liness could not daunt.
At Fadua, attracted by its medical and literary reputation, he remained a few months, acquiring
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PADUA. 193
more intimate acquaintance with the language and literature of the people of this portion of Italy. Among the learned, that University then stood high, and the coincidence may be worthy of remark, in men afterwards so celebrated for their talents and intimacy, that Dr. Johnson, when at college, had an ambition to visit the same seat of learning, hut only contemplated in prospect what Goldsmith, with more energy, and under the most diaadvan- tageous circumstances, accomplished in person. " Well," said the former, in a loud solUoquy in his room, which happened to be overheard by Dr. Panting then master of Pembroke College, " I have a mind to see what is done in other places of learn- ing. I'll go and visit the universities abroad. I'll go to France and Italy. Pll go to Padua. And I'll mind my business.***
Here he is supposed to have taken his medical degree, although no satisfactory proof of the mat* ter can be gleaned after minute inquiries. But it is suggested by competent authority in such matters, that it may have been obtained in some other university after one of the disputations in their halls, in which by his own admission, he engaged. The record of the names of students in this Uni- versi^, is also said to he defective or lost.
While pursuing professional and general learn- ing, be appears to have examined the character and manners of the nation with some degree of
* Croker's Bomrell, ToL i. p. 42.
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194 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
minuteness. Tfae result was not favourable to its literary or moral state. In the " Traveller," the " Enquiry into Polite Learning," and in that ex- quisite specimen of the firivolitj of some of their Hterary, or supposed literary, associations, their '* filosofi and virtuosi," first printed in " The Bee," giving an accoimt of the academies of Italy, we see hie opinions at length. He found a people more prond of their past, than striving to attain present reputation : Stat nominis ttmbra ; ardent indeed and impassioned in character, hut this ardour thrown away rather upon the amusements of life than upon its paramount dudes and its busi- ness ; the arts valued extremely high ; but men in their sodal condition, character, and qualities which must ever form the great test of high civilis^ ation, neglected. He found despotic governments, without external strength or internal respectability ; a religion, imposing in its forms, hut unsuccessful in securing morality of conduct from the peo- ple, and as he says hi another place, " with the property of contracting the sphere of the under- standing }" and learning, as he believed, on the decline. When afterwards induced to give utter- ance to similar opinions in tbe societies of Lcmdon, Baretti, Martinelli, and other Italians, took him sharply to task for presuming to characterise a people and country of whom he knew litUe. Both were occasionally rude to him on this account. But he seems not to have erred materially, or Italy must consider herself peculiarly unfortunate in ap-
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pearing in a similar light to moat other English travellerB.*
It appeare he did not visit Rome or Naples, finding either his resources exhausted, or dreading that the then impending contest between England and France would interfere with the homeward journey through the latter country. Toward the end of 1755 he set out on his return to England. On this occasion his difficulties are believed to have been greater than at any former period ; be had now, however, atiother resource, which when opportunities ofifered was rendered available for procuring temporary supplies, while it exhibited his ingenuity, practised his memory, and drew forth his stores of learning. It is told in the work of fiction already alluded to, as a resource of the - « philosophic vagabond," and was universally under- stood, and indeed avowed, to apply to himself : —
" My skill in music could avail me nothing in a country (Italy) where every peasant was a better musician than I : but by this time I had acquired another talent, which answered my purpose as well, and this was a skill in disputation. In all the foreign universities and convents, there are upon certain days philosophical theses maintained against
* Lord Orrery, a tnTeller and a clerer man, and vith the best opportunities for obserration, in a letter from Florence, shortly befiire (Dec. 1 754) seemi to have formed no more favour- able opinion of the people than Goldsmith : — " Tbe truth is, few parts of Italy abound with men of learning. The clergy rather cultivate the political than the classic^ sciences, and the nobility cultivate no aciencea at all." o ^
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every adventitious disputant; for which, if the champion opposes with any dexterity, be can claim a gratuity in money, a dinner, and a hed for one night. In this manner, then, I fought my way towards England, walked along from city to city, examined mankind more nearly, and, if X may so express it, saw both sides of the picture."
Convents in most parts of the Continent were at that time pretty Dumerouely tenanted by natives of Ireland ; and wherever such were found, he profited by the accidental advantage of birthplace, as well as of his learning, to claim assistance at their hands. That he met acquaintance who may have occasionally supplied his wants, there is no doubt ; one instance may be inferred from the following incident, or the allusion may apply to a domestic of his pupil : — " A friend of mine," he says, speak- ing of the bite of the taruitula in Italy, and the erroneous stories told of its effects and of their reputed mode of cure by dancing, " had a servant who suffered himself to be bit ; the wound, which was little larger than the puncture of a pin, was uneasy for a few hours, and then became well without any further assistance. Some of the coun- try people, however, still make a tolerable liveli- hood of the credulity of strangers, as the musician finds his account in it not less than the dancer."*
After entering France, his music became again in requisition ; more perhaps on the homeward
* Animated Nature, toI. ii. p. 171- Lond. 1774.
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than even on the outward journey, as his necessi- ties were greater. Assistance derived from this source could do little more than supply the exi- gencies of the moment ; his wants at other periods must have been pressing ; his obligations to indi- Tidual charity necessarily great and ^quent. Writing to his brother-in-law at a future time, we have the admission, in alluding to pecuniary diffi- culties, in their family, — " These things give me real uneasiness, and I could wish to redress them : but at present there is hardly a kingdom in Europe in which I am not a debtor." With some- thing like bitterness of spirit from the recollec- tion of what he had endured, or censure of him- self for undertaking such a scheme so ill provided, the supposed adventures in the novel, shadowed out so much resembling his own, are termed those of a " philosophic vagabond, pursuing novelty and losing content."
The kindness of the French peasantry impressed him in &vour of the nation at large ; increased probably by that similarity, obvious to a nice ob- server, which exists between their general charac- ter and that of his own countrymen. He saw and felt perhaps how soon on the soil of France the French and Irish assimilate ; so much sooner and closer than the English and French. He could not overlook the same sociability of disposition ; the same hospitality and good nature towards stranger? } the same lightness of heart and vol&<
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tility of temper ; the same enjoyment of the pre- sent and disregard of the fdture ^ the same desire " to please and be pleased" with all around them ; and even that vanity, or " heggar pride" as be terms it, to appear to others something greater or better than they really are. Nor did the pe- culiarity probably escape him, that both nations so joyous and generous in their quiet state, should exhibit when excited the extremes of fierceness and cruelty.
While marking the social peculiarities of the people, their political condition was not forgotten ; he appears to have clearly observed the slow and almost silent operation of a new and formidable principle at that time taking root in the public mind of France. The prophecy aa to the proba- ble results is singular, and proved much nearer its accomplishment than he believed : — " As the Swedes are making concealed approaches to despotism, the French, on the other hand, are imperceptibly vindicating themselves into free- dom. When I consider that these Parliaments, the members of which are all created by the Court (the Presidents of which can only act by immediate direction), presume even to mention privileges and freedom, who till of late received directions from the thrcme with implicit humility ; when this is considered, I cannot help fancying that the genius of freedom has entered that king- dom in disguise. If they have bnt three weak
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monarcha more successively on the throne, the mask will be laid aside, and the country will cer- tainly once more be free."*
* It is rem&rlcable that Burke was impresBed vith Uie same idea; first ia 1768, m his pamphlet in reply to one of Hr. QeoTge GreDTillei and again in 1771 on his retom firom a visit to that coontry. If the coincidence of opinion be accidental, it ii canons; but as Goldamith was prior in tim^ finrke may bare been led to coonder the sabject by hearing hii obserrations.
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LIFE OF OOLDSHITB.
CHAP. VI.
ASKITAL IN EMGLAMD. EARLY STRVQOLEB IN LONDON.—
BECOMES tIBHER IN THE BCHOOL Or DR. HILNER AT FECK-
BAH. — ENGAGE! IN TBE MONTHLY REVIEW. DR. JAMES
QRAINQER.
I Eably in the year 1756 he reached England, ! having spent about two years on the Continent ; > and Loudon, as the general resort of talent and necessity, became his first object. Here his pro- spects were of the most discouraging nature. What- ever advances he had made in learning, or in the knowledge of mankind in the abstract, he had made none in what is more commonly considered the practical business of life. It was doubtful what course to pursue for a livelihood ; he was in, to him, a strange land; he possessed neither Mends nor money ; and laboured under the disadvantage of being an Irishman, which at that period, as he says' in one of his letters, formed of itself an obstacle to gaining employment ,
Some obscurity exists as to the exact incidents of his life on revisiting England, of the order in which they preceded each other, or whether his first attempt to obtain a livelihood was in the me- dical or scholastic profession. Much of his earlier career, of what was known to many acquaintance
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BTaUOOLBS FOR A LIVELIHOOD. SOI
during his life is now forgotten, although in this and other details he may not have thought it necessary to he explicit to such as were likely to record them ; unwilling to disclose stru^les which were unsuccessful or involving details distressing to his pride. Yet we know that hints and allusions fell from him in conversation, casting partial light on parts of his history, which it would have been indehcate nevertheless to pursue by direct ques< (ions further than he thought proper to go. A^r his death, an anonymous contributor to the news< paper stated, that the Poet having been bred to pharmacy had attempted to practise as an apothe- cary in a country town, but failing of success, pro- ceeded to London and accepted the situation of usher to Dr. MUner. A contradiction to the former part of this account soon appeared, which brought forth the following rejoinder : it must be remem- bered that the authority is anonymous, although there seems no inducement for wilful misstate- ment or that the writer had not sufficient author- ity for what he says : — ** A writer in a daily paper pretends to contradict some part of our account of the late Dr. Goldsmith. He says, the Doctor was not bred to pharmacy, and that he did not set up as an apothecary in a country town tn Ireland. We never said that be set up tn Ireland. The country town alluded to is an English town, the name of which is forgotten. But the writer of this and the former paragraph assures the public, that he had the anecdote from the Doctor's own mouth.
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As to what the writer mentions of the Doctor having been a student in Edinburgh after he left Ireland, and then travelling into Germany and other parts of Europe, it is very true, and to that circum- stance the public is probably indebted for his pretty poem of the ' Traveller.' " •
A rumour (mentioned by Mr. English who con- ducted the Annual Register for twenty years after Burke relinquished it) prevailed about the year 1766, of his having once attempted the stage in the line of low comedy, in a country town, when pressed for the means of subsistence. Whether this story was circulated in jest or earnest, may be doubted ; want makes us &miliar with strange pursuits as with strange acquaintance ; and as the scheme may have seemed to him to require little preliminary knowledge and no introduction, it is just possible some such resource was tried in making his way from the coast to London, destitute as he avowedly was of money. The greater proba- bility indeed is, that like some other stories told of him it had no foundation, or was conjectured from the seeming knowledge of •such a life shown in the " Adventures of a Strolling Player," printed in the British Magazine, where the scene is placed in Kent; or from the conclusion of the story of George Primrose. It is however true that he was afterwards known to express desire to play as a piece of admirable low comedy, the character of Scrub in " The Beaux Stratagem."
* St. Jamei's Chronicle, April 12— -H. 1774.
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SEEKS AN USUEBSBIP. SOS
As &r as can be ascertained^ after reaching Lon- don bis first determination seems to have been to turn his classical knowledge to account as usher in a school. With this view he made application to one of those estahUshmeDts under a feigned name ; ashamed, as it appears, of an occupation from which he soon hoped to escape, and which by this device might never be known. A reference as to cha- racter was however required, and knowing none in England to whom to apply, he gave the name of the gentleman already mentioned, Dr. Radcliff of Dublin ; but at the same time wrote to that gentle- man himself, requesting him to give no answer to the inquiry of the schoolmaster. The reason of this we may readily conceive : having given a wrong name at first expecting to be received without reference, he could not without hazard of total rejecdoD afterwards acknowledge the deception ; he sought besides, merely temporary shelter, which was probably afforded until the answer from Dublin should arrive, trusting in the mean time that his attainments and moral conduct would establish their own character ; while as it was obvious that Doctor Radcliff could not recommend a fictitious person, no answer from him was better thao direct denial of all knowledge of the applicant
This story was told soon after the death of the Poet, by a writer of credit from a then living authority. In the statements mingled with it how- ever several errors crept in, in consequence of few authentic particulars of the Poet's life being then
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904 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
(I776) known ; thus the real p]ace of his birth ia thought to have been Roscommoti ; and he is be- lieved to have lived in England previous to visiting the Continent ; while the interval between the two applications to Dr. Radcliff, inst«ad of being passed in travelling, as this writer thinks, were really spent in London ; that is, between 17^6, when seeking the usbership, and 175S, when be wrote again to that gentleman, soliciting lud in procuring subscriptions for one of bis forthcoming works. That his adventures as related by him to that gen- tleman were, as is here said amusing, we may readily believe : situated as he was while on the CoDtinent, they must irom any pen have possessed no ordinary interest ; and from his own, ever abundant in humour and ease, no doubt a peculiar charm. Nor from a correspondent, to whom he stood partly in the relation of pupil, and who had known his previous struggles in Dublin, would he probably conceal much which it might not be neces- sary to disclose to others.
" This county" (Roscommon), writes the Rev. Dr. Thomas Campbell, whose connection with Bishop Percy in drawing up a memoir of the Poet has been mentioned, " boasts of a still greater honour, the birth of the much-lamented Oliver Goldsmith. I have learned a very curious anec- dote of this extraordinary man, from the widow of a Dr. Radcliff, who had been his tutor in Trinity College, Dublin. She mentioned to me a very long letter from him, which she had often heard
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APPLICATION TO DR. RADCLtFF. 005
her husband read to his Mends upon the com- mencement of Goldsmith's celebrity. But this, with other things of more value, was unfortunately lost by an accidental fire since her husband's death. It appears that the beginning of his career was one continued stru^le against adversity. Upon his first going to England, he was in such distress, that he would have gladly become an usher to a country school i but so destitute was he of friends to recom- mend bim, that he could not without difficulty obtain even this low department The master of the school scrupled to employ bim without some testimonial of his past life. Goldsmith referred bim to his tutor at college for a character ; hut all this while he went under a feigned name. From this resource, therefore, one would think that little in his favour could be ever hoped for. But he only wanted to serve a present exigency} — an ushership was not bis object.
'* In this sbraight, he wrote a letter to Dr. Rad- cliff, imploring him, as be tendered the welfare of an old pupil, not to answer a letter which he would probably receive the same post with his own &om the schoolmaster. He added that be had good reasons for concealing both from bim and the rest of the world his name, and the real state of his case ; every circumstance of which he promised to communicate upon some future occasion. His tutor, embarrassed enough to know what answer he should give, resolved at last to give none. And thus was poor Goldsmith snatched from between the
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faomB of his present dilemma, and Bufi«red to drag on a miserable life for a few probationary months. It was not till after bis return from his rambles over great part of the world, and after having got some footing on this slippery globe, that he at length wrote to Dr. Radcliff to thank him for not answering the schoolmaster's letter, and to fulSl his promise of giving the history of the whole transaction. It contained a comical narrative of bis adventures from leaving Ireland to that time. His musical talents had procured him a welcome reception wherever he went. My authority says, that her husband admired this letter more than any part of his works. But she would not venture to trust her memory in detailing particulars, which, after all» could not be so interesting but from his own manner of stating them."*
The situation of the school where he obtained temporary relief from absolute want, is not re- membered : by some it was said to be Yorkshire, probably from his familiar acquaintance with parts of that county evinced in conversation ; from other circumstances there is more reason to believe it Kent, and in the neighbourhood of Tenterden or Ashford, the journey to which from Ixmdon would be also more within the reach of bis finances. How long he continued is likewise unknown. The silence of Dr. Radcliff no doubt augured ill in the eyes
* " Historical Survey of the South of Ireland." 8to. Lond. 17?7. pp. 286— 289.
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AN ushek's lifb. 307
of his employer ; and very simple perhaps rather homely manners, a distressed condition, and rugged appearance, were little calculated to remove any unfavourable impression. The consideration shown him in the school under such circumstances was not likely to be great : his pride seconded by disgust at the occupation, probably took the alarm ; and be was soon therefore again in X.ondon, equally Mendless and distressed as before, but with a recollection of the miseries of his employment that breaks out in various parts of bis writings, and the appUcation of which to his personal peculiariUes, is immediately obvious in the supposed treatment of an usber : —
" The truth is, in spite of all their labours to please, they are generally the laughing-stock of the school. Every trick is played upon the usher ; the oddity of hit manners, his drets, or his language^ are a fund of eternal ridicule ; the master himself now and then cannot avoid joining in the laugh, and the poor wretch, eternally resenting this ill usage, seems to live in a state of warfare with all the family."* — " After all the fatigues of the day, he was in the habit of saying on other occasions, " the poor usher of an academy is obliged to sleep in the same bed with a Frenchman, a teacher of that language to the hoys ; who disturbs him every night an hour, perhaps, in papering and filleting his hair, and stinks worse than a carrion, with hia rancid pomatums when he lays his head beside him on the bolster."
* Works, Yol. i. Bee, No. VI. Eaiay on EdncitttoD.
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^8 LIFE OF GOLDSHITH.
" Upon my arriTal in town, Sir,", we are again told in hie noTel, " mj first care waa to deliver your letter of recommendation to our cousin, who was himself in little better circumstances than I. My first scheme, you know, Sir, was to be usher at an academy, and I asked his advice on the afiair. Our cousin received the proposal with a true sardonic grin. ' Ay,' cried he, * this is indeed a very pretty career that has been chalked out for you. I have been an usher at a hoarding school myself; and may I die by an anodyne necklace, but I had rather be under-turnkey in Newgate. / was up early arid late : J toaa browbeat by the master, hated for my ugly face by the mistress, worried by the boys within, and never permitted to stir out to receive civility abroad. But are you sure you are fit for a school ? Let me examine you a little. Have you been bred apprentice to the business F ' No.* * Then you won't do for a school Can you dress the boys* hair ?' ' No.' ' Then you won't do for a school. Have you had the small pox ?' ' No.' * Then you won't do for a school. Can you lie three in a bed ?' ' No.' ' Then you will never do for a school. Have you got a good stomach ?' • Yes.' ' Then you will by no means do for a school.' "
His dependence now for a livelihood rested on such professional acquirements as circumstances had best enabled him to make. Application was therefore made to several apothecaries for the situation of assistant, but the same obstacles that
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DIFFICULTIES OF HIS SITUATION. 209
Operated against him at the academy prevented his reception here. Ultimately a chemist, said to bare been named Jacob, and residing at the comer of Monument or Bell Yard, on Fish Street Hill, taking compassion on his destitute condition, and pleased with the degree of chemical science he displayed, admitted him into his establiehment.* Here be remained only a few months. Hearing that Dr. Sleigh was in London, be called to renew his acquaintance, and was received with every demonstration of regard, or, in the words put into his mouth by a gentlemant who knew him for several years, he is said to have described their interview in the following manner : — " But not- withstanding it was Sunday, tuid it is to be sup- posed in my best clothes, Sleigh scarcely knew me^-such is the tax the unfortunate pay to poverty. However, when he did recollect me, I found his heart as warm as ever, and he shared bis purse and friendship with me during his continuance in London."
At this time it appears be had not acqutunted his Mends in Ireland with his situation, a previous application to that quarter for pecuniary aid having failed ; rather from want of the means, as it would seem, than diminution of their regard. His dis-
* The hie Richard Sharp, Eaq. remembered to have had the hoiue pointed oat to him, aa he iuformed the vriter, in early life, with an anecdote or two of the poet vhich he had aince forgotten.
f Mr. WiUiam Cooke, the barrister ; author of an Esaay on the " Dramatic Art," and " Converution," a poem.
TOL. I. P
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210 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
tress before being engaged by the chemist, was therefore no doubt extreme, and such as with all his buoyancy of spirit, to have produced the most gloomy reflections. In a subsequent letter to Mr. Hodson it will be seen he states his difficulties in being " left without friends, recommeDdations, money, or impudence," and claims some merit for not having had recourse to the " friar's cord or the suicide's halter." If he was ever reduced in England to mingle with the lowest description of society, it was probably at this time ; for a late writer* asserts, on the authority as he says of the late Mr. George Langton, that Goldsmith to the surprise of a circle of good company, once began a story in these words : " When I lived among the beggars of Axe Lane." In this there may be some mistake or exaggeration ; the un- guarded nature of the man may have let fall ex- pressions implying acquaintance with the habits of such persons, but not probably in the exact terms here put into his mouth.
By the friendship of Dr. Sleigh and a few other acquaintance found in London, he was enabled to establish himself as physician, in a humble way, in Bankside, Southwark. Humility of appearance is not very favourable to success in physic : his poorer neighbours indeed found him useful ; but the rich who could alone contribute to his support, usually expect some external display of wealth as one
* Best'sPenouBlRecoUectioDa, p. 76.
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ACQUAINTANCE WITH aiCHABDSON. SI 1
of the evidences of successful practice in the can- didate for their confidence, because they rarely know any thing of his qualifications. His address likewise wanted that polisli, while his honesty and candour despised that intrigue, which some of his brethren find convenient substitutes for talents. He had leisure however to turn his attention to literature, w^ich formed there is reason to believe a more favourite pursuit ; and it possessed this ad- vantage over bis profession, that the exertion of industry and talent were sure of procuring at least some return, while in the former they could com- mand none. The assistance received from Sleigh, who though kind had litUe to spare, could not be considerable, and when he lefl London it necessarily ceased. Goldsmith was therefore thrown upon such resources as his ingenuity could supply.
It was about this period he became acquainted ' with Richardson, the celebrated novelist : how, it does not clearly appear ; but Dr. Kippis who knew him early in London, mentioned having a vague impression on his mind that Goldsmith while in practice had been professionally attentive to one of the men employed in Richardson's print- ing office, who lived in his vicinity, and that this accidental occurrence led to further intercourse. Such an acquaintance, at once an admired author and an eminent printer, promised to be advanta- geous to a young writer making his first start into literature, and the opportunity we may believe was not neglected. That he was ever received into the p 2
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family of the latter on a footing of particular inti' macy is doubtful : the phyBician was then unknown and poor ; the printer at the summit of reputation, and competently rich ; and as there seems no reason to doubt that in the intervals of professional em- ployment the former acted occasioDally in his esta- blishment as corrector of the press, a foot known also to BoBwell though he does not state to whom, we may believe that he shared the hospitality and society of his employer. It was likewise through this channel, and about this time, that he became known to Dr. Young, author of the " Night Thoughts •" an honour of which he was afterwards accustomed, and justly, to boast.
His connection with Richardson which has been quesUoned, seems nevertheless to be confirmed by an interview nearly at the same time with his Edinburgh friend Dr. Farr, who related their meeting in the following terms: —
" From the time of Goldsmith's leaving Edin- burgh in the year 1754, I never saw him till the year 1756, vrhen I was in London attending the hospitals and lectures. Early in January* he called upon me one morning before I was up, and on my entering the room, I recognised my old acquaintance, dressed in a rusty full-trimmed black suit, with his pockets full of papers, which instantly reminded me of the poet in Garrick's fai^^e of
* It ia likely there is Bome miitake here ; the period mnat hare been later in the spring, or it ii posEible the year may hare been 1757-
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PHOJECTS A TRAOEDT. %ld
' Lethe/ After we had finished our breakfast, he drew from his pocket a part of a tragedy, which he said he had brought for my correction ; in vain I pleaded inability, when he began to read, and every part on which I expressed a doubt as to the propriety was immediately blotted out. I then more earnestly entreated him not to trust to my judgment, but to the opinion of persona better qualified to decide on dramatic composition ; on which he told me he had submitted his production, so far as he had written to Mr. Richardson, the author of 'Clarissa,* on which I peremptorily declined ofiering another criticism upon the performance.
"The name and subject of the tragedy have unfortunately escaped my memory ; neither do I recollect with exactness how much he had written, though I am inclined to believe that he had not completed the third act : . I never heard whether he afterwards finished it. In this visit, I remember his relating a strange Quixotic scheme he had in contemplation of going to decipher the inscrip- tiona on the written tnountama, though he was altogether ignorant of Arabic, or the language in which they might be supp<»ed to be written. The salary of 3001. per annum, which had been left for the purpose, was the temptation."
No trace of this production remains, or seems to have been known to his literary friends j the pro- bability therefore is, that being unsatisfactory to himself or to such as he thought proper to ccmsult, it was dMtroyed : but the anecdote is characteristic
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of the same docility to criticism he ever displayed. An author is almost necessarily self-willed j what costs him some laboar to execute, he is naturally williDg* to preserve ; and the art to hlot, though a necessary, is often a painful operation ^ neither can he be sure, unless the literary authority be high, that the judgment which simply corrects is superior to that which conceives and constructs ; and when a man of undoubted genius submits to it, we have proof at least of pnuseworthy modesty.
The anecdote is likewise worthy of notice as Airnishing another instance of the irequent prac- tice of young poets to start in the race for public applause with a tragedy ; adventuring thus in their literary nonage upon an effort which experience and the most cultivated powers only can hope to render worthy of general approbation. An (pinion indeed has gone forth and obtained extensive, almost universal, assent, that it is easier for a young author to write a good tragedy than a good comedy. Yet judging from previous examples, what is the fact ? The most popular comedies on the English stage, those of Cangreve, Farquhar, and Sheridan, were written when their authors were comparatively young men ; while on the other hand there is scarcely an instance, perhaps indeed not one, of a tragedy written by an inex- perienced writer, keeping possession of the stage or even exciting any high degree of admiration in the closet.
An acquaintance from Ireland already familiar
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HIS PATCHED VELVET COAT. 215
to the reader, also recognised the Poet in the me- tropolis in the same year. " My father," writes the Rev. Thomas Beatty, Rector of Moira in Ireland, in communication on this subject, " met Goldsmith in London during a visit to that capital, about the year 1756. He was dressed, according to the fesbion of the day, in a suit of green and gold, bnt old and tarnished ; and bis shirt and neckcloth appeared to have been worn at least a fortnight. He said be was practising physic, and doing very well."
A ludicrous story told of him at this period afterwards reached the ears of Sir Joshua Rey- nolds, who repeated it to one of their mutual friends, a lady, who, to the delight of her acquaint- ance, can still detail the anecdote, and through whom it is with much more information, commu- nicated to the reader. In conformity to the pre- vailing garb of the day for physiciajis, Goldsmith, unable probably to obtain a new, had procured a second-hand, velvet coat ; but either from being de- ceived in the bargain or by subsequent accident, a considerable breach in the left breast was obliged to be repaired by the introduction of a new piece. This had not been so neatly done, as not to he apparent to the close observation of his acquaint- ance, and such persons as he visited in the capacity of medical attendant : willing, therefore, to conceal what is considered too obvious a symptom of poverty, he was accustomed to place his hat over the patch, and retain it there carefully during the
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2l6 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
visit ; but this constant position becoming noticed, and the cause being soon known, occasioned no little merriment at his expense.
While struggling for an existence which we may well believe precarious, he found amusement in the society of such former fellow students in Edin- burgh as accident threw in his way, some of whom, like himself, were seeking an establishment in London. Among others was the son of Dr. John Milner, a dissenting minister, who kept a classical school of eminence at Peckham, in Surrey. Satis- fied of his fitness for the situation, and desirous of advancing the interests of his &mily, as well as of relieving what he soon perceived to be the destitute condition of his ftiend, this gentleman proposed to Goldsmith to officiate for a time in charge of the establishment of bis father, then sufiTering under severe illness. The proposition was accepted : it ensured until something better should offer, at least security from starvation, "for all bis ambition," as he says on another occasion, " was now to live j" while the circumstances under which it was offered, promised a considerate attention to his comforts and feelings, of which on a previous occasion he had found the want.
His removal thither, supposed by Bishop Percy to have taken place in 1?^^, really occurred toward the end of 17^6, or the beginning of the following year. Miss Milner, daughter of his employer, asserted so lately as the beginning of the present century, that he continued about three years in their
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PECKHAM. 2X7
house : this we know from the evidence of his own letters to he in part erroneous, excepting we believe, what is not unlikely to have occurred from the illness of Milner heing of a fluctuating and pro- tracted nature, that his residence was rather occa- sional than constant She likewise said he came to them from Richardson, with whom he had some, she knew, not what, connection, and of whom he spoke in terms of regard. By the verbal account of Mrs. Hodson to Mr. Handcock, the first letter of her brother to his relatives after quitting the Continent was written from this school.
All that is distinctly remembered of him here may be comprised within a short detail. He was considered to be, according to Miss Milner, what he aco£Sngly alludes to in his writings as one of his own negative qualifications, very good-natured ; played tricks somewhat familiar, and occasionally a little coarse, upon the servants and boys ; told very entertaining stories ; and found frequent amuse- ment in his flute. With the scholars he was a (a- vourite, heing ever ready to indulge them in cer- tain, not very expensive indeed, school-boy dainties whenever his pecuniary means admitted ; and he was not over strict in that discipline which, however necessary to observe, a man of amiable disposition occasionally feels reluctant to enforce. His benevo- lent feelings appeared always active; mendicants rarely quitted him without relief; and a tale of distress roused all his sympathies. His small sup- plies were thus exhausted frequently before the
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Stated salary became due, when Mrs. Milner would say to him with a smile, upon application for an advance, — " You had better, Mr. Goldsmith, let me take care of your money, as I do for some of the young gentlemen ;" to which he would reply, in the same spirit of good humour, " In truth, madam, there is equal need."
One of the pupils particularly noticed by him for possessing promising talents, and who ever after felt a strong regard for his tutor, was the late Samuel Bishop, Esq. of London*, in whose femily a few traditional notices of his peculiarities are still remembered. Always sociable and ready to join in whatever was going forward, his good-nature led him to mingle in the sports of the boys, and submit to their wit or even their reproof for occa- sional want of dexterity. In such a rude commu- nity, however, familiarity has its disadvantages by the opening it affords to youthful insubordination or impertinence, an instance of which is recorded. When amusing his younger companions during play hours with the flute, and expatiating on the pleasures derived from music, in addition to its advantages in society as a gentlemanlike acquire- ment, a pert boy, looking at his situation and per- sonal disadvantages with something of contempt, rudely replied to the effect that he surely could not consider himself a gentleman j an offence
* Father of the Rev. W. Bishop, Rector of Ufton. Bericahire ; ReT. H. Bishop ; aud Dr. Bi«hop, of Oxford.
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which, though followed hy instant chastisement, disconcerted and pained him exti-emely.
Of that simplicity or absence of mind so well known as one of his characteristics, Mr. Bishop mentioned an amusing instance when they met several years afterwards in the streets of London ; for which and the preceding anecdote the writer is indebted to his son, the Rev. H. Bishop, Chaplain to the Archbishop of Dublin : —
" After an interval of some years, my father, while walking in London with my mother, to whom he was just married, met Goldsmith, and address- ing him, an immediate recognition took place. The tutor was delighted to see his former pupil, and expressed great pleasure at the introduction to his wife. Still the associations in his mind of their former school connexion was too strong to be over- come. ' Come, my boy,* said he, addressing my father by his Christian name, ' I am delighted to see you j I must treat you ' to something j what shall it he ? will you have some apples ?' and imme- diately turned to the display of fruit furnished by a basket woman who stood near.
" In the course of conversation, he mentioned his picture by Sir Joshua Reynolds, which had been recently engraved ; and immediately added, ' Have you seen it, Sam ? Have you got an engraving ?' My father not to appear negligent of the rising fame of his old preceptor replied, that he had not yet procured it; he was just furnishing his house, but had fixed upon the spot the print was to occupy
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S30 UFfi OF GOLDSMITH.
as soon as he was ready to receive it. 'Sam,' he said, with some emotion, ' if your picture had heen published, I should not have suffered an hour to elapse without procuring it.* After some further conversation, the sense of this seeming neglect was appeased by apolo^es. He promised to visit the yomig couple as soon as they should be settled ; but this promise, 1 believe, was never fulfilled."
At the table of Dr. Milner, he became acquainted with Mr. (afterwards Doctor) Griffiths, then a bookseller in Fatemoster-row, and projector and proprietor of the Monthly Review. Literary topics were, as may be supposed irom Milner also being an occasional writer, frequently discussed, in which Goldsmith took part, and proved himself so well qualified to decide upon subjects of general litera- ture, hisprevious tastes and pursuits being also known, that after a few specimens of criticism furnished from Peckham, he was engaged as a regular writer :iD the Review. The terms were, his board and 'lodging in the house of the bookseller, with an I adequate salary > the engagement, which appears I to have commenced in April 17^7, to continue for 1 a year.
A shorter period sufficed for the inclinations of both ; at the end of five months, it was dissolved by mutual consent ; Goldsmith being tired of his employer or employment, and Griffiths of an in- ' mate less industrious or submissive than probably he had heen induced to expect. The drudgery of
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the occupation, not less irksome than that of the school, required in fact with almost as much re- straint upon his time, more unremitting lahour of body and mind. Writing, though one of the most delightful of amusements, is the most laborious of trades. To sit down daily to furnish the stated namher of pages for a periodical journal, — to work, whether disposed or not, whether suffering under a diseased body or jaded mind, — to rack invention and memory in order to furnish the expected amount of information to the reader, the customary supplies of wisdom and wit, of research, judgment, and taste — can be no easy or enviable employ- ment. Between a methodical man like the book- seller, and a man without method like the critic, there was not likely to he much community of feeling. They therefore parted ; but however dis- satisfied with each other, as was afterwards suffi' ciently obvious, not as it would seem, in open hos- tility at the moment.
Goldsmith declared that he wrote daily from nine o'clock till two, and often, as he sometimes added, during the whole of the day ; that he ex- perienced little personal consideration at the hands of his employer, and few comforts from the arrange- ments of his' wife ; and that the latter, as well as the former, interfered with the articles written for the Review, in a manner that made the labour greater and less agreeable ; that desirous to impart more elegance to such as he wrote, their taste or neces-
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sitiea required at his bands quantity more than quality ; and that his employer wished to assume the patron or master more than he thought be- coming, or would permit from one in all respects his inferior.
In the course of the inquiries necessary for this work, it became known to the writer that the least probable of these statements was nevertheless cor- rect, namely, that the publisher and his wife both interfered in altering the articles written for the Review } the fact, it appears by the following extract of a letter, was previously known to others, avowed guardians of his fame.
" Having mentioned Griffiths," writes Dr. Camp- bell to Bishop Percy (June 30th, 1790), " 1 will confess to you that the circumstance of him and his wife (I mean their altering and interpolating Goldsmith's criticisms on books for the Review), puzzles me. It ia one of the most valuable anec- dotes before me, and my conscience bids me report it ; but my fears whisper to me that all the Reviews will abuse me for so doing. But who's afraid?" The courage assumed in the last sentence was not exhibited ; for neither be nor the Bishop alluded to so curious an incident. Griffiths was then and long afterwards alive ; and it furnishes a curious example of moral pusillanimity on the one hand, or the extent of literary tyranny on the other, that an important foot in the biography of a distinguished writer, tending to his vindication on a particular
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point, should be suppressed by a writer of his memoirs from the dread of offending Reviews.*
Griffiths, who by the account of one of his con- nexions to the writer, "was a man of strong, shrewd, good sense, but not of much refinement or cultivation," may have been unable to under- stand the sensitive feelings of his dependent, or have found some cause of complaint either in his want of diligence or of regular habits, neither of which necessarily impeached the rectitude of his general conduct. Where the exact portion of labour cannot be defined, there will frequently be mis- understanding between the employer and the em- ployed ; and the habits of men may border on irregularity without being morally wrong. Thus, Dr. Johnson, as we know, permitted peculiarities to grow upon him which occasioned inconvenience to those with whom he became an inmate ; and Goldsmith may have given way to similar infirmi- ties, scarcely conscious they formed cause of serious
* Id the skirmishing that occurred between the riTal Re- vievB for some years after the eBtabHshmeQt of the Critical Review, allusions occur to this fact: — "The Critical Re- new is not vritteu by a parcel of obscure hireliags, under the reBtraiot of a bookoeller and his wife, who presume to revise, alter, and amend the articles occasionally." " The principal writers in the Critical Review are unconnected with booluelletB, onawed by old women, and independent of each other." Griffiths is repeatedly called " an illiterate bookseUer." (Grit Rev. Feb. 1759.) In the following month, in the article on Rowe's Fluxions, there is another reference, either meant for Griffiths or his wife, to " a certain antiquated female critic of the Monthly Review."
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offence- Studious mon, even of the highest order, occasionally make late hours the favourite period of relaxation ; bnt in that class among whom he was now thrown, consisting chiefly of the secondary sort, — condemned too often to a life of ehifts and expedients, and who diverge more widely from the rules of strict prudence the more uncertain their means of subsistence become, — be found little else. The temptation to join them was therefore sometimes unavoidable. " You cannot," he says to his brother-in-law soon afterwards, " expect regularity in one who is regular in nothing. Nay, were I to love you by rule, I dare venture to say I could never do it sincerely. Take me then with all my faults."
His connexion with the Review being known to various friends, an opinion prevailed among them, on hearing him complain of the unfavour- able spirit evinced towards his writings at a sub- sequent time in that work, that he had been formerly its Editor or chief conductor. 'Phis was also stated after his death, hut denied in that journal. The contradiction appears in noticing a short memoir of him published on that occasion, while his general services as a coadjutor in criti- cism are admitted : — " Whether the Doctor's bio- grapher and warm panegyrist, who professes to write from personal knowledge, is right or wrong in his account of -our poefs adventures in his travels abroad, we know not ; but we are authorized to say that he is much mistaken
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in his assertion, that Dr. Goldsmith was once employed to superintend the Monthly Review. The Doctor had bis merit as a man of letters ^ bnt, alas I those that knew him must smile at the idea of such a superintendent of a concern which most obviously required some degree of prudence, as well as s competent acquaintance with the world. It is, however, true that he had for a while a seat at our board ; and that, so far as hia knowledge of books extended, he was not an unuseful assist- ant."*
The articles which came from his pen in that work, and the precise period when they were fur- nished, have been hitherto unknown j neither he nor Griffiths being very communicative on the subject in conversation. But the latter baa left this information on record behind him : his own copy of the work, now in the possession of a gentleman with the largest and rarest private col- lection in the kingdom, contains the necessary references ; and by the intervention of a firiendt, to whom literature and antiquities are under various obligations, the writer is indebted for the oppor- tunity of making known what is a fair object of literary curiosity.
* Monthly Review, Auguat. 1774.— Notice" of the Life of Dr. Oliver Goldsmith.
f Thomas Amfot, Esq., Treasurer of the Antiqntuian Society, F.B.S. The poaaeasor of the work was the late Mr. Heber, whose liberaUty in opening all hie literary stores to such aa were in want of them, must be remembered with honour.
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To each article in the Review its proprietor, in the copy kept for private use, affixed the initial letter of the name of the contributor ; and where two began with the same, one or more other letters, so as to guide those acquainted with the literary history of the day to a pretty accurate conclusion. The list of his coadjutors, in 1757. is not deficient
in weight or talent. Thus, R was Dr. Rose,
of Chiswick (connected with Griffitha by their marrying slaters), who chiefly took the theological
department; R d, Owen RuflHiead, that on
law and constitutional history ; Ra , Ralph,
the well-known political writer ; Sh , Dr.
Gregory Sharpej La- , probably Langhome
the poet } K s, K- — pp — s, and perhaps K.
(for Griffiths is not regular in the letters used),
Dr. Kippis ; CI d, probably Cleland ; Ok ,
Okay ; G r, Grainger the poet ; beside others
with the letters L. ; W. ; B. ; B 1 ; G. ; D. ; less
certainly ascertained. Kenrick immediately suC' ceeded to Goldsmith's place in the Review. His articles, noted K — n- — k, are very numerous.
There are three writers whose names begin with the letter G. Where standing singly, it is believed to designate the contributions of Griffiths himself, consisting chiefly of extracts from books of genera' knowledge, with little attempt at original remark, to which even if not young in the biuiness of reviewing, his business necessarily precluded much attention. These articles are long, the subjects easy : and at a time when the Review was not
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very profitable, we may believe he was not disposed to pay aDother for doing what filled up so much space with so little labour to himself, or as we are told, to his wife.* The contributions of Grainger are marked G r, or Gr r. Those of Gold- smith vary more in the letters employed, from being written at difierent times, as the hurry or whim of the moment dictated, without uniformly referring to the previous marks affixed to each.
Thus we have Gold , Golds b, G
B th, G sm , G ds , G th.
Go th, Go h ; and the correctness of these
notations are sufficiently verified by internal evi- dence.
The first article to which bis name is annexed [ appears in April, 1757, among the short notices of small and temporary publications of the Monthly Catalogue, in characterising a political squib, " The Rival Politicians ; or the Pox Triumphant : , a fable betwixt a Lion, a Wolf, and a Fox." The / criticism, if not very elegant or witty, is at least short, and may be quoted as an instance of homely beginning in this department of literature : the
letters appended to it by Griffiths are "Gold ."
*' Were this piece strung up against a dead wall, it might catch the passing 'prentice hugely : but then we would advise a title somewhat better adapted to its merits, as well as its situation ; as thus, — * The Triumphant Fox's Garland j plainly
* Ae « BpedmeD, see the notice of " Smith's Hietor; of the County of Kerry," December, 1757.
« 2
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SzS LIFE OF OOLDSMITH.
declaring how tlie Wolf was most ^sely flayed alive before his own fkce,' " &c. &c.
A more important paper of hia in the same month ia an analysis of " Remains of the Mythology and Poetry of the Celtes," by Professor Mallet, of Copenhagen ■, a subject in which Goldsmith took considerable interest from what he had heard or remembered of Celtic stories and su- perstitions in Ireland, and on which he ifi believed to have written essays at a subsequent time in other periodical publications. It formed the third of a series lately commenced in the Review, " The Foreign Article ;" and is plainly designated by the word Ciolds h. A pre- liminary printed note, however, introduces it thus : — " The following paper was sent us by the gentleman who signs D., and who we hope will excuse our striking out a few paragraphs for the sake of brevity." On referring to the previous foreign articles signed as here stated, they are marked G r, meaning Grainger. A discre- pancy, therefore, exists between the private mark of the proprietor and the printed memorandum, in which the former no doubt is 'correct ; the latter an error of the person who superintended the press, and who was unacquainted with the new contributor.
In May we have his reviews of " Douglas, a Tragedy," which is characterised in the same terms always used, as " not rising above medi- ocrity," and " The Connoisseur," which is praised ;
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also two in the foreign article, — " Specimens of such PJants as are most curious in Piedmont ;" and " Literary News," dated from Padua ; so that his time in Italy, judging fixtm these specimens of remark and information, was not unemployed. These are succeeded by no less than twenty-three notices of minor works in the Monthly Catalogue, all bearing his name ; and this busy month con- cludes with a review of Burke's Essay on the Sublime and Beautiful, — a clever analysis, occu- pying eight pages, and showing the critic to be a dexterous and ready workman. Whether he knew the author personally at this time is doubtful ; that he may have been informed of his name, and remembered him as a college contemporary, is probable. The remarks are couched in a spirit of courtesy, and probably of real admiration, though not of indiscriminate assent to hia positions ; while the conclusion offers something like an apology for differing in opinion with so tasteful and pleasing a writer. This amicable meeting as reviewer and reviewed, may have been the precursor of their personal Mendship. Burke, as was said afterwards, repfud the obligation in kind.
The June number supplies notices of " Smith's History of New York," — ''The Military Oper- ations in North America," — " Saie's Memoirs on the Art of War,"— "Smollett's History of England," in which he regrets the want of " manly and sensible observationB, which the writer was so well able to give," but praises his style as " clear, nervous, and
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flowing," — and the "Foreign Article." Nine of his notices appear in the mtHithly catalogue ; others which have no letters affixed may own the same origin. The account of " Keysler's Travels," in the appendix to the half-yearly volume, comes like- wise from his pen.
In July appear " Layard on the Contagion among the Cattle," — " Translation of Cardinal de Polignac's Anti-Lucretius," — " Hanway's Eight Days' Jour- ney from Portsmouth to Kingston-upon-Thames." Most readers of literary history remember how sharply Dr. Johnson animadverted on this work, especially on the traveller's injudicious and singular hostility to the use of tea; the sneering tone of which criticism in the second part was never for- given by that otherwise amiable man, though even then he was known to be wrong and Johnson right. Similar belief — and the coincidence may be noticed — is expressed by Goldsmith, in the harmless effects of that temperate beverage ; and as he did not then know Johnson , he is not to be considered as influenced by his decision. The criticism concludes with the following just and sensible remarks: — " Yet after all, why so violent an outcry against this devoted article of modem luxury ? Every nation that is rich hath had, and will have, its favourite luxuries. Abridge the people in one, they generally run into another ; and the reader may judge which will he most conducive to either mental or bodily health, — the watery beverage of a modem fine lady ; or the stronge beer, and stronger waters, of her
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great-grandmother." In the monthly catalogue four - of hu notices are marked ; " Memoirs of Madame Maintenon," — "The Mother-in-law, or Innocent Sufferer," — "The Fwr Citizen," — "Buchanan's New English Dictionary."
In August, his contrihntions were, on " Ra- bener's Satirical Letters," — " Letters from an Armenian in Ireland to his Vriends at Trebisond," — Letter (his own), of eleven pages, to the authors of the Monthly Review on "Voltaire's Universal History," — "The Contest in America between Great Britfun and France."
September contains only two papers — on the " Epigoniad" of Wilkie, and " Odes of Gray." In the former, only two introductory pages of criticism are noted as his ; the remainder, consisting chiefly of quotations, remarks on defective verses, repetitions of the same rhyme, and other faults of the poem, has simply the letter G. affixed, implying, as there seems no doubt, that they were the works of Grif- 6ths himself.
Here, for the present, his labours in the service of that journal ceased. He could not, however, de- sert literature, although, as we shall see, displeased with criticism ; and we find him, by a letter written to Mr. Hodson about two months afterwards, con- joining his two professions for a livelihood. " By a very little practice as a physician, and a very little reputation as a poet, I make a shift to live." Poet was then frequently used as the generic name for author ; and his pieces were probably of that mis-
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cellaneous nature which, produced on an emer- gency for periodical works, seldom survive the occasion : it is certain he did not himself think fit to bring into renewed existence what at this period came from his pen. Still, as he wrote much, we arc anxious to trace on what topics he was occupied ; and would rather be permitted to judge of their merits for ourselves whether we can afford to lose any thing of such a writer. Dr. Kippis, who wrote in the Review and knew him, was impressed by some faint recollection of his having made translations irom the French ; among others, of a tale of Voltaire ; but the name and date were forgotten. He was however gra- dually making his way, laying the foundation of his fame, and acquiring the rapidity necessary to an author by profession, in aid of that elegance, that " grace beyond the reach of art," bestowed only by nature upon her favourites, and in itself no indif- ferent evidence of genius.
There are reasons for believing that one of the original pieces from his pen at this time was an enlargement of the paper on the merits of the English poets, said to have been first drawn up in Ireland at the desire of Mr. Contarine. It is called a "Poetical Scale;" and is an estimate, arranged in columns, with a variety of remarks subjoined, on the relative ranks held by the greater English poets in the requisites of genius, judgment, learning, and versification. The point of perfection in each is supposed to be twenty degrees, of which
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nineteen only have been attained hy any of our writers. Thus Shakspeare is estimated to be, as in ] geniuslQi judgment 14,Iearning 14, versification 19; ' Milton, in geniua 18, judgment 16, learning I7, ' versification 18 ; Dryden, in genius 18, judgment I 16, learning I7, versification 18; Pope, in genius 18, judgment 18, learning 15, versification 18 : an .arrangement of their respective powers obviously fanciful and imperfect, but conveying sufficiently i the opinions of the writer. The idea is of older I date.
This paper appeared in January 1758, in the Literary Magazine; a publication commenced by Mr. John Newbery in May 1756, and which Dr. j Johnson superintended or contributed to for fifteen | months, discontinuing his assistance about Sep- tember 17^7» nearly at the same moment that | Goldsmith quitted . the Review. The spirit of * the article, and the severity of the remarks made upon Milton in comparing him with Shakspeare*,
* " The faults of Shakspeare were those of genius, those of Milton of the man of genias. The former arises from imagination getting the better of judgment : the latter from hahit getting the better of imagination. Shalupeare's faults were those of a great poet ; those of Milton of a little pedant. When Shakspeare is execrable, he is bo exquisitely ao that he is as inimitable in his blemishes as in his beauties. The puna of Milton betray a narrownesB of education and a de- generacy of habit. Uu theological quibbles and perplexed â– peculations are daily equalled and excelled by the most ab- ject enthusiasta ; and if we consider him as a prose writer, he has neither the leatning of a scholar nor the manners of a gentleman. I'here is no force in his reasoning, no el^ance in his style, and no taste in his composition. We are therefore
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led a writer some years afterwards, who knew of his participation in that work, to attribute them to Dr. Johnson. " Mr. Nichols," says Mr. Murphy, whose attachment to his illustrious friend .was unwearied, "showed him in 1780 a book called * Remarks on Johnson's Life of Milton,' in which the afiair of Lawder was renewed with viru- lence ; and a poetical scale in the Literary Magazine 17^8, (when Johnson had ceased to write in that collection) was urged as an additional proof of deliberate malice. He read the libellous passage with attention, and instantly wrote on the margin — * In the business of Lawder I was deceived ; partly by thinking the man too frantic to be fraudulent. Of the poetical scale quoted from the Magazine I am not the author. I fancy it was put in after I had quitted that work ; for I not only did not write it, but I do not remember it.' "•
As a matter of literary curiosity it may not be uninteresting to state the reasons why this paper is attributed to Goldsmith, although no cer- tain evidence of the matter is known to exist or is likely now to be obtained.
These are, the use of a scale in reference to the merits of authors on another occasion, as
to consider him in one fixed point of light, — that of a great poet, vith a laudable envy of rivalling and excelling all vho attempted sublimity of sentiment and descriptioa." — LUerary Mojf.inn. 1756.
* " Essay on the Life and Genius of Dr. Johnson," p. 50; prefixed to his Worlcs, 12 toIb. 12nio. Lond. ISOfi.
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in the prefiice to the Citizen of the World ; simi- larity of opinion on the merits of our poets with those expressed in his avowed writings ; the high standard of poetry assumed in both: the same opinion, incidentally introduced, of the merits of the disputants in the contest between Bentley and Boyle ; the same account here as in his edition of Pamell of the origin of two of that poet's pieces ; similar political opinions with Dr. Johnson, thence influencing his supposed opinion of Milton ; the same preference here of Farquhar over Congreve, Vanburgh, and others, as always maintained by him in conversation and in writing. To these may be added the common evidence of style ; the use as in all his essays, of the first per- son ; the fact of his being then unacquainted with Johnson, who as having had connection with the Magazine, though not then engaged in it, might have known the writer, through the proprietor ; the probability of its being his first introduction to Newbery, by whom he was afterwards so much employed ; the general recollection of Mrs. Lawder that be had early drawn up some such essay ; and the belief that he contributed more than one paper to this Magazine. Thus in February 1758, com- mences a paper, with traces of his manner, though not decisive in their nature, on the English Lan- guage, which are continued till May ; from the latter is taken the article on the " Augustan Age in England," printed in the Bee; and in the same month is another paper of bis, also
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SSS LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
printed in the Bee, "On the Pride and Luxury of the Middling Class of People." The Poetical Scale and the Sequel were afterwards republished in the Ladies' Magazine, when he was connected with it.
His residence being at this time in the vicinity of Salisbury Square, Fleet Street, the Temple Exchange Coffee House, near Temple Bar, became a place of frequent resort. Like Johnson, he was fond of a coffee house and a club; for to men without domestic ties, these are substitutes for society. But this bouse likewise formed a kind of professional place of call, the custom not having then passed away of physicians resorting to par- ticular coffee houses, where at certain hours of the day they were to be sought and found, rather than at their own residences, when required to visit patients. Here the news of the day, of the profession, and of literature, but more particularly the business of the theatre, which then occupied in public opinion the place now given to the House of Commons, were freely discussed ; the behaviour of the ma- nager, the ability of actors, and the merits of new pieces, decided upon with something like an authority firom which there was no appeal ; for physicians and lawyers (the unemployed part no doubt), with the idlers of every description to be found in a great metropolis, formed at this time the most authoritative body of critics. Here likewise, when unwilling to make known very humble lodgings, he in common with others
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DR. OHAINOER. S37
wrote letters and received them, — one of the common reaourcea of genteel poverty ; here he relaxed ft^m the drudgery of writing into social intercourse, found others as willing to enjoy the passing moment as himself, and formed or renewed intimacies with his literary hretbren.
Among these was Dr. James Grainger, likewise a physician, reviewer, and poet, who having gradu- ated in Edinburgh in 17^3, was probably known to him before. He was horn about 17^1 (not 17^8. as commonly stated) of, as he says himself in a letter still in existence, seen by the present writer, " a gentleman's family in Cumberland." Hitherto he has been deemed a native of Scotland, (It may have been so, though of a Cumbrian family) and the place of his birth stated to be Dunse ; hut a strict search made several years ago by Dr. Anderson, after his first edition of the British Poets, failed in discovering any trace of the name or family in that quarter. After being initiated into medicine in the Scottish metropolis, he served in a medical capacity in Pulteney's regiment of foot in Hol- land in 1746-7-8 ; made a tour of Europe after quitting the army ; and on becoming graduate in phjrsic, established himself in Bond Court, Wal- brook. Imbued with a taste for literature, his pen found employment in adding to the income derived from professional labours. -In 1^55 appeared his Ode on Solitude, in Dodsley's Collection, possess- ing merit enough to obtain irom Dr. Johnson,
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S38 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
whose friendship he had the good fortune to ac- quire*, the term "nohle."
In May 17^6, he commenced writer in the Monthly Review in a criticism on Mason's Odes ; and during this and the two following years con- tributed a variety of articles, chiefly on poetry and the dramaf. to that journal, relinquishing his con-
* Boswell Klludes to this intimacy in variona porta of his work ; and the following extracts from Grunger'a letters to the Ber. Mr. Percy, now in the possession of W. Shaw Maaon, Esq., gives ft few further particalan ; —
"March 30. 1757. Mr. Johnson asked for yon very kindly Sanday last, as did Miss Williams."— May 30. 1758, in allusion to a tranalation of Orid's Heroic Epistles, which Mr. Percy had in part completed, Grainger writes, " Johnson thinks yon may get fifty pieces for yonrwork. I shall soon show it to Millar, and let you know his answer." — June 27. 1738, we have the follow- ing amusing notice of Johnson's habitoal indolence : — " I have several times called on Johnson to pay him part of yonr snbscrip- tion (for hi* edition of Shakfpeare). I say part, hecaase he nerer thinks of working if he has a couple of guineas in his pocket 1 bnt if you notwithstanding order me, the whole shall he given him at once." — July 20. 1758. " Johnson thinks that some of the Epistles (Ovid's, already alluded to) should be done in the heroic measure, and so do I. As to his Shakepeare, movet ted non promonet. I shall feed him occasionally with guineas." — Jan. 22. 1764, alluding to his poem of the Sngar Cane, " Sam Johnson has got the second book, but whether he has yet pemsed it I know not ; perhaps it may lie in his desk untouched tiU I call ibr it," — April 6. 1764, adverting to the same work, when the first book had been printed ofi", " Sam Johnson says he wiU review it in the Critical (Review) . He talks handsomely of you." — August, 1765 : " 1 am perfectly satisfled with the reception the ' Sugar Cane' has met with, and am greatly obliged to you and Mr. Johnson for the generous care you took of it in my absence."
t They are marked at first by Griffiths "Dr. G." Hia chief
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DR. ORAINOER. fSi9
nexion with it about May 1758. Not wholly neglectfiil of physic, in I757 appeared Hisioria Febris Intemnttensis annorum 17*6-7-8, accedunt monita SypMlica. In March 1758, he became a member of the London College of Physicians ; and in November following published a translation of TlbuUus, which meeting with an indifferent re* ception from the Critical Review, was sud by Grainger to proceed from the personal pique of Smollett though known to each other, and inter- changing civilities. He replied, although siud to be
Reviews are, besides the first (1756), on "The ConTerts, va Ode;" "WritiDgs and Qeniae of Pope;" " Smart's Ode;" " Falceer ;" " Branty, an Ode ;" Six articles in the Monthljr Catalogue of the first Half-yearly Appendix ; " Telemachos ;" "Philippic Poems;" "Leucothoe;" "Philosophical TranS' actions*' (September and October), in conjunction with another writer, B., who is not known ; " Cupid;" "The Cadet ;" "Ode to Love ;" " Ideaof Beauty ;" " Tour in France," 1757; "De Choisel's Method of treating Persona bitten by Mad Animals ;" " Woodward's Cases in Physic ;" " Foreign Books" (February) ; "Foreign Books" (March); "Loss of the Handkerchief," Heroic-Comic Poem ; " Collection Acad^mique ;" " Sayer's Tisnslation into Latin of Pope'a Universal Prayer ;" "New- comb's Versification of Harvey's Contemplations ;" " Fleece, a Poem," by Dyer ; " Oriental Eclogues ;" " Medical Observa- tions and Inquiries ;" " Ooldoni's Two Italian Comedies ;" " Lind on the Means of preserving the Health of Seamen ;" " Newcomb's Versification of Harvey's Contemplation on a Rower Garden," 1758 ; " Duncomb'i Translation of Horace ;" " Massey's Translation of Ovid's Fasti ;" " Cidyllia, or Miscel- laneons Poems ;" " Holkhsm, a Poem ;" " Verses to the People of England, by W. Whitehead ;" " Ode to the King of Prussia ;" " Fancy, an irregular Ode ;" " Elegy. on a Drum Head ;" besides a great number of short notices in the Monthly Catalogue.
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310 LIFE OP GOLDSMITH.
a worthy man in the strain of an enraged and irrit- able author ; this produced a severe rejoinder in the Review for February 1759 i and on the part of both there was more of personality and vitupera' ' tion than was becoming, or the occasion demanded. In the previoos autumn he had engaged to travel for four years with a young friend, a Mr. Bour- ryan, of large West India property, whose studies from an early period had been in part committed to his charge. The reward for this appropriation of time, was to be an annuity for life of 200/. per annum. The resolution to quit London, he writes to Dr. Percy in letters from which this abstract was taken was not adopted in a harry ; for though " his practice was not exceeded by that of any young physician in London," the proposed term of absence be believed, would not interfere materially with his views, while it promised to add to the number and respectability of his friends. In April 1759, he embarked for the island of St. Christopher in the West Indies ; quarrelled soon after reaching it, as is said, with his patron ; commenced practising physician ; and married a lady of good family but small fortune, some of whose friends fancied the union not to her advantage. A grossly defamatory and untrue account of the lady appeared during her life, in a memoir of her husband, inserted in the West- minster Magazine, for 1773, which the exertions of Mr. Percy and others, who knew her and her friends, caused to be contradicted by the threat of
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DR. ORAINGEIt. S41
legal proceedings. Her affection for his memory was apparently strong j and his letters already men- tioned speak of her in terms of similar regard. In the autumn of I76d, he returned to England. The poem of the Sugar Cane, written during his abode in the West Indies, had been previously trans- mitted home, and after some uncertainty as to the mode of publication, did not appear until after he had sailed in May 1764<, on his return to St. Christopher's. There, it appears, his affairs had become involved during his absence, which an in- heritance derived from the death of a brother in Scotland, enabled him soon after to obviate in part Unsettled in his plans at this period, as the letters alluded to evince ; speculating on the advantages to be derived from removing to other islands less populous and more open to th6 enterprise of new settlers ; autibipating wealth as well from planting as his profession ; and the enjoyment, as he says, of many happy days in England when that good should be acquired, — projects conceived with all the warmth of poetry, and overthrown with the usual speed and sternness of matter of fact, — he was taken ill, and died on the l6th December 1766, in the forty-sixth year of his age.
Grainger possessed considerable learning and genius : his temper, according to Dr. Percy with whom a close Mendship had been formed, gene- rous ; his habits social ; his disposition benevolent, and as Dr. Johnson said, " who would do any good in his power ;" his manners simple and un-
VOL. I. R
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34S LIFR OF OOLDSUITH.
obstrusive in general society, and therefore some- Hmes overlooked for more loud and common- place though less gifted and informed talkers. He looked earnestly to the acquisition of fame as a poet ; more so than the merits of bis pieces warranted ; and wishing to rise to literary emi- nence by this alone, believed be had in some measure secured it, for on first proceeding to the West Indies, be expressed to Mr. Percy the intention of leaving with bim, in case of bis own death, a corrected copy of his works for publication, with a request that not a line should be permitted to appear which might be thought to derogate from his reputation. His poems however have not had all the suc- cess he expected. Attempts to introduce them to public favour made by some admirers in Scot- land have fedled*, either from being deficient in true poetical power, or from the subject of the principal piece — the Sugar Cane — possessing little interest for general readers ; and so slightly was poetry valued on the spot where the theme was sufficiently familiar, that though advertised for a charitable purpose, no more, as be admits, than twelve subscribers could be obtiuned in the
* An edition of his poems, with a new life prefixed, vu nndertaken and printed by Dr. Anderson, Editor of the Britisli Poeta, chiefly at the snggestion of Bishop Percy, by whom many new pieces were supplied ; bat the work has not been published. A long correspondence on this subject has been examined by the writer.
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DR. GRAINGER. QiS
West India islands. With its &te in England he was better satisfied, as appears by the extract already given from hia letters. It is now seldom read, or— no imperfect test of merit — quoted. Neither has the Ode on Solitude retained firm hold on the public mind.* The neglect is said by some of his countrymen — if indeed he be really a Scots- man— to be unjust; but to what other tribunal than the mass of readers shall we appeal ? The version of Tibullus, though not without spirit and tenderness in parts, is deficient as a whole in that felicitous execution which stamps the genuine poet of a higher order.
It was through Grainger that the acquaintance of the Rev. Mr. Percy with Goldsmith commenced in the year 175S> The latter alludes to his former friend in the description of fishes in Animated Nature, when speaking of such as are poisonous, f
* A critic of the pieieat day vill find fkult with the rhyme ena of the first lines —
" 0 Solitude, ronumtic maid ! Whether by nodding toven you tread."
+ " The feet of their (certain deacriptions of fish) b«ing pMionoiu when eatan is equally notorious ; and the cause equally inscnitable. My poor worthy fiiend Dr. Grainger, who resided formaay yean at St. Chiistopher's, assured me, that of the fish cftught of the same kind at one end of the island, some were the b«st and most wholesome in the world ; while others, taken at h difticDt end, ware always dangooas and most commonly fatal."
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LIFE OP GOLDSMITH.
CHAP. VII.
VISIT OF RI8 SROTBKR TO LONDON. — LETTER TO MR. HODBON.
— UEKOIR8 OF A PROTEBTANT. QRAMD UAOAZINE — LET-
TER8 TO HR. UILI,B, TO MR. BRYANTON, AND TO MRS. JANE LAWDKR. — APPOINTMENT TO INDIA. — LETTER TO MR. HOD- BON. — A1TEHFTS TO PASS surgeons' HALL.
Having inadverteDtly medtioned in a letter to Mrs. Lawder, in Ireland, his acquaintance with several names eminent in literature, he was sur- prised shortly after hy the arrival thence of his brother Charles. No previous intimation of the design preceded this visit, — the object of which was, with the characteristic simplicity of a country youth, to be provided for by some of his brother's influential friends ; for although at the age of twenty-one, he possessed neither provision, nor pro- fession to enable him to obtain it
The error as to his brother's power of serving him was soon apparent. However eminent might be his friends, the honour of their acquaintance by no means implied the freedom of drawing upon their purses or their patronage, had they such to bestow ; while Oliver, pressed by the difiBculty of providing for his own wants, found no little embarrassment in the demands of another. When Charles ex- pressed disappointment, as he told Mr. Bindley
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CHARLES GOLDSMITH. %45
many years afterwards, at not finding his brother in better circumstances, the latter gaily replied, " All in good time, my dear boy ; I shall be richer by-and-by. Besides you see, I am not in positive want. Addison, let me tell yon, wrote his poem of the Campugn in a garret in the Haymarket, three stories high ; and you see I am not come to that yet, for I have only got to the second story."
The stay in London of Charles was not therefore protracted ; and as he came without previous com- munication with his brother, quitted it in nearly a similar manner. Tinctured with an equal spirit of adventure, dispirited by ill success, loth to return to Ireland no better than he quitted it, and determined to try his fortune in some way, he is said to have embarked in a humble capacity for Jamaica. Here> and in others of the islands, he continued, by his own account, for above thirty years without communicating with his family, who consequently believed him dead. Thus Oliver writes to his brother Maurice in January, 177O: — "You talked of being my only brother; I don't imderstand you — where is Charles." There is reason, however, to believe that he visited Ireland previous to the voyage, otherwise it would seem incredible how the Poet could be so long un- acquainted with his destination or supposed death. He did not revisit England till 1791, some of the particulars of which bear an air of romance ; thev belong, however, to a future page.
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S46 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
The presence of Charles in London, and the nature of bis own pursuits there, are alluded to in the following letter of Oliver to his brother-in-law, which breathes great affection for his friends, a strong attachment to the scenes of his jouth and with some sharp strictures oa his countrjr, no inconsiderable r^ard for it. It was written soon after quitting the Review. In the opening passage there is some obscurity. He talks of four years having elapsed since his last letters went to Ireland; this can apply only to such as were addressed to Mr. Hodson, which was correct; but he had vrritten from the Continent to his brother Henry, to Mr. Contarin^ to Mrs. Lawder, and, it is believed, to Mr. Mills of Roscommon.
*' To Daniel Hodson, Esq., at Lishoy, near Ballymahon, Ireland.
" Dear Sih,
*' It may be four years since my last letters went to Ireland, — to you in particular. I received no answer ; probably because you never wrote to me. My brother Charles, however, informs me of the &tigue you were at in solicitiug a sub- scription to assist me, not only among my friends and relatives, but acquaintance in general. Though my pride might feel some repugnance at being thus relieved, yet my gratitude can suffer no dimi- nution. How much am I obliged to you, to them.
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LETTER TO MR. H0D30N. 2*7
for Buch generosity, or, (why should not your virtues have their proper name ?) for such charity to me at that juncture. Sure I am bom to ill fortune, to be so much a debtor and unable to repay. But to say no more of this : too many profesaions of gratitude are often considered as indirect petitions for future favours. Let me only add, that my not receiving that supply was the cause of my present establishment at London. You may easily imagine what difficulties I had to encounter, left aa I was without friends, re- commendations, money, or impudence ; and that in a country where being bom an Irishman was sufficient to keep me unemployed. Many in such circumstances would have had recourse to the friar's cord, or the suicide's halter. But with all my follies I had principle to resist the one, and resolution to combat the other.
" I suppose you desire to know my present situation. As there is nothing in it at which I should blush, or which mankind could censure, I see no reason for making it a secret. In short, by a very little practice as a physician, and a very little reputation as a poet, I make a shift to lire. Nothing is more apt to introduce us to the gates of the muses than poverty ; but it were well if they only left us at the door. The mischief is, they sometimes choose to give us their company at the entertainment ; and want, instead of being gentleman-usher, often turns master of the cere- monies.
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S4S LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
'* Thus, upon learning I write, no doubt you imagine I starve ; and the name of an author naturally reminds you of a garret. lu this par- ticular I do not think proper to undeceive my friends. But whether I eat or starve, live in a first floor or four pair of stairs high, I still re- member them with ardour ; nay, my very country comes in for a share of my affection. Unaccount* able fondness for country, this maladie du pais, as the French call it [ Unaccountable that he should stilt have an affection for a place who never, when in it, received above common civility ; who never brought any thing out of it except his brogue and his blunders. Surely my affection is equally ridi- cttlous with the Scotchman's, who refused to be cured of the itcb, because it made him unco* thought- ful of his wife and bonny Inverary.
"But now to be serious, — let me ask myself what gives me a wish to see Ireland again ? The country is a fine one, perhaps ? no. There are good company in Ireland ? no. The conversation there is generally made up of a smutty toast or a bawdy song ; the vivacity supported by some hum- ble cousin, who has just folly enough to earn his dinner. Then perhaps there's more wit and learning among the Irish? Oh, lord, no! There has been more money spent in the encouragement of the Padarecn mare there one season, than given in rewards to learned men since the times of Usher. All their productions in learning amount to perhaps a translation, or a few tracts in divinity ;
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LETTEE TO MB. HODSON. 249
and all their productions in wit to just nothing at all.* Why the plague, then, so fond of Ireland ? Then, all at once, because you, my dear friend, and a few more who are exceptions to the general picture, have a residence there. This it is that gives me all the pangs I feel in separation. I confess I carry this spirit sometiroes to the souring the pleasures I at present possess. If I go to the opera where Signora Columba pours out all the mazes of melody, I sit and sigh for Lishoy fireside, and Johnny Armstrong's * Last Good
* We mtiBt not be diapleased vith Ooldsmith for k sketcli ■0 remarkably corroborated by that of another of our able and intelligent countrymen. Lord Orrery. The coincidence is curi- one being written not long before, thongh not publiahed til) long afterwards, and conld only arise from the representation being correct. It is useless to complain of this, irritable and aenai- tire as the national temperament ii to reproof: the knowledge of our faults is a necessary step towards their correction ; and it should never be forgotten, that where letters are not colti- vated with something like warmth by the gentry, the lower orders mnst be proportionably low in tLe scale of inteUigence, to~wbich, no donbt, many of their excesses and irregnluities in Ireland, are owing. Lord Orrery writes, May 1747, from his seat at Caledon : —
" I have lately passed a fortnight in Dublin. All my leisure time was employed in the booksellers' shops, and particularly in search of soch hooks as yon hare mentioned to me. Many of tbem are not to be found on our Hibernian coast. When St. Patrick banished poisonous aniuiBls, the saint in his fury probably cursed hooka into the bargain. He certainly wished ignorance might sncceed him ; and I am sorry to tell you that scarce a gentleman in Ireland (althoagh he he a better Protestant than ever St. Patrick dreaded) goes further in literature than Urimt'e English Magaiine, or Faulkner's Irish Jonnial."
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T£Oi> LIFE OF OOLDSUITH.
Night,' from Peggy Golden. If I climb Hamp- stead-hill, than where nature never exhibited a more magnificent prospect, I confeas it fine ; but then I had rather be placed on the little mount be- fore Lishoy gate, and there take in — to me — the most pleasing horizon in nature.
" Before Charles came Hither, ray thoughts sometimes found refuge from severer studies among my friends in Ireland. I fancied strange revolu- tions at home ; but I find it was the rapidity of my own motion that gave an imaginary one to objects really at rest. No alterations there. Some friends, he tells me, are still lean, but very rich ; others very fat, but still very poor. Nay, all the news I hear of yon is, that you sally out in visits among the neighbours, and sometimes make a migration from the blue bed to the brown. I could from my heart wish that you and she (Mrs. Hodson), and Lishoy and Ballymahon, and all of you, would fairly make a migration into Middlesex ; though, upon second thoughts, this might be attended with a few inconveniences. Therefore, as the mountain will not come to Mahomet, why Mahomet shall go to the mountain ; or, to speak plain English, as you can- not conveniently pay me a visit, if next summer I can contrive to be absent six weeks from London, I shall spend three of them among my friends in Ireland. But first, believe me, my design is purely to visit, and neither to cut a figure nor levy contri- butions,— neither to excite envy nor solicit fevour ; in fact, my circumstances are adapted to neither
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LETTER TO MB. HODSON. 251
I am too poor to be gazed at, and too rich to need assistance.
*' You see, dear Dan, how long I have been talking about myself ; but attribute m; vanity to my affection : as every man is fond of himself, and I consider you as a second self, I imagine you will consequently be pleased with these instances of egotism. • • • • •
My dear Sir, these things ^ve me real anesisinefis, and I could wish to redress them. But at present there is hardly a kingdom in Europe in which I am not a debtor. I have already discharged my most threatening and pressing demands, for we must be just before we can be grateful. For the rest, I need not say (you know I am) " Your affectionate kinsman,
" Olivee Goldsmith.
" Temple Eicluuge Cofiee-hoiue,
near Temple Bar,
(where ;oa may direct an answer),
December 27, 1757."
At this period he was occupied on a translation of some length from the French, bearing the fol- lowing very ample and descriptive title-page ; it came out toward the end of February, 1758 : —
" The Memoirs of a Protestant, condemned to the Galleys of France for his Religion. Written by himself. Comprehending an account of the various distresses he suffered in slavery, and his con- stancy in supporting almost every cruelty that
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253 LIFE OP GOLDSMITH.
bigoted zeal could inflict, or human nature sus- tain i also a description of the galleys, and tbtf service in which they are employed. The whole interspersed with anecdotes relative to the general history of the times for a period of thirteen years, during which the author continued in slavery, till he was at last set free at the intercession of the Court of Great Britain. In two volumes. Translated ^m the original, just published at the Hague, by James Willington."
Griffiths, who had a proprietary interest in the work, and whose name appears in the titlepage as one of the publishers, acknowledged it to be by Goldsmith ; the copyright, however, as Isaac Reed ascertained, was sold by him to C. Dilly, the bookseller in the Poultry, for twenty guineas. Boswell, who was afterwards much connected with the Dillys, alludes probably to this among other pieces of the Poet which he had through that channel the opportunity of tracing, in a letter to Bishop Percy, of March 12, 1790, when the pro- ject alluded to seemed advancing to completion. '* Pray, how does your edition of Goldsmith go on ? I am in the way of getting at many additional works of his, which I shall communicate to your lordship."*
The original in French, forming an octavo vo- lume of nearly six hundred pages, now rendered
* MS. coirespondeDce, in the possession of W. R. Mason,
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MEHOIBS OP A PKOTE3TANT. 253
into English in two duodecimos, was noticed in the Monthly Review of the preceding year ; the version is executed with vigour, owing much no doubt to the taste and skill of the translator, who whatever be his correctness of interpretation, exhibit-8 his usual ease and perspicuity of style. Griffiths, in an article of the Review bearing bis own signature, whence we may infer there was then no serious disagreement, speaks of him as " the ingenious translator, who really deserves this name on account of the spirit of the perform- ance, though we have little to say in praise of his accuracy ;" terms nearly similar to those used in the same journal in characterizing his translations after his death. Why the name of Willington was affixed to the book rather than bis own, does not appear ; but it must be remembered that many of our writers at that time were much more shy of committing their names to the public, however well known in private, than at present ; and always im- pressed, as he appears to have been, with the belief of taking a high station in letters, be was probably unwilling that his name should appear attached to an inferior work, until he had shown ability to do something better. A name, however, being deemed necessary, that of a college acquaintance who is supposed to have been then in London pursuing the same precarious profession of letters, was used with his consent'
* " 1747, Decembrit 2".— Jacobua Waiington Pen* :—Filiu* JohannU generoti — ^nman t^eiu 16 — Nalva in eomilatu de
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354 LIFE OP GOLDSMITH.
The tale which it narrates is sufficiently distress- fill : all the tyranny that barbarous bigotry could inflict seems to have been used by the agents of Louis XIV. on the revocation of the Edict of Nantes ; and from what we know from other quar- ters, there is no reason to believe the details given here exaggerated. Fortunately, Christianity itself is not necessarily answerable for the atrocities of its professors. Catholicism, in her scorching zeal for exclusive tenets, has incurred debts to humanity which she never can repay ; but one of the modes 1^ which these are in part requited is the con- demnation passed upon her misdeeds by even the more enlightened of her own creed, and the terror inspired by the least prospect of her recovery of power in all who profess another.
The preface to this work, like so many of his ftigitive pieces, has been hitherto inedited ; it is written with care, has all his manner, is rarely to be met with, and therefore will find place in the present edition of his works.
" Perhaps," he says, in allusion to the prevfuling passion for novel reading, and the truth of the narrative, " what he thinks its exceUences may be considered as defects, — what he hopes may give it popularity will contribute to assign to it neglect. Thus, for instance, it cannot be recommended as a grateful entertainment to the numerous readers of
Tgiptrary — EAtcatw tub/tnda Ma : Qrvbete — T»tor O. Whit- tuigAam." (Segitter of Truaty College, Dublin.)
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MEMOIRS OF A PROTESTANT. 255
reigning romaDce, &b it is strictly true. No events are here to astonish ; no unexpected incidents to surprise ; no such high-finished pictures as captivate the imagination, and have made fiction fiashionahle. Out reader must he content with the simple exhi- bition of truth, and consequently, of nature ; he must he satisfied to see Vice triumphant, and Virtue in distress; to see men punished or re- warded, not as his wishes, hut as Providence has thought proper to direct : for all here wears the face of sincerity."
Diligent search in the periodical works of this year for such occasional pieces as may have come from his pen, has not heen attended with material success. That he was not idle we are assured, although not possessed of sufficient paternal parti- ality to own -or reclaim his of^pring : and seems rather as will he seen in one of his letters, to he amused at the perplexity to which this omission may give rise among future biographers. But there is one journal which, from being established at this period, published by Griffiths, and aided by the papers of three of his acquaintance, may likewise have been agisted by his contributions.
This was " The Grand Magazine rf Universal Intelligence and Monthly Chronicle of our Own Times," projected toward the end of 175? by a few printers and booksellers, and commenced the first month of the following year. Who the editor was, does not appear. Griffiths signs the dedication, which, like various similar publications of this
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256 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
period, is to the popular idol Mr, Pitt. Owen Ruffhead, although writing at the same period largely in the Review, took a considerable share in the prose department' ; Grainger and Percy, as will appear by the subjoined passages irom the cor- respondence of the formerf, furnished pieces of
* In the fly-leaf of luac Seed's copy of thiB MngaziDe ia the foUoTing memoranduin : — "The dUaertation on the Con- sUtution of England, and moat of the poUtical original Baaaya in theae Magazines, were the productiona of Owen Buffhead, Esq., sa hia ftiend Mr. Fountain informed me thia 25th March, 1775.— J. Reed."
t To the Bev. Mr. Percy Grainger writes, toward the end of 17S7> — " Mr. Strahen (a particular tnend of miae), and aome others, are at present upon an extenaive plan of a monthly chronicle ; and aa they bare often heard me praise your poetical talenta, they desire me to engage yon to fiimiah them with poetry. They are determined to publish nothing in that way bat what ia good ; and therefore they are very urgent with me for your Scotch song. Shalt I let them have it ? It can do yon no harm ; or rather it will do yon honour, when its author ia named. I shall nov and then send them a little supply ; and if yon will also, at your leisure, let them have aome fresh whole- some country &re, they will not be niggardly to na in their ac- Icnowledgments." — Again, he communicates to the same fnend in February, 1758, "The Latin poem you sent me ' Is all with Venns's ceatns bound.' Pray who ia the author of it 7 Am I to congratulate you on this happy effort of genius 7 It goes in the Grand (Maga2ine) this month, where you will again find your friend (Grainger himself) maldng fine speeches to a Water Nymph, and hymning the praises of Cheerfulness. The proprietors are determined to admit nothing but what ia new and aeema to be beaatifal. Do let us have aomething of youn for next month. You and I, methinka, may supply them with poetry for one half-year at least."— In April of the same year he aays, " Have you seen
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GRAND MAGAZINE.
poetry, and possibly of prose. No positiTO teeti- mony has been traced of Goldsmith being engaged in this work ; although the coincidences noticed, and the tenor and style of some of the papers, render it probable. Nothing in consequence is derived from this source for his works. The papers which bear the strongest resemblance to his manner and some of his sentiments, and not being poUHcal did not probably come from Ruffhead, are the Preface to the first volume,— On the Character of the Present Age,— On Happines6,^The Neces- sity of a Learned Education for Men of Fortune, — On the Complexion of the Times,— On the Abuse of Words, — On Asylums and Reformatories, — On the Unequal Temper of the English, — On the Sta- tion of Kings, — Distinction between Pride an^ Vanity. It may favour the idea of his being con-
the Much Magame ? The two Sonnets ue there inieited, aa the ' Hint to Poets' will be in the next month. The Blegf and Dialogne are mine."
From thia correqtondence it appears that Grainger contri- buted to the Magazine three Elegies in the January Number ; —Hymn to Cheerftdneas,— To the Nymph of P * * • (PitkeUy) Waten, in Febrosry ; Elegy and Dialogne in that of March ; and Ode to Contentment in that of June. About the same period he translated Leander to Hero and Hero to Leander, for Mr. Percy's Tersion of Ovid's Epiatles. Percy's conbi- bntions positively known are, the Latin Poem in the February Magazine, beginning
' Bzffinit quondam bl&ndum meditata laborem,' and two Sonnets signed O. in that of April. The Scotch Song alluded to waa probably the celebrated one, " 0 Nanny, wilt thou gang with me T" It did not, however, appear in the Magazine.
VOL. 1. S
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*68 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
nected with this magazine, that two long extracts from " Memoirs of a Protestant," endently with the view of attracting more than usual public at- tention to the translatioDf are given in the March and April numbers.
It may have been about the period of this pub- lication coming out, or immediately previous, that finding more certain and permanent provision for the wants of life oecesBary, he was induced to re- sume the superintendence of Dr. Milner*8 school, on the promise of that gentleman to use his interest in procuring him a medical appointment in India. . The precise time of his return to Peckham, if in- deed we are to believe Miss Milner's account of his protracted or occasional residence there correct, m uncertain ; nor was his stay long. About the middle of the summer we find him again dependent on his literary labours in London. He had yet acquired no name, and felt that a work of some research or permanent interest, if literature should continue to constitute his chief pursuit, was neces- sary to secure the station at which he aimed, and to render even his fugitive pieces more productive in the literary market In such intervals as were not devoted to the supply of immediate demands, he at this time projected and partly executed a work for which his journey on the Continent and acquaintance with its authors, acquired in part during his career as reviewer, furnished a portion of materials, — " An Enquiry into the present State of Polite Learning in Europe." He worked upon
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LETTER TO HB. MILLS. 959
H irith diligence ; brought to the subject aU the infornftition he possessed ; and with the view of disappointing the cupidity of the Dublin book- sellers, who by reprinting works of merit published in London, deprired authors of the fair reward of their labours accruing from the sale in Ireland, he wrote to his friends there, soliciting their aid in procuring subscriptiotis, for which the requisite number of volumes should be transmitted thither.
One of his letters on this occasion, addressed to his relative and former College companion, Mr. Mills, of Roscommon, affi>rds a finished specimen of mingled delicacy of solicitatioD, and skill in composition. Trifling as was the fevour asked, it appears by a subsequent letter, neither to have been granted, nor his application even answered } this may explain why little, if indeed any, oonmioni- cation took place with that gentleman afterwards ; who, however, could admire and venerate when raised to fame, him whom unknown and in poverty he had declined to aid.
" To Edward MUls, Esq., near Hoscammon,
Ireland.
"Deab Sir,
" You have quitted, I find, that plan of life
which you once intended to pursue*, and given
up ambition for domestic tranquillity. Were I
lo consult your satis&ction alone in this change,
* He had been intended for the Bar. S S
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260 LIFE OF aoLDSHITH.
I have the atmost reason to congratulate your choice ; but when I consider my own, I cannot avoid feeling some regret that one of my few Mends has declined a pursuit in which he had every reason to expect success. The truth is, like the rest of the world, I am self-interested in my concern ; and do not so much consider the hap- piness you have acquired, as the honour I hare probably lost in the change. I have often let my fancy loose when you were the subject, and have imagined you gracing the bench, or thundering at the bar ; while I have taken no small pride to myself, and whispered all that I could come near that this was my cousin. Instead of this, it seems you are merely contented to be a happy man, — to be esteemed only by your acquaintance, — to cul- tivate your paternal acres, — to take unmolested a nap under one of your own hawthorns, or in Mrs. Mills's bedchamber, which even a poet must confess is rather the more comfortable place of the two.
" But however your resolutions may be altered with respect to your situation in life, I persuade myself they are unalterable with regard to your friends in it. I cannot think the world has taken such entire possession of that hecu^ (once so sus- ceptible of friendship), as not to have left a comer there for a ftiend or two ; but I flatter myself that even I have my place among the number. This I have a claim to from the similitude of our dis- poritions ; or, setting that aside, I can demand it
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LBTTEB TO MR. MILLS. 261
as a right by the most equitable law in nature — I mean that of retaliation ; for, indeed, you have more than your share in mine.
" I am a man of few professions ; and yet this very instant I cannot avoid the painful apprehen- sion that my present professions (which speak not half mj feelings) sboold be considered only as a pretext to cover a request, as I have a request to make. No, my dear Ned, I know you are too generous to think so ; and you know me (to be) too proud to stoop to unnecessary insincerity. I have a request, it is tme, to make ; but as I know to whom I am a petitioner, I make it without diffidence or confusion. It is in short this : I am going to publish a book in London, entitled ' An Essay on the Present State of Taste and Literature in Europe.* Every work published here the printers in Ireland republish there without giving the author the least oonsideration for his copy. I would in this respect disappoint their avarice, and have all the additional advantages that may rosult from the sale of my performance there to myself.
" The book is now printing in London ; and I have requested Dr. RadclifP, Mr. Lawder, Mr. Bryanton, my brother Mr. Henry Goldsmith, and brother-in-law Mr. Hodson, to circulate my pro- posals among their acquuntance. The same re- quest I now make to you, and have accordingly given directions to Mr. Bradley, bookseller, in Dame Street, Dublin, to send you a hundred pro- posals. Whatever subscriptions pursuant to those
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»b» LIFE OF GOLDBHITB.
proposals, you may receive, when collected may be transmitted to Mr. Bradley, who will give a receipt for the money, and be accountable for the books, I shall not by a paltry apol(^, excuse myself for putting yon to this trouble. Were I not con- vinced that you found more pleasure in doing good-natured things than uneasiness in being em- ployed in them, I should not have singled you out on this occasion. It is probable you would comply with such a request if it tended to the encouragement of any man of learning whatsoever ; what then, may not he expect who has claims of family and friendship to enforce his ? " I am, dear. Sir, ** Your sincere Friend and humble Servant, " Olives Goldsmith." " London, Temple Exchange Coffee-houae, Aogost 7, 1758."*
We have another letter in a very difierent strain, written the succeeding week to bis friend Bryanton, whom he had formerly addressed from Edinburgh. It is an effort of gaiety to throw off a weight that presses too heavily on his situation and prospects to be easily displaced. We are amused by his humour, yet cannot but feel for a
* Bishop Percy dates this letter is 1759, bnt eli^t con- sideration or inquiry would have detected the error. Th« work mentioned in it came oat in April of that year ; and con- seqnently, as there was no second edition then, could not be piiating in August.
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LETTBB TO MR. BRTANTON. 263
man of geoiua in the condition to which be shortly indeed, but forcibly, confesses himself reduced, — " in a garret writing for bread, and expecting to be dunned for a milk score." His spirits, however^ seem never to have been long depressed : a con- stitutional, perhaps national, buoyancy of spirits or humour, raised him above the gloom that at times threatened to prove overwhelming ^ and a consciouanesa never wholly extinguished, of the possession of powers that would one day enable him to emerge from obscurity, inspired hope in the most nnpromising situations.
Of this nature are a few of the following playful anticipations of future fame, jocularly thrown out indeed, hut not less certainly entertained. Nor is the sally relative to the difficulties of future bio* graphers and commentators in tracing his earlier writings, less amusing than it was prophetic : the fact, sometimes vexatiously enough, as must be confessed, has been literally verified,
To the Rev. Dr. Handcock of Dublin, the vmter and the public are indebted for this interesting letter, transcribed from the original in his posses- sion, addressed to his father-in-law. It is necessary to state, that portions of the paper being worn away by time, a few sentences now imperfect, are attempted to be supplied from the context, and it is hoped, with a near approach to accuracy. The passages thus introduced are inclosed within brackets.
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S64i LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
" To Robert Bryanton, Esq., at Ballymahon, Ireland. "Dear Sir,
" I have heard it remark'd*, I believe by your- self, that they who are drunk, or oat of their wits, fimcy every body else in the same condition : mine is a friendship that neither distance nor time can efiace, which is probably the reason that, for the soul of me, I can't avoid thinking yours of the same complexion ; and yet I have many reasons for being of a contrary opinion, else why in so long an absence was I never made a partner in your concerns ? To hear of your suc- cesses would have given me the utmost pleasure ; and a communication of your very disappoint- ments would divide the uneasiness I too frequently feel for my own. Indeed, my dear Bol^ you don't conceive how unkindly you have treated one whose circumstances afford him few prospects of pleasure, except those reflected from the happiness of his friends. However, since you have not let me hear from you, I have in some measure dis- appointed your neglect by frequently thinking of of you. , Every day do I remember the calm anec- dotes of 'your life, from the fire-side to the easy chair; recal the various adventures that first cemented our friendship, — the school, the college,
* A fev of the coutnctiooa of tlie oiigiiul are retained. Sevenl oi Ub earlier printed plecee and most of his letten, eibibit similar contractions.
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LBTTBB TO MR. BRTANTON. 265
or the taveni ; preside in &ncy over your cards ; am displesGed at your bad play when the rubber goes against you, though not with all that agony of soul as when I once was your partner.
" Is it not strange that two of such like affec- tions should be bo much separated and so differ- ently employed as we are? You seem placed at the centre of fortune's wheel, and let it revolve never so fast, seem insensible of the motion. I seem to have been tied to the circumference, and
^turned] disagreeably round like an wh in a
whirligig. £1 sate] down with an intention to chide, and yet methinks [I have forgotj my resent- ment already. The truth is, I am a ^simpleton witbj regard to you : I may attempt to bluster, f but like] Anacreon, my heart is respondent only to soAer affections. And yet, now I think on't again, I will be angry. God's curse. Sir I who am I ? Eh ! what am I ? Do you know whom you have ofiended ? A man whose character may one of these days be mentioned with pro- found respect in a German comment or Dutch dictionary; whose name you will probably hear ushered in by a Doctissimus Doctissimorum, or heel-pieced with a long Latin termination. Think how Goldsmithiue, or Gubblegurchius, or some such sound, as rough as a nutmeg-grater, will be- come me. Think of that I — God's curse, Sir I who am I ? I must own my Ul-natured cotemporaries have not hitherto paid me those honours I have had such just reason to expect. I have not yet
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266 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
seen my face reflected in all the livelj display of red and white punts on any sign-posts in the suburbs. Your handkerchief weavers seem as yet unacquainted with my merits or physiognomy, and the very snuff-box makers appear to have forgot their respect. Tell them all from me, they are a set of Gothic, barbarous, ignorant scoundrels. There will come a day, no doubt it will — I beg you may live a couple of hundred years longer, only to see the day — when the Scaligers and Daciers will vindicate my character, give learned editions of my labours, and bless the times with copious comments on the text You shall see how they will fish up the heavy scoundrels who disregard me now, or will then offer to cavil at my produc- tions. How will they bewail the times that suffered so much genius to lie neglected I If ever my works find their way to Tartary or China, I know the consequence. Suppose one of your Chinese Owanowitzers instructing one of your Tartarian Chianobacchi — you see I use Chinese names to show my own erudition, as I shall soon make our Chinese talk like an Englishman to show his. This may be the subject of the lecture : —
" ' Oliver Goldsmith flourished in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. He lived to be an hnn- dred and three years old, [and in that] age may justly be styled the sun of [literature] and the Con- fucius of Europe. [Many of his earlier writings, to the regret of the] learned world, were anony- mous, and have probably been lost, because united
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LETTER TO MR. BRYAHTON. 267
with those of others. The first avowed piece the world has of his is entitled an * Ebbbj on the Pre- sent State of Taste and Literature in Europe,' — a work well worth its weight in diamonds. In this he profoundly explains what learning is, and what learning is not. In this he proves that blockheads are not men of wit, and yet that men of wit are actually blockheads.*
" But as I choose neither to tire my Chinese Phi- losopher, nor you, nor myself, I must discontinue the oration, in order to ^ve you a good pause for admiration ; and I find myself most violently dis- posed to admire too. Let me, then, stop my &ncy to take a view of my future self ^ and, as the boys say, light down to see myself on horseback.* Well, now I am down, where the d — 1 is I? Oh, Godsl Gods I here in a garret, writing for bread, and ex- pecting to be dunned for a milk score I However, dear Bob, whether in penury or affluence, serious or gay, I am ever wholly thine.
" Oliver Goldsuith."
"London, Temple Exchange Coflfee-hous^ Temple Bw, Aug. 14, 1758."
" Give my — no, not compliments neither, but something [the^ most warm and sincere wish that you can conceive, to your mother, Mrs. Bryanton, to Miss Bryanttm, to yourself; and if there be a favourite dog in the &mily, let me be zemembered to it."
* A common phrase among schoolboys in Ireland nov, in ridiculing an nnskiliid appearance of their companion! on horseback.
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968 LIFE OF OOLDSHITII.
The progress of hb book, and the desire of pro- curing subscriptiona for it, induced at this time unusual (for him) diligraice in writing private letters. To this is owing another dated on the day following the preceding ; it is addressed to his cousin Mrs. Lawder, formerly Miss Contarine, and is admirable in its kind, mingling Tivacity and humour with serious, if not melancholy retrospec- tions ; and while professing a sturdy independence, lest his professions of r^ard should be miscon- strued, avowing past poverty in a sentence that cannot but give pain to every mind of ordinary sensibility: — he would " forget that ever he starved in those streets where Butler and Otway starved before him." By this also we find what, from his affection and assistance to Oliver in all his impru- dences and distresses, we must regret, — that the mind of Mr. Contarine was now reduced to a state of imbecility. This letter, as appears from MS. correspondence of Malone with Bishop Percy,* was copied by the former at the house of his friend Mr. Metcalf, at Brighton, in 1809, from one in the possession of Mr. Carleton, nephew to the noble- man of that name, given to him by Mr. Mills, who received it from the family of the lady to whom it was written.
" To Mrs. Jane Lawder.
" If you should ask, why in an interval of so many years, yon never heard from me, permit me, * In Mr. Ifuon'i Collection.
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LETTER TO MRS. JANE LAWDER. 2tJ9
madam, to ask the same question. I have the beet excuse in recrimination. I wrote to Kiknore from Leyden in Holland, from Louvain in Flanders, and Rouen in France, but received no answer. To - what coold I attribute this silence but to displea- sure or fai^tfiilness P Whether I was right in my conjecture I do not pretend to determine ; but this I must ingenuously own, that I have a thou- sand times in my turn endeavoured to forget them, whom I could not but look upon as forgetting me. I have attempted to blot their names from ray memory, and, I confess it, spent whole days in efforts to tear their image from my heart. Could I have succeeded, you had not now been troubled with this renewal of a discontinued correspond- ence ; but, aa every effort the restless make to pro- cure sleep serves but to keep them waking, all my attempts contribated to impress what I would forget deeper on my imagination. But this subject I would willingly turn from, and yet, ' for the soul of me,' I can't till I have said all.
" I was, madam, when I discontinued writing to Kilmore, in such circumstances, that all my endea- vours to continue your regards might be attributed to wrong motives. My letters might be looked upon as the petitions of a beggar, and not the ofierings of a friend ; while all my professions, instead of being considered as the result of disinterested esteem, might be ascribed to venal insinceri^. I believe, indeed, you had too much generosity to place them in such a light, hut I could not bear even the shadow of such a suspicion.
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S70 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
Tho most delicate friendships are always most sen- sible of the slightest invasion, and the strongest jealousy is ever attendant on the wannest regard. 1 could not — I own I conld not — continue a cor- respondence: for every acknowledgment for past &Tours might be considered as an indirect request for future ones, and where it might be thought I gave my heart from a motive of gratitude alone, when I was conscious of having bestowed it on much more disinterested principles.
*' It is true, this conduct might have been simple enough, but yourself must confess it was in cha- racter. Those who know me at all know that I have always been actuated by different principles from the rest of mankind, and while none regarded the interest of his friend more, no man on earth regarded his own less. I have often affected blunt- ness to avoid the imputation of flattery, have fre- quently seemed to overlook those merits too obvious to escape notice, and pretended disregard to those instances of good nature and good sense, which I could not fail tacitly to applaud ; and all this lest I should be ranked amongst the grinning tribe, who say ' very true' to all that is said, who fill a Tacant chair at a tea-table, whose aarrow souls never moved in a wider circle than the circum- ference of a guinea, and who had rather be reckon- ing the money in your pocket than the virtue of your breast. All this, I say, I have done, and a thousand other very silly though very disinterested things in my time, and for all which no soul cares a farthing about me. God's curse, madam ! is it
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LETTER TO MRS. JANE LAWDER. 271
to be wondered* that he should once in his life forget fou, who has been all his life foi^tting himself?
" However it is probable yon may one of those days see me turned into a perfect hanks, and as dark and intricate as a mouse hole. I have already given my landlady orders for an entire reform in the state of my finances. I declaim against hot suppers, drink less sugar in my tea, and check my grate with brick-bats. Instead of hanging my room with pictures, I intend to adorn it with maxims of frugality. Those will make pret^ furniture enough, and won't be a hit too ex- pensive; for I shall draw them all out with my own hands, and my landlady's daughter shall frame them with the parings of my black waist- coat. Each maxim is to bo inscribed on a sheet of clean paper, and wrote with my best pen ; of which the following will serve as a specimen : — * Look sharp;* *Mind the main chance;' Money is money now;' *If you have a thousand pounds you can put your hands by your sides, and say you are worth a thousand pounds every day of the year ;* ' Take a farthing from a hundred, and it will be a hundred no longer.* Thus, which way soever I turn my eyes, they are sure to meet one of those friendly monitors ; and as we are told of an actor who hung his room round with looking- glass to correct the defects of his person, my apartment shall be furnished in a' peculiar manner, to correct the errors of my mind.
" Faith I Madam, I heartily wish to be rich, if it
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S73 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
were only for this reason, to sa; wi&out a blush how much I esteem you ; but alas ! I have many a fatigue to encounter before that happy time comes, when your poor old simple friend may again give a loose to the luxuriance of his nature, sitting by Kilmore 6re-side, recount the various adven- tures of a hard-fought life, laugh over the follies of the day, join bis flute to your harpsichord, and forget that ever he starred in those streets, where Butler and Otway starved before him.
" And now I mention' those great names — My uncle ! — he is no more that soul of fire as when once I knew him. Newton and Swift grew dim with age as well as be. But what shall I say ? — his mind was too active an inhabitant not to disorder the feeble mansion of its abode ; for the richest jewels soonest wear their settings. Yet who but the fool would lament his condition I He now for- gets the calamities of life. Perhaps indulgent heaven has given him a foretaste of that tran- quillity here, which he so well deserves hereafter.
" But I must come to business ; for business, as one of my maxims tells me, must be minded or lost. I am going to publish in London, a book entitled 'The Present State of Taste and Literature in Europe.' The booksellers in Ireland republish every performance there without making the author any consideration. I would, in this res- pect, disappoint their avarice, and have all the profits of my labour to myself. I must therefore request Mr. Lawder to circulate among his friends and acquaintances a hundred of my proposals,
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LETTER TO MRS. JANE LAWDER. 273
which I have given the bookseller, Mr. Bradley in Dame Street, directions to send to him. If, in pursuance o! such circulation, he should receive any subscriptions, I entreat, when collected, they may be sent to Mr. Bradley, as aforesaid, who will give a receipt, and be accountable for the work, or a return of the subscription. If this request (which, if it be complied with, will in some mea- sure be an encouragement to a man of teaming,) should be disagreeable or troublesome, I would not press it ; for I would be the last man on earth to have my labours go a>begging ; but if I know Mr. Lawder, (and sure I ought to know him,) he will accept the employment with pleasure. All I can say — if he writes a book, I will get him two hundred subscribers, and those of the best wits in Europe.
" Whether this request is complied with or not, I shall not be uneasy ; but there is one petition I must make to him and to you, which 1 solicit with the warmest ardour, and in which I cannot bear a refusal. I mean, dear madam, that I may be allowed to subscribe myself,
" Your ever affectionate, and obliged kinsman, " Oliver Goldsmith.
** Now see how I blot and blunder, when I am asking a fevour.
" Temple Ezchmge Coffee-bonae, Temple Bar, AugoBt 15, 1758."
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274 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
It was not probably till after these letters were written, as there is no allusion to the fact in either, that the profesBional appointment promised by Dr. Milner was obtained through the inSuence of Mr. Jones, an East India director. No record of the place to which he was destined, or of the precise time when the nomination took place, can be found, after a careful search in the India House.* The former, indeed, he states generally as being on the coast of Coromandel ; the latter was no doubt Sep- tember or October, 1758.
His views were now directed to prepare for the Toyage, which required a considerable sum for one in his circumstances, destitute alike of money and of friends who could advance h. By the success alone of the book noticed as being in progress, could he hope to raise the necessary means ; and even partial feilure in that point threatened to mar the whole scheme. With this contingency perhaps in prospect, he wrote the following letter to his brother-in-law. A few passages would induce the belief that, however desirous of visiting certain portions of the East, and securing a certain in- come, the destination now contemplated was not quite to his satisfaction. He is, indeed, laudably desirous of escaping from uncertainty and penury to
* A gentleman of the Secretuya office has ezunined the nunutes of the Court of Directors from 1755 to 1764, and another the minutes of the Committee of Shipping from the beginning of 1757 to the end of 1760, vithoat finding the nsme. The appointment not having been mntured, ia no doubt the cauae of the omiraion.
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APPOINTMENT IN INDIA. 275
a Station more commensurate with bis deserts, to for- sake scenes and associates alien to his choice, and in the true spirit of Horace, Odi profaiium vulgus, to " separate himself from the vulgar as much in his circumstances as he was in his sentiments." Yet there is likewise something of disinclination to quit a scene where, as he says, " his fortune is growing kinder," as well as the " refined conversation in which he is sometimes permitted to partake." This state of irresolution, shown even in detailing the promised advantages of the expedition, exhibits the honest desire of independence on the one hand, counterbalanced on the other by the hope, how- ever vague and distant, of literary fame. The letter is without date, but written about Novem- ber, 1758.
*' To Daniel Hodson, Esq., at Lishoy, near Bally-
mahon, Ireland.
" Deas Sir,
" 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, I could never do it
sincerely. Take me then with all my faults. I«t
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 my intention
of going to the East Indies. The place of my
destination is one of the factories on the coast of
Coromandel, and I go in quality of physician and
surgeon ; for which the Company has signed my
T 2
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276 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
warrant, which has already cost me 10/. I most also pay 501, for my passage, and 10/. for my sea stores ; and the other incidental expenses of my equipment will amount to 60/. or 70/. more. The salary is hut trifling, viz. 100/. per annum ; but the other advantages, if a person he prudent, are considerable. The practice of the place, if I am righdy informed, generally amounts to not less than 1000/. per annum, for which the appointed physician has an exclusive privilege. This, with the advantages resulting from trade, with the high interest which money hears, viz. 20/. per cent., are the inducements which persuade me to undergo the fatigues of sea, the dangers of war, and the still greater dangers of the climate ; which induce me to leave a place where I am every day giuning friends and esteem, and where I might enjoy all the conveniencies of life.
" I am certainly wrong not to he coptented with what I already possess, trifling as it is ; for should I ask myself one serious question — What is it I want?— what can I answer? My desires are as capricious as the hig-belUed woman's, who longed for a piece of her husband's nose. I have no cer- tainty, it is true; but why cannot I do as some men of more merit, who have lived on more preca- rious terms ? Scarron used jestingly to call himself the Marquis of Quenault, which was the name of the bookseller who employed him ; and why may not I assert my privilege and quality on the sune pretensions ?
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LETTER TO MR. Hl>DSO». 277
" Yet, upon deliberation, whatever airs I give myself on this side of the water, my dignity, I fancy, would be evaporated before I reached the other. I know you have in Ireland a very indifferent idea of a man who writes for bread, though Swift and Steele did BO in the earliest part of their lives. You ima- gine, I suppose, that every author by profession lives in a garret, wears shabby clothes, and converses with the meanest company. Yet I do not believe there is one single writer who has abilities to translate a French novel that does not keep better company, wear finer clothes, and live more genteelly, than many who pride themselves for nothing else in Ireland. I confess it again, my dear Dan, that nothing but the wildest ambition could prevail on me to leave the enjoyment of the refined conversa- tion which I am sometimes admitted to partake in, for uncertain fortune and paltry show. You cannot conceive how I am sometimes divided ; to leave all that is dear to me gives me pain ; but when I con- sider I may possibly acquire a genteel independence for life ; when I think of that dignity which philo- sophy claims, to rtuse itself above contempt and ridicule ; when I think thus, I eagerly long to em- brace every opportunity of separating myself from the vulgar, as much in my circumstances as I am already in my sentiments.
" I am going to publish a hook, for an account of which I refer you to a letter which I wrote to my brother Goldsmith. Circulate for me among your acquaintance a hundred proposals, which I
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278 l-IFE OF GOLDSMITH.
have given orders may be sent to you ; and if in pursuance of such circulation you should receive any subscriptions, let them, when collected, be transmitted to Mr. Bradley, who will give a receipt for the same. • • • *
• • • • • •
" I know not how my desire of seeing Ireland, which had so long slept, has again revived with so much ardour. So weak is my temper and so un- steady, that I am frequently tempted, particularly when loW'Spirited, to return home and leave my fortune, though just beginning to look kinder. But it shall not be. In five or six years I expect to indulge these transports. I find I want constitution, and a strong steady disposition, which alone makes men great. I will however correct my faults, since I am conscious of them."
The allusion to the profits supposed to be derived from translating foreign works of fiction, may lead us to this period as the probable date of one of his undertakings for the booksellers- French novels were then much in vogue ; nor were we unwilling to receive from that source an article with which the fertility of our writers now supplies all the rest of Europe. Translations of such works necessarily formed a part of the business of those who pursued literature as a profession ; and in this department also, as will be observed by the following receipt transcribed from the original, in his own hand- writing. Goldsmith took a share. It is, like so
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TRANSLATES A FRENCH WORK. 979
many others of his letters and memoTanda, without date. No account of the work to which it relates can he found in any of the journals of the time ; and therefore as the original title mentioned here seems Tague and unsatis&ctory, another more pre- cise or popular may have heen adopted previous to publication.
" Received from Mr. Ralph Griffiths * the sum of ten pounds ten shillings, for the translation of a book entitled Memoirs of my Lady B., as wit- nesB my hand.
" Oliver GoLDSMiTH."t
Difficulty in providing necessary supplies for the voyage, or the unsteadiness of mind confessed hy him as one of his faults, produced soon afterward, as might almost he conjectured Irom the preceding letter, its necessary results ; for his views on India were for a time suspended. Looking seriously to the length of absence necessary to acquire the promised independence, the pun felt in quitting his native country, and the improbability, when once away, of returning to it, probably occasioned distaste to the expedition altogether. The navy or army promised all he now wanted, — present
* An atlniioii to the ch&racter of Goldjunith'i tmnslatiotu, origiiutiQg probably from Qriffitbs himBelf, appean in the Monthly Review for AnguBt, 1776, in the article on the Poet's translation of Scarron's Comic Romance.
t From the MS. collection of the late Mr. Heber.
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LIFE OF OOLDBHItU.
provision and less permanent remoyal from England. To one of these departments his medical services were now tendered, induced by the example of several acquaintance, and the remembrance of Grainger and Smollett, who, in the spirit <^ adven- ture, or for a more extensive observation of man- kind, pursued a similar course in early life.
Either of the services could be joined with a less expensive outfit than that required for an India voyage, and might be quitted with greater facility if uncimgenial to his feelings. Prompted by such considerations, he presented himself at Surgeons' Hall for examination as an hospital mate, in De- cember, 1758 } and to the utter discomfiture of all his projects, and with feelings nearly akin to despair, was rejected as unqualified.
Whether this mortifying result arose from want of knowledge of minute anatomy, which having been long from the schools might be easily for- gotten, or of operative surgery, to which, contem- plating physic as his peculiar province, he might not have paid sufficient attention ; whether his memory or presence of mind were overpowered by the apprehension felt by every surgical tyro on such occasions ; or he was disconcerted by the banter of bome such examiner as Roderick Random encoun- tered, it is vain to enquire. The circumstance is curious in itself, and is now for the first time dis- closed. No communication on the subject appears to have been made to his relatives, nor was it even surmised by any of his acquaintance or biographers.
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REJECTED AT 8UB0E0NS HALL. 381
although at the moment no doubt known to a few more intimate associates, who were suffiuentlj reserred to keep the secret. The uuexpluned re- linquishment of the Inc^a appointment first ex- cited suspicion of the fact in the mind of the writer, which was confirmed by a rumour, vague indeed and unsatisfactory, oX the same nature, communicated by an eminent physician.* The cause of such abandonment then became obvious rejection for one branch of service necessarily dis- qualifying him for all ; and by the regulations of me- dical bodies, no re-examination of an unsuccessful applicant could be had under a period of three or six months, for the advantage of further study. AccidAit, therefore, or something akin to accident, did for him what it has done for others of our eminent men, who had determined to proceed abroad in the pursuit of wealth — it kept him at home, to acquire fame ; and as in the instances of Burke and Bums, to elevate the literature of our country.
The following extract is from the books of the College of Surgeons ; it appears he was the only unsuccessful candidate on that day : —
" At a Court of Examiners held at the Theatre, 21st December, 17^8. Present (^blank).
* The late Dr. iSnUm, pbyaieuun to the King ; through my friend Mr. Copland Hntcbineon.— Dr. H. belieTed he had been rejected at Apothecaries H&U, but on iaqniry this proved to be an error. Siu^eoni' Hall vas then tearched, and the fltct dia* covered.
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LIFE OF OOLDSMITH.
(Here several names precede and follow that of the Poet, as having passed for the medical service of the army and navy ; but it is only necessary to quote the one preceding him, from its connection with the situation for which he was examined.)
" James Bernard, mate to an hospital. Oliver Goldsmith, found not qualified for ditto."
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CONSEQUENCES 0Â¥ HIS REJECTION.
CHAP. VIII.
aVAaaEL with MR. QHIFFITHS, and LETnSB TO BIH.
KENRICK. LETTER TO REV. BENRY GOLDBHITH. — VOL- TAIRE'S LIFE. — EDWARD PURDON. — ENQmRY INTO POLITE LKABNIKO. — CONNECTION WITH THE CRITICAL REVIEW.
The results attending this failure Trere more serious to the distressed candidate than merely momentary vexation. Unable, from not obtaining the e&pected appointment, to repay certain pecu- niary obligations incurred upon the occasion to bia former employer in the Monthly Review, he found not only his literary and moral character attacked in that journal in consequence of this default, but a story repeated in conversation in the same ungenerous strain by its proprietor, as, indeed, it continued to be by him to a late period of life in the literary circles of London. The fact says little for the generosity or forbearance of Griffiths, who, from the letters of Grainger to Perty", appears to have been considered by the former a sharp tradesman; and if we may judge from his conduct to Goldsmith, nbt the mildest of creditors.
The best apology for this seeming harshness is,
* In the poiseuion of Mr. W. R. Mason.— One of the nu- tioDs g^ven to Percy is not to tnist to any Terbal Agreement with the bookBcUer.
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LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
that when mentioaiDg the anecdote even within the present century to more than one Burriving auditor, he did not fully know, or at least never told, the real situation of the unhappy debtor — the attempt at Surgeons' Hall — his rejection, and con- sequent inability to meet any pecuniary obligations. All this, indeed, the Poet, deeming it a species of disgrace, and a reflection upon his professional talents, kept secret, or, if known, it was confined to the knowledge of a few. Something of the severity shown him by Griffiths may have been owing to this reserve, which he was unwilling to throw off, and his story of apology may have appeared there- fore to the bookseller a fiction. The imputations cast upon his character are still to be seen in the pages of the Review ; the contradiction which a sense of the injustice done him eventually called forth, occurs only after an interval of two years. On this account, as well as to explain a letter to which it gave rise, the disagreement requires to he noticed at length.
When about to appear before the examining sur- geons, his apparel being defective, application was made to Griffiths for the use of such as was deemed of a more suitable description. The precise use to be made of it appears not to have been stated, dreading perhaps publicity in case of the failure that actually occurred ; but an intimation was given that he had obtained, or expected to obtun, a situ- ation in the army, which without an appropriate drcse to appear in might be withheld. The request
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QUARREL WITH GRIFFITHS. 285
was acceded to ; the bookseller became security to a tailor ; the conditions of this favour being imme- diate return of the clothes to the former when the purpose had been served, or speedy discharge of the debt ; while the distressed author, in order to evince his sense of gratitude, immediately furnished four articles for the Review, which stand first in the nimiber for December, 1758, and in the copy before noticed are there acknowledged as his by the proprietor.* The failure to pass, aa may be supposed, precluded fulfilment of the promise to pay. Driven to despair by ill success, forgetful of the imputations to which breach of agreement by withholding the clothes might give rise, or urged by necessities pressing and irresistible, in- creased by additional expense incurred by preli- minary arrangements for the examination, the articles supplied were, instead of being returned, consigned for the supply of immediate wants, to the pawnbroker.
Here they were soon discovered by GrifSths, who becoming alarmed for the safety of some hooks lent to the Poet, probably to review, wrote him an abusive letter. The reply seems to have been couched in a tone of apology, conscious of not having done strictly right, or as he empha- tically expresses it, of the occasional " meannesses
* Thefle are, "Enquiries conceming the first Inhabitsnts, &c. of Borope ;" — " Introduction to Lsngoages ;"— " KiroXoyia : sire Tn^ediarum Delectns;" — " Translstion ofTnlly'ji Tuncnlan Diiput&tioQB."
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986 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
which poverty uaavoidably brings with it." This seems not to liave satisfied the creditor: he re- joined, in a communication filled with reproaches of the moat injurious nature, and finally threatened him with the utmost severity, as it would seem, of the law.
A second and very afiecting letter from the accused has been preserved by the accuser, who never exhibited, and probably wished not to be known, what contains so strong a reflection on his moderation or humanity, and which is now for the first time made public. From this, the past and present necessities of poor Goldsmith appear to have been extreme, reaching nearly to the point of desperation ; his mental anxieties no doubt aggravated by the recent disappointment. The original, now before the writer, is without date or place of residence, but endorsed by Griffiths, " Received in January, 1759.'*
" Sir, " I know of no misery but a gaol to which my own imprudencies and your letter seem to point. I have seen it inevitable these three or four weeks, and, by heavens 1 request it as a favour — as a favour that may prevent somewhat more fatal. I have been some years struggling with a wretched being — with all that contempt that indigence brings with it — with all those strong passions which make contempt insupportable. What, then, has a gaol that is formidable ? I shall at least have
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LETTER TO GRIFFITHS. 967
the society of wretches, and such is, to me, true society. I tell you again and again, I am now neither able nor willing to pay you a larthing, but I will be punctual to any appointment you or the tailor shall make ; thus far, at least, I do not act the sharper, since, unable to pay my debts one way, I would willingly give some security another. No, Sir, had I been a sharper, had I been possessed of less good nature and native generosity, I might surely now have been in better circum- stances.
" I am guilty, I own, of meannesses which poverty unavoidably brings with it: my refieo- tions are filled with repentance for my imprudence, but not with any remorse for being a villain} that may be a character you unjustly charge me with. Your books, I can assure you, are neither pawned nor sold, but in the custody of a friend from whom my necessities obliged me to borrow some money : whatever becomes of my person, you shall have them in a month. It is very pos- sible both the reports you have beard and your own su^estions may have brought you &lse in- formation with respect to my character ; it is very possible that the man whom you now regard with detestation may inwardly bum with grateful re- sentment. It is very possible that, upon a second perusal of the letter I sent you, you may see the workings of a mind strongly agitated with grati- tude and jealousy. If such circumstances should appear, at least spare invective till my book with
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S88 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
Mr. Dodaley shall be published, and then per- haps you may see the bright side of a mind, when my professions shall not appear the dictates of ne- cessity, but of choice.
" You seem to think Dr. M liner knew me not. Perhaps so ; but he was a man I shall ever honour -, but I have Mendships only with the dead I I ask pardon for taking up so much time ; nor shall I add to it by any other professions than that I am, " Sir, your humble servant,
" Oliver Goldsmith.*
'*P.S. I shall expect impatiently the result of your resolutions.''
The expressions, " I am now neither able nor willing to pay you a farthing," seem to imply either resentment at the terms applied to him, or that the demand was disputed ; while the promise to " be punctual to any appointment you or the tailor shall make" shows at least anxiety to meet the difficulty in the most honourable manner. The dispute appears to have been settled for a time by a short compilation written by the Poet, and advertised for publication, as will appear, by Griffiths, in the following month (February) j but either this did not produce peace between the par- ties, or some new cause of quarrel arose. On the appearance of the Enquiry into Polite Learning,
* From the MS. collection of the Ute Mr. Heber.
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IMPUTATIONS IM THE MONTHLY REVIEW. 289
a few months afterwards, the writer who sue- ceeded to Goldsmith's place in the Monthly Re- view, in addition to sharp literary strictures, breaks out into the following extreme personalities and imputations on private character : —
" It requires a good deal of art and temper for a man to write consistently against the dictates of his own heart. Thus, notwithstanding our author talks so familitu'ly of us, the great, and affects to be thought to stand in the rank of patrons, we cannot help thinking that in more places than one he has betrayed in himself the man he so severely condemns for drawing bis quill to take a purse. We are even so firmly con- vinced of this, that we dare put the question home to his conscience, whether be never experienced the unhappy situation be so feelingly describes, in that of a literary imderstrapper ? His remarking Mm as coming down from his garret to rummage the bookseller's shop for materials to work upon, and the knowledge he displays of bis minutest labours, give great reason to suspect be may him- self have had recourse to the bad trade of book- making. Fronti nulla fides. We have beard of many a writer who, 'patronised only by bis bookseller,' has, nevertheless, affected the gentle- man in print, and talked full as cavalierly as our author himself. We have even known one hardy enough publicly to stigmatise men of the first rank in literature for their immoralities*, while con-
* A note ifl aubjoined evidently auned at Goldsnuth : — " Etcii
VOL. I. U
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890 LIFE OF GOLDaMITH.
scions himself of labouring under tlie infamy of having by the vilest and meanest actions, forfeited all pretenBions to honour and honesty.
'* If such men as these, boasting a liberal educa- tion and pretending to genius, practise at the same time those arts which bring the sharper to the cart's tail or the pillory, need our author wonder that ' learning partakes the contempt of its pro- fessors.'"
Several other inuendoes nearly as offensive and hypothetically conveyed, seem bo far to exceed the latitude of public criticism or the private provoca^ tion given, as to occasion feelings of indignation in the reader. Tried by the standard of strict morality, it may be true that an offence, if so harsh a name be applicable to such an act in bia situation, was committed ; but looking to the attendant circum- stances, which must ever influence our judgment in passing sentence upon all human creatures, it will appear to be of a venial character. Besides, the remembrance of former services, his connection with the journal now made the vehicle of slander, the confession of its proprietor on other occasions that he was an ingenious, and the conviction which he must have felt of his being a distressed, man, ought to have withheld language which could be applied only to the worst characters in society.
our sDthor Menu to hare wandered from his subject into calnmny, vben, speaking of tlie Hmrqau lyArgenB, he tells lu â– he attempts to add the chancter of a pbiloaopher to the yices of a debaochee.' '
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EXPLANATION IN THE REVIEW. 291
One apology may be adduced for Griffiths, that the animadversions were not his own. They came, as he states, in a docuinent already referred to of the writers in that work, from a person in his employ, afterwards known as a general liheller, whose characteristic virulence probably went be- yond the instructions received. And so cooBcious was the former, whose general character exempts him from the charge of malignity, of the unwar- rantable nature of the accusations, that shortly afterwards, in noticing another work, known to be by Goldsmith, The Bee, his traducer was draired to treat it in the moat favourable manner in the Review. This, as may be supposed, did not satisfy the Poet : he retained a strong sense of the injury attempted to be inflicted on his moral character ; and sev^td of his friends representing the gross nature of the attack, the following denial, or retraction, of the meaning intended to be con- T^ed, appeura in the month of June, 17^% >° reviewing the Citizen of the World : —
" Although the Chinese philosopher has nothing Asiatic about him, and is as errant an European as the philosopher of Malmesbury, yet he has some excellent remarks upon men, muiners, and things, as the phrase goes.
'* But the public have been already made suffi- ciently acquainted with the merits of these enter- ttuning Letters, which were first printed in The Ledger, and are supposed to have contributed not a little towards the success of that paper.
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393 LIFK OP GOLDSMITH.
They are stud to be the work of the lively and ingenious writer of an Knquiry into the present State of Polite Learning in Europe j — a writer whom it seems we undesignedly offended by some strictures on the conduct of many of our modem scribblers. As the observation was en- tirely general in its intention, we were surprised to hear that this gentleman had imagined himself 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. It is hoped that a charge of this sort can never be justly brought agMnst the Monthly Review."
No good feeling was re-established between the parties, notwithstanding this attempt to explain away the offensive insinuations, nor is it believed they ever afterwards had intercourse ; Goldsmith never forgot the outrage, and Griffiths probably did not forgive him whom he had injured. As evidence of the hostility that continued to exist, it was remarked that in the Reriew, hia productions, excepting his poems which all the world admired, usually experienced an unfavourable reception ; and a few months after the Poet's death, a charge of this kind was even advanced by more than one correspondent of that journal against its conductors. A reply to one of these accusers appeared in Sep- tember, 17741 '. — "As to what this correspondent surmises of a prejudice against an old friend and associate, Dr. G., he may rest assured that there is
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KENRICK. 393
no foundation for it. But it is ever our custom to be sparing of our compliments to each other."
The writer of the libel in the Review was Ken- rick, one of those unhappy persons who, with con- siderable talents, acquire notice chiefly by offences a^nst good taste and moral propriety. A native of Hertfordshire, and brought up to a mechanical art, sud to be that of a rule or scale maker, he deserted it with the view of pursuing literature as a profession. How he received his education is un- known ; the degree of LL.D. is believed to have come ftx>m a Scottish university. A love of noto- riety, a jealous and perverse temper, increased oflen to violence by habits of intemperance, led him to assail all who enjoyed reputation, or whose success excited his envy, often avowedly, as if courting a contest by reply, and- never long affecting conceal- ment. He was thus at war with nearly all his con- temporaries : ' bis hand was against every man \* and if theirs was withheld from him, it arose from that impunity accorded to such as from want of prin- ciple and character become a species of privileged libellers. He was therefore rarely answered j but in- deed this was scarcely necessary, for he frequently answered himself : the fact is well known with re- gard to some of his more serious productions ; and in the search for materials for this work he has been frequently tracked in the periodical publications of the time, vituperating on one day the person whom he had lauded the preceding.
A graver charge than envy or jealousy — that
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904 LIFE OP QOLDSHITM.
of desperate malignity — applies to his conduct in 177% when, after having long flattered Garrick in order to secure the reception of his pieces on the stage, he turned upon him in consequence of a trifling disagreement with an infamous and un- founded charge connected with the retirement of Isaac Bickerstaffe irom the country ; and when proceedings were commenced against him in the Court of King's Bench, made at once the most abject submission and retraction. When after- wards asked by Evans the bookseller,* how he could bring so infamous a charge against Mr. Garrick ? he replied, " he did not believe him guilty, but did it to plague the fellow." The honest bookseller observed, on telling the stoiy when collecting the works of Goldsmith, " I de- sire to add, I never more conversed with such a man."
He wrote, and frequently with ability, upon a variety of subjects, — metaphysics, morality, poetry, the drama, satire, translation, lexicography, pam- phlets on a variety of temporary topics j and for many years was a professional reviewer, — first in the Monthly Review jrom the termination of Gold- smith's engagement, whose place he appears to have filled immediately, till I766 ; and in the Lon- don Review, which he established, and conducted from 177^ till his death in 1779* He gave lectures
* Father of Mr. Eraua, the reipectable and well-luiowii book auctioneer of Pall Mall.
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. KENKICK. ^gS
on Sbakspeare ; and, conceivuig he had discovered the perpetual motion, also upon natural philosophy. His chief poetical work, though nothing from his pen has survived himself, is " Epistles to Lorenzo," in the octo-syllabic measure, which are reputed to breathe a strain of infidelity ; his best play is " Falstafi^'s Wedding," considered by some, per- haps from his own encomiums in the newspapers, a good imitation of Shakspeare, though represented only once or twice upon the stage. In 1J65 he attacked Dr. Johnson's edition of Shakspeare, and very confidently told the public that the great critic knew " neither any one art nor any one language." Reply was beneath the dignity of the assailed, who was idso displeased with a student of Oxford, one of his zealous admirers, for doing what he dis- dained to do for himself ; but a sarcasm proved as efiectual, and settled in a few words the station in society of the offender. When his works on one occasion were mentioned, Goldsmith said he had never heard of them ; upon which Johnson ob- served, " Sir, he is one of the many who have made themselves public, without making themselves knovm." The general opinion of his literary bre- thren was pretty well expressed by Mr. Cuthbert Shaw, under the name of Mercurius Spur, in the poem of " The Race :" —
" Dreaming of geoiiu which he oerer hftd. Halfwit, half fool, half critic and half mad; Seiiiiig, like Shirley, on tht poet'a lyre, Wth all the rage, but not one apaik of fin ;
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X90 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
Eager for sUughter, and KBolved to tear
Vtota otfaera' browa that wreath he must not wear,—
Next Kearick came : all furiaas, and replete
With brandy, malice, pertneas, and conceit ;
Unskill'd in cUasic lore, throngh envy blind
To all that 'a heauteoua, learned, or refined ;
For faulta alone behold the savage prowl.
With Beaaon's ofbl glnt hia ravening aoal:
Pleu'd with hia prey, ita inmoat blood he drinki,
And mumblea, pawa, and toms it — till it atinlu."
The order' of time has been in some degree anticipated by the consequences arising from the unlucky repulse , of the Poet at Surgeons' Hall, which, it has been remarked, he studiously con- cealed from the knowledge of his Mends. In the following letter to his brother, written at the period of the preceding dispute, the voyage is still mentioned as of probable accomplishment, though with an indifference that shows it occupied few of his thoughts ; literary projects, indeed, not profes- sional pursuits, or anticipations of Indian scenes or adventures, form its subject. The description of his own person and manners indicates little of the personal vanity of which he has been accused : the former is an accurate portrait ; the latter by no means so true, being so far irom the reserved and suspicious character he paints himself, that there were few whose mind and emotions were more on the surface of their general behaviour, excepting when at times depressed, or when soured by dis- appointments. He possessed no power of conceal- ment, and suffered in the opinion of many by the want of that reserve in which he thought himself
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LETTER TO HIS BROTHER HENRV. 597
superabundant. This Letter, though without date, was written early in February, 1759 : —
" To the Rev. Henry Ooldsrmth, at L(mfield, near Ballymore, in Wettmeath, Ireland. " Dear Sir, " Your punctuality in answering a man whose trade is writing, is more than I had reason to ex- pect ; and yet you see me generally fiU a whole sheet, which is all the recompence I can make for being so irequently troublesome. The behaviour of Mr. Mills and Mr. Lawder is a little extra- ordinary. However, their answering neither you nor me, is a sufficient indication of their disliking the employment which I assigned them. As their conduct is different from what I had expected, so I have made an alteration in mine. I shall, the beginning of next month, send over two hundred and fifty books', which are all that I fancy can be well sold among you, and I would have you make some distinction in the persons who have sub- scribed. The money, which will amount to sixty pounds, may be left with Mr. Bradley as soon as possible. ! am not certiun but I shaU quickly have occasion for it.
"Ihave met with no disappointment with re- spect to my East India voyage, nor are my reso- lutions altered ; though at the same time, I must confess, it ^ves me some pain to think I am almost
* The Enqniiy into Polite Literature. His previouR remarks ^iply to the BubacriptioD.
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398 UFE OF GOLDSMITH.
beginning the world at the age of thirty-one. Though ! never had a day's sickness since I saw you, yet I am not that strong active man you once knew me. Yoa scarcely can conceive how much eight years' of disappointment, anguish, and study have worn me down. If I remember right, you are seven or eight years older than me, yet 1 dare venture to Bay that if a stranger saw us both he would pay me the honours of seniority. Imagine to yourself a pale melancholy visage, with two great wrinkles between the eyebrows, with an eye dis- gustingly severe, and a big wig ; and you may have a perfect picture of my present appearance. On the other band, I conceive you as perfectly sleek and healthy, passing many a happy day among your own children, or those who knew you a child.
" Since I knew what it was to be a man, this is a pleasure 1 have not known. I have passed my days among a parcel of cool designing beings, and have contracted all their suspicious manner in my own behaviour. I should actually be as unfit for the society of my friends at home, as I detest that which I am obliged to partake of here. I can now neither partake of the pleasure of a revet, nor con- tribute to raise its jollity. I can neither laugh nor
* In thiB there seenu to be an error ; he had not quitted Ireland quite Beven years, bat he might not have seen his brother for some time previoiu to his departure. Precision in dates, however, wae not then a virtne in Ireland. The alleged seniority of hia brother also would appear to have been over- Btated.
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SKETCHES HIS OWN FEATURES, ETC. S99
drink } have coDtracted a hesitating disagreeable manner of speaking, and a visage that looks ill-na- ture itself; in ahort, I have thought myself into a settled melancholy, and an utter <Usgust of all that life brings with it. Whence this romantic torn that all our iamily are possessed with ? Whence this love for every place and every country but that in which we reside, — for every occupation but our own ? — this desire of fortune, and yet this eagerness to dissi- pate P I perceive, my dear Sir, that I am at inter- vals for indulging this splenetic manner, and follow- ing my own taste, regardless of yours.
" The reasons you have given me for breediag up your son a scholar are judicious and convincing ; I should, however, be glad to know for what parti- cular profession he is designed. If he be assiduous, and divested of strong passions (for passions in youth always lead to pleasure), he may do very well in your college ; for it must be owned, that the in- dustrious poor have good encouragement there, perhaps better than in any other in Europe. But if he has ambition, strong passions, and an exquisite sensibility of contempt, do not send him there, un- less you have no other trade for him but your own. It is impossible to conceive how much may be done by a proper education at home. A boy, for instance, whe understands perfectly well Latin, !FVench, arithmetic, and the principles of the civil law, and can write a fine hand, has an education that may qualify him for any undertaking ; and these parts of learning should be carefully incul-
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300 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
cated, let him be designed for whatever calling he wiU.
"Above all things, let him never touch a ro- mance or novel : these paint beauty in colours more charming than nature, and describe happi- Dess that man never tastes. How delusive, how destructive are those pictures of consummate bliss I They teach the youthful mind to sigh after beauty and happiness which never existed ; to despise the little good which fortune has mixed in our cup, by expecting more than she ever gave ; and in ge- netal, take the word of a man who has seen the world, and has studied human nature more by ex- perience than precept — take my word for it, I say, that books teach ub very little of the world. The greatest merit in a state of poverty would only serve to make the possessor ridiculous, — may distress but cannot relieve him." Frugality, and even avarice, in the lower orders of mankind, are true ambition. These afford the only ladder for the poor to rise to preferment. Teach then, my dear Sir, to your son thrift and economy. I^t his poor wandering uncle's example be placed before his eyes. I had learned from books to be disinterested and ge- nerous, before I was taught from experience the necessity of being prudent. I had contracted the habits and notions of a philosopher, while I was exposing myself to th« approaches of insidious cunning ; and often by being, even with my nar- * " Slow riH8 worth by poverty depreit"
Johnson.
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HIS LESSONS OF PRUDENCE. 501
row finances, charitable to excess, I forgot the rules of justice, and placed myself in the very situation of the wretch who thanked me for my bounty. When I am in the remotest part of the world, tell him this, and perhaps he may improve jrom my example. But I find myself again falling into my gloomy habits of thinking.
*' My mother, I am informed, is almost blind ; even though I had the utmost inclination to return home, under such circumstances I could not, for to behold her in distress without a capacity for re- lieving her from it would add too much to my splenetic habit. Your last letter was much too short J it should have answered some queries I had made in my former. Just sit down as 1 do, and write forward until you have filled all your paper. It requires no thought, at least from the ease with which my own sentiments rise when they are addressed to you. For, believe me, my head has no share in all I write ; my heart dictates the whole. Pray, give my love to Bob Bryanton, and entreat him from me not to drink. My dear Sir, give me some account about poor Jenny,* Yet her husband loves her ; if so, she cannot be unhappy.
" I know not whether I should tell you — ^yet why should I conceal these trifles, or' indeed any thing from you ? There is a hook of mine will he published in a few days — the Life of a very eitraor-
* His luter, Mn. Johoiton ; her marriage, like that of Mn. Hodson, iras pmate, but in peconi&ry matters much leu foi^ tuuate.
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302 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
dinar; man ; no less than the great Voltaire. You know already by the title that it -is no more than a catch-penny. However, I spent but four weeks on the whole perfonnance, for which I received twenty pounds. When published I shall take some method of conveying it to you, unless you may think it dear of the postage, which may amount to (bur to five shillings. However, I fear you will not find an equivalent of amusement.
" Yoor last letter, I repeat it, was too short ; you should have ^ven me your opinion of the design of the heroi-comical poem which I sent you. You re- member I intended to introduce the hero of the poem as lying in a paltry alehouse. You may take the following specimen of the manner, which I flatter myself is quite original. The room in which he lies may be described somewhat in this way : —
" The windoT, pstch'd with paper, lent a ray, That feebly showed the state in which he lay ; The sanded floor that grits beneath the tread. The humid wall with paltry pictures spread ; The game of goose was there ezpos'd to view. And the twelve rules the royal martyr drew ; The Seasons, taan'A with hating, found a place. And Prussia's monarch showed his lamp-bUclc &ce. The mom was cold; he views with keen desire A rusty grate imconsdons of a fire ; An nnpidd reckoning on the frieze was scored. And five crack'd teacups dress'd the chimney-board."
" And now imagine after his soliloquy the land- lord to make his appearance, in order to dun him for the reckoning: —
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PROJECTED POEM. 303
" Not vith tliat face, so servile and so gay. That welcomes eveiy atntnger that can pay ; With Bollcy eye he smolc'd the patient man. Then pnU'd his breechea tight, and thus began," Sec.
" All this ia taken, you see, from nature. It is a good remark of Montfugn's, that the wisest men often have Mends with whom they do not care how much they play the fool. Take my present follies as instances of my regard. Poetry is a much easier and more t^reeahle specieB of composition than prose ; and could a man live by it, it were not un- pleasant employment to he a poet. I am resolved to leave no space, though I should fill it up only by telling you, what you know very well already, I mean that
"I am, <* Your most afiectionate Friend and Brother, " Oliver Goldsmith."
We may be permitted to regret, from the speci- men furnished of the intended poem, that a design so fitted for the display of bis humour went no further. The subject appears to be as he thinks, original, and unhappy experience in all prohability, had enabled him to give the details as he says "firom nature ;'' for there is an air of verisimilitude about the scene that renders it difficult to believe it was not one he bad known by experience. With a few additions, the lines are introduced in the account of a club of authors in the Citizen of the World ; and but for having thus been used in a
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previous work, would, no doubt,- have been applied in detail to the description of the alehouse in the Deserted Village, a hint or two only being now re- tfuned in that poem.
The other production mentioned with a degree of coyness in this letter, — the Life of Voltaire, — completed within a period of four weeks, as he informs us, and acknowledged as a sacrifice to ne- cessity, would appear to be that already alluded to, with which he intended to repay Griffiths for the apparel, the subject of dispute, by the follow- ing announcement in the Public Advertiser, yth February, 1759 : — " Speedily will be published, Memoirs of the Life of Monsieur 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."
This seems a solitary advertisement, no other having been found. And notwithstanding every diligence on the part of those most accustomed to such inquiries, it has not been discovered as a separate work ; but after a long search the writer found it printed in detached portions of the Lady's Magazine for I76I.
Of the general character of this piece little need be said. What he so lightly estimated himself can- not be highly valued by others in consequence of its deficiency in facts ; but the reflections and style possess his accustomed qualities of elegance and vivacity. Considered as an exercise, though a
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LIFE OF VOLTAIRE. 305
slight one, of his pen, it will interest the literary inquirer ; and as it is not likely to be published at length and indeed is not to be found, such pas- sages as admit of being detached from . the nar- rative will find admiBsioa in another place. The first paragraph, varied slightly in expression, is in thought similar to that which introduces the memoir of Pamell. " That life which has been wholly em- ployed in the study, is properly seen only in the author's writings ; there is no variety to entertain, nor adventure to interest us in the calm anecdotes of such an existence. Cold criticism is all the reader most expect, instead of instructive history." The version of the Henriade to which it was meant to form an introduction, was again announced singly, in April*; but like the Life, this form of publication seems to have been abandoned by the publisher. It is to be found, however, where he probably thought it more immediately useful, in his Magazine (the Girand) for September 1759, a book of the poem being published in each succeeding number, and is there stated to be for the first time rendered into English. Goldsmith is believed to have had little more to do with it than the revision and correction, which a correct taste for poetry and friendship towards the translator, an unhappy fol- lower of letters, might supply.
* " Next month will be published, elegantly printed in on* podcet Tolnme, The Henmde, an Heroic Po«u. By Moos. Vol- taire. Translated into English vene. Printed for B. GrifBtha, in Paternoster Row." — Public Advertuer, April 22, 1769.
VOL. I. X
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306 LIFE OF aOLDSHITH.
This person is siud to have been Kdward Purdon, an old college friend, " and like himself the son of a clergyman. Being of a thoughtless tarn and dissipated habits, he enlisted as a private soldier afler quitting the University ; but becoming tired of this mode of life, he procured his dischai^, commenced professional writer in London, and re- newed his acquaintance with Goldsmith, of whose bounty he frequently partook, and is believed to have been the cause of some of the difficulties and imprudences of his good-natured friend. Not desti- tute of talents, a necessitous life and ill-regu- lated passions interfered with their reputable ex- ertion. Poverty long continued; particularly in those who have known a contrary lot, too often begets disregard of intellectual as well as of moral pre-eminence ; and be who under favourable cir- cumstances might acquire fame, when pursued by Want cannot always become even respectable. He produced nothing tberefore worth remembering. Compelled to have recourse to such fleeting topics as promised immediate subsistence, he seems, ex- cept in the instance of this translation, never to have ascended above petty pamphlets, contributions to periodical works and newspapers, and that never- foiling topic for all writers good and bad — ^tbe theatre. For an abusive pamphlet against the performers of Drury Lane, particularly Mossop,
• "1744, JtUa 289— JlAwinfc# Purdon Petu—PUiua Ed- vmrdi CUnei.~Jimim ageiu 15 — Natmt tn ComUat* luuriek^ Sdieatut tubftnla Ma : Jeiap~— Tutor Mr. Holt"
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EDWABD PURDON. S07
he was obliged to make an abject apology, to whJch was subjoined another from his publisher, Pottinger, who pleaded ignorance of its contents, which appeared in the London Chronicle, Oct. 13—15, 1759.
A life such as thia-, where the labour is great, the reward little, and the reputation more than qaestionable, seems the consummation of human misery ; yet how often is it embraced in the first glow of youthful hope or ambition by such as have or have not qualifications for the pursuit, in the forlorn hope of acquiring distinction 1 Relieved frequently by Goldsmith when denial would have been no more than prudence to himself, Purdon was long known as one of his pensioners : be saw much of his benefactor, was not ungrateful for the assistance rendered, and related many anecdotes of him, of which a few only have travelled down to us, preserved by casual auditors. He died as he bad lived, — in penury; and it was, perhaps, with reference to him and others whom he avows to have known in the same unfortunate situation, and it is to be feared with the remembrance of some suffer- ings of his own, that we find the following passage on the eflects of hunger in " Animated Nature :" — "The lower race of animals, when satisfied for the instant moment, are perfectly happy ; but it ia otherwise vtith man : his mind anticipates distress, and feels the pangs of want even before it arrests him. Thus the mind being continually haras^d l^ the situation, it at length influences the con- X 2
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908 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
stitution, and unfits it for all its functioDS. Some cruel disorder, but no way like hunger, seizes the unhappy sufierer ; so that almost all those men -who have thus long lived hy chance, and whose every day may be considered as a happy escape from famine, are known at last to die in reality of a disorder caused hy hunger, but which, in com- mon language, is often called a broken heart. Some of these I have known myself when very little able to relieve them."
To the unhappy existence of this poor man more direct allusion is made in the well-known epitaph on him, in his poetical works, partly taken frV>m the French, in which notwithstanding the smile created by its point, there is something of tenderness for an old acquaintaince.
Towards the end of March, 1759. was published, for the Dodsleys, the piece from which a portion of fame and money were expected to accrue, " An Enquiry into the present state of Polite Learning in Europe." No reasonable means were neglected to make it known through the usual channels. The first announcement appears in the London Chro- nicle newspaper, April 3 — 5., and repeated in the ] Public Advertiser soon afterwards, April 26 — 28. '- An extract occupying six columns was given in < the former. A long letter from a correspondent, ; directing attention to the work, found place in the Gentleman's Magazine, followed by a &vourable, though not indiscriminately laudatory, notice in . the Critical Review for April j while in the Annual
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EKQUIR? INTO POLITE LEARNING. 309
Register, commenced and conducted by Burke for ' the first seven years, it is likewise mentioned with . approbation.
Thus introduced, and showing proofs of coming - irom a man of genius and considerable observation and learning, it was ftivourably received. The j style has all his characteristic perspicuity ; more f terse perhaps, and epigrammatic than his otberi writings, — qualities which, while they give pungency^ to a sentence, impart something of the appearance' of labour. It is, however, free from stifiness. But, the promise of the title-page appeared obviously of ; a nature too extensive for any one man, however high his attunments or numerous his opportunities for observation, to treat in a satisfactory manner. The means and the leisure of Goldsmith were cer- tainly inadequate to the purpose. He had enjoyed the advantage, indeed, of seeing France, Germany, and Italy, in his tour; but under circumstances not &vourable to research, or for adequate acquaint- ance with tfaeir men of letters, and for a period too short for any diligence to acquire the requisite information by personal enquiry.
Polite literature, unlike science, has not the same fixed principles in every country. The progress or limits of mathematics or of astronomy, of chemistry or of the branches of natural philosophy in one kingdom, may be investigated by the native of another competently informed, with the certainty of arriring at pretty accurate conclusions. But the state of Polite Letters is more variable and to be
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SIO LIFE OF GOLOBUITH.
very differently estimated, for scarcely any two nations possess precisely similar standards of taste. Thus, France and England differ widely in their estimate of poetry and the drama, and quite as much BO perhaps, in the arts of design. We can- not procure Shakspeare and Milton to be received with all the consideration due to their extraor- dinary powers, in France ; and in return, we scarcely allow that country to possess any poetry except dramatic, of a high order. It requires therefore, not merely an intimate acquaintance with the language and history, but with the genius, manners, opinions, prejudices, and local pecu- liarities of a people, for a foreigner to enter upon the consideration of their polite literature, in order to appreciate it thoroughly or to decide upon it justly. To attempt to do therefore, for all Europe what is so difiBcult to perform for one of its states, nay, what few writers can successfully accomplish for their own country, presented obstacles which no individual could expect to overcome. The title adopted on the occasion, implying a range which could not be taken in a duodecimo, was perhaps not judiciously chosen. But the spirit of the remarks, the information although more limited than we desire, and the ingenuity of his views, render the work as coming irom his pen worthy of perusaL
Its weaker points were a somewhat affected, for it could scarcely be real, depreciation of science j some contradictions} a few paradoxes and novel-
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ENQUIRY INTO POLITE LEARNING. 311
ties, advanced probably with the design of pro- voking discussion or drawing attention to the book, although such motives are expressly disclaimed.
"Dissenting from received opinions may fre- quently render this essay liable to correction ; yet the reader may be assured that a passion (ot singu- larity never gives rise to the error. Novelty is not permitted to usurp the place of reason." — Remem- bering, however, the humourous account given by George Primrose of the supposed publication of his paradoxes, and of the disappointment experienced by their being unnoticed, it is difficult to believe that Goldsmith did not shadow out himself in the hero of the tale, when the latter is made to de- scribe himself as full of importance and expecting the " whole learned world to rise to oppose them, but then he was ready to oppose the whole learned world ;*' but the learned said nothing about him or his paradoxes, and he " suffered the cruellest mor- tification, neglect." •
One of the positions strenuously maintiuned in this work says little for the merit of the employ- ment of which he bad now sufficient experience, that of professional reviewer. He estimates cri- ticnsm and the increase of critics and commentators as indicative of the decay of polite letters. " ]l<eani- ing may be distinguished into three periods. Its commencement, or the age of poets ; its maturity, or the age of philosophers ; and its decline, or the
* Ticu of Wakefield, chap. u.
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age of critics." "When polite learning was no more, then it was those literary lawgivers made the most formidable appearance. Corrupttssima repub' lica plurimce leges.*' — " Wherever the poet was per- mitted to improve his native language, polite learning flourished i where the critic imdertook the same task, it never rose to any degree of perfection."
" Other depravations," he continues, " in the republic of letters, such as affectation in some popular writer leading others into a vicious imita- tion } political stru^les in the state ; a depravity of morals among the people ; ill-directed encou- ragement or no encouragement from the great: these have been often found to co-operate in the decline of literature ; but an increase of criticism has always portended a decay."* It may be re- marked that Dr. Johnson, though so eminent in the art, when he condescended to exercise it, which was not often, speaks in a strain scarcely more favourable of " the disquisitions of criticism, which, in my opinion, is only to be ranked among the subordinate and instrumental arts." f
This opinion is no doubt true ; for though good criticism requires talent, it is talent of a secondary order. Great critics indeed, such as Johnson him. self, like great writers, are rare ; but for every purpose of instruction or amusement, for the original ideas thrown out, or development of the
* Enquiry into Polite Learning, Works, vol. i. f See last number of the Bunbler.
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PERIODICAL CRITICISM. 313
subject in hand, the best periodical critic is in- ferior to an original writer even of a middling order ; for the latter must give much time and consideratioD to matters on which the former com- monly can bestow little; no reader of taste will take up a commentary, who can refer to the original. Whether the opinion of Goldsmith be correct that the increase of critics, fearful beyond all precedent in our own day, indicates the decline of letters, may he doubted j they are but the shadows of authors, and as naturally follow the substance from which they emanate and of whose existence they furnish evidence. But from the numbers daily starting into existence in every shape and place, inexperienced in life, in letters, and often in judgment, it would seem as if the calling required a very moderate portion of ingenuity, and were pursued rather by the joumej^men of Genius than by Genius herself. Writers of very original powers cannot long pursue such an occupation solely ; like him indeed, whose opinions are here adduced, they may be compelled to the task for a time by necessity, or when entering upon a literary career, in order to learn the mere mechanical parts of the art ; but it soon becomes irksome, and we gladly fly from examination of the ideas of other men to the more grateful exercise of our own.*
* A pausge in the " finqoiry into Polite Ijearning" Reenu to have giita origin to a celebrated Bunile in the Letters of JaniuB, applied by that writer to the Duke of Grafton, when he uys of Lord Chatham, ' ' after going through all the reaolation*
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314 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
One of the inconTenieDces of poTerty, besides its positive privations, is not only the bar thrown in our way to pursue the path we wish, but the frequent necessity of adopting that which we dis- like. Thus, the wayward fate of Goldsmith seemed constantly to thwart the bent of his in- clinations as well in life as in letters. It caused him to enter the universi^ in a situation he dis- liked if not despised ; it made him a traveller on foot through Europe when his ambition was to seem of conseqaence ; an usher at a school, when detesting the employment i and the frequent companion of persons whom he avowedly despised, and from whose society he wished to escape. At a future' period it compelled him in great measure to desist from the cultivation of poetry, in which he delighted; to become the writer of histories, which however popular and excellent of their class, he never thought conducive to his &me ; of other compilations he did not think proper to own ; and at this moment, while condemning criticism as the bane of polite letters, forced him, in order to earn
of political chemiatry, be hu arrived at the caput mortwKm of vitriol in your Once." — Ooldamith Bsya, Bpeaking of the diffi- coltiea of introducing a play apon the atage, "Oar poet's per- formanceB muat nndeigo a proceai truly chemical before it it presented to the public. It mast be tried in the manager'B fire, atrained through a licenser, and purified in the review or the nevBpqwr of the day. At this rate, before it can come to a private table, it may probably be a mere caput mortuim, and only proper entertainment fw the licenaer, manager, or critic himself."
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CONNECTION WITH THE CRITICAL BEVIEW. 315
a scauty subsistence, to pursue the very occupation be stigmatised, that of a professional critic.
Among the persons connected with literature \ to whom be became known some tame in the year : 1758, was Mr. Archibald Hamilton, printer of the ; Critical Review, who saw so much in him to esteem / as a man and to admire as a writer, that he became / one of his firmest fiiends. He invited him to his / house in the vicinity of Chelsea, where the daugh- ' ter of this gentleman remembered to have seeni bim frequently, relieved him subsequently ii-om^ occasional peciiniary difficulties, and willing to gain all the talent be could for the journal with which' he was connected, is said to have been the firstl to introduce him to Dr. Smollet, then its principal \ editor. There was likewise some policy in the \ measure ; he was known as an ally of Griffiths, * and a violent hostility existing between the rival : reviews, it was a means of weakening the enemy. \
The precise period at which be commenced contributor to this work is uncertain; not later certainly than January 1759> for in that month appear two of the articles traced to him, reviews of Marriott's Female Conduct, a poem, and Barrett's translation of Ovid's Epistles. These, with several others, and a variety of bis unac- knowledged essays, were collected by Mr. Thomas Wright, printer, to whom allusion has been made, then pursuing his business with Hamilton, and pub^ lished under the superintendence of Isaac Reed. The other articles contained in this work are on
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S16 LIFE OF COLDBHITH.
Butler's Remains, by R. Thyer of Manchester ; Marriott's twentieth Epistle of Horace modernized ; Massinger's Works, — in July ; on Goddard's Trans- lation of Guicciardini's History of Italy ; Works of Mr. W. Hawkins ; Jemima and Louisa, a novel, — in August ; continuation of the paper on Butler's Remains, — in September ; on Dunkin's Epistle to the Earl of Chraterfield : and a rejoinder to the answer of Mr. Hawkins on the previous notice of his works, — in March, I76O.
In this selection, which from internal evidence is correct as far as it goes, it will be observed there is a blank between the months of January and July, yet as his necessities were urgent and no other literary employment can be traced to him at this time, we may be assured he was not idle. Close examination of the Review will enable us to supply the chasm. Criticism indeed cannot always be cer- tainly traced to the actual writer ; but when he is known to have contributed to a work without fixed purpose of concealnQent, and where in conjunc- tion with style generally we find his favourite phrases, allusions and even sentiments as seen not in one but several of his writings, there will be little difficulty in fixing the authorship with a great degree of precision. Taking these for our guide, among other papers which are doubtful, and therefore not noticed here, the following appear certainly to be his : on Church's edition of Spenser, in the February number ; Langhome's translation of the Death of Adonis, and the foreign
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AHTICJLKS IN THE CRITICAL BEVIEW. SI?
article, in March ; Ward's Oratory, in April ; the Orphan of China, in May ; Dr. Young's Conjectures on Original Composition, Formey's Philosophical Miscellanies, Van Egmont's and Heyman's Travels through Parts of Europe and Asia Minor, Montes- quieu's Miscellaneous Pieces, — in June.
It would be tedious to enumerate the minute species of evidence serving to identify each ; an editor, in the close and laborious examination in- cumbent uptm him to make of the writings of his principal, will discover much that must escape the notice of the casual reader ; but as a specimen of the identity of thought and language employed, the following passage is given from the review of Van Egmont's and Heyman's travels. It relates to a favourite project of the critic himself; that of penetratiog into parts of Asia and bringing back the knowledge of such useful arts as are familiar to its natives, though unknown in Europe. This design as we well know occupied his mind for several years, looking forward to some favour- able period for its accomplishment which never occurred, or ofiered only when it was inexpedient to be pursued. Toward the end of I76I, or com- mencement of the following year as will be noti<^ he drew up a memorial on the subject to goveiTi- ment; a paper likewise containing the substance and even the words of the following passage was printed by him about the same time in the Public Ledger; he afterwards shaped it into the 108th letter of the Citizen of the World ; and still retmn-
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318 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
ing the same &Toarite idea, again republished it in the volume of Essays (No. iviii.), in I766.
" One who sits down to read the accounts of modem tniTellers into Asia, will be apt to foncy that they all travelled in the same track. Their curiosity seems repressed either by fear or indo- lence, and all are contented if they venture as iar as others went before them. Thus, the same dties, towns, ruins, and rivers, are again described to a disgusting repetition. Thus, a man shall go a hundred miles to admire a mountain, only be- cause it was spoken of in Scripture ; yet what information can be received from hearing that Agidiua Van Egmont went up such a bill only to come down again ? Could we see a man set out upon this journey, not with an intent to consider rocks and rivers, but the manners and mechanic inventions, and the imperfect learning of the in- habitants, resolved to penetrate into countries as yet little known, and eager to pry into all their secrets, with a heart not terrified at trifiing dan- gers ; if there could be found a man who could unite thus true courage with sound learning, from snch a character we might expect much infarma- tion. Evm though what he should bring home was only the manner of dyeing red in the Turkish manner, his labours would be more beneBcial to sodety, than if he had collected all the mutilated inscriptions and idle shells on the coasts of the Levant."* * A pordon of the p^per in tlie Ledger, which ii merdj an
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DEFENCE OF SMOLLETT. S19
Another of hie supposed contrihutions to the Review is not bo well ascertained. From a me- morandum of Isaac Reed, prefixed to a manuscript
expansion of the above passage in the Review, is subjoined for the satisbction of the reader :—
" I have &eqaaidj been amazed at the ignorance of almost all the European trarellers who have penetrated any consider- able vhj eastward into Asia. Tbey have all been inflaenced by moliTeH of commerce or piety, and their accounts are such as migbt reaaonably be expected &om men of a very narrow or very prejudiced education, — ibe dictates of sapentition, or the result of ignorance. Is it not Burpnaing that, in such a variety of adventnrers, not one single philosopher abonld be found among the onmberT
" There is scarcely any country, how mde or uncultivated soever, where the inhabitants are not possessed of some peculiar secrets, either in nature or art, which might be transplanted with sncceea: thus, in Siberian Tartaiy, the natives extract a strong spirit from millc, which is a secret probably onknown to the chemista of Europe. In the most savage parts of India tbey are possesaed of tlie secret of dyeing vegetable substances scarlet ; and that of refining lead into a metai which, for hardness and colour, is little inferior to silver. • * *
" I never consider this subject without being sDrprised that wme of thoie aodeties so laudably established in England for tbe |»omotion of arts and learning have never thought of send- ing one of their members into the most eastern parts of Asia, to make what discoveries be vras able. . * * *
" The only difficulty would remain in choosing a proper person for so arduoos an enterprize. He should be a man of philo- sophical tnm, one apt to deduce consequences of general utility &om particular occurrences ; neither swoln with pride nor har- dened by prejudice ; neither wedded to one particular ayatem, nor iastiucted only in one particular science ; neidier wholly « botanist nor quite an antiquarian : his mind should be tinctaied with miscellaneous knowledge, and his numners homanixed by an intMTGonrae with men. He should be in some meaure an entbnaiast to ike design ; toad. <rf travelliag, from a i^^ imagi-
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320 LIFE OP aOLDSMITH.
of Goldsmith in the possession of the writer, and hereafter to be mentioned, it appears that the latter took part with Smollett in the warfare between him and Grainger relative to the translation of TibuUus, and wrote a defence of him on that occasion. The following is the note : —
" This MS. is one of the prodnctions of, and in the hand-writing of Dr. Goldsmith. It was given to me by Mr. Steevena, who received it &om Hamilton, the printer. He had also another MS. by the Doctor, a defence of Dr. Smollett against Dr. Grainger's attack on him relative to the criticism on Tibullus in the Critical Review. This last I think Mr. Steevens gave to Mr. Beau- derk."
This piece, though probably still in existence, has not been discovered. It was no doubt written for the Review, but whether published cannot be certdnly known until found and compared with the article in that journal for February 1759, which forms Smollett's defence, and where Grainger's in- temperate and extremely personal reply to the sup- posed criticism of Smollett on his translation in the previous December, is answered in a manner scarcely less vituperative.*
nation and «n innate \om of change ; fiuniBhed with a body capable of soataining eveiy fittagoe, and a heart not eaaily t«m- fled at danger."
* The spirit in which thia quarrel waa conducted will be teen from the following extracts. The first ia from the conduion of the Renew of Goldsmith's Bnqniiy into Pohte Learning :—
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SHOLI^TT. 321
Sixteen pages of the Review are occupied by tbis paper, which from its tone and language is â–¡ot likely to be wholly, if at all, from the pen of Goldsniith, or if so, it is unlike any thing else from the same source. Smollett, in return to a personal attack, would no doubt trust only to himself for vindication. But as Goldsmith also appears from the preceding memorandum to have written some- tbing in defence of his coadjutor to whom he was probably under obligations, the former may have embodied in the reply such parts of this paper as related to the merely literary demerits of the work
"N.B. We most obaerre that, againat his own conTiction, thia author tus indiacriminately cenaured the two BeriewB, Gonfounding a work nudertaken firom public spirit (meaning the Critical) with one supported for the sordid pnrpoaeB of a book- •dler. It mi^t not become ua to say more on this aabject."
" Whereu one of the owla belonging to the proprietor of the
M — thly B w which anawera to the name of Grainger, hath
anddenly broke from his mew, where he used to hoot in Hurlfnpa^ and peace, and now screeches openly in the face of day, we shall take the first opportunity to dustise this troublesome owl, and driTe him back to his original obscurity."
Koteto the Critical Rev. Jan. 1759.
This is beneath the dignity of literary contest, if enraged anthers at such moments could remember that they have some- thing to lose in public opinion by unseemly exhibitions of tem- per. Smollett, however, wss not withoat canse of complaint against the rival journal. His "R^risal, or Tars of Old Eng- land," is thus characterised in the Monthly Renew for Feb, 1757 : — " Calculated for the meridian of Bartholomew Fair ; bnt by some unnatural accident (as jarring elements are sometimes made to unite) exhibited eight nights at the Theatre Royal in Drnry Lane."
VOL. t. Y
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3@X LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
under consideratibn ; errors of fact, mistraoslatioii, omissions, and defective or inharmonious lines ; for in these respects, his judgment ytaa fully appre- ciated, his department in both Reviews being classical literature, poetry, the drama, luid polite literature generally. There were few of his con- temporaries who brought to anch subjects more correct taste, or discriminating judgment.
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Q BEEN- ARBOUR COUKT.
CHAP. IX.
BESIDEMCE IN OREEN-ARBOTJR COURT. — THE BEE. — BUSY BODY. — lady's HAOAZINB. — NEWBERY THE BOOKSELLER. — NOTES OP DR. JOHMSOK.— BMOIiLETT.— BRITISH MAGA- ZINE.
His residence at this period wbs on tlie first floor of the house, No. 1% Green-Arbour Court, be- tween the Old Bailey and what was lately Fleet Market. Here he took up his abode toward the end of 17^S ; the spot was central, in the imme- diate vicinity of the booksellers, now his chief or only employers, and here he became well known to his literary brethren, was visited by them, and his lodgings well remembered.
This house a few years ago formed the abode, as it appears to have done in his own time, of labori- ous indigence. The adjoining houses likewise pre- sented every appearance of squalid poverty, every floor being occupied by the poorest class ; two of the number fell down irom age and dilapidation ; and the remainder on the same side of the court, including that in which the Poet, resided, standing in the right-hand comer on entering from Farring- don Street by what is called from their steepness and number Break-neck Steps, were taken down some time aAerwards to avoid a similar catastrophe. They were four stories in height; the attics had t windows ; and at one time they were pro- Y 2
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SS-i LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
bably inhabited by a superior class of tenants. The site is now occupied by a large building, enclosed by a wall running through the court or square, intended for the stabling and lofts of a waggon- ofiSce.
Several intimate associates at this time remem- bered and repeated after his death, that whUe here he had formed the strictest resolutions of future economy. His letters to Ireland* and occasional essays written at this time and in these apartmente» impress, as we have seen [in a preceding page, in the strongest manner the virtues of prudence; and the same friends stated, that for a time he per- mitted these lessons to influence his conduct. It may be true he had not much to spend ; but im- prudence may be as marked in the disbursements of a small income as a great ; penury and careless- ness in the majority of minds, act and re-act in pro- ducing each other ; and as this seems to have been his own case, he was willing to try what could be done in shaking off two such inconvenient com- panions. No keen observer of human life, such as he was, could doubt the truth of his prudential maxims, though many persons, and he himself among the number, not only proud but very sen- sitive to the contempt which penury brings with it, fail to adopt the obvious remedy for their mis- fortune by becoming economical; and it is said that Goldsmith, however bent on improving his condition, could not long withstand solicitations for
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GREEN-ARBOtlR COURT. SS5
sach Bmall earns as he possessed, by men still poorer and more distr^sed than himself.
In the heginnmg of March, 1759. he was seen | here> in one of his excursions to London, hj the I Rev. Mr. Percy, who frequently repeated the anec- | dote of the visit in conversation, though disinclined 1 to let his name appear as the relator in print.* * His situation seems to have been far from envi- able; but as that gentleman justly observed, the circumstances in which he was found, so far from being discreditable in itself, furnished the best evi- dence of the possession of powers, the nnassisted exercise of which elevated him from so unpromis- ing a condition to the enjoyment of aU the elegancies I of life, and admission to the first societies in | London. j
" The Doctor," observed that prelate, " was em- 1 ' ployed in writing his Enquiry into Polite Learning" / â– (or rather, perhaps, in correcting the proof-sheets, 1 for the work, as already noticed, appeared on the \ 3d of April following,) in a wretchedly dirty room, in which there was but one chair, and when, from ^
* Dr. CampbeQ thun writes to the Bishop, June 30, 1790: — " Your anecdotes vill embellish mypkper highly; and yonr pictoie of GreeHr.Jrboitr Court shall be closely copied ; — as to the rest, my accoont of yoni visit to him there was almost verbatim &om mj recollection of your words which yon hare set down in joar last. But could there be any harm in letting the worid know who the visitant wasf Without the circuio- stance of the dignity of the guest, the contrast will be in « great measure lost, and the matter will lose its grand authority as to the ttct. Bnt in this, as in every thing else, your wish shall be a command."
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826 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH-
I civility, this was offered to bis visitant, be bimself I was obliged to sit in the window. While they were conversing some one gently rapped at the door, . and on being desired to crane in, a poor ragged â– little girl of very decent behaviour entered, who,
I' dropping a curtesy, said, " My mamma sends her compliments, and begs the favour of you to lend her a chamber-pot full of coals."
To the few notices gleaned of him while in these lodgings, accident has enabled the writer to make some additions from a quarter seemingly authentic In the year 1820, long before any thought of this biography was entertained, entering a small shop of miscellaneous articles in the Clapbam-road, in ord&r to purchase the first edition (1762) of his Essays lying in the window, the owner, a fresh-looking woman between sixty and seventy, in opening the volume, made a variety of affectionate encomiums on his kindness and charity to others when labour- ing under difficulties himself, indinating at the same time her personal knowledge of the persons befriended. Curit^ity thus excited occasioned in- quiry, and this person whose features and shop, though not her name, are well remembered, com- municated all she professed to recollect.
By her account she was a near relative of the woman who kept the house in Green-Arbour Court, and at the age of seven or eight years went frei- quently thither, one of the inducements to )thich was the cakes and sweetmeats given to her and other children of the family by the gentleman who
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GBBEJf-AHBOUH COURT. * 327-
lodged there ; these they duly valued at the mo- ment, but when afterwards considered as the gifts of one so eminent, the recollection became a source of pride and boast An(rther of his amusements consisted in assembling these children in his room, and inducing them to dance to the music of his flute. Of this instrument, as a favourite relaxation from study, he was fond. He was usually, as she subsequently heard when older and induced to in- quire more about him, shut up in the room during the day, went out in the evenings, and preserved regular hours. His habits otherwise were sociable, and he had several visiters. One of the companions^ whose society gave him particular pleasure, was a respectable watchmaker residing in the same court, celebrated for the possession of much wit and hu- mour* ; qualities which as they distinguish his own writings, he professes to have sought and cultivated wherever they were to be found. His benevolence, as usual, flowed freely, according to my informant, whenever he had any thing to bestow, and even when he had not, the stream could not always be checked in its current j , an instance of which tells highly to his honour. The landlord of the house having fallen into difficulties was at length arrested ; and Goldsmith, who owed a small sum for rent, being applied to by bis wife to assist in the release
* It ii some corrDboFBtaoD of this penon's acconnt, that, in searching the Dewspapers and periodical works of that day, the writer met somewhere with the obituary of a person of this de- â– criptioQ who resided in Green- Arbour Court.
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S»8 LtFB OF GOLDSMITH.
of her husband, found that, although without money, he did not want resources ; a new suit of olothes was consigned to the pawnbroker, and the amount raised, proving much more than sufficient to discharge his own debt, was banded over for the release of the prisoner. It would be a singular though not an improbable coincidence if this story, related to the writer by the descendant of a person who afterwards became his tailor, and who knew not that it had been previously told, should apply to that identical suit of apparel for which he incurred so much odium and abuse from Griffiths -y and that an effort of active benevolence to relieve a debtor from gaol, should have g^ven rise to a charge against him resembling tUishonesty. The quarrel appears to have occurred about the period in question.
Another anecdote partakes more of the lu- dicrous. A gentleman inquiring whether he was within was shown up to his room without further ceremony, when soon after having entered it, a noise of voices as if in altercation was heard by the people below, the key of the door at the same moment being turned within the room. Doubtfril of the nature of the interview, the in- tention of the landlady for a moment turned to- ward the apartment of her lodger, but both voices being distinguished at intervals, ber suspidons of personal violence were lulled, and no further notice taken. Late in the evening the door was un- lock^, a good supper ordered by the visiter from
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GBEEN-AEfiOUR COURT. 3S9
a neighbouring tavern, and the gentlemen who met BO UDgraeioosly at first, spent the remainder of the evening in great good humour. The explanation given of this scene was, that the Poet being behind-hand with certain writings for the press, and the stated period of publication nearly arrived, the intruder who was a printer or pub- lisher, possibly Hamilton or Wilkie for both of whom he wrote at the time, finding them in a backward state, would not quit the room till they were finished; and ibr this species of durance inflicted upon the author, the supper formed the apology.
In these apartments, little indebted as we may believe to the labours of the housemaid, he is said to have observed the habits and predatory life of the spider, and drawn up that paper on the sulgect, which appears in the fourth number of the Bee, is reprinted in the Essays, and given in substance in the History of Animated Nature. In his musing moods the confined nature of his abode o&red few external objects to contemplate. The ne- cessity for almost constant labour to supply the press made him in some measure a prisoner, and persons so placed have often fisund interest or amusement in contemplating the lower order of created beings. There is a vacuum in the mind in snch situations which something must supply ; and when greater objects are wanting, we seize upon the less. The creature, while it instructed him in the habits of its species, ofiered some
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330 LIFE OP GOLDSMITH.
novelty to the readers of bis paper (the Bee) ; and an insignificant circumstance was thus dexter- ously converted into an amusing communication on a point of natural history.
At this period probably his pen had not attained that rapidity it subsequently acquired ; and having early possessed the laudable ambition of writing well rather than quickly, the aim at excellence in the eyes of those who wanted quantity found no great fevour j and to this we may in part attribute the visit of the printer to his lodgings, the discon- nection with Griffiths, and disagreements possibly with others of his magazine patrons. There will be always room for complaint against him who contracts to furnish a given quantity of mental labour within a given time ; circumstances, in spite of even dogged determination to the contrary, con- tinually make him in arrear, and however he may promise punctually and conscientiously mean to fulfil the engagement, he can rarely insure it. The work of the band alone, is mechanical and therefore certain ^ that of the mind can scarcely be otherwise than. variable. Tracing some of the epochs and circumstances of his life in his writings, his situation now seems exactly and minutely d^cribed in a passage put into the mouth of the Vicar of Wakefield's son. The allusions to having made one attempt for fame, meaning the Enquiry into Polite Learning — to hie being obliged after- wards to write for bread — to his passion for ap- plause— to bis efforts at acquiring an elegant style
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ALLUSIONS TO HIS SITUATION. 331
—all are so applicable as to admit of no mistake ; and the concluding complaint of the fate of his pieces is in nearly the precise words \ised in the preface to the Essays on their subsequent repub- lication when embodied into a volume.
" Having a mind too proud" (George Prim- rose is made to say) *' to stoop to such indignities (that of obtaining subscriptions for books not meant to be published), and yet a ftnrtune too bumble to hazard a second attempt for fame, I was now obliged to take a middle course, and write for bread. But I was unqualified for a profession where mere industry alone was to insure success. I could not suppress my lurking passion for applause, but usually consumed that time in efibrts after excellence which takes up but little room, when it should hare been more adTantageously employed in the difiFusive productions of fruitful mediocrity. My little piece would therefore come forth in the midst of periodical publications, unno- ticed and unknown. The public were more importantly employed, than to observe the easy simplicity of my styl^ or the harmony of my periods. Sheet after sheet was thrown off to oblivion. My essays were buried among essays upon liberty, eastern tales, and cures for the bite of a mad dog; while Fhilautos, Philalethes, Phi- lelutheros, and Philanthropos, all wrote better, because they wrote faster than I."
From the previous notice of his labours in criticism, it would seem that his contributions to
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'33S LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
\ the Critical Review ceased for a time about Sep- I tember 1759.* The cause appears to have been . engagements in three periodical works nearly at \ the same moment : The Bee, The Busy Body, and
the Lady's Magazine; glad perhaps to escape ' from reviewing to original composition, as a
source, if not of greater emolument, at least of
â– probable &me and more agreeable employment.
; The Bee, a collection of essays, published j weekly by Wilkie, price three-pence, and to which I he furnished all the papers of value, appeared on ; the 6th of October, 1759> with tlie motto from
■Lucretius —
" Floiifem nt qtea uldbna omnia libsnt Omnia nw itidem."
It proceeded as ^ as the eighth number (S4th
' November), and then from the want of that en-
couragement hinted by the author or publisher
in the newspaperst, and which in the fourth
number is perhaps injudiciously for the success
of the work, however humorously proclaimed,
ceased. The papers exhibited no want of variety
' or of exceUencCj but there is a fortune in small
> things aa in great
He is SEud to have had assodates in this under- taking, which however applies with more pro-
* Thia u to be nnderatood only of th« moment : little doubt exiata that he wna an occuional contributor to that jonrnol for Bome years afterward.
-f Thia, and the proapectoi of the wortc, viU be fonnd in the first Tolnme of bis Works.
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bability to the Lady's Magazine, issuing at the same moment from the same publisher, and like- wise indebted to his pen. If he really received aid, it seems to have been confined to a few se- lections, such as those already mentioned from the Literary Magazine (if these indeed be not reclama- tions of his own ofispring), and three or four short pieces from Voltaire and others. All the lead- ing papers, such as were expected to give cha- racter and popularity to the work, bear sufficient testimony to the hand of Goldsmith. They evince all his playful genius, vivadty, and observation on life, are drawn up with some care, and fur- nish evidence of his having thought attentively on several of the subjects. The paper on education anticipated many of the sentiments of Rousseau ; and that on eloquence supplies useful hints to English divines on the oratory of the pulpit, which he justly remarks has not received that attention in our country that it deserves. There are fewer subjects (^ mere humour than in his subsequent essays.
The discontent jocularly expressed at the cool reception experienced by the Bee from the public, was not unreasonable : the pieces rose afterwards in estimation as their author became known by more important works; were copied into nume- rous contemporary publications j were admired as ingenious and amusing; and bad become ere this a source sometimes (rf reputation, sometimes of profit, to all but their author j adding another
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$34i LIFE OP GOLDSMITH.
instance to the many, that the world seldom agrees to applaud small things, however well done, except when executed by such as have shown themselves capable of doing greater. To give the work the chance of escape from oblivion, and a less perishable form, the numbers were collected and re-published by the Dodsleys in the middle of December 17^9 ^ and several of the best appeared in the volume of Essays printed in 1765.
Anxious as he may be supposed for the success of the paper, it argues no inconsiderable fertility to find him contributing to others. On the gth of October, three days only after the appearance of the first number of The Bee, came out " The Busy Body ;" a periodical paper, something on the plan I though larger in form, of tbe older essayists, pub. I lished by Pottinger, price two-pence, and to appear every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. To this Goldsmith contributed (Oct. 13th) the third paper " On the Clubs of London," afterwards republished by himself in his Essays. Part of the fifth number is likewise bis, namely, that poem inserted in his works, and said to be written " in the manner of Swifit,"caUed "The Logicians Refuted." Inorderas is supposed to draw attention to the publication as .-rescuing firom obscurity a piece by the Dean of St. Tatrick'a, it was announced as really his in the newspapers of the day, by the publisher in the following terms, and is inserted by Sir Walter Scott, upon the authority of tbe Dublin edition, in his collection of Swift's works. His attention was
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THE BUSY BODY. 335
not drawn to it, as there appears no note or remark on its being considered the property of Goldsmith.
" The following poem," (says the advertisement) " written hy Dean Swift, is commimicated to the public by The Busy Body, to whom it was pre- sented by a nobleman of distinguished learning and taste."
The sixth number, giving an account of the sup> posed rambles of the Busy Body through London during one of the nights of illumination for our suc- cesses in America, is beyond doubt by Goldsmith ; it contains not coily his sentiments, as seen in other pieces written about the same time, but his manner, bis humour, and even his unusual phrases — such as " May this be poison," which is used in the Adven- tures of a StroUing Player, in the Citizen of the World, and in the Haunch of Venison ; and the same exclamation is made to proceed from a drunken shoemaker, that he afterwards put into the mouth of the soldier, in the Citizen of the World when a French invasion was talked of, " What would become of our holy religion I'' Even his residence at the moment may be traced; for he b^ins his ramble, as an inhabitant of Green-Ar- bour Court would probably do, in Ludgate Hill. The paper forms an example of his readiness and skill to seize and appropriate even a trivial topic for an essay : it was not republished by him- self, probably because the subject was of a tem- porary nature.
In tho seventh number, among other ciuitri-
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336 LIFE OF OOLbSMITH.
bations, are the Btanzas which appear in his poetical works, on the taking of Quebec. On the Sd of November the Busy Body, whose existence, like that of the Bee, was brief and not brilliant, having only reached the twelfth number, ceased as a distinct work, being then merged in another by a different publisher. Whatever other papers he may have famished are unknown, nor does internal evidence supply a due to the discover}'.
The motive for engaging in this work, his par- ticipation in which has been hitherto unnoticed, was probably to assist Purdon, believed to have been either editor, or one of the contributors : so that, when unable to famish money to him or to others who made ^peals to his friendship, he gave what to literary men formed an equivalent. '' The Lady's Magazine, brought out by the pub- lisher of the Bee, and nearly at the same momoit, (Ist October, 1759,) formed the third pablication to which he contributed. It was said to be the first miscellany expressly appropriated to the iair sex; and on that account probably came intro- duced as under the management of a female editor, who assumed the name of the Hon. Mrs. Caroline A. Stanhope. The disguise of sex, however, is so thinly preserved as to be penetrated in every page ; but it admitted of a flourishing advertisement, which though perhaps too careless to be drawn up by Goldsmith, has something of that antithetical smartness which he sometimes really adopted, and sometimes, as in cme of his Essays (Specimens of
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lady's magazine. 337
a Magazine in Miniature), made the subject of ridicule.
His share in this work at its commencement is not certainly known, and was prohably in* considerable, although about a year afterwards he appears from concurrent testimonies to have become its editor. Dr. Percy, who during his visits to the Poet when in town had abundant opportunities of knowing the fact, merely states that he conducted the magazine for Wilkic, with- out referring to the precise time when so employed. Allusion was likewise made to this occupation on occasion of the affray with Evans the book- seller in 1773, and the remark made, however unfounded in &ct, that one who aa editor uf a magazine had made free with the literary repu- tation of others, had little right -to complain of similar liberties being taken with his own. Mr. Thomas English, well known among the literary men of the timei whose name has been men- tioned in connexion with tho Annual Register, said that Goldsmith, whom he personally knew, fur- nished the magazine at first with a few poetical pieces only, but that as editor his prose contribu- tions wer^ considerable.
The period at which this connexion took place will be hereafter noticed ; but of his early in- fluence in the management there would appear to be traces in the first two numbers, which in a few lines devoted to Irish news, contain notices of petty events near Athlone of no interest and not
VOL. I. Z
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SS8 LIFE OF OOLDSHITII.
likely to be selected from the mass of general in- telligence respecting that country excepting by such as were attached to the spot by local ties or recollections. In the first number is an ac- count of a decoy for birds in Lincolnshire, after- wards transcribed into his Animated Nature ; and the second commences with his story of Alcander and Septimius. The original papers on female life, manners, duties, and character, present something of his TiTacity and humour, but, when closely examined, want the turn of thought and the finish which belong to his general style. '
Of the poetical pieces attributed to him by Mr. English we have no certain knowledge. Two songs already given from the recollection of Mrs. Lawder, are in the second number ; aqd likewise another production, a rebus, which though then a staple article of ingenuity in the chief magazines of the day, would scarcely be suspected to claim him as its author. It is in praise of Newbery, the bookseller ; to whom as will be seen, his obligations were numerous.
" Vbat we nv of k tbing which ia just come in bdiioD, And that which we do with the de«d, Isthenuueof the honeeteflt nun in the nitioii ; What more of a. man cut he ivd t"
t The premature termination of the Bee, and . Busy Body, and discoDDexitm with the magazine just mentioned, left him at liberty to look round ' for other literary employment, and very little time . was lost in the search. His facility and inge-
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NEWBBRT THE BOOKSELLER. tiSQ
noitj as a writer appeared to be well understood hj\ what is called the trade ; for two of its most active inem1>ers immediately engaged Mm.
One of tbese was Smollett, who by his numerous I speculations and compilations on various subjects, ' had become so identified with booksellers, as to be intent, only according to his opponents, on the commercial not the literary value of books. He had been the subject of jocular remark even to Goldsmith for this propensity, in a paper of the Bee, in which while Johnson, Hume, and others, are supposed to be seeking seats in a vehicle appropriated to Fame, he is represented as more desirous to enter the sti^-coach of riches*
The other was the bookseller just mentioned, I Mr. JohnNewbery of St. Paul's Churchyard, known I for probity, good sense, and a benevolent dispo- sition, but more popularly for the juvenile volumes supplied in their youth to that generation which has just passed away. He had been brought up to trade at Reading in Berkshire, but changing his occupation and residence, and being an in- telligent man with a taste for reading, commenced the business of bookseller in London. Observing the want of a class of books fit to engage and in- struct the eager curiosity of children and youth, he set about remedying the delect, partly by entering on the business of author himself, but
* Bee, No. V. ; Work*, toI. i.
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340 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
chiefly by employing with this view men of con- siderable talents though little known to fame ; and to these were added for occasional purposes of a higher description, Goldsmith, Christopher Smart, who had married his daughter-in-law, Guthrie, Hugh Kelly, and a few more.
His ingenuity and amiable qualities rendered him soon generally respected. Writers of the first character sought his acquaintance, and in his fiiendship not unfrequently found occasional alle- yiation of their most pressing wants. Among these were Dr. Johnson,— a few of whose applications to him for assistance are now, for the first time, made public in the subjoined communications* ; and similar loans, of which the evidences remain, were rendered to Bonnet Thornton, Guthrie, Mrs. Lennox, David Erakine Baker, Bickerstaffe, and others, whose acknowledgments for tem-
• ■' To Mr. Neiobay. " Dear Sir, " I have JQBt now a tteinand upon me for more money than I have b; mc : if yon eoald conTeniently help me with two pounds, it will be ■favonr, to
" Sir. ' ' Tonr nio«t humble servant,
"Sah. Johnson. "April, 15, 1751."
On the back of this is endorsed the following receipt : —
"20th April. — Received of Mr. Newbery the iam of two guineas for the nie of Mr. Johnson, p' me,
"Thob. Ldcy."
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JOHN NEWBERY. 341
porary supplies are still in existence ; and he became the confidential friend of the celebrated Dr. James, whose medicines he sold, and the property of which continues in his family. It is
" To Mr. Ntiobery.
" SiH,
" I b^ the fovour of you to seud me by the bearer, e guineat for which I will accoant to yoa on some future producdou '' I am. Sir, " Your homble Bemnt,
"Sah. Johnson. "July 29, 1751."
Endorsed on the back by Tho«. Lncy, aa in the preceding.
"Dkar Sib, "AaguBt24. 1751.
" I beg the fkronr of you to lend me another guinea, for
vhich I shall be glad of any opportunity to account with you,
aa soon as any proper thing can be thought on, or which I will
repay you in a few weeks.
" I am, Sir, ' ' Your most humble eerraut,
" Sam. Johnson." Endorsed aa before.
"May 19. 1759.
" I promise to pay to Mr. Newbery the sum of forty-two pounds nineteen shillings and ten pence on demand, nine received. " Sah. Jornbon.
" je42...19...10."
"March 20. 1760. " I promise to pay to Mr. Newbery, the sum of thirty ponuds upon<kmand. "Sam. Johnson.
"je30...0...0.'
Another memorandum of Newbery's simply states,— " Lent Mr. Johnson, July 30., ^61...!."
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S^2 LIFE OF GOIDSMITH.
Goldsmith however who, in the " Vicar of Wake- field," has given him a certain immortality. He is introduced and described in that work (chap, xviii.) in connection with an act of benevolence towards the chief personage of the tale, who thus sketches his face and manner in a few words: — "This person was no other than the philanthropic book- seller in St. Paul's Churchyard, who has written so many little books for children : he called himself their friend ; but he was the friend of all mankind. He was no sooner alighted but he was in haste to be gone ; for he was ever on business of the utmost importance, and was at that time actually compiling materials for the history of one Mr. Thomas Trip. I immediately recollected this good-natured man's red-pimpled face,"
By Smollett and this gentleman several works had been carried through the press in conjunction ; and each had at this moment new, though not rival, spe- culations in hand. The former announced as editor, I the " British Magazine," in which there is reason to believe Newbery had a share ; while the latter, as chief proprietor started the " Public ledger,** a daily newspaper still in existence and the original popularity of which was saAA to be owing to the contributions of Goldsmith. Both undertakings were to commence with the new year, I76O.
This seemed the era of magazines ; for in addi- tion to the British, there were announced nearly at the same moment, " The Imperial,'* " The Public," "The Weekly,'* and "The Royal Female," Ma^
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BRITISH MAGAZINE. 313
gazines. "The Ladj'a Magazme,'' as we have sees, and "The Royal Magazine" had started into being only a few months previously ; while " The Gentleman's," "The Universal," ** The London," " The Grand," and to outdo all in promise and in name, " The Grand Magazine of Magazines," were enjoying all the honours and advantages of con- firmed esistence. Amid such a host of active competitors for public favour, Smollett probably believed that hie undertaking might pass unnoticed unless introduced with all the ceremony due to an author of his established pretensions. The sub- joined announcement therefore was made, with a degree of parade which emanating from any other quarter, would have formed a fruitful subject for ridicule to his sarcastic wit* : but as the record of
* "By the King*! anthoritj. " Dr. Smollett having represented to hia Majeat; that he has been at great labour and expense in wilting original pieces himself, and engaging other gentlemen to write original pieces, to be published in the ' British Magazine, or Monthly Bepositoiy for Gentlemen and Ladies,' his Majesty was pleased to signify his approbation of the said work by granting his royal licence to the said Dr. SmoUett j"
"And this Day is published. Price Gd.,
" BmbelliBhed with three curious Copper-plates,
"Nnmber II. of
"THE BBITISH MAGAZINE;
OR,
"MONTHLY EBP08IT0RY FOR GENTLEMEN AND
".LADIES.
"By T. Smoi,[.b!tt, M.D., and Others.
"Printed for H. Payne, at Dryden's Head, iu Paternoster Row j
and sold by all Booksellers in Great Britain and Ireland;
" Of whom may be had No. I."
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344 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
a publication to which he and Goldsmith gave the aid of their talents, it is wortiiy of being pre- Berved.
The name of the latter as a contributor was not mentioned, no doubt by his own desire ; not pos- sibly from being above appearing in the same page even in a periodical work with that of Smollett ; but being unknown as having produced any thing of popular interest, he was unwilling to make his first appearance in small things when consdous of powers capable of accomplishing almost the greatest. The knowledge of his aid as an auxiliary was confined to his friends only, or those immediately connected
I with the work. The first number appeared on the Ist of January, I76O. Of his share in it as distin- guished iiYtm Smollett, an imperfect knowledge
i only can now be obtained : internal eridence and subsequent reclamation supply something, hut not all. The dedication, in a- strain of extreme eulogy to Mr. Pitt, who was then the idol of the nation and considered by his public services almost a per- sonal benefactor of the individuals composing it, is obviously not by Goldsmith. If Smollett were the write)', he changed his politics on the accession of Lord Bute to power the following year by giving the aid of his pen to the support of that nobleman. But at this moment he possessed surer means of giving currency to the magazine than the favour or flattery ot any minister whatever; — he had a I neiv novel in hand. In the first number appeared the " Adventures of Sir Launcelot Greaves ;" and
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SMOLLETT NOT AN ESSAYIST. 345
a chapter being given each succeeding montli till the conclusion, in December, I76I, a portion of interest was thus kept up for two years ; before which the undertaking became fully established in public favour.
Goldsmith, less interested in the adventure, or less systematically prepared, came to the task with a stock of the then usual magazine wares — Essays, stories, and Oriental tales, a few only of which he republished in the volume of essays already men- tioned. Others which were shorter, less finished, or considered of less interest though all bearing traces of his spirit and humour, were left in ob- scurity to be dug up by the research of future admirers ; and Wright the printer, in the volumes mentioned as edited by Isaac Reed, has rescued many. Among these were several classical cri- ticisms, the style of which admits of no mistake, and were further known to be his by Bishop Percy and Malone; but there arc still a few others to be gleaned by diligent examination : and of such a writer even in his more careless effiisions who would willingly lose any thing ?
Smollett, with genius fitted for almost any de- partment of literature, seems never to have aimed at adding the character of essayist to that of his- torian, novelist, and critic ; nor was the bent of his mind quite fitted for it perhaps by nature. His touch was bold, but frequently coarse ; his per- sonages drawn with something of caricature ; his humour broad ; his wit, descriptions, and incidents,
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34/6 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
jsonietimes licentious and even indecent ; his satire 'shrewd, sarcastic, and often bitter, exhibiting more of the spirit of Juvenal than of Horace, and there- fore less likely to be received with fiivour by the mass of mankind as corrector of their faults and foibles.
' Goldsmith, a more indulgent observer of human nature, had also more amenity of mind and man- ners, and notwithstanding the greater license of language of that day, is rarely betrayed into in- '■delicacy of thought or expression. He appears to ' draw characters and tell storiw more accurately true to life ; never exaggerates for the sake of producing effect ; his humour unlike Smollett's is chastened, hie mirth never boisterous, his raillery playful, and free from that tendency to misanthropic severity not unfrequent in the writ- ings of his coadjutor. He paints the peculianties of mankind minutely, yet with ease and freedom of hand, as if the task of observing and detailing cost him no effort With all the tenderness of a fellow-mortal conscious of the operation of human passions and irailties within himself, he was willing to be gentle, yet corrective, in dealing with those of others ; and this perhaps forms one of his claims to what Johnson has called him in the £pitaph, . " lenis dominator."
In their styles of writing, as in their spirit, some differences likewise appear. Smollett, commonly content with being clear and forcible, aims at no other merit ; Goldsmith, in addition to perspicuity,
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is almost always elegant yet natural ; he eeems incapable of throwing off a slovenly sentence ; and this not so mncb from study or correction, for it is never rounded for the sake of effect, as irom that natural taste which coets no labour, and is to the great majority of writers unattainable by art. " It may be observed," says Buhop Percy (and the writer can confirm this testimony from what yet remuns), " that his elegant and enchanting style in prose flowed &om him with so much facility, that in whole quires of his histories, ' Animated Nature,' &c., he had seldom occasion to correct or alter a single word." Smollett is rarely to be tracked through the mazes of periodical literature in the same manner as Goldsmith. He is wanting in the mannerism that belongs frequently to men of genius, and which gives to anonymous writings nearly as much certainty as if their names were affixed to the papers. However great and varied bis powers as a writer, this specific character is wanting : he wrote too carelessly and multifariously to preserve strong individuality ; we cannot trace his train of thought, his &vourite phrases, the turn of bis pe- riods, or known sentiments. By these Johnson was often detected when perhaps he had little desire to be known. By these Goldsmith also, is occasionally to be traced by such as are intimately conversant with his writings, particularly when, from his own admission, or the information of others, we know the channels through which they first found their way to the public.
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Two Other contributors to the Magazine, either at its commencement, or immediately afterwards, are said to have been Mr. Griffith Jones, and Mr. Huddleston Wynne ; the former an assistant to Newbery in the arrangement of his little books; the latter known at the time from a variety of works in prose and verse, though not of permanent interest. To these probably belong the inferior essays; to Goldsmith or Smollett those of a more finished description. Still, among a variety of short pieces some necessarily inferior to others, doubts as to their origin will prevail ; and all that can be done is, to |>oint out to th& attention of the reader such as are probable where certain know- ledge cannot now be obtained. But involved as Smollett seems at all times to have been in a mul- tiplicity of literary projects, it may not be wide of the truth to infer that his name, his novel, and some general superintendence, were as much as he could give to a work of tliis description.
The papers which Goldsmith thought proper to own by reprinting them in one of his volumes, were ono in the February number of the Ma- gazine, one in March, one in April, one in June ; where likewise appear the lines from the Bee, " On a Beautiful Child struck Blind by Lightning," which are here represented to be on one who had been deprived of sight by the small-pox ; and one in October. These are such as ho considered most finished, an4 not unworthy of the author of the "Traveller,'' which pucm this volume in its period
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of publication immediately succeeded, and with which he probablv thought' it would be contrasted.
Others of undoubted authenticity, though deemed by him of less interest for the purpose then in view, were early known to be his ; one if not two in January, one in February, one in April, one in an extra number of the Magazine to which no month is prefixed, but seemingly pub- lished between April and May ; one if not two in May } one in June, four in July, one in August, and one in September ; all of which will find place in his works. The doubtful papers are about seven or eight in number ; one of these in January, " On the Bravery of the English Common Soldiers," appears in the works of Dr. Johnson i and although perhaps properly placed there, its history may de- serve inquiry from some incorrect statements which have appeared.
Boswell informs us that it was added to the " Idler" by Dr. Johnson, when first collected into volumes; but in this he errs; for it was neither added by him, nor is it to be found in the early editions of that work ; and for all that appears, may have been included afterwards without sufficient in- quiry. So great was the reputation of that eminent writer, that any original paper from him would have been announced with every degree of publicity and triumph, as were those simply reprinted from other sources. Thus, in the same number of the Magazine, the 89th paper of the " Idler," then in course of publication, is republished with the
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following introductory remark : — " The reader, we imagine, will not be displeased to learn, that we propose to enrich every number of the British Magazine with one paper from the ' Idler,' by permission of the author, whose great genius and extensive learning may be justly numbered among the most shining ornaments of the present age." Other reasons for questioning its origin in conse- quence of this ambiguity appear in the allusions, several of which may be found in other parts of the writings of Goldsmith : be further pursued the sub- ject in the Magazine for June — the " Distresses of a Commcm Soldier," reprinted in the " Citizen of the World," and again in the volume of essays in 1765 ; a paper which has been much praised by French critics as breathing the spirit of an humble optimist. It would appear, therefdre, that Boswell was unacquainted with the previous publication of the essay in this Magazine ; and likewise that Smollett, or whoever officiated as editor, knew not or considered it not to be written by Johnson^ or they would have procltumed the honour for the credit of their work.
Among the supposed contributions of Gold- smith, hut less certain irom being less finished, is a tale where we find something like the first rude germ of the Vicar of Wakefield. The cata- strophe is indeed unnatural and abrupt, obviously hurried to a conclusion, and written probably when the press required an immediate supply of matter. But looking to the scene, which is laid in the north
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of England ; the hero, a clergyman ; bis hospi- tality ; his character and peculiarities, " sitting by the way-side to welcome the passing stranger," and replying to their news by some paraUel instance from antiquity, or anecdote of his youth ; circum- stances so much in the spirit and manner of the novel, and of the Deserted Village; his love for his daughter; her seduction; the character and description of the seducer, for whom he finds the Irish name of Dawson ; the grief of the agonised &ther, first shown in threats, and then the recollec- tion that bis sacred calling precluded him having recourse to violence to resent the injury ; added to minute circumstances, which strike the attentive reader ; all render it probable that this formed the first draught of a tale which we have hitherto known only in its perfect state. It is called the " History of Miss Stanton."
For several months he ceased to render further assistance in consequence of becoming, by his own account afterwards, editor of the Lady's Magazine. But this connexion being either of short conti- nuance. or having time on his hands for the pur- pose, and deeming the &itish Magazine a more suitable medium for pursuing such a subject, he commenced in that work in July 1761 a series of papers on the Belles Lettres, embracing a consi- derable portion of classical criticism. These were continued, with the exception of the months of November 1761, and July, August, October, and December I76S (when it will be seen he was other-
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wise employed), until January, 1763. They then terminated, abruptly it would seem, for the last com- munication bears the usual intimation, To be conti- nued. Fourteen papers altc^ther were given, each forming about three pages of the Magazine, printed in double columns ; and attention was either drawn to them, or the proprietors were willing to do so, by a passage in the preface to the Tolume for I762, where it is stated as if much consideration were due to the subject or the writer, that besides four articles continued uninterruptedly through the work, they have " added a fifth on the subject of the Belles Lettres, which we flatter ourselves will meet with peculiar approbation." The last essay of a miscel- laneous nature communicated by him was '* Pro- posal for augmenting the Forces of Great Britain," strongly marked with his cbaracteristic humour, which appeared in January I762.
Tbe contributions alluded to by the proprietors in the above passage as creditable to their miscel- lany and an additional claim on the patronage of the public, were in biography, natural history, and the histories of France and Canada. With the greater part, or probably the whole of these, Goldsmith had no concern : the historical articles indeed com- mencing with the first number, by a coincidence no doubt ' accidental, ceased about the same time (March, 1763) as his communications, and with equal abruptness ; for they are noted, '* To be con- tinued.** The narration is not without merit, but wants the terseness, vigour, and spirit of pfailoso-
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phical reflection common to his other histories ; qua- lities which tended so lai^ely to enhance their popu- larity. Neither are they likely to have been by Smollett, who still, if we are to believe the advertise- ments, retained his comiexion with the Magazine. One or both may. indeed have been rough-drawn under bis direction by an inferior workman ; a con- jecture which receives countenance irom the fact of being discontinued shortly before the state of his health rendered it necessary to quit England for the Continent, in June 1763.
Connected with the history of this Magazine ere it became generally known, a paper which appeared in the Public Ledger must not be forgotten. Pub- lications, like men, require the most active friends in the earlier stages of their being ; for it is then, when in a state of obscurity that introduction be- comes kind and publicity useful ; when known, this kind of assistance becomes no longer necessary. What in the latter case would appear unbecoming praise, is in the former but a recommendation to the good opinion of the world. To introduce the work in the best manner to public favour, Gold- smith, whose skill seems to have been perfectly appreciated by such as knew him, was applied to. He could do for Smollett's undertaking what the latter without a violation of modesty cotdd not do for himself' — praise his talents with all the warmth of an admirer. A very skilful notice was therefore: introduced in the form of an amusing letter bearing ' date February l6th, I76O, which for its humour, >
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will be penised with pleasure. It is entitled, " A Description of a Wow Wow in the Country," and will be given in another place. Here, it may be remarked as a peculiarity in all his communications, that he scarcely ever uses a distinguishing signa- ture : for however they may be couched in the epistolary form, there is, with one or two exceptions only, no name affixed even when a name might be supposed to add to the humour of the object.
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PUBLIC LEDGER.
CHAP. X.
PUBLIC LSDGKR.— CHINESE LETTERB. — LADY'B MAGAZINE. — REMOTES TO IVINE-OFPICE COURT.— DR. JOHNSON.— OAR*
RICK.— INTRODUCTION TO RI8TORT OF THE WAR. PRO'
JBCr TOR VlfllTINQ ASIA.
HiB engagement with Newbery in the newspaper, as already remarked, was nearly simultaneous with that in the Magazine, the difference of time being more than a few days ; but as the latter by coming out on the Ist of January bad the priority, his con- nexion with it has been first noticed. To the for- mer, however, he contributed more lai^ly ; and the papers so furnished have proved one of the sources of his fame.
The first namher of the Public Ledger appeared I on the 12th of January I76O ; introduced by a long and laboured prospectus which formed the leading ' article for many days. In addition to original 1 news, it was to concentrate &cts from contempo- rary joomats ; to be a medium of communication on all matters of commerce or business ; to give original papers on literature ; *' supply information to the industrious, and amusement to the idle ;" in a word, to combine in the usual flonrishing strain of applicants for public favour, matters incompa- tible, and put forth promises rarely fulfilled, and which none has more happily ridiculed Uian Gdld-
A A S
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smith, who had some experience in similar propi- tiatory addressea, in one of his Essays. On this occasion judging from internal evidence he seems not to have been employed. Newbery, however, anxious for the succesa of the undertaking, pro- bably thought it more the affair of a man of busi. ness than of genius ; he therefore either wrote it himself or entrusted it to his editor, who is said to have been Mr. Griffith Jones, already mentioned aa connected afterwards with the British Magazine. It is well drawn up, but wants the more marked characteristics of the author of the " Citizen of the World."
The agreement was to furnish papers of an amusing character twice a week, for which accord- ing to contemporary statements, he was to receive
I a salary of 100/. per annum; and this being at the rate of something less than a guinea each, is
. probably true. It is a curious coincidence, that Dr. Johnson should have been employed by the same publisher to contribute papers of a similar description to the " Universal Chronicle," a weekly newspaper commenced by him in April, 1758, in which the " Idler'," still at that moment in course of publication, first appeared ; and no stronger tes- timony can be given of the opinion formed of the talents of Goldsmith at this period however little known to .the world, than his being chosen the
* For vriting the " Idler," Johnson is said to hare received a â– hare of the profiu of the paper. When fint collected into Toltuiies, tro thirds of the profits were fpna to him, aa appean
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prop of one newspaper as the greatest writer of the age had been of another.
He appears either not to hare had, or not to have matured, a systematic form for his contributions on their commencement. Two miscellaneous papers precede the first of the Chinese letters ; one on the 17th of January^ five days after the first publication of the newspaper ; the other on the 19th j both possessing all his characteristic manner, and much of his humour ; and which Uke so many of his fu- gitiTe pieces have been hitherto unnoticed. In the one he animadverts on a supposed peculiarity of our countrymen, that of unmeasured abuse of the public enemy during war ; a failing which his na- tural benevolence of disposition, and some of that regard for the better qualities of the French cha- racter exhibited in the " Traveller," led him now and in other passages of his writings, in the sixth number of the " Busy Body," for instance, to cen- sure as unbecoming in generous opponents. Hav- ing thus lectured the men, the other paper contains
by the following acconnt, copied from the original, lendeied by Newbery, vhich wiO intereat the literary reader : — "The Idler. "Dr.
Paid for advertising 20 0 Printing2TOl>.1500 41 13 YaipcT . - - . 52 3
113 16 6 ntheEditionl26 3 6
ISOOSeteat^ S *. d. me per 100 t 240 0 0
Dr. Johnson )
Ids \
Mr. Newberyi
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858 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
a hamorouB attack upon the supposed foibles of the iair sex, in a letter from the " Goddess of Silence to the Ladies of London and Westminster greeting.'* Both papers will be found in the Works,
MiBcellaneous papers however give no distinct character to the writer, because general readers seldom know them to proceed irom the same pen. A distinguishing title or subject preserves identity, and fixes a stronger bold upon the imagination of those we would win or influence : we seem then in the nature of acquaintance ; we meet and part with the hope if agreeable of meeting again ; and a series of papers so noted will be read with more interest than without such clue to guide us to the author. The " Spectator," published among other essays without ^propriating a specific nam^ would not have been so attractive as with it. I A plan being luatured, he assumed the character of a Chinese philosopber, who in travelling to j Europe from the laudable motive of esuuining ' mankind at large, and acquiring wisdom by expe- rience, had fixed his residence for a time in Eng- land, and aimed at describing the manners of its ; people. The idea was not new : the Turkish Spy, j and the Persian and Peruvian Letters ; and similar 1 productions, had sought and secured much public attention in France. Swift had formed some such '\ design, though not wholly the same, from the greater rudeness of the people who were to be introduced I as giving the fruits of their observation, in making
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the Indian chiefs who were in London during the I reign of Qaeen Atine tell the etory of their tra- vels i a project which by commonicating to Steele, [ the latter marred by a paper or two in the " Tatler" and " Spectator.""
Works of this kind when executed with tolerable spirit and skill, insure considerable popularity in almost all countries. Human nature is pleased to see incages of itself multiplied ; and nations no less than individuals like to be pourtrayed when the portrait is drawn with a certain portion of good- nature. Vanity may have something to do with this feeling, yet it is not without utility. We are desirous to know what others think, and even what fictitious characters may be supposed to think, of our conduct and habits ; a species of mental mirror is thus held up to general view, reflecting back faults and follies that from their &miliarity pass unnoticed, or pass with less of reproof than they deserve, but which by being paraded before us are in time corrected. Even peculiarities which are objectionable yet possess no portion of positive evil often become by being pointed out divested
* He writes to Stdla, April 28, 1711,— "The 'Spectator' u written by Steele, with Addisoo'e help -, 'tis often veiy pretty. YeeUrday it wee made of a noble bint I gave him long ago for his Tatlexs, about an Indian snpposed to write hia tiavels into England. I repent he ever had it: I intended to have written a book on that sabject. I believe he has spent it oil in one paper, and all the under hints tbere are mine too." This paper, faoweTer, u marked as Addison's, to whom Stede no doubt conimniucated it.
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of their more disagreeable features ; and when this kind of weeding is diligently exercised, foreigners are left without excuse for overlooking in acci- dental variations of manners the virtues of a rival nation.
It may gratify curiosity to know that his first design according to accounts of his fnends was to make bis hero a native of Morocco or Fez ; but, reflecting on the rude nature of the people of Bar- bary, this idea was dropped. A Chinese was then chosen as ofllering more novelty of character than a Turk or Persian; and being equally advanced in the scale of civilization, could pass an opinion on all he saw better than the native of a more barbarous country. From a passage in one of his letters to Bryanton in a foregoing page, it seems certain that Goldsmith viewed that people with considerable interest. China, by its distance, its reputed antiquity, its disinclination to receive or to visit strangers, its axts, its science and general knowledge however imperfect, and the long sub- mission of its people to an exclusive and jealous policy of the governing power, has always been an object of curiosity to the nations of Europe. Du Halde's history had rather increased than diminished this feeling : the novelty of that work had not yet passed away among the learned, though from its voluminous nature the contents continued in a great degree unknown to the body of general readers. An opportunity therefore offered, while commenting upon English habits
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and opinions, to introduce allusions to those of a people who claiming for themselves the highest de- gree of civiUsation, by stigmatising all Kuropeans as barbarians, yet exhibit many traces of imperfect advancement of mind.
The first number of the letters, including the \ short introductory one, appeared on the 24th 1 January, I76O; the second on the S9th ; the third on the 31st. In the month of February 1 there were ten letters, in March ten, in April eight, in May ten, in June eleven, in July eight, in August nine, in September ten, in October ten, in November six, and in December three : making together ninety-eight letters within the year al- though marked in the newspaper ninety-seven ; an error arising from the number twenty-five being twice used in continuing the same subject. These with the three papers already quoted, give nearly his stated proportion, irom the ISth of January, of two each week. But there is little doubt that he furnished others, though possibly less finished and therefore more difficult to trace ; such as on the encouragement of Opera Singers and Operas (Sept. I6th), and on the Institution of Amateur Concerts for the benefit of the Poor, November 3d. Several of his papers from the British Magazine were likewise transferred to the columns of the Ledger, in return for many of the Chinese Letters being embodied in the pages of the former.
The success of his labours imparted the first assurance of that literar}' reputation we have seen
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him adTerting to in just and ardently hoping in earnest; an enlarged circulatifHi according to all contempiu'ary testimony was thus insured to the journal in which they appeared, and the foundation laid for its permanency ; for among innumerable candidates for public &Tour it still ccutinues to be one. The lucubrations of theCIiinese Philosopher were generally read, admired, and reprinted : they regularly formed after the third or fourth number the first article in the newspaper, one of the eridences of popularity and merit j they became also what was perhaps very flattering though not very profitable to the writer, a mine which the periodical publications of the day thought them- selves at liberty freely to work and appropriate.
Viewed as a production of genius, it is not ne- cessary to characterise what has long taken its stand among the Ust of English Classics. Our manners, peculiarities, and character, are sketched by a dis- criminating but not imfiriendly band ; we find in all its essential features English life ; not of the higher, nor always even of the middling class, but furnishing a familiar view of that mass emphatically termed the people. If his delineations be occasionally homely, there is in them, at least, truth and distinctness, nature, vigonr, and observation. Writing not as a moral essayist, and less as a reasoner than a de- scriber, his topics even when not new present an air of novelty ; for a very unnecessary apprehension seems always to have influenced him which appears in many of his remarks, of his papers being thought
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too grave, or what he coneidered nearly synony- mous with seriouaness, duU. He aims therefore to be OQ whatever topic he tonches ahnost always sprightly, always ready with an anecdote to tell or ' a character to describe illustrative of his remarks or argument } his humour flows without efitnrt; his wit without a tinge of ill-nature ; and even folly is treated with a forbearance and good humour which her errors do not always receive at the hands of wisdom. The character of Beau Tibbs is re- membered by every reader of the work : frivolous and self-important, impudent yet good humoured, a pretender to fashion although utterly obscure, mwting the ezposares to which this pretension subjects him with complacency or ready excuse, and : assuming the airs of wealth when possessing scarcely the common comforts of life, — he forms an amusing specimen of a class sometimes found in a great metropolis. The original is said to have been a person named llKHiiton, one of his acquaintance, and once in the army : the humour is so happy and the sketch so well given that we are willing perhaps to believe it from the life, heightened in some degree but essentially true in its leading features. It will remind the reader of the fa- miliar acquaintance described in the Haunch of Venison.
The objections ui^ed agunst the Letters were such as critidsm is fcmd of displaying, yet conscious they are scarcely just : the sentiments and obser- vations were not considered appropriate to the
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assamed writer ; the mask was sapposed to ftUI off too often, and we discovered not a foreigoer but a native. Books of this kind however are understood to be works not of fact bat of fiction ; not travels to instruct but essays to amuse : every reader who takes them up knows that they were not written, and could not well be written, by a Chinese, and that were such even possible the descriptions would be neither so correct nor amusing as they are. As in the case of theatrical representation, we are not deceived by what is passing before us, or the deception exists but for an instant. All that we really require at the hands of cither is the pleasure derived from good imita- tion, and when this is sufficiently natural, amusing and vigorous, the purpose is answered. That the Poet thought the objection frivolous may be in- ferred from what seems to be meant for a sneering reply to correspondents of this class : it is pre- fixed to the thirty-second letter in the newspaper (May 2d) ; " The editor on this and every other occasion has endeavoured to translate the letter writer in such a manner as he himself, had be imderstood English, would have written. The reader is requested also to impute all the non- sense and dulnesB he may happen to find in this and ever)' other letter to en-ors of the press."
Towards the end of the year they ceased to ap- pear so frequently, partly from the design being nearly' completed, partly perhaps from the author re- suming his connection, either as editor or contributor,
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with the Lady's Magazine. Several pieces in the latter work at this time bear traces of his manner ; and selections from such as he had published through other channels were freely reprinted. In the number for November, 1760* we find, exclu- sive of what may be considered original contribu- tions, one of the Chinese letters ; in December another, besides a paper on popular preaching afterwards republished in his Essays ; in January a Chinese letter ; and in February, to spare himself perhaps the trouble of original compoeidon, he commenced ^ving the life of Voltaire, already mentioned, which thence continned the first article in every month till its conclusion in November, 1761. The number for April is almost all from his writings ; we have for the first article a portion of Volture's memoir,- a paper from the Bee on the dress of the English ladies ; a Chinese letter ; Zemin and Galhinda, an eastern tale, the author- ship of which is pretty certain ; besides thoughts on the English poets from the Literary Magazine ; and others less certain, though probable.
How long he continued to superintend the work if really conducted by him is uncertain, but pro- bably till the conclusion of* tite . sketch of Vol- taire. His own labours which may pretty well be traced to about that period, consist of letters and essays on female education, manners, and general conduct : they exhibit humour and playfulness, closeness of observation, and knowledge of human nature ; the admonitions are in good taste, incul-
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cated lees by formal precept than through the ino-> dium of anecdote or story ; with a just efitimate of the feelings, understanding, and accompliah- ments of those whom he addreesed, he ehowB be- coming tenderness towards their foibles. The Magazine seems to have had great saccesa : an advertisement in August 176S, stating that in three years above 1^,000 numbers, or more than three thousand three hundred per month had been sold.
During the years 1760-€l, his writings were forcing their way into notice when his name con- tinued nearly unknown. We trace the general sense entertained of their merit in the fact, that in taming orer the pages of the periodical works of the day, scarcely one is to be found without several of his papers re-printed firom other sources j so that without minute and careful inquiry it is difficult to trace the precise channel through which several of his papers were first introduced to public notice. Even when there were but few in a series, as in the Busy Body, these literary freebooters had the sagacity to perceive, and the assurance to select for their own advantage what they discovered to contribute most powerfully to public amus^nent. Commonly the obligation was not only not acknowledged, but besides being for the moment deprived of the honours of raigin. ality, the popularity of his past labours were oc- casionally made to counterbalance the weight of those that occupied him at the m<Hnent The
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WINE-OFFICE COURT. 36?
Imperial Magazine, for instance, which started in January I76O, at the same time and in rivalry with the British in which he was engaged, con- tained in itB first number two of his papers from the Bee as original articles } he had thus to con- tend in the race for public favour not only with the genius of others, hut with his own. As in the case of certain outlaws in society, his pn^ny were seized upon wherever found; not indeed to he punished for their demerits, but to be exhihited for our applause.
It was the knowledge of the degree of esteem awarded to his merit that drew from Dr. Johnson, who seems to have known more of his labours than most others of his contemporaries, frequent encomioms on one of the modes of composition in which he excelled. " I was dining," said Dr. Farr, who frequently told the anecdote, "at Sir Joshua Reynolds's, August 7th, 1773, where, amongst other company, were the Archbishop of Toam and Mr. (now L<n'd) Eliot, when the latter, making use of some sarcastical reflections on Gold- smith, Johnson broke out warmly in his defence, and in the course of a spirited eulogium said, * Is there a man, Sir, now who can pen an essay with such ease and elegance as Goldsmith ?* "
The pmsession of a more liberal income arising from the connexion with the Public Ledger, pro- duced corresponding improvement in his situation. About the middle of the year 17 60, he left Green Arbour Conrt, or Square, as it was once termed,
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for respectable lodginga in Wine-Office Court, Fleet Street, where for about two years he re- mained with an acquaintance or relative of the friendly bookseller, Newbery. Here he was often visited by Dr. Percy during his excursiixis to London, who occasionally told anecdotes of him at this time in conversation which he omitted to introduce into the memoir. One of these related to a foreign artist, a sculptor, whom the Poet had known slightly abroad, and pud as much attention to in London as his time and means permitted. Goldsmith thought he had been fortunate in the execution of two or three busts, and very el^^tly and happily told him, *< Sir, you live by the dead, and the dead live by you."
Here likewise if traditional notices by other old associates are to be trusted, he acquired a pretty numerous acquaintance of the Uteraryclass : some no doubt men of genius ; others of that laborious yet unsuccessful order, who after spending their lives in the drudgery of literature, quit the world without leaving behind them a trace of their occu- pation that is either read or remembered j — a spe- cies of borderers upon Parnassus who beat diligently around its base, but want vigour or ingenuity to reach its summit.
Among the former, were Christopher 3niart, Guthrie, the Rev. Mr. Francklin, a coadjutor in the Critical Review and translator of Sophocles, Mur- phy, Bickerstaffe, and others. Of inferior powers, were Woty, a poet now forgotten ; the Rev. William
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Ryder, under-master in St. Paul's School, and au- thor of a variety of works, a History of England, a Family BiUe, Translations of Voltaire, and after- wards editor of a Lady's Magazine ; CoUyer, known by some compilations, and a few translations from the German ; Griffiths and Giles Jones ; Huddle- stone Wynne, who besides other things now for- gott^i, among which were some poems, was author of a History of Ireland, said to hare been under- taken at the recommendation of Goldsmith. In a class still lower, yet not deficient in talents or scholarship had their conduct been directed t^ morals and industry, were Hiffeman, Furdon, Fil- kington, and others, of whom scarce even the names are remembered. Most of these were with- out money, and some without principle ; and as Goldsmith was social in his habits, easy of access, and known to be generous when he had any thing to give, he became sometimes the convenience of one class, and the prey of another. Of his im- wiUingness to refuse any request however un- reasonable, the following anecdote told by himself some years afterwards with consideratde humour, is a characteristic instance.
Pilkington, son of the Rev. Matthew and Mrs. Letitia Pilkington of Dublin, unhappily known by their quarrels and writings, being thrown upon the world by the disunion of his parents, found refuge in the house of an uncle a physician at Cork. Inheriting the eccentriciUes of his rela- tives, for the uncle was not free &om them, he
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was discarded thence for nnsconduct ; and having been brought up partly to music, joined Fockrich, another extraordinary character of Ireland, who, having wholly dissipated according to report, a for- tune of four thousand pounds per annum, earned a livelihood afterwards by precarious means, parti- cularly some skill in playing on the musical glasses. He died not less strangely than he lived, having lost his life in a fire in Comhill on the night of one of his principal performances. Pilkingtcm, after the loss of his employer or coadjutor, sub- sisted by any device that promised to raise money. He was at this time employed in writing his life, which was soon afterwards published in two volumes: their contents and the equivocal fame of his mo- ther as exhibited in her own memoirs and who had died a few years before, gave them some notice and circulation. In Dublin, probably at college, for there was a Pilkington there in 1748, he is said to have first known Goldsmith ; or as a fellow countryman engaged like himself in the service of literature, he found ready admittance to him in London. He had already under various pre- tences, levied small contributions on the purse of his acquaintance, but on another occasion when no common plea promised to he success^, a new and ingenious one was adopted.
Calling upon the misuspidous poet in I76O, he gave vent to many regrets that the immediate want of a small sum prevented the prospect of a rich return. Upon inquiry of the circumstances,
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PILKINOTON. 371
he said that a lady of the first rank (the name of the Duchess of Manchester or of Portland was mentioned), heing well known for her attachment to curious animals, and the large prices giren for the indulgence of this taste, a friend in India de- sirous to serve him had sent home two white mice, then on hoard a ship in the river, which were to be offered to her Grace. He had apprised her of their arrival and she expressed impatience to see the animals, hut anfortunately he had neither an appropriate cage for their reception, nor clothes fit to appear in before a lady of rank : two guineas would accomplish both objects, but where, alasl were two guineas to be procured? Goldsmith, with great sincerity replied that he possessed only half a guinea and that sum necessarily could be of no use ; the opening however was too favour- able and the applicant too dexterous, to permit his attempt to be thus parried. He be^ed to suggest with much diffidence and deference, — the emergent^ was pressing and might form some apology for the liberty, — that the money might be raised from a neighbouring pawnbroker by the deposit of his friend's watch; — the inconveni- ence could not be great, and at most of only a few hours' continuance : it would rescue a sincere friend from enthralment, and confer an eternal obligation. The mode of appeal proved irresist- ible : the money was raised in the manner pointed out, but neither watch nor white mice were after- wards heard of, nor even Mr. Pilkington himself
BBS
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until a lapse of sereral months, when a paragraph in the Ledger informed the world that he, giving his name nearly at full length, was endeavouring to raise money in a more equivocal manner.
It is the province of ingenuity to turn even misfortunes to advantage. The whim, or supposed whim, of the lady whose name waa used on this occasion furnished the sufferer with what he was frequently on the watch for, a hint for an essay ; and it sotm appeared in the whimsical story of Prince Bonbenoin and the White Mouse, forming' numbers forty-eight and forty-nine of Chinese Let- ters. The loss of a watch thus gave origin to a tale the moral of which as if peculiarly worthy of notice he emphatically marks in italics at its con- clusion : '• That they who phice their affections on trifles at first for amusement, will find those trifles at last become their most serious concern."
To glean bints from every quarter where the character, manners, and amusements of a people are displayed, is a necessary part of the business of him who describes them. Scenes of humbler life were therefore not neglected, for there in fact, national peculiarities are best seen. An anecdote connected with a scene of familiar and popular re- creation which he is known often to have visited was told by Kenrick, by whom it was supposed to have been communicated with some variation of circumstances to the Ledger*, where it was certain to meet the eye of Goldsmith. The authority is * June 11, 1760.
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PILKINQTON. S73
indeed apocryphal ; we may therefore rather believe it trae from the alleged ludicrous emharraasment in which he was found being characteristic of his ready though inconsiderate generosity.
When strolling in the gardens of White Conduit House, he met with three females of the family of a respectable tradesman, whom for some favour received in the way of his occupation, he invited without hesitation to take tea. The repast passed off with great hilarity, hut when the time of pay- ment arrived, he found to his infinite mortification he had not sufficient money for the purpose. To add to the annoyance occasioned by this discovery, some acquaintances in whose eyes he wished to stand particularly well, came up, discovered his perplexity by a remark of the waiter, and willing to enjoy it, professed at first their inability to relieve him ; nor was it till after much amusement had been enjoyed at his expense that the debt was dis- charged.
Another story of the same period, and coming from the same quarter, is to be received with similar caution. Having joined a few brother au- thors and others in a white-bait dinner, as favourite an entertainment then as at present, at BlackwalL the conversation after a time became literary, when Goldsmith took the opportunity of inveighing se- verely, as he bad done in the Chinese Letters, against what he termed the class of pert and ob- scene novels, instancing the success of Tristram Shandy as derogatory to public taste. The cause
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of Sterne was taken up by others ; sereral of die company joined in the ai^ument, which at length, among these volunteer allies, became vrarm ; from warmth they proceeded under the influwice of wine to personalities, and at length to violence, until the feast terminated in a general fight, when a mob being drawn around the house, the occurrence, though not the names of the combatants, found its way into the newspapers. Goldsmith, the in- nocent cause of the afiray, and whose disposition does not a|^ar to have been pugnacious, is be- lieved not to have been a sufferer on this occasion ; the reputation of it, however, formed sufficient foundation for a sarcasm. And to' this Johnson probably alluded when in the scuffle of the former, some years afterwards, with Evans the publisher, Boswell observed that it was a new adventure for Goldsmith to be engaged in, — " Why, Sir, I be- lieve it is the first time he has beat ; he may have been beaten before. This, Sir, is a new jdeasure to him."
Of all his acquaintance, this extraordinary man — clarum et venerabile Jiomen — was the (me most sedulously cultivated, and the most prized, as he deserved to be for powers of a varied and gigantic order ; who in return saw in Goldsmith much goodness as a man, rad great talents, to which he has borne ample testimony, as a writer. They took to each other (to use Johnson's phrase) with mutual good will ; and nothing of more moment than casual ebullitions of temper in the beat of
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oocadonal argument occmred to inteiTupt it Grold- smith, with a keen insight into character, cotild . not but feel that respect which all who associated ' with Johnsen were obliged to pay him, either from '. their admiration or their fears. He saw in the j great moralist, to use his own words in the dedi- cation of his play, " the greatest wit joined with the greatest piety;" from such a person, who was nearly twenty years his senior, he could take a sharp rebuke or biting sarcasm (and who of all his friends escaped them?) without those feelings of resentment occasionally exhibited by inferior men. General opinion had long and justly stamped him the first literary character of the age ; it was natural therefore, for one who ptursued literature as a pro- fession to deem his acquaintance an advantage as well as an honour. From his experience and critical taste, it was scarcely possible not to profit ; and by the respect which great talents combined with good morals ever command in society, he felt that the friendship of one who stood pre-eminent in both formed of itself a passport to some degree of reputation.
There was another motive perhaps in seeking his intimacy ; superior minds feel a noble spirit of emulation in the society of eadi other. Greatness indeed does not always produce greatness in the character of its associates; yet the near contem- plation of excellence is not without iks effect even on ordinary minds : we are prone to imit^ what
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'. is placed before us, and by observation may gain similar advaDtages from tbe association with high moral or intellectual qualities, that manoers derive from mingling in what is called good society. Eminent men too, it has been said, usually live in clusters, in particular ages, and ccnnmonly in communion or friendly intercourse : passion or prejudice, or rivalry, springing from the various
I contingencies of life, may disunite individuals, in such a body ; but the majority, as they understand the value of each other, are not often influenced by such antipathies. Few things could be more gratifying than to vritness in social intercourse, that assemblage of talent of which Johnson and
'Goldsmith were among the prominent members.
Until about the period at which we- are now ar- rived, it appears they were personally unacquainted. The fame of Johnson had been long established, and found an echo in every society ; the merits of Goldsmith were only whispered through the medium of mutual friends, yet so warmly as to produce the
[ vrished-for acquaintance. He had shown himself
â– not unworthy of the favour, by the terms in which the great moralist was mentioned in the Reverie in the fifth number of the Bee, and again in Chinese Letters, where speaking in his assumed eastern cha- racter, we are told, " their Johnsons and SmoIIetts are truly poets, though for aught I know they never made a single verse in their whole lives."
Their first meeting, according to the remem-
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DE. JOHN801T. 377
brance of Bishop Percy, took place on the Slst of May 1761, when Goldsmith gave a supper to a large company, chiefly literary men, at his lodgings in Wine-Office Court. Johnson among others was invited, and Fen^ as their mutual Mend was requested to acc(mtpany him. As they proceeded thither the latter had his attention drawn to the studied neatness of the critic's dress, far exceeding what he usually displayed. " He had on," said the Bishop in telling the stoiy, " a new suit of clothes, a new wig nicely powdered, and every thing so dissimilar from his usual habits, that I could not resist the impulse of inquiring the cause of such rigid regard in him to exterior appearance." "Why, Sir," said he with characteristic shrewdness, and willing to play the instructor as well by example as by precept, " I hear that Goldsmith, who is a very great sloven, justifies his disregard of cleanliness and decency by quoting my practice, and I am de- sirous this night to show him a better example.
From this time their intimacy increased until ' severed by that which terminates all human con- 'â– nexions. The lesson meant to be enforced by the improved garb of his new friend was nbt lost upon Goldsmith, if he were really opfen to the charge of personal negligence. Soon after this it will appear from the bills of bis landlady, and the account books horn 176^ to 1774, of his tfulor*, "honest
* Communicated to the writer by Mr. John Filby his bod, a respectable member of the corponttion of London. Some of the itenu will be hereafter given.
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378 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
' John (he should have said William) Hlby," as he called him, whose name transpires in the amosiiig anecdote told by Boswell respecting the peach- coloured coat, that there was no want of clean linen, or of wearing apparel; and that in the latter he became ultimately expensive if not ex- travagant.
With Garrick his first meeting, it can scarcely he called acquaintance, appears to have been of a less friendly character : and took place if we are to believe Davies the biographer of the acton and well acquainted with both, in the previous year, 176O, by an effort to secure some permanent means of support. A vacancy having occurred in the secretaryship of the Society of Arts which , Goldsmith wished to obtain, he applied to the j manager for his influence, which was represented i to be considerable among the members. The latter urged in answer, that Dr. Goldsmith having thought proper in one of his books to attack his management of the theatre, there could exist no ' fur claim to bis good offices were Ihere even no other candidate in the way. Instead of offering an apology, the Poet very bluntly observed that be had indulged in no personal reflections, and still thought he had only spoken the truth ; they parted, however, in civility ; and the election was carried by a large majority in favour of Dr. Chamherlayne.
This story may be correct in substance though not in detail. Davies, from his theatrical con-
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OARRICK. 379
nexions and a variety of transacticms with the Poet as a bookseller, possessed abundant oppor- tunities of gaining the necessary information, bat forgot or misapprehended what he had heard. It was not Dr. Chamberlayne who was elected ia I76O, but Dr. Templeman ; and in 1769 Mr. More succeeded to the same appointment ; on neither of which occasions does Goldsndth's name appear as candidate, although others are mentioned, and the numbers of votes which each received. Neither does it appear that in his remarks on the conduct of the theatre in the worit in question*, any manager is mentioned by name, or so pointedly by inference, as to give cause of personal offence ; his remarks are general, though very litUe in the way of censure was sufficient to alarm the sensitive cha- racter of Garrick. The result of the interview showing him probably how little chance ex- isted of success, the design was at once relin- quished without proceeding to the vote ; and this accounts for his name not appearing in the minutes on this occasion. He took much interest how- ever in the Society, attended its proceedings very r^ularly for some years, and contrived as it a^- pears on more than one occasion to pay his sub- scription by drawing upon bis bookseller in advance. Among Newbery's papers are three memorandums of this kind ; two in pencil, one dated April 30th, 176^, the others without dates :
• Enquiry into Polite Learning, Works, toI. i.
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— " l«iit Dr. Goldsmith, at the Society of Arts, and to pay arrears, SI. Ss."
The success of our arms in the war then carry- ing on against France, formed a topic too exciting with the nation to be neglected by the booksellers ; and several histories of the contest, of various shades of merit, appeared. To one of these he wrote a preface and also an introductory view of several of the chief states of Europe, men- tioned in a preceding page with the memorandum prefixed to it of Isaac Reed ; whether he took part in the compilation himself, or whether even it was actually published, a diligent search has failed to discover. It was written in 176l> and as appears by the context, previous to the rupture with Spain, the declaration of war against that country appearing in January I762. A work of this nature had issued in February 1761*, irora a publisher (Owen) for whom he had written one or more other prefaces ; his skill in this class of composition being early disco-
• " This day U published, neatly printed in one lai^ volume, 8vo., price in boirda St. 6d., A Complete History of the pre- sent War, firom its Commencement in die Tear 1756 to the End of the Campaign in 1760; in which all the Battles, Si^ies, Sea- engagementa, &c. are faithflilly related i vith Historical and Military Kemarks. Printed for L. Davis and C. Reymers in Holbom ; W. Owen at Temple Bar ; and J, Scott in Paternoster Row." Books of this description, as they are not now to be found in the regular marts for literature, can only be met with by chance on the stalls ; so that whether the preface in qoestion be prefixed to it or to any other of a similar kind has not been
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vered and frequently called into requisition. It appears likewise by a receipt from an agent of Guthrie, who was probahly the compiler of the body of the work, dated February 2d, 1762,- that three guineas on account were paid him by New- bery for a " History of the War :" the book was a partnership affair, and therefore may have been the same.
The manuscript in his own handwriting and now before the writer, occupies nearly forty fools- cap pages, closely written ; eight being devoted to the preface, and the remainder to succinct notices of the political history, relatione, and views of England, France, Prussia, Germany, and Holland : they contain many just and ingenious observations, and exemplify not merely the ease and flow of style, but the clearness of mind which he brought to the subject. Errors and inadvertencies, omis- sions of names or dates, circumstances mis-stated by conflicting testimonies or introduced in the wrong place, are almost unavoidable in sitting down to the task of historical composition. We may ex- pect to find in the first rude draught of such a work innumerable alterations ; a blurred, blotted, and perhaps scarcely readable page ; but it was not so with Goldsmith. Compelled often to write quickly and yet write well, and the means being wanting to enable him to employ an amanuensis, early enforced the necessity of methodising his ideas so as to save the trouble of transcription ; the erasures and alterations are therefore few and
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merely verbaL The same fact was noticed by Bishop Percy in the manuscripts of his histories ; a happiness which few even of the most ready and practised writers attain.
His orthography as has been remarked of other eminent men of the time*, is sometimes inaccu- rate, sometimes antiquated, exhibiting strong in- dications of haste and carelessness. Thus we have the words " oomerce," " allarms,'* " oppidence," " inrich,** " inforce," ** efiscts," " ecchoes, '* atrac- taons," " comoditiee, " unactive," " undoe,'' and others. It may be likewise remarked as such cir- cumstances are often matters of curiosity, that he covers the page so thoroughly as to leave no room for note or addition on either margin had it been necessary for such to be introduced ; tm another ofxiasitHi indeed, he declares distaste to notes as being commonly the marks of an unskil- fill writer.
The prefoce, too long to be transmbed here, but which will be foimd in the Works, is intro- duced by some general remarks on war as a source of occasional advantage and even of virtue to states, which are in a great degree new and in- genious, and explain some political phenomena
* In the kttera ot Qrwgw Ae poet, in the poRseeaion <rf Mr. Hmod, and notieed in a pieviona page, we find, for in- etaace, mailed, wAofy, aAoa4, &c. The neglect of orthogi*- phy among persons of good education and /atMon in that day, not writers by profeaaion, would now be cooaidered dis- gracefol.
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PROJECTED VISIT TO ABIA. 383
operatiiig not only in our own country in tbe present day, bnt in many of the states of Europe ; that restlessneBs in nations, and that resistance to lawful authorities which a state of peace too ofi;en engenders. On the Dutch nation the remarks, whether correct or not, are such as he has ver- sified in the Traveller.
The prefect of visiting the East, which had oo cupied his mind for a few previous and subsequent years, acquired new strength about this period hy the accession of Lord Bute to office i some channel probably appearing through which to address that minister with a prospect of success. A memorial^ enlai^ng the views formerly taken of this subject, was therefore drawn up, pointing out the advan- tages of a traveller proceeding thither for pur- poses of ntllity alcme ; and an impressicm prevailed am<mg some of his acquaintance that the Princess- dowager of Wales had been prevailed upon to read and to approve of it. No favourable result ensued ; the project being deemed visionary, or the name and influence of the proposer wanting sufficient weight among the public authorities to recom- mend him to such a mission. The Bishop of Dromore and Mr. Maloue sought for this paper several years afterwards without success ; and it is now probably irrecoverable.
Mr. LangtoD was accustomed to mention, in allusion to this scheme, that Goldsmith had long a visionary project that some time or other when his circumstances should be easier, he would go to
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Aleppo in order to acquire a knowledge, as far as might be> of any arts peculiar to the East, and in- troduce them into Britain. When this was talked of in Dr. Johnson's company^, he said, " Of all men Goldsmith is the most unfit to go out upon such an inquiry ; for he is utterly ignorant of such arts as we already poBsess, and consequently coold not know what would he accesBions to our present stock of mechanical knowledge. Sir, he would bring home a grinding harrow, which you see in every street in London, and think that he had fur- nished a wonderful improvement"
In this sally there was more of sarcasm than of truth. The amhition of Goldsmith to profit by what he could find new in the East, could scarcely be deemed very absurd, when a contemplated scheme by Johnson to see the same country with more limited purposes was viewed with compla- cency by himself, and applause hy his friends. " At the time when his pension was granted to him," observes Mr. Langton, "he said, with noble lite- rary ambition,—' Had this happened twenty years ago, I should have gone to Constantinople to learn Arabick as Pocock did.' " Yet as the plan of Gold- smith necessarily included within its probable utility the study of the language and people with- out which he could not investigate their arts, it seems more like jealousy than justice in Johnson to ridicule in another, what at an earlier period of life confessedly formed a fevourite wish of his own. The iact seems to have been either that Gold-
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PROJECTED VISIT TO ASIA. 385
smith had not thought it necessary to explain himself fully in the loose statements of conTersation, or that he was imperfectly understood by his hearers. Of merely mechanical arts, his knowledge probably was not great, neither perhaps so contemptibly small as represented, for the term embraces a wide range of objects. Having long revolved the project, he was not likely to be wholly unprepared for what he knew and stated to be a laborious task, and diligent attendance upon the London Society devoted to such pursuits, implied at least a taste for, if not acquaint- ance with, some of the objects contemplated in the journey. It is more than probable that his design had reference chiefly to certain processes in the arts connected in some degree with chemistry, a science with which be possessed considerable acquaintance. Thus in the paper quoted on the occasion of his memorial to Lord Bute, he expressly mentions the extraction of spirit from milk, an improved mode c^ dying scarlet, and the refining of lead into a purer and more valuable metal, as matters for inquiry ; an explanation which removes from his project that air of absnrdi^ cast upon it by Jc^mson. The repu- tation of a man should not be at the mercy of a sar- casm ; yet in the pages of Boswell as well as in the reports of others, it is obvious he did not receive credit for the information he really possessed, or tbe facility with which such as was necessary for his purpose was acquired.
The strongest objection to tbe expedition was not urged against it, namely, that however ingenious in
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idea, the harvest gleaned would probahly have been smaU. Mechanical arts publicly practised in one country soon find their way to others without an ex- press mission to import them ; while such as affect secrecy and are in the hands of a few, will be guarded still more carefully from the knowledge of one sent expressly to discover in what the secret or superiority consists. By the view taken in the ex- tract previously quoted, of the other requisites for such a traveller, — a philosophical turn, a mind tine- tured with miscellaneous knowledge, manners ame- liorated by much intercourse with men, a body inured to fatigue, and a heart not easily terrified at danger, — he obviously points to himself; nor if these be the chief qualifications required, was he deficient in any of them."
* By the Mcoont of Dr. Fair in conremtioii vith the Poet when they met in London in 1 756, hia idea then vaa a jonmey to the Veitten Honntains. It it rather a cnrioue coincidence, that, at thia moment, another gentleman distingnicihed by hi* eccenttidtieB, Edward Wortley Montagae, entertained and accom- pUahed the aame design. He set off from Italy toward the end of 1762, and wu absent about three years, travelling through the Holy Idmd, Egypt, and Armenia, with the Old and New Testa- meata in hand, finding them, as he says, unerring guides. An Bcconnt of thia journey was read befijre the Royal Society in March, 1766, and afterwards published in their TranaactionB.
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VARIOUS LITERARY ENGAGEHENTB. — PAMPHLET ON THE COCK
LANE GHOBT. HISTORY or HKCKLENBVRGH. ART OF
POETRY. — PLOTARCH. CITIZBN OF THE WORLD. ADDI- TIONS TO A HISTORY OF ENGLAND. LIFE OF BEAU NABH.
— LINES 8UPF08ED TO BE WRITTEN AT ORPINGTON.
christian's K AG AZINE.— ROBIN HOOD SOCIETY. — FETER AN NET. — LLOYD.~-RO V BI LI A C .
Early in \J6% Newbery found him variety of 1 occupation in history, biography, the critical revi- | sion of several works, and even on a subject which, -, although made of importance by popular excitement and credulity, by the personal inquiries of Johnson, and by the satire of Churchill, was beneath the serious notice of either : this was the well known imposture of the Cock Lane Ghost. His receipt for the very moderate amount of copy-money in his own handwriting, now before the writer, is as follows : —
" Received from Mr. Newbery three guineas for a pamphlet respecting the Cock Lane Ghost.
" O1.1VP.R Goldsmith.
"March 5, 1762."
None of the newspaper announcements of the day state any thing on this absorbing topic as issu- ing from the shop of the apparent purchaser, and the precise title of the piece has not been there- c c 2
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388 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
fore ascert^ned. It mAj perhaps have been a partnership affmr j and as Newbery had occa- sional connexion with Bristow, a Deighbouring publisher, in other works, he may on this occa- sion likewise have been made the channel of publication ; an impression countenanced by the advertisement of a pamphlet on the subject which appeared on that source shortly before.* Things of this kind commonly disappear with the thirst for wonders to which they owe their origin ; but if found, internal evidence will readily decide whether the conjecture of this h^ng Goldsmith's perform- ance be well founded.
One c^ the labours for his patron if we may believe the accounts of several personal acqnunt- ance, for no certain evidence of the fact is at hand, and the work has been sought in vain, was a volume to which the popularity of the young Queen (Charlotte) gave origin. In February (36th), 176s, appeared, dedicated to her Majesty, " The History of Mecklenburgh, from the first Settlement of the Vandals in that Country to the
• "To-morrow Trill be published, price i(.. The Myatoy Revealed ; contuning B Series of TnnsactioiiB and authentiG Memoriala respecting the supposed Cock Lane Ghost, irhich hare hitherto been concealed from the Public.
' Since now the living dare implead. Arraign him ! in the person of the dead.'
Drvdjsn.
"Printed for W. Bristow in St, Paura Churchyard." —AA/k Jdtertinr. Fei. 22, 1762.
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PAMPHLETS.— ART OF POBTRT. dS9
present Time ; including a Period of about Three Thousand Years." It was diligently advertised, though without marked success, having failed to reach a second edition, whichcan be said of no other of his (if this really be his) compilations. Probably he revised rather than wrote it, or received so little for the volume as to be indifferent to its fate : for in the British Magazine where a better character might have been secured bad he cared about the matter, it is simply noticed as *' carefully compiled, but dry and uninteresting."
A few days afterwards (Much 9th) came out in two volumes " The Art of Poetry on a new Plan ; illustrated with a great Variety of Examples from the best English Poets." This was a compilation by Newbery himself, revised, altered, and enlarged by the critical and poetical taste of Goldsmith, as he acknowledged to Dr. Percy. The dedica- tion however to the E^l of Holdemesse, in return for an act of beneficence shown in his capacity of Secretary of State to a distressed foreigner on the application of the good-natured bookseller, is not only signed by the latter but obviously written by him in the fulness of gratitude. Neither has the advertisement traces of Goldsmith's usual ptoint and spirit ; however desirous therefore of his aid in the prefatory matter to books by other writers as a means of success, Newbery, with something of the vanity of an author, felt no such diffidence about the merits of his own.
As a guide to youth in the cultivation of poetry.
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whether as a study or an amusement, these vo- lumes as giving the opinions of competent critics upon the merits of good authors are hy no means contemptihle. The preceptive part tells all that it is necessary to tell regarding an art which cannot be taught, and in which more than in most others precept is nearly useless. The illustrations are numerous, of great variety, and drawn conmionly from the best sources. It is no reproach that much of the iaformation is borrowed ; but if the alleged compiler found time from his numerous avocations in trade to collect and arrange the observations scattered through the work on the merits of the various species of poetry he deserves credit for no ordinary diligence. But the remarks by which the specimens are intro- duced are often so original and just, in such good taste, and conveyed in so perspicuous a style, that it is probable a better critic and an abler writer than Newbery, however &ir his talents, must have not merely revised but in part added to, or rewritten them.
Almost at the same moment (March IS.) & new work for a similar (the juvenile) class of readers was announced from the same prolific source.
" Mr. Newbery begs leave to offer to the young gentlemen and ladies of these kingdoms a Compen- dium of Biography ; or an History of the Lives of those great Personages, both ancient and modem, who GU'e most worthy of their Esteem and Imita- tion, and most likely to inspire their Minds with a
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BIOGRAPHY. 391
Love of Virtue." The plan, after something more in the same strain, was to commence with Plutarch; to be comprised in seven volumes, 18mo., one to appear every month at the moderate sum of eighteen pence ; and with the further promise of being " abridged from the original Greek, with notes and reflections."
The compiler of this humble contribution to knowledge was Goldsmith. Biography was with him as with Johnson a favourite subject, had he en- joyed the requisite leisure for inquiring into those details without which its value is much diminished. From the present attempt he could derive nothing but the marketable value of the article, and this from the acknowledgment for two volumes appears to have been small ; but by the manner in which they were got up in paper and embellishments, the publisher gave his project scarcely a chance of success had the intrinsic merit been greater. The first volume appeared on the Ist of May, the last in November, when the series ceased as it be- gun with the Greek biographer ; the intention of carrying on the original design being probably damped by the success of a competitor, the British Plutarch, then in course of publication by Dilly. After the first four volumes had been completed, be procured in consequence of illness, the assist- ance of Mr. Joseph Collyer, whose name appears in a preceding page, and who found employment in some compilations of the time and in transla- tions from the German, one of which tha Noah of
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99% LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
Bodmer, was given after the maimer of the Death of Abel. The receipt from the Poet for the sum awarded to bis labours was in adTance of the pub- lication ; and seems, fixtm several others of similar date and given on the same sheet of paper, to have been a kind of general settling day between anthor and bookseller.
" Received iW>m Mr. Newbery eleven guineas and an half for an abridgment of Plutarch's Lives.
" Oliver GoLDSMrrn.
"Mardi S, 1762."
During the progress of the work through the press the following note without date, seems to have been written to prevent any delay in publication in consequence of his indisposition : —
'• To Mr. NewbeTy, St. Pauft Churchyard. " Dear Sir, " As I have been out of order for some time past, and am still not quite recovered, the fifth volume of Plutarch's Lives remains nnfinished. I fear I shall not he able to do it unless there be an actual necessity, and that none else can be found. If therefore you would send it to Mr. Collier, I should esteem it a kindness, and will pay for whatever it may come to. — N.B. I received twelve guineas for the two volumes.
" I am. Sir, your obliged, " Humble servimt,
"Oliver Goldsuitb. ** Fray let me have an answer."
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Plutarch's uves. 393
From an impression probably that the work woald not be so well done by any one else, this proposal seems not to have been acceded to at the moment, altbougb Collyer was ultimately em- ployed ; and under the feeling of being ui^d to do what his strength scarcely permitted, he de- spatched a second and less cordial note.
" To Mr. Newhery. " Sir, " One volume is done, namely, the fourth. When I said I should be glad Mr. Collier* would do the fifth for me, I only demanded it as a favour ; but if he cannot conveniently do it, though I have kept my chamber these three weeks, and am not quite recovered, yet 1 will do it. I send it per bearer ; and if the afiair puts you to the least incon- venience, return it, and it shall be done imme- diately.
" 1 am, &c
« O. G.
" The printer has the copy of the rest."
His connection with this little work, although disclosed after his death by Newbery's successors in trade, has been since unnoticed and even un- known : the knowledge of it reached the writer among other traditional notices, and on reference to the preliminary advertisement, the pen of the
* This gentlemaii'i name vaa usually spelt " Collyer."
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S9i> UFE OF GOLDSMITH.
Poet became immediately obvious to him long previouB* to the preceding documents, which may be more satisfactory to others, coming into his hands. But there are persons, and Goldsmith him- self seems to have been of the number, who think it injudicious to make known whatever an author himself desires to conceal or does not avow ; that his anonymous, hasty, or casual performances should pass without challenge from any quarter ; that in short the world has a right to know and notice only such of his productions as are written for reputation and not for bread.
Yet this can scarcely be a sound opinion. Were it strictly to be followed, literary history would no longer possess its strongest interest. We should lose the advantages derived from tracing step by step the progress of mind in its advances to per- fection ; of knowing its labours and struggles on the path to eminence; what small objects were accomplished before great ones were attempted; what subjects employed the pen or the thoughts of a distinguished writer at a particular epoch of his career ; and aspiring though obscure worth would lose the benefit derived from tracking their great predecessors in the road to distinction, and want the best stimulus to pursue their example by learn- ing not to despair, for that fame is rarely the result of a moment or of chance, but of time and in- dustry. The pride of authors is something like that of beauties : it may induce them to wish to • Nearly three years.
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plutarch'8 lives. 395
be seen only in their fioislied works, as the latter prefer being exhibited in full dress when tricked out for show or conquest : but those they would influence or subdue have a right to more intimate acquaintance, and must not be thought imperti- nently curious in seeking it. There is a youth in authorship as in life ; and we would inquire whether the period of immaturity has been idly or laboriously spent. It is not necessary we should approve the species of labour pursued, but we like to know what was the employment of the labourer.
His characteristic address in propitiating the favour of the reader is displayed in the recom- mendatory notice.
" Biography has ever since the days of Plutarch been considered as the most useful manner of writing, not only from the pleasure it affords the imagination, but from the instruction it artfully and unexpectedly conveys to the understanding. It furnishes us with' an opportmiity of giving advice freely and without oflence. It not only removes the dryness and dogmatical air of precept, but sets persons, actions, and their consequences, before us' in the most striking manner; and by that means turns even precept into example.
" The perverseness, folly, and pride of men, seldom suffer advice given in the common manner to be effectual. Nor is this to be wondered at; for though there is no action in life that requires greater delicacy, yet few are conducted with less. The advice of parents and preceptors is generally
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396 UFE OP OOLD8HITH.
given in an auatere and authoritatiTe maDner which destroys the feelings of affection ; and that of Mends, by being frequently mixed with asperity and reproof, seems rather calculated to exalt their own wisdom than to amend our lives, and has too much the ap- pearance of a triumph over our defects.
" CounselB, therefore, as well as compliments, are best conveyed in an indirect and oblique manner ; and this renders biography as well as fable a most convenient vehicle for instruction. An ingenious gentleman was asked what was the best lesson for youth F he answered. The life of a good man. Being agun asked what was the next beet ? he replied, The life of a had one. The first would make him in love with virtue, and teach him how to conduct himself through life so as to become an ornament to society and a blessing to bis family and friends ; and the last would point out the hateful and horrid consequences of vice, and make him carefiil to avoid those actions which appeared so detestable in others." I The same day that introduced Plutarch brought forth in two duodecimo volumes, as the news- papers announced, <* The Citizen of the World ; or Letters firom a Chinese Philosopher residing in London, to his Friends in the East. Printed \for the Author:" — the only intimation of a I similar kind attached to any of his publications. Newbery may have at first declined republishing what had sufficiently answered his purpose in the Ledger ; but when about to issue from the press.
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CITIZEN OF THE WORLD. 397
he appears from the following either to have be- come the purchaser or to have paid up an out- standing accooDt, as the old not the new title is employed. The whole amount given does not appear.
" Received of Mr. Newbery five guineas, which, with what I have received at different times before, is in full for the copy of the Chinese Letters, as witness my hand.
" Oliver Goldsmith.'*
"MMtAb. 1762."
The relinqnishment of the original designation Chinese Letters which was applied as it would seem rather by others than by the author as it is assumed rather by the editor than by him, arose probably from a production of the Marquis D* Argens, translated into English in 1741 , being extant under the same title ; a coincidence likewise to be remarked of two other works indebted to his pen, " The Bee," and the '• Biitish Magazine,** both of which names had been previously used for po- pular compilations. The idea commonly implied by the designation now assumed far the volumes, that of a person so attached, or so indifi^rent, to all countries as to give particular preference to none, is noticed with approbation in more than one passage in his Essays. " Among all the famous sayings of antiquity," he writes in the British Magazine," there is none that does greater honour to the author, or affords greater pleasure to the reader (at least if he
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398 LIFR OF OOLDBMITH.
be a person of a generous and benevolent heart), than that of the philosopher, who being asked what countryman he was, replied, "A Citizen of the World." And again, " I must own I should prefer the title of the ancient philosopher, viz. a Citizen of the World, to that of an Englishman, a Frenchman, an European, or to any other appel- lation wbatever."
Philosophical fallacies equally specious and quite as imsound as this have been often adopted by men who knew better ; misled for the moment by insufficient consideration, the pretension of a cha- racter imposing in name to the ignorant, or possibly deceived by real benevolence of disposition. Yet it is difficult to think that any who advanced the opinions just quoted really believed in their just- ness ; the common feelings of human nature rise up in judgment against the theory, and the first prac- tical effort we are called upon to make, of bene- volence for instance or preference in any way, shows its insufficient foundation. It can scarcely be true that any person exists who has no prefer- ence of country, and if true, not perhaps very cre- ditable to him who avows it. Providence seems to have ordered that our affections move within certain circles, first our family, second our neigh- bourhood, and thirdly our country, and no great good may be expected to arise from forgetting either of these, our natural and proper care, to as- sume His providence in extending equal attachment to places and persons of whom we can know little.
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CITIZEN 6F THE WORLD. 399
It may be true that an individual does not prefer his native land, but all lands cannot be equally indif- ferent. If we totally disconnect from our minds the tie of country, we may do the same with that of kindred, and advancing a step further in faeart- less philosophy, proceed to sever all the links of human connexion. That benevolence which is so general and indiscriminate as to affect to embrace all mankind, is commonly to be suspected : it is seldom seen exerted where most wanted, that is in the active aid of the individuals composing the community for which regard is professed in the gross : like a smaU portion of manure spread over a large tract of soil, the fructiiying power is lost^ — it wants concentration. Such philosophy is indeed but a shadow which in pursuing, may deprive us of the substance of much practical good j its ten- dency is to loosen what may be called the local, yet powerful and kindlier, affections of our nature. Besides the letters printed in our newspaper series, other papers deemed worthy of being preserved and which had appeared either in a different fonn or in other publications, were introduced into the volumes, in order as it was avowed to make the work more perfect. Thus, No. 108, The Advan- *tages of sending a TraveUer into Asia to bring back the useful Knowledge of that Country, No. 115, On the Dignity of Human Nature, and a few more, are from the Ledger ; No. II7, A City Night-piece, from the Bee; No. 119, The Distresses of a Common Soldier, from the British
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400 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
Magazine; and there are others taken from the newspaper during the year I76I. Several, where the subjects appeared to he connected, were trana> posed on republication from the places in which they originally stood in the series and a few were added wholly new.
No aid seems to have been given him by the contributions of others, and indeed there is pre- sumptive evidence of the fact in the progress of the letters, although a contrary belief prevailed at the time. Thas, in the British Magazine — and it exhibits some disregard for the common arts of literary puffing that in a publication with which he was connected no more favour- able or extended^ criticism appeared — it is lacon- ically characterised, " Light, agreeable summer reading, partly original, partly borrowed." A similar impression is to be drawn from the quali- fied terms used in an advertisement in the London Chronicle, in May, I766 — " The greater part of this work waa written by Dr. Goldsmith." The error in both instances of giving him credit for the authorship only in part, arose from having reclaimed his labours from other quarters without the critics who had seen them there being aware of his right of appropriation. The publisher at length thought it necessary to intimate in one of his announce- ments that all were the ofispring of one author : — " These volumes contain all those Chinese Let- ters which gave so much pleasure and satisfac- tion in the Public Ledger, together with such
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ADDITIONS TO AN ENGLISH HISTORY. 401
originals as were necessary to complete the author's
The fortune of books as indicative of public negligence or caprice, has often been the subject of remark ; and this edition of one, popular in its first form and ever since admitted to possess all .the qoalities deserving of favour, may be instanced, among others. It did not sell in the manner ex- pected, either from the change of title rendering it less generaUy known, or from wanting the coun- tenance of an approved name. No intimation of a second impression appears so late as May, I766, when the name of the author then rendered popular by the success of the Traveller was used in order to dispose of the first ; and a third edition did not come out till about I78O. While neglected at home, however, the Citizen of the World found fa- vour abroad :— a French translation by M. Poivre, who sent Goldsmith a copy in addition to a very complimentary letter which disappeared among others of his papers after death, came out in IjGS, and in three years passed through four editions in that country.
Shortly after this period, another efibrt of in- dustry in the service of the booksellers is known by the following acknowledgment : —
" Received two guineas of Mr. Newbery, for the conclusion of the English History.
" Oliver Goldsmith. "My 7th, 1762." VOL. I. DO
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403 UFE OF GOLDSMITB.
A second memorandum ^ves him credit among other copies though without a price affixed, fw " 79 leaves of the History of England." Atten- tive examination among the publications of the day has probably ascertained the exact nature of this historical fragment, which was of no value and therefore not necessary to rescue from oblivion. A Bchool-book, a History of England in the form of question and answer, had been pUbliabed as joint property* by several booksellers, and proving successful additions were thought necessary to raise it still further in estimation. An annoonce- ment of September ^, has this notice affixed : — " The 11th edition, with the addition of five sheets, containing the long and glorious reign of our late most glorious sovereign, George the Second, to the accession of his present Majesty." The five sheets thus added would amount within one, to the exact number of pages, or, as it is written, leaves, noted in the publisher's account.
In the summer of I76S he visited Bath ; partly for the restoration of health, partly it is said by desire of Newbery, in order to add to a small stock of materials already collected and shaped into form for a new publication, — an account of the well known Beau Nash. Master of the Cere- monies there, who had died at an advanced age, and after a long tenure of office, the preceding year.
* The proprietors were Hawea, Woodfall, Newbery, Baldwin, ind othen.
LIFE OF BEAU NASH. 403
It is not often that gentlemen of this jm^saion nmke claims upon the biographer. Necewifcy cogM be the sole inducement to the UDdertaHng^ for <tf Buch a person what more could be aajd thin a newspaper paragraph migl^ tell ? But Nasfa possessed a Bpecies of cmventioBal celebrity that rendered him not only an object of general notioe and convBTsation, but made him the first of hii class who hare figured in this country. In the mii^led characters fA gamester, (said indeed to be a generora one,) beau, a man oi pleasure, a reputed wit, and the king as he was called, or intprover if not founder 4^ a favouiite acene of summer resort foar the wealthy and tbe fashionable, the invalid and the idle, he was known porsondly or by name to most persons in the kingdcuu. Fame theref(H% would seem to appertain not solely to the able or the greait. To gratify curloBity respecting one so mudi talked <A, who retained his sway to a patriarchal age, there appeared, on the 14th of October, 1762, "The Life of Richard Nash, Esq., late Master of the Cereraomes at Bath. Extracted prmc^ially from hie original Papers.
- Non ego paucii
Offendar mscnlis. Hok,"
Notwithstanding the nunperoua stcries told of this gentleman, some address was required to make oat a respectable volume, the facte com- municated being few, and even these considered
DOS
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4(H UFG OF aOLDSUITH.
to be in want of a guarantee of authenticity, which the publisher found it expedient to give. " We have the permission of George Scott, Esq. (who kindly undertook to settle the afiairs of Mr. Nash for the benefit of his family and creditors), to assure the public that aU the papers found in the custody of Mr. Nash, which any ways respected his life, and were thought interesting to the public, were commu- nicated to the editor of this volume ; so that the reader will at least have the satisfaction of perusing an account that is genuine, and not the work of ima- gination, as biographical writings too commonly are.'* Among the papers thus said to be given is a long communication on the destructive vice of gaming, supposed to be written by a correspondent of Nash, but more probably by the editor, whose ad- monitions on the subject are impressive ; one or two letters by the Duchess oi Marlborough and Pope i and the history of a young lady apparently well known at the time, who terminated a life some- what equivocal by suicide. The reflections are numerous and ingenious j said indeed to con- stitute the chief part of a book, tbe whole of which indicated a practised hand. By some it was said to have been written in imitation of Johnson's Life of Savage ; but of this there is no other trace or resemblance than that Goldsmith, like Johnson, tried how much could be made out of slender materials by a skilful workman. Savage, however, was ft poet whose writings, imprudences, and Inrth,
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BEAU HABH. 405
afforded themes to discuss, follies to lament, and miefortimes to commiserate : Nash could but boast of being a mere arbiter iiteptiarum, whose highest effi>rt of mind was a jest, and engaged in occupations too trifling for serious description. With such opposite subjects to treat, no compe- tition could exist between the authors. By a me- morandum among Newbery's papers, it appears that Johnson had curiosity enough to purchase the book though we have no record of his opinion ; and early in December it reached a second edition.
Among his critics was Lloyd, then editor of the St. James's Magazine, who thus adverts to its want of incident:— " If the good-natured editor did not step in upon all occasions, the public must have been contented with a pamphlet instead of a book." But an imputation contained in the volume upon Quin, the actor, who had retired from the stage and resided in Bath, formed the subject of sharper strictures, either from the pen of the critic or one of his correspondents. Among the allied papers of Nash were found a letter, wretch- edly spelt, said to be written by Qiiin to a noble- man soliciting his assistance in the design of supplanting the Master of the Ceremonies in his situation, which letter through some means had been communicated to the object of the supposed plot by being found in his possession ; it was no doubt one of those vutgar deceptions called a hoax, played off upon Nash as a source of annoyance, for though aged and irritable, he was still assuming
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406 LIFE OF QOLDSHITH.
and vain. In the Magazine instead of being viewed in this light, it was dwelt npon as a ca- lunmy of the bic^apher upon the actor ; and in addition to other aDimadTerBions, produced an epigram rather more ahusiTe than severe, which as the war of wits forms a fruitful source of amusement to all but the combatants, is sabjoiiied for that of the reader."
Hia own estimate of the value of his labours, as exhibited in the pre&ce and introductory re- marks, is sufficiently moderate : the; exhibit his usual ingenuity in making a graceful apology for introducing what he knew to be a trifling subject Few who DOW read this volume, and it is some, times taken up by such as search for anecdotes of the past 'aget, are aware of Goldsmith being the author ; the fact though known soon after publi- caticHi and mentioned by contemporaries, seems,
* " To Ihe Editor of Nath's lAfe. " Think'st thou th&t Quin, whose parts and vit Might any ttatiofi grace. Could e'en bu^ ribald stuff hare writ. Or wish'd for Nash's place ? " With scorn ve read thy senseless trash. And see th; toothless grin, Vfflr Quia no moM could sink to Nash, Ilan thou cuurt riei to Quo."
f The BBbject vas lately draiiatiBed vilb sone degree of auoceaa by Hr. Jeittdd : he was not aware pMbably of the mi- thority to whom he was obliged. A book appeared a year or two after the Life, called " Nash's Jests," in which (Goldsmith had no share. The eompiter, from a Biemorandam of Newbety, seens to have been Mr. Griffith Jouea.
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ALLEGED UTERART INDOLENCE. 407
like others of his labours to be nearly obliterated from recollection. Five weeks are reported to bare been spent on the composition ; and if we consider the ingenuity demanded to make a readable book on such a subject, and the trouble of even tran- scribing two hundred and forty octaro pages, he woi;ld appear by the following, to have been very poorly remunerated. By the date, it seems to have been given in advance.
" Received from Mr. Newbery at difierent times, and for which gave receipts, fourteen guineas, which is in full for the copy of the Life of Mr. Nash.
" Oliver Ooldshith.
"Man* 5, 1762."
By the preceding account, we discover that he did not want diligence ; and as much of bis future lifo exhibits similar struggles of labour with neces- sity, the accusation of idleness sometimes urged against him will appear to be undeserved. A charge of this kind applied to a literary man, and it is one of irequent occurrence, is not always easy, how- ever unjust it may be in itself to rebut. His moments of relaxation commonly admit of general notice ; while those of study, of intense perhaps and long-continued meditation, are necessarily un- seen ; the amusement of an hour by such as judge hastily, may be exaggerated into the neg- ligence of a day ; and those to whom he has in- curred pecuniary obligation and who impatiently look for repayment, are prone perhaps to consider
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408 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
as an idler him who is simply a debtor. Yet mental labour as much more exhausting than bodily, requires proportionate indulgence : the rest of a night fits the labourer or mechanic for the occupa- tions of the following day ; but months may be requisite to restore tone and vigour to the mind exhausted in the completion of a literary perform- ance.
The illness alluded to in the note regarding Plutarch and other attacks which it appears he had previously experienced, arose from a painful disease brought on by constant application to bis desk. To escape this drudgery, short excursions were made into the country whenever an interval of leisure permitted : Tunbridge and Bath were among his favourite places of resort ; and sometimes lodgings were taken a short distance from London, where when not required for the necessary duty of correcting the press, he could work undis- turbed for short periods. One of these in I76O and 1761 was remembered to be in the viUage of Orpington in Kent, where some lines said to be written on the window of a cottage he fre- quented, and which appeared in the British Maga- zine, were, it cannot now be known with what truth, attributed to him.* A similar efiiision of his genius
* " SU<p, traveller; aod thoagh witbiii
Nor gold Dor glittermg gems are seen.
To strike tlie raruh'd eye. Yet enter, and thy well-pJeased mind. Beneath thii humble roof shaU find.
What gold can never bay.
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TRANSLATION OF VOLTAIRE's WORKS. 409
or whim was mentioned b; tbe late Sir George Beaumont, as having been left at a villofife inn when travelling in Leicestershire, but the name of the place as well as the lines were forgotten.
A translation of the works of Volture com- menced in 1761, and continued monthly for about two years, under the names of Smollett, the Rev. Dr. Francklin and others, and of which Newbery was one of the proprietors, was supposed to have given occasional occupation to Goldsmith. No proof of this however has been found : the papers of that publisher state the price paid for the trans- lation to be two guineas per sheet ; and in giving the expenses of each volume for the information of the partners, the entry simply is without giving names, " Author ^l. ;'* varying according to the size of tbe volume to 26A and 27/. The work is still met with in the shops, and a slight inspection sufficiently proves he did not write the preface, which is deficient in the usual characteristics of his manner. The writings of such an author as Voltaire were probably thought capable of recom- mending themselves.
A more certain depository of his occasional con- tribuUous appears to have been another monthly
"Within this uUtary cell. Calm tlionght and iveet costentment dwell,
Parents of bliia aincere ; Peace jspreoda abnwd her balmy wings. And, bsnisti'd from tbe court of kings. Has fiz'd ber mansion bere."
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410 LIPB OF GOLDSMITH.
puUication of Newbery, " The Christian's Maga- zine," edited at this time or Boon afterward by the unfortunate Dr. Dodd, several of whose letters connected with it are still in e^tence.* What
* VuioDB memorandnms of their accoimtB, beiides the aab- joined, exist, from which it appeared that Beren guineas was the sum KCCSTed bj Dr. Dodd for each number of the Magaziiie.
'"Hie Ber. Mr. Dodd's tcnioat. 15 Tfos. Hagaziiu, at {£7 7 0 £110 5 0
2 Supplements.... at 4 4 0 6 8 0
118 13 0 125 Viuton, $«. -. at 0 6 0 37 10 0
£ISG 3 0 Stated Augnst 21st, 1761. Jno. Newbery
Paid draft! aClSS 0 0
BytheaboTC 156 3 0
Due to J. N. ... 3626 17 0 A few letters of this derer but unhappy man, connected with this HsgoziDe and other literary designs or engagements, may not be without interest for the reader. The first appears to have been written in 1764, and they indicate the existence of those pecomary difficulties to which his lamentable end is to Ife attributed.
"Dbab Sir,
'* It gave me very senuble concern to hear you was so in- difibrent. I wish by consultiug your friends in the physiea] way, you could meet with some relief.
"With respect to Dr. Lowth's Prelections, I have mcHre to say to you when we meet, which I iutpe will be soon, as we come to town on Kdday ; when, or any day you please, 1 dull be glad to see you at the chafdfin's table, or at our house next door to the royal Jelly House, Pall Mall. As to Sir Roger, I repeat again what I said at first, that if you can make any thing out (rf it, it LB quite at your diqiosaL I should be glad you would
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christian's HAOAZINB. 411
description of pieces were supplied hj him at this time we have no means of ascertaining, probably
take it wholly aiider yotu muugement, tliat I mig^t hear no more of it, but u conducted by 700 ; and if you ahoidd lilu the propoBBl, the papetBt acheme, && are all at yonr aorice for one hnodred pounds ; for which aum I will entirely give it qp, and wish it may be rendered naefnt and profitable to yon. I sm really — >i«™Hi to be ao troubleaome to you, but upon my re- moval, I am a little atraitened ; and should not the ^>oTe pro- posal be acceptable, ahonld esteem myself greatly obliged to you for 368O { which if I do not work out from the things already done (fix ChriBtian Behgion Vindicated, ftc.) I ahould be glad to give you a note for, or a Bible, or any other acooont. If yon can oblige me, I will draw by Mr. Perchard in ten daya afterlight.
" Pray what do yon think ot my em|doying Bfr. Butler, in translating tlie lives of the modem {rfiiloBc^ihen by Ssvarien T I believe it will come into 2 ykAi. 8vo. I should be glad, tba^ in advertisiag the Christiaa'a Hag. this mouth, it might be said. ' In the Christian's Mag. for this month a translation is given of the learned Professor QoSmau's celebiated TieatiBe coneeming lengthening the lives of Student* by Regimtn.' Mn. Dodd begs her eomplimeots to Mn. Newbery, and will be glad to see her in PaU Mall.
" I am ever youra, " West Ham. Oet. 28. *- W. Bodd.
" I sbonld be ^ad of an answer as soon as is convenient."
"Dear Sir, " I have drawn oa usual for j622, and mnat now request of you and the partoers in the Bible that you will be so obliging as to answa that draft for a £\WS, which you was so good aa to accept iae me. After this I will trouble you and them no more on the Bible account till the eoA of the year, and there- feoK I hope you will not judge my request unteasonable. I should be glad you would send me word, whedwr you would have Mr. B. proeeed on Berbelot : that if you think it will not answw we may en^loy him at leisare hours in something more
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41S LIFE OP GOLDSMITH.
moral stories and serious ossays appropriate to the work ^ but id the following year he famished
likely to succeed, and it would be a fsTOUT if you could think of any such work. Be bo good u to order your people to find me the Tolomes of fiufibn, when it ib convenieat. And when , yoor aearch into oar laboriouB joumsla ie finished, please to letom thran to, dear Sir,
" Your very sincere and obliged friend,
"W, DODD.
"Test Ham, April 6. 1765. *< Oct. 31.1 76S. One month to Perchard, j£80 0 0."
"DiAR Sir, " I hare expected often the pleasure of seeing you, but how haTe I been disappointed 1 Surely you and Mrs. Newbery must hare mistaken something, and if so we are sorry, and desire to make amends, or we should ha?e seen some of you in Pall MaU. I have drawn 14 days after date for ^26. As life is uncertain with UB both, I should be glad to settle some books, &c. had OD my own account (not the Magaxine) from your shop : I know not what they may come lo ; but if you please, I will ass^ to you the property of the Refleetions on Death and the Truth of the Chrulian Religion, and give mntual receipts on both â– ides. If not, as shall be most agreeable to yon. I am, " Dear Sir,
" Very sincerely yours, " W. D. •'PaBMall, Jan. 27. 1766."
" DxAs SiK, " I shonld be the last mas in the world to wish you to carry on any thing to your prejudice, and therefore must acquiesce in what yon have said respecting the Christian's Haganne; but I could hare wished that it had been dropped in a less abrupt manner, or that you had been pleased to hare g^ren me more time to hare conanlted about it ; ae I Bhonld be extremely happy to continue it if I could, as I had great pleasure in the work ; or at least, I ooold hare wished to hare seen diis volume
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CHRISTIANS MAGAZINE.
two or more translationa, which will be noticed ia the proper place. Griffith Jones, it appears, corn-
completed. I have tlierefofe onlj to request of 70D, that yon will undertake the publication of the tinmber for this month, for vhich I ua bo fsr &om deniing any thing on my own part, that I will very readily pay yon any bahmce of loaa on the aale, and for the fatare, I will give yon no more troable concerning it. I once before mentioned, that there being an account standing between ub for boolu, Sk. I should be extremely glad for botii our sakes to have it settled; and I mentioned that if you judged it right, I was willing to give you a receipt in foil for the copies you have had of mine, and to receive the same from your hands. I am very sorry to hear your gouty com- plaint is still so troublesome to yon : it will give me great pleasure to find you are better ; for there ia nobody who wishes yonr welfitre more truly than
"Dear Sir,
"Tonrs affectionately,
"W.DODD.
" Sonthamptoii Sow,
14th July, 1767." Mr, John Newbery had died in the interval between the above and the foQowing.
" Dr. Dodd's compUments to Mr. T. Newbery. He is a little surprised at seeing the Christian's Magazine advertised as printed/or the author; which he begs may be altered, as it was published upon the plan of the rest, by the appointment, and at the desire of the late Mr. Newbery ; and who also, contrary to Dr. Dodd's opinion, chose to make it Is. price. " Southampton Bow, 2d Feb. 1768."
"Southampton Bow, 6th Jan. 1769.
"Sir,
"Ton recnve some books by the bearer, of which those
marked with a X were had for the general business of the
Magazine, and were to be returned ; for the rest, they are
what I can find out of the number had for the current busineBs
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LIFE OK GOLDSMITH.
piled the monthly compendium of miscellaneous intelligence for the veiy moderate remuneration of a guinea each number.
Toward the end of the year he contemplated a popular compilation on Philosophy, induced by the persuasions of his indefatigable employer, who perceived that such works, when tolerably well executed foxmd a ready reception from the in- quiring spirit oi the age. He had previously re- vised there is reason to believe, some works on this subject by Martin, a philosophical instrument-
of the vorlci which certainly are my property, — if each pro- perty WCTe vorth the claiming, — and for vliich I do not confer myself aa at aD accoiuitable. However, what I hare retained are at your aerrice, to make the best of them. Some othWB mentioned in your acGoant were returned long ago : thoae which belong to my own account. I have marked with red ink. Mr. Bnder, no more than myaelf, remembers any thing of a meaaage forbidding the publication of " 7%e Tmth of Ckristiamty." Nay, I do venture poaitively to declare, that no inch meisage waa ever aent by me or my order : and in thta atate of thi^:s I repeat, what I before offered, and that I am wiDing, in order to save tTQuble on both udes, to ^ve and take a receipt in fall ; that ia f«i lay, these books b^g retomed to me, which I now send, be they valued as they may, and the set of Si^im't bdng made up complete so fiu as yoa hare them. I cannot help obaerving what I did before, that the books tbroaghont the accoant are all very highly charged, and cer- tainly beyond their worth. I shall be very ready to onite in any undertaking which mi^ render your interest in the Chris- tian's Magazine more important ; and shall be glad at all times to show my great regn-d for my late friend Mr. Newbery, by any means in my tittle power. I am. Sir,
" Vonr very humble aervant,
•■W, DODD."
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COMPILATION OK PHILOSOPHT. 415
maker of Fleet Street; and though necessarily deficient in practical acquaintance Trith such Bub- jects, conceived himself theoretically at least not uninformed. The chief facts, were meant to be drawn from the most recent and competent sources, while much was anticipated in description and mode of arrangement from the taste and genius of the compiler. To prepare for the undertaking a course of philosophical reading was commenced, and various additions made to his library with the same view, so that however defective such cheap compendiuma of knowledge may be, more diligence is oflen need in the getting them up than their compilers receive credit for from the learned. The fruits of these studies will he here- after noticed; for the present they made little progress in consequence of other and more at- tractive employment of an historic^ nature. New- herfs memorandum of the books now supplied to him in order to furnish part of the necessary information is as follows : — "Not. 25, 1762.
"Lest Dr. Odidamlth. 1 Martin's Philosophy, 3 tola. 8to. 1 Kiel'a Introduction. 1 Macquart'e Chemiatiy, 3 vols. French. I Encycli^Hedio, 8 vols, folio. French. 1 Chinese Letten. French. 1 Persian Ditto.
1 Pembertou's Vievs of Nevton'a Philosophy. 1 Hale's Vegetable Statics, 2 vols. &ro. 1 Pei^Bon's Astronomy, 4to. 1 Bnffon'a Natural History, 9 vols. 4to. 1 The Origin of Lavs, Arts, and Sciencea, 3 vola. 8to. Edin-
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416 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
Ready as we find him upon such a variety of subjects^ it may be doubted considering tbe man- ner in which literature was then remunerated, whether the amount of money received formed even a tolerable income. He boasted on one occasion of being able to make four guineas by the labour of a day : this may have been true, as such sums were occasionally pud for pref&ces, and introductions that might have been thrown off within that time. Authors perhaps desire even when not strictly authorised by &ct, to have the reputation of large sums affixed to their produc- tions ; and the desire is not less strong in those of the present day than in the past Publishers like- wise form an interested party in such statements, for while the vanity of the one is flattOTed, the property of the other is thought to be enhanced, as that is necessarily inferred to be good, the cost of which has been great. Yet if these irepresentations were always correct, we should scarcely find those who afford currency to such rumours furnishing proo& in their conduct or their complaints of frequently sufiering under the evils of an unprofitable pro-
It may be a source of curiosity therefore to trace his income as far as can be ascertained, during this year of acknowledged industry. The pamphlet on the Cock Lane Ghost as appears was three guineas ; the history of Mecklenburgh if he were actually the author, may be estimated by the value of other works at twenty pounds ; revising the Art
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LITERARY REMUNERATION. 417
of Poetry, ten pounds ; seven volames of Plutarch, fortf-five pounds ; Citizen of the Woiid, probably ten or fifteen pounds ; five sheets of the History of England, two guineas ; Life of Nash, fourteen guiueas; occasional pieces, such as Essays, Pre> feces, and Criticisme, perhaps twenty pounds ; making together less than one hundred and twenty pounds. Whoi we consider the time required for these Tarious works, it is not probable he could have written any thing of momeiit for another publisher ; and there is little doubt, as we find in the instance of Collyer, that he occasionally p^d for assistance. With this deduction from small means there might still be something left for a strict economist, though little to gratify the pride of literature ; luid in all the labours of the year there was nothing conducive in any d^ree to &me. Yet without some latent hope of futurity having better prospects in store,— the vague though en- oouraging imfHressitm that at a more fevourable moment genius would take wing in noUer and more enduring flights, — who would devote himself to drudgery like this, at once constaqt, solitary, and ill requited ?
Occasionally we find him mingling in .scenes of amusement, or pursuing objects of popular curio- sity; frequently as we may believe from his remarks in order to turn them in some way to account One of these, in the summer of 1762, was the Cherokee chie& then in London, and sought after eagerly by the inquisitive and idle ; a visit to whom
VOL. I. BE
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418 LIFE OF GOLD8HITB.
gave ori^n to a humorous story told by Derrick, well known by his poems and letters, and once master of the ceremonies at Bath. Having made a present of some trifle to one of the Indians during the interview, the latter, delighted with the gift, and remembering one of die European modes of endearment, stooped and embraced Goldsmith with so much cordiality as to leave behind part of the red ochre with which he was plentiftiUy bedaubed, upon his face, and being seen in this state, waa teased by the wags of his acqiiaintance with using rouge.
The philosophical use made of this interview exhibits the readiness with which a trifling inci< dent is turned to the purpose of illustrating one of the leading passions of human nature, whether dvi- liaed or savage, the desire for dress and ornament. " I remember," he says, " when the Cherokee kings were over here, that I have waited for three hours daring the time they were dressing. They never would venture to make their appearance till they had gone through the tedious ceremonies of the toilet : they had their boxes of oil and oclir^ their fat and their perftimes, like the most effemi- nate beau, and generally took up four hours in dressing before they considered themselves as fit to be seen. We must -not therefore consider deli- cacy in point of dress as a mark 6i refinement. since savages are much more difficult in this par- ticular, than the most fashionable or tawdry Euro-
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ROBIN ROOD SOCIETY. 4>19
pean. The more barbarous the people, the fonder of finery." •
One of the scenes whither he was led, for occasional amusement more perhaps than it was Toluntarilj sought, was the well-known debating society of the Robin Hood, held at a house of that name in Butcher Row, whither it had been removed from the Essex Head, in Essex Street in th^ Strand, about 1747. The payment of six- pence formed the only requisite for admission, three hal^ience of which were said to be put apart for purposes of charity. Monday evening was the period of meeting : the aimual number of visitoni averaged about 5,000: a gilt chair indi- cated the presiding authority ; and all queetions, not excepting religion and polidcs, were open to discussion on being jH^riously entered in a book kept for that purpose. Such a privilege on topiu on whidi men never have and probably never will agree, as may be nippoeed in such miscelleneous assemblages, was abused. On religious matters particularly, blasphemous notions were frequoitly broached, which, however open to refutation, and they were refuted and have always been refuted as often as advanced, produced injury to the minds of the class of persons, frequently illiterate or half-informed, who formed the majority of the auditors. In poisons of the mind, as in those of
* Animated Nttnre, vol. ii. p. 97- Sto. Lond. 1774.
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4S0 LIFE OF QOLDSHITH.
the body, the antidote cannot wholly eradicate the evil ; and the wise will not willingly expose them> selves to the one in order to test the efficacy of the other. At length these discnssions were pronounced by many persons a public nuisance ; and several of the clergy, among whom was the eminent Mr. Ro- maine, thought proper to stigmatise them in their addresses from the pulpit.
The president, who is said to have checked this sjnrit when in his power, was a Mr. Caleb Jeacocke, who united the trades of baker and accomptant; and being possessed of considerable native acatoMss and vigour of mind« a smattering of knowledge on popular topics, and fair character, promised by the early tenure and long possession of authority, and his superiority over others in his own station in life, to become perpetual dictator. He was fond of the office, though gratuitous ; — had sufficient enei^ of character to keep his motley audience sometimes in order ; and frequently qnitUng the character of moderator, joined in the discussion in order to prove his claim to power. Here young men at- tached to the liberal professions, incipient debaters, and others, resorted as to a place of intellectual exercise ; sometimes to listen to, sometimes to uiswer, the " eloquent baker." It was on one of these occasions that Goldsmith, aft«r hearing him give iittertince to a train of strong and ingenious reasoning, involuntarily exclaimed, " That man was meant by nature for a lord chancellor." A witti- cism nov «lale from frequent repetition, is said
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ROBIN HOOD SOCIETY. 431
to have originated on this occasion. The remark was addressed to Derrick ; who, after a moment's pause, replied in allusion to bis occupation, " No, no, not so high ; he was only intended for master of the rolls." He became, however, after laying down his hammer as president of the Robin Hood Society, a magistrate, and, as is said, a useful one, for the county of Middlesex.
It appears, if we are to believe an account of this debating assemblage published soon afterward, that Goldsmith occasionally took part in the discussions ; on what subjects does not appear : hut from a degree of diffidence which rendered him easily liable to be disconcerted, we may believe the occasions were not numerous. Among notices of the frequenters of the meeting we find the following &vourabIe sketch of him: —
("Jfr. <?••(/• "M.)
"A man of learning and judgment : author of * An Enquiry into the modem State of Literature in Europe,' and many other ingenious works ; a good orator and candid disputant, with a clear head and an honest heart. He comes but seldom to the sociehf."*
One of the strange characters among whom he was thrown here and in other places, in consequence of professing attachment to letters though now en- joying a different and unenviable notoriety, was
* Hiitcry of tlie Bobin Hood Society. ISmo. Lond. 1764.
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422 LIFE OF eOLDSMlTB.
Mr. Peter Asoet. He had been brought up to the profession c^ mediGine, one which to a wise and reflecting man offers peculiar opportunities of viewing in the structure of his species abundant evidences of the power and glory of his Creator ; but which by the shallow and presumptuous is sometimes made a source of doubt ; because as they find matter only under the dissecting knife, and not spirit, they are tempted to conclude its ex- istence questionable, or in other words countenance materialism ; a class of philosophers to whom the description of Burke in speaking' of narrow-minded politicians so strongly applies ; men who understand and value nothing ** but what they can measure with a two-foot rule, what they can tell up(Hi ten fingers." Annet was of this order ^ and pushing his doc- trine to its natural results, not only professed dis- belief of Christianity but exhibited the zeal of a fenatic in propagating his tenets. He had bat few pretensions to literature and wrote nothing which deserves to be remembered. The press, however, being made the medium of assailing the reli- gion of his country, the law interposed ; and being convicted of blasphemy, he was sentenced to im- prisonment and the pillory, — the latter being twice carried into execution toward the end of Decem- ber 1762.
While in prison, where Archbishop Seeker re- lieved the wants of the man while he remonstrated against the tenets of the unbeliever, he employed himself in writing agnail work on Grammar. When
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PETER ANNET. 4%9
finished. Goldsmith was requested to recommend it to Newbery, which was readily done, being un- objectionable in its nature; and to conclude the bargain in person, he carried the bookseller to the King's Bench prison. A sum was ofiered some- thing more than had been expected by the author, who oat of gratitude immediately volunteered a dedication, and as a further recommendation of the work in his own opinion, decided to put his name to it. Newbery, for obvious reasons, hesiteted to accept this ofBsr; the author strongly reiterated his fancied generosity ; when at Iragth it became necessary to hint, that the name of a gentleman subjected to the pillory for insults to the religi(m of his country placed in the titl&page of a book chiefly intended for youth, would effectually mar its circulation. The remark roused his pride; in vain the force of the objection was delicately urged ; he became angry, and swore that no book- seller who was ashamed of his name should have a book of his to publish. The reply of the latter was, that he had some reputetion to lose, if Mr. Annet had none ; and wishing him good morn- ing, left the self-willed author to find another purchaser.
Uoyd, the poet, who adds another to the list of those known as much for their irregularities as their genius, was likewise among his acquaintance: it is said to have commenced in an unusual manner, — whether previous to the criticism on Nash's liie is doubtful; but the term "good-natured editor"
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4iS4 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
nsed in it implied sofiScient knowledge of his person or character. The story was told by Mr. Cooke, and warrants the proprie^ of the appellaticn used by Lloyd as to bis easiness of temper. - While sitting in the Chapter Coffee-house, Gold- smith, who had been recently ill, was accosted by a stranger with inqairies after his health ; and evincing the surprise and hesitation natural on the occasion, the inquirer proceeded to introduce him- self. " You will pardon my ahrnptnesa ; my name is Lloyd ; you are Dr. Goldsmith : as literary men, lamiliar to each other by name, we ought to be acquainted } and as I have a few Jriends to supper here this evening, let me have the pleasure of your company likewise without further ceremony." The frankness of the invitation to a man of social pro- pensities, insured its acceptance : he joined the party compiled chiefly of authors, spent an agree- able evening, but when about to depart overheard a discussion between his new iriend and the land- lord, who Beemed' perfectly known to each other, implying that the one could not at that moment pay the reckoning while the other declined to give credit. The generosity of Goldsmith obviated the difficulty by guaranteeing the debt which even- tually he paid, Lloyd who had long lived by shifts and expedients caring nothing farther about the matter.
Another deception alleged to have been prao tised upon him is of a date shortly anterior to this : it is told by Sir John Hawkint^ who viewed
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KNOWLBDOE OF HDBIC. 425
Uie Poet aa he did Burke, with do favourable eye; and even if true, indicates rather simplicity of character, a good-natured acquiescence in what he did not stop to examine, or a d^ree of delicacj in chai^ng Ignorance or imposture upon the Bup> posed musician, than total ignorance of the matter in discussion. We may at least question the cor- rectness of the story in the way he tells it That Goldsmith had some though possibly alight know- ledge of music is certain. Few persons of any education blow the flute for a series of years with- out knowing a single note ; and it would only require an acquaintance with the first half dozen in the stave, to perceive the imposition attempted by his facetious acquaintance. Another reason for doubt applies (a time. Rouhiliac died after an illness of some duration, early in January 1762; the occurrence therefore must have taken place, if at all, some -months previously, when Goldsmith was perhaps scarcely of consequence enough to be made the subject of ridicule, or to have it remem- bered of him nearly thirty years afterward, when the alleged author of the trick had so long quitted the scene.
" But in truth," writes Sir John, in allusion to the performance of the Poet on the German flute, " he understood not the character in which music is written, and played on that instrument, as many of the vulgar do, merely by ear. Rouhiliac, the sculptor, a merry fellow, once heard him play, and minding to put a trick upon him, pretended to be
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496 LIFE OP OOIDSHITH.
charmed with hie performance, as also that himself was skilled in the art, and ente%ated him to repeat the air, that he might write it down. Goldsmith readily consenting, Roubiliac called for paper, and scored thereon a few five-line staves, which having done, Goldsmith proceeded to play, and Roubiliac to write -, bat his writing was only saoh random notes on the lines and spaces as any one might set down who had ever inspected a page of mnsic. Whffli they had both done, Roubiliac showed the paper to Goldsmith, who, locddng it over with seem- ing great attention, said it was very correct, and that if he had not seen him do it, he never could have believed his friend capable of writing music after
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FIRST INTERVIEW WITH BOSWELL. 437
CHAKXII.
BOSWELL. — RKBIOENCK OF (jOl
CONNECTION WITH NEWBB«T.
About this period be first became acquamted with Mr. Boswell ; an observeri whose representatitKis having had some influenqe in giving an erroneous idea of the character of the subject of these pages, their intercourse requires to be noticed more in detaiL
He had just arrived horn Scotland, warm ' with the design of seeking the society of the first wits of the metropolis ; and had already, as he tells us, found access to Wilkes, Churchill, Thornton, Lloyd, and others. His chief object of pursuit, however, was Dr. Johnson. Before this introduction could be successfolly accomplished, he met Goldsmith, one of their earliest interviews being at dinner with Mr. Thomas Davies, the hook- seller, in Russell Street, Covent Garden, toward ; the end of 176s or commencement of the follow- i ing year. Mr. Robert Dodsley was of the par^ j and a discussion arising relative to the character of modflm poetry, Groldsmith asserted that there \ was none, that is, none of superior merit, of that \ age. Dodsley appealed to his Collection (Uie well' known work in six volumes) for proo& to the can- \
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42S LIFE OP GOLDSHITH.
trary, maintaining, in his phrase, that though no palaces could he pointed out, ^uch as Dryden's Ode on St. Cecilia's Day, there were villages com- posed of very pretty houses, and ioBtanced particu- larly the poem of " The Spleen." Johnson, on heuing of the argument, gave it against Dodsley. " He and Goldsmith said the same thing," was his remark, " only he said it in a softer manner than Goldsmith did ; for he acknowledged there was no poetry, nothing that towered above the commuj nuirk."
Whether Boswell took part in the conversa- tion does not appear } but from his love of talk- ing, his youthful presumption, his desire on all occasions to exhibit such knowledge as he pos- sessed, and the popular nature of the topic, we may readily believe he was not silent } and boast- ing aa he did of the acquaintance of Churchill and his friends, he may have been induced to retail their opinions on such subjects, and uphold their claims to superiority. To this school of poetry, which had satire chiefly for its object. Goldsmith felt and expressed strong repugnance : he neither practised nor approved it; and if ha were tempted to show how defective the taste or erroneous the judgment of its admirers, would pro- bably have used little ceremony toward a presump- tuous young man, such as his new Scottish ac- quaintance would appear, possessed of np known pretensions to learning, genius, knowledge, literw ature, or experience in life. He oovld not he
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BOSVELt.. 439
supposed to discover in such a person, one who was destined eTentually to ait in judgment upon his character, and become, with a few persons not remarkable for critical taste, in some measure an arlHter of his fame. He would not hare believed, even when Boswell became more known, that his opinions of literary merit could have weight with tolerable judges, even if his personal eivilities were insincere ; or that the biography of his friend Johnson (if he «Ter positiTely knew who was to foe biographer) should be rendered the medium of wiuit resembles a species of covert hostility towards faimseU.
Boswell, from the first, seems to hi^e viewed him with no fevoivable eye; a twie of slight, meant to undervalue his powers, mingled indeed with a few sentences of regard, or a complim«it to his generous and social qualities, runs through his wcH'k, Euid has often drawn animadversion irom the higher (Hrder of literary men, who have all ex- pressed their sense of its injustice. Conjectures have been hazarded as to the cause, but the motives probably were various ; springing from a thousand trifling sources, none singly of material importance, though together sufficient to create distaste in an intercourse which seems never to have reached the ptnnt of absolute friendship.
Jealousy of the regard of Johnson formed no doubt one of the chief reasons ; a feeling which had not ceased to operate when there was no longer cause (or apprehension. Viewing the great
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430 LIFE OP OOtDSHlTH.
moralist as a kind of prop^y which others woald descend to the same ohsequiousDess as himself to secure, Boswell scarcely helie-red there were a class of men who, fi*om higher spirit or the higher place they held in public esteem, shrunk from submis- sions that DO private man, however eminent or estimable, had a right to exact, but which it suited his views or disposition to render.' Wanting a strong tone of independence of mind himself, he made little ^owanoe for its existence in others. He &ncied, therefore, a dangerous rival in Gold- smith ; a man of various genius, who stood high in esteem with the object of their common solicitude, who was much in his society, and who haring no domestic ties requiring hi^ presmce, might be sap- posed to pay him a less divided attenti(m. On the other hand, Goldemitli thought, and there is no doubt expressed to several common friends, that Johnson gave too much (tf his time to Boswell, who he considered had no claim to it, either by high conversational powers, or the possession of acknow- ledged literary talents.
The querulous feeling of the biographer breaks out without concealment in the following amusing instance, and it marks likewise his presumption ; for having at this time a very slight acquaintance with Dr. Johnson, he had no claim for admission to his moments of privacy, or jtast cause to envy another, who from previous intimacy enjoyed this mark of fhvour. They had been supping together (July 1st, 1763,) at the Mitre, when Johnson, who often thus
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BOSWELL. 431
inrerted the usual order of repasts, quitted the ta- vern to drink tea with Miss Williams, his blind pen- sioner, without inviting Boswell to join the party. "Dr. Goldsmith," says the latter, "being a pri- vileged man, went with him this night, strutting away and c^ng to me with an air of superiority like that of an esoterick over that of an exoterick disciple of a sage of antiquity, ' I go to Miss Wil- liams.' I CDi^QSS I then envied him this migh^ privilege, of which he seemed so proud ; but it was not long before I obtained the same mark of dis- tinction."
Tbe period at which they met, and the relative sitnation of the parties, may have had weight in abating the admiration of Boswell for his Irish acquaintance. Young at the time, well bom, with a high opinion o( himself^ and with a competent inheritance, he found the latter on their first meeting merely an author, possessing no distin- gnishing superiorify, or who at least had not reached that point of celebrity which be felt hound to worship ; he saw him, indeed, emerge speedily into notice, ascend every year higher in estimaticHi, and at length attain the first reputation ; but the merit which he had failed at first to diBcover he appeared scarcely ever after freely to admit.
There are persons willing to render homage to such as are already at the sommit of fame, who cannot extend the same degree of applause to those who acquire it under their eye, and whose pro-
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4S!€ LIFE OF nOLDSHITH.
gross tfaey have had the means of traciDg step bj step. We frequently see men who rise from ob- scurity to eminence little thought of by those who started in life as their equals ; the privations, trials, and difficulties of the ascent, far from enhancing their merit in the eyes of such, seem to diminish it, or if admitted, it is with sundry deductions and qnalifieations. We seem to like to have our admi- ration taken by surprise. A meridian sun over- powers many with its s{dendour, who perceive little in the subdued beauty of its rise.
The mind of Boswell, obviously not of the most delicate or disinterested texture, influenced his conduct md (pinions. In ^irit he was, and aimed to be, a man of the world. In Goldsmith he saw qualities of an opposite kind, a thou^Uessness in discourse not uncommon with men of original powers*, an occasional effusion of vanity, oddities of conduct or address, and a simplicity of character, which as varying from the conventional standard,
* Mr. D'braeH hu happily tondi^ on tbia frequent eiaxpcter- iadc of tlie nee of which he treata : —
•> One peculiar trait in the converaatioiu of men of genina which haa often injured tliem when the Ustenera were not indmately acquainted with the man, are certain aporta of a vacant mind ; a andden impolae to throw out opiniona and take viewB of things in aome hnmoor of the moment. Extravagant paradoxea and fidae opiniona are ca&ghtnpby the humbler proaera; end the Fhiliatinea are thui enisled to trum^ over the strong and g^ei man, becanee in the boor of oonfideuce, and in the abandonment of the mind, he laid bia bead in their iap, and taught them how be might be ahorn of bia atrength." — T^ IdUraty Character iOMtrated, pp. 120, 121, 8to. 1818.
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he thought denoted a. decree of inferiority. On no better foundation than this, men hackneyed in the ways of life often assume superiority over the recluse scholar, with whom in genius or acquire* ments they admit of no comparison. Peculiarities floating upon the surface of character they keenly see i qualities which command sincere admiration may lie beneath, but they have neither taste for the search, nor disposition to value them when found. There is no severer, or more unfit judge of a man of genius than what is called a man of the world.
Another cause of distaste towards Goldsmith is conjectured to have been envy of his literary suc- cess. As this usually implies a d^ree of rivalry in the same spirit, it is difficult to conceive how Boswell could so far mistake his own powers ; but the notice of Johnson, a general acquaintance with men who had acquired eminence by the cultiva- tion of letters, the success of his volume on Cor- sica, impressed the belief as the tone of his writings prove, that he was fitted if he thought proper, to take a respectable station in literature. Traces of discontent at the popularity of the author of the Traveller appear in various parts of his book,— as on his return from the Continent, when surprise is expressed at finding him stand so high } but the disposition to find &ult would seem to have pre- ceded even this period. On the third or fourth interview only (June ^th, I76S,) with Dr. John- son« a conversation occurred respecting Goldsmith,
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in which the former states his opinion, even then, of the promising literary character of his fiiend, and glances not less forcibly at bis foibles. We are not told what led to the obserrationa ; bat from the context it is difficult not to believe they were made in reply to comments of an unfavourable kind proceeding from Boswell : — " Dr. Gold- Bmith," said the moralist, " is one of the first men we now have as an author, and he is a very worthy man too. He has been loose in his prin- ciples, bnt he is coming right."
In the tour to the Hebrides many years after- wards, an anecdote transpires, which seems as if he had been brooding oyer the fitme of Goldsmith in no friendly mood, deeming it lightly acquired, or not wholly deserved. After parting with some military officers, and remarking how little of fame or money the majority acquired by service, he in- troduces the Poet's name in the following manner^ though unconnected with the persons or subject I before them : — "Boswell. Goldsmith has acquired ' more fame than all the officers last war who were not generals. Johnson. Why, Sir, you will find ten thousand fit to do what they did, before you find one who does what Goldsmith has done. You must consider that a thing is valued accord- ing to its rarity. A pebble that paves the street is in itself more useful than the diamond upon a lady's finger."
Apprehension of superseding him in the office of bi(^;rapber formed at one period no doubt a cause
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of jealousy ; for having early appropriated this character to himself, all who dared to intrude upon it were viewed with distrust and aversion. He never forgave, as his pages evince, the partial in- trusion upon what he deemed his province, by Sir John Hawkins and Mrs. Piozzi. When the latter, as Mrs. Thrale, inquired of Johnson who was likely to be his biographer, and suggested Goldsmith, the reply was that he no doubt would do it best. Such an intimation conveyed to Bos* well was sufficient to sour bis constitutional good humour ; for he doubtless heard of what, among the friends of Johnson, was likely to form an occa- sional subject of discussion.
To these causes of dissatisfaction may be added the probable knowledge that Goldsmith thought lightly of certain points of his character as well as of his literary pretensions. Mr. Wilkes shortly after the publication of the biography of Dr. John- son, told several anecdotes of the latter during a convivial evening spent in the house of an alder- man in the city, in the course of which Boswell's name frequently occurred. Some one sitting near, and thinking probably to gratify the distaste of the once fiery patriot to the natives of Scotland, ob- served that the biographer had shown himself hy his own account " a sneaking Scotchman." " I do not think so badly of Boswell," replied Wilkes : "he can be an honest fellow. Goldsmith's de- scription of him was the best. Some one under momentary irritation, I forget now on what occa- rr3
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sion, called him a ' Scotch car.' ' No, no,' re- plied Goldsmith playing upon the word, ' you are too severe } he is merely a Scotch bur.* Tom Davies threw him at Johnson in sport, and he has the faculty of sticking.' "t
Wilkes likewise said on this and on other occa- sions, that he had heard Goldsmith treat Boswell's opinions on literary matters in conversation very cavalierly, and frequently over-rule them. The same remark was made by the late Mr. English, who is believed to have had it from Burke with whom he was in frequent communicatioD } on one occasion particularly, in discussing a question con- nected with old English ballad poetry. Goldsmith told him "he knew nothing about it." It will hereafter be seen that he ridiculed some of his verses written for the Edinburgh theatre.
Some degree of offence may have been given by jests upon Scotland. Goldsmith during his sojourn there had not been placed in the best situation for observing the manners of the people ; hut such peculiarities as he saw, and which he dashed pro- bably like most wits with a portion of caricature in description, furnished matter for several ludi- crous stories told not without humour. Boswell, however forced on such occasions to listen to tbe sarcasms of Johnson, felt indisposed to submit to
* The prickly h«ad of the burdock.
t Belated hj Uie late Hr. Wh^Ie, veil known in the dt? of London by his connexion with the press and atro^le irith the House of Commoni during the nwyoralty of Wilke*.
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the wit of Goldsmith ; and in his volumes alludes to these attacks in a spirit akin to ill humour not usual with him.
When we examine the passages in the Life of Johnson, where the hiographer, noticing the Irish poet, gives us his own opinion of him, little diffi- culty will he found in furnishing an answer where specific censure is advanced.
" No man," says Boswell, " had the art of dio- playing with more advantage as a writer what- ever literary acquisitions he made. *Nifdl quod tetigit non omavit.* His mind resembled a fertile but thin soil. There was a quick but not a strong vegetation of whatever chanced to be thrown upon it No deep root could be struck. The oak of the forest did not grow there ; but the eleganc shrubbery and the ft'agrant parterre appeared in gay succession."
Vague and metaphorical depreciation such as this, whether his own or borrowed, as is supposed, from the phraseology of Johnson, means any thing or nothing at the pleasure of the writer ; it imparts no definite idea of him whom it attempts to de- scribe -, conveys no estimate of the character of his productions, of his excellencies or defects ; of the nature, variety, or use made of his intellectual powers : omit the name of Goldsmith, and similar terms may ftpply with as much propriety to most of our poets. If it be meant that he was not so profoimd a thinker as Bacon or Locke, we shall be compelled to admit the same of Dryden, Pope,
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Addison, Gray, CoIUds, and many more of the same order ; of most of our dramatists, all our novelists, and in short, of the writers of all works of imaginaUon. Of them and of him we can alone judge by what they attempted. If want of moral depth, or deficient acquaintance with human na- ture, be laid to his charge, every reader may rebut the charge in a moment by taming to almost any page of hia works, and pointing oat passages and thoughts exhibiting acute, Tarious, and profoond observation. Without such powers, in addition to others, he could scarcely have guned pt^ulari^, and assuredly never would have retained it. No product of a " thin soil " can take deep root, as his productions have done, in the affectionate admira- tion of his countrymen.
The mind of an author cannot by any meta- physical refinement be disconnected from the labours Of his mind. To say therefore that the latter wants strength, as is implied by the terms used, when ite labours display richness, variety, beauty, and promise as great durability as any similar things of the century, is a contradiction in terms. No ordinary or superficial mind can taigi- nate works of fine or strong imagination. Before it can be attonpted to underrate Goldsmith, the power and beauty of poetry, of narrative fiction, and of dramatic writing, must be lowered in public opinion. By these standards he is to be tried ; by these fruits we judge of the tree j or in other words, by the teorks of gn autht»- we must judge
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of his mind. In reply, therefore, to a tone of general disparagement regarding " fertile but thin soils," we need only inquire how he stands in the opinion of the great body of the people for whom he wrote ; and here unanimous approval at ooce furnishes the answer. We may again ask. Was his sphere of exertion narrow ? This can scarcely be said of one who embraced poetry, the drama, fic- titious narrative, history, and other subjects. If it be again demanded, How on all these topics has he acquitted himself? Dr. Johnson gives the reply : — " A man," he says, " of such variety of powers, and of such felici^ of perforoiance, that he always seemed to do best that which he was doing." To attempt so many departments of liter- ature, and to succeed in no ordinary degree in all, is a merit of which no error or personal prejudice of a critic such as Boswell can deprive him ; and which might silence criticism altogether were it not doubtful, from the first clause in the preceding pas- sage, whether this variety and facility in mastering a subject, were not considered by the writer of it not fas removed from a &ult.
" He was," continues Boswell in the same spirit, " very much what the French call un Hourdi; and from vanity, and an eager desire of being conspi- cuous wherever he was, he frequently talked care- lessly, without knowledge of the subject, or even without thought."
What is here attributed to vanity and the desire of being noticed. Sir Joshua Reynolds ex^dained
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from the repeated declarations of the Poet himself who dwelt warmly on the pleasure of being liked in society, and observed how hard it was that literary reputation should preclude an author, as he had frequently remarked it did in consequence of the envy shown towards such a character, from the social regard enjoyed by other men. From this cause the Painter was convinced that the Poet often intentionally lowered his standard of thought in familiar conversation, trusting to his character being sufficiently supported by his works. Boswell questions the truth of this theory. Between these (pinions it will not bo difficult which to prefer ; the former saw him only by snatches during his visits to London, which were short and necessarily occupied on other matters ; while Reynolds, in his own house as a frequent visitor, as well as in com- pany with common friends, kept up constant inter- course for a series of years, and enjoyed more of his con6dence and esteem than any other person whatever.
In a long and interesting conversaticn of the writer of these pages with the late Mr. Northcote a few weeks before his death, he expressed him- self of the same opinion as Sir Joshua regarding Goldsmith's assumed playfulness of manners. In illustration of the ease and funiliarity he soon pro- duced even among strangers, one of his remarks on this subject, characteristic of his emphatic phraseology, may be given : — *' When Goldsmith entered a room, Sir, people who did not know him became for a moment silent from awe of his
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literary reputation ; when he came out a^in, they were riding upon his back."
The remark of the Poet upon the jealousy fre- quently evinced toward men of eminent literary merit seems based upon close obserration of human lifof and may be considered the usual tax paid by every species of superiority. Per- sons who enjoy this distinction must expect to have their demeanour narrowly observed, their pretensions questioned, and every deduction made from the amount of desert that a searching scru- tiny can discover ; and this disposition will be too often found, as the charge of Goldsmith in part implied, in their superiors in rank and station. If an example of the truth of his theory were want- ing, it was at hand. He saw Dr. Johnson, either from determination not to descend from the cus- tomary pre-eminence awarded to him by men of talent, or inability to assume those lighter graces which make their way in gay and fashionable society, practically excluded from extensive inter- course among the higher circles of life ; the phi- losopher was not disinclined to be received among the titled and the wealthy ; but no serious attempt was made to invite him thither, greatly to the discredit of the policy that neglected so warm an admirer and so powerful an advocate. The pride of talents and the pride of rank were probably thought to he too nearly upon ao equality for the latter not to lose something of dignity by frequent social collision j all his friends and companions
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were therefore found among the middling class. He saw indeed and admitted the fact, of Gold- smith whose constitutional temperament was more light and playful thap bis own, being liked in general society, but attributed it to the idea of those who entertained him believing .that on all common matters they were his superiors.
*' Those," ooDtinuee Boswell, *' who were in any way distinguished excited envy in him to so ridi- culous an excess, that the instances of it are hardly credible. When accompanying two beautiful young ladies with their mother on a tour in France, he was seriously angry that more atten- tion was paid to them than to him ; and at the exhibition of the Fantoccini in Xx)ndon, when I those who sat next him observed with what dex- I terity a puppet was made to toss a pike, he could I not bear that it should have such praise, and exclaimed, with some warmth, ' Pshaw I 1 can do it â– better myself.'"
Whatever jealousy Goldsnuth may have at any time exhibited, the instuices here adduced are both, as will be hereafter seen, untrue : they are contradicted by parties who were present ; and the former by an authority about which there can be no mistake, namely, by the lady chiefly con- cerned who has stated it in person to the present writer. Boswell, not disinclined to listen to mis- representations of one who did not stand high in his favour, gave credence to stories which being copied b)' every subsequent memoir-writer, have
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obtained a currency their improbability did not deserve. They were first, it appears, propounded as jests, a species of wit to which the Poet was frequently subjected, and assumed by repetition and the usual exa^eration attending it, something like the semhlauoe of truth. Such atiecdotes> told at first with the view of creating a laugh« become the means of permanent injury, where none feel parti- cularly interested in examining into their correct- ness,- and may long remain from this cause, as in the present instance, uncontradicted.
Were the judgment of Boswell merely in fault in the remarks he makes or the stories he recwds of an old acqnuntance, that of Dr. Johnson, bo frequently and forcibly expressed^ and to which he deferred on most other occasions, was always before him to correct an emmeous impression. In vain was it repeatedly said by the latter, that " Goldsmith was a very great man ;" or that "Goldsmith was a man who whatever he wrote did it better than any other man coald do. He deserved a place in Westminster Abbeys and every year he lived he would have deserved it better." Or again, "Take him as a poet, his Traveller is a very fine performance ; ay, and bo is his Deserted Village, were it not sometimes too much the echo o£ his Traveller. Whether, indeed, we take him as a poet, — as a comic writer, — or as an historian, — be stands in the first class.'*
These and similar commendations which the biographer repeats without venturing to question
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their justice, pass ftvm his pen in silence : he never joins in the prtuse, excepting by making an ooca- siooal admiesion that "his affections were social and generous, and when he had money he gave it liberally." He likewise confesses that though the Irish poet was prone to talk carelessly and without sufficient knowledge of the subject, his â– reputed absurdities in conversation were exag- gerated ; an impression that will occur to every reader of works in which his name or conversation is mentioned, where so fax from finding absurdity, all the specimens given us display a ready wit, pertinent observation, or such remarks as allowably fall from any one in the unreserved intercourse of 'private life.
When the publication of Johnson's Life set the surviving Mends and admirers of Goldsmith on their defence, Ij)rd Charlemont, always moderate in bis sentiments, expressed his wonder how Hos- well could make the mistake of undervaluing a vmriter of such unquestionable genius and popularity. Burke, in conversation vrith the beautiful Mrs. (afterwards Lady) Crewe, concluded some pointed animadversions with the remark, ** What rational opinion, my dear madam, could you expect a lawyer to give of a poet ?" Wilkes, who may have heard of this, improved upon it with his usual vivacity on the occasion of the city dinner mentioned . in a preceding page : — " A Scotch lawyer and an Irish poet I hold to be about as opposite as the antipodes ; if they agreed in any thing, I
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BOSWELL S OPINIONS CBNSURED. 44o
should marvel much, and least of all in forming a favourable opinion of each other." Sir Joshua Reynolds expressed dissent from Boswell's opinions even before the work appeared in print, plainly intimating to him in conTersation that he ought to take a more favoorable view of the charac- ter of their departed acquuntance than by what fell from him in private it was obvious he in- tended. George Steevens, on the same subject, once observed, in bis usual sarcastic spirit, " Why, Sir, it is not usual for a man who has much genius to be censured by one who bas none." Bishop Percy frequently in private, complained of the injustice done to his former friend. Malone, who had afterwards to edit the work in which it appeared, felt and expressed the same opinion strongly, and thus communicates it in a letter to that prelate now before the writer, dated Queen Ann Street, September SJSth, I8O7. The interpolations to which allusion is made were introduced into the memoir of Goldsmith by, as it was said, the editor employed by the publishers after they had quar- relled with the Bishop.
** I can myself, from personal knowledge, bear witness to the truth of your character of him (Goldsmith), for I never observed any of those grimaces or fooleries that the interpolator talks of j nor could £ ever assent to Lord Orford's pointed sentence, that he was 'an inspired idiot,' which was Bsid and circulated merely for the sake of the point, without any regard to just representation.
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I always made battle against Boswell's repregenta- tion of bim also in tbe Life of Johnson ; and often expressed to bim my opinion that be rated Gold- smith much too low."*
Every writer of eminence in adverting to the subject has arrived at a similar conclusion. " I wonder," says Sir Walter Scott, " why Boswell so often displays a malevolent feeling towards Goldsmith. Rivalry for Johnson's good graces, perhaps ?"t Mr. Croker and others who have examined tbe subject seem to agree in tbis in- ference ; and in the conversation of literary cir- cles the same language is universally held. A distinguished political and literary character thus expresses himself in a letter to the writer : — '* Boswell, I think, treats poor Goldy hardly. He was, perhaps, like some others of us Irish, occa- nonally in tbe habit of talking idly, bat he bad bril- liant talents and a good heart; a better (me, I take it, than Johnson's."
The character of Boswell himself, as furnishing some clew to his conduct and sentiments, cannot be passed without notice. If Johnson has been called to account for his prejudices against one popular poet (Gray), bis biographer is as open to remark for unfair comments upon another.
We find it tinged with peculiarities which have been a source of alternate conjecture and surprise
* H8. correapondence in paBiesHon of Hr. Muon. t Mr. Cioker'i edition of Boswell.
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to all who have written about, and nearly all who have read bim ; for he stands in the very unaBual predicament of having given birth to one of the most amusing and in some respects instructive books in our language, without winning irom the reader corresponding respect for its author. While the former, therefore, is sought and perused with eager curiosity and satisfaction, invective and ridi- cule, terms the most contemptuous and bitter have been applied to bis personal conduct and qualities.* Literary men more particularly have been severe in their judgments, as if the want of spirit and inde- pendence of mind shown by one who claimed to be enrolled in their order, had in his intercourse with the great moralist in some measure compro- mised its honour. Other classes of readers, who fix their attention upon the book and care nothing for the character of the writer, deem this asperity ex- cessive or undeserved, and not unnaturally perhaps, give their sympathy and regard to one who, what- ever his defects, has contributed so much to their entertainment.
It may be true that he was not a high-minded man, but this did not necessarily unfit him for the office he undertook. FosseBsed of considerable talent, industry, and observation, he yet conveys no impression of enjoying an enlarged or vigorous understanding. Frequently vain and credulous, inquisitive and communicative, bustling and occa-
* Bdinboigti Review. — Notice of the lut edition of Boewell.
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sionally assaming, he seems to have been one of those persons seen in the mixed societies of a great metropolis who are sometimes amusing by their gossip, and sometimes annoying by their intm- sion ; who are endured more than sought ; who without pretension to notice from their own merits, make it a pursuit to know and to talk to all who are so, and from the ^miliarity thus assumed or granted, at length seem to believe that they have reflected back upon them part of the distinction belonging to their eminent acquaintance. His peculiarities are often contradictory : we are in doubt whether sense or folly, simplicity or cun- ning, a degree of pride sometimes amiuing, or a spirit of adulation almost servile, predominate in the picture he has left of himself. If we find in him occasional selfishness, there is likewise a devo- tion toward the great man whom he worshipped approaching to generosity ; a determination never thought derogatory to submit to humiliating re- bufis and caustic reprehensions with a patience more than philosophicaL Mingled with this there was much real kindness in trying to cheer the soli- tary hours of bis friend who sought society from the relief thence afforded to a mind often afiected by morbid melancholy, and who had no domestic companion to bestow it ; he farther felt probably, that this kind feeling formed his chief claim to attention from the philosopher ; and that having intruded upon him at first with no slight degree of intrepidity as being young, unknown, and without
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claim to such an honour, and continued it by per- Beverance, submission could alone enable him to retain hold upon his affection. He was proad, and not unreasonably so, of being known as an attached friend of the first literary man of the age ; but jealous to excess of others who enjoyed an honour which be seemed to think ought to be exclu- sively his own.
A passion for notoriety, or mistaken idea of his consequence when no grounds existed on which to expect it, was soon obvious in his character. Thus, so early as I766 and a few succeeding years, his arrivals in London and occasional movements in its vicinity, are announced in newspaper para- graphs, originating no doubt with himself. To this passion may be owing in part the first effort to seek out Johnson ; to this likewise his officious attendance upon, or patronage as it was called, of General Paoli, which he or his friends took care to announce frequently in the daily journals* ;
* The foUoving are aelected from others : —
'< When Mr. Boswell vu preieDted to the General de Paoli he paid this compliment to the Coreicana : — "Sir, I am. opon ray traTels, and hare lately naited Rome : I am come from seeing the ruins of one brave and fr«e people, to see the rise of an- other.'" — Lloyd'a Evening Pott, Jan. 10 — 13. 1766.
" James BoBwell, Esq. is expected in town." — Public Adeer- ti>er, Feb. 28, 1768.
" Yesterday James Boawell, Esq. arrived from Scotland at his lodgings in Half-Moon Street, Piccadilly."— TSid. March 24. 1768.
In December be advertised a memorial, in order to raise a sub- scription for the Corsicans.
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while as a sort of appenda^ to the train of the Corsican patiiot, he secured an introduction to such persons of rank and talent as sought out the former in consequence of being a novel object of attraction. To the ridicule incurred in society by these little attendances and assumptions of public importance he was nearly insensible. Gratified with attention himself, he thought it allowable to administer to the vanity of others ; and seemed not to know that a certain degree of moral dignity was lost by the open flattery of any man however great his talents or station. Yet his worldly speculations, though aided by this engine, and
" By special penmaaion of hie Excellency Paoli, Boswell's Ac- count of Corsica. 2nd eiitioa."— Public Jdvertiter, Jan. 1769.
" Gxtnct of a letter ttom Dnblin, June 6 : —
'" Jamei Boswell, Esq, baring now riail«d Ireland, lie dined with hia Grace the Dolce of Leinater at hia country aeat at CartoTD. He also went by apecial inritation to riait the Lord Lieutenant at lua country seat at Leixlip, to which he was conducted in one of hia Excellency's ctmchee by Lieutenant Colonel Walah. He dined there and ataid all night, and next morning came in the coach with hia Excellency to the Pkeniz Park, and was present at a reriew of Sir Joseph York's dragoons. He also dined with the Right Honoaiable the Lord Mayor at the mayoralty. He ia now set out on hia return to Scotland.' *' — Ibid. July 7.
Spoke Teraes at the Jubilee in the character of a Corsican, Sep. 6., on which many jests were passed at the time.
"On Sunday last. General Paoli, accompanied by Jamea BoBwell. Esq., took an airing in Hyde Park in hia coach. Hia Excellency came out and took an airing by the Serpentine rirer, and through Kensington Gardens, with which he seemed very much pleased." — Ibid. Oct. 4.
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that he meant it as a mode of advaDcemeDt there is no doubt, failed ; he did not succeed at the English bar : Fox and Burke, whom he praised, and probably loved, had nothing to give j and Mr, Pitt, in whose praise he composed and sung a fulsome ballad at a city dinner in his presence, was not to be won by such means ; nothing was rendered by the minister in return for his admira- tion or adulation, and the neglect pained and irritated him.
The same love of being known made him a talker> but with so little success, that Topham Beauclerk jocularly threatened Lord Charlemont then in Ireland, if he would not come to London, to send " Boswell to talk to him." Of his powers of mind, Johnson for the first ten years of their acquaintance appears to have entertained a poor opinion. Writing to Mrs. Thrale from Scotland on the conclusion of the tour in that country, he says, (November 3d, 1773,) " Boswell will praise my resolution and perseverance, and I shall in return celebrate his good-humonr and cheerful- ness. He has better faculties than I had imagined ; more justness of discernment, and more fecundity of images." No surprise need be entertained at his partiality for one of whose understanding he may have previously thought lightly ; for it is not necessary to admire the intellect of all whom we nevertheless cordially love. The philosopher was flattered no doubt by the complimentary lan- guage of his companion, but more by his per-
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sonal attachment, and the trouble taken on all occasions for his amusement. He was further pleased by ihe rather unusual occurrence of being courted for the sake of his wisdom and learning by one so much younger than himself, instead of being shunned as age and wisdom commonly are, by the youthful and giddy ; and this he probably deemed a forcible tribute to his own merit on the one part, and an evidence of the good sense at least of his acquaintance on the other. He felt likewise what no doubt had its effect, that this regard and admiration proceeded from a person of education, of ancient family, of competent fortiine, and respectably known in his native country, who whatever might be his talents, deserved praise for several good private qualities.
For these proofs of attachment and kindness to one who has so many claims on our regard as Johnson, if we cannot altogether respect Boswell, it is difficult to dislike him. He was good- humoured, free from malignity, and excepting where some jealousy or prejudice interfered, and for which he may have thought he had sufficient reason, seldom unjust to those of whom he had occasion to speak. His social propensities were well known, and a contemporary, Mr. Courtenay, thus laments his absence : —
"NoBoevelljojn o'erwine."
Want of candour is rarely among his defects. On the contrary, he opens his mind so freely, that
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we discover much of what is passing there even possibly when such disclosure was not meant ; for had he been conscious of the light in which we are o^D obliged to view him, it is difficult to believe he would not have shown more caution, although at the expense of a portion of the interest attached to his book. Some reserve however is necessary with all human creatures : it is seldom safe to un- veil the whole mind, to make society the depo- sitory of all our thoughts ; men cannot safely make this disclosure, and on the other hand we ought not on all occasions to listen to it, or at least to hear the confession with forbearance : the world is a thankless confidant, and a severe censor.
One of his accusations against Goldsmith is imitation of tlie dress and manner of Johnson, yet he was himself so notorious for this serious mi. micry as to be the object of general remark. Gifford, in the Mteviad, more severely than the facts warrant, adverts to this peculiarity and to his general character ; —
" And Bwwell, aping with preposteroas prid /ohnson'fl wont fr^tieB, toUs from ride to nde ; His heavy head irom hour to hour erects ; Af&cta the fool, and is what he affects."
A more minute description of his appearance has been given by a lady, whose early talents and celebrity made her a favourite with Johnsou, and in consequence almost a source of jealousy to his biographer when they met in general sociefy. " He had,'' says Madame D'Arblay, " an odd
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mock solemnity of tone and manner, that he had acquired imperceptibly from constantly thinking of and imitating Dr. Johnson, whose own solemnity, nevertheless far from mock, was the result of pen- sive rumination. There was also something slouch- ing in the gait and dress of Mr. Boswell, that wore an air ridiculously enough of purporting to per- sonify the same model. His clothes were always too large for him ; his hair or wig was constantly in a state of negligence ; and he never for a mo- ment sat still or upright on a chair. Every look and movement displayed either intentional or in- voluntary imitation."*
The nature of his hook has not escaped censure nearly as severe as that directed against the cha- racter of its author. Breach of hospitality, and violation of the implied laws of society which make it an offence to repeat conversations never meant or expected to extend beyond the circle in which they were uttered, have been urged against him, and harsh names in consequence applied, such as talebearer, eavesdropper, and others not less ofiensive.t All this is unjust. No harm is known
* Memoiri of Dr. fiumey, vol. ii. p. 191-
t In preparing his work for the press, b landable desire to give his authorities appears in the foUowicg extract of a letter to Bishop Percy, April 9, 1790, from the MS. collection of Mr. Mason. The Bishop, as in the instance of the edition of Ooldsmith, hesitated to give his name or authority to any pro- duction not ecclesiastical, and did not ia fact interest himself seriously on other subjects.
" As to suppressing your Lordship's name, when relating the very few anecdotes of Johnson with which yon have favoured
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BOSWELL S LIFE OP JOHNSON. 4^5
to have accrued from wbat he reveals, though personal vanity may have been wounded, or folly occasionally exposed by the retorts being recorded which they provoked from the sarcastic spirit of Johnson. But it may be asked in return whether the miscellaneous society of a London dinner-table, discussing every topic that chance flings before the members, be one which is strictly private, or whether persons acquire the right to utter nonsense there, more than at other places, with impunity ? To a man of known talents, the defeats or reproofs he may meet with on such occasions, tell little against him ; and if others of inferior reputation venture to risk absurdities in
me, I will do any thing to oblige your Lordship hot that very thing. I owe to the authenticity of my work, to its respect- abUity, and to the credit of my iUustrioua friend, to introdnce the names of as many eminent persons as I can. It is comparatively a very small portion which is Bsnctioned by that of your Lord- ship, and there b nothing even bordering on impropriety. Believe me, my Lord, yon are not the only bishop in the num- her of greMt men with which my pages ore graced. I am quite resolute as to this matter.
" Pray who is it that hss the chaige of Goldsmith's works here ? I should like to talk with him. f know not where the plan of his EncyclopKdia is, orif it be preserved.
"Our amiable friend Sir Joshua Reynolds has received from the Empress of Russia the present of a very fine gold snuff-box, beautifully enamelled with her head oq the Ud, set round with five-and-thirty capital diamonds. Within it is a slip of paper on which are written in her own haad these worda — I think I recollect them exactly : — " Four le ChevaUer Reynolds, CD temoiguBge du contentemeat que j'ai resaenti de ses ezcelleiia Discours sur la Peioture.' "
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4>56 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
sentiment or opinion, they should have fortitude enough to submit to the punishment. After all the storm of reproach vented against Boswell for alleged social treachery, who does not read the work with avidity, and has not gained from it in- struction and delight ? And who for a moment wishes, notwithstanding some erroneous and pre- judiced views, that it had never appeared?
The indifferent figure which he permits himself to make in his own picture, though a source it is said of extreme mortification to the pride of his relatives, forms a guarantee of the general honesty of his reports. Statements of numerous conver- sations, we are aware, cannot he always either accurate or full : the omission of an extenuating word or circumstance, or the introduction of a different term from that used at the moment, may impart a colouring to a discussion or story which the original circumstances did not warrant. In the dialogues with Johnson, some of the speakers pro- bably have not had justice, or but imperfect justice, done them. Many omissions must necessarily have occurred under the circumstances in which the notes were taken ; and he avows suppressions, the publication of which would have given offence, some of which it is believed bore as hardly upon himself as upon others. But on the whole, he may be considered as giving us the purport, if not words, as nearly as circumstances permitted, and therefore what he represents as coming under his own observation we may believe.
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BOSWELl's life of JOHNSON. 4^7
We are not required to place similar confidence in what he gleans from others, or to allow much weight to his mere opinions. To Goldsmith be is, as we sec, unjust ; to Sir John Hawkins, though not an amiable man, and to Mrs. Piozzi, he is almost hostile ; to a few others likewise, less liberal than might be wished. Yet as his representations are sometimes quoted in estimating characters of the past age, we have an exemplification of what every one must have found in their experience of the world, the different degrees of deference paid to dead and to living testimony. Many a statesman who has declaimed in Parliament for years without carrying a motion, or almost winning a vote, is often quoted after death as an authority even by surviving opponents, on points of political faith and practice. So the notions of Boswell upon literary men and merit, which would have commanded little attention from his contemporaries, receive by being dissemi- nated in a popular book, a degree of attention denied personally to the writer."
• The correspondence of Hannah More fumiBbes a few charac* teriatic notices of Boswell. At a dinner, at Bbhop Shipleys in 1761, where were JohnsoD, Sir Joshua Reynolda, Gihbon, Lang- ton, Lords Spencer and Althorp, one of hia infirmities is alluded to, and in terms that render it abnoet doubtful whether the sub- ject of hia address to her on the occasion was not amatory.
" I was heartily disgusted with MtVi Boswell, who came up stoire after dinner much disordered with wine, and addressed me in a manner which drew from me a sharp rebuke, for which I fancy he will not easUy forgive me."
It nppeari likewise, that besides being a habitual uaitator of
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458 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
London was now exchanged by Goldsmith for a country residence. With a view to health, and per- haps to be near Newbery, for whom his pen was chiefly employed, and who resided at Canonbury House, Islington, he removed to that neighbourhood to board and lodge in the house of a Mrs. Elizabeth Fleming, at the conclusion of the year I762.
The sum stipulated for this accommodation was fifty pounds per annum, at that period equal to double the amount now, which the publisher as his usual cash-bearer paid quarterly, taking credit for such payments in the settlement of their ac- counts. This arrangement, dictated probably as much by his late illness alluded to in the note respecting Plutarch, as present convenience, Sir John Hawkins in his usual spirit attributes to a
the manner of Johnson, BometimeB perhaps imconsciouBly, he coold play the amiuing mimic by design. At a party at Mrs. Vefle/B she writes — " BoBwell brought to my mind the vhole of a very mirths conversation at dear Mrs. Garrick's, and my being nuide by Sir William Forbes the umpire in a trial of skill between Garrick and Boswell which could moat nearly imitate Dr. Johnson's manner. I remember I gave it for Bosvell in fiuniliar conversation, and for Garrick in reciting poetry."
In 1785 she writes — the book alluded to being no doubt the Tour to the Hebrides : — " Boswell tells me lie is printing aaee- dotei of Johnson ; not his l}fe, but as he has the vanity to call it, his pyramid. I besought his tenderness for our virtnoiu and most revered departed iiiend, and begged he would mitigate some of bis asperities. He said roughly, ' He would not cut off his claws, nor make a tiger a cat, to please any one.' It will, I doubt not, be a very amusing book, but I hope not an indiscreet one ; he has great enthusiasm, and some fire."
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RESIDENCE AT ISLINGTON. 459
diflFerent cause. " Of the booksellers," writes that gentleman, " whom he styled his friends, Mr. New- bery was one. This person had apartments at Canon- bury House, where Goldsmith often lay concealed from his creditors. Under a pressing necessity, he there wrote his Vicar of Wakefield, and for it re- ceived of Newbery forty pounds."
His removal thither took place probably about Christmas ; for by the following account rendered in the course of the year, it appears that the first quarterly payment was made on the a-lth of March. In a rough copy of this account still preserved, the payments to Mrs. Fleming are specifically noted to be for " a quarter's board," the diflference between the sum due QQl. lOs.) and that which was paid in March, June, and October, as seen subjoined, being incidental expenses. Several books supplied to him are likewise set down ; as " Three sets of Chinese Letters," "Annual Register," 4 vols., "the same half bound," " Smollett's Continuation," &c., " Reading's Life of Christ," and "NoUet's Physics." The account is otherwise of some interest, as dis- closing the extent and frequency of his obligations to Newbery.
" Doctor Qoldamith Dr. to John Newbery,
|
1761. Oct. 14. 1762. Nov. 9. Dec. 22. 29. |
1 set of the Idler To cash To ditto To ditto Carried forward |
- £0 5 - 10 10 - 3 3 - 1 1 |
0 0 0 0 |
|
- ^614 19 |
0 |
Id b, Google
460 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
Brought fojrward - ^14 19
1763. Jan. 22. To ditto - - - - 1 1
25. To ditto - - - -11
Feb. 14. To ditto - - - - 1 1
March 11. To ditto - - - 2 2
12. To ditto - - .-II
24. To cash paid Mrs. Fleming - - 14 0
30. To cash - - - - 0 10
May 4. To ditto - - - - 2 2
21. To ditto - - - 3 3
June 3. To cash paid Mrs. Fleming - - 14 11
25. To cash - - - - 2 2
July i. To ditto - - - 2 2
20. To ditto - - . - 14 14
Sept. 2. To ditto - - - I i
8. To cash ptdd your draft to Wm. ) , . „
Filby - - . J 1^ -=
10. To cash - - â– 0 10
19. To ditto - .-11
24. To ditto - - - 2 2
Oct. 8. To ditto - - - - 2 2
To cash paid your bill to Mrs. ) ,^ ,„
By copies of different kinds
Oct. 1 1. By note of hand sent and delivered up the vouchers."
The lady whose inmate he became, is supposed to be represented in a picture whicb appeared in the winter exhibition of the works of deceased British artists in 18SS. It was named " Goldsmith's Hos- tess" in the catalogue, and represents an elderly lady in a satin dress, with a Bible open before her : the painter is said to be Hogarth ; and the infer- ence thence drawn is, that be was a familiar visitor
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RESIDENCE AT ISLINGTON. 461
of tte Poet preyious to his death in 1764. The history of the painting is unknown, excepting that it has heen forty years in the family of the present proprietor,* has always been designated among its members by the title it now bears, and was pur- chased by his father out o^ as is believed, the Hyde collection. An etching, supposed .to be from the same picture, is said to have been published some years ago.
Here he continued a resident during the whole of 1763 and part of 1764 ; and as illustrative of his private habits, the following bill of his land- lady for the iteme of expense during a quarter will gratify curiosity. By this he appears to have been fond of sassafras, a decoction of which was then in vogue as an innocent and wholesome beverage, though now chiefly confined to medical purposes. The dinners mentioned without any price affixed were given to visitors of her lodger, who seem introduced in order that the generosity of his hostess towards him and them should not be forgotten. One of these. Dr. Reman as he is called here, was a Dr. William Redmond, an Irish physician, who having resided several years in France where he had been acquainted with the Poet, had come to try his success in England ; and professing to have made discoveries in the properties, or what he chose to term the "prin-. ciples of antimony," had become involved in a
* Mr. B. GraveB.
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462 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
dispute with some members of the Society of Arts, oo which a year or two afterward he published a pamphlet in French." To the hill is appended the particulars of the account of his laundress, which it is Bcarcely necessary to transcribe : the items suffi- ciently prove that if formerly open to the charge of neglecting his linen, it could not now justly be brought against him.
"1763. Doctor Ooldsmith Dr. to Eliz. Fleming.
Aug.22. A pint of mountain - - j60 1 0
A gentleman's dinner - - 0 0 0
24. A bottle of port - - < 0 2 0 4 gentlemen's teas - - - 0 1 6
25. Dr. Beman's dinner and tea - - 0 0 0 Sept. 5. dinner - - - 0 0 0
Dr. Remsa's cUnner - - 0 0 0
A bottle of port - - - 0 2 0
Mi. Baggott, cUnner - - 0 0 0
Sasssfiras - - - -003
Mr. Baggott, tea - - - 0 0 0
Paper - - • - - 0 I 0
Saasafraa - • - - 0 0 3
Paid the newsman - - - 0 16 10)
Wine and cakes - - - 0 I 6
To the Rev. Mr. Tyrrell - -026
Mr, Baggott, dinner • - - 0 0 0
Sassa&as - - - 0 0 6
Carried forward
* " Imported hj T. Becket and F. A. De Hondt, near Soirey Street, in the Strand. Price l». 64. ' Eaasi snr les Principes de I'Antimoin^ par le Dr. Remand; avec une suite de Lettres int^reasantes relatives k s& dispute avec la Sori^te des Arts et des Sciences de Londres.' " — Public Advertiaer. Some other notices of him occur in the newspapers of the day.
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HIS LANDLADT S DILL.
Brong^t forwud - - £1
Not. 5. Ditto - - - - - 0
10 sheets of paper - - - 0
8. Pens - -., - - .0
Paper . - - . 0
Sassaftas - - - - 0
To 3 moutlu' board - - - 12
To shoea-cleaning - - - 0
To waehing - - - - 0
Beceived, Dec. 9, 1763, by the hands of Mr. Newbery, the coatents in fall.
Eliz. Fleming.
About the period of his removal thither, he was solicited to join in the "Poetical Calendar," a pub- lication undertaken by the Rev. Mr. Fawkes, trans- lator of several of the Greek minor poets, and Vicar of Orpington, and Mr. Woty, both his acquaint- ance : the inritafion was declined, as is said, from a poor opinion of the poetical powers of his colleagues. The first volume came out in February, 1763, and met with only tolerable success.
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464 LIFE OP 00LD3MITII.
CHAP. XIII.
LITERARY PROJECTS. BROOKEb's NATURAL HISTORY. — MAR- TIAL REVIEW. — LITERARY CLUB.— PREFACES AND TRANS- LATION B.— LETTERS FROM A NOBLEMAN TO UIB SON.
It was probably about this period he projected aa edition of Pope's works, with a life and notes, con- taining such illustrative matter as time had made public since the deatb of that distinguished poet. With this view he addressed a letter, which was known to be in existence a few years afterwards, to Tonson the bookseller in the Strand, detuling the design. But his name being unknown for poetry, and the publisher doubting either his weight in public opinion, his ability, or his diligence, did not deign to return a written answer, but desired a printer to call upon the gentleman in his name and give a verbal negative.
This was at least discourteous ; but as Tonson is represented to have been a good-natured man, we may attribute it rather to inadvertency than intentional insult, and at least believe he would not send an impertinent message wliatever he may have thought of the supposed presumption of the proposal : an offensive reply however was delivered ; and the messenger exhibiting other proofs of im- pertinence, Goldsmith attempted to chastise bim ; nor was it till after some violence had taken place
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LITERARY PROJECTS. 4t65
that the combatants were separated. Tbis story first transpired at the period of his assaulting Evans the bookseller, but with aggravations, such as that his adversary being the stronger, succeeded in rolling him in the kennel ', the object being to fix upon him the charge of being prone to afirays arising from extreme irritability of temper.
In the spring of the year 1763, about the period of ceasing to write the articles on Belles Lettres formerly mentioned in the British Magazine, ho projected a work on biography, for which the cessa- tion of Newbery*s compendium on that subject presented as he believed, an opening. The plan and probably part of the materials provided for the former work were submitted to Dodsley, who acceded to the proposal, and the following agree- ment was drawn up : it is transcribed from the original in the handwriting of Goldsmith, formerly in the possession of Mr. Nicol of Pall Mall, and now the property of Samuel Rogers, Esq., whose politeness in offering the use of it deserves acknowledgment: —
"It is agreed between Oliver Goldsmith, M.B. on one hand, and James Dodsley on the other, that Oliver Goldsmith shall write for James Dodsley a book called a Chronological History of the Lives of Eminent Persons of Great Britain and Ireland, or to that effect, consisting of about two volumes 8vo., about the same size and letter with the Universal History published in 8vo. ; for the writing of which and compiling the same, James Dodsley shall pay
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466 LIFE OF aOLDBHITH.
Oliver Goldsmith three guineas for every printed sheet, so that the whole shall he delivered complete in the space of two years at farthest ; James Dods- ley, however, shall print the above work in whatever manner or size he shall think fit, only the Universal History above mentioned shall be the standard by which Oliver Goldsmith shall expect to be paid.
"Ohver Goldsmith shall be paid one moiety upon delivery of the whole copy complete, and the other moiety, one half of it at the conclusion of six months, and the other half at the expiration of the- twelve months next after the publication of the work, James Dodsley giving, however, upon the delivery of the whole copy, two notes for the money left unpaid. Each volume of the above intended work shall not contain more than five-and-thirty sheets, and if they should contun more, the surplus shall not be paid for by James Dodsley. Oliver Goldsmith shall print his name to the said work.
"Oliver Goldsmith.
"Jahbs Dodsley. "March Slit, 1763."
How far he proceeded in this undertaking, and why it was relinquished, are unknown. Upon such a subject, and with his powers of composition, we have probably lost by the omission one of the pleasantest books in the language. There were however, to one in his situation some difficulties attending its execution if meant to be a book of authority. Biography, however fascinating a themes
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BIOGRAPHICAL WRITING. 467
is not that which an author militant, who is de- pendent on his daily labour for his daily bread, should choose as a matter of profit To write a life sometimes requires no inconsiderable portion of a life* ; at least to do it as it should be done when distinguished men are the subjects, minutely and well, to throw all the lights upon it that our engagement tacitly binds us whenever prac- ticable to furnish ; it is therefore under favour- able circumstances only, as when the materials are all under the eye, or within the immediate knowledge of the writer, that it can be written as a tale or aa essay, currente calamo. Like history, of which it forms one of the most interesting portions, it should be a work of investigation ; fiir a name, a date, or even a trifling fact, though ab- stractedly of little importance in itself, may require time and inquiry to authenticate, or if incorrectly ^ven, is likely to create want of confidence in the author. Diligence in research is one of the neces- sary duties of a biographer, for the want of which genius cannot always compensate. Even Johnson's Lives of the Poets, admirable in all othw respects, suffer in our estimation by their occasional deficiency in facts, which a little more time and labour might have supplied, and the want of which as causing a diminution of our pleasure, we may be permitted to r^ret
* BoBwell's life of Johnson, and Middleton's lAh of Cicero, the moit com[4ete bio^phiee in oni Ungoaget ra)uired « long time for their completion.
H hS
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4^8 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
A similar objection would no doubt have applied to the lives by Goldsmitb : what was simply indo- lence in Johnson, would in him have been indolence and the pressure of necessity combined. To the older lives he could probably have added little. In those of more recent date something more than every one's memory or library could supply, would have been expected in return for the demand made upon public confidence by two octavo volumes from an accredited writer, and two years was much too short a time for serious or minute inquiry. Yet we are scarcely at liberty to speculate on the probable imperfections of any thing ft*om a writer whose pen contained a charm able to compensate for obvious disadvantages. And if upon the subject of natural history, of which he knew practically little he has written a book which with all its faults has been almost the only one consulted by general readers for sixty years past, what might not have been expected Irom his labours in bio- graphy ?
Two publications of Newbery about this period, •* Description of Millennium Hall," the supposed seat of a society of ladies in the west of England, in March ; and " The Wonders of Nature and Art, being an Account of what is most curious and remarkable throughout the World," in four volumes, which appeared in May, are supposed to be indebted to his pen for revision, and the latter for some ftdditions to several of the subjects. No
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BHOOKBS'S NATURAL HISTORY. 469
direct evidence of his participation in either ap- pears ; and the latter opinion may have originated in his acknowledged powers of furnishing amuse- ment for youth.
With another work of more pretension from the sam^ pnhlisfaer, bis connexion is better established, being employed not only to assist the author, but to revise, to recommend, and to introduce his book to more general favonr by a preface and by intro- ductions to the chief subjects which in clearness, spirit, and elegance no writer can hope to excel. The subject was Natural History, and the writer a physician whose name has been long familiar as the compiler of a Gazetteer. The advertisement (July 18th, 1763,) states that the whole of the work is printed off in six thick volumes duodecimo, and that on the 1st of Augast a volume, to be fol- lowed by one every succeeding month till completed, will appear, of
'* A new and accurate System of Natural His- tory : containing, in vol. 1 ., The History of Quad- rupeds ; S. of Birds ; 3. of Fishes and Serpents ; 4. of Insects ; 5. of Mineral Waters ; 6. of Vege- tables, &c By R. Brookes, M. D., Author of the General Practice of Physic, &c. &c" Appended to this announcement in the newspaper is the fol- lowing perBuasive to purchasers, as strongly indica- tive of the hand of Goldsmith as any thing to which he put bis name ; the first paragraph he introduced into the preface : —
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470 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
" To the Public.
" Of all the studies which have emplt^ed the industrious or amused the idl^ perhaps Nataral History deserves the preference : other sciences generally terminate in donht or rest in bare specu- lation ; but here every step is marked with cer- tainty ; aad while a descriptiim itf every object around us teaches to supply our wants, it satisfies our curiosity.
" A comprehensive system, however, of this most pleasing science has been hitherto wanting. Nor is it a little surprising, when every other branch of literature has been of late cultivated with so much success, how this most interesting department should have been neglected.
*' How far the present performance has supplied the defects, and reformed the errors, of Natural History, is left to the public to determine. Those who have read the author's Practice of Physic, and his other medical and geographical compositioDS, will see evident marks not only of the philosopher but of the accurate and judidous traveller ; and cannot doubt that his abilities were adequate to this ondertaking, and that he had abundant opportuni- ties to convince himself of the truth of what he has asserted.
" He has bad indeed, one advantage over almost all former naturalists, namely, that of having visited a variety of countries, and examined the productions
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BROOKBS'S NATURAL BISTORT. 471
of each upon the spot. Whatever America or the known parts of Africa have produced to excite curiosity have been carefully observed by him, and compared with the accounts of others.
" This work, though comprised within the com- pass of six volumes, has employed great part of the author's life ; and there is not a figure repre- sented in any of the plates but what was drawn either by himself or his son under his inspection. Nor has the readM''s convenience been less con- sidered than his pleasure aiid improvement. Each of these volumes, if printed as works of this kind usually are, might have made a large quarto, and the whole have been sold for six guineas instead of eighteen shillings; hut as the improvement of natural knowledge may conduce to the improve- ment of religion and piety, it was thought expe- dient to make this work as cheap as possible, that it might fall within the compass of every studious person, and that all might be acquainted with the great and wonderful works of nature, see the de- pendence of creature upon creature, andof aU upon the Creator."
The revision of this work, in addition to the matter supplied, occupied him several weeks ; for the speculation being of moment to the bookseller, was not to be risked without all the uds that some knowledge and much genius could supply. Be- sides the preface, introduced into his miscellaneous works on their firat collection, he wrote the intro- dnction to the history of quadrupeds, which though
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*72 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
knotrn to be his by Bishop Percy, Isaac Reed, and others, found no place on that occasion, in conse- quence of the misunderstandiDg of the former already alluded to with the publishers, by which they lost bis aid previous to publication. Aware of this omission, it occurred to the writer there might be others ; and a close examination of the volnmes rendered it certain by internal evidence, that, in ad- dition to other traces of his pen, the introductions to the histories of Birds, ofFisbes, of Insects, and of Botany, were bis, the whole forming about eighty pages, characterised by his usual ingenuity of re- mark, pbilosopbical spirit, and elegance of manner. Influenced by tbe same guide of internal evidence, he was led to reject the introduction to tbe fifth vo- lume, giving an account of mineral waters, written probably by Brookes himself: the pen of Gold- smith is not to he traced in it : it simply states facts of their supposed combinations and uses in diseases, and therefore by its nature required no power of writing to excite tbe curiosity or propitiate the fa- vour of tbe reader.
This book never became popular, being too ex- tensive, perhaps too dry, for the juvenile descrip- tion of readers, and too imperfect for those of more advanced age who required to be really in- structed : the plates likewise were wretehedly executed ; and the claim set up for the author, of having verified by personal examination all the productions noticed in his volumes belonging to America and the known parts of Africa, would
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e^OOKBS's NATURAL HISTORY. 473
appear, however extensivelf be may have travel- led, impracticable, and thence have occasioaed distrust in the general accuracy of bis statements.
* • • • a •
Two years have elapsed since the preceding no- tice was written ; and the conviction in the mind of the writer of the obligations of this hook to Gold- smith have been recently fully confirmed. The first positive intimation was discovered in a newspaper announcement of Brookes's work in 1775» where it is stated by the publishers*, that "four volumes of this edition were corrected by Mr. Oliver Gold- smith," and subsequently more positive proofs have been put into his hands in the receipts for money for the assistance rendered which passed on the occasion. By these it appears his remuner- ation in the first instance was small ; afterwards, in consideration of further labour in correction and revision and adding to the number of prefi&ces, the original sum in the following receipt was nearly trebled.
" Oct. 11th, 1763.— Received of Mr. John New- bery eleven guineas in full, for writing the intro- ductions and preface to Dr. Brookes's Natural His- tory.
" Oliver Goldsmith."
* Caman and Newbery : — it appeared in oppoiition to " Animated Nature."
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47* LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
Two items in another account state that Dr. Goldsmith is to have credit for
" 3 Pre&cn to the Natanl Hufavy - - ^£6 6 0 Canectiqg 4 Tola. Brookes'a Nat. Hietory -000"
In another set of memorandams of the publisher eighteen in numher, to settle accounts with Tarioos persons, the sixteenth on the list is the following : —
" MiB. Brookea'a, and charge for alterationa nude in theplatea and theprinted copy ttut was oUiged to be cancelled£2G 0 0
"And to Dr. Ooldsmith, writing prefacea, and coirecting the work 30 0 0
In all - £b6 0 0"
During the summer, he appears to have been frequently in London notwithstanding a press of literary occupation, enjoying with Johnson and BoBwell several of their social tavern meetings. He had already impressed the latter, as he con- fosses in his work, with a high opinion of John- son, by encomiums passed upon his humanity, a theme upon which Goldsmith was eloquent and on which he always rendered due honour to his friend. Speaking of Mr. Levett, the well known inmate of the moralist, his observation was, " He is poor and honest, and that is recommendation enough for Johnson." Of another person whose character was more exceptionable, and who had paid to misfortune part of the penalty of his errors, he said, " He is now become miserable, and that in- sures the protection of Johnson."
The first exclusive meeting they seem to have enjoyed, and the fact is intere'sting in literary his-
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SOCIAL MEBTINOS. 475
tory, took place at the Mitre TaverD, in Fleet i Street, on the Ist of July, I76S, when Ooldsmitb, I always willing to throw out a proTocative to dis- ' cussion, started the paradox, " that knowledge was \ not desirable on its own account, for it often was a / source of unhappiness," an idea, the MUu^ of,' which he coald at other timee eloquently expose.
On the 6th, having met again at the same place with other guests of Boswell, he took ground against the maxim of the oonstitution, " that the King can do no wrong," affirming, " that what was morally false co\dd not he politically true* ; and as the King might, in the exercise of his regal power, command and cause the doing of what was wrong, it certainly might be said in sense and reason that he could do wrong." The answer to this was obvious : the King may command the committal of an improper public act, but his minister tmly can execute it ; the latter therefore takes the responsibility by making the deed his own ; a dilemma which it is always in his power to avoid by resigning bis office.
These are specimens of that desire to take the weak side of an argument into which ingenious men are sometimes betrayed, either by affecting singu- larity or influenced by the whim of tbe moment :
* This pointed sentence, with a little vaiiaticm, vu used more than once by a popular baronet on the huBtingB at West- minater, previous to the reform of Parliament, in allosion to the alleged corrupt retnni of many members. Such practices, he contended, "being morally wrong could not be politically right."
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476 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
in Johnson tbis was often thought perversity ; in Goldsmith it was termed absurdity, or want of ^.knowledge of his subject, though really we may suppose caused by the wish to exhibit in- genuity, or excite discussion, for no follies of this kind find place in his writings. Disput- ation is not a pleasing characteristic in any person, even of eminence : we can rarely think well of him who attempts to overpower our com- mon sense, or destroy the finxe of generally ad- mitted troths by sophistry however ingenious. Young men who believe they possess talent are frequently fond of it, not conscious that they often render themselves disagreeable by what they mistake for cleverness. Dr. Johnson con- fessed to this disposition at an early period of life, and the pages of Boswell render it doubt- ful whether he ever wholly conquered the de- sire. " When I was a boy," he said, " I used always to choose the wrong side of a debate, because most ingenious things, that is to say, most new things, could be said upon it." Gold- smith was similarly inclined : he acknowledged to Johnson, and there is an allusion to the fact in the story of George Primrose, as well as in another passage struck out of the Vicar of Wakefield, "that when he first began to write, he determined to commit to paper nothing but what was new ; but he afterwards found that what was new was generally false, and from that time was no longer solicitous about novelty." In conversa-
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MARTIAL HEVIEW. 477
tion however, as we see, he could not always resist the temptation.
In the month of September, a small volume in which he was supposed to have a share, appeared from Newhery, to take its chance among a variety of competitors of more bulk and pretension, named *• The Martial Review ; or, a General History of the late War. Together with the Definitive Treaty; and some Reflections on the probable Consequences of the Peace."
The only part that can be claimed for him is the preface, less finished perhaps than what usually came from his hand : the body of the work, which first appeared in the "Reading Mercury" newspaper, from the pen of some person con- nected with the family of Christopher Smart, was now reprinted for the benefit of its mem- bers. For this unfortunate poet he entertained a degree of regard and compassion which was evinced in several eflbrts of active benevolence. On some occasions he is known to have given him money ; at other times to have contributed literary assistance ; and some time afterward, when bis anhappy friend was sufiering at once under occa- sional confinement for debt, and the more dread- ful affliction of mental derangement, he drew up an appeal to the public with the view of raising subscriptions for his support and release, though doubts exist whether it ever came before the public. Bishop Percy had seen this address in MS.; and
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478 LIFE OP aOLDSMITU.
in a letter to Malone (October I7tb, X786,*) men- tions it among other detached pieces of the Poet which he wished to procure, aa " a paper which he (Goldsmith) wrote to set abont a subscription for poor Smart, the mad poet : I beliere this [ast was never printed." It was not recovered by that pre- late or his correspondent, and the present writer has likewise faUed to find it in anj of the periodical publications of the time.
In the first paragraph of the pre&ce to this " Review," we find a pretty exact definition of what his own histories, written subsequently, aimed to be, — the separation of " what is substantial and material from what is circumstantial and is useless in history;" but the importance claimed for this slight work, a duodecimo, may excite a smile in the readers of more voluminous accounts of the period described ; bold claims upon public confidence he probably thought the most certain means of obtain- ing it. A &iTourable nodce of this production, writtMi by him likewise in all probability from an item in cme of his accounts with Newbery, appeared in the Critical Review.
The life of an author during the greater part of the last century seems, from the small remuneratirai obtained in return for his exertions, to have been one of almost constant labour : he enjoyed few in- tavah of rest ; his exertitms rarely kept pace with his wants ; and the conclusion of one undertaking proved but the signal for the commencement of * HS. coTTetpondence communicated by Dr. H. U. ThomBoa.
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OCCUPIED ON VARIOUS WORKS. 479
another. Without great diligence, his bread was consumed before it was earned, and by thus antici- pating his resources, he was often compelled to tax the present hour for the enjoyment of the past, in such compilations as promised the readiest supply. He has himself told us in an early production,* that " authors, like race-horses, should be fed but not fattened:" the observation was scarcely necessary, as few have had to complain of repletion by the bounty of even their warmest admirers y and he had long afterward to lament, that far firom famishing him with luxuries, they scarcely gave bim bread.
Ae illustrative of tha number and variety of his labours at tliis period, the following account ren- dered to his principal employer, is transcribed from the original in his own handwriting now before the writer ', the sum specified for the first on the list is to be considered from what has been said as only the first payment.
" Brookes' Hiitory - - - - £11 II 0
Prefece to Universal Histoiy - - - 3 3 0
Pre&ee to Vitetoac • - - - 2 2 0
Pie&ce to Chronicle - • - - 1 1 0
History of England • • - - 21 0 0
The Life of Christ • - - - 10 10 0
The Life [Lives] of the Fathers • - 10 10 0
Critical and Monthly - --330
"Beceived October 11. 1763, the contents
of Hr. Newbeiy. Ouvia QoLsaum."
* Enquiry into Polite Learning. The phzaae is said to be borroved from Cbaries IX. of Pnuice.
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480 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
We may presume that some of these articles, such as the History of England, were only in pro- gress. Those charged here "Critical and Monthly," were either contrihutions under those heads to the Christian's Magazine, or perhaps criticismB on works belonging to Newbery, which he found means of getting inserted in the respective Re- views of that name.
Beside this general acknowledgment, separate receipts, as will appear, were signed for the chief pieces ; but the sum thus due to him being in- sufficient to liquidate the debt to the publisher, 111/. Is. 6d. stated in a preceding page, he gave a promissory note for the balance : —
" I promise to pay Mr. John Newbery or order forty-eight pounds one shilling and sixpence on de- mand for value received.
"Oliver Goldsmith.
"October 11. 1763."
I Few circumstances of a merely personal nature \ were more gratifying to him, than the acquaintance j of Mr., afterwards Sir Joshua Reynolds, which by I two of his contemporaries was said to have com- j menced in I762, and as they understood, by an accidental meeting in the chambers of Dr. Johnson. As men of genius, they were soon attracted to each other ; occasional interviews here, or in pri- vate associations of artists, among whom Goldsmith seems to have been well known, created a more thorough knowledge of qualities that commanded
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SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. 4ol
mutual e&teem ; while from their different pursuits, no opening existed for collision, or that jealousy of contemporary merit of which both with whatever i truth have been accused. Their Mendship was literally the union of Poetry and Painting.
The painter might even then be considered at the head of his profession. The poet had not yet ex- hibited any striking proof of devotion to that par- ticular art in which he afterward so much ex- celled, although the latent fire was probably not unobserved by one who a few years before, had the discernment and sense to appreciate and se- lect as soon as he saw them Johnson and Burke for his friends. In Goldsmith he may have been willing also to know and to aid unfriended merit ; and the -latter saw in the long and severe struggle which he had hitherto maintained with poverty and obscurity, the advantage of cultivating the acquaintance of one who by skill and success in an elegant art, had escaped from both. The painter wished to draw him into that close associa- tion which he had sought with other eminent men, and from which in the coruscations of genius mu- tual profit is derived. The author, equally desir- ous of similar advantage, found the further benefit of meeting at the table of the artist persons of rank and talents whom he might not have seen else- where } his name became more ^miliar from being a guest there ; his succeeding publications in con- sequence gained more immediate attention from many of that class who admire less, as the writer
VOL. I. I I
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482 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
is lesB known in society. To be an associate of the men of eminence frequently found at the table of Reynolds, formed of itself a stamp of character which they could suflSciently appreciate, and it contributed to silence something of that fastidious criticism ap- plied to his person and manners, by a few whose discrimination probably extended not to the quali- ties of his mind. ^ In order to increase the opportunities of social l intercourse between persons formed to delight I general society and each other, the Literary Club ! was formed ; a name not assumed by themselves, but given to the association by others from the talents and celebrity of its principal members. The proposers were Johnson and Reynolds, who selected Burke, Goldsmith, Mr. Topham Beauclerk, Mr. Langton, Sir John Hawkins, and Dr. Nugent, a physician and father of Mrs. Burke, as associates ; to whom, in consequence of the frequent absence of Mr. Beauclerk and Sir John Hawkins, were added I Mr. Chamier and Mr. Dyer; the former Under Secretary at War, and well known in the feshion- able circles of London ; the latter a man of general erudition, a friend of the Burkes, and formerly a commissary in the army. They agreed to sup to- gether every Monday evening, afterwards changed to Friday, at the Turk's Head, in Gerrard Street, Soho. Sir Joshua Reynolds first started the pro- ject, according to that active inquirer Malone, who writes to Bishop Percy, July 7th, 1805, . " Since the death of our founder^ Sir Joshua
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LITERARY CLUB. 483
Reynolds, we have elected twenty-three new mem- ! bers, of whom we have been deprived by death of four." Others attribute the first idea to Dr. Johnson. i
The formation of this club, as a matter fre- quently mentioned in literary history, would 1 scarcely require notice here, but for its being a favourite resort of the Poet, and for the period of â– â– its first meeting being forgotten by the members, i Johnson and Reynolds, who seem to divide the credit of the design, according to Boawell, thought it in 176*; Bishop Percy believed it to be at a later period ; Sir John Hawkins says it was in'' 1763; and Malone, who took some pains to in- quire into the matter, is disposed to give it a still; earlier date, as appears by the following passage iu another letter to the same prelate, August Ilthj 1807.* "I have thoughts of printing for onrprivate' use only, a list of our members (of the club) from the foundation, with the dates of their admission, ' the places they have filled, and the time of su^ ': deaths as have occurred. I have made the com-' mencement (in a note in Boswell's Life of John- son) in 1764, but I suspect it ought rather to b6 ^ dated in I762. How is this ?"
The time thns assigned, or the following year, , 176s, as stated by Sir John Hawkins, is probably 1 the true date ; for the latter in speaking of Gold- , smith as a member of the club, expressly says in ' his usual harshness of phrase, that he considered'
' MS. correspondence of W. R. Maaon, Esq. II S
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him for some time as a mere drudge of the book- sellers, and was BurpriEed subsequently, on the publication of his poem, to find genius and noble sentiments in one from whom he had expected neither. The poem appeared in 1764; and to have guned any material knowledge of him their meetings must have commenced at an earlier period These discrepancies of opinion evince the difficulty of ascertaining facts even from contemporary testi- mony, when we find even the very fomiders of the society disi^ree as to the period of its origin. All the accounts however may be reconciled by consi- dering what was probably the case, that several par- tial meetings of the members had occurred previous to its being regularly constituted and confined to the gentlemen already mentioned, and before a spe- cific day or place was appn^riated to their meeting. The date is of no other moment here than as evi- dence that Goldsmith was appreciated by many o the greatest names of the day, before he became known to the world.
Toward the end of the year he appeal^ to haie been again much in want of money, by the larger loan than usual implied in the following acknow*
" Received from Mr. Newbery twenty-five guineas, for which I promise to account.
" OuvEa Goldsmith. "Dtcember 17, 1763."
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PECUNfARY EMBARRASSMENTS. 483
One of the causes which tradition has stated for this supply was a journey said to have been undertaken by him into the country } to Yorkshire according to some, whence originated either from chance, or from some incident of an interesting description that occurred during the excursion, the tale of the Vicar of Wakefield. But a story was told by Mr. English, attributing the loan to another cause; that Goldsmith having about this period met a person in JLondon whom he had known on the Continent, invited him to dinner at a tavem, and advantage being taken of his good nature by the guest, all the money be possessed was either borrowed under some plausible pretext, or procured by less justifiable means, and in either ease being wholly lost he was obliged to quit his lodgings for a time, from inability to satisfy im- patient creditors.
A degree of corroboration is given to this anecdote by his having been really absent from his usual abode at Islington during the winter quarter between Christmas and March ; the fact, indeed, admits of explanation in the greater convenience of being in town at such a season, when a short journey as it now appears, was then a matter of some moment from defective police, especially at night. The attraction of the club claimed him one night in the week, and private society had its temptations more frequently ; in which case, the danger as well as fatigue of a late walk, was not inconsiderable. It will be seen likewise that
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486 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
although absent he retaioed and paid for bis rooom.
The account of his difficulties may be in sub- stance true ; for those of literary men were too frequent not to give rise to apprehensions tor their personal liberty, But as pecuniary embarrasBments convey something of tacit reproach by implying want of principle in the debtor, it is to be remem- bered that his, like those of many other honest though indigent men of talents, were small in amount and commonly incurred for the absolute necessaries of life ; they became serious only from the state of the law which permitted arrest for so small a sum as five pounds ; a misfortune from which all the talents and high moral prmciple of Johnson could not shield him. The character of a debtor however may be safely estimated by the conduct of his creditor, and judged by this standard Goldsmith stood high ; it is believed that he was never subjected, though threatened on an occasion to be mentioned hereafter, to the mortification of arrest ; several to whom he was indebted believed he would pay them when he could; and such as knew him well, we know from more than one unexceptionable testimony, were content to wait his convenience and even supply his wants when there was no immediate prospect of repay- ment. There is one class of tradesmen who among the necessitous may be considered more particularly the touchstone of credit, and of these "honest William Filby" as he was termed by the
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PECUNIARY EHBARRABSHENTS. 487
Poet, the tailor before mentioned, placed such im- plicit &ith in his honour as to furnish his wardrobe with all that an occasionally espensive taste re- quired, assured he should not ultimately be a loser by his confidence. From the books of this person it appears that towards the end of 176*2, and early in the following year, be supplied clothes of a description by no means implying unprosperous circumstances, to the amount of fifteen pounds, for which he received in August following a draft on Newbery at six days* sight : a prudent clause is indeed introduced in the ledger, in which it is noted, that this draft " when paid, will be in full," &o. ; it was nevertheleBS duly honoured.
To his necessities which were pretty obvious, and his disinclination to epistolatory communication which was equally known, Dr. Grainger who had returned to England from St. Christopher's for some months, partly with the view of bringing out his poem of the Sugar Cane, thus humorously alludes in a letter to Dr. Percy, dated March S4th, 1764.
"When I taxed little Goldsmith for not writing as he promised, his answer was, that he never wrote a letter in his Ufe; and faith I believe him — except to a bookseller for money."*
The " Preface to Rhetoric" charged in a pre- ceding memorandum at two guineas is not ascer- tained, but may probably have been a partnersbip
* MS. correspondence of Mr. Muon.
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48S LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
school-book, printed for Dodsley e^ly in January 1764, under tbe title of "Elements of Rhetoric and Poetry : exemplified in a select collection of passages from the best authors in Verse and Prose."' This book has been sought in vain.
Another piece " Preface to Chronicle" in the same account, has not been discovered, no publica- tion with such a title being traced among the literary advertisements of the day.
The translations of the " Life of Christ" and the " Lives of the Fathers'* appeared first, it is believed, in the Christian's Magazine ; and in 177^i & fow months after the death of the translator, were pub- lished with his name in a separate form by Caman and Newbery.t The receipt bears a similar date as several others : —
"Oct. 11 tb, 1763.— Received of Mr. John Ncwbery twenty-one pounds for translating the Life of Christ and the Lives of the Fathers.
" Oliver Goldsmith."
* Public AdTertiser, Jau. 11. 1764.
t Among a variety of his pieces entunerated in the adver- tisement on this occBBion, are — "An HUtory of the Life of-our Lord and Saviour Jeaue Christ. To vhich is added the Life of the Blessed Vii^n Mar; ; extracted from the Holy Scriptnrea and the best Ecdesiastical Historians. For the Instroction of Youth. Price one shilling."
" An History of the Lives, Actions, Travels, Sufferings, and Deaths of the most eminent Martyrs and Primitive Fathers of the Church in the first Four Craituries. For the Instructioa of Youth." — Morning Chronicle, July 1, 1774.
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OCCASIONAL PIECES. 489
A publication meant to compete with the Universal History, but more condensed and there- fore more calculated for general readers, being projected in 1763 by several booksellers, among whom Newbery took the lead, was about this period announced for publication. It was to be comprised in twelve volumes large octavo, one to appear every month until completed; the first came out on the Sod April under the title of—" A General History of the World from the Creation to the present time, &c. &c. By William Guthrie, Esq., John Gray, Esq., and others eminent in this branch of literature."
To this Goldsmith contributed the preface; one of those well written introductory notices, present- ing a sparkling commentary on what often proved to be a dull text, and in which he and Dr. Johnson possessed nearly a monopoly of the trade as well as of the excellence. This branch of authorship now nearly extinct, required practised skill, con- siderable ingenuity, and a knowledge of what there should be at least, if not what there was, in the book it introduced ; like ingenious Counsel in the Courts, such advocates say for their clients what the clients want the skill or the boldness to say for themselves ; and it may be remarked that Smollett whose pen on almost every sort of com- position was in demand, seems not to have attained particular distinction in this. Of the sum received for the preface we are left in no doubt by the fol- lowing specific acknowledgment, in addition to his own charge given in a previous page : —
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490 LIVE OF QOLDSMITH.
"Oct. 11th, 1763.— Received of Mr. John Newbery, three guineas for a Preface to the His- tory of the World.
" Oliver Goldsmith."
About half this piece only has been hitherto printed, being taken probably from the first mde draught communicated to Dr. Percy in manu- script. From the tenor of the concluding paragraph it would appear as if the writer had likewise taken a share in the body of the work, excepting it be supposed he speaks in the character of the chief editor or author, Mr. Guthrie. Whoever be the supposed speaker, the last sentence without doubt was a burst of personal feeling in allusioa to his own slow progress to reputation, the prospect of which after seven years' constant and nearly un- known labours, began. at length to open to his view. The complete preface will he found in the new edition of his works accompanying the present volumes. " Were he who now particularly entreats the reader's candid examination to mention the part he has had in this work himself, he is well convinced, and that without any afiected modesty, that such a discovery would only show the supe- riority of his associates in this undertaking ; but it is not from his friendship or his praise, but from their former labours in the learned world that they are to expect their reward. Whatever be the fate of this history, their reputation is in no danger, but will still continue rising; for they
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HISTORY OF THE WOKLD.
have found by its gradual increase already, that the approbation of folly is loud and transient ; that of wisdom stilt, bat lasting."
No positive evidence exists by which to ascer- tain whether any portion of the history itself proceeded from his pen : and in so voluminous a work consisting of about five hundred and fifty large and closely printed pages in each volume, it would be vain to search for those coincidences of sentiment, expression, and manner which have assisted the writer on other occasions. The mass of matter in the work is very great, the labour must have been long, and the writers various ; but it required rather diligence than genius, and was probably performed by those laborious and not unuseful men found banging on the outskirts of literature in a great metropolis, and who though sensible and well informed, being unable to attain eminence are content in order to supply their wants to be simply industrious. The price pud for it being no more than about thirty shillings per sheet, ofi^red no temptation to a higher order of writers.
Surprise will be excited that in a history of the world, England the native country of the writers and readers of such a book, and as might be sup- posed possessing the strongest interest in the es- timation of both, should be forgotten, and no ex- planation given of the cause ; an omission difficult to explain except by supposing that if well executed it would have interfered with some other work
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492 UPE OF GOLDSMITH.
from the same publisliers. Is it prubable that Goldsmith having undertaken to draw up some such compilation in his leisure hours, found he could make it more popular and profitable as a separate work, and that Newbery concurring in opinion, the original plan of giving it in this publication was dropped? Whatever truth there be in the conjecture, it is certain he had been for some months occupied on this subject, and witJi some ingenuity adopted a new form and title as a means of fixing public attention.
He had been early impressed, as appears in seve- ral passages of the Enquiry into Polite Learning, with the difficulty of poor and unfriended authors rising into literary reputation ; he believed that their books were not read ; their merits, when known to write for bread, derided by some and neglected by others. In this opinion he seems to have found something of a kindred feeling in Johnson who wrote from the heart, in that pa- thetic line—" Slow rises worth by poverty de- prest." To obviate the fancied disadvantage and make an experiment on public taste, he was will- ing to diverge from the beaten track, and try what degree of attention could he drawn toward a book supposed to emanate from the titled and the wealthy. A harmless deception was therefore practised such as authors conceive themselves privi- leged to use ; one which might assist a useful book, but was not likely to support a bad one. On the 3(jth June 17(1* came out " for the use of the
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LETTERS OP A NOBLEMAN TO -HIS SON. 493
young nobility and gentry : in two pocket volumes, price 6s. bound ; the History of £nglaiid in a series of Letters from a Nobleman to his Son."*
The success of this little work whether owing to its merit or its title, exceeded all expectation ; it soon became a general favourite, was put into the hands of educated youth ; and even found a high place in the regard of the better informed j nu- merous reprints have been made of it for a series of years, and if less called for than formerly in consequence of numberless competitors in the same field, newer indeed but far inferior in desert, it is still occasionally seen in the reading of adalts ; many of whom it is to be feared, have been be- guiled by its brie^ clear, and sprightly narrative firom the perusal of works of greater length and ampler details on the history of their conntry.t
The philosophical spirit pervading the volumes forms one of their chief attractions ; indicative of an enlarged mind not so solicitous to detail mi- nute events in history, as to draw lessons of in- struction from a comprehensive view of the whole. The impression created by the title is therefore
* PuBUe JdeertUer. — The first announcement appeared on the 1 7th May.
t That it is ttill read with attention by the educated and able, spears from the Act that a daily journal of great political influence, quoted and argued more than once from eome of its â– endmenta dniing the excitement and diacuaaion of a late graat political measure (Parliamentary Reform). No suspicion seems to have been entertained by the writer vho rrfened to the work, that ita author was Qoldamith.
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491 LIFE OP GOLDSMITH.
well carried on. We can hardly believe that a DohlemEui of talents, devoting more than common attention to the education of his son, might write such letters ; even occasional mistakes &vour the supposition of not being so much the pro- duction of a professed author, as the less studied labours of one writing for a private object. The observations are just, forcible, and often pro- found } so much so occasionally as to have been considered by some rather above the capacity of boys, to whom he replied that he wrote not for children, but for educated youth approaching to manhood, whose capacities were strengthened by exercise on familiar subjects. No undue political bias pervades the work. Each party in the state receives that degree of praise or censure to which they appear feirly entitled, the writer preserving on the one hand becoming leaning to the regal office and authority when threatened by foctious or ambitions enemies, and on the other that regard for rational liberty which all constitutional writers display.
; A few errors though of little moment occur in names, dates, and minor points, which it would have required little trouble to correct ; these con- firm the impression that they were written in haste and without sufBcient reference to larger preceding works. The mode of composition, given on the authority of a writer in the Gentleman's Magazine who professes to have known him at the time, and partly confirmed by admissions of his own in con<
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LETTERS OF A NOBLEMAN TO HIS SOK. 49^
versation sufficiently explains how they arose ; this plan however must be considered rather occasional than as one invariably followed.
In the raomiDg he read Hume, Rapin, Carte, and Kennett ; made a few memoranda for his guidance ; walked out with a friend or two for a country excursion, of which he was always fond ; returned to a temperate dinner and a cheerful evening, and seized a few hours from sleep to write as much as he had contemplated by the studies of the morning. He professed to derive advantage in facility of composition, an easier style, and more perfect knowledge of the subject, by thus having more time to revolve it ; but we may believe in this case that his memory was more taxed than his authorities ; and if the former misled him at the moment, the error of the night was forgotten to he rectified by recurrence to more certain guides, that of books, in the morning.
No very deep critical skill is required to pro- noance it beyond all competition, the most finished and elegant summary of our history, in such a compass, that has been, or is likely to be, written ; because few who possess the power of its writer are likely to choose the same mode of treating the subject. Neither is bis felicity of style likely to be equalled; ease, elegance, and perspicuity will ever claim a large share of public fevour even when minor blemishes are known to be present. To these qualities, as well as to the ingenuity and depth of the reflections, were owing the trans-
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496 LIFE OP aoLDSMITH.
lation of the volames into French by Madame Brissot, wife of the celebrated leader in the French Revolution. It appeared in two volames octavo, 1786 — 1790, under the name of " Let- trea Fhilosophiqnes et Politiques sur I'Histoire de I'Angleterre," and met with considerable succcbs ; her husband added notes to the translation.
It ia illustrative of the neglect shown to the de- tail of Goldsmith's literary labours, that his claim to so popular a compendium of English history is un- known to the great majority of readers ; nor are there many persons professedly devoted to literary inquiry more femiliar with the fact.* At the pe- riod of publication no particular secresy being observed, the booksellera as well as his literary acquaintance were better informed ; when a second edition appeared he sent copies to several friends ; and on Dr. Percy calling upon him about the same time, the volumes were with something of a jocular apology for the humble nature of the attempt, put into his hands. Davies, for whom he afterwards wrote the History of England in four volumes to which his name is attached, was equally aware of his claim to this: and he himself smiled at what he thought the novelty of the deception, and jested upon its success.
* Hi- Cunpbell in hit Life of Mn. Siddona Beenu to attri- bute thif work to Coombe, author of tbe Tour of I>r. Sjntu ; were tbere any doubt about the vriter his cUim irould Karcely be allowed, for though dying at an advanced age, he mnat hare been Tery young when it waa published.
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LETTERS OF A NODLEMAJf TO HIS ROV. 497
The title page however misled most persona, who gave the credit — for considerable credit became' attached to the performance — to such members of the peerage as had .culdvated a taste for letters ; by some to Lord Chesterfield, by o&ers to Lord Orrery, but by the greater number to Lord Lyttle- ton i and the latter, however high in literary fame, was so little displeased with popnlw opinion on this point as to take no trouble to contradict it. To bim therefore the Letters are still assigned. He had at this period some slight knowledge of Gold- smith, - and is alleged to have given him shortly afterwards hopes of being provided for by an ap- pointment under government, a promise which, if ever made, it is unnecessary to say was never ful- filled. Whether it was unwillingDeas to deprive bis expected patron of bis reputed literary honours, or supposed danger to his own feme when better established, by connecting it with so slight a work, he never afterwards publicly claimed it even by that coy implication common to authors or their publishers, in attaching to announcements of such works as they choose to acknowledge the names of those that are not. Thus the Citizen of the World and Vicar of Wakefield, which had not bis name in the title-page, regularly followed adver- tisements of the Traveller ; not so the letters of the alleged Nobleman, which by not being seen in such company, appeared to be tacitly dis- claimed.
He received, we are told by Davies in the Life
VOL. r. - K K
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of Garrick, for hU three HiBtories of England, this being one of the number, 750/. or 800/. ; a sum which is considerably exaggerated. He had him- self indeed in his character of publisher, paid 552L for the work in four volumes, and the abridgment of it in one ; this would leave SOO/. as the produce of the 'Letters ' Twenty-five sheets only of letter- press form the two volumes ; and as Dodsley allowed only three guineas for an octavo sheet on a subject requiring more inquiry and research, a less sum would probably have been considered sufficient for a duodecimo sheet on history, although the quantity of matter might have been as great. Whether this was received, the following receipt renders questionable ; no other acknowledgment connected with the volumes can be found, and excepting he experienced further liberality in succeeding reprints of them, the whole amoiint paid him was probably under 50/.
"Oct. llth, 1763.— Received of Mr. John Newbery twenty-one pounds, which with what I received before is in full for the copy of the History of England in a series of Letters two volumes in ISmo.
" Oliver Goldsmith.'*
To such as have not seen the work, or perused it more carelessly from not knowing who was the author, the introductory portion touching gene- rally on the subject of history, will be new and give a good idea of his general muiner. He
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LETTERS OP A NOBLEMAN TO HIS SON. 499
recantB h«*e the contMBptuottB censure passed on the study of mathematica in a preceding publi- catioD ; the results no doubt of further reflection and experience; logic and metaphysics however stand no higher in his estimation than his friend Beatty said they did when at College.
Examples of his repetitions of a favourite sen- tence occasionally occur ; in the first letter we find one which he had previously used in the Enquiry into Polite Learning*, and again puts into the mouth of CrwUcer in the Good-natured Mant : — " When all is done, human life is at the greatest and the best, but like a froward child that must he played with and humoured a little to keep it quiet till it fiills asleep, and then the care is over." It seems to be taken from Sir William Temples Heads for an Essay upon the different Conditions of Life and Fortune. " After all life is but a trifle, that should be played with till we lose it, and then it is not worth regretting." Another, used in three of his pieces, that " passions, like fermentation in liquors, disturb the youthful breast only to refine it," is in part applied to our Government connected with the great struggle of Charles I. with his Par- liament : — " The laws became more precise, and the subject more ready to obey, as if a previous fer- mentation in the constitution was necessary to its subsequent refinement" In the thirty-fifth letter, when speaking of the murder of David Rizzio, the
• See Worlci, vol. i. t Act I. Scene iv. See Works, vol. it. K K 2
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500 LIFE OF GOLDSMITH.
&Toarite of Mary Queen of Scots, he repeats of him what he had Baid in a paper on the different " Schools of Music" printed in the British Maga- zine:* "Thus ended Bizzio, a man who has heen more spoken of perhaps than any other who rose from 80 mean a station. What his other talents to please might have been, is unknown ; hut cer- tain it is, that sereral indications of his skill in mosic renuun even to the present time : all those pleasing Scotch airs which are set in such a pecu- liar taste, being universally allowed to be of his composition."
To these ''Letters" his subsequent History of finglaud in four volumes, is pretty lately in- debted.
* See WoAm, toI. i.
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APPENDIX.
NoTS. Vol. I. Page 40. LawretU€ Whyte's Poena. He u believed to have been
Thb Bystem adopted by Beveral Irish landed proprietors, of whicfa complaiot ia made in the familiar strain) of LawreDce Wbyte,
' How many lillageB tiiey raied. How jNony paruket laid watte. To fatten bnUoeke, theep, and eotet. When tearee one paruAAattteoploHgAa ;'
or, in other words, turning arable into grazing land with- out regard to the wante of the people, is said to hare origi- nated in very selfish motives. A resoJntion passed the Irish House of Commons, " that whoever demanded lithe of agistment was an enemy to the Protestant interest ;" thls» though not law, operated as snch upon the clergy, who were deterred from demanding their rights upon grass land, which included all the parks, pleasure grounds, and many laige estates of the most powerful men In Ireland ; while the tacit exemption thus given to that species of property formed a premium for throwing much more land out of cultivation ; an additional burden for the support of the clergy was thus thrown upon the poorer tillers of the soil. To these and other grievances alluded to in the text, -with the contrast they exhibit to the state of ease and pros- perity enjoyed by farmers thirty years before, the rhymes
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509 APPENDIX.
of Lawrcnca Whyte chiefly advert. Ab these are rare in Ireland, and never likely to be seen by the English reader, and being curious in tbemseWes as descriptive of Irish rural life between 1700-1730, a few more extracts may gratify cnriosity.
Of Deoch an Doruis and his supposed spouse, in the poem already quoted from, by whom are meant, in fact, the genius of Irish hospitality, he says, —
" They were a thrifty loving pair. Who liv^d in plenty all the year. Stood at a moderate easy rent. Enjoying life with vast content. Tbey kept a harp, and pair of tables, Good oats, and hay in bams and stable* ; And all eitravagance to shoo. He wore the cloth his wife had spun ; By frugal means kept out of debt, Nor was his door with dans beset ; His sideboard was not plate hut wood. Which made his payments very good. Kept a good cellar, kitchen, larder. And those who will enquire farther. His birth, or pedigree to trace, mil find him of Milesian race. Descended from some Irish king. If all be trae our Draida sing. Hia grandsire's fate did oft bemoan. Who forfeited in forty-one,* Her sire lost ^1 in eighty -eight, "f Which we remember to be fkct j Thongh he was in no insunection. But kept at home, and took protection. And was of the Strongbonian lace ; AU could not mitigate his case.
"Then by industry and by fhrm. They lived so comfortably warm.
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APPGNDIX.
The kndlord had tiis rent v^ pud, Nor had he any cauae to dreai^ His tenant to gire ap hi* lease, ' Ab now, too often b the case, Ron in anear, or fly amty To North or Soath Amorica. Whene'er the Squire wae nm a-gronnd. He could advance him fifty pound. And on a pinch eonld make a shift. To ^re his honour a good lift.
" It wae the humour of them both. To live upon their country growth. And valued, not one pinch of snuff. Your canisters of Indian stuff For they could breakfost, sup, and dine Without a drop of tea or wine. And nothing fbreign, she would tell ye, Should clothe her back, or fill her belly. a • * •
" He taught his sons to hold the plough. To sow the seed, to reap and mow ; To take tfae area of a field. Before it was manur'd or till'd ; They read the Irish, Latin q>oke. The head of Prisdan seldom broke ; An aifinmeut could form and twist, like sophister or casnist; They spoke it withoat hesitation. Though now a days 'tis not the fashion. Since graduates tell us 'tis pedantic. And he who speaks it, must be frantic, A Jesuit, conjuior, or clown, Who has no taste for court or town.
" Since Dechadorus play'd his part. To train his sons by rules and art. By precepts, and by good example. Nest comes his wife to give her sample.
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APPENDIX.
Hie female issue were her core. With proper documents to rear.
" She often made them labour bard.
To brev and bake, to spin and cud.
To dresB a dish or two of meat.
Fit for the Bquire him»^ to eat.
To uie their needle, read and vrite,
And dance the Irish trot »t D^;ht,
TTiey made a cartsy on a pindi
Exceeding any country vench.
Without a hoop look'd prim and gay.
On Sunday, or on holyday,
At patrons* danc'd aj% or hornpipe,
Play'd on a fiddle or a compipe.
Such country daaces u they play.
On salt-box, or the tongs and key,
Five cards they play'd with art and skill,
Ab ladiea now do at quadrille.
They play'd for two-pence or a groat.
But higher never could be brought :
Yet to their pmiae it may be aaid
They made good butter, cheese, and bread,
Good Iskebaba conld distil.
Wherein they show' il the utmrat aldll.
" With mien abore the common sort. They inimick'd those who come from court. And walk'd a minnet smooth and strught, According to the figure eight. And that with better grace and airs. Than some who dance at the Lord Mayor'n. Tliongh neTer bred in town or dty, With repartee, or pun could fit ye, And as their heels denote them dancers. Their heads were tum'd for witty answers. And vhen at work could aweetly chime Their Irish songs in tune and time ; Whene'er requested for a song, There was no need to teaie them long ; â– PstroQ-Ssinti day*, kept feitlTelj by Romsn Cathollci in IreUod.
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Snek as they liad they gav* it free. Without a long apology.
" Then Dechadoroa ev'ry year Could give hu landlord hearty cheer, A cordial welcome to his friend. And gare himself at latter end i Tou might as veil hope to get free From Newgate, or the Marahalsea, As BtTive to go by force or stealth. Till first you drink hie landlord's health. When that was done, then you were sure. To meet his good wife at the door. Who with fall hrimmers pUea you fairly. The qointessenee of Irish barley. Yon must comply — durante Ute, To take a cap of aquaritie. And tells you while it is a flltiug, ' "Sia water of my own distilling, ' A peiftct cordial, and aa such, ' Ton need not fear to take too much, ' Then take another cup of it,
• 'T will make yon over>flow with wit ; ' If any of the seeds remain,
• ^thin the compass of your brain,
' Theae watera qaickly make them sprout,
' And into branches floorish ont :
' It gives them such a sadden spring,
' Ton cannot long forbear to sing,
' It oils the tongue, the lungs, and wesson,
' And makes ua exercise our reason ;
â– This mskes^the learned and the wise,
< To a^ite, and philosophiae,
' Before we part — you '11 find it trtie,
' And now, dear friend — I drink to you I' "
The prevailing taste for pedigree, even among the humbler claaaes, die farmer and his wife are thus supposed to dwell upon : —
" Lo 1 here genealt^ comes in. Then we are all but three a kin.
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APPENDIX.
Old Decbadorus makes it out. Whilst flowing flagons go abont, Vfho risei irom hia elbow chair, Thna speaks with solemn serious air : ' If we may credit any story, ' Of clan 0 Neal, or clan O Bory, ' 0 Connor Sligo, Faly, Kerry, ' Macarty Reagh, and Sulevan Berry, ' Brian Borons, o^pring Inchiquin, ' And we — but six or eight a kin, ' Together with our cousin Daly, ' Our cousin Flaherty, and Maly, ' The O's and Mac's are all our own, ' Our cousin Reilly, and Malone, ' Mac Dermot prince of Cullevin, ' Mac Dennod Roe, 0 Doud, 0 Flin, ' 0 Kelly, Shaughnesy, O Garo. ' Mac Donnel, Geoghegan, 0 Hara, ' And not forgetting, my dear joy ! ' O Carrol, Coghlan, and Molloy, ' With nuuiy more, onr flesh and blood, ' As great aa these, and full as good, ' For many ages long before us, ' Were of the tribe of Beoch a Dams, ' All kings or heroes in their time, ' Whose names in Irish asnals chime, ' Descending all from great Melesins, ' A thousand years before Tui^sius, ' Whom we for tyranny have slain, ' And drove away his Oothic train. ' I could enumerate yon more, ' Whose predecessota heretofore,
* Have bore the sceptre for a while, ' As sovereign princes of our isle ;
' Their regal race are beggars now ' B«duc'd to drive or hold the plough.
* * • » ♦
" ' My wife, her pedigree can trace ye, ' From all the followers of De Lacy, ' In Conaaught, Mnnster, or in Leinster, ' From highest lady to the spinster.
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APPENDIX. 507
' From all the forourit«s of King John, ' And telli their Dam«* dovn one by one ; ' There'i Crum a Butler ! Cnim a Boo ! ' Pray God that all ahe aaya be tme ! ' For ahe vill tell you, on her faith ' She ia akin to all Weatmeath ; ' And to that county she may join, ' All from the Shannon to the Boyoe.' "
Carolan fsee page 36. of this vol.) is probably dewribed in the following liuea : —
" The harper lull'd aome folks asleep, WhoBC dittiea made old Tomen weep. And then with torches brisk and nice, Set them a dancing in a trice i Although illiterate and blind. He had the gifts of tongue and mind ; Though poor and humble hia condition. He was a poet and mnaician ; His harp for Irish heroes strung, Their fiall he wept, and aeal he sung ; Hia old Strongbonians, and Melesians, He sung as Homer did hia Oredana."
Of some of the Christmas sports of Ireland at that time, we have the following curious account. Such memorials of joyous though primitive manoerB in England, delight us in the retrospect, and cannot be without interest when told of the sister country ; in these Ooldsmitb no doubt often took part ; and the names given were those of respectable fiuniliea in Weatmeath.
" Lest any should mistake the time. By this our prelude put in rhyme. We shall explain it, if yon please. It waa in Chriatmas holidays. About the thirtieth of December, As near as I can well remember. The moon was just a quarter old. The wind at North, the weather cold.
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APPENDIX.
In Anne's long victorious reign.
Who triumpb'd orer France and Spsin,
Wben Mulborough'e &ine throi^h Europe rko.
Who fought the titles of Queen Anne ;
Then did the name of Deochadorui
Become bo numerous and glorioos,
Ae well Strongbonians as Milesians,
Kept open house on aU occaaioiiB,
That scarce a parish or a town
Thioughout the kingdom but had one.
Then Cromwell's tribes, of later date.
Laid by their dril jars, and heat.
Became more generous and free,
Drank Deochadoms neighbourly,
And though they could not month him well.
They into all bis humours fell :
For all who breathe the Irish air.
Must in its happy influence share ;
It gives them such a turn of mind,
As makes them candid, free, and kind.
" Should OUver Dalton tell the story. Of HanOB MaUan, Jack the Tory, Long Tom's exploits some years ago. Of prancing Qarrot, and Wdl Boe, With all the frolics of the West, He is the man could tell them best. Who ke^ the annals of them all At Baskin, or at NoughavaD.
Now laying by all affectation, Digression, or long iorocation. Sing thon, my muse I the merry rambles. Of Nngenta, Dillons, Daltons, OambUs, Fits Geralds, Kellys, and Magsns, Carousing with their different dans, Withmany more of equal fyaat. Too long a catalogue to name. With those who whilom there have floniish'd. Now dead ; or by late wars impovcrish'd,— The task too great, — could not be done from Mnllingar uato Atfalone.
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APPENDIX .
Then honest George, who lowd mirth, Aa well M an]' man on earth, By good economy took care. For all the seasona of the year. To have his table well aupplied ; And when at home was not denied, Wth pmdence and with plenty bleat. With open anns receiT'd bia gaest.
"We can't forget young Ar r'a freaka,
Hia drinlcing bouta with jolly rake^ How many has he kiU'd with drinking 7 How many more sent home a blinking T In stealing homewards, grop'd their way, At midnight or at break of day : How many has he aent home reeling. Blind drank, without the sense of feeling? 'TwM Deochadorons night and day, Until he dnmk himself away.
" What can we say to jolly Will, Whose rambles would a volume fill, llie fitther of a sober son, — With grief we aay — be 's dead and gone. And ftuther we shall not presume, But gently tread upon his tomb.
" There 'a Hnbert the old rummager. With Sheill the old encourager Of frolics, at each drinking bout. Are Tcterans that bohl it ont ; With Will the heir of Killinboy, Who drank his neighbouni, round him, dry. They and Will Roe, with aome few more. Are all that 's left of tfaeold corps.
" Young Will our hero now is misa'd. Whom deatli took early on his list ; With Harry Bane, and Hany DufC Our chiefeat leaders on in boff ; Like knights of old each had a squire. Who did a waiting man require,
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The num, an underling, or tvo. Hit work and drudgery to do ; This was an independent troop. Of •qoires and gentlemen made up, Snbaltema, and of volonteera. And raost of them were cavaliers j They went in MjoadronB here and there. To graie and forage half the year. And make their winter quarters good, WhereTer there was drink or food. At any chrisfning, feast, or wedding, OiTe them but drink, theyask'dno bedding.
' ' When brawny Bob, at rixty-three, Went out a mumming merrily ; With such a Bqnadron dress' d so antic. You'd swesr that he and they were frantic ; Dnniel of old, was the parade. When they went out to serenade. The scene for merriment and plays In honest John and Bess's days, Whose Tirtnes hover round their tomb. Which time itself cannot consume. From thence to Tobberwe withdrew. The proper place for rendezroua, There was our wardrobe, there we stript, And each man got himself equq>p'd ; llien turning out in such (Hsgniiie, Occasion'd laughter and surprise. Whoever had the worst array. Was choseu chief to lead the way, To him the greyest honours shown, Just like a monarch on a throne
" One took a weaver's working dress. All old and tatter* d, yon may gaess, But then a mighty strife arose, In casting lots about bis clothes. Hall had secur'd his frock snd cap. Seven years, I'm sure, without a nap, Which hung together like a net. And kept out neither cold nor wet.
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Another Bctunblea for bis throwa. Who ia the scuffle got some blows. Then does ariae & greater racket, About a aailar's drav'rs and jsdcet, A miller's iiat, and leathon breechei. And mittingB wore in fencing ditdiee ; Some wore a nusk who wanted none. Which taken off, were moch at one. Then some to look more tight and gay. Made np thedr famitore of hay. Boots, belts, and stirmpa all were apno. From what their hobby's fed upon.
" Who can describe the cavalcade, When each got on his quadruped ? Which Hogarth's pencil scarce could draw. With their accoutrements of straw. Old garronB'", hobbya, gauld and lame. The riders wild, the ganoDs tame, They sweated hard to flog and drive Poor cattle who were scarce alive. Upon a pannel or long sug^;an, f Yon see the heroes lash and tug on. When Rosinant beg^ to stumble. The horae and man together tumble; With clothes embroider' d mounts again. In hopes to keep a stricter rein. And fiun would moke the garron skip. Until he got the second trip. Fell in a deep and mnddy slough. At length got out - the Lord knows how, — He thank'd his stars, no limb at all Of his was broke in either foil. But by the last got mask and gloves, Then up he gets and forward moves. Was chosen out the fittest man. Of all the troop to lead the van. Then to Rathcourath in full charge We went to visit cousin George ;
' Applied In Ireland tu the InfMor nlui of bor.u. I A kind of itnw mat, hniuelf labsLtnted foi a nddte.
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APPENDIX.
To him-^ flnt respects we ponlr . Gsm bim s dance and serenkde ;* ' Embradng Tuwith as much jo^i As G«orge the yoonger then a boy. Thea after midiiight np ve started, And after all onr mirth we parted ; From dkence we went to Balnecamw, To bid onr cousin Jade good morrow ; In pails we drank the night away, Got fuddled, sick, and slept next. day.
"Before we finished that campugn. We met at Tobber once again, Eoni'd up John Hears, who by and by Broi^ht us some ale and Chnstmas pie. The walls whereof were soon broke down, And made Salt-acre all onr own. Thence to Nick Borren at Killaie, Who gave ns most delicioas fare, 'Twos choice roast beef and humming ale, A hfearty welcome and a tale ; A gross of oaths he gave t« boot. That we were Tery wdcome to 't ; And to confirm it, brought his spouse With flowing flagons to carouse. 'T was ordered then both foot and horse. To Hostown should direct their conne ; We serenaded the old man. Said we were welcome er'ry one. There we regal'd some days and nights With TariooB pastimes and delights. What churl dare kiU a goose or how Sit down to eat his Christmas pro^ His barrel tap or give it vent. Without due notice to them sent ; 'T were better for him go to war AgMuit the Tiirics, the Moors, or Czar, Or throughout Europe range and roam, Thau think to live in peace at home.
" This was the caae in days of yore. Sung by a poet heretofore.
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APPENDIX. olft
' Baheen (^ nda'S, and by their canning skill
' Drew Dp 1^ iIuceB, and drown'diHooney's mill,
' Poor Saitt thty bsniah'd, Dallj once didjpld,
' But tliey too sun of conqneat lort the field.
' Keenoge in ashea, by their valonr 'a lai^
' And Ballimacallin'a night and day a&aid ;
' Each neigbbotmng fiDage nck'd vith new aUrau
' In^iloring peace anbciitted to their amu.
' They had free qoarten many a campaign,
' At Ummo-mon^ Dnni^ and Clniiebane.' "
Rack-rents and their evils, are adverted to in another place as tbe standing grievance of the conntry.
" Thoogh eveiy rent roQ now is donbl^ T is Btin attended with more trooble ( The tenants radc'd they ran away. For they mnat go to gaol, or pay : This cata out wi»k t^ the appnisen. And makes some landed men torn graziera. Who, to keep up the rate of lands. Do stock and keep them in their handa : Some ftrms are 1^ a long time waste. Lest thrir new rent loQ be disgraced. For deeds and marriage settlements B«cite the present annoal rents, Vhid) they presnme wiU ne'er be leas. At least while they can find distress ; For want of which they do re-enter. As their estate, sn old debenture. And fiill poBseflsion still demanding. Against all clauses notwithstanding.
" They advertiae it then in piint. And all praposals moat be seat To them in writing without flul. Who are the ownen in fee-tail With large encomiums on the turn. That is endos'd so inng and warm. With' rocks and bogs and rivnlets, Whne yon may flab, or lay your nets, Tt^,. 1. L L
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APPENDIX.
For eelfi, young Bulmon-trouts, and spnts. Where boys may c&tch them in their hats, A dwelling house in good repair. With offices such as they ar^. It Ii(B within trelve miles of Carrick, A market town where stands a barrack j But this indeed we needs must own, "T is sixty miles &om Dublin town. " Our tenant Patrick held it long, But then he had it for a song ; Some yean ago 'twas raised to five. But Patrick never since could thrive. And yet before his lease was out. His farm was canted round about ; Ralph screw'd the acre up to ten. To which the landlord put Iiis pen. And thus he held it some few years. But still was running In arrears ; For mercy cries, Let me surrender ; The landlord then rejects the tender. Ralph thus involv'd in debt took leg, Now Pat and Ralph are forced to beg. No wonder bread com should be dear. And that the poor should famine fear. When some rich men can scarce afford Good bread or drink to serve their board. Give sparingly their sour ale. With coarse black bread at eVry meal, Half bran, half bak'd with mouldy crust. Half sour, like leaven to your gust ; That's seldom boulted through a sieve. On which a Swede could hardly live. The dregs of musty mouldy wheat. Which well bred dogs would scorn to eat. Who, in the sense of taste or smell. Their masters often do excel. And rather feed on carrion flesh. Than what the Squire buys fresh and fresh ; Just as Pat Tracy bought his coals. By halves, good lack I and not by whdee.
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APPENDIX.
Not by half ton, bat hj half barrel, Which made bie wife with him to quarrel. To vent her passion and diBpleasnrs, Tbat be Bhou}d stint her of her measure-,,
" At length when you make shift to dine, Hifl worship gives yon sour wine. He calls it Boordeaox orMa^oo, Which yon must drink until yon spew, And if you stir, he '11 seize your throttle. To keep you for another bottle. ' Dear Jack ! don't leave me, my dear conain ! ' Till you and I drink out the dozen. ' This is a sketch, we give in baste, Of some few modern men of taste."
END OP THE FIRST VOLUME.
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