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You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Oliver Goldsmith + +Author: Washington Irving + +Release Date: April, 2005 [EBook #7993] +[This file was first posted on June 10, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, OLIVER GOLDSMITH *** + + + + +E-text prepared by Charles Aldarondo, Tiffany Vergon, William Craig, Charles +Franks, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +OLIVER GOLDSMITH + +A Biography + +by + +Washington Irving + + + + + + + +PREFACE + +I. Birth and Parentage--Characteristics of the Goldsmith Race--Poetical +Birthplace--Goblin House--Scenes of Boyhood--Lissoy--Picture of a Country +Parson--Goldsmith's Schoolmistress--Byrne, the Village Schoolmaster-- +Goldsmith's Hornpipe and Epigram--Uncle Contarine--School Studies and +School Sports--Mistakes of a Night + +II. Improvident Marriages in the Goldsmith Family--Goldsmith at the +University--Situation of a Sizer--Tyranny of Wilder, the Tutor--Pecuniary +Straits--Street Ballads--College Riot--Gallows Walsh--College Prize--A +Dance Interrupted + +III. Goldsmith rejected by the Bishop--Second Sally to see the World--Takes +Passage for America--Ship sails without him--Return on Fiddleback--A +Hospitable Friend--The Counselor + +IV. Sallies forth as a Law Student--Stumbles at the Outset--Cousin Jane and +the Valentine--A Family Oracle--Sallies forth as a Student of +Medicine--Hocus-pocus of a Boarding-house--Transformations of a Leg of +Mutton--The Mock Ghost--Sketches of Scotland--Trials of Toryism--A Poet's +Purse for a Continental Tour + +V. The agreeable Fellow-passengers--Risks from Friends picked up by the +Wayside--Sketches of Holland and the Dutch--Shifts while a Poor Student at +Leyden--The Tulip Speculation--The Provident Flute--Sojourn at Paris-- +Sketch of Voltaire--Traveling Shifts of a Philosophic Vagabond + +VI. Landing In England--Shifts of a Man without Money--The Pestle and +Mortar--Theatricals in a Barn--Launch upon London--A City Night +Scene--Struggles with Penury--Miseries of a Tutor--A Doctor in the +Suburb--Poor Practice and Second-hand Finery--A Tragedy in Embryo--Project +of the Written Mountains + +VII. Life as a Pedagogue--Kindness to Schoolboys--Pertness In +Return--Expensive Charities--The Griffiths and the "Monthly Review"--Toils +of a Literary Hack--Rupture with the Griffiths + +VIII. Newbery, of Picture-book Memory--How to keep up Appearances--Miseries +of Authorship--A Poor Relation--Letter to Hodson + +IX. Hackney Authorship--Thoughts of Literary Suicide--Return to Peckham-- +Oriental Projects--Literary Enterprise to raise Funds--Letter to Edward +Wells--To Robert Bryanton--Death of Uncle Contarine--Letter to Cousin Jane + +X. Oriental Appointment, and Disappointment--Examination at the College of +Surgeons--How to procure a Suit of Clothes--Fresh Disappointment--A Tale of +Distress--The Suit of Clothes in Pawn--Punishment for doing an act of +Charity--Gayeties of Green-Arbor Court--Letter to his Brother--Life of +Voltaire--Scroggins, an attempt at Hock Heroic Poetry + +XI. Publication of "The Inquiry"--Attacked by Griffith's "Review"--Kenrick, +the Literary Ishmaelite--Periodical Literature--Goldsmith's Essays--Garrick +as a Manager--Smollett and his Schemes--Change of Lodgings--The Robin Hood +Club + +XII. New Lodgings--Visits of Ceremony--Hangers-on--Pilkington and the White +Mouse--Introduction to Dr. Johnson--Davies and his Bookshop--Pretty Mrs. +Davies--Foote and his Projects--Criticism of the Cudgel + +XIII. Oriental Projects--Literary Jobs--The Cherokee Chiefs--Merry +Islington and the White Conduit House--Letters on the History of +England--James Boswell--Dinner of Davies--Anecdotes of Johnson and +Goldsmith + +XIV. Hogarth a Visitor at Islington--His Character--Street +Studies--Sympathies between Authors and Painters--Sir Joshua Reynolds--His +Character--His Dinners--The Literary Club--Its Members--Johnson's Revels +with Lanky and Beau--Goldsmith at the Club + +XV. Johnson a Monitor to Goldsmith--Finds him in Distress with his +Landlady--Relieved by the Vicar of Wakefield--The Oratorio--Poem of The +Traveler--The Poet and his Dog--Success of the Poem--Astonishment of the +Club--Observations on the Poem + +XVI. New Lodgings--Johnson's Compliment--A Titled Patron--The Poet at +Northumberland House--His Independence of the Great--The Countess of +Northumberland--Edwin and Angelina--Gosford and Lord Clare--Publication of +Essays--Evils of a rising Reputation--Hangers-on--Job Writing--Goody +Two-shoes--A Medical Campaign--Mrs. Sidebotham + +XVII. Publication of the Vicar of Wakefield--Opinions concerning it--Of +Dr. Johnson--Of Rogers the Poet--Of Goethe--Its Merits--Exquisite +Extract--Attack by Kenrick--Reply--Book-building--Project of a Comedy + +XVIII. Social Condition of Goldsmith--His Colloquial Contests with +Johnson--Anecdotes and Illustrations + +XIX. Social Resorts--The Shilling Whist Club--A Practical Joke--The +Wednesday Club--The "Ton of Man"--The Pig Butcher--Tom King--Hugh +Kelly--Glover and his Characteristics + +XX. The Great Cham of Literature and the King--Scene at Sir Joshua +Reynolds's--Goldsmith accused of Jealousy--Negotiations with Garrick--The +Author and the Actor--Their Correspondence + +XXI. More Hack Authorship--Tom Davies and the Roman History--Canonbury +Castle--Political Authorship--Pecuniary Temptation--Death of Newbery the +elder + +XXII. Theatrical Maneuvering--The Comedy of False Delicacy--First +Performance of The Good-Natured Man--Conduct of Johnson--Conduct of the +Author--Intermeddling of the Press + +XXIII. Burning the Candle at both Ends--Fine Apartments--Fine +Furniture--Fine Clothes--Fine Acquaintances--Shoemaker's Holiday and Jolly +Pigeon Associates--Peter Barlow, Glover, and the Hampstead Hoax--Poor +Friends among Great Acquaintances + +XXIV. Reduced again to Book-building--Rural Retreat at Shoemaker's +Paradise--Death of Henry Goldsmith--Tributes to his memory in The Deserted +Village + +XXV. Dinner at Bickerstaff's--Hiffernan and his Impecuniosity--Kenrick's +Epigram--Johnson's Consolation--Goldsmith's Toilet--The bloom-colored + +Coat--New Acquaintances--The Hornecks--A touch of Poetry and Passion--The +Jessamy Bride + +XXVI. Goldsmith in the Temple--Judge Day and Grattan--Labor and +Dissipation--Publication of the Roman History--Opinions of it--History of +Animated Nature--Temple Rooker--Anecdotes of a Spider + +XXVII. Honors at the Royal Academy--Letter to his brother Maurice--Family +Fortunes--Jane Contarine and the Miniature--Portraits and +Engravings--School Associations--Johnson and Goldsmith in Westminster Abbey + +XXVIII. Publication of the Deserted Village--Notices and Illustrations of +it + +XXIX. The Poet among the Ladies--Description of his Person and Manners-- +Expedition to Paris with the Horneck Family--The Traveler of Twenty and the +Traveler of Forty--Hickey, the Special Attorney--An Unlucky Exploit + +XXX. Death of Goldsmith's Mother--Biography of Parnell--Agreement with +Davies for the History of Rome--Life of Bolingbroke--The Haunch of Venison + +XXXI. Dinner at the Royal Academy--The Rowley Controversy--Horace Walpole's +Conduct to Chatterton--Johnson at Redcliffe Church--Goldsmith's History of +England--Davies's Criticism--Letter to Bennet Langton + +XXXII. Marriage of Little Comedy--Goldsmith at Barton--Practical Jokes at +the Expense of his Toilet--Amusements at Barton--Aquatic Misadventure + +XXXIII. Dinner at General Oglethorpe's--Anecdotes of the General--Dispute +about Dueling--Ghost Stories + +XXXIV. Mr. Joseph Cradock--An Author's Confidings--An Amanuensis--Life at +Edgeware--Goldsmith Conjuring--George Colman--The Fantoccini + +XXXV. Broken Health--Dissipation and Debts--The Irish Widow--Practical +Jokes--Scrub--A Misquoted Pun--Malagrida--Goldsmith proved to be a +Fool--Distressed Ballad-Singers--The Poet at Ranelagh + +XXXVI. Invitation to Christmas--The Spring-velvet Coat--The Haymaking Wig +--The Mischances of Loo--The fair Culprit--A dance with the Jessamy Bride + +XXXVII. Theatrical delays--Negotiations with Colman--Letter to +Garrick--Croaking of the Manager--Naming of the Play--She Stoops to +Conquer--Foote's Primitive Puppet Show, Piety on Pattens--First +Performance of the Comedy--Agitation of the Author--Success--Colman +Squibbed out of Town + +XXXVIII. A Newspaper Attack--The Evans Affray--Johnson's Comment + +XXXIX. Boswell in Holy-Week--Dinner at Oglethorpe's--Dinner at Paoli's--The +policy of Truth--Goldsmith affects Independence of Royalty--Paoli's +Compliment--Johnson's Eulogium on the Fiddle--Question about +Suicide--Boswell's Subserviency + +XL. Changes in the Literary Club--Johnson's objection to Garrick--Election +of Boswell + +XLI. Dinner at Dilly's--Conversations on Natural History--Intermeddling of +Boswell--Dispute about Toleration--Johnson's Rebuff to Goldsmith--His +Apology--Man-worship--Doctors Major and Minor--A Farewell Visit + +XLII. Project of a Dictionary of Arts and +Sciences--Disappointment--Negligent Authorship--Application for a +Pension--Beattie's Essay on Truth--Public Adulation--A high-minded Rebuke + +XLIII. Toil without Hope--The Poet in the Green-room--In the Flower +Garden--At Vauxhall--Dissipation without Gayety--Cradock in Town--Friendly +Sympathy--A Parting Scene--An Invitation to Pleasure + +XLIV. A return to Drudgery--Forced Gayety--Retreat to the Country--The Poem +of Retaliation--Portrait of Garrick--Of Goldsmith--of Reynolds--Illness of +the Poet--His Death--Grief of his Friends--A last Word respecting the +Jessamy Bride + +XLV. The Funeral--The Monument--The Epitaph--Concluding Reflections + + + + +PREFACE + + +In the course of a revised edition of my works I have come to a +biographical sketch of Goldsmith, published several years since. It was +written hastily, as introductory to a selection from his writings; and, +though the facts contained in it were collected from various sources, I was +chiefly indebted for them to the voluminous work of Mr. James Prior, who +had collected and collated the most minute particulars of the poet's +history with unwearied research and scrupulous fidelity; but had rendered +them, as I thought, in a form too cumbrous and overlaid with details and +disquisitions, and matters uninteresting to the general reader. + +When I was about of late to revise my biographical sketch, preparatory to +republication, a volume was put into my hands, recently given to the public +by Mr. John Forster, of the Inner Temple, who, likewise availing himself of +the labors of the indefatigable Prior, and of a few new lights since +evolved, has produced a biography of the poet, executed with a spirit, a +feeling, a grace and an eloquence, that leave nothing to be desired. Indeed +it would have been presumption in me to undertake the subject after it had +been thus felicitously treated, did I not stand committed by my previous +sketch. That sketch now appeared too meager and insufficient to satisfy +public demand; yet it had to take its place in the revised series of my +works unless something more satisfactory could be substituted. Under these +circumstances I have again taken up the subject, and gone into it with more +fullness than formerly, omitting none of the facts which I considered +illustrative of the life and character of the poet, and giving them in as +graphic a style as I could command. Still the hurried manner in which I +have had to do this amid the pressure of other claims on my attention, and +with the press dogging at my heels, has prevented me from giving some parts +of the subject the thorough handling I could have wished. Those who would +like to see it treated still more at large, with the addition of critical +disquisitions and the advantage of collateral facts, would do well to refer +themselves to Mr. Prior's circumstantial volumes, or to the elegant and +discursive pages of Mr. Forster. + +For my own part, I can only regret my shortcomings in what to me is a labor +of love; for it is a tribute of gratitude to the memory of an author whose +writings were the delight of my childhood, and have been a source of +enjoyment to me throughout life; and to whom, of all others, I may address +the beautiful apostrophe of Dante to Virgil: + + "Tu se' lo mio maestro, e 'l mio autore: + Tu se' solo colui, da cu, io tolsi + Lo bello stile, che m' ha fato onore." + +W.I. + +SUNNYSIDE, _Aug. 1, 1849._ + + + + +CHAPTER ONE + +BIRTH AND PARENTAGE--CHARACTERISTICS OF THE GOLDSMITH RACE--POETICAL +BIRTHPLACE--GOBLIN HOUSE--SCENES OF BOYHOOD--LISSOY--PICTURE OF A COUNTRY +PARSON--GOLDSMITH'S SCHOOLMISTRESS--BYRNE, THE VILLAGE SCHOOLMASTER +--GOLDSMITH'S HORNPIPE AND EPIGRAM--UNCLE CONTARINE--SCHOOL STUDIES AND +SCHOOL SPORTS--MISTAKES OF A NIGHT + + +There are few writers for whom the reader feels such personal kindness as +for Oliver Goldsmith, for few have so eminently possessed the magic gift of +identifying themselves with their writings. We read his character in every +page, and grow into familiar intimacy with him as we read. The artless +benevolence that beams throughout his works; the whimsical, yet amiable +views of human life and human nature; the unforced humor, blending so +happily with good feeling and good sense, and singularly dashed at times +with a pleasing melancholy; even the very nature of his mellow, and +flowing, and softly-tinted style, all seem to bespeak his moral as well as +his intellectual qualities, and make us love the man at the same time that +we admire the author. While the productions of writers of loftier +pretension and more sounding names are suffered to moulder on our shelves, +those of Goldsmith are cherished and laid in our bosoms. We do not quote +them with ostentation, but they mingle with our minds, sweeten our tempers, +and harmonize our thoughts; they put us in good humor with ourselves and +with the world, and in so doing they make us happier and better men. + +An acquaintance with the private biography of Goldsmith lets us into the +secret of his gifted pages. We there discover them to be little more than +transcripts of his own heart and picturings of his fortunes. There he shows +himself the same kind, artless, good-humored, excursive, sensible, +whimsical, intelligent being that he appears in his writings. Scarcely an +adventure or character is given in his works that may not be traced to his +own party-colored story. Many of his most ludicrous scenes and ridiculous +incidents have been drawn from his own blunders and mischances, and he +seems really to have been buffeted into almost every maxim imparted by him +for the instruction of his reader. + +Oliver Goldsmith was born on the 10th of November, 1728, at the hamlet of +Pallas, or Pallasmore, county of Longford, in Ireland. He sprang from a +respectable, but by no means a thrifty stock. Some families seem to inherit +kindliness and incompetency, and to hand down virtue and poverty from +generation to generation. Such was the case with the Goldsmiths. "They were +always," according to their own accounts, "a strange family; they rarely +acted like other people; their hearts were in the right place, but their +heads seemed to be doing anything but what they ought."--"They were +remarkable," says another statement, "for their worth, but of no cleverness +in the ways of the world." Oliver Goldsmith will be found faithfully to +inherit the virtues and weaknesses of his race. + +His father, the Rev. Charles Goldsmith, with hereditary improvidence, +married when very young and very poor, and starved along for several years +on a small country curacy and the assistance of his wife's friends. His +whole income, eked out by the produce of some fields which he farmed, and +of some occasional duties performed for his wife's uncle, the rector of an +adjoining parish, did not exceed forty pounds. + + "And passing rich with forty pounds a year." + +He inhabited an old, half rustic mansion that stood on a rising ground in a +rough, lonely part of the country, overlooking a low tract occasionally +flooded by the river Inny. In this house Goldsmith was born, and it was a +birthplace worthy of a poet; for, by all accounts, it was haunted ground. A +tradition handed down among the neighboring peasantry states that, in after +years, the house, remaining for some time untenanted, went to decay, the +roof fell in, and it became so lonely and forlorn as to be a resort for the +"good people" or fairies, who in Ireland are supposed to delight in old, +crazy, deserted mansions for their midnight revels. All attempts to repair +it were in vain; the fairies battled stoutly to maintain possession. A huge +misshapen hobgoblin used to bestride the house every evening with an +immense pair of jack-boots, which, in his efforts at hard riding, he would +thrust through the roof, kicking to pieces all the work of the preceding +day. The house was therefore left to its fate, and went to ruin. + +Such is the popular tradition about Goldsmith's birthplace. About two years +after his birth a change came over the circumstances of his father. By the +death of his wife's uncle he succeeded to the rectory of Kilkenny West; +and, abandoning the old goblin mansion, he removed to Lissoy, in the county +of Westmeath, where he occupied a farm of seventy acres, situated on the +skirts of that pretty little village. + +This was the scene of Goldsmith's boyhood, the little world whence he drew +many of those pictures, rural and domestic, whimsical and touching, which +abound throughout his works, and which appeal so eloquently both to the +fancy and the heart. Lissoy is confidently cited as the original of his +"Auburn" in the Deserted Village; his father's establishment, a mixture of +farm and parsonage, furnished hints, it is said, for the rural economy of +the Vicar of Wakefield; and his father himself, with his learned +simplicity, his guileless wisdom, his amiable piety, and utter ignorance of +the world, has been exquisitely portrayed in the worthy Dr. Primrose. Let +us pause for a moment, and draw from Goldsmith's writings one or two of +those pictures which, under feigned names, represent his father and his +family, and the happy fireside of his childish days. + +"My father," says the "Man in Black," who, in some respects, is a +counterpart of Goldsmith himself, "my father, 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 his education. Poor as +he was, he had his flatterers 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 father 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 +Taffy in the sedan chair was sure to set the table in a roar. Thus his +pleasure increased in proportion to the pleasure he gave; he loved all the +world, and he fancied all the world loved him. + +"As his fortune was but small, he lived up to the very extent of it; he had +no intention of leaving his children money, for that was dross; he resolved +they should have learning, for learning, he used to observe, was better +than silver or gold. For this purpose he 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; to regard the +_human face divine_ with affection and esteem; he wound us up to be +mere machines of pity, and rendered us incapable 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 necessary qualifications of getting a farthing." + +In the Deserted Village we have another picture of his father and his +father's fireside: + + "His house was known to all the vagrant train, + He chid their wanderings, but relieved their pain; + The long-remembered beggar was his guest, + Whose beard, descending, swept his aged breast; + The ruin'd spendthrift, now no longer proud + Claim'd kindred there, and had his claims allow'd; + The broken soldier, kindly bade to stay. + Sat by his fire, and talk'd the night away; + Wept o'er his wounds, or tales of sorrow done, + Shoulder'd his crutch, and show'd how fields were won. + Pleased with his guests, the good man learned to glow + And quite forgot their vices in their woe; + Careless their merits or their faults to scan, + His pity gave ere charity began." + +The family of the worthy pastor consisted of five sons and three daughters. +Henry, the eldest, was the good man's pride and hope, and he tasked his +slender means to the utmost in educating him for a learned and +distinguished career. Oliver was the second son, and seven years younger +than Henry, who was the guide and protector of his childhood, and to whom +he was most tenderly attached throughout life. + +Oliver's education began when he was about three years old; that is to say, +he was gathered under the wings of one of those good old motherly dames, +found in every village, who cluck together the whole callow brood of the +neighborhood, to teach them their letters and keep them out of harm's way. +Mistress Elizabeth Delap, for that was her name, flourished in this +capacity for upward of fifty years, and it was the pride and boast of her +declining days, when nearly ninety years of age, that she was the first +that had put a book (doubtless a hornbook) into Goldsmith's hands. +Apparently he did not much profit by it, for she confessed he was one of +the dullest boys she had ever dealt with, insomuch that she had sometimes +doubted whether it was possible to make anything of him: a common case with +imaginative children, who are apt to be beguiled from the dry abstractions +of elementary study by the picturings of the fancy. + +At six years of age he passed into the hands of the village schoolmaster, +one Thomas (or, as he was commonly and irreverently named, Paddy) Byrne, a +capital tutor for a poet. He had been educated for a pedagogue, but had +enlisted in the army, served abroad during the wars of Queen Anne's time, +and risen to the rank of quartermaster of a regiment in Spain. At the +return of peace, having no longer exercise for the sword, he resumed the +ferule, and drilled the urchin populace of Lissoy. Goldsmith is supposed to +have had him and his school in view in the following sketch in his Deserted +Village: + + "Beside yon straggling fence that skirts the way, + With blossom'd furze unprofitably gay, + There, in his noisy mansion, skill'd to rule, + The village master taught his little school; + A man severe he was, and stern to view, + I knew him well, and every truant knew: + Well had the boding tremblers learned to trace + The day's disasters in his morning face; + Full well they laugh'd with counterfeited glee + At all his jokes, for many a joke had he; + Full well the busy whisper circling round, + Convey'd the dismal tidings when he frown'd: + Yet he was kind, or, if severe in aught, + The love he bore to learning was in fault; + The village all declared how much he knew, + 'Twas certain he could write and cipher too; + Lands he could measure, terms and tides presage, + And e'en the story ran that he could gauge: + In arguing, too, the parson own'd his skill, + For, e'en though vanquished, he could argue still; + While words of learned length and thund'ring sound + Amazed the gazing rustics ranged around-- + And still they gazed, and still the wonder grew, + That one small head could carry all he knew." + +There are certain whimsical traits in the character of Byrne, not given in +the foregoing sketch. He was fond of talking of his vagabond wanderings in +foreign lands, and had brought with him from the wars a world of +campaigning stories, of which he was generally the hero, and which he would +deal forth to his wondering scholars when he ought to have been teaching +them their lessons. These travelers' tales had a powerful effect upon the +vivid imagination of Goldsmith, and awakened an unconquerable passion for +wandering and seeking adventure. + +Byrne was, moreover, of a romantic vein, and exceedingly superstitious. He +was deeply versed in the fairy superstitions which abound in Ireland, all +which he professed implicitly to believe. Under his tuition Goldsmith soon +became almost as great a proficient in fairy lore. From this branch of +good-for-nothing knowledge, his studies, by an easy transition, extended to +the histories of robbers, pirates, smugglers, and the whole race of Irish +rogues and rapparees. Everything, in short, that savored of romance, fable, +and adventure was congenial to his poetic mind, and took instant root +there; but the slow plants of useful knowledge were apt to be overrun, if +not choked, by the weeds of his quick imagination. + +Another trait of his motley preceptor, Byrne, was a disposition to dabble +in poetry, and this likewise was caught by his pupil. Before he was eight +years old Goldsmith had contracted a habit of scribbling verses on small +scraps of paper, which, in a little while, he would throw into the fire. A +few of these sybilline leaves, however, were rescued from the flames and +conveyed to his mother. The good woman read them with a mother's delight, +and saw at once that her son was a genius and a poet. From that time she +beset her husband with solicitations to give the boy an education suitable +to his talents. The worthy man was already straitened by the costs of +instruction of his eldest son Henry, and had intended to bring his second +son up to a trade; but the mother would listen to no such thing; as usual, +her influence prevailed, and Oliver, instead of being instructed in some +humble but cheerful and gainful handicraft, was devoted to poverty and the +Muse. + +A severe attack of the small-pox caused him to be taken from under the care +of his story-telling preceptor, Byrne. His malady had nearly proved fatal, +and his face remained pitted through life. On his recovery he was placed +under the charge of the Rev. Mr. Griffin, schoolmaster of Elphin, in +Roscommon, and became an inmate in the house of his uncle, John Goldsmith, +Esq., of Ballyoughter, in that vicinity. He now entered upon studies of a +higher order, but without making any uncommon progress. Still a careless, +easy facility of disposition, an amusing eccentricity of manners, and a +vein of quiet and peculiar humor, rendered him a general favorite, and a +trifling incident soon induced his uncle's family to concur in his mother's +opinion of his genius. + +A number of young folks had assembled at his uncle's to dance. One of the +company, named Cummings, played on the violin. In the course of the evening +Oliver undertook a hornpipe. His short and clumsy figure, and his face +pitted and discolored with the small-pox, rendered him a ludicrous figure +in the eyes of the musician, who made merry at his expense, dubbing him his +little Aesop. Goldsmith was nettled by the jest, and, stopping short in the +hornpipe, exclaimed: + + "Our herald hath proclaimed this saying, + See Aesop dancing, and his monkey playing." + +The repartee was thought wonderful for a boy of nine years old, and Oliver +became forthwith the wit and the bright genius of the family. It was +thought a pity he should not receive the same advantages with his elder +brother Henry, who had been sent to the University; and, as his father's +circumstances would not afford it, several of his relatives, spurred on by +the representations of his mother, agreed to contribute toward the expense. +The greater part, however, was borne by his uncle, the Rev. Thomas +Contarine. This worthy man had been the college companion of Bishop +Berkeley, and was possessed of moderate means, holding the living of +Carrick-on-Shannon. He had married the sister of Goldsmith's father, but +was now a widower, with an only child, a daughter, named Jane. Contarine +was a kind-hearted man, with a generosity beyond his means. He took +Goldsmith into favor from his infancy; his house was open to him during the +holidays; his daughter Jane, two years older than the poet, was his early +playmate, and uncle Contarine continued to the last one of his most active, +unwavering, and generous friends. + +Fitted out in a great measure by this considerate relative, Oliver was now +transferred to schools of a higher order, to prepare him for the +University; first to one at Athlone, kept by the Rev. Mr. Campbell, and, at +the end of two years, to one at Edgeworthstown, under the superintendence +of the Rev. Patrick Hughes. + +Even at these schools his proficiency does not appear to have been +brilliant. He was indolent and careless, however, rather than dull, and, on +the whole, appears to have been well thought of by his teachers. In his +studies he inclined toward the Latin poets and historians; relished Ovid +and Horace, and delighted in Livy. He exercised himself with pleasure in +reading and translating Tacitus, and was brought to pay attention to style +in his compositions by a reproof from his brother Henry, to whom he had +written brief and confused letters, and who told him in reply that if he +had but little to say to endeavor to say that little well. + +The career of his brother Henry at the University was enough to stimulate +him to exertion. He seemed to be realizing all his father's hopes, and was +winning collegiate honors that the good man considered indicative of his +future success in life. + +In the meanwhile Oliver, if not distinguished among his teachers, was +popular among his schoolmates. He had a thoughtless generosity extremely +captivating to young hearts; his temper was quick and sensitive, and easily +offended; but his anger was momentary, and it was impossible for him to +harbor resentment. He was the leader of all boyish sports and athletic +amusements, especially ball-playing, and he was foremost in all mischievous +pranks. Many years afterward, an old man, Jack Fitzimmons, one of the +directors of the sports and keeper of the ball-court at Ballymahon, used to +boast of having been schoolmate of "Noll Goldsmith," as he called him, and +would dwell with vainglory on one of their exploits, in robbing the orchard +of Tirlicken, an old family residence of Lord Annaly. The exploit, however, +had nearly involved disastrous consequences; for the crew of juvenile +depredators were captured, like Shakespeare and his deer-stealing +colleagues, and nothing but the respectability of Goldsmith's connections +saved him from the punishment that would have awaited more plebeian +delinquents. + +An amusing incident is related as occurring in Goldsmith's last journey +homeward from Edgeworthstown. His father's house was about twenty miles +distant; the road lay through a rough country, impassable for carriages. +Goldsmith procured a horse for the journey, and a friend furnished him with +a guinea for traveling expenses. He was but a stripling of sixteen, and +being thus suddenly mounted on horseback, with money in his pocket, it is +no wonder that his head was turned. He determined to play the man, and to +spend his money in independent traveler's style. Accordingly, instead of +pushing directly for home, he halted for the night at the little town of +Ardagh, and, accosting the first person he met, inquired, with somewhat of +a consequential air, for the best house in the place. Unluckily, the person +he had accosted was one Kelly, a notorious wag, who was quartered in the +family of one Mr. Featherstone, a gentleman of fortune. Amused with the +self-consequence of the stripling, and willing to play off a practical joke +at his expense, he directed him to what was literally "the best house in +the place," namely, the family mansion of Mr. Featherstone. Goldsmith +accordingly rode up to what he supposed to be an inn, ordered his horse to +be taken to the stable, walked into the parlor, seated himself by the fire, +and demanded what he could have for supper. On ordinary occasions he was +diffident and even awkward in his manners, but here he was "at ease in his +inn," and felt called upon to show his manhood and enact the experienced +traveler. His person was by no means calculated to play off his +pretensions, for he was short and thick, with a pock-marked face, and an +air and carriage by no means of a distinguished cast. The owner of the +house, however, soon discovered his whimsical mistake, and, being a man of +humor, determined to indulge it, especially as he accidentally learned that +this intruding guest was the son of an old acquaintance. + +Accordingly Goldsmith was "fooled to the top of his bent," and permitted to +have full sway throughout the evening. Never was schoolboy more elated. +When supper was served, he most condescendingly insisted that the landlord, +his wife and daughter should partake, and ordered a bottle of wine to crown +the repast and benefit the house. His last flourish was on going to bed, +when he gave especial orders to have a hot cake at breakfast. His confusion +and dismay, on discovering the next morning that he had been swaggering in +this free and easy way in the house of a private gentleman, may be readily +conceived. True to his habit of turning the events of his life to literary +account, we find this chapter of ludicrous blunders and cross purposes +dramatized many years afterward in his admirable comedy of "She Stoops to +Conquer, or the Mistakes of a Night." + + + + +CHAPTER TWO + +IMPROVIDENT MARRIAGES IN THE GOLDSMITH FAMILY--GOLDSMITH AT THE +UNIVERSITY--SITUATION OF A SIZER--TYRANNY OF WILDER, THE TUTOR--PECUNIARY +STRAITS--STREET BALLADS--COLLEGE RIOT--GALLOWS WALSH--COLLEGE PRIZE--A +DANCE INTERRUPTED + + +While Oliver was making his way somewhat negligently through the schools, +his elder brother Henry was rejoicing his father's heart by his career at +the University. He soon distinguished himself at the examinations, and +obtained a scholarship in 1743. This is a collegiate distinction which +serves as a stepping-stone in any of the learned professions, and which +leads to advancement in the University should the individual choose to +remain there. His father now trusted that he would push forward for that +comfortable provision, a fellowship, and thence to higher dignities and +emoluments. Henry, however, had the improvidence or the "unworldliness" of +his race; returning to the country during the succeeding vacation, he +married for love, relinquished, of course, all his collegiate prospects and +advantages, set up a school in his father's neighborhood, and buried his +talents and acquirements for the remainder of his life in a curacy of forty +pounds a year. + +Another matrimonial event occurred not long afterward in the Goldsmith +family, to disturb the equanimity of its worthy head. This was the +clandestine marriage of his daughter Catherine with a young gentleman of +the name of Hodson, who had been confided to the care of her brother Henry +to complete his studies. As the youth was of wealthy parentage, it was +thought a lucky match for the Goldsmith family; but the tidings of the +event stung the bride's father to the soul. Proud of his integrity, and +jealous of that good name which was his chief possession, he saw himself +and his family subjected to the degrading suspicion of having abused a +trust reposed in them to promote a mercenary match. In the first transports +of his feelings he is said to have uttered a wish that his daughter might +never have a child to bring like shame and sorrow on her head. The hasty +wish, so contrary to the usual benignity of the man, was recalled and +repented of almost as soon as uttered; but it was considered baleful in its +effects by the superstitious neighborhood; for, though his daughter bore +three children, they all died before her. + +A more effectual measure was taken by Mr. Goldsmith to ward off the +apprehended imputation, but one which imposed a heavy burden on his family. +This was to furnish a marriage portion of four hundred pounds, that his +daughter might not be said to have entered her husband's family +empty-handed. To raise the sum in cash was impossible; but he assigned to +Mr. Hodson his little farm and the income of his tithes until the marriage +portion should be paid. In the meantime, as his living did not amount to +£200 per annum, he had to practice the strictest economy to pay off +gradually this heavy tax incurred by his nice sense of honor. + +The first of his family to feel the effects of this economy was Oliver. The +time had now arrived for him to be sent to the University, and, +accordingly, on the 11th of June, 1747, when sixteen years of age, he +entered Trinity College, Dublin; but his father was no longer able to place +him there as a pensioner, as he had done his eldest son Henry; he was +obliged, therefore, to enter him as a sizer or "poor scholar." He was +lodged in one of the top rooms adjoining the library of the building, +numbered 35, where it is said his name may still be seen, scratched by +himself upon a window frame. + +A student of this class is taught and boarded gratuitously, and has to pay +but a very small sum for his room. It is expected, in return for these +advantages, that he will be a diligent student, and render himself useful +in a variety of ways. In Trinity College, at the time of Goldsmith's +admission, several derogatory and indeed menial offices were exacted from +the sizer, as if the college sought to indemnify itself for conferring +benefits by inflicting indignities. He was obliged to sweep part of the +courts in the morning, to carry up the dishes from the kitchen to the +fellows' table, and to wait in the hall until that body had dined. His very +dress marked the inferiority of the "poor student" to his happier +classmates. It was a black gown of coarse stuff without sleeves, and a +plain black cloth cap without a tassel. We can conceive nothing more odious +and ill-judged than these distinctions, which attached the idea of +degradation to poverty, and placed the indigent youth of merit below the +worthless minion of fortune. They were calculated to wound and irritate the +noble mind, and to render the base mind baser. + +Indeed, the galling effect of these servile tasks upon youths of proud +spirits and quick sensibilities became at length too notorious to be +disregarded. About fifty years since, on a Trinity Sunday, a number of +persons were assembled to witness the college ceremonies; and as a sizer +was carrying up a dish of meat to the fellows' table, a burly citizen in +the crowd made some sneering observation on the servility of his office. +Stung to the quick, the high-spirited youth instantly flung the dish and +its contents at the head of the sneerer. The sizer was sharply reprimanded +for this outbreak of wounded pride, but the degrading task was from that +day forward very properly consigned to menial hands. + +It was with the utmost repugnance that Goldsmith entered college in this +capacity. His shy and sensitive nature was affected by the inferior station +he was doomed to hold among his gay and opulent fellow-students, and he +became, at times, moody and despondent. A recollection of these early +mortifications induced him, in after years, most strongly to dissuade his +brother Henry, the clergyman, from sending a son to college on a like +footing. "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 own." + +To add to his annoyances the fellow of the college who had the peculiar +control of his studies, the Rev. Theaker Wilder, was a man of violent and +capricious temper, and of diametrically opposite tastes. The tutor was +devoted to the exact sciences; Goldsmith was for the classics. Wilder +endeavored to force his favorite studies upon the student by harsh means, +suggested by his own coarse and savage nature. He abused him in presence of +the class as ignorant and stupid; ridiculed him as awkward and ugly, and at +times in the transports of his temper indulged in personal violence. The +effect was to aggravate a passive distaste into a positive aversion. +Goldsmith was loud in expressing his contempt for mathematics and his +dislike of ethics and logic; and the prejudices thus imbibed continued +through life. Mathematics he always pronounced a science to which the +meanest intellects were competent. + +A truer cause of this distaste for the severer studies may probably be +found in his natural indolence and his love of convivial pleasures. "I was +a lover of mirth, good humor, and even sometimes of fun," said he, "from my +childhood." He sang a good song, was a boon companion, and could not resist +any temptation to social enjoyment. He endeavored to persuade himself that +learning and dullness went hand in hand, and that genius was not to be put +in harness. Even in riper years, when the consciousness of his own +deficiencies ought to have convinced him of the importance of early study, +he speaks slightingly of college honors. + +"A lad," says he, "whose passions are not strong enough in youth to mislead +him from that path of science which his tutors, and not his inclination, +have chalked out, by four or five years' perseverance will probably obtain +every advantage and honor his college can bestow. I would compare the man +whose youth has been thus passed in the tranquillity of dispassionate +prudence, to liquors that never ferment, and, consequently, continue always +muddy." + +The death of his worthy father, which took place early in 1747, rendered +Goldsmith's situation at college extremely irksome. His mother was left +with little more than the means of providing for the wants of her +household, and was unable to furnish him any remittances. He would have +been compelled, therefore, to leave college, had it not been for the +occasional contributions of friends, the foremost among whom was his +generous and warm-hearted uncle Contarine. Still these supplies were so +scanty and precarious that in the intervals between them he was put to +great straits. He had two college associates from whom he would +occasionally borrow small sums; one was an early schoolmate, by the name of +Beatty; the other a cousin, and the chosen companion of his frolics, Robert +(or rather Bob) Bryanton, of Ballymulvey House, near Ballymahon. When these +casual supplies failed him he was more than once obliged to raise funds for +his immediate wants by pawning his books. At times he sank into +despondency, but he had what he termed "a knack at hoping," which soon +buoyed him up again. He began now to resort to his poetical vein as a +source of profit, scribbling street-ballads, which he privately sold for +five shillings each at a shop which dealt in such small wares of +literature. He felt an author's affection for these unowned bantlings, and +we are told would stroll privately through the streets at night to hear +them sung, listening to the comments and criticisms of bystanders, and +observing the degree of applause which each received. + +Edmund Burke was a fellow-student with Goldsmith at the college. Neither +the statesman nor the poet gave promise of their future celebrity, though +Burke certainly surpassed his contemporary in industry and application, and +evinced more disposition for self-improvement, associating himself with a +number of his fellow-students in a debating club, in which they discussed +literary topics, and exercised themselves in composition. + +Goldsmith may likewise have belonged to this association, but his +propensity was rather to mingle with the gay and thoughtless. On one +occasion we find him implicated in an affair that came nigh producing his +expulsion. A report was brought to college that a scholar was in the hands +of the bailiffs. This was an insult in which every gownsman felt himself +involved. A number of the scholars flew to arms, and sallied forth to +battle, headed by a hare-brained fellow nicknamed Gallows Walsh, noted for +his aptness at mischief and fondness for riot. The stronghold of the +bailiff was carried by storm, the scholar set at liberty, and the +delinquent catchpole borne off captive to the college, where, having no +pump to put him under, they satisfied the demands of collegiate law by +ducking him in an old cistern. + +Flushed with this signal victory, Gallows Walsh now harangued his +followers, and proposed to break open Newgate, or the Black Dog, as the +prison was called, and effect a general jail delivery. He was answered by +shouts of concurrence, and away went the throng of madcap youngsters, fully +bent upon putting an end to the tyranny of law. They were joined by the mob +of the city, and made an attack upon the prison with true Irish +precipitation and thoughtlessness, never having provided themselves with +cannon to batter its stone walls. A few shots from the prison brought them +to their senses, and they beat a hasty retreat, two of the townsmen being +killed, and several wounded. + +A severe scrutiny of this affair took place at the University. Four +students, who had been ringleaders, were expelled; four others, who had +been prominent in the affray, were publicly admonished; among the latter +was the unlucky Goldsmith. + +To make up for this disgrace, he gained, within a month afterward, one of +the minor prizes of the college. It is true it was one of the very +smallest, amounting in pecuniary value to but thirty shillings, but it was +the first distinction he had gained in his whole collegiate career. This +turn of success and sudden influx of wealth proved too much for the head of +our poor student. He forthwith gave a supper and dance at his chamber to a +number of young persons of both sexes from the city, in direct violation of +college rules. The unwonted sound of the fiddle reached the ears of the +implacable Wilder. He rushed to the scene of unhallowed festivity, +inflicted corporal punishment on the "father of the feast," and turned his +astonished guests neck and heels out of doors. + +This filled the measure of poor Goldsmith's humiliations; he felt degraded +both within college and without. He dreaded the ridicule of his +fellow-students for the ludicrous termination of his orgy, and he was +ashamed to meet his city acquaintances after the degrading chastisement +received in their presence, and after their own ignominious expulsion. +Above all, he felt it impossible to submit any longer to the insulting +tyranny of Wilder; he determined, therefore, to leave, not merely the +college, but also his native land, and to bury what he conceived to be his +irretrievable disgrace in some distant country. He accordingly sold his +books and clothes, and sallied forth from the college walls the very next +day, intending to embark at Cork for--he scarce knew where--America, or any +other part beyond sea. With his usual heedless imprudence, however, he +loitered about Dublin until his finances were reduced to a shilling; with +this amount of specie he set out on his journey. + +For three whole days he subsisted on his shilling; when that was spent, he +parted with some of the clothes from his back, until, reduced almost to +nakedness, he was four-and-twenty hours without food, insomuch that he +declared a handful of gray peas, given to him by a girl at a wake, was one +of the most delicious repasts he had ever tasted. Hunger, fatigue, and +destitution brought down his spirit and calmed his anger. Fain would he +have retraced his steps, could he have done so with any salvo for the +lingerings of his pride. In his extremity he conveyed to his brother Henry +information of his distress, and of the rash project on which he had set +out. His affectionate brother hastened to his relief; furnished him with +money and clothes; soothed his feelings with gentle counsel; prevailed upon +him to return to college, and effected an indifferent reconciliation +between him and Wilder. + +After this irregular sally upon life he remained nearly two years longer at +the University, giving proofs of talent in occasional translations from the +classics, for one of which he received a premium, awarded only to those who +are the first in literary merit. Still he never made much figure at +college, his natural disinclination to study being increased by the harsh +treatment he continued to experience from his tutor. + +Among the anecdotes told of him while at college is one indicative of that +prompt but thoughtless and often whimsical benevolence which throughout +life formed one of the most eccentric yet endearing points of his +character. He was engaged to breakfast one day with a college intimate, but +failed to make his appearance. His friend repaired to his room, knocked at +the door, and was bidden to enter. To his surprise, he found Goldsmith in +his bed, immersed to his chin in feathers. A serio-comic story explained +the circumstance. In the course of the preceding evening's stroll he had +met with a woman with five children, who implored his charity. Her husband +was in the hospital; she was just from the country, a stranger, and +destitute, without food or shelter for her helpless offspring. This was too +much for the kind heart of Goldsmith. He was almost as poor as herself, it +is true, and had no money in his pocket; but he brought her to the college +gate, gave her the blankets from his bed to cover her little brood, and +part of his clothes for her to sell and purchase food; and, finding himself +cold during the night, had cut open his bed and buried himself among the +feathers. + +At length, on the 27th of February, 1749, O.S., he was admitted to the +degree of Bachelor of Arts, and took his final leave of the University. He +was freed from college rule, that emancipation so ardently coveted by the +thoughtless student, and which too generally launches him amid the cares, +the hardships, and vicissitudes of life. He was freed, too, from the brutal +tyranny of Wilder. If his kind and placable nature could retain any +resentment for past injuries, it might have been gratified by learning +subsequently that the passionate career of Wilder was terminated by a +violent death in the course of a dissolute brawl; but Goldsmith took no +delight in the misfortunes even of his enemies. + +He now returned to his friends, no longer the student to sport away the +happy interval of vacation, but the anxious man, who is henceforth to shift +for himself and make his way through the world. In fact, he had no +legitimate home to return to. At the death of his father, the paternal +house at Lissoy, in which Goldsmith had passed his childhood, had been +taken by Mr. Hodson, who had married his sister Catherine. His mother had +removed to Ballymahon, where she occupied a small house, and had to +practice the severest frugality. His elder brother Henry served the curacy +and taught the school of his late father's parish, and lived in narrow +circumstances at Goldsmith's birthplace, the old goblin house at Pallas. + +None of his relatives were in circumstances to aid him with anything more +than a temporary home, and the aspect of every one seemed somewhat changed. +In fact, his career at college had disappointed his friends, and they began +to doubt his being the great genius they had fancied him. He whimsically +alludes to this circumstance in that piece of autobiography, "The Man in +Black," in the Citizen of the World. + +"The first opportunity my 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 +overrated 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, but at the same time allowed that I seemed to be very +good-natured, and had no harm in me." [Footnote: Citizen of the World, +Letter xxvii.] + +The only one of his relatives who did not appear to lose faith in him was +his uncle Contarine. This kind and considerate man, it is said, 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, therefore, +as well as his house, were now open to him, and he became his chief +counselor and director after his father's death. He urged him to prepare +for holy orders, and others of his relatives concurred in the advice. +Goldsmith had a settled repugnance to a clerical life. This has been +ascribed by some to conscientious scruples, not considering himself of a +temper and frame of mind for such a sacred office; others attributed it to +his roving propensities, and his desire to visit foreign countries; he +himself gives a whimsical objection in his biography of the "Man in Black": +"To be obliged to wear a long wig when I liked a short one, or a black coat +when I generally dressed in brown, I thought such a restraint upon my +liberty that I absolutely rejected the proposal." + +In effect, however, his scruples were overruled, and he agreed to qualify +himself for the office. He was now only twenty-one, and must pass two years +of probation. They were two years of rather loitering, unsettled life. +Sometimes he was at Lissoy, participating with thoughtless enjoyment in the +rural sports and occupations of his brother-in-law, Mr. Hodson; sometimes +he was with his brother Henry, at the old goblin mansion at Pallas, +assisting him occasionally in his school. The early marriage and +unambitious retirement of Henry, though so subversive of the fond plans of +his father, had proved happy in their results. He was already surrounded by +a blooming family; he was contented with his lot, beloved by his +parishioners, and lived in the daily practice of all the amiable virtues, +and the immediate enjoyment of their reward. Of the tender affection +inspired in the breast of Goldsmith by the constant kindness of this +excellent brother, and of the longing recollection with which, in the +lonely wanderings of after years, he looked back upon this scene of +domestic felicity, we have a touching instance in the well-known opening to +his poem of The Traveler: + + "Remote, unfriended, melancholy, slow, + Or by the lazy Scheld or wandering Po; + + "Where'er I roam, whatever realms to see, + My heart untravel'd fondly turns to thee; + Still to my brother turns with ceaseless pain, + And drags at each remove a lengthening chain. + + "Eternal blessings crown my earliest friend, + And round his dwelling guardian saints attend; + Bless'd be that spot, where cheerful guests retire + To pause from toil, and trim their evening fire; + Bless'd that abode, where want and pain repair, + And every stranger finds a ready chair: + Bless'd be those feasts with simple plenty crown'd, + Where all the ruddy family around + Laugh at the jests or pranks that never fail, + Or sigh with pity at some mournful tale; + Or press the bashful stranger to his food, + And learn the luxury of doing good." + +During this loitering life Goldsmith pursued no study, but rather amused +himself with miscellaneous reading; such as biography, travels, poetry, +novels, plays--everything, in short, that administered to the imagination. +Sometimes he strolled along the banks of the river Inny, where, in after +years, when he had become famous, his favorite seats and haunts used to be +pointed out. Often he joined in the rustic sports of the villagers, and +became adroit at throwing the sledge, a favorite feat of activity and +strength in Ireland. Recollections of these "healthful sports" we find in +his Deserted Village: + + "How often have I bless'd the coming day, + When toil remitting lent its turn to play, + And all the village train, from labor free, + Led up their sports beneath the spreading tree: + And many a gambol frolicked o'er the ground, + And sleights of art and feats of strength went round." + +A boon companion in all his rural amusements was his cousin and college +crony, Robert Bryanton, with whom he sojourned occasionally at Ballymulvey +House in the neighborhood. They used to make excursions about the country +on foot, sometimes fishing, sometimes hunting otter in the Inny. They got +up a country club at the little inn of Ballymahon, of which Goldsmith soon +became the oracle and prime wit, astonishing his unlettered associates by +his learning, and being considered capital at a song and a story. From the +rustic conviviality of the inn at Ballymahon, and the company which used to +assemble there, it is surmised that he took some hints in after life for +his picturing of Tony Lumpkin and his associates: "Dick Muggins, the +exciseman; Jack Slang, the horse doctor; little Aminidab, that grinds the +music-box, and Tom Twist, that spins the pewter platter." Nay, it is +thought that Tony's drinking song at the Three Jolly Pigeons was but a +revival of one of the convivial catches at Ballymahon: + + "Then come put the jorum about, + And let us be merry and clever, + Our hearts and our liquors are stout, + Here's the Three Jolly Pigeons forever. + Let some cry of woodcock or hare, + Your bustards, your ducks, and your widgeons, + But of all the gay birds in the air, + Here's a health to the Three Jolly Pigeons. + Toroddle, toroddle, toroll." + +Notwithstanding all these accomplishments and this rural popularity, his +friends began to shake their heads and shrug their shoulders when they +spoke of him; and his brother Henry noted with anything but satisfaction +his frequent visits to the club at Ballymahon. He emerged, however, +unscathed from this dangerous ordeal, more fortunate in this respect than +his comrade Bryanton; but he retained throughout life a fondness for clubs; +often, too, in the course of his checkered career, he looked back to this +period of rural sports and careless enjoyments as one of the few sunny +spots of his cloudy life; and though he ultimately rose to associate with +birds of a finer feather, his heart would still yearn in secret after the +THREE JOLLY PIGEONS. + + + + +CHAPTER THREE + +GOLDSMITH REJECTED BY THE BISHOP--SECOND SALLY TO SEE THE WORLD--TAKES +PASSAGE FOR AMERICA--SHIP SAILS WITHOUT HIM--RETURN ON FIDDLE-BACK--A +HOSPITABLE FRIEND--THE COUNSELOR + + +The time was now arrived for Goldsmith to apply for orders, and he +presented himself accordingly before the Bishop of Elfin for ordination. We +have stated his great objection to clerical life, the obligation to wear a +black coat; and, whimsical as it may appear, dress seems in fact to have +formed an obstacle to his entrance into the church. He had ever a passion +for clothing his sturdy but awkward little person in gay colors; and on +this solemn occasion, when it was to be supposed his garb would be of +suitable gravity, he appeared luminously arrayed in scarlet breeches! He +was rejected by the bishop; some say for want of sufficient studious +preparation; his rambles and frolics with Bob Bryanton, and his revels with +the club at Ballymahon, having been much in the way of his theological +studies; others attribute his rejection to reports of his college +irregularities, which the bishop had received from his old tryant Wilder; +but those who look into the matter with more knowing eyes pronounce the +scarlet breeches to have been the fundamental objection. "My friends," says +Goldsmith, speaking through his humorous representative, the "Man in +Black"--"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 him, and was so +very good-natured." His uncle Contarine, however, still remained unwavering +in his kindness, though much less sanguine in his expectations. He now +looked round for a humbler sphere of action, and through his influence and +exertions Oliver was received as tutor in the family of a Mr. Flinn, a +gentleman of the neighborhood. The situation was apparently respectable; he +had his seat at the table, and joined the family in their domestic +recreations and their evening game at cards. There was a servility, +however, in his position, which was not to his taste; nor did his deference +for the family increase upon familiar intercourse. He charged a member of +it with unfair play at cards. A violent altercation ensued, which ended in +his throwing up his situation as tutor. On being paid off he found himself +in possession of an unheard of amount of money. His wandering propensity +and his desire to see the world were instantly in the ascendency. Without +communicating his plans or intentions to his friends, he procured a good +horse, and with thirty pounds in his pocket made his second sally forth +into the world. + +The worthy niece and housekeeper of the hero of La Mancha could not have +been more surprised and dismayed at one of the Don's clandestine +expeditions than were the mother and friends of Goldsmith when they heard +of his mysterious departure. Weeks elapsed, and nothing was seen or heard +of him. It was feared that he had left the country on one of his wandering +freaks, and his poor mother was reduced almost to despair, when one day he +arrived at her door almost as forlorn in plight as the prodigal son. Of his +thirty pounds not a shilling was left; and instead of the goodly steed on +which he had issued forth on his errantry, he was mounted on a sorry little +pony, which he had nicknamed Fiddle-back. As soon as his mother was well +assured of his safety, she rated him soundly for his inconsiderate conduct. +His brothers and sisters, who were tenderly attached to him, interfered, +and succeeded in mollifying her ire; and whatever lurking anger the good +dame might have, was no doubt effectually vanquished by the following +whimsical narrative which he drew up at his brother's house and dispatched +to her: + +"My dear mother, if you will sit down and calmly listen to what I say, you +shall be fully 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 Fiddle-back, into cash, took my passage in a ship bound for America, +and, at the same time, paid the captain 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 never inquired after me, but set +sail with as much indifference as if I had been on board. The remainder of +my time I employed in the city and its environs, viewing everything +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 Fiddle-back, and bade adieu to Cork with only five shillings in my +pocket. This, to be sure, was but a scanty allowance for man and horse +toward a journey of above a hundred miles; but I did not despair, 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 peculiar 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 support. I thought myself at home, being not far +from my friend's house, and therefore parted with a moiety 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 +mastiff, 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 jaws 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 nightcap, 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 peculiarly fortunate in having under his roof the man he +most loved on 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 I 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 harbor. He +made no answer, but walked about the room, rubbing his hands as one in deep +study. This I imputed to the sympathetic feelings of a tender heart, which +increased my esteem for him, and, as that increased, I gave the most +favorable interpretation to his silence. I construed it into delicacy of +sentiment, as if he dreaded to wound my pride by expressing his +commiseration in words, leaving his generous conduct to speak for itself. + +"It now approached six o'clock in the evening; and as I had eaten no +breakfast, and as my spirits were raised, my appetite for dinner grew +uncommonly keen. At length the old woman came into the room with two +plates, one spoon, and a dirty cloth, which she laid upon the table. This +appearance, 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 the heel of an old cheese all +over crawling with mites. My friend apologized that his illness obliged him +to live on slops, and that better fare was not in the house; observing, at +the same time, that a milk diet was certainly the most healthful; and at +eight o'clock he again recommended a regular life, declaring that for his +part he would _lie down with the lamb and rise with the lark_. My +hunger was at this time so exceedingly sharp that I wished for another +slice of the loaf, but was obliged to go to bed without even that +refreshment. + +"This lenten entertainment I had received made me resolve to depart as soon +as possible; accordingly, next morning, when I spoke of going, he did not +oppose my resolution; he rather commended my design, adding some 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 a 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 done +for you.' To which he firmly answered, 'Why, look you, Mr. Goldsmith, that +is neither here nor there. I 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 his proposal, and begged to see the +nag; on which he led me to his bedchamber, and from under the bed he pulled +out a stout oak stick. 'Here he is,' said 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 first place, apply it to his pate; but a rap at the street door +made the wretch fly to it, and when I returned to the parlor, he introduced +me, as if nothing of the kind had happened, to the gentleman who entered, +as Mr. Goldsmith, his most 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 +counselor-at-law in the neighborhood, a man of engaging aspect and polite +address. + +"After spending an hour, he asked my friend and me to dine with him at his +house. This I declined at first, as I wished to have no further +communication with my hospitable friend; but at the solicitation of both I +at last consented, determined as I was by two motives: one, that I was +prejudiced in favor of the looks and manner of the counselor; and the +other, that I stood in need of a comfortable dinner. And there, indeed, I +found everything that I could wish, abundance without profusion and +elegance without affectation. In the evening, when my old friend, who had +eaten very plentifully at his neighbor'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 he might go home and take care of the horse he had given me, +but that I should never re-enter his doors. He went away with a laugh, +leaving me to add this to the other little things the counselor already +knew of his plausible neighbor. + +"And now, my dear mother, I found sufficient to reconcile me to all my +follies; for here I spent three whole days. The counselor had two sweet +girls to his daughters, who played enchantingly on the harpsichord; and yet +it was but 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 endeavored to go away, but every +day was pressed and obliged to stay. On my going, the counselor offered me +his purse, 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 Mrs. Anne Goldsmith, Ballymahon." + + * * * * * + +Such is the story given by the poet-errant of this his second sally in +quest of adventures. We cannot but think it was here and there touched up a +little with the fanciful pen of the future essayist, with a view to amuse +his mother and soften her vexation; but even in these respects it is +valuable as showing the early play of his humor, and his happy knack of +extracting sweets from that worldly experience which to others yields +nothing but bitterness. + + + + +CHAPTER FOUR + +SALLIES FORTH AS A LAW STUDENT--STUMBLES AT THE OUTSET--COUSIN JANE AND THE +VALENTINE--A FAMILY ORACLE--SALLIES FORTH AS A STUDENT OF +MEDICINE--HOCUS-POCUS OF A BOARDING-HOUSE--TRANSFORMATIONS OF A LEG OF +MUTTON--THE MOCK GHOST--SKETCHES OF SCOTLAND--TRIALS OF TOADYISM--A POET'S +PURSE FOR A CONTINENTAL TOUR + + +A new consultation was held among Goldsmith's friends as to his future +course, and it was determined he should try the law. His uncle Contarine +agreed to advance the necessary funds, and actually furnished him with +fifty pounds, with which he set off for London, to enter on his studies at +the Temple. Unfortunately, he fell in company at Dublin with a Roscommon +acquaintance, one whose wits had been sharpened about town, who beguiled +him into a gambling-house, and soon left him as penniless as when he +bestrode the redoubtable Fiddle-back. + +He was so ashamed of this fresh instance of gross heedlessness and +imprudence that he remained some time in Dublin without communicating to +his friends his destitute condition. They heard of it, however, and he was +invited back to the country, and indulgently forgiven by his generous +uncle, but less readily by his mother, who was mortified and disheartened +at seeing all her early hopes of him so repeatedly blighted. His brother +Henry, too, began to lose patience at these successive failures, resulting +from thoughtless indiscretion; and a quarrel took place, which for some +time interrupted their usually affectionate intercourse. + +The only home where poor erring Goldsmith still received a welcome was the +parsonage of his affectionate, forgiving uncle. Here he used to talk of +literature with the good, simple-hearted man, and delight him and his +daughter with his verses. Jane, his early playmate, was now the woman +grown; their intercourse was of a more intellectual kind than formerly; +they discoursed of poetry and music; she played on the harpsichord, and he +accompanied her with his flute. The music may not have been very artistic, +as he never performed but by ear; it had probably as much merit as the +poetry, which, if we may judge by the following specimen, was as yet but +juvenile: + + TO A YOUNG LADY ON VALENTINE'S DAY + + WITH THE DRAWING OF A HEART + + With submission at your shrine, + Comes a heart your Valentine; + From the side where once it grew, + See it panting flies to you. + Take it, fair one, to your breast, + Soothe the fluttering thing to rest; + Let the gentle, spotless toy, + Be your sweetest, greatest joy; + Every night when wrapp'd in sleep, + Next your heart the conquest keep. + Or if dreams your fancy move, + Hear it whisper me and love; + Then in pity to the swain, + Who must heartless else remain, + Soft as gentle dewy show'rs, + Slow descend on April flow'rs; + Soft as gentle riv'lets glide, + Steal unnoticed to my side; + If the gem you have to spare, + Take your own and place it there. + +If this valentine was intended for the fair Jane, and expressive of a +tender sentiment indulged by the stripling poet, it was unavailing, as not +long afterward she was married to a Mr. Lawder. We trust, however, it was +but a poetical passion of that transient kind which grows up in idleness +and exhales itself in rhyme. While Oliver was thus piping and poetizing at +the parsonage, his uncle Contarine received a visit from Dean Goldsmith of +Cloyne; a kind of magnate in the wide but improvident family connection, +throughout which his word was law and almost gospel. This august dignitary +was pleased to discover signs of talent in Oliver, and suggested that as he +had attempted divinity and law without success, he should now try physic. +The advice came from too important a source to be disregarded, and it was +determined to send him to Edinburgh to commence his studies. The Dean +having given the advice, added to it, we trust, his blessing, but no money; +that was furnished from the scantier purses of Goldsmith's brother, his +sister (Mrs. Hodson), and his ever-ready uncle, Contarine. + +It was in the autumn of 1752 that Goldsmith arrived in Edinburgh. His +outset in that city came near adding to the list of his indiscretions and +disasters. Having taken lodgings at haphazard, he left his trunk there, +containing all his worldly effects, and sallied forth to see the town. +After sauntering about the streets until a late hour, he thought of +returning home, when, to his confusion, he found he had not acquainted +himself with the name either of his landlady or of the street in which she +lived. Fortunately, in the height of his whimsical perplexity, he met the +cawdy or porter who had carried his trunk, and who now served him as a +guide. + +He did not remain long in the lodgings in which he had put up. The hostess +was too adroit at that hocus-pocus of the table which often is practiced in +cheap boarding-houses. No one could conjure a single joint through a +greater variety of forms. A loin of mutton, according to Goldsmith's +account, would serve him and two fellow-students a whole week. "A brandered +chop was served up one day, a fried steak another, collops with onion sauce +a third, and so on until the fleshy parts were quite consumed, when finally +a dish of broth was manufactured from the bones on the seventh day, and the +landlady rested from her labors." Goldsmith had a good-humored mode of +taking things, and for a short time amused himself with the shifts and +expedients of his landlady, which struck him in a ludicrous manner; he +soon, however, fell in with fellow-students from his own country, whom he +joined at more eligible quarters. + +He now attended medical lectures, and attached himself to an association of +students called the Medical Society. He set out, as usual, with the best +intentions, but, as usual, soon fell into idle, convivial, thoughtless +habits. Edinburgh was indeed a place of sore trial for one of his +temperament. Convivial meetings were all the vogue, and the tavern was the +universal rallying-place of good-fellowship. And then Goldsmith's +intimacies lay chiefly among the Irish students, who were always ready for +a wild freak and frolic. Among them he was a prime favorite and somewhat of +a leader, from his exuberance of spirits, his vein of humor, and his talent +at singing an Irish song and telling an Irish story. + +His usual carelessness in money matters attended him. Though his supplies +from home were scanty and irregular, he never could bring himself into +habits of prudence and economy; often he was stripped of all his present +finances at play; often he lavished them away in fits of unguarded charity +or generosity. Sometimes among his boon companions he assumed a ludicrous +swagger in money matters, which no one afterward was more ready than +himself to laugh at. At a convivial meeting with a number of his +fellow-students, he suddenly proposed to draw lots with any one present +which of the two should treat the whole party to the play. The moment the +proposition had bolted from his lips his heart was in his throat. "To my +great though secret joy," said he, "they all declined the challenge. Had it +been accepted, and had I proved the loser, a part of my wardrobe must have +been pledged in order to raise the money." + +At another of these meetings there was an earnest dispute on the question +of ghosts, some being firm believers in the possibility of departed spirits +returning to visit their friends and familiar haunts. One of the disputants +set sail the next day for London, but the vessel put back through the +stress of weather. His return was unknown except to one of the believers in +ghosts, who concerted with him a trick to be played off on the opposite +party. In the evening, at a meeting of the students, the discussion was +renewed; and one of the most strenuous opposers of ghosts was asked whether +he considered himself proof against ocular demonstration? He persisted in +his scoffing. Some solemn process of conjuration was performed, and the +comrade supposed to be on his way to London made his appearance. The effect +was fatal. The unbeliever fainted at the sight, and ultimately went mad. We +have no account of what share Goldsmith took in this transaction, at which +he was present. + +The following letter to his friend Bryanton contains some of Goldsmith's +impressions concerning Scotland and its inhabitants, and gives indications +of that humor which characterized some of his later writings. + +"_Robert Bryanton, at Ballymahon, Ireland_. + +"EDINBURGH, September 26, 1753. + +"MY 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 side) has hitherto prevented my writing to you, and still +prevents my writing at least twenty-five letters more, due to my friends in +Ireland. No turn-spit-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 better +than I do him I now address. + +"Yet what shall I say now I am entered? Shall I tire you with a description +of this unfruitful country; where I must lead you over their hills 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 character 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, and +drinking to be drunk. Truly if such a being, equipped in his hunting dress, +came among a circle of Scotch gentry, they 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 mentioned 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 dismally 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 despondence. +After five or six couple have thus walked the gantlet, 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 our +assembly. I told a Scotch gentleman that such profound silence resembled +the ancient procession of the Roman matrons in honor of Ceres; and the +Scotch gentleman told me (and, faith, I believe he was right) that I was a +very great pedant for my pains. + +"Now I am come to the ladies; and to show that I love Scotland, and +everything 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 vastly 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 less 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 instance, teach one of your +young ladies at home to pronounce the 'Whoar wull 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 coquette, but alas! how many envious +prudes! Some days ago I walked into my Lord Kilcoubry's (don't be +surprised, my lord is but a glover), [Footnote: William Maclellan, who +claimed the title, and whose son succeeded in establishing the claim in +1773. The father is said to have voted at the election of the sixteen Peers +for Scotland, and to have sold gloves in the lobby at this and other public +assemblages.] when the 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; her battered husband, or more properly the +guardian of her charms, sat by her side. Straight envy began, in the shape +of no less than three ladies who sat with me, to find faults 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, but 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, handsome women here; +and 'tis certain they have handsome men to keep them company. An ugly and +poor man is society only for himself, 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 I receive an answer to +this. I know you cannot send me much news from Ballymahon, but such as it +is, send it all; everything you send will be agreeable to me. + +"Has George Conway put up a sign yet; or John Binley 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, etc., etc. + +"OLIVER GOLDSMITH. + +"P.S.--Give my sincere respects (not compliments, 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." + +Nothing worthy of preservation appeared from his pen during his residence +in Edinburgh; and indeed his poetical powers, highly as they had been +estimated by his friends, had not as yet produced anything of superior +merit. He made on one occasion a month's excursion to the Highlands. "I set +out the first day on foot," says he, in a letter to his uncle Contarine, +"but an ill-natured corn I have on my toe has for the future prevented that +cheap mode of traveling; so the second day I hired a horse about the size +of a ram, and he walked away (trot he could not) as pensive as his master." + +During his residence in Scotland his convivial talents gained him at one +time attentions in a high quarter, which, however, he had the good sense to +appreciate correctly. "I have spent," says he, in one of his letters, "more +than a fortnight every second day at the Duke of Hamilton's; but it seems +they like me more as a jester than as a companion, so I disdained so +servile an employment as unworthy my calling as a physician." Here we again +find the origin of another passage in his autobiography, under the +character of the "Man in Black," wherein that worthy figures as a flatterer +to a great man. "At first," says he, "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 manners might +have obliged me to perform. I found, however, too soon, his lordship was a +greater dunce than myself, and from that 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 is an easy task; but to +flatter our intimate acquaintances, all whose foibles are strongly in our +eyes, is drudgery insupportable. Every time I now opened my lips in praise, +my falsehood went to my conscience; his lordship soon perceived me to be +very unfit for his service: I was therefore discharged; my patron at the +same time being graciously pleased to observe that he believed I was +tolerably good-natured, and had not the least harm in me." + +After spending two winters at Edinburgh, Goldsmith prepared to finish his +medical studies on the Continent, for which his uncle Contarine agreed to +furnish the funds. "I intend," said he, in a letter to his uncle, "to visit +Paris, where the great Farheim, Petit, and Du Hammel de Monceau instruct +their pupils in all the branches of medicine. They speak French, and +consequently I shall have much the advantage of most of my countrymen, as I +am perfectly acquainted with that language, and few who leave Ireland are +so. I shall spend the spring and summer in Paris, and the beginning 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 +a university. + +"As I shall not have another opportunity of receiving money from your +bounty till my return to Ireland, so I have drawn for the last sum that I +hope I shall ever trouble you for; 'tis £20. And now, dear sir, let me here +acknowledge the humility 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.... Give my--how +shall I express it? Give my earnest love to Mr. and Mrs. Lawder." + +Mrs. Lawder was Jane, his early playmate--the object of his valentine--his +first poetical inspiration. She had been for some time married. + +Medical instruction, it will be perceived, was the ostensible motive for +this visit to the Continent, but the real one, in all probability, was his +long-cherished desire to see foreign parts. This, however, he would not +acknowledge even to himself, but sought to reconcile his roving +propensities with some grand moral purpose. "I esteem the traveler who +instructs the heart," says he, in one of his subsequent writings, "but +despise him who only indulges the imagination. A man who leaves home to +mend himself and others is a philosopher; but he who goes from country to +country, guided by the blind impulse of curiosity, is only a vagabond." He, +of course, was to travel as a philosopher, and in truth his outfits for a +continental tour were in character. "I shall carry just £33 to France," +said he, "with good store of clothes, shirts, etc., and that with economy +will suffice." He forgot to make mention of his flute, which it will be +found had occasionally to come in play when economy could not replenish his +purse, nor philosophy find him a supper. Thus slenderly provided with +money, prudence, or experience, and almost as slightly guarded against +"hard knocks" as the hero of La Mancha, whose head-piece was half iron, +half pasteboard, he made his final sally forth upon the world; hoping all +things; believing all things; little anticipating the checkered ills in +store for him; little thinking when he penned his valedictory letter to his +good uncle Contarine that he was never to see him more; never to return +after all his wandering to the friend of his infancy; never to revisit his +early and fondly-remembered haunts at "sweet Lissoy" and Ballymahon. + + + + +CHAPTER FIVE + +THE AGREEABLE FELLOW-PASSENGERS--RISKS FROM FRIENDS PICKED UP BY THE +WAYSIDE--SKETCHES OF HOLLAND AND THE DUTCH--SHIFTS WHILE A POOR STUDENT AT +LEYDEN--THE TULIP SPECULATION--THE PROVIDENT FLUTE--SOJOURN AT +PARIS--SKETCH OF VOLTAIRE--TRAVELING SHIFTS OF A PHILOSOPHIC VAGABOND + + +His usual indiscretion attended Goldsmith at the very outset of his foreign +enterprise. He had intended to take shipping at Leith for Holland, but on +arriving at that port he found a ship about to sail for Bordeaux, with six +agreeable passengers, whose acquaintance he had probably made at the inn. +He was not a man to resist a sudden impulse; so, instead of embarking for +Holland, he found himself plowing the seas on his way to the other side of +the Continent. Scarcely had the ship been two days at sea when she was +driven by stress of weather to Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Here "of course" +Goldsmith and his agreeable fellow-passengers found it expedient to go on +shore and "refresh themselves after the fatigues of the voyage." "Of +course" they frolicked and made merry until a late hour in the evening, +when, in the midst of their hilarity, the door was burst open, and a +sergeant and twelve grenadiers entered with fixed bayonets, and took the +whole convivial party prisoners. + +It seems that the agreeable companions with whom our greenhorn had struck +up such a sudden intimacy were Scotchmen in the French service, who had +been in Scotland enlisting recruits for the French army. + +In vain Goldsmith protested his innocence; he was marched off with his +fellow-revelers to prison, whence he with difficulty obtained his release +at the end of a fortnight. With his customary facility, however, at +palliating his misadventures, he found everything turn out for the best. +His imprisonment saved his life, for during his detention the ship +proceeded on her voyage, but was wrecked at the mouth of the Garonne, and +all on board perished. + +Goldsmith's second embarkation was for Holland direct, and in nine days he +arrived at Rotterdam, whence he proceeded, without any more deviations, to +Leyden. He gives a whimsical picture, in one of his letters, of the +appearance of the Hollanders. "The modern Dutchman is quite a different +creature from him of former times; he in everything imitates a Frenchman +but in his easy, disengaged air. He is vastly ceremonious, and is, perhaps, +exactly 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 lank head of hair he wears a half-cocked narrow +hat, laced with black ribbon; no coat, but seven waistcoats and nine pair +of breeches, so that his hips reach up almost to his armpits. This +well-clothed vegetable is now fit to see company or make love. But what a +pleasing creature is the object of his appetite! 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 burns nothing about her phlegmatic admirer but his tobacco. +You must know, sir, every woman carries in her hand a stove of coals, +which, when she sits, she snugs under her petticoats, and at this chimney +dozing Strephon lights his pipe." + +In the same letter, he contrasts Scotland and Holland. "There hills and +rocks intercept every prospect; here it is all a continued plain. There you +might see a well-dressed duchess issuing from a dirty close, and here a +dirty Dutchman inhabiting a palace. The Scotch may be compared to a tulip, +planted in dung; but I can never see a Dutchman in his own house but I +think of a magnificent Egyptian temple dedicated to an ox." + +The country itself awakened his admiration. "Nothing," said he, "can equal +its beauty; wherever I turn my eyes, fine houses, elegant gardens, statues, +grottoes, vistas, present themselves; but when you enter their towns you +are charmed beyond description. No misery is to be seen here; every one is +usefully employed." And again, in his noble description in The Traveler: + + "To men of other minds my fancy flies, + Imbosom'd in the deep where Holland lies. + Methinks her patient sons before me stand, + Where the broad ocean leans against the land, + And, sedulous to stop the coming tide, + Lift the tall rampire's artificial pride. + Onward, methinks, and diligently slow, + The firm connected bulwark seems to grow; + Spreads its long arms amid the watery roar, + Scoops out an empire, and usurps the shore. + While the pent ocean, rising o'er the pile, + Sees an amphibious world before him smile; + The slow canal, the yellow blossom'd vale, + The willow-tufted bank, the gliding sail, + The crowded mart, the cultivated plain, + A new creation rescued from his reign." + +He remained about a year at Leyden, attending the lectures of Gaubius on +chemistry and Albinus on anatomy; though his studies are said to have been +miscellaneous, and directed to literature rather than science. The +thirty-three pounds with which he had set out on his travels were soon +consumed, and he was put to many a shift to meet his expenses until his +precarious remittances should arrive. He had a good friend on these +occasions in a fellow-student and countryman, named Ellis, who afterward +rose to eminence as a physician. He used frequently to loan small sums to +Goldsmith, which were always scrupulously paid. Ellis discovered the innate +merits of the poor awkward student, and used to declare in after life that +"it was a common remark in Leyden, that in all the peculiarities of +Goldsmith, an elevation of mind was to be noted; a philosophical tone and +manner; the feelings of a gentleman, and the language and information of a +scholar." + +Sometimes, in his emergencies, Goldsmith undertook to teach the English +language. It is true he was ignorant of the Dutch, but he had a smattering +of the French, picked up among the Irish priests at Ballymahon. He depicts +his whimsical embarrassment in this respect, in his account in the Vicar of +Wakefield of the _philosophical vagabond_ who went to Holland to teach +the natives English, without knowing a word of their own language. +Sometimes, when sorely pinched, and sometimes, perhaps, when flush, he +resorted to the gambling tables, which in those days abounded in Holland. +His good friend Ellis repeatedly warned him against this unfortunate +propensity, but in vain. It brought its own cure, or rather its own +punishment, by stripping him of every shilling. + +Ellis once more stepped in to his relief with a true Irishman's generosity, +but with more considerateness than generally characterizes an Irishman, for +he only granted pecuniary aid on condition of his quitting the sphere of +danger. Goldsmith gladly consented to leave Holland, being anxious to visit +other parts. He intended to proceed to Paris and pursue his studies there, +and was furnished by his friend with money for the journey. Unluckily, he +rambled into the garden of a florist just before quitting Leyden. The tulip +mania was still prevalent in Holland, and some species of that splendid +flower brought immense prices. In wandering through the garden Goldsmith +recollected that his uncle Contarine was a tulip fancier. The thought +suddenly struck him that here was an opportunity of testifying, in a +delicate manner, his sense of that generous uncle's past kindnesses. In an +instant his hand was in his pocket; a number of choice and costly +tulip-roots were purchased and packed up for Mr. Contarine; and it was not +until he had paid for them that he bethought himself that he had spent all +the money borrowed for his traveling expenses. Too proud, however, to give +up his journey, and too shamefaced to make another appeal to his friend's +liberality, he determined to travel on foot, and depend upon chance and +good luck for the means of getting forward; and it is said that he actually +set off on a tour of the Continent, in February, 1775, with but one spare +shirt, a flute, and a single guinea. + +"Blessed," says one of his biographers, "with a good constitution, an +adventurous spirit, and with that thoughtless, or, perhaps, happy +disposition which takes no care for to-morrow, he continued his travels for +a long time in spite of innumerable privations." In his amusing narrative +of the adventures of a "Philosophic Vagabond" in the Vicar of Wakefield, we +find shadowed out the expedients he pursued. "I had some knowledge of +music, with a tolerable voice; I now turned what was once 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 approached a peasant's house toward nightfall, I played one of +my merriest tunes, and that procured me not only a lodging, but subsistence +for the next day; but in truth I must own, whenever I attempted to +entertain persons of a higher rank, they always thought my performance +odious, and never made me any return for my endeavors to please them." + +At Paris he attended the chemical lectures of Rouelle, then in great vogue, +where he says he witnessed as bright a circle of beauty as graced the court +of Versailles. His love of theatricals, also, led him to attend the +performances of the celebrated actress Mademoiselle Clairon, with which he +was greatly delighted. He seems to have looked upon the state of society +with the eye of a philosopher, but to have read the signs of the times with +the prophetic eye of a poet. In his rambles about the environs of Paris he +was struck with the immense quantities of game running about almost in a +tame state; and saw in those costly and rigid preserves for the amusement +and luxury of the privileged few a sure "badge of the slavery of the +people." This slavery he predicted was drawing toward a close. "When I +consider that these parliaments, the members of which are all created by +the court, and 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 throne with implicit humility; when this is considered, +I cannot help fancying that the genius of Freedom has entered that kingdom +in disguise. If they have but three weak monarchs more successively on the +throne, the mask will be laid aside and the country will certainly once +more be free." Events have testified to the sage forecast of the poet. + +During a brief sojourn in Paris he appears to have gained access to +valuable society, and to have had the honor and pleasure of making the +acquaintance of Voltaire; of whom, in after years, he wrote a memoir. "As a +companion," says he, "no man ever exceeded him when he pleased to lead the +conversation; 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 got over a hesitating manner, which +sometimes he was subject to, it was rapture to hear him. His meager 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," +continues he, "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 (then nearly a hundred years old), who was of the +party, and who being unacquainted with the language or authors of the +country he undertook to condemn, with a spirit truly vulgar began to revile +both. Diderot, who liked the English, and knew something of their literary +pretensions, attempted to vindicate their poetry and learning, but with +unequal 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, particularly as the +conversation happened to turn upon one of his favorite topics. Fontenelle +continued his triumph until about twelve o'clock, when Voltaire appeared at +last roused from his reverie. His whole frame seemed animated. He began his +defense with the utmost defiance mixed with spirit, and now and then let +fall the finest strokes of raillery upon his antagonist; and his harangue +lasted till three in the morning. I must confess that, whether from +national partiality or from the elegant sensibility of his manner, I never +was so charmed, nor did I ever remember so absolute a victory as he gained +in this dispute." + +Goldsmith's ramblings took him into Germany and Switzerland, from which +last mentioned country he sent to his brother in Ireland the first brief +sketch, afterward amplified into his poem of The Traveler. + +At Geneva he became traveling tutor to a mongrel young gentleman, son of a +London pawnbroker, who had been suddenly elevated into fortune and +absurdity by the death of an uncle. The youth, before setting up for a +gentleman, had been an attorney's apprentice, and was an arrant pettifogger +in money matters. Never were two beings more illy assorted than he and +Goldsmith. We may form an idea of the tutor and the pupil from the +following extract from the narrative of the "Philosophic Vagabond." + +"I was to be the young gentleman's governor, but with a proviso that he +should always be permitted to govern himself. My pupil, in fact, understood +the art of guiding in money concerns much better than I. He was 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 his prevailing +passion; all his questions on the road were how money might be saved--which +was the least expensive course of travel--whether anything could be bought +that would turn to account when disposed of again in London. Such +curiosities 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 he had been told that they were not worth seeing. He never paid a bill +that he would not observe how amazingly expensive traveling was; and all +this though not yet twenty-one." + +In this sketch Goldsmith undoubtedly shadows forth his annoyances as +traveling tutor to this concrete young gentleman, compounded of the +pawnbroker, the pettifogger, and the West Indian heir, with an overlaying +of the city miser. They had continual difficulties on all points of expense +until they reached Marseilles, where both were glad to separate. + +Once more on foot, but freed from the irksome duties of "bear leader," and +with some of his pay, as tutor, in his pocket, Goldsmith continued his +half-vagrant peregrinations through part of France and Piedmont, and some +of the Italian States. He had acquired, as has been shown, a habit of +shifting along and living by expedients, and a new one presented itself in +Italy. "My skill in music," says he, in the "Philosophic Vagabond," "could +avail me nothing in a country 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 every adventitious disputant; for which, if the +champion opposes with any dexterity, he can claim a gratuity in money, a +dinner, and a bed for one night." Though a poor wandering scholar, his +reception in these learned piles was as free from humiliation as in the +cottages of the peasantry. "With the members of these establishments," said +he, "I could converse on topics of literature, _and then I always forgot +the meanness of my circumstances_." + +At Padua, where he remained some months, he is said to have taken his +medical degree. It is probable he was brought to a pause in this city by +the death of his uncle Contarine, who had hitherto assisted him in his +wanderings by occasional, though, of course, slender remittances. Deprived +of this source of supplies he wrote to his friends in Ireland, and +especially to his brother-in-law Hodson, describing his destitute +situation. His letters brought him neither money nor reply. It appears from +subsequent correspondence that his brother-in-law actually exerted himself +to raise a subscription for his assistance among his relatives, friends, +and acquaintance, but without success. Their faith and hope in him were +most probably at an end; as yet he had disappointed them at every point, he +had given none of the anticipated proofs of talent, and they were too poor +to support what they may have considered the wandering propensities of a +heedless spendthrift. + +Thus left to his own precarious resources, Goldsmith gave up all further +wandering in Italy, without visiting the south, though Rome and Naples must +have held out powerful attractions to one of his poetical cast. Once more +resuming his pilgrim staff, he turned his face toward England, "walking +along from city to city, examining mankind more nearly, and seeing both +sides of the picture." In traversing France his flute--his magic flute--was +once more in requisition, as we may conclude, by the following passage in +his Traveler: + + "Gay, sprightly land of mirth and social ease, + Pleased with thyself, whom all the world can please, + How often have I led thy sportive choir + With tuneless pipe beside the murmuring Loire! + Where shading elms along the margin grew, + And freshened from the wave the zephyr flew; + And haply though my harsh note falt'ring still, + But mocked all tune, and marr'd the dancer's skill; + Yet would the village praise my wondrous power, + And dance forgetful of the noontide hour. + Alike all ages: Dames of ancient days + Have led their children through the mirthful maze, + And the gay grandsire, skill'd in gestic lore, + Has frisk'd beneath the burden of threescore." + + + + +CHAPTER SIX + +LANDING IN ENGLAND--SHIFTS OF A MAN WITHOUT MONEY--THE PESTLE AND +MORTAR--THEATRICALS IN A BARN--LAUNCH UPON LONDON--A CITY NIGHT +SCENE--STRUGGLES WITH PENURY--MISERIES OF A TUTOR--A DOCTOR IN THE +SUBURB--POOR PRACTICE AND SECOND-HAND FINERY--A TRAGEDY IN EMBRYO--PROJECT +OF THE WRITTEN MOUNTAINS + + +After two years spent in roving about the Continent, "pursuing novelty," as +he said, "and losing content," Goldsmith landed at Dover early in 1756. He +appears to have had no definite plan of action. The death of his uncle +Contarine, and the neglect of his relatives and friends to reply to his +letters, seem to have produced in him a temporary feeling of loneliness and +destitution, and his only thought was to get to London and throw himself +upon the world. But how was he to get there? His purse was empty. England +was to him as completely a foreign land as any part of the Continent, and +where on earth is a penniless stranger more destitute? His flute and his +philosophy were no longer of any avail; the English boors cared nothing for +music; there were no convents; and as to the learned and the clergy, not +one of them would give a vagrant scholar a supper and night's lodging for +the best thesis that ever was argued. "You may easily imagine," says he, in +a subsequent letter to his brother-in-law, "what difficulties I had to +encounter, left as I was without friends, recommendations, money, or +impudence, and that in a country where being born 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." + +He applied at one place, we are told, for employment in the shop of a +country apothecary; but all his medical science gathered in foreign +universities could not gain him the management of a pestle and mortar. He +even resorted, it is said, to the stage as a temporary expedient, and +figured in low comedy at a country town in Kent. This accords with his last +shift of the "Philosophic Vagabond," and with the knowledge of country +theatricals displayed in his Adventures of a Strolling Player, or may be a +story suggested by them. All this part of his career, however, in which he +must have trod the lowest paths of humility, are only to be conjectured +from vague traditions, or scraps of autobiography gleaned from his +miscellaneous writings. + +At length we find him launched on the great metropolis, or rather drifting +about its streets, at night, in the gloomy month of February, with but a +few half-pence in his pocket. The deserts of Arabia are not more dreary and +inhospitable than the streets of London at such a time, and to a stranger +in such a plight. Do we want a picture as an illustration? We have it in +his own words, and furnished, doubtless, from his own experience. + +"The clock has just struck two; what a gloom hangs all around! no sound is +heard but of the chiming clock, or the distant watch-dog. How few appear in +those streets, which but some few hours ago were crowded! But who are those +who make the streets their couch, and find a short repose from wretchedness +at the doors of the opulent? They are strangers, wanderers, and orphans, +whose circumstances are too humble to expect redress, and whose distresses +are too great even for pity. Some are without the covering even of rags, +and others emaciated with disease; the world has disclaimed them; society +turns its back upon their distress, and has given them up to nakedness and +hunger. _These poor shivering females have once seen happier days, and +been flattered into beauty._ They are now turned out to meet the +severity of winter. Perhaps now, lying at the doors of their betrayers, +they sue to wretches whose hearts are insensible, or debauchees who may +curse, but will not relieve them. + +"Why, why was I born a man, and yet see the sufferings of wretches I cannot +relieve! Poor houseless creatures! The world will give you reproaches, but +will not give you relief." + +Poor houseless Goldsmith! we may here ejaculate--to what shifts he must +have been driven to find shelter and sustenance for himself in this his +first venture into London! Many years afterward, in the days of his social +elevation, he startled a polite circle at Sir Joshua Reynolds' by +humorously dating an anecdote about the time he "lived among the beggars of +Axe Lane." Such may have been the desolate quarters with which he was fain +to content himself when thus adrift upon the town, with but a few +half-pence in his pocket. + +The first authentic trace we have of him in this new part of his career, is +filling the situation of an usher to a school, and even this employ he +obtained with some difficulty, after a reference for a character to his +friends in the University of Dublin. In the Vicar of Wakefield he makes +George Primrose undergo a whimsical catechism concerning the requisites for +an usher. "Have you been bred apprentice to the business?" "No." "Then you +won't do for a school. Can you dress the boys' hair?" "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 a good stomach?" "Yes." "Then you will by no means +do for a school. I have been an usher in a boarding-school myself, and may +I die of an anodyne necklace, but I had rather be under-turnkey in Newgate. +I was up early and late; I was browbeat by the master, hated for my ugly +face by the mistress, worried by the boys." + +Goldsmith remained but a short time in this situation, and to the +mortifications experienced there we doubtless owe the picturings given in +his writings of the hardships of an usher's life. "He is generally," says +he, "the laughingstock of the school. Every trick is played upon him; the +oddity of his manner, his dress, or his language, is 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, lives in a +state of war with all the family."--"He is obliged, perhaps, to sleep in +the same bed with the French teacher, who disturbs him for an hour every +night in papering and filleting his hair, and stinks worse than a carrion +with his rancid pomatums, when he lays his head beside him on the bolster." + +His next shift was as assistant in the laboratory of a chemist near Fish +Street Hill. After remaining here a few months, he heard that Dr. Sleigh, +who had been his friend and fellow-student at Edinburgh, was in London. +Eager to meet with a friendly face in this land of strangers, he +immediately called on him; "but though it was Sunday, and it is to be +supposed I was 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 his purse and friendship with me +during his continuance in London." + +Through the advice and assistance of Dr. Sleigh, he now commenced the +practice of medicine, but in a small way, in Bankside, Southwark, and +chiefly among the poor; for he wanted the figure, address, polish, and +management, to succeed among the rich. His old schoolmate and college +companion, Beatty, who used to aid him with his purse at the university, +met him about this time, decked out in the tarnished finery of a +second-hand suit of green and gold, with a shirt and neckcloth of a +fortnight's wear. + +Poor Goldsmith endeavored to assume a prosperous air in the eyes of his +early associate. "He was practicing physic," he said, "and _doing very +well!_" At this moment poverty was pinching him to the bone in spite of +his practice and his dirty finery. His fees were necessarily small, and ill +paid, and he was fain to seek some precarious assistance from his pen. Here +his quondam fellow-student, Dr. Sleigh, was again of service, introducing +him to some of the booksellers, who gave him occasional, though starveling +employment. According to tradition, however, his most efficient patron just +now was a journeyman printer, one of his poor patients of Bankside, who had +formed a good opinion of his talents, and perceived his poverty and his +literary shifts. The printer was in the employ of Mr. Samuel Richardson, +the author of Pamela, Clarissa, and Sir Charles Grandison; who combined the +novelist and the publisher, and was in flourishing circumstances. Through +the journeyman's intervention Goldsmith is said to have become acquainted +with Richardson, who employed him as reader and corrector of the press, at +his printing establishment in Salisbury Court; an occupation which he +alternated with his medical duties. + +Being admitted occasionally to Richardson's parlor, he began to form +literary acquaintances, among whom the most important was Dr. Young, the +author of Night Thoughts, a poem in the height of fashion. It is not +probable, however, that much familiarity took place at the time between the +literary lion of the day and the poor Aesculapius of Bankside, the humble +corrector of the press. Still the communion with literary men had its +effect to set his imagination teeming. Dr. Farr, one of his Edinburgh +fellow-students, who was at London about this time, attending the hospitals +and lectures, gives us an amusing account of Goldsmith in his literary +character. + +"Early in January he called upon me one morning before I was up, and, on my +entering the room, I recognized 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 farce of Lethe. After we had finished +our breakfast he drew from his pocket 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 most earnestly pressed him not to trust +to my judgment, but to take the opinion of persons better qualified to +decide on dramatic compositions. He now told me he had submitted his +productions, so far as he had written, to Mr. Richardson, the author of +Clarissa, on which I peremptorily declined offering another criticism on +the performance." + +From the graphic description given of him by Dr. Farr, it will be perceived +that the tarnished finery of green and gold had been succeeded by a +professional suit of black, to which, we are told, were added the wig and +cane indispensable to medical doctors in those days. The coat was a +second-hand one, of rusty velvet, with a patch on the left breast, which he +adroitly covered with his three-cornered hat during his medical visits; and +we have an amusing anecdote of his contest of courtesy with a patient who +persisted in endeavoring to relieve him from the hat, which only made him +press it more devoutly to his heart. + +Nothing further has ever been heard of the tragedy mentioned by Dr. Farr; +it was probably never completed. The same gentleman speaks of a strange +Quixotic scheme which Goldsmith had in contemplation at the time, "of going +to decipher the inscriptions on the _written mountains_," though he +was altogether ignorant of Arabic, or the language in which they might be +supposed to be written. "The salary of three hundred pounds," adds Dr. +Farr, "which had been left for the purpose, was the temptation." This was +probably one of many dreamy projects with which his fervid brain was apt to +teem. On such subjects he was prone to talk vaguely and magnificently, but +inconsiderately, from a kindled imagination rather than a well-instructed +judgment. He had always a great notion of expeditions to the East, and +wonders to be seen and effected in the Oriental countries. + + + + +CHAPTER SEVEN + +LIFE OP A PEDAGOGUE--KINDNESS TO SCHOOLBOYS--PERTNESS IN RETURN--EXPENSIVE +CHARITIES--THE GRIFFITHS AND THE "MONTHLY REVIEW"--TOILS OF A LITERARY +HACK--RUPTURE WITH THE GRIFFITHS + + +Among the most cordial of Goldsmith's intimates in London during this time +of precarious struggle were certain of his former fellow-students in +Edinburgh. One of these was the son of a Dr. Milner, a dissenting minister, +who kept a classical school of eminence at Peckham, in Surrey. Young Milner +had a favorable opinion of Goldsmith's abilities and attainments, and +cherished for him that good will which his genial nature seems ever to have +inspired among his school and college associates. His father falling ill, +the young man negotiated with Goldsmith to take temporary charge of the +school. The latter readily consented; for he was discouraged by the slow +growth of medical reputation and practice, and as yet had no confidence in +the coy smiles of the muse. Laying by his wig and cane, therefore, and once +more wielding the ferule, he resumed the character of the pedagogue, and +for some time reigned as vicegerent over the academy at Peckham. He appears +to have been well treated by both Dr. Milner and his wife, and became a +favorite with the scholars from his easy, indulgent good nature. He mingled +in their sports, told them droll stories, played on the flute for their +amusement, and spent his money in treating them to sweetmeats and other +schoolboy dainties. His familiarity was sometimes carried too far; he +indulged in boyish pranks and practical jokes, and drew upon himself +retorts in kind, which, however, he bore with great good humor. Once, +indeed, he was touched to the quick by a piece of schoolboy pertness. After +playing on the flute, he spoke with enthusiasm of music, as delightful in +itself, and as a valuable accomplishment for a gentleman, whereupon a +youngster, with a glance at his ungainly person, wished to know if he +considered himself a gentleman. Poor Goldsmith, feelingly alive to the +awkwardness of his appearance and the humility of his situation, winced at +this unthinking sneer, which long rankled in his mind. + +As usual, while in Dr. Milner's employ, his benevolent feelings were a +heavy tax upon his purse, for he never could resist a tale of distress, and +was apt to be fleeced by every sturdy beggar; so that, between his charity +and his munificence, he was generally in advance of his slender salary. +"You had better, Mr. Goldsmith, let me take care of your money," said Mrs. +Milner one day, "as I do for some of the young gentlemen."--"In truth, +madam, there is equal need!" was the good-humored reply. + +Dr. Milner was a man of some literary pretensions, and wrote occasionally +for the "Monthly Review," of which a bookseller, by the name of Griffiths, +was proprietor. This work was an advocate for Whig principles, and had been +in prosperous existence for nearly eight years. Of late, however, +periodicals had multiplied exceedingly, and a formidable Tory rival had +started up in the "Critical Review," published by Archibald Hamilton, a +bookseller, and aided by the powerful and popular pen of Dr. Smollett. +Griffiths was obliged to recruit his forces. While so doing he met +Goldsmith, a humble occupant of a seat at Dr. Milner's table, and was +struck with remarks on men and books which fell from him in the course of +conversation. He took occasion to sound him privately as to his inclination +and capacity as a reviewer, and was furnished by him with specimens of his +literary and critical talents. They proved satisfactory. The consequence +was that Goldsmith once more changed his mode of life, and in April, 1757, +became a contributor to the "Monthly Review," at a small fixed salary, with +board and lodging, and accordingly took up his abode with Mr. Griffiths, at +the sign of the Dunciad, Paternoster Row. As usual we trace this phase of +his fortunes in his semi-fictitious writings; his sudden transmutation of +the pedagogue into the author being humorously set forth in the case of +"George Primrose," in the Vicar of "Wakefield." "Come," says George's +adviser, "I see you are a lad of spirit and some learning; what do you +think of commencing author like me? You have read in books, no doubt, of +men of genius starving at the trade; at present I'll show you forty very +dull fellows about town that live by it in opulence. All honest, jog-trot +men, who go on smoothly and dully, and write history and politics, and are +praised: men, sir, who, had they been bred cobblers, would all their lives +only have mended shoes, but never made them." "Finding" (says George) "that +there is no great degree of gentility affixed to the character of an usher, +I resolved to accept his proposal; and having the highest respect for +literature, hailed the _antiqua mater_ of Grub Street with reverence. +I thought it my glory to pursue a track which Dryden and Otway trod before +me. Alas, Dryden struggled with indigence all his days; and Otway, it is +said, fell a victim to famine in his thirty-fifth year, being strangled by +a roll of bread, which he devoured with the voracity of a starving man." + +In Goldsmith's experience the track soon proved a thorny one. Griffiths was +a hard business man, of shrewd, worldly good sense, but little refinement +or cultivation. He meddled, or rather muddled with literature, too, in a +business way, altering and modifying occasionally the writings of his +contributors, and in this he was aided by his wife, who, according to +Smollett, was "an antiquated female critic and a dabbler in the 'Review.'" +Such was the literary vassalage to which Goldsmith had unwarily subjected +himself. A diurnal drudgery was imposed on him, irksome to his indolent +habits, and attended by circumstances humiliating to his pride. He had to +write daily from nine o'clock until two, and often throughout the day; +whether in the vein or not, and on subjects dictated by his taskmaster, +however foreign to his taste; in a word, he was treated as a mere literary +hack. But this was not the worst; it was the critical supervision of +Griffiths and his wife which grieved him: the "illiterate, bookselling +Griffiths," as Smollett called them, "who presumed to revise, alter, and +amend the articles contributed to their 'Review.' Thank heaven," crowed +Smollett, "the 'Critical Review' is not written under the restraint of a +bookseller and his wife. Its principal writers are independent of each +other, unconnected with booksellers, and unawed by old women!" + +This literary vassalage, however, did not last long. The bookseller became +more and more exacting. He accused his hack writer of idleness; of +abandoning his writing-desk and literary workshop at an early hour of the +day; and of assuming a tone and manner _above his situation_. +Goldsmith, in return, charged him with impertinence; his wife with meanness +and parsimony in her household treatment of him, and both of literary +meddling and marring. The engagement was broken off at the end of five +months, by mutual consent, and without any violent rupture, as it will be +found they afterward had occasional dealings with each other. + +Though Goldsmith was now nearly thirty years of age, he had produced +nothing to give him a decided reputation. He was as yet a mere writer for +bread. The articles he had contributed to the "Review" were anonymous, and +were never avowed by him. They have since been, for the most part, +ascertained; and though thrown off hastily, often treating on subjects of +temporary interest, and marred by the Griffith interpolations, they are +still characterized by his sound, easy, good sense, and the genial graces +of his style. Johnson observed that Goldsmith's genius flowered late; he +should have said it flowered early, but was late in bringing its fruit to +maturity. + + + + +CHAPTER EIGHT + +NEWBERY, OF PICTURE-BOOK MEMORY--HOW TO KEEP UP APPEARANCES--MISERIES OF +AUTHORSHIP--A POOR RELATION--LETTER TO HODSON + + +Being now known in the publishing world, Goldsmith began to find casual +employment in various quarters; among others he wrote occasionally for the +"Literary Magazine," a production set on foot by Mr. John Newbery, +bookseller, St. Paul's Churchyard, renowned in nursery literature +throughout the latter half of the last century for his picture-books for +children. Newbery was a worthy, intelligent, kind-hearted man, and a +seasonable though cautious friend to authors, relieving them with small +loans when in pecuniary difficulties, though always taking care to be well +repaid by the labor of their pens. Goldsmith introduces him in a humorous +yet friendly manner in his novel of the Vicar of Wakefield. "This person +was no other than the philanthropic bookseller 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 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." + +Besides his literary job work, Goldsmith also resumed his medical practice, +but with very trifling success. The scantiness of his purse still obliged +him to live in obscure lodgings somewhere in the vicinity of Salisbury +Square, Fleet Street; but his extended acquaintance and rising importance +caused him to consult appearances. He adopted an expedient, then very +common, and still practiced in London among those who have to tread the +narrow path between pride and poverty; while he burrowed in lodgings suited +to his means, he "hailed," as it is termed, from the Temple Exchange +Coffeehouse near Temple Bar. Here he received his medical calls; hence he +dated his letters, and here he passed much of his leisure hours, conversing +with the frequenters of the place. "Thirty pounds a year," said a poor +Irish painter, who understood the art of shifting, "is enough to enable a +man to live in London without being contemptible. Ten pounds will find him +in clothes and linen; he can live in a garret on eighteen pence a week; +hail from a coffee-house, where, by occasionally spending threepence, he +may pass some hours each day in good company; he may breakfast on bread and +milk for a penny; dine for sixpence; do without supper; and on +_clean-shirt-day_ he may go abroad and pay visits." + +Goldsmith seems to have taken a leaf from this poor devil's manual in +respect to the coffee-house at least. Indeed, coffee-houses in those days +were the resorts of wits and literati, where the topics of the day were +gossiped over, and the affairs of literature and the drama discussed and +criticised. In this way he enlarged the circle of his intimacy, which now +embraced several names of notoriety. + +Do we want a picture of Goldsmith's experience in this part of his career? +we have it in his observations on the life of an author in the "Inquiry +into the State of Polite Learning," published some years afterward. + +"The author, unpatronized by the great, has naturally recourse to the +bookseller. There cannot, perhaps, be imagined a combination more +prejudicial to taste than this. It is the interest of the one to allow as +little for writing, and for the other to write as much as possible; +accordingly tedious compilations and periodical magazines are the result of +their joint endeavors. In these circumstances the author bids adieu to +fame; writes for bread; and for that only imagination is seldom called in. +He sits down to address the venal muse with the most phlegmatic apathy; +and, as we are told of the Russian, courts his mistress by falling asleep +in her lap." + +Again. "Those who are unacquainted with the world are apt to fancy the man +of wit as leading a very agreeable life. They conclude, perhaps, that he is +attended with silent admiration, and dictates to the rest of mankind with +all the eloquence of conscious superiority. Very different is his present +situation. He is called an author, and all know that an author is a thing +only to be laughed at. His person, not his jest, becomes the mirth of the +company. At his approach the most fat, unthinking face brightens into +malicious meaning. Even aldermen laugh, and avenge on him the ridicule +which was lavished on their forefathers.... The poet's poverty is a +standing topic of contempt. His writing for bread is an unpardonable +offense. Perhaps of all mankind an author in these times is used most +hardly. We keep him poor, and yet revile his poverty. We reproach him for +living by his wit, and yet allow him no other means to live. His taking +refuge in garrets and cellars has of late been violently objected to him, +and that by men who, I hope, are more apt to pity than insult his distress. +Is poverty a careless fault? No doubt he knows how to prefer a bottle of +champagne to the nectar of the neighboring ale-house, or a venison pasty to +a plate of potatoes. Want of delicacy is not in him, but in those who deny +him the opportunity of making an elegant choice. Wit certainly is the +property of those who have it, nor should we be displeased if it is the +only property a man sometimes has. We must not underrate him who uses it +for subsistence, and flees from the ingratitude of the age even to a +bookseller for redress."... + +"If the author be necessary among us, let us treat him with proper +consideration as a child of the public, not as a rent-charge on the +community. And indeed a child of the public he is in all respects; for +while so well able to direct others, how incapable is he frequently found +of guiding himself. His simplicity exposes him to all the insidious +approaches of cunning; his sensibility, to the slightest invasions of +contempt. Though possessed of fortitude to stand unmoved the expected +bursts of an earthquake, yet of feelings so exquisitely poignant as to +agonize under the slightest disappointment. Broken rest, tasteless meals, +and causeless anxieties shorten life, and render it unfit for active +employments; prolonged vigils and intense application still further +contract his span, and make his time glide insensibly away." + +While poor Goldsmith was thus struggling with the difficulties and +discouragements which in those days beset the path of an author, his +friends in Ireland received accounts of his literary success and of the +distinguished acquaintances he was making. This was enough to put the wise +heads at Lissoy and Ballymahon in a ferment of conjectures. With the +exaggerated notions of provincial relatives concerning the family great man +in the metropolis, some of Goldsmith's poor kindred pictured him to +themselves seated in high places, clothed in purple and fine linen, and +hand and glove with the givers of gifts and dispensers of patronage. +Accordingly, he was one day surprised at the sudden apparition, in his +miserable lodging, of his younger brother Charles, a raw youth of +twenty-one, endowed with a double share of the family heedlessness, and who +expected to be forthwith helped into some snug by-path to fortune by one or +other of Oliver's great friends. Charles was sadly disconcerted on learning +that, so far from being able to provide for others, his brother could +scarcely take care of himself. He looked round with a rueful eye on the +poet's quarters, and could not help expressing his surprise and +disappointment at finding him no better off. "All in good tune, my dear +boy," replied poor Goldsmith, with infinite good-humor; "I shall be richer +by-and-by. Addison, let me tell you, wrote his poem of the Campaign in a +garret in the Haymarket, three stones high, and you see I am not come to +that yet, for I have only got to the second story." + +Charles Goldsmith did not remain long to embarrass his brother in London. +With the same roving disposition and inconsiderate temper of Oliver, he +suddenly departed in a humble capacity to seek his fortune in the West +Indies, and nothing was heard of him for above thirty years, when, after +having been given up as dead by his friends, he made his reappearance in +England. + +Shortly after his departure Goldsmith wrote a letter to his brother-in-law, +Daniel Hodson, Esq., of which the following is an extract; it was partly +intended, no doubt, to dissipate any further illusions concerning his +fortunes which might float on the magnificent imagination of his friends in +Ballymahon. + +"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 live. 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 to the entertainment; and want, instead of +being gentleman-usher, often turns master of the ceremonies. + +"Thus, upon learning I write, no doubt you imagine I starve; and the name +of an author naturally reminds you of a garret. In this particular I do not +think proper to undeceive my friends. But, whether I eat or starve, live in +a first floor or four pairs of stairs high, I still remember them with +ardor; nay, my very country comes in for a share of my affection. +Unaccountable fondness for country, this _maladie du pais_, as the +French call it! Unaccountable that he should still have an affection for a +place, who never, when in it, received above common civility; who never +brought anything out of it except his brogue and his blunders. Surely my +affection is equally ridiculous with the Scotchman's, who refused to be +cured of the itch because it made him unco' thoughtful 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 humble cousin, +who had 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 Padareen mare there one season than given +in rewards to learned men since the time of Usher. All their productions in +learning amount to perhaps a translation, or a few tracts in divinity; 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 sometimes 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 Lissoy fireside, and Johnny Armstrong's +'Last Good-night' from Peggy Golden. If I climb Hampstead Hill, than where +nature never exhibited a more magnificent prospect, I confess it fine; but +then I had rather be placed on the little mount before Lissoy gate, and +there take in, to me, the most pleasing horizon in nature. + +"Before Charles came hither my thoughts sometimes found refuge from severer +studies among my friends in Ireland. I fancied strange revolutions 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 you is, that you sally out in visits among the +neighbors, 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 Lissoy 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 Mohammed, why +Mohammed shall go to the mountain; or, to speak plain English, as you +cannot 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 contributions; neither to excite envy nor +solicit favor; in fact, my circumstances are adapted to neither. I am too +poor to be gazed at, and too rich to need assistance." + + + + +CHAPTER NINE + +HACKNEY AUTHORSHIP--THOUGHTS OF LITERARY SUICIDE--RETURN TO +PECKHAM--ORIENTAL PROJECTS--LITERARY ENTERPRISE TO RAISE FUNDS--LETTER TO +EDWARD WELLS--TO ROBERT BRYANTON--DEATH OF UNCLE CONTARINE--LETTER TO +COUSIN JANE + + +For some time Goldsmith continued to write miscellaneously for reviews and +other periodical publications, but without making any decided hit, to use a +technical term. Indeed, as yet he appeared destitute of the strong +excitement of literary ambition, and wrote only on the spur of necessity +and at the urgent importunity of his bookseller. His indolent and truant +disposition, ever averse from labor and delighting in holiday, had to be +scourged up to its task; still it was this very truant disposition which +threw an unconscious charm over everything he wrote; bringing with it +honeyed thoughts and pictured images which had sprung up in his mind in the +sunny hours of idleness: these effusions, dashed off on compulsion in the +exigency of the moment, were published anonymously; so that they made no +collective impression on the public, and reflected no fame on the name of +their author. + +In an essay published some time subsequently in the "Bee," Goldsmith +adverts, in his own humorous way, to his impatience at the tardiness with +which his desultory and unacknowledged essays crept into notice. "I was +once induced," says he, "to show my indignation against the public by +discontinuing my efforts to please; and was bravely resolved, like Raleigh, +to vex them by burning my manuscripts in a passion. Upon reflection, +however, I considered what set or body of people would be displeased at my +rashness. The sun, after so sad an accident, might shine next morning as +bright as usual; men might laugh and sing the next day, and transact +business as before; and not a single creature feel any regret but myself. +Instead of having Apollo in mourning or the Muses in a fit of the spleen; +instead of having the learned world apostrophizing at my untimely decease; +perhaps all Grub Street might laugh at my fate, and self-approving dignity +be unable to shield me from ridicule." + +Circumstances occurred about this time to give a new direction to +Goldsmith's hopes and schemes. Having resumed for a brief period the +superintendence of the Peckham school during a fit of illness of Dr. +Milner, that gentleman, in requital for his timely services, promised to +use his influence with a friend, an East India director, to procure him a +medical appointment in India. + +There was every reason to believe that the influence of Dr. Milner would be +effectual; but how was Goldsmith to find the ways and means of fitting +himself out for a voyage to the Indies? In this emergency he was driven to +a more extended exercise of the pen than he had yet attempted. His +skirmishing among books as a reviewer, and his disputatious ramble among +the schools and universities and literati of the Continent, had filled his +mind with facts and observations which he now set about digesting into a +treatise of some magnitude, to be entitled "An Inquiry into the Present +State of Polite Learning in Europe." As the work grew on his hands his +sanguine temper ran ahead of his labors. Feeling secure of success in +England, he was anxious to forestall the piracy of the Irish press; for as +yet, the Union not having taken place, the English law of copyright did not +extend to the other side of the Irish Channel. He wrote, therefore, to his +friends in Ireland, urging them to circulate his proposals for his +contemplated work, and obtain subscriptions payable in advance; the money +to be transmitted to a Mr. Bradley, an eminent bookseller in Dublin, who +would give a receipt for it and be accountable for the delivery of the +books. The letters written by him on this occasion are worthy of copious +citation as being full of character and interest. One was to his relative +and college intimate, Edward Wells, who had studied for the bar, but was +now living at ease on his estate at Roscommon. "You have quitted," writes +Goldsmith, "the plan of life which you once intended to pursue, and given +up ambition for domestic tranquillity. I cannot avoid feeling some regret +that one of my few friends has declined a pursuit in which he had every +reason to expect success. 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 to 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 by your +acquaintances; to cultivate your paternal acres; to take unmolested a nap +under one of your own hawthorns or in Mrs. Wells' bedchamber, which, even a +poet must confess, is rather the more comfortable place of the two. But, +however your resolutions may be altered with regard to your situation in +life, I persuade myself they are unalterable with respect to your friends +in it. I cannot think the world has taken such entire possession of that +heart (once so susceptible of friendship) as not to have left a corner +there for a friend or two, but I flatter myself that even I have a place +among the number. This I have a claim to from the similitude of our +dispositions; or setting that aside, I can demand it as a right by the most +equitable law of 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 at +this very instant I cannot avoid the painful apprehension that my present +professions (which speak not half my feelings) should 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 too proud to stoop +to unnecessary insincerity--I have a request, it is true, 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," etc. The +residue of the letter specifies the nature of the request, which was merely +to aid in circulating his proposals and obtaining subscriptions. The letter +of the poor author, however, was unattended to and unacknowledged by the +prosperous Mr. Wells, of Roscommon, though in after years he was proud to +claim relationship to Dr. Goldsmith, when he had risen to celebrity. + +Another of Goldsmith's letters was to Robert Bryanton, with whom he had +long ceased to be in correspondence. "I believe," writes he, "that they who +are drunk, or out of their wits, fancy everybody else in the same +condition. Mine is a friendship that neither distance nor tune can efface, +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 success would have given +me the utmost pleasure; and a communication of your very disappointments +would divide the uneasiness I too frequently feel for my own. Indeed, my +dear Bob, 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 disappointed your neglect by frequently +thinking of you. Every day or so I remember the calm anecdotes of your +life, from the fireside to the easy-chair; recall the various adventures +that first cemented our friendship; the school, the college, or the tavern; +preside in fancy over your cards; and am displeased at your bad play when +the rubber goes against you, though not with all that agony of soul as when +I was once your partner. Is it not strange that two of such like affections +should be so much separated, and so differently employed as we are? You +seem placed at the center of fortune's wheel, and, let it revolve ever so +fast, are insensible of the motion. I seem to have been tied to the +circumference, and whirled disagreeably round, as if on a whirligig." + +He then runs into a whimsical and extravagant tirade about his future +prospects. The wonderful career of fame and fortune that awaits him, and +after indulging in all kinds of humorous gasconades, concludes: "Let me, +then, stop my fancy to take a view of my future self--and, as the boys say, +light down to see myself on horseback. Well, now that I am down, where the +d--l _is I_? Oh gods! gods! here in a garret, writing for bread, and +expecting to be dunned for a milk score!" + +He would, on this occasion, have doubtless written to his uncle Contarine, +but that generous friend was sunk into a helpless, hopeless state from +which death soon released him. + +Cut off thus from the kind co-operation of his uncle, he addresses a letter +to his daughter Jane, the companion of his schoolboy and happy days, now +the wife of Mr. Lawder. The object was to secure her interest with her +husband in promoting the circulation of his proposals. The letter is full +of character. + +"If you should ask," he begins, "why, in an interval of so many years, you +never heard from me, permit me, madam, to ask the same question. I have the +best excuse in recrimination. I wrote to Kilmore from Leyden in Holland, +from Louvain in Flanders, and Rouen in France, but received no answer. To +what could I attribute this silence but to displeasure or forgetfulness? +Whether I was right in my conjecture I do not pretend to determine; but +this I must ingenuously own that I have a thousand times in my turn +endeavored to forget _them_, whom I could not but look upon as +forgetting _me_. I have attempted to blot their names from my 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 correspondence; but, as every effort the restless +make to procure sleep serves but to keep them waking, all my attempts +contributed 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 endeavors 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 offerings of a friend; while +all my professions, instead of being considered as the result of +disinterested esteem, might be ascribed to venal insincerity. I believe, +indeed, you had too much generosity to place them in such a light, but I +could not bear even the shadow of such a suspicion. The most delicate +friendships are always most sensible of the slightest invasion, and the +strongest jealousy is ever attendant on the warmest regard. I could not--I +own I could not--continue a correspondence in which every acknowledgment +for past favors 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 character. 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 bluntness to +avoid the imputation of flattery; have frequently 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 among the grinning tribe, who +say 'very true' to all that is said; who fill a vacant chair at a +tea-table; whose narrow souls never moved in a wider circle than the +circumference of a guinea; and who had rather be reckoning the money in +your pocket than the virtue in 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.... Is it to be +wondered that he should once in his life forget you, who has been all his +life forgetting himself? However, it is probable you may one of these days +see me turned into a perfect hunks, 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 brickbats. Instead of hanging my room +with pictures, I intend to adorn it with maxims of frugality. Those will +make pretty furniture enough, and won't be a bit too expensive; for I will +draw them all out with my own hands, and my landlady's daughter shall frame +them with the parings of my black waistcoat. Each maxim is to be 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! +madam, I heartily wish to be rich, if it were only for this reason, to say +without a blush how much I esteem you. But, alas! I have many a fatigue to +encounter before that happy times comes, when your poor old simple friend +may again give a loose to the luxuriance of his nature; sitting by Kilmore +fireside, recount the various adventures of a hard-fought life; laugh over +the follies of the day; join his flute to your harpsichord; and forget that +ever he starved 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 I once knew him. Newton and Swift grew dim with age as well as +he. 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! He +now forgets the calamities of life. Perhaps indulgent Heaven has given him +a foretaste of that tranquillity 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 respect, disappoint their avarice and have +all the profits of my labor to myself. I must therefore request Mr. Lawder +to circulate among his friends and acquaintances a hundred of my proposals +which I have given the bookseller, Mr. Bradley, in Dame Street, directions +to send to him. If, in pursuance of 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 measure be an encouragement to a man of learning) should +be disagreeable or troublesome, I would not press it; for I would be the +last man on earth to have my labors 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 I solicit with the warmest ardor, 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 favor." + + + + +CHAPTER TEN + +ORIENTAL APPOINTMENT--AND DISAPPOINTMENT--EXAMINATION AT THE COLLEGE OF +SURGEONS--HOW TO PROCURE A SUIT OF CLOTHES--FRESH DISAPPOINTMENT--A TALE OF +DISTRESS--THE SUIT OF CLOTHES IN PAWN--PUNISHMENT FOR DOING AN ACT OF +CHARITY--GAYETIES OF GREEN ARBOR COURT--LETTER TO HIS BROTHER--LIFE OF +VOLTAIRE--SCROGGIN, AN ATTEMPT AT MOCK HEROIC POETRY + + +While Goldsmith was yet laboring at his treatise, the promise made him by +Dr. Milner was carried into effect, and he was actually appointed physician +and surgeon to one of the factories on the coast of Coromandel. His +imagination was immediately on fire with visions of Oriental wealth and +magnificence. It is true the salary did not exceed one hundred pounds, but +then, as appointed physician, he would have the exclusive practice of the +place, amounting to one thousand pounds per annum; with advantages to be +derived from trade, and from the high interest of money--twenty per cent; +in a word, for once in his life, the road to fortune lay broad and straight +before him. + +Hitherto, in his correspondence with his friends, he had said nothing of +his India scheme; but now he imparted to them his brilliant prospects, +urging the importance of their circulating his proposals and obtaining him +subscriptions and advances on his forthcoming work, to furnish funds for +his outfit. + +In the meantime he had to task that poor drudge, his muse, for present +exigencies. Ten pounds were demanded for his appointment-warrant. Other +expenses pressed hard upon him. Fortunately, though as yet unknown to fame, +his literary capability was known to "the trade," and the coinage of his +brain passed current in Grub Street. Archibald Hamilton, proprietor of the +"Critical Review," the rival to that of Griffiths, readily made him a small +advance on receiving three articles for his periodical. His purse thus +slenderly replenished, Goldsmith paid for his warrant; wiped off the score +of his milkmaid; abandoned his garret, and moved into a shabby first floor +in a forlorn court near the Old Bailey; there to await the time for his +migration to the magnificent coast of Coromandel. + +Alas! poor Goldsmith! ever doomed to disappointment. Early in the gloomy +month of November, that mouth of fog and despondency in London, he learned +the shipwreck of his hope. The great Coromandel enterprise fell through; or +rather the post promised to him was transferred to some other candidate. +The cause of this disappointment it is now impossible to ascertain. The +death of his quasi patron, Dr. Milner, which happened about this time, may +have had some effect in producing it; or there may have been some +heedlessness and blundering on his own part; or some obstacle arising from +his insuperable indigence; whatever may have been the cause, he never +mentioned it, which gives some ground to surmise that he himself was to +blame. His friends learned with surprise that he had suddenly relinquished +his appointment to India, about which he had raised such sanguine +expectations: some accused him of fickleness and caprice; others supposed +him unwilling to tear himself from the growing fascinations of the literary +society of London. + +In the meantime, cut down in his hopes and humiliated in his pride by the +failure of his Coromandel scheme, he sought, without consulting his +friends, to be examined at the College of Physicians for the humble +situation of hospital mate. Even here poverty stood in his way. It was +necessary to appear in a decent garb before the examining committee; but +how was he to do so? He was literally out at elbows as well as out of cash. +Here again the muse, so often jilted and neglected by him, came to his aid. +In consideration of four articles furnished to the "Monthly Review," +Griffiths, his old taskmaster, was to become his security to the tailor for +a suit of clothes. Goldsmith said he wanted them but for a single occasion, +on which depended his appointment to a situation in the army; as soon as +that temporary purpose was served they would either be returned or paid +for. The books to be reviewed were accordingly lent to him; the muse was +again set to her compulsory drudgery; the articles were scribbled off and +sent to the bookseller, and the clothes came in due time from the tailor. + +From the records of the College of Surgeons, it appears that Goldsmith +underwent his examination at Surgeons' Hall, on the 21st of December, 1758. + +Either from a confusion of mind incident to sensitive and imaginative +persons on such occasions, or from a real want of surgical science, which +last is extremely probable, he failed in his examination, and was rejected +as unqualified. The effect of such a rejection was to disqualify him for +every branch of public service, though he might have claimed a +re-examination, after the interval of a few months devoted to further +study. Such a re-examination he never attempted, nor did he ever +communicate his discomfiture to any of his friends. + +On Christmas day, but four days after his rejection by the College of +Surgeons, while he was suffering under the mortification of defeat and +disappointment, and hard pressed for means of subsistence, he was surprised +by the entrance into his room of the poor woman of whom he hired his +wretched apartment, and to whom he owed some small arrears of rent. She had +a piteous tale of distress, and was clamorous in her afflictions. Her +husband had been arrested in the night for debt, and thrown into prison. +This was too much for the quick feelings of Goldsmith; he was ready at any +time to help the distressed, but in this instance he was himself in some +measure a cause of the distress. What was to be done? He had no money, it +is true; but there hung the new suit of clothes in which he had stood his +unlucky examination at Surgeons' Hall. Without giving himself time for +reflection, he sent it off to the pawnbroker's, and raised thereon a +sufficient sum to pay off his own debt, and to release his landlord from +prison. + +Under the same pressure of penury and despondency, he borrowed from a +neighbor a pittance to relieve his immediate wants, leaving as a security +the books which he had recently reviewed. In the midst of these straits and +harassments, he received a letter from Griffiths, demanding in peremptory +terms the return of the clothes and books, or immediate payment for the +same. It appears that he had discovered the identical suit at the +pawnbroker's. The reply of Goldsmith is not known; it was out of his power +to furnish either the clothes or the money; but he probably offered once +more to make the muse stand his bail. His reply only increased the ire of +the wealthy man of trade, and drew from him another letter still more harsh +than the first, using the epithets of knave and sharper, and containing +threats of prosecution and a prison. + +The following letter from poor Goldsmith gives the most touching picture of +an inconsiderate but sensitive man, harassed by care, stung by +humiliations, and driven almost to despondency. + +"Sir--I know of no misery but a jail to which my own imprudences and your +letter seem to point. I have seen it inevitable these three or four weeks, +and, by heavens! request it as a favor--as a favor that may prevent +something more fatal. I have been some years struggling with a wretched +being--with all that contempt that indigence brings with it--with all those +passions which make contempt insupportable. What, then, has a jail that is +formidable. I shall at least have the society of wretches, and such is to +me true society. I tell you, again and again, that I am neither able nor +willing to pay you a farthing, 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 own debts one way, I would generally 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 circumstances. + +"I am guilty, I own, of meannesses which poverty unavoidably brings with +it: my reflections 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 possible both the reports you have heard and your own +suggestions may have brought you false information with, respect to my +character; it is very possible that the man whom you now regard with +detestation may inwardly burn with grateful resentment. 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 gratitude and jealousy. If such +circumstances should appear, at least spare invective till my book with Mr. +Dodsley shall be published, and then, perhaps, you may see the bright side +of a mind, when my professions shall not appear the dictates of necessity, +but of choice. + +"You seem to think Dr. Milner knew me not. Perhaps so; but he was a man I +shall ever honor; but I have friendships only with the dead! 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 dispute between the poet and the publisher was afterward imperfectly +adjusted, and it would appear that the clothes were paid for by a short +compilation advertised by Griffiths in the course of the following month; +but the parties were never really friends afterward, and the writings of +Goldsmith were harshly and unjustly treated in the "Monthly Review." + +We have given the preceding anecdote in detail, as furnishing one of the +many instances in which Goldsmith's prompt and benevolent impulses outran +all prudent forecast, and involved him in difficulties and disgraces which +a more selfish man would have avoided. The pawning of the clothes, charged +upon him as a crime by the grinding bookseller, and apparently admitted by +him as one of "the meannesses which poverty unavoidably brings with it," +resulted, as we have shown, from a tenderness of heart and generosity of +hand in which another man would have gloried; but these were such natural +elements with him that he was unconscious of their merit. It is a pity that +wealth does not oftener bring such "meannesses" in its train. + +And now let us be indulged in a few particulars about these lodgings in +which Goldsmith was guilty of this thoughtless act of benevolence. They +were in a very shabby house, No. 12, Green Arbor Court, between the Old +Bailey and Fleet Market. An old woman was still living in 1820 who was a +relative of the identical landlady whom Goldsmith relieved by the money +received from the pawnbroker. She was a child about seven years of age at +the time that the poet rented his apartment of her relative, and used +frequently to be at the house in Green Arbor Court. She was drawn there, in +a great measure, by the good-humored kindness of Goldsmith, who was always +exceedingly fond of the society of children. He used to assemble those of +the family in his room, give them cakes and sweetmeats, and set them +dancing to the sound of his flute. He was very friendly to those around +him, and cultivated a kind of intimacy with a watchmaker in the court, who +possessed much native wit and humor. He passed most of the day, however, in +his room, and only went out in the evenings. His days were no doubt devoted +to the drudgery of the pen, and it would appear that he occasionally found +the booksellers urgent taskmasters. On one occasion a visitor was shown up +to his room, and immediately their voices were heard in high altercation, +and the key was turned within the lock. The landlady, at first, was +disposed to go to the assistance of her lodger; but a calm succeeding, she +forbore to interfere. + +Late in the evening the door was unlocked; a supper ordered by the visitor +from a neighboring tavern, and Goldsmith and his intrusive guest finished +the evening in great good-humor. It was probably his old taskmaster +Griffiths, whose press might have been wailing, and who found no other mode +of getting a stipulated task from Goldsmith than by locking him in, and +staying by him until it was finished. + +But we have a more particular account of these lodgings in Green Arbor +Court from the Rev. Thomas Percy, afterward Bishop of Dromore, and +celebrated for his relics of ancient poetry, his beautiful ballads, and +other works. During an occasional visit to London, he was introduced to +Goldsmith by Grainger, and ever after continued one of his most steadfast +and valued friends. The following is his description of the poet's squalid +apartment: "I called on Goldsmith at his lodgings in March, 1759, and found +him writing his 'Inquiry' in a miserable, dirty-looking room, in which +there was but one chair; and when, from civility, he resigned it to me, he +himself was obliged to sit in the window. While we were conversing together +some one tapped gently at the door, and, being desired to come in, a poor, +ragged little girl, of a very becoming demeanor, entered the room, and, +dropping a courtesy, said, 'My mamma sends her compliments and begs the +favor of you to lend her a chamber-pot full of coals.'" + +"We are reminded in this anecdote of Goldsmith's picture of the lodgings of +Beau Tibbs, and of the peep into the secrets of a makeshift establishment +given to a visitor by the blundering old Scotch woman. + +"By this time we were arrived as high as the stairs would permit us to +ascend, till we came to what he was facetiously pleased to call the first +floor down the chimney; and, knocking at the door, a voice from within +demanded 'Who's there?' My conductor answered that it was him. But this not +satisfying the querist, the voice again repeated the demand, to which he +answered louder than before; and now the door was opened by an old woman +with cautious reluctance. + +"When we got in he welcomed me to his house with great ceremony; and, +turning to the old woman, asked where was her lady. 'Good troth,' replied +she, in a peculiar dialect, 'she's washing your twa shirts at the next +door, because they have taken an oath against lending the tub any longer.' +'My two shirts,' cried he, in a tone that faltered with confusion; 'what +does the idiot mean?' 'I ken what I mean weel enough,' replied the other; +'she's washing your twa shirts at the next door, because--' 'Fire and fury! +no more of thy stupid explanations,' cried he; 'go and inform her we have +company. Were that Scotch hag to be forever in my family, she would never +learn politeness, nor forget that absurd poisonous accent of hers, or +testify the smallest specimen of breeding or high life; and yet it is very +surprising, too, as I had her from a Parliament man, a friend of mine from +the Highlands, one of the politest men in the world; but that's a secret.'" +[Footnote: Citizen of the World, Letter iv.] + +Let us linger a little in Green Arbor Court, a place consecrated by the +genius and the poverty of Goldsmith, but recently obliterated in the course +of modern improvements. The writer of this memoir visited it not many years +since on a literary pilgrimage, and may be excused for repeating a +description of it which he has heretofore inserted in another publication. +"It then existed in its pristine state, and was a small square of tall and +miserable houses, the very intestines of which seemed turned inside out, to +judge from the old garments and frippery that fluttered from every window. +It appeared to be a region of washerwomen, and lines were stretched about +the little square, on which clothes were dangling to dry. + +"Just as we entered the square, a scuffle took place between two viragoes +about a disputed right to a washtub, and immediately the whole community +was in a hubbub. Heads in mob caps popped out of every window, and such a +clamor of tongues ensued that I was fain to stop my ears. Every Amazon took +part with one or other of the disputants, and brandished her arms, dripping +with soapsuds, and fired away from her window as from the embrasure of a +fortress; while the screams of children nestled and cradled in every +procreant chamber of this hive, waking with the noise, set up their shrill +pipes to swell the general concert." [Footnote: Tales of a Traveler.] + +While in these forlorn quarters, suffering under extreme depression of +spirits, caused by his failure at Surgeons' Hall, the disappointment of his +hopes, and his harsh collisions with Griffiths, Goldsmith wrote the +following letter to his brother Henry, some parts of which are most +touchingly mournful. + +"DEAR SIR--Your punctuality in answering a man whose trade is writing is +more than I had reason to expect; and yet you see me generally fill a whole +sheet, which is all the recompense I can make for being so frequently +troublesome. The behavior of Mr. Wells and Mr. Lawder is a little +extraordinary. 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, [Footnote: The Inquiry into Polite Literature. His +previous remarks apply to the subscription.] 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 subscribed. The money, which will amount to sixty pounds, +may be left with Mr. Bradley as soon as possible. I am not certain but I +shall quickly have occasion for it. + +"I have met with no disappointment with respect to my East India voyage, +nor are my resolutions altered; though, at the same time, I must confess, +it gives me some pain to think I am almost beginning the world at the age +of thirty-one. Though I never had a day's sickness since I saw you, yet I +am not that strong, active man you once knew me. You 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 I +dare venture to say, that, if a stranger saw Us both, he would pay me the +honors of seniority. Imagine to yourself a pale, melancholy visage, with +two great wrinkles between the eyebrows, with an eye disgustingly severe, +and a big wig; and you may have a perfect picture of my present appearance. +On the other hand, 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 I 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 behavior. 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 revel, nor contribute to raise its jollity. I can neither +laugh nor drink; have contracted a hesitating, disagreeable manner of +speaking, and a visage that looks ill-nature itself; in short, I have +thought myself into a settled melancholy, and an utter disgust of all that +life brings with it. Whence this romantic turn that all our family 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 dissipate? I perceive, my dear sir, that +I am at intervals for indulging this splenetic manner, and following my own +taste, regardless of yours. + +"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), he may do +very well in your college; for it must be owned that the industrious 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 but +your own. It is impossible to conceive how much may be done by proper +education at home. A boy, for instance, 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 qualify him for any +undertaking; and these parts of learning should be carefully inculcated, +let him be designed for whatever calling he will. + +"Above all things, let him never touch a romance or novel; these paint +beauty in colors more charming than nature, and describe happiness that man +never tastes. How delusive, how destructive, are those pictures of +consummate bliss! They teach the youthful mind to sigh after beauty and +happiness that never existed; to despise the little good which fortune has +mixed in our cup, by expecting more than she ever gave; and, in general, +take the word of a man who has seen the world, and who has studied human +nature more by experience than precept; take my word for it, I say, that +books teach us 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. Let his poor wandering uncle's example be placed before his eyes. +I had learned from books to be disinterested and generous 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 the +approaches of insidious cunning; and often by being, even with my narrow +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 from 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 of relieving her from it would +add much to my splenetic habit. Your last letter was much too short; it +should have answered some queries I had made in my former. Just sit down as +I 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. [Footnote: His sister, Mrs. Johnston; her marriage, like that +of Mrs. Hodson, was private, but in pecuniary matters much less fortunate.] +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, anything from you? There is a book of mine will be +published in a few days; the life of a very extraordinary man; no less than +the great Voltaire. You know already by the title that it is no more than a +catchpenny. However, I spent but four weeks on the whole performance, 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 four or five shillings. However, I fear you will not find an +equivalent of amusement. + +"Your last letter, I repeat it, was too short; you should have given me +your opinion of the design of the heroi-comical poem which I sent you. You +remember 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 window, patched with paper, lent a ray + That feebly show'd 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 exposed to view, + And the twelve rules the royal martyr drew; + The Seasons, framed with listing, found a place. + And Prussia's monarch show'd his lampblack face. + The morn was cold: he views with keen desire + A rusty grate unconscious of a fire; + An unpaid reckoning on the frieze was scored, + And five crack'd teacups dress'd the chimney board.' + +"And now imagine, after his soliloquy, the landlord to make his appearance +in order to dun him for the reckoning: + +"'Not with that face, so servile and so gay, + That welcomes every stranger that can pay: + With sulky eye he smoked the patient man, + hen pull'd his breeches tight, and thus began,' etc. + +[Footnote: The projected poem, of which the above were specimens, appears +never to have been completed.] + +"All this is taken, you see, from nature. It is a good remark of +Montaigne's, that the wisest men often hare friends 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 agreeable species of +composition than prose; and could a man live by it, it were not unpleasant +employment to be a poet. I am resolved to leave no space, though I should +fill it up only by telling you, what you very well know already, I mean +that I am your most affectionate friend and brother, + +"OLIVER GOLDSMITH." + +The Life of Voltaire, alluded to in the latter part of the preceding +letter, was the literary job undertaken to satisfy the demands of +Griffiths. It was to hare preceded a translation of the Henriade, by Ned +Purdon, Goldsmith's old schoolmate, now a Grub Street writer, who starved +rather than lived by the exercise of his pen, and often tasked Goldsmith's +scanty means to relieve his hunger. His miserable career was summed up by +our poet in the following lines written some years after the tune we are +treating of, on hearing that he had suddenly dropped dead in Smithfield: + + "Here lies poor Ned Purdon, from misery freed, + Who long was a bookseller's hack; + He led such a damnable life in this world, + I don't think he'll wish to come back." + +The memoir and translation, though advertised to form a volume, were not +published together; but appeared separately in a magazine. + +As to the heroi-comical poem, also, cited in the foregoing letter, it +appears to have perished in embryo. Had it been brought to maturity we +should have had further traits of autobiography, the room already described +was probably his own squalid quarters in Green Arbor Court; and in a +subsequent morsel of the poem we have the poet himself, under the +euphonious name of Scroggin: + + "Where the Red Lion peering o'er the way, + Invites each passing stranger that can pay; + Where Calvert's butt and Parson's black champagne + Regale the drabs and bloods of Drury Lane: + There, in a lonely room, from bailiffs snug, + The muse found Scroggin stretch'd beneath a rug; + A nightcap deck'd his brows instead of bay, + A cap by night, a stocking all the day!" + +It is to be regretted that this poetical conception was not carried out; +like the author's other writings, it might have abounded with pictures of +life and touches of nature drawn from his own observation and experience, +and mellowed by his own humane and tolerant spirit; and might have been a +worthy companion or rather contrast to his Traveler and Deserted Village, +and have remained in the language a first-rate specimen of the mock-heroic. + + + + +CHAPTER ELEVEN + +PUBLICATION OF THE INQUIRY--ATTACKED BY GRIFFITHS' REVIEW--KENRICK THE +LITERARY ISHMAELITE--PERIODICAL LITERATURE--GOLDSMITH'S ESSAYS--GARRICK AS +A MANAGER--SMOLLETT AND HIS SCHEMES--CHANGE OF LODGINGS--THE ROBIN HOOD +CLUB + + + +Toward the end of March, 1759, the treatise on which Goldsmith had laid so +much stress, on which he at one time had calculated to defray the expenses +of his outfit to India, and to which he had adverted in his correspondence +with Griffiths, made its appearance. It was published by the Dodsleys, and +entitled An Inquiry into the Present State of Polite Learning in Europe. + +In the present day, when the whole field of contemporary literature is so +widely surveyed and amply discussed, and when the current productions of +every country are constantly collated and ably criticised, a treatise like +that of Goldsmith would be considered as extremely limited and +unsatisfactory; but at that time it possessed novelty in its views and +wideness in its scope, and being indued with the peculiar charm of style +inseparable from the author, it commanded public attention and a profitable +sale. As it was the most important production that had yet come from +Goldsmith's pen, he was anxious to have the credit of it; yet it appeared +without his name on the title-page. The authorship, however, was well known +throughout the world of letters, and the author had now grown into +sufficient literary importance to become an object of hostility to the +underlings of the press. One of the most virulent attacks upon him was in a +criticism on this treatise, and appeared in the "Monthly Review," to which +he himself had been recently a contributor. It slandered him as a man while +it decried him as an author, and accused him, by innuendo, of "laboring +under the infamy of having, by the vilest and meanest actions, forfeited +all pretensions to honor and honesty," and of practicing "those acts which +bring the sharper to the cart's tail or the pillory." + +It will be remembered that the "Review" was owned by Griffiths the +bookseller, with whom Goldsmith had recently had a misunderstanding. The +criticism, therefore, was no doubt dictated by the lingerings of +resentment; and the imputations upon Goldsmith's character for honor and +honesty, and the vile and mean actions hinted at, could only allude to the +unfortunate pawning of the clothes. All this, too, was after Griffiths had +received the affecting letter from Goldsmith, drawing a picture of his +poverty and perplexities, and after the latter had made him a literary +compensation. Griffiths, in fact, was sensible of the falsehood and +extravagance of the attack, and tried to exonerate himself by declaring +that the criticism was written by a person in his employ; but we see no +difference in atrocity between him who wields the knife and him who hires +the cut-throat. It may be well, however, in passing, to bestow our mite of +notoriety upon the miscreant who launched the slander. He deserves it for a +long course of dastardly and venomous attacks, not merely upon Goldsmith, +but upon most of the successful authors of the day. His name was Kenrick. +He was originally a mechanic, but, possessing some degree of talent and +industry, applied himself to literature as a profession. This he pursued +for many years, and tried his hand in every department of prose and poetry; +he wrote plays and satires, philosophical tracts, critical dissertations, +and works on philology; nothing from his pen ever rose to first-rate +excellence, or gained him a popular name, though he received from some +university the degree of Doctor of Laws. Dr. Johnson characterized his +literary career in one short sentence. "Sir, he is one of the many who have +made themselves _public_ without making themselves _known_." + +Soured by his own want of success, jealous of the success of others, his +natural irritability of temper increased by habits of intemperance, he at +length abandoned himself to the practice of reviewing, and became one of +the Ishmaelites of the press. In this his malignant bitterness soon gave +him a notoriety which his talents had never been able to attain. We shall +dismiss him for the present with the following sketch of him by the hand of +one of his contemporaries: + + "Dreaming of genius which he never had, + Half wit, half fool, half critic, and half mad; + Seizing, like Shirley, on the poet's lyre, + With all his rage, but not one spark of fire; + Eager for slaughter, and resolved to tear + From other's brows that wreath he most not wear + Next Kenrick came: all furious and replete + With brandy, malice, pertness, and conceit; + Unskill'd in classic lore, through envy blind + To all that's beauteous, learned, or refined; + For faults alone behold the savage prowl, + With reason's offal glut his ravening soul; + Pleased with his prey, its inmost blood he drinks, + And mumbles, paws, and turns it--till it stinks." + +The British press about this time was extravagantly fruitful of periodical +publications. That "oldest inhabitant," the "Gentleman's Magazine," almost +coeval with St. John's gate which graced its title-page, had long been +elbowed by magazines and reviews of all kinds; Johnson's Rambler had +introduced the fashion of periodical essays, which he had followed up in +his Adventurer and Idler. Imitations had sprung up on every side, under +every variety of name; until British literature was entirely overrun by a +weedy and transient efflorescence. Many of these rival periodicals choked +each other almost at the outset, and few of them have escaped oblivion. + +Goldsmith wrote for some of the most successful, such as the "Bee," the +"Busy-Body," and the "Lady's Magazine." His essays, though characterized by +his delightful style, his pure, benevolent morality, and his mellow, +unobtrusive humor, did not produce equal effect at first with more garish +writings of infinitely less value; they did not "strike," as it is termed; +but they had that rare and enduring merit which rises in estimation on +every perusal. They gradually stole upon the heart of the public, were +copied into numerous contemporary publications, and now they are garnered +up among the choice productions of British literature. + +In his Inquiry into the State of Polite Learning, Goldsmith had given +offense to David Garrick, at that time the autocrat of the Drama, and was +doomed to experience its effect. A clamor had been raised against Garrick +for exercising a despotism over the stage, and bringing forward nothing but +old plays to the exclusion of original productions. Walpole joined in this +charge. "Garrick," said he, "is treating the town as it deserves and likes +to be treated; with scenes, fireworks, and _his own writings_. A good +new play I never expect to see more; nor have seen since the Provoked +Husband, which came out when I was at school." Goldsmith, who was extremely +fond of the theater, and felt the evils of this system, inveighed in his +treatise against the wrongs experienced by authors at the hands of +managers. "Our poet's performance," said he, "must undergo a process truly +chemical before it is presented to the public. It must be tried in the +manager's fire; strained through a licenser, suffer from repeated +corrections, till it may be a mere _caput mortuum_ when it arrives +before the public." Again. "Getting a play on even in three or four years +is a privilege reserved only for the happy few who have the arts of +courting the manager as well as the muse; who have adulation to please his +vanity, powerful patrons to support their merit, or money to indemnify +disappointment. Our Saxon ancestors had but one name for a wit and a witch. +I will not dispute the propriety of uniting those characters then; but the +man who under present discouragements ventures to write for the stage, +whatever claim he may have to the appellation of a wit, at least has no +right to be called a conjurer." But a passage which perhaps touched more +sensibly than all the rest on the sensibilities of Garrick was the +following. + +"I have no particular spleen against the fellow who sweeps the stage with +the besom, or the hero who brushes it with his train. It were a matter of +indifference to me whether our heroines are in keeping, or our candle +snuffers burn their fingers, did not such make a great part of public care +and polite conversation. Our actors assume all that state off the stage +which they do on it; and, to use an expression borrowed from the green +room, every one is _up_ in his part. I am sorry to say it, they seem +to forget their real characters." + +These strictures were considered by Garrick as intended for himself, and +they were rankling in his mind when Goldsmith waited upon him and solicited +his vote for the vacant secretaryship of the Society of Arts, of which the +manager was a member. Garrick, puffed up by his dramatic renown and his +intimacy with the great, and knowing Goldsmith only by his budding +reputation, may not have considered him of sufficient importance to be +conciliated. In reply to his solicitations, he observed that he could +hardly expect his friendly exertions after the unprovoked attack he had +made upon his management. Goldsmith replied that he had indulged in no +personalities, and had only spoken what he believed to be the truth. He +made no further apology nor application; failed to get the appointment, and +considered Garrick his enemy. In the second edition of his treatise he +expunged or modified the passages which had given the manager offense; but +though the author and actor became intimate in after years, this false step +at the outset of their intercourse was never forgotten. + +About this time Goldsmith engaged with Dr. Smollett, who was about to +launch the "British Magazine." Smollett was a complete schemer and +speculator in literature, and intent upon enterprises that had money rather +than reputation in view. Goldsmith has a good-humored hit at this +propensity in one of his papers in the "Bee," in which he represents +Johnson, Hume, and others taking seats in the stagecoach bound for Fame, +while Smollett prefers that destined for Riches. + +Another prominent employer of Goldsmith was Mr. John Newbery, who engaged +him to contribute occasional essays to a newspaper entitled the "Public +Ledger," which made its first appearance on the 12th of January, 1760. His +most valuable and characteristic contributions to this paper were his +Chinese Letters, subsequently modified into the Citizen of the World. These +lucubrations attracted general attention; they were reprinted in the +various periodical publications of the day, and met with great applause. +The name of the author, however, was as yet but little known. + +Being now in easier circumstances, and in the receipt of frequent sums from +the booksellers, Goldsmith, about the middle of 1760, emerged from his +dismal abode in Green Arbor Court, and took respectable apartments in +Wine-Office Court, Fleet Street. + +Still he continued to look back with considerate benevolence to the poor +hostess, whose necessities he had relieved by pawning his gala coat, for we +are told that "he often supplied her with food from his own table, and +visited her frequently with the sole purpose to be kind to her." + +He now became a member of a debating club, called the Robin Hood, which +used to meet near Temple Bar, and in which Burke, while yet a Temple +student, had first tried his powers. Goldsmith spoke here occasionally, and +is recorded in the Robin Hood archives as "a candid disputant, with a clear +head and an honest heart, though coming but seldom to the society." His +relish was for clubs of a more social, jovial nature, and he was never fond +of argument. An amusing anecdote is told of his first introduction to the +club by Samuel Derrick, an Irish acquaintance of some humor. On entering, +Goldsmith was struck with the self-important appearance of the chairman +ensconced in a large gilt chair. "This," said he, "must be the Lord +Chancellor at least." "No, no," replied Derrick, "he's only master of the +_rolls_."--The chairman was a _baker_. + + + + +CHAPTER TWELVE + +NEW LODGINGS--VISITS OF CEREMONY--HANGERS-ON--PILKINGTON AND THE WHITE +MOUSE--INTRODUCTION TO DR. JOHNSON--DAVIES AND HIS BOOKSHOP--PRETTY MRS. +DAVIES--FOOTE AND HIS PROJECTS--CRITICISM OF THE CUDGEL + + +In his new lodgings in Wine-Office Court, Goldsmith began to receive visits +of ceremony and to entertain his literary friends. Among the latter he now +numbered several names of note, such as Guthrie, Murphy, Christopher Smart, +and Bickerstaff. He had also a numerous class of hangers-on, the small-fry +of literature; who, knowing his almost utter incapacity to refuse a +pecuniary request, were apt, now that he was considered flush, to levy +continual taxes upon his purse. + +Among others, one Pilkington, an old college acquaintance, but now a +shifting adventurer, duped him in the most ludicrous manner. He called on +him with a face full of perplexity. A lady of the first rank having an +extraordinary fancy for curious animals, for which she was willing to give +enormous sums, he had procured a couple of white mice to be forwarded to +her from India. They were actually on board of a ship in the river. Her +grace had been apprised of their arrival, and was all impatience to see +them. Unfortunately, he had no cage to put them in, nor clothes to appear +in before a lady of her rank. Two guineas would be sufficient for his +purpose, but where were two guineas to be procured! + +The simple heart of Goldsmith was touched; but, alas! he had but half a +guinea in his pocket. It was unfortunate, but after a pause his friend +suggested, with some hesitation, "that money might be raised upon his +watch; it would but be the loan of a few hours." So said, so done; the +watch was delivered to the worthy Mr. Pilkington to be pledged at a +neighboring pawnbroker's, but nothing further was ever seen of him, the +watch, or the white mice. The next that Goldsmith heard of the poor +shifting scapegrace, he was on his deathbed, starving with want, upon +which, forgetting or forgiving the trick he had played upon him, he sent +him a guinea. Indeed, he used often to relate with great humor the +foregoing anecdote of his credulity, and was ultimately in some degree +indemnified by its suggesting to him the amusing little story of Prince +Bonbennin and the White House in the Citizen of the World. + +In this year Goldsmith became personally acquainted with Dr. Johnson, +toward whom he was drawn by strong sympathies, though their natures were +widely different. Both had struggled from early life with poverty, but had +struggled in different ways. Goldsmith, buoyant, heedless, sanguine, +tolerant of evils and easily pleased, had shifted along by any temporary +expedient; cast down at every turn, but rising again with indomitable +good-humor, and still carried forward by his talent at hoping. Johnson, +melancholy, and hypochondriacal, and prone to apprehend the worst, yet +sternly resolute to battle with and conquer it, had made his way doggedly +and gloomily, but with a noble principle of self-reliance and a disregard +of foreign aid. Both had been irregular at college, Goldsmith, as we have +shown, from the levity of his nature and his social and convivial habits; +Johnson, from his acerbity and gloom. When, in after life, the latter heard +himself spoken of as gay and frolicsome at college, because he had joined +in some riotous excesses there, "Ah, sir!" replied he, "I was mad and +violent. It was bitterness which they mistook for frolic. _I was +miserably poor, and I thought to fight my way by my literature and my +wit_. So I disregarded all power and all authority." + +Goldsmith's poverty was never accompanied by bitterness; but neither was it +accompanied by the guardian pride which kept Johnson from falling into the +degrading shifts of poverty. Goldsmith had an unfortunate facility at +borrowing, and helping himself along by the contributions of his friends; +no doubt trusting, in his hopeful way, of one day making retribution. +Johnson never hoped, and therefore never borrowed. In his sternest trials +he proudly bore the ills he could not master. In his youth, when some +unknown friend, seeing his shoes completely worn out, left a new pair at +his chamber door, he disdained to accept the boon, and threw them away. + +Though like Goldsmith an immethodical student, he had imbibed deeper +draughts of knowledge, and made himself a riper scholar. While Goldsmith's +happy constitution and genial humors carried him abroad into sunshine and +enjoyment, Johnson's physical infirmities and mental gloom drove him upon +himself; to the resources of reading and meditation; threw a deeper though +darker enthusiasm into his mind, and stored a retentive memory with all +kinds of knowledge. + +After several years of youth passed in the country as usher, teacher, and +an occasional writer for the press, Johnson, when twenty-eight years of +age, came up to London with a half-written tragedy in his pocket; and David +Garrick, late his pupil, and several years his junior, as a companion, both +poor and penniless, both, like Goldsmith, seeking their fortune in the +metropolis. "We rode and tied," said Garrick sportively in after years of +prosperity, when he spoke of their humble wayfaring. "I came to London," +said Johnson, "with twopence halfpenny in my pocket." "Eh, what's that you +say?" cried Garrick, "with twopence halfpenny in your pocket?" "Why, yes; I +came with twopence halfpenny in _my_ pocket, and thou, Davy, with but +three halfpence in thine." Nor was there much exaggeration in the picture; +for so poor were they in purse and credit that after their arrival they +had, with difficulty, raised five pounds, by giving their joint note to a +bookseller in the Strand. + +Many, many years had Johnson gone on obscurely in London, "fighting his way +by his literature and his wit"; enduring all the hardships and miseries of +a Grub Street writer; so destitute at one time that he and Savage the poet +had walked all night about St. James's Square, both too poor to pay for a +night's lodging, yet both full of poetry and patriotism, and determined to +stand by their country; so shabby in dress at another time, that when he +dined at Cave's, his bookseller, when there was prosperous company, he +could not make his appearance at table, but had his dinner handed to him +behind a screen. + +Yet through all the long and dreary struggle, often diseased in mind as +well as in body, he had been resolutely self-dependent, and proudly +self-respectful; he had fulfilled his college vow, he had "fought his way +by his literature and his wit." His Rambler and Idler had made him the +great moralist of the age, and his Dictionary and History of the English +Language, that stupendous monument of individual labor, had excited the +admiration of the learned world. He was now at the head of intellectual +society; and had become as distinguished by his conversational as his +literary powers. He had become as much an autocrat in his sphere as his +fellow-wayfarer and adventurer Garrick had become of the stage, and had +been humorously dubbed by Smollett, "The Great Cham of Literature." + +Such was Dr. Johnson, when on the 31st of May, 1761, he was to make his +appearance as a guest at a literary supper given by Goldsmith, to a +numerous party at his new lodgings in Wine-Office Court. It was the opening +of their acquaintance. Johnson had felt and acknowledged the merit of +Goldsmith as an author, and been pleased by the honorable mention made of +himself in the "Bee" and the Chinese Letters. Dr. Percy called upon Johnson +to take him to Goldsmith's lodgings; he found Johnson arrayed with unusual +care in a new suit of clothes, a new hat, and a well-powdered wig; and +could not but notice his uncommon spruceness. "Why, sir," replied Johnson, +"I hear that Goldsmith, who is a very great sloven, justifies his disregard +of cleanliness and decency by quoting my practice, and I am desirous this +night to show him a better example." + +The acquaintance thus commenced ripened into intimacy in the course of +frequent meetings at the shop of Davies, the bookseller, in Russell Street, +Covent Garden. As this was one of the great literary gossiping places of +the day, especially to the circle over which Johnson presided, it is worthy +of some specification. Mr. Thomas Davies, noted in after times as the +biographer of Garrick, had originally been on the stage, and though a small +man had enacted tyrannical tragedy, with a pomp and magniloquence beyond +his size, if we may trust the description given of him by Churchill in the +Rosciad: + + "Statesman all over--in plots famous grown, + _He mouths a sentence as ours mouth a bone_." + +This unlucky sentence is said to have crippled him in the midst of his +tragic career, and ultimately to have driven him from the stage. He carried +into the bookselling craft somewhat of the grandiose manner of the stage, +and was prone to be mouthy and magniloquent. + +Churchill had intimated, that while on the stage he was more noted for his +pretty wife than his good acting: + + "With him came mighty Davies; on my life, + That fellow has a very pretty wife." + +"Pretty Mrs. Davies," continued to be the loadstar of his fortunes. Her +tea-table became almost as much a literary lounge as her husband's shop. +She found favor in the eyes of the Ursa Major of literature by her winning +ways, as she poured out for him cups without stint of his favorite +beverage. Indeed it is suggested that she was one leading cause of his +habitual resort to this literary haunt. Others were drawn thither for the +sake of Johnson's conversation, and thus it became a resort of many of the +notorieties of the day. Here might occasionally be seen Bennet Langton, +George Stevens, Dr. Percy, celebrated for his ancient ballads, and +sometimes Warburton in prelatic state. Garrick resorted to it for a time, +but soon grew shy and suspicious, declaring that most of the authors who +frequented Mr. Davies' shop went merely to abuse him. + +Foote, the Aristophanes of the day, was a frequent visitor; his broad face +beaming with fun and waggery, and his satirical eye ever on the lookout for +characters and incidents for his farces. He was struck with the odd habits +and appearance of Johnson and Goldsmith, now so often brought together in +Davies' shop. He was about to put on the stage a farce called The Orators, +intended as a hit at the Robin Hood debating club, and resolved to show up +the two doctors in it for the entertainment of the town. + +"What is the common price of an oak stick, sir?" said Johnson to Davies. +"Sixpence," was the reply. "Why, then, sir, give me leave to send your +servant to purchase a shilling one. I'll have a double quantity; for I am +told Foote means to take me off, as he calls it, and I am determined the +fellow shall not do it with impunity." + +Foote had no disposition to undergo the criticism of the cudgel wielded by +such potent hands, so the farce of The Orators appeared without the +caricatures of the lexicographer and the essayist. + + + + +CHAPTER THIRTEEN + +ORIENTAL PROJECTS--LITERARY JOBS--THE CHEROKEE CHIEFS--MERRY ISLINGTON AND +THE WHITE CONDUIT HOUSE--LETTERS ON THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND--JAMES +BOSWELL--DINNER OF DAVIES--ANECDOTES OF JOHNSON AND GOLDSMITH + + +Notwithstanding his growing success, Goldsmith continued to consider +literature a mere makeshift, and his Vagrant imagination teemed with +schemes and plans of a grand but indefinite nature. One was for visiting +the East and exploring the interior of Asia. He had, as has been before +observed, a vague notion that valuable discoveries were to be made there, +and many useful inventions in the arts brought back to the stock of +European knowledge. "Thus, in Siberian Tartary," observes he in one of his +writings, "the natives extract a strong spirit from milk, which is a secret +probably unknown to the chemists of Europe. In the most savage parts of +India they are possessed of the secret of dying vegetable substances +scarlet, and that of refining lead into a metal which, for hardness and +color, is little inferior to silver." + +Goldsmith adds a description of the kind of person suited to such an +enterprise, in which he evidently had himself in view. + +"He should be a man of philosophical turn, one apt to deduce consequences +of general utility from particular occurrences; neither swollen with pride, +nor hardened by prejudice; neither wedded to one particular system, nor +instructed only in one particular science; neither wholly a botanist, nor +quite an antiquarian; his mind should be tinctured with miscellaneous +knowledge, and his manners humanized by an intercourse with men. He should +be in some measure an enthusiast to the design; fond of traveling, from a +rapid imagination and an innate love of change; furnished with a body +capable of sustaining every fatigue, and a heart not easily terrified at +danger." + +In 1761, when Lord Bute became prime minister on the accession of George +the Third, Goldsmith drew up a memorial on the subject, suggesting the +advantages to be derived from a mission to those countries solely for +useful and scientific purposes; and, the better to insure success, he +preceded his application to the government by an ingenious essay to the +same effect in the "Public Ledger." + +His memorial and his essay were fruitless, his project most probably being +deemed the dream of a visionary. Still it continued to haunt his mind, and +he would often talk of making an expedition to Aleppo some time or other, +when his means were greater, to inquire into the arts peculiar to the East, +and to bring home such as might be valuable. Johnson, who knew how little +poor Goldsmith was fitted by scientific lore for this favorite scheme of +his fancy, scoffed at the project when it was mentioned to him. "Of all +men," said he, "Goldsmith is the most unfit to go out upon such an inquiry, +for he is utterly ignorant of such arts as we already possess, and, +consequently, could not know what would be accessions to our present stock +of mechanical knowledge. Sir, he would bring home a grinding barrow, which +you see in every street in London, and think that he had furnished a +wonderful improvement." + +His connection with Newbery the bookseller now led him into a variety of +temporary jobs, such as a pamphlet on the Cock-lane Ghost, a Life of Beau +Nash, the famous Master of Ceremonies at Bath, etc.; one of the best things +for his fame, however, was the remodeling and republication of his Chinese +Letters under the title of The Citizen of the World, a work which has long +since taken its merited stand among the classics of the English language. +"Few works," it has been observed by one of his biographers, "exhibit a +nicer perception, or more delicate delineation of life and manners. Wit, +humor, and sentiment pervade every page; the vices and follies of the day +are touched with the most playful and diverting satire; and English +characteristics, in endless variety, are hit off with the pencil of a +master." + +In seeking materials for his varied views of life, he often mingled in +strange scenes and got involved in whimsical situations. In the summer of +1762 he was one of the thousands who went to see the Cherokee chiefs, whom +he mentions in one of his writings. The Indians made their appearance in +grand costume, hideously painted and besmeared. In the course of the visit +Goldsmith made one of the chiefs a present, who, in the ecstasy of his +gratitude, gave him an embrace that left his face well bedaubed with oil +and red ocher. + +Toward the close of 1762 he removed to "merry Islington," then a country +village, though now swallowed up in omnivorous London. He went there for +the benefit of country air, his health being injured by literary +application and confinement, and to be near his chief employer, Mr. +Newbery, who resided in the Canonbury House. In this neighborhood he used +to take his solitary rambles, sometimes extending his walks to the gardens +of the White Conduit House, so famous among the essayists of the last +century. While strolling one day in these gardens, he met three females of +the family of a respectable tradesman to whom he was under some obligation. +With his prompt disposition to oblige, he conducted them about the garden, +treated them to tea, and ran up a bill in the most open-handed manner +imaginable; it was only when he came to pay that he found himself in one of +his old dilemmas--he had not the wherewithal in his pocket. A scene of +perplexity now took place between him and the waiter, in the midst of which +came up some of his acquaintances, in whose eyes he wished to stand +particularly well. This completed his mortification. There was no +concealing the awkwardness of his position. The sneers of the waiter +revealed it. His acquaintances amused themselves for some tune at his +expense, professing their inability to relieve him. When, however, they had +enjoyed their banter, the waiter was paid, and poor Goldsmith enabled to +convoy off the ladies with flying colors. + +Among the various productions thrown off by him for the booksellers during +this growing period of his reputation was a small work in two volumes, +entitled The History of England, in a Series of Letters from a Nobleman to +his Son. It was digested from Hume, Rapin, Carte, and Kennet. These authors +he would read in the morning; make a few notes; ramble with a friend into +the country about the skirts of "merry Islington"; return to a temperate +dinner and cheerful evening; and, before going to bed, write off what had +arranged itself in his head from the studies of the morning. In this way he +took a more general view of the subject, and wrote in a more free and +fluent style than if he had been mousing at the time among authorities. The +work, like many others written by him in the earlier part of his literary +career, was anonymous. Some attributed it to Lord Chesterfield, others to +Lord Orrery, and others to Lord Lyttelton. The latter seemed pleased to be +the putative father, and never disowned the bantling thus laid at his door; +and well might he have been proud to be considered capable of producing +what has been well pronounced "the most finished and elegant summary of +English history in the same compass that has been or is likely to be +written." + +The reputation of Goldsmith, it will be perceived, grew slowly; he was +known and estimated by a few; but he had not those brilliant though +fallacious qualities which flash upon the public and excite loud but +transient applause. His works were more read than cited; and the charm of +style, for which he was especially noted, was more apt to be felt than +talked about. He used often to repine, in a half-humorous, half-querulous +manner, at his tardiness in gaining the laurels which he felt to be his +due. "The public," he would exclaim, "will never do me justice; whenever I +write anything they make a point to know nothing about it." + +About the beginning of 1763 he became acquainted with Boswell, whose +literary gossipings were destined to have a deleterious effect upon his +reputation. Boswell was at that time a young man, light, buoyant, pushing, +and presumptuous. He had a morbid passion for mingling in the society of +men noted for wit and learning, and had just arrived from Scotland, bent +upon making his way into the literary circles of the metropolis. An +intimacy with Dr. Johnson, the great literary luminary of the day, was the +crowning object of his aspiring and somewhat ludicrous ambition. He +expected to meet him, at a dinner to which he was invited at Davies the +bookseller's, but was disappointed. Goldsmith was present, but he was not +as yet sufficiently renowned to excite the reverence of Boswell. "At this +time," says he in his notes, "I think he had published nothing with his +name, though it was pretty generally understood that one Dr. Goldsmith was +the author of An Inquiry into the Present State of Polite Learning in +Europe, and of The Citizen of the World, a series of letters supposed to be +written from London by a Chinese." + +A conversation took place at table between Goldsmith and Mr. Robert +Dodsley, compiler of the well-known collection of modern poetry, as to the +merits of the current poetry of the day. Goldsmith declared there was none +of superior merit. Dodsley cited his own collection in proof of the +contrary. "It is true," said he, "we can boast of no palaces nowadays, like +Dryden's Ode to St. Cecilia's Day, but we have villages composed of very +pretty houses." Goldsmith, however, maintained that there was nothing above +mediocrity, an opinion in which Johnson, to whom it was repeated, +concurred, and with reason, for the era was one of the dead levels of +British poetry. + +Boswell has made no note of this conversation; he was a Unitarian in his +literary devotion, and disposed to worship none but Johnson. Little Davies +endeavored to console him for his disappointment, and to stay the stomach +of his curiosity, by giving him imitations of the great lexicographer; +mouthing his words, rolling his head, and assuming as ponderous a manner as +his petty person would permit. Boswell was shortly afterward made happy by +an introduction to Johnson, of whom he became the obsequious satellite. +From him he likewise imbibed a more favorable opinion of Goldsmith's +merits, though he was fain to consider them derived in a great measure from +his Magnus Apollo. "He had sagacity enough," says he, "to cultivate +assiduously the acquaintance of Johnson, and his faculties were gradually +enlarged by the contemplation of such a model. To me and many others it +appeared that he studiously copied the manner of Johnson, though, indeed, +upon a smaller scale." So on another occasion he calls him "one of the +brightest ornaments of the Johnsonian school." "His respectful attachment +to Johnson," adds he, "was then at its height; for big own literary +reputation had not yet distinguished him so much as to excite a vain desire +of competition with his great master." + +What beautiful instances does the garrulous Boswell give of the goodness of +heart of Johnson, and the passing homage to it by Goldsmith. They were +speaking of a Mr. Levett, long an inmate of Johnson's house and a dependent +on his bounty; but who, Boswell thought, must be an irksome charge upon +him. "He is poor and honest," said Goldsmith, "which is recommendation +enough to Johnson." + +Boswell mentioned another person of a very bad character, and wondered at +Johnson's kindness to him. "He is now become miserable," said Goldsmith, +"and that insures the protection of Johnson." Encomiums like these speak +almost as much for the heart of him who praises as of him who is praised. + +Subsequently, when Boswell had become more intense in his literary +idolatry, he affected to undervalue Goldsmith, and a lurking hostility to +him is discernible throughout his writings, which some have attributed to a +silly spirit of jealousy of the superior esteem evinced for the poet by Dr. +Johnson. We have a gleam of this in his account of the first evening he +spent in company with those two eminent authors at their famous resort, the +Mitre Tavern, in Fleet Street. This took place on the 1st of July, 1763. +The trio supped together, and passed some time in literary conversation. On +quitting the tavern, Johnson, who had now been sociably acquainted with +Goldsmith for two years, and knew his merits, took him with him to drink +tea with his blind pensioner, Miss Williams, a high privilege among his +intimates and admirers. To Boswell, a recent acquaintance whose intrusive +sycophancy had not yet made its way into his confidential intimacy, he gave +no invitation. Boswell felt it with all the jealousy of a little mind. "Dr. +Goldsmith," says he, in his memoirs, "being a privileged man, went with +him, strutting away, and calling to me with an air of superiority, like +that of an esoteric over an esoteric disciple of a sage of antiquity, 'I go +to Miss Williams.' I confess I then envied him this mighty privilege, of +which he seemed to be so proud; but it was not long before I obtained the +same mark of distinction." + +Obtained! but how? not like Goldsmith, by the force of unpretending but +congenial merit, but by a course of the most pushing, contriving, and +spaniel-like subserviency. Really, the ambition of the man to illustrate +his mental insignificance, by continually placing himself in juxtaposition +with the great lexicographer, has something in it perfectly ludicrous. +Never, since the days of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, has there been +presented to the world a more whimsically contrasted pair of associates +than Johnson and Boswell. + +"Who is this Scotch cur at Johnson's heels?" asked some one when Boswell +had worked his way into incessant companionship. "He is not a cur," replied +Goldsmith, "you are too severe; he is only a bur. Tom Davies flung him at +Johnson in sport, and he has the faculty of sticking." + + + + +CHAPTER FOURTEEN + +HOGARTH A VISITOR AT ISLINGTON--HIS CHARACTER--STREET STUDIES--SYMPATHIES +BETWEEN AUTHORS AND PAINTERS--SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS--HIS CHARACTER--HIS +DINNERS--THE LITERARY CLUB-ITS MEMBERS--JOHNSON'S REVELS WITH LANKEY AND +BEAU--GOLDSMITH AT THE CLUB + + +Among the intimates who used to visit the poet occasionally, in his retreat +at Islington, was Hogarth the painter. Goldsmith had spoken well of him in +his essays in the "Public Ledger," and this formed the first link in their +friendship. He was at this time upward of sixty years of age, and is +described as a stout, active, bustling little man, in a sky-blue coat, +satirical and dogmatic, yet full of real benevolence and the love of human +nature. He was the moralist and philosopher of the pencil; like Goldsmith +he had sounded the depths of vice and misery, without being polluted by +them; and though his picturings had not the pervading amenity of those of +the essayist, and dwelt more on the crimes and vices than the follies and +humors of mankind, yet they were all calculated, in like manner, to fill +the mind with instruction and precept, and to make the heart better. + +Hogarth does not appear to have had much of the rural feeling with which +Goldsmith was so amply endowed, and may not have accompanied him in his +strolls about hedges and green lanes; but he was a fit companion with whom +to explore the mazes of London, in which he was continually on the lookout +for character and incident. One of Hogarth's admirers speaks of having come +upon him in Castle Street, engaged in one of his street studies, watching +two boys who were quarreling; patting one on the back who flinched, and +endeavoring to spirit him up to a fresh encounter. "At him again! D--- him, +if I would take it of him! at him again!" + +A frail memorial of this intimacy between the painter and the poet exists +in a portrait in oil, called "Goldsmith's Hostess." It is supposed to have +been painted by Hogarth in the course of his visits to Islington, and given +by him to the poet as a means of paying his landlady. There are no +friendships among men of talents more likely to be sincere than those +between painters and poets. Possessed of the same qualities of mind, +governed by the same principles of taste and natural laws of grace and +beauty, but applying them to different yet mutually illustrative arts, they +are constantly in sympathy and never in collision with each other. + +A still more congenial intimacy of the kind was that contracted by +Goldsmith with Mr. afterward Sir Joshua Reynolds. The latter was now about +forty years of age, a few years older than the poet, whom he charmed by the +blandness and benignity of his manners, and the nobleness and generosity of +his disposition, as much as he did by the graces of his pencil and the +magic of his coloring. They were men of kindred genius, excelling in +corresponding qualities of their several arts, for style in writing is what +color is in painting; both are innate endowments, and equally magical hi +their effects. Certain graces and harmonies of both may be acquired by +diligent study and imitation, but only in a limited degree; whereas by +their natural possessors they are exercised spontaneously, almost +unconsciously, and with ever-varying fascination. Reynolds soon understood +and appreciated the merits of Goldsmith, and a sincere and lasting +friendship ensued between them. + +At Reynolds' house Goldsmith mingled in a higher range of company than he +had been accustomed to. The fame of this celebrated artist, and his amenity +of manners, were gathering round him men of talents of all kinds, and the +increasing affluence of his circumstances enabled him to give full +indulgence to his hospitable disposition. Poor Goldsmith had not yet, like +Dr. Johnson, acquired reputation enough to atone for his external defects +and his want of the air of good society. Miss Reynolds used to inveigh +against his personal appearance, which gave her the idea, she said, of a +low mechanic, a journeyman tailor. One evening at a large supper party, +being called upon to give as a toast the ugliest man she knew, she gave Dr. +Goldsmith, upon which a lady who sat opposite, and whom she had never met +before, shook hands with her across the table, and "hoped to become better +acquainted." + +We have a graphic and amusing picture of Reynolds' hospitable but motley +establishment, in an account given by a Mr. Courtenay to Sir James +Mackintosh; though it speaks of a time after Reynolds had received the +honor of knighthood. "There was something singular," said he, "in the style +and economy of Sir Joshua's table that contributed to pleasantry and good +humor, a coarse, inelegant plenty, without any regard to order and +arrangement. At five o'clock precisely, dinner was served, whether all the +invited guests were arrived or not. Sir Joshua was never so fashionably +ill-bred as to wait an hour perhaps for two or three persons of rank or +title, and put the rest of the company out of humor by this invidious +distinction. His invitations, however, did not regulate the number of his +guests. Many dropped in uninvited. A table prepared for seven or eight was +of ten compelled to contain fifteen or sixteen. There was a consequent +deficiency of knives, forks, plates, and glasses. The attendance was in the +same style, and those who were knowing in the ways of the house took care +on sitting down to call instantly for beer, bread, or wine, that they might +secure a supply before the first course was over. He was once prevailed on +to furnish the table with decanters and glasses at dinner, to save time and +prevent confusion. These gradually were demolished in the course of +service, and were never replaced. These trifling embarrassments, however, +only served to enhance the hilarity and singular pleasure of the +entertainment. The wine, cookery and dishes were but little attended to; +nor was the fish or venison ever talked of or recommended. Amid this +convivial animated bustle among his guests, our host sat perfectly +composed; always attentive to what was said, never minding what was ate or +drank, but left every one at perfect liberty to scramble for himself." + +Out of the casual but frequent meeting of men of talent at this hospitable +board rose that association of wits, authors, scholars, and statesmen, +renowned as the Literary Club. Reynolds was the first to propose a regular +association of the kind, and was eagerly seconded by Johnson, who proposed +as a model a club which he had formed many years previously in Ivy Lane, +but which was now extinct. Like that club the number of members was limited +to nine. They were to meet and sup together once a week, on Monday night, +at the Turk's Head on Gerard Street, Soho, and two members were to +constitute a meeting. It took a regular form hi the year 1764, but did not +receive its literary appellation until several years afterward. + +The original members were Reynolds, Johnson, Burke, Dr. Nugent, Bennet +Langton, Topham Beauclerc, Chamier, Hawkins, and Goldsmith; and here a few +words concerning some of the members may be acceptable. Burke was at that +time about thirty-three years of age; he had mingled a little in politics, +and been Under Secretary to Hamilton at Dublin, but was again a writer for +the booksellers, and as yet but in the dawning of his fame. Dr. Nugent was +his father-in-law, a Roman Catholic, and a physician of talent and +instruction. Mr. afterward Sir John Hawkins was admitted into this +association from having been a member of Johnson's Ivy Lane club. +Originally an attorney, he had retired from the practice of the law, in +consequence of a large fortune which fell to him in right of his wife, and +was now a Middlesex magistrate. He was, moreover, a dabbler in literature +and music, and was actually engaged on a history of music, which he +subsequently published in five ponderous volumes. To him we are also +indebted for a biography of Johnson, which appeared after the death of that +eminent man. Hawkins was as mean and parsimonious as he was pompous and +conceited. He forbore to partake of the suppers at the club, and begged +therefore to be excused from paying his share of the reckoning. "And was he +excused?" asked Dr. Burney of Johnson. "Oh, yes, for no man is angry at +another for being inferior to himself. We all scorned him and admitted his +plea. Yet I really believe him to be an honest man at bottom, though to be +sure he is penurious, and he is mean, and it must be owned he has a +tendency to savageness." He did not remain above two or three years in the +club; being in a manner elbowed out in consequence of his rudeness to +Burke. + +Mr. Anthony Chamier was secretary in the War Office, and a friend of +Beauclerc, by whom he was proposed. We have left our mention of Bennet +Langton and Topham Beauclerc until the last, because we have most to say +about them. They were doubtless induced to join the club through their +devotion to Johnson, and the intimacy of these two very young and +aristocratic young men with the stern and somewhat melancholy moralist is +among the curiosities of literature. + +Bennet Langton was of an ancient family, who held their ancestral estate of +Langton in Lincolnshire, a great title to respect with Johnson. "Langton, +sir," he would say, "has a grant of free warrant from Henry the Second; and +Cardinal Stephen Langton, in King John's reign, was of this family." + +Langton was of a mild, contemplative, enthusiastic nature. When but +eighteen years of age he was so delighted with reading Johnson's Rambler +that he came to London chiefly with a view to obtain an introduction to the +author. Boswell gives us an account of his first interview, which took +place in the morning. It is not often that the personal appearance of an +author agrees with the preconceived ideas of his admirer. Langton, from +perusing the writings of Johnson, expected to find him a decent, well +dressed, in short a remarkably decorous philosopher. Instead of which, down +from his bed chamber about noon, came, as newly risen, a large uncouth +figure, with a little dark wig which scarcely covered his head, and his +clothes hanging loose about him. But his conversation was so rich, so +animated, and so forcible, and his religious and political notions so +congenial with those in which Langton had been educated, that he conceived +for him that veneration and attachment which he ever preserved. + +Langton went to pursue his studies at Trinity College, Oxford, where +Johnson saw much of him during a visit which he paid to the university. He +found him in close intimacy with Topham Beauclerc, a youth two years older +than himself, very gay and dissipated, and wondered what sympathies could +draw two young men together of such opposite characters. On becoming +acquainted with Beauclerc he found that, rake though he was, he possessed +an ardent love of literature, an acute understanding, polished wit, innate +gentility and high aristocratic breeding. He was, moreover, the only son of +Lord Sidney Beauclerc and grandson of the Duke of St. Albans, and was +thought in some particulars to have a resemblance to Charles the Second. +These were high recommendations with Johnson, and when the youth testified +a profound respect for him and an ardent admiration of his talents the +conquest was complete, so that in a "short time," says Boswell, "the moral +pious Johnson and the gay dissipated Beauclerc were companions." + +The intimacy begun in college chambers was continued when the youth came to +town during the vacations. The uncouth, unwieldy moralist was flattered at +finding himself an object of idolatry to two high-born, high-bred, +aristocratic young men, and throwing gravity aside, was ready to join in +their vagaries and play the part of a "young man upon town." Such at least +is the picture given of him by Boswell on one occasion when Beauclerc and +Langton having supped together at a tavern determined to give Johnson a +rouse at three o'clock in the morning. They accordingly rapped violently at +the door of his chambers in the Temple. The indignant sage sallied forth in +his shirt, poker in hand, and a little black wig on the top of his head, +instead of helmet; prepared to wreak vengeance on the assailants of his +castle; but when his two young friends, Lankey and Beau, as he used to call +them, presented themselves, summoning him forth to a morning ramble, his +whole manner changed. "What, is it you, ye dogs?" cried he. "Faith, I'll +have a frisk with you!" + +So said so done. They sallied forth together into Covent Garden; figured +among the green grocers and fruit women, just come in from the country with +their hampers; repaired to a neighboring tavern, where Johnson brewed a +bowl of _bishop_, a favorite beverage with him, grew merry over his +cups, and anathematized sleep in two lines from Lord Lansdowne's drinking +song: + + "Short, very short, be then thy reign, + For I'm in haste to laugh and drink again." + +They then took boat again, rowed to Billingsgate, and Johnson and Beauclerc +determined, like "mad wags," to "keep it up" for the rest of the day. +Langton, however, the most sober-minded of the three, pleaded an engagement +to breakfast with some young ladies; whereupon the great moralist +reproached him with "leaving his social friends to go and sit with a set of +wretched _unideal_ girls." + +This madcap freak of the great lexicographer made a sensation, as may well +be supposed, among his intimates. "I heard of your frolic t'other night," +said Garrick to him; "you'll be in the 'Chronicle.'" He uttered worse +forebodings to others. "I shall have my old friend to bail out of the +round-house," said he. Johnson, however, valued himself upon having thus +enacted a chapter in the Rake's Progress, and crowed over Garrick on the +occasion. "_He_ durst not do such a thing!" chuckled he, "his +_wife_ would not _let_ him!" + +When these two young men entered the club, Langton was about twenty-two, +and Beauclerc about twenty-four years of age, and both were launched on +London life. Langton, however, was still the mild, enthusiastic scholar, +steeped to the lips in Greek, with fine conversational powers and an +invaluable talent for listening. He was upward of six feet high, and very +spare. "Oh! that we could sketch him," exclaims Miss Hawkins, in her +Memoirs, "with his mild countenance, his elegant features, and his sweet +smile, sitting with one leg twisted round the other, as if fearing to +occupy more space than was equitable; his person inclining forward, as if +wanting strength to support his weight, and his arms crossed over his +bosom, or his hands locked together on his knee." Beauclerc, on such +occasions, sportively compared him to a stork in Raphael's Cartoons, +standing on one leg. Beauclerc was more "a man upon town," a lounger in St. +James's Street, an associate with George Selwyn, with Walpole, and other +aristocratic wits; a man of fashion at court; a casual frequenter of the +gaming-table; yet, with all this, he alternated in the easiest and happiest +manner the scholar and the man of letters; lounged into the club with the +most perfect self-possession, bringing with him the careless grace and +polished wit of high-bred society, but making himself cordially at home +among his learned fellow members. + +The gay yet lettered rake maintained his sway over Johnson, who was +fascinated by that air of the world, that ineffable tone of good society in +which he felt himself deficient, especially as the possessor of it always +paid homage to his superior talent. "Beauclerc," he would say, using a +quotation from Pope, "has a love of folly, but a scorn of fools; everything +he does shows the one, and everything he says the other." Beauclerc +delighted in rallying the stern moralist of whom others stood in awe, and +no one, according to Boswell, could take equal liberty with him with +impunity. Johnson, it is well known, was often shabby and negligent in his +dress, and not overcleanly in his person. On receiving a pension from the +crown, his friends vied with each other in respectful congratulations. +Beauclerc simply scanned his person with a whimsical glance, and hoped +that, like Falstaff, "he'd in future purge and live cleanly like a +gentleman." Johnson took the hint with unexpected good humor, and profited +by it. + +Still Beauclerc's satirical vein, which darted shafts on every side, was +not always tolerated by Johnson. '"Sir," said he on one occasion, "you +never open your mouth but with intention to give pain; and you have often +given me pain, not from the power of what you have said, but from seeing +your intention." + +When it was at first proposed to enroll Goldsmith among the members of this +association, there seems to have been some demur; at least so says the +pompous Hawkins. "As he wrote for the booksellers, we of the club looked on +him as a mere literary drudge, equal to the task of compiling and +translating, but little capable of original and still less of poetical +composition." + +Even for some time after his admission, he continued to be regarded in a +dubious light by some of the members. Johnson and Reynolds, of course, were +well aware of his merits, nor was Burke a stranger to them; but to the +others he was as yet a sealed book, and the outside was not prepossessing. +His ungainly person and awkward manners were against him with men +accustomed to the graces of society, and he was not sufficiently at home to +give play to his humor and to that bonhomie which won the hearts of all who +knew him. He felt strange and out of place in this new sphere; he felt at +times the cool satirical eye of the courtly Beauclerc scanning him, and the +more he attempted to appear at his ease the more awkward he became. + + + + +CHAPTER FIFTEEN + +JOHNSON A MONITOR TO GOLDSMITH--FINDS HIM IN DISTRESS WITH HIS +LANDLADY--RELIEVED BY THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD--THE ORATORIO--POEM OF THE +TRAVELER--THE POET AND HIS DOG--SUCCESS OF THE POEM--ASTONISHMENT OF THE +CLUB--OBSERVATIONS ON THE POEM + + +Johnson had now become one of Goldsmith's best friends and advisers. He +knew all the weak points of his character, but he knew also his merits; and +while he would rebuke him like a child, and rail at his errors and follies, +he would suffer no one else to undervalue him. Goldsmith knew the soundness +of his judgment and his practical benevolence, and often sought his counsel +and aid amid the difficulties into which his heedlessness was continually +plunging him. + +"I received one morning," says Johnson, "a message from poor Goldsmith that +he was in great distress, and, as it was not in his power to come to me, +begging that I would come to him as soon as possible. I sent him a guinea, +and promised to come to him directly. I accordingly went as soon as I was +dressed, and found that his landlady had arrested him for his rent, at +which he was in a violent passion: I perceived that he had already changed +my guinea, and had a bottle of Madeira and a glass before him. I put the +cork into the bottle, desired he would be calm, and began to talk to him of +the means by which he might be extricated. He then told me he had a novel +ready for the press, which he produced to me. I looked into it and saw its +merit; told the landlady I should soon return; and, having gone to a +bookseller, sold it for sixty pounds. I brought Goldsmith the money, and he +discharged his rent, not without rating his landlady in a high tone for +having used him go ill." + +The novel in question was the Vicar of Wakefield; the bookseller to whom +Johnson sold it was Francis Newbery, nephew to John. Strange as it may +seem, this captivating work, which has obtained and preserved an almost +unrivaled popularity in various languages, was so little appreciated by the +bookseller that he kept it by him for nearly two years unpublished! + +Goldsmith had, as yet, produced nothing of moment in poetry. Among his +literary jobs, it is true, was an oratorio entitled The Captivity, founded +on the bondage of the Israelites in Babylon. It was one of those unhappy +offsprings of the muse ushered into existence amid the distortions of +music. Most of the oratorio has passed into oblivion; but the following +song from it will never die: + + "The wretch condemned from life to part, + Still, still on hope relies, + And every pang that rends the heart + Bids expectation rise. + + "Hope, like the glimmering taper's light, + Illumes and cheers our way; + And still, as darker grows the night, + Emits a brighter ray." + +Goldsmith distrusted his qualifications to succeed in poetry, and doubted +the disposition of the public mind in regard to it. "I fear," said he, "I +have come too late into the world; Pope and other poets have taken up the +places in the temple of Fame; and as few at any period can possess poetical +reputation, a man of genius can now hardly acquire it." Again, on another +occasion, he observes: "Of all kinds of ambition, as things are now +circumstanced, perhaps that which pursues poetical fame is the wildest. +What from the increased refinement of the tunes, from the diversity of +judgment produced by opposing systems of criticism, and from the more +prevalent divisions of opinion influenced by party, the strongest and +happiest efforts can expect to please but in a very narrow circle." + +At this very time he had by him his poem of The Traveler. The plan of it, +as has already been observed, was conceived many years before, during his +travels in Switzerland, and a sketch of it sent from that country to his +brother Henry in Ireland. The original outline is said to have embraced a +wider scope; but it was probably contracted through diffidence, in the +process of finishing the parts. It had laid by him for several years in a +crude state, and it was with extreme hesitation and after much revision +that he at length submitted it to Dr. Johnson. The frank and warm +approbation of the latter encouraged him to finish it for the press; and +Dr. Johnson himself contributed a few lines toward the conclusion. + +We hear much about "poetic inspiration," and the "poet's eye in a fine +frenzy rolling"; but Sir Joshua Reynolds gives an anecdote of Goldsmith +while engaged upon his poem, calculated to cure our notions about the ardor +of composition. Calling upon the poet one day, he opened the door without +ceremony, and found him in the double occupation of turning a couplet and +teaching a pet dog to sit upon his haunches. At one time he would glance +his eye at his desk, and at another shake his finger at the dog to make him +retain his position. The last lines on the page were still wet; they form a +part of the description of Italy: + + "By sports like these are all their cares beguiled, + The sports of children satisfy the child." + +Goldsmith, with his usual good-humor, joined in the laugh caused by his +whimsical employment, and acknowledged that his boyish sport with the dog +suggested the stanza The poem was published on the 19th of December, 1764, +in a quarto form, by Newbery, and was the first of his works to which +Goldsmith prefixed his name. As a testimony of cherished and well-merited +affection, he dedicated it to his brother Henry. There is an amusing +affectation of indifference as to its fate expressed in the dedication. +"What reception a poem may find," says he, "which has neither abuse, party, +nor blank verse to support it, I cannot tell, nor am I solicitous to know." +The truth is, no one was more emulous and anxious for poetic fame; and +never was he more anxious than in the present instance, for it was his +grand stake. Dr. Johnson aided the launching of the poem by a favorable +notice in the "Critical Review"; other periodical works came out in its +favor. Some of the author's friends complained that it did not command +instant and wide popularity; that it was a poem to win, not to strike; it +went on rapidly increasing in favor; in three months a second edition was +issued; shortly afterward a third; then a fourth; and, before the year was +out, the author was pronounced the best poet of his time. + +The appearance of The Traveler at once altered Goldsmith's intellectual +standing in the estimation of society; but its effect upon the club, if we +may judge from the account given by Hawkins, was most ludicrous. They were +lost in astonishment that a "newspaper essayist" and "bookseller's, drudge" +should have written such a poem. On the evening of its announcement to them +Goldsmith had gone away early, after "rattling away as usual," and they +knew not how to reconcile his heedless garrulity with the serene beauty, +the easy grace, the sound good sense, and the occasional elevation of his +poetry. They could scarcely believe that such magic numbers had flowed from +a man to whom in general, says Johnson, "it was with difficulty they could +give a hearing." "Well", exclaimed Chamier, "I do believe he wrote this +poem himself, and, let me tell you, that is believing a great deal." + +At the next meeting of the club Chamier sounded the author a little about +his poem. "Mr. Goldsmith," said he, "what do you mean by the last word in +the first line of your Traveler, 'remote, unfriended, solitary, slow?' do +you mean tardiness of locomotion?" "Yes," replied Goldsmith +inconsiderately, being probably flurried at the moment. "No, sir," +interposed his protecting friend Johnson, "you did not mean tardiness +of locomotion; you meant that sluggishness of mind which comes upon a +man in solitude." "Ah," exclaimed Goldsmith, "that was what I meant." +Chamier immediately believed that Johnson himself had written the line, +and a rumor became prevalent that he was the author of many of the +finest passages. This was ultimately set at rest by Johnson himself, +who marked with a pencil all the verses he had contributed, nine in +number, inserted toward the conclusion, and by no means the best in the +poem. He moreover, with generous warmth, pronounced it the finest poem +that had appeared since the days of Pope. + +But one of the highest testimonials to the charm of the poem was given by +Miss Reynolds, who had toasted poor Goldsmith as the ugliest man of her +acquaintance. Shortly after the appearance of The Traveler, Dr. Johnson +read it aloud from beginning to end in her presence. "Well," exclaimed she, +when he had finished, "I never more shall think Dr. Goldsmith ugly!" + +On another occasion, when the merits of The Traveler were discussed at +Reynolds' board, Langton declared "There was not a bad line in the poem, +not one of Dryden's careless verses." "I was glad," observed Reynolds, "to +hear Charles Fox say it was one of the finest poems in the English +language." "Why was you glad?" rejoined Langton; "you surely had no doubt +of this before." "No," interposed Johnson, decisively; "the merit of The +Traveler is so well established that Mr. Fox's praise cannot augment it, +nor his censure diminish it." + +Boswell, who was absent from England at the time of the publication of The +Traveler, was astonished, on his return, to find Goldsmith, whom he had so +much undervalued, suddenly elevated almost to a par with his idol. He +accounted for it by concluding that much both of the sentiments and +expression of the poem had been derived from conversations with Johnson. +"He imitates you, sir," said this incarnation of toadyism. "Why, no, sir," +replied Johnson, "Jack Hawksworth is one of my imitators, but not +Goldsmith. Goldy, sir, has great merit." "But, sir, he is much indebted to +you for his getting so high in the public estimation." "Why, sir, he has, +perhaps, got _sooner to it by his intimacy with me." + +The poem went through several editions in the course of the first year, and +received some few additions and corrections from the author's pen. It +produced a golden harvest to Mr. Newbery, but all the remuneration on +record, doled out by his niggard hand to the author, was twenty guineas! + + + + +CHAPTER SIXTEEN + +NEW LODGINGS--JOHNSON'S COMPLIMENT--A TITLED PATRON--THE POET AT +NORTHUMBERLAND HOUSE--HIS INDEPENDENCE OF THE GREAT--THE COUNTESS OF +NORTHUMBERLAND--EDWIN AND ANGELINA--GOSFORD AND LORD CLARE--PUBLICATION OF +ESSAYS--EVILS OF A RISING REPUTATION--HANGERS-ON--JOB WRITING--GOODY TWO +SHOES--A MEDICAL CAMPAIGN--MRS. SIDEBOTHAM + + +Goldsmith, now that he was rising in the world, and becoming a notoriety, +felt himself called upon to improve his style of living. He according +emerged from Wine-Office Court, and took chambers in the Temple. It is true +they were but of humble pretensions, situated on what was then the library +staircase, and it would appear that he was a kind of inmate with Jeffs, the +butler of the society. Still he was in the Temple, that classic region +rendered famous by the "Spectator" and other essayists, as the abode of gay +wits and thoughtful men of letters; and which, with its retired courts and +embowered gardens, in the very heart of a noisy metropolis, is, to the +quiet-seeking student and author, an oasis freshening with verdure in the +midst of a desert. Johnson, who had become a kind of growling supervisor of +the poet's affairs, paid him a visit soon after he had installed himself in +his new quarters, and went prying about the apartment, in his near-sighted +manner, examining everything minutely. Goldsmith was fidgeted by this +curious scrutiny, and apprehending a disposition to find fault, exclaimed, +with the air of a man who had money in both pockets, "I shall soon be in +better chambers than these." The harmless bravado drew a reply from Johnson +which touched the chord of proper pride. "Nay, sir," said he, "never mind +that. Nil te quęsiveris extra," implying that his reputation rendered him +independent of outward show. Happy would it have been for poor Goldsmith +could he have kept this consolatory compliment perpetually in mind, and +squared his expenses accordingly. + +Among the persons of rank who were struck with the merits of The Traveler +was the Earl (afterward Duke) of Northumberland. He procured several other +of Goldsmith's writings, the perusal of which tended to elevate the author +in his good opinion, and to gain for him his good will. The earl held the +office of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and understanding Goldsmith was an +Irishman, was disposed to extend to him the patronage which his high post +afforded. He intimated the same to his relative, Dr. Percy, who, he found, +was well acquainted with the poet, and expressed a wish that the latter +should wait upon him. Here, then, was another opportunity for Goldsmith to +better his fortune, had he been knowing and worldly enough to profit by it. +Unluckily the path to fortune lay through the aristocratical mazes of +Northumberland House, and the poet blundered at the outset. The following +is the account he used to give of his visit: "I dressed myself in the best +manner I could, and, after studying some compliments I thought necessary on +such an occasion, proceeded to Northumberland House, and acquainted the +servants that I had particular business with the duke. They showed me into +an antechamber, where, after waiting some time, a gentleman, very elegantly +dressed, made his appearance; taking him for the duke, I delivered all the +fine things I had composed in order to compliment him on the honor he had +done me; when, to my great astonishment, he told me I had mistaken him for +his master, who would see me immediately. At that instant the duke came +into the apartment, and I was so confounded on the occasion that I wanted +words barely sufficient to express the sense I entertained of the duke's +politeness, and went away exceedingly chagrined at the blunder I had +committed." + +Sir John Hawkins, in his life of Dr. Johnson, gives some further +particulars of this visit, of which he was, in part, a witness. "Having one +day," says he, "a call to make on the late Duke, then Earl, of +Northumberland, I found Goldsmith waiting for an audience in an outer room; +I asked him what had brought him there; he told me an invitation from his +lordship. I made my business as short as I could, and, as a reason, +mentioned that Dr. Goldsmith was waiting without. The earl asked me if I +was acquainted with him. I told him that I was, adding what I thought was +most likely to recommend him. I retired, and stayed in the outer room to +take him home. Upon his coming out, I asked him the result of his +conversation. 'His lordship,' said he, 'told me he had read my poem, +meaning The Traveler, and was much delighted with it; that he was going +to be lord-lieutenant of Ireland, and that, hearing I was a native of that +country, he should be glad to do me any kindness.' 'And what did you +answer,' said I, 'to this gracious offer?' 'Why,' said he, 'I could say +nothing but that I had a brother there, a clergyman, that stood in need of +help: as for myself, I have no great dependence on the promises of great +men; I look to the booksellers for support; they are my best friends, and +I am not inclined to forsake them for others.'" "Thus," continues Sir +John, "did this idiot in the affairs of the world trifle with his +fortunes, and put back the hand that was held out to assist him." + +We cannot join with Sir John in his worldly sneer at the conduct of +Goldsmith on this occasion. While we admire that honest independence of +spirit which prevented him from asking favors for himself, we love that +warmth of affection which instantly sought to advance the fortunes of a +brother: but the peculiar merits of poor Goldsmith seem to have been little +understood by the Hawkinses, the Boswells, and the other biographers of the +day. + +After all, the introduction to Northumberland House did not prove so +complete a failure as the humorous account given by Goldsmith, and the +cynical account given by Sir John Hawkins, might lead one to suppose. Dr. +Percy, the heir male of the ancient Percies, brought the poet into the +acquaintance of his kinswoman, the countess, who, before her marriage with +the earl, was in her own right heiress of the House of Northumberland. "She +was a lady," says Boswell, "not only of high dignity of spirit, such as +became her noble blood, but of excellent understanding and lively talents." +Under her auspices a poem of Goldsmith's had an aristocratical introduction +to the world. This was the beautiful ballad of the Hermit, originally +published under the name of Edwin and Angelina. It was suggested by an old +English ballad beginning "Gentle Herdsman," shown him by Dr. Percy, who was +at that time making his famous collection, entitled Reliques of Ancient +English Poetry, which he submitted to the inspection of Goldsmith prior to +publication. A few copies only of the Hermit were printed at first, with +the following title page: "Edwin and Angelina: a Ballad. By Mr. Goldsmith. +Printed for the Amusement of the Countess of Northumberland." + +All this, though it may not have been attended with any immediate pecuniary +advantage, contributed to give Goldsmith's name and poetry the high stamp +of fashion, so potent in England; the circle at Northumberland House, +however, was of too stately and aristocratical a nature to be much to his +taste, and we do not find that he became familiar in it. + +He was much more at home at Gosford, the noble seat of his countryman, +Robert Nugent, afterward Baron Nugent and Viscount Clare, who appreciated +his merits even more heartily than the Earl of Northumberland, and +occasionally made him his guest both in town and country. Nugent is +described as a jovial voluptuary, who left the Roman Catholic for the +Protestant religion, with a view to bettering his fortunes; he had an +Irishman's inclination for rich widows, and an Irishman's luck with the +sex; having been thrice married and gained a fortune with each wife. He was +now nearly sixty, with a remarkably loud voice, broad Irish brogue, and +ready, but somewhat coarse wit. With all his occasional coarseness he was +capable of high thought, and had produced poems which showed a truly poetic +vein. He was long a member of the House of Commons, where his ready wit, +his fearless decision, and good-humored audacity of expression, always +gained him a hearing, though his tall person and awkward manner gained him +the nickname of Squire Gawky, among the political scribblers of the day. +With a patron of this jovial temperament Goldsmith probably felt more at +ease than with those of higher refinement. + +The celebrity which Goldsmith had acquired by his poem of The Traveler, +occasioned a resuscitation of many of his miscellaneous and anonymous tales +and essays from the various newspapers and other transient publications in +which they lay dormant. These he published in 1765, in a collected form, +under the title of "Essays by Mr. Goldsmith." "The following essays," +observes he in his preface, "have already appeared at different times, and +in different publications. The pamphlets in which they were inserted being +generally unsuccessful, these shared the common fate, without assisting the +booksellers' aims, or extending the author's reputation. The public were +too strenuously employed with their own follies to be assiduous in +estimating mine; so that many of my best attempts in this way have fallen +victims to the transient topic of the times--the Ghost in Cock Lane, or the +Siege of Ticonderoga. + +"But, though they have passed pretty silently into the world, I can by no +means complain of their circulation. The magazines and papers of the day +have indeed been liberal enough in this respect. Most of these essays have +been regularly reprinted twice or thrice a year, and conveyed to the public +through the kennel of some engaging compilation. If there be a pride in +multiplied editions, I have seen some of my labors sixteen times reprinted, +and claimed by different parents as their own. I have seen them flourished +at the beginning with praise, and signed at the end with the names of +Philautos, Philalethes, Phileleutheros, and Philanthropos. It is time, +however, at last to vindicate my claims; and as these entertainers of the +public, as they call themselves, have partly lived upon me for some years, +let me now try if I cannot live a little upon myself." + +It was but little, in fact, for all the pecuniary emolument he received +from the volume was twenty guineas. It had a good circulation, however, was +translated into French, and has maintained its stand among the British +classics. + +Notwithstanding that the reputation of Goldsmith had greatly risen, his +finances were often at a very low ebb, owing to his heedlessness as to +expense, his liability to be imposed upon, and a spontaneous and +irresistible propensity to give to every one who asked. The very rise in +his reputation had increased these embarrassments. It had enlarged his +circle of needy acquaintances, authors poorer in pocket than himself, who +came in search of literary counsel; which generally meant a guinea and a +breakfast. And then his Irish hangers-on! "Our doctor," said one of these +sponges, "had a constant levee of his distressed countrymen, whose wants, +as far as he was able, he always relieved; and he has often been known to +leave himself without a guinea, in order to supply the necessities of +others." + +This constant drainage of the purse therefore obliged him to undertake all +jobs proposed by the booksellers, and to keep up a kind of running account +with Mr. Newbery; who was his banker on all occasions, sometimes for +pounds, sometimes for shillings; but who was a rigid accountant, and took +care to be amply repaid in manuscript. Many effusions, hastily penned in +these moments of exigency, were published anonymously, and never claimed. +Some of them have but recently been traced to his pen; while of many the +true authorship will probably never be discovered. Among others it is +suggested, and with great probability, that he wrote for Mr. Newbery the +famous nursery story of Goody Two Shoes, which appeared in 1765, at a +moment when Goldsmith was scribbling for Newbery, and much pressed for +funds. Several quaint little tales introduced in his Essays show that he +had a turn for this species of mock history; and the advertisement and +title-page bear the stamp of his sly and playful humor. + +"We are desired to give notice that there is in the press, and speedily +will be published, either by subscription or otherwise, as the public shall +please to determine, the History of Little Goody Two Shoes, otherwise Mrs. +Margery Two Shoes; with the means by which she acquired learning and +wisdom, and, in consequence thereof, her estate; set forth at large for the +benefit of those + + "Who, from a state of rags and care, + And having shoes but half a pair, + Their fortune and their fame should fix, + And gallop in a coach and six." + +The world is probably not aware of the ingenuity, humor, good sense, and +sly satire contained in many of the old English nursery-tales. They have +evidently been the sportive productions of able writers, who would not +trust their names to productions that might be considered beneath their +dignity. The ponderous works on which they relied for immortality have +perhaps sunk into oblivion, and carried their names down with them; while +their unacknowledged offspring, Jack the Giant Killer, Giles Gingerbread, +and Tom Thumb, flourish in wide-spreading and never-ceasing popularity. + +As Goldsmith had now acquired popularity and an extensive acquaintance, he +attempted, with the advice of his friends, to procure a more regular and +ample support by resuming the medical profession. He accordingly launched +himself upon the town in style; hired a man-servant; replenished his +wardrobe at considerable expense, and appeared in a professional wig and +cane, purple silk small-clothes, and a scarlet roquelaure buttoned to the +chin: a fantastic garb, as we should think at the present day, but not +unsuited to the fashion of the times. + +With his sturdy little person thus arrayed in the unusual magnificence of +purple and fine linen, and his scarlet roquelaure flaunting from his +shoulders, he used to strut into the apartments of his patients swaying his +three-cornered hat in one hand and his medical scepter, the cane, in the +other, and assuming an air of gravity and importance suited to the +solemnity of his wig; at least, such is the picture given of him by the +waiting gentlewoman who let him into the chamber of one of his lady +patients. + +He soon, however, grew tired and impatient of the duties and restraints of +his profession; his practice was chiefly among his friends, and the fees +were not sufficient for his maintenance; he was disgusted with attendance +on sick-chambers and capricious patients, and looked back with longing to +his tavern haunts and broad convivial meetings, from which the dignity and +duties of his medical calling restrained him. At length, on prescribing to +a lady of his acquaintance who, to use a hackneyed phrase, "rejoiced" in +the aristocratical name of Sidebotham, a warm dispute arose between him and +the apothecary as to the quantity of medicine to be administered. The +doctor stood up for the rights and dignities of his profession, and +resented the interference of the compounder of drugs. His rights and +dignities, however, were disregarded; his wig and cane and scarlet +roquelaure were of no avail; Mrs. Sidebotham sided with the hero of the +pestle and mortar; and Goldsmith flung out of the house in a passion. "I am +determined henceforth," said he to Topham Beauclerc, "to leave off +prescribing for friends." "Do so, my dear doctor," was the reply; "whenever +you undertake to kill, let it be only your enemies." + +This was the end of Goldsmith's medical career. + + + + +CHAPTER SEVENTEEN + +PUBLICATION OF THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD--OPINIONS CONCERNING IT--OF DR. +JOHNSON--OF ROGERS THE POET--OF GOETHE--ITS MERITS--EXQUISITE +EXTRACT--ATTACK BY KENRICK--REPLY--BOOK-BUILDING--PROJECT OF A COMEDY + + +The success of the poem of The Traveler, and the popularity which it had +conferred on its author, now roused the attention of the bookseller in +whose hands the novel of The Vicar of Wakefield had been slumbering for +nearly two long years. The idea has generally prevailed that it was Mr. +John Newbery to whom the manuscript had been sold, and much surprise has +been expressed that he should be insensible to its merit and suffer it to +remain unpublished, while putting forth various inferior writings by the +same author. This, however, is a mistake; it was his nephew, Francis +Newbery, who had become the fortunate purchaser. Still the delay is equally +unaccountable. Some have imagined that the uncle and nephew had business +arrangements together, in which this work was included, and that the elder +Newbery, dubious of its success, retarded the publication until the full +harvest of The Traveler should be reaped. Booksellers are prone to make +egregious mistakes as to the merit of works in manuscript; and to +undervalue, if not reject, those of classic and enduring excellence, when +destitute of that false brilliancy commonly called "effect." In the present +instance, an intellect vastly superior to that of either of the booksellers +was equally at fault. Dr. Johnson, speaking of the work to Boswell, some +time subsequent to its publication, observed, "I myself did not think it +would have had much success. It was written and sold to a bookseller +before The Traveler, but published after, so little expectation had the +bookseller from it. Had it been sold after The Traveler, he might have had +twice as much money; _though sixty guineas was no mean price_." + +Sixty guineas for the Vicar of Wakefield! and this could be pronounced +_no mean_ price by Dr. Johnson, at that time the arbiter of British +talent, and who had had an opportunity of witnessing the effect of the work +upon the public mind; for its success was immediate. It came out on the +27th of March, 1766; before the end of May a second edition was called for; +in three months more a third; and so it went on, widening in a popularity +that has never flagged. Rogers, the Nestor of British literature, whose +refined purity of taste and exquisite mental organization rendered him +eminently calculated to appreciate a work of the kind, declared that of all +the books which, through the fitful changes of three generations, he had +seen rise and fall, the charm of the Vicar of Wakefield had alone continued +as at first; and could he revisit the world after an interval of many more +generations, he should as surely look to find it undiminished. Nor has its +celebrity been confined to Great Britain. Though so exclusively a picture +of British scenes and manners, it has been translated into almost every +language, and everywhere its charm has been the same. Goethe, the great +genius of Germany, declared in his eighty-first year that it was his +delight at the age of twenty, that it had in a manner formed a part of his +education, influencing his taste and feelings throughout life, and that he +had recently read it again from beginning to end--with renewed delight, and +with a grateful sense of the early benefit derived from it. + +It is needless to expatiate upon the qualities of a work which has thus +passed from country to country, and language to language, until it is now +known throughout the whole reading world, and is become a household book in +every hand. The secret of its universal and enduring popularity is +undoubtedly its truth to nature, but to nature of the most amiable kind; to +nature such as Goldsmith saw it. The author, as we have occasionally shown +in the course of this memoir, took his scenes and characters in this as in +his other writings, from originals in his own motley experience; but he has +given them as seen through the medium of his own indulgent eye, and has set +them forth with the colorings of his own good head and heart. Yet how +contradictory it seems that this, one of the most delightful pictures of +home and homefelt happiness, should be drawn by a homeless man; that the +most amiable picture of domestic virtue and all the endearments of the +married state should be drawn by a bachelor, who had been severed from +domestic life almost from boyhood; that one of the most tender, touching, +and affecting appeals on behalf of female loveliness should have been made +by a man whose deficiency in all the graces of person and manner seemed to +mark him out for a cynical disparager of the sex. + +We cannot refrain from transcribing from the work a short passage +illustrative of what we have said, and which within a wonderfully small +compass comprises a world of beauty of imagery, tenderness of feeling, +delicacy and refinement of thought, and matchless purity of style. The two +stanzas which conclude it, in which are told a whole history of woman's +wrongs and sufferings, is, for pathos, simplicity, and euphony, a gem in +the language. The scene depicted is where the poor Vicar is gathering +around him the wrecks of his shattered family, and endeavoring to rally +them back to happiness. + +"The next morning the sun arose with peculiar warmth for the season, so +that we agreed to breakfast together on the honeysuckle bank; where, while +we sat, my youngest daughter at my request joined her voice to the concert +on the trees about us. It was in this place my poor Olivia first met her +seducer, and every object served to recall her sadness. But that melancholy +which is excited by objects of pleasure, or inspired by sounds of harmony, +soothes the heart instead of corroding it. Her mother, too, upon this +occasion, felt a pleasing distress, and wept, and loved her daughter as +before. 'Do, my pretty Olivia,' cried she, 'let us have that melancholy air +your father was so fond of; your sister Sophy has already obliged us. Do, +child; it will please your old father.' She complied in a manner so +exquisitely pathetic as moved me. + + "'When lovely woman stoops to folly, + And finds too late that men betray, + What charm can soothe her melancholy. + What art can wash her guilt away? + + "'The only art her guilt to cover, + To hide her shame from every eye, + To give repentance to her lover, + And wring his bosom--is to die.'" + +Scarce had the Vicar of Wakefield made its appearance and been received +with acclamation than its author was subjected to one of the usual +penalties that attend success. He was attacked in the newspapers. In one of +the chapters he had introduced his ballad of the Hermit, of which, as we +have mentioned, a few copies had been printed some considerable time +previously for the use of the Countess of Northumberland. This brought +forth the following article in a fashionable journal of the day: + +"_To the Printer of the 'St. James's Chronicle_.' + +"Sir--In the Reliques of Ancient Poetry, published about two years ago, is +a very beautiful little balled called A Friar of Orders Gray. The ingenious +editor, Mr. Percy, supposes that the stanzas sung by Ophelia in the play of +Hamlet were parts of some ballad well known in Shakespeare's time, and from +these stanzas with the addition of one or two of his own to connect them, +he has formed the above-mentioned ballad; the subject of which is, a lady +comes to a convent to inquire for her love who had been driven there by her +disdain. She is answered by a friar that he is dead: + + "'No, no, he is dead, gone to his death's bed. + He never will come again.' + +"The lady weeps and laments her cruelty; the friar endeavors to comfort her +with morality and religion, but all in vain; she expresses the deepest +grief and the most tender sentiments of love, till at last the friar +discovers himself: + + "'And lo! beneath this gown of gray + Thy own true love appears.' + +"This catastrophe is very fine, and the whole, joined with the greatest +tenderness, has the greatest simplicity; yet, though this ballad was so +recently published in the Ancient Reliques, Dr. Goldsmith has been hardy +enough to publish a poem called The Hermit, where the circumstances and +catastrophe are exactly the same, only with this difference, that the +natural simplicity and tenderness of the original are almost entirely lost +in the languid smoothness and tedious paraphrase of the copy, which is as +short of the merits of Mr. Percy's ballad as the insipidity of negus is to +the genuine flavor of champagne. + +"I am, sir, yours, etc., DETECTOR." + +This attack, supposed to be by Goldsmith's constant persecutor, the +malignant Kenrick, drew from him the following note to the editor: + +"Sir--As there is nothing I dislike so much as newspaper controversy, +particularly upon trifles, permit me to be as concise as possible in +informing a correspondent of yours that I recommended Blainville's travels +because I thought the book was a good one; and I think so still. I said I +was told by the bookseller that it was then first published; but in that it +seems I was misinformed, and my reading was not extensive enough to set me +right. + +"Another correspondent of yours accuses me of having taken a ballad I +published some time ago, from one by the ingenious Mr. Percy. I do not +think there is any great resemblance between the two pieces in question. If +there be any, his ballad was taken from mine. I read it to Mr. Percy some +years ago; and he, as we both considered these things as trifles at best, +told me, with his usual good-humor, the next time I saw him, that he had +taken my plan to form the fragments of Shakespeare into a ballad of his +own. He then read me his little Cento, if I may so call it, and I highly +approved it. Such petty anecdotes as these are scarcely worth printing; and +were it not for the busy disposition of some of your correspondents, the +public should never have known that he owes me the hint of his ballad, or +that I am obliged to his friendship and learning for communications of a +much more important nature. + +"I am, sir, yours, etc., + +"OLIVER GOLDSMITH." + +The unexpected circulation of the Vicar of Wakefield enriched the +publisher, but not the author. Goldsmith no doubt thought himself entitled +to participate in the profits of the repeated editions; and a memorandum, +still extant, shows that he drew upon Mr. Francis Newbery, in the month of +June, for fifteen guineas, but that the bill was returned dishonored. He +continued therefore his usual job-work for the booksellers, writing +introductions, prefaces, and head and tail pieces for new works; revising, +touching up, and modifying travels and voyages; making compilations of +prose and poetry, and "building books," as he sportively termed it. These +tasks required little labor or talent, but that taste and touch which are +the magic of gifted minds. His terms began to be proportioned to his +celebrity. If his price was at anytime objected to, "Why, sir," he would +say, "it may seem large; but then a man may be many years working in +obscurity before his taste and reputation are fixed or estimated; and then +he is, as in other professions, only paid for his previous labors." + +He was, however, prepared to try his fortune in a different walk of +literature from any he had yet attempted. We have repeatedly adverted to +his fondness for the drama; he was a frequent attendant at the theaters; +though, as we have shown, he considered them under gross mismanagement. He +thought, too, that a vicious taste prevailed among those who wrote for the +stage. "A new species of dramatic composition," says he, in one of his +essays, "has been introduced under the name of _sentimental comedy_, +in which the virtues of private life are exhibited, rather than the vices +exposed; and the distresses rather than the faults of mankind make our +interest in the piece. In these plays almost all the characters are good +and exceedingly generous; they are lavish enough of their tin money on the +stage; and though they want humor, have abundance of sentiment and feeling. +If they happen to have faults or foibles, the spectator is taught not only +to pardon, but to applaud them in consideration of the goodness of their +hearts; so that folly, instead of being ridiculed, is commended, and the +comedy aims at touching our passions, without the power of being truly +pathetic. In this manner we are likely to lose one great source of +entertainment on the stage; for while the comic poet is invading the +province of the tragic muse, he leaves her lively sister quite neglected. +Of this, however, he is no ways solicitous, as he measures his fame by his +profits.... + +"Humor at present seems to be departing from the stage; and it will soon +happen that our comic players will have nothing left for it but a fine coat +and a song. It depends upon the audience whether they will actually drive +those poor merry creatures from the stage, or sit at a play as gloomy as at +the tabernacle. It is not easy to recover an art when once lost; and it +will be a just punishment, that when, by our being too fastidious, we have +banished humor from the stage, we should ourselves be deprived of the art +of laughing." + +Symptoms of reform in the drama had recently taken place. The comedy of the +Clandestine Marriage, the joint production of Colman and Garrick, and +suggested by Hogarth's inimitable pictures of "Marriage a la mode," had +taken the town by storm, crowded the theaters with fashionable audiences, +and formed one of the leading literary topics of the year. Goldsmith's +emulation was roused by its success. The comedy was in what he considered +the legitimate line, totally different from the sentimental school; it +presented pictures of real life, delineations of character and touches of +humor, in which he felt himself calculated to excel. The consequence was +that in the course of this year (1766), he commenced a comedy of the same +class, to be entitled the Good Natured Man, at which he diligently wrought +whenever the hurried occupation of "book building" allowed him leisure. + + + + +CHAPTER EIGHTEEN + +SOCIAL POSITION OF GOLDSMITH--HIS COLLOQUIAL CONTESTS WITH +JOHNSON--ANECDOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS + + +THE social position of Goldsmith had undergone a material change since the +publication of The Traveler. Before that event he was but partially known +as the author of some clever anonymous writings, and had been a tolerated +member of the club and the Johnson circle, without much being expected from +him. Now he had suddenly risen to literary fame, and become one of the +_lions of the day. The highest regions of intellectual society were now +open to him; but he was not prepared to move in them with confidence and +success. Ballymahon had not been a good school of manners at the outset of +life; nor had his experience as a "poor student" at colleges and medical +schools contributed to give him the polish of society. He had brought from +Ireland, as he said, nothing but his "brogue and his blunders," and they +had never left him. He had traveled, it is true; but the Continental tour +which in those days gave the finishing grace to the education of a +patrician youth, had, with poor Goldsmith, been little better than a course +of literary vagabondizing. It had enriched his mind, deepened and widened +the benevolence of his heart, and filled his memory with enchanting +pictures, but it had contributed little to disciplining him for the polite +intercourse of the world. His life in London had hitherto been a struggle +with sordid cares and sad humiliations. "You scarcely can conceive," wrote +he some time previously to his brother, "how much eight years of +disappointment, anguish, and study have worn me down." Several more years +had since been added to the term during which he had trod the lowly walks +of life. He had been a tutor, an apothecary's drudge, a petty physician of +the suburbs, a bookseller's hack, drudging for daily bread. Each separate +walk had been beset by its peculiar thorns and humiliations. It is +wonderful how his heart retained its gentleness and kindness through all +these trials; how his mind rose above the "meannesses of poverty," to +which, as he says, he was compelled to submit; but it would be still more +wonderful, had his manners acquired a tone corresponding to the innate +grace and refinement of his intellect. He was near forty years of age when +he published The Traveler, and was lifted by it into celebrity. As is +beautifully said of him by one of his biographers, "he has fought his way +to consideration and esteem; but he bears upon him the scars of his twelve +years' conflict; of the mean sorrows through which he has passed; and of +the cheap indulgences he has sought relief and help from. There is nothing +plastic in his nature now. His manners and habits are completely formed; +and in them any further success can make little favorable change, whatever +it may effect for his mind or genius." [Footnote: Forster's Goldsmith] + +We are not to be surprised, therefore, at finding him make an awkward +figure in the elegant drawing-rooms which were now open to him, and +disappointing those who had formed an idea of him from the fascinating ease +and gracefulness of his poetry. + +Even the literary club, and the circle of which it formed a part, after +their surprise at the intellectual flights of which he showed himself +capable, fell into a conventional mode of judging and talking of him, and +of placing him in absurd and whimsical points of view. His very celebrity +operated here to his disadvantage. It brought him into continual comparison +with Johnson, who was the oracle of that circle and had given it a tone. +Conversation was the great staple there, and of this Johnson was a master. +He had been a reader and thinker from childhood; his melancholy +temperament, which unfitted him for the pleasures of youth, had made him +so. For many years past the vast variety of works he had been obliged to +consult in preparing his Dictionary had stored an uncommonly retentive +memory with facts on all kinds of subjects; making it a perfect colloquial +armory. "He had all his life," says Boswell, "habituated himself to +consider conversation as a trial of intellectual vigor and skill. He had +disciplined himself as a talker as well as a writer, making it a rule to +impart whatever he knew in the most forcible language he could put it in, +so that by constant practice and never suffering any careless expression to +escape him, he had attained an extraordinary accuracy and command of +language." + +His common conversation in all companies, according to Sir Joshua Reynolds, +was such as to secure him universal attention, something above the usual +colloquial style being always expected from him. + +"I do not care," said Orme, the historian of Hindostan, "on what subject +Johnson talks; but I love better to hear him talk than anybody. He either +gives you new thoughts or a new coloring." + +A stronger and more graphic eulogium is given by Dr. Percy. "The +conversation of Johnson," says he, "is strong and clear, and may be +compared to an antique statue, where every vein and muscle is distinct and +clear." + +Such was the colloquial giant with which Goldsmith's celebrity and his +habits of intimacy brought him into continual comparison; can we wonder +that he should appear to disadvantage? Conversation grave, discursive, and +disputatious, such as Johnson excelled and delighted in, was to him a +severe task, and he never was good at a task of any kind. He had not, like +Johnson, a vast fund of acquired facts to draw upon; nor a retentive memory +to furnish them forth when wanted. He could not, like the great +lexicographer, mold his ideas and balance his periods while talking. He had +a flow of ideas, but it was apt to be hurried and confused, and as he said +of himself, he had contracted a hesitating and disagreeable manner of +speaking. He used to say that he always argued best when he argued alone; +that is to say, he could master a subject in his study, with his pen in his +hand; but when he came into company he grew confused, and was unable to +talk about it. Johnson made a remark concerning him to somewhat of the same +purport. "No man," said he, "is more foolish than Goldsmith when he has not +a pen in his hand, or more wise when he has." Yet with all this conscious +deficiency he was continually getting involved in colloquial contests with +Johnson and other prime talkers of the literary circle. He felt that he had +become a notoriety; that he had entered the lists and was expected to make +fight; so with that heedlessness which characterized him in everything +else, he dashed on at a venture; trusting to chance in this as in other +things, and hoping occasionally to make a lucky hit. Johnson perceived his +hap-hazard temerity, but gave him no credit for the real diffidence which +lay at bottom. "The misfortune of Goldsmith in conversation," said he, "is +this, he goes on without knowing how he is to get off. His genius is great, +but his knowledge is small. As they say of a generous man it is a pity he +is not rich, we may say of Goldsmith it is a pity he is not knowing. He +would not keep his knowledge to himself." And, on another occasion he +observes: "Goldsmith, rather than not talk, will talk of what he knows +himself to be ignorant, which can only end in exposing him. If in company +with two founders, he would fall a talking on the method of making cannon, +though both of them would soon see that he did not know what metal a cannon +is made of." And again: "Goldsmith should not be forever attempting to +shine in conversation; he has not temper for it, he is so much mortified +when he fails. Sir, a game of jokes is composed partly of skill, partly of +chance; a man may be beat at times by one who has not the tenth part of his +wit. Now Goldsmith, putting himself against another, is like a man laying a +hundred to one, who cannot spare the hundred. It is not worth a man's +while. A man should not lay a hundred to one unless he can easily spare it, +though he has a hundred chances for him; he can get but a guinea, and he +may lose a hundred. Goldsmith is in this state. When he contends, if he +gets the better, it is a very little addition to a man of his literary +reputation; if he does not get the better, he is miserably vexed." + +Johnson was not aware how much he was himself to blame in producing this +vexation. "Goldsmith," said Miss Reynolds, "always appeared to be overawed +by Johnson, particularly when in company with people of any consequence; +always as if impressed with fear of disgrace; and indeed well he might. I +have been witness to many mortifications he has suffered in Dr. Johnson's +company." + +It may not have been disgrace that he feared, but rudeness. The great +lexicographer, spoiled by the homage of society, was still more prone than +himself to lose temper when the argument went against him. He could not +brook appearing to be worsted; but would attempt to bear down his adversary +by the rolling thunder of his periods; and when that failed, would become +downright insulting. Boswell called it "having recourse to some sudden mode +of robust sophistry"; but Goldsmith designated it much more happily. "There +is no arguing with Johnson," said he, _"for when his pistol misses fire, +he knocks you down with the butt end of it."_ [Footnote: The following +is given by Boswell as an instance of robust sophistry: "Once, when I was +pressing upon him with visible advantage, he stopped me thus, 'My dear +Boswell, let's have no more of this; you'll make nothing of it. I'd rather +hear you whistle a Scotch tune.'"] + +In several of the intellectual collisions recorded by Boswell as triumphs +of Dr. Johnson, it really appears to us that Goldsmith had the best both of +the wit and the argument, and especially of the courtesy and good-nature. + +On one occasion he certainly gave Johnson a capital reproof as to his own +colloquial peculiarities. Talking of fables, Goldsmith observed that the +animals introduced in them seldom talked in character. "For instance," said +he, "the fable of the little fishes, who saw birds fly over their heads, +and, envying them, petitioned Jupiter to be changed into birds. The skill +consists in making them talk like little fishes." Just then observing that +Dr. Johnson was shaking his sides and laughing, he immediately added, "Why, +Dr. Johnson, this is not so easy as you seem to think; for if you were to +make little fishes talk, they would talk like whales." + +But though Goldsmith suffered frequent mortifications in society from the +overbearing, and sometimes harsh, conduct of Johnson, he always did justice +to his benevolence. When royal pensions were granted to Dr. Johnson and Dr. +Shebbeare, a punster remarked that the king had pensioned a she-bear and a +he-bear; to which Goldsmith replied, "Johnson, to be sure, has a roughness +in his manner, but no man alive has a more tender heart. _He has nothing +of the bear but the skin."_ + +Goldsmith, in conversation, shone most when he least thought of shining; +when he gave up all effort to appear wise and learned, or to cope with the +oracular sententiousness of Johnson, and gave way to his natural impulses. +Even Boswell could perceive his merits on these occasions. "For my part," +said he, condescendingly, "I like very well to hear _honest Goldsmith_ +talk away carelessly"; and many a much, wiser man than Boswell delighted in +those outpourings of a fertile fancy and a generous heart. In his happy +moods, Goldsmith had an artless simplicity and buoyant good-humor that led +to a thousand amusing blunders and whimsical confessions, much to the +entertainment of his intimates; yet, in his most thoughtless garrulity, +there was occasionally the gleam of the gold and the flash of the diamond. + + + + +CHAPTER NINETEEN + +SOCIAL RESORTS--THE SHILLING WHIST CLUB--A PRACTICAL JOKE--THE WEDNESDAY +CLUB--THE "TUN OP MAN"--THE PIG BUTCHER--TOM KING--HUGH KELLY--GLOVER AND +HIS CHARACTERISTICS + + +Though Goldsmith's pride and ambition led him to mingle occasionally with +high society, and to engage in the colloquial conflicts of the learned +circle, in both of which he was ill at ease and conscious of being +undervalued, yet he had some social resorts in which he indemnified himself +for their restraints by indulging his humor without control. One of them +was a shilling whist club, which held its meetings at the Devil Tavern, +near Temple Bar, a place rendered classic, we are told, by a club held +there in old times, to which "rare Ben Jonson" had furnished the rules. The +company was of a familiar, unceremonious kind, delighting in that very +questionable wit which consists in playing off practical jokes upon each +other. Of one of these Goldsmith was made the butt. Coming to the club one +night in a hackney coach, he gave the coachman by mistake a guinea instead +of a shilling, which he set down as a dead loss, for there was no +likelihood, he said, that a fellow of this class would have the honesty to +return the money. On the next club evening he was told a person at the +street door wished to speak with him. He went forth, but soon returned with +a radiant countenance. To his surprise and delight the coachman had +actually brought back the guinea. While he launched forth in praise of +this unlooked-for piece of honesty, he declared it ought not to go +unrewarded. Collecting a small sum from the club, and no doubt increasing +it largely from his own purse, he dismissed the Jehu with many encomiums on +his good conduct. He was still chanting his praises when one of the club +requested a sight of the guinea thus honestly returned. To Goldsmith's +confusion it proved to be a counterfeit. The universal burst of laughter +which succeeded, and the jokes by which he was assailed on every side, +showed him that the whole was a hoax, and the pretended coachman as much a +counterfeit as the guinea. He was so disconcerted, it is said, that he soon +beat a retreat for the evening. + +Another of those free and easy clubs met on Wednesday evenings at the Globe +Tavern in Fleet Street. It was somewhat in the style of the Three Jolly +Pigeons; songs, jokes, dramatic imitations, burlesque parodies and broad +sallies of humor, formed a contrast to the sententious morality, pedantic +casuistry, and polished sarcasm of the learned circle. Here is a huge "tun +of man," by the name of Gordon, use to delight Goldsmith by singing the +jovial song of Nottingham Ale, and looking like a butt of it. Here, too, a +wealthy pig butcher, charmed, no doubt, by the mild philanthropy of The +Traveler, aspired to be on the most sociable footing with the author, and +here was Tom King, the comedian, recently risen to consequence by his +performance of Lord Ogleby in the new comedy of the Clandestine Marriage. + +A member of more note was one Hugh Kelly, a second-rate author, who, as he +became a kind of competitor of Goldsmith's, deserves particular mention. He +was an Irishman, about twenty-eight years of age, originally apprenticed to +a staymaker in Dublin; then writer to a London attorney; then a Grub Street +hack, scribbling for magazines and newspapers. Of late he had set up for +theatrical censor and satirist, and, in a paper called Thespis, in +emulation of Churchill's Rosciad, had harassed many of the poor actors +without mercy, and often without wit; but had lavished his incense on +Garrick, who, in consequence, took him into favor. He was the author of +several works of superficial merit, but which had sufficient vogue to +inflate his vanity. This, however, must have been mortified on his first +introduction to Johnson; after sitting a short time he got up to take +leave, expressing a fear that a longer visit might be troublesome. "Not in +the least, sir," said the surly moralist, "I had forgotten you were in the +room." Johnson used to speak of him as a man who had written more than he +had read. + +A prime wag of this club was one of Goldsmith's poor countrymen and +hangers-on, by the name of Glover. He had originally been educated for the +medical profession, but had taken in early life to the stage, though +apparently without much success. While performing at Cork, he undertook, +partly in jest, to restore life to the body of a malefactor, who had just +been executed. To the astonishment of every one, himself among the number, +he succeeded. The miracle took wind. He abandoned the stage, resumed the +wig and cane, and considered his fortune as secure. Unluckily, there were +not many dead people to be restored to life in Ireland; his practice did +not equal his expectation, so he came to London, where he continued to +dabble indifferently, and rather unprofitably, in physic and literature. + +He was a great frequenter of the Globe and Devil taverns, where he used to +amuse the company by his talent at story-telling and his powers of mimicry, +giving capital imitations of Garrick, Foote, Coleman, Sterne, and other +public characters of the day. He seldom happened to have money enough to +pay his reckoning, but was always sure to find some ready purse among those +who had been amused by his humors. Goldsmith, of course, was one of the +readiest. It was through him that Glover was admitted to the Wednesday +Club, of which his theatrical imitations became the delight. Glover, +however, was a little anxious for the dignity of his patron, which +appeared to him to suffer from the overfamiliarity of some of the members +of the club. He was especially shocked by the free and easy tone in which +Goldsmith was addressed by the pig butcher: "Come, Noll," would he say, as +he pledged him, "here's my service to you, old boy." + +Glover whispered to Goldsmith that he "should not allow such liberties." +"Let him alone," was the reply, "you'll see how civilly I'll let him down." +After a time, he called out, with marked ceremony and politeness, "Mr. B., +I have the honor of drinking your good health." Alas! dignity was not poor +Goldsmith's forte: he could keep no one at a distance. "Thank'ee, thank'ee, +Noll," nodded the pig-butcher, scarce taking the pipe out of his mouth. "I +don't see the effect of your reproof," whispered Glover. "I give it up," +replied Goldsmith, with a good-humored shrug, "I ought to have known before +now there is no putting a pig in the right way." + +Johnson used to be severe upon Goldsmith for mingling in these motley +circles, observing that, having been originally poor, he had contracted a +love for low company. Goldsmith, however, was guided not by a taste for +what was low, but for what was comic and characteristic. It was the feeling +of the artist; the feeling which furnished out some of his best scenes in +familiar life; the feeling with which "rare Ben Jonson" sought those very +haunts and circles in days of yore, to study "Every Man in His Humor." + +It was not always, however, that the humor of these associates was to his +taste: as they became boisterous in their merriment he was apt to become +depressed. "The company of fools," says he, in one of his essays, "may at +first make us smile; but at last never fails of making us melancholy." +"Often he would become moody," says Glover, "and would leave the party +abruptly to go home and brood over his misfortune." + + +It is possible, however, that he went home for quite a different purpose; +to commit to paper some scene or passage suggested for his comedy of The +Good-Natured Man. The elaboration of humor is often a most serious task; +and we have never witnessed a more perfect picture of mental misery than +was once presented to us by a popular dramatic writer--still, we hope, +living--whom we found in the agonies of producing a farce which +subsequently set the theaters in a roar. + + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY + +THE GREAT CHAM OF LITERATURE AND THE KING--SCENE AT SIR JOSHUA +REYNOLDS'--GOLDSMITH ACCUSED OF JEALOUSY--NEGOTIATIONS WITH GARRICK--THE +AUTHOR AND THE ACTOR--THEIR CORRESPONDENCE + + +The comedy of The Good-Natured Man was completed by Goldsmith early in +1767, and submitted to the perusal of Johnson, Burke, Reynolds, and others +of the literary club, by whom it was heartily approved. Johnson, who was +seldom half way either in censure or applause, pronounced it the best +comedy that had been written since The Provoked Husband, and promised to +furnish the prologue. This immediately became an object of great solicitude +with Goldsmith, knowing the weight an introduction from the Great Cham of +literature would have with the public; but circumstances occurred which he +feared might drive the comedy and the prologue from Johnson's thoughts. The +latter was in the habit of visiting the royal library at the Queen's +(Buckingham) House, a noble collection of books, in the formation of which +he had assisted the librarian, Mr. Bernard, with his advice. One evening, +as he was seated there by the fire reading, he was surprised by the +entrance of the king (George III.), then a young man; who sought this +occasion to have a conversation with him. The conversation was varied and +discursive; the king shifting from subject to subject according to his +wont; "during the whole interview," says Boswell, "Johnson talked to his +majesty with profound respect, but still in his open, manly manner, with a +sonorous voice, and never in that subdued tone which is commonly used at +the levee and in the drawing-room. 'I found his majesty wished I should +talk,' said he, 'and I made it my business to talk. I find it does a man +good to be talked to by his sovereign. In the first place, a man cannot be +in a passion--'" It would have been well for Johnson's colloquial +disputants could he have often been under such decorous restraint. He +retired from the interview highly gratified with the conversation of the +king and with his gracious behavior. "Sir," said he to the librarian, "they +may talk of the king as they will, but he is the finest gentleman I have +ever seen." "Sir," said he subsequently to Bennet Langton, "his manners are +those of as fine a gentleman as we may suppose Louis the Fourteenth or +Charles the Second." + +While Johnson's face was still radiant with the reflex of royalty, he was +holding forth one day to a listening group at Sir Joshua Reynolds', who +were anxious to hear every particular of this memorable conversation. Among +other questions, the king had asked him whether he was writing anything. +His reply was that he thought he had already done his part as a writer. "I +should have thought so too," said the king, "if you had not written so +well." "No man," said Johnson, commenting on this speech, "could have made +a handsomer compliment; and it was fit for a king to pay. It was decisive." +"But did you make no reply to this high compliment?" asked one of the +company. "No, sir," replied the profoundly deferential Johnson, "when the +king had said it, it was to be so. It was not for me to bandy civilities +with my sovereign." + +During all the tune that Johnson was thus holding forth, Goldsmith, who was +present, appeared to take no interest in the royal theme, but remained +seated on a sofa at a distance, in a moody fit of abstraction; at length +recollecting himself, he sprang up, and advancing, exclaimed, with what +Boswell calls his usual "frankness and simplicity," "Well, you acquitted +yourself in this conversation better than I should have done, for I should +have bowed and stammered through the whole of it." He afterward explained +his seeming inattention, by saying that his mind was completely occupied +about his play, and by fears lest Johnson, in his present state of royal +excitement, would fail to furnish the much-desired prologue. + +How natural and truthful is this explanation. Yet Boswell presumes to +pronounce Goldsmith's inattention affected and attributes it to jealousy. +"It was strongly suspected," says he, "that he was fretting with chagrin +and envy at the singular honor Dr. Johnson had lately enjoyed." It needed +the littleness of mind of Boswell to ascribe such pitiful motives to +Goldsmith, and to entertain such exaggerated notions of the honor paid to +Dr. Johnson. + +The Good-Natured Man was now ready for performance, but the question was +how to get it upon the stage. The affairs of Covent Garden, for which it +had been intended, were thrown into confusion by the recent death of Rich, +the manager. Drury Lane was under the management of Garrick, but a feud, it +will be recollected, existed between him and the poet, from the +animadversions of the latter on the mismanagement of theatrical affairs, +and the refusal of the former to give the poet his vote for the +secretaryship of the Society of Arts. Times, however, were changed. +Goldsmith when that feud took place was an anonymous writer, almost unknown +to fame, and of no circulation in society. Now he had become a literary +lion; he was a member of the Literary Club; he was the associate of +Johnson, Burke, Topham Beauclerc, and other magnates; in a word, he had +risen to consequence in the public eye, and of course was of consequence in +the eyes of David Garrick. Sir Joshua Reynolds saw the lurking scruples of +pride existing between the author and actor, and thinking it a pity that +two men of such congenial talents, and who might be so serviceable to each +other, should be kept asunder by a worn-out pique, exerted his friendly +offices to bring them together. The meeting took place in Reynolds' house +in Leicester Square. Garrick, however, could not entirely put off the mock +majesty of the stage; he meant to be civil, but he was rather too gracious +and condescending. Tom Davies, in his Life of Garrick, gives an amusing +picture of the coming together of these punctilious parties. "The manager," +says he, "was fully conscious of his (Goldsmith's) merit, and perhaps more +ostentatious of his abilities to serve a dramatic author than became a man +of his prudence; Goldsmith was, on his side, as fully persuaded of his own +importance and independent greatness. Mr. Garrick, who had so long been +treated with the complimentary language paid to a successful patentee and +admired actor, expected that the writer would esteem the patronage of his +play a favor; Goldsmith rejected all ideas of kindness in a bargain that +was intended to be of mutual advantage to both parties, and in this he was +certainly justifiable; Mr. Garrick could reasonably expect no thanks for +the acting a new play, which he would have rejected if he had not been +convinced it would have amply rewarded his pains and expense. I believe the +manager was willing to accept the play, but he wished to be courted to it; +and the doctor was not disposed to purchase his friendship by the +resignation of his sincerity." They separated, however, with an +understanding on the part of Goldsmith that his play would be acted. The +conduct of Garrick subsequently proved evasive, not through any lingerings +of past hostility, but from habitual indecision in matters of the kind, and +from real scruples of delicacy. He did not think the piece likely to +succeed on the stage, and avowed that opinion to Reynolds and Johnson; but +hesitated to say as much to Goldsmith, through fear of wounding his +feelings. A further misunderstanding was the result of this want of +decision and frankness; repeated interviews and some correspondence took +place without bringing matters to a point, and in the meantime the +theatrical season passed away. + +Goldsmith's pocket, never well supplied, suffered grievously by this delay, +and he considered himself entitled to call upon the manager, who still +talked of acting the play, to advance him forty pounds upon a note of the +younger Newbery. Garrick readily complied, but subsequently suggested +certain important alterations in the comedy as indispensable to its +success; these were indignantly rejected by the author, but pertinaciously +insisted on by the manager. Garrick proposed to leave the matter to the +arbitration of Whitehead, the laureate, who officiated as his "reader" and +elbow critic. Goldsmith was more indignant than ever, and a violent dispute +ensued, which was only calmed by the interference of Burke and Reynolds. + +Just at this time, order came out of confusion in the affairs of Covent +Garden. A pique having risen between Colman and Garrick, in the course of +their joint authorship of The Clandestine Marriage, the former had become +manager and part proprietor of Covent Garden, and was preparing to open a +powerful competition with his former colleague. On hearing of this, +Goldsmith made overtures to Colman; who, without waiting to consult his +fellow proprietors, who were absent, gave instantly a favorable reply. +Goldsmith felt the contrast of this warm, encouraging conduct, to the +chilling delays and objections of Garrick. He at once abandoned his piece +to the discretion of Colman. "Dear sir," says he in a letter dated Temple +Garden Court, July 9th, "I am very much obliged to you for your kind +partiality in my favor, and your tenderness in shortening the interval of +my expectation. That the play is liable to many objections I well know, but +I am happy that it is in hands the most capable in the world of removing +them. If then, dear sir, you will complete your favor by putting the piece +into such a state as it may be acted, or of directing me how to do it, I +shall ever retain a sense of your goodness to me. And indeed, though most +probably this be the last I shall ever write, yet I can't help feeling a +secret satisfaction that poets for the future are likely to have a +protector who declines taking advantage of their dreadful situation; and +scorns that importance which may be acquired by trifling with their +anxieties." + +The next day Goldsmith wrote to Garrick, who was at Lichfield, informing +him of his having transferred his piece to Covent Garden, for which it had +been originally written, and by the patentee of which it was claimed, +observing, "As I found you had very great difficulties about that piece, I +complied with his desire.... I am extremely sorry that you should think me +warm at our last meeting; your judgment certainly ought to be free, +especially in a matter which must in some measure concern your own credit +and interest. I assure you, sir, I have no disposition to differ with you +on this or any other account, but am, with a high opinion of your +abilities, and a very real esteem, Sir, your most obedient humble servant. +Oliver Goldsmith." + +In his reply, Garrick observed, "I was, indeed, much hurt that your warmth +at our last meeting mistook my sincere and friendly attention to your play +for the remains of a former misunderstanding, which I had as much forgot as +if it had never existed. What I said to you at my own house I now repeat, +that I felt more pain in giving my sentiments than you possibly would in +receiving them. It has been the business, and ever will be, of my life to +live on the best terms with men of genius; and I know that Dr. Goldsmith +will have no reason to change his previous friendly disposition toward me, +as I shall be glad of every future opportunity to convince him how much I +am his obedient servant and well-wisher. D. Garrick." + + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE + +MORE HACK AUTHORSHIP--TOM DAVIES AND THE ROMAN HISTORY--CANONBURY +CASTLE--POLITICAL AUTHORSHIP--PECUNIARY TEMPTATION--DEATH OF NEWBERY THE +ELDER + + +Though Goldsmith's comedy was now in train to be performed, it could not be +brought out before Christmas; in the meantime, he must live. Again, +therefore, he had to resort to literary jobs for his daily support. These +obtained for him petty occasional sums, the largest of which was ten +pounds, from the elder Newbery, for a historical compilation; but this +scanty rill of quasi patronage, so sterile in its products, was likely soon +to cease; Newbery being too ill to attend to business, and having to +transfer the whole management of it to his nephew. + +At this time Tom Davies, the sometime Roscius, sometime bibliopole, stepped +forward to Goldsmith's relief, and proposed that he should undertake an +easy popular history of Rome in two volumes. An arrangement was soon made. +Goldsmith undertook to complete it in two years, if possible, for two +hundred and fifty guineas, and forthwith set about his task with cheerful +alacrity. As usual, he sought a rural retreat during the summer months, +where he might alternate his literary labors with strolls about the green +fields. "Merry Islington" was again his resort, but he now aspired to +better quarters than formerly, and engaged the chambers occupied +occasionally by Mr. Newbery in Canonbury House, or Castle, as it is +popularly called. This had been a hunting lodge of Queen Elizabeth, in +whose time it was surrounded by parks and forests. In Goldsmith's day +nothing remained of it but an old brick tower; it was still in the country, +amid rural scenery, and was a favorite nestling-place of authors, +publishers, and others of the literary order. [Footnote: + + See on the distant slope, majestic shows + Old Canonbury's tower, an ancient pile + To various fates assigned; and where by turns + Meanness and grandeur have alternate reign'd; + Thither, in latter days, have genius fled + From yonder city, to respire and die. + There the sweet bard of Auburn sat, and tuned + The plaintive moanings of his village dirge. + There learned Chambers treasured lore for _men_, + And Newbery there his A B C's for _babes_.] + +A number of these he had for fellow occupants of the castle; and they +formed a temporary club, which held its meetings at the Crown Tavern, on +the Islington lower road; and here he presided in his own genial style, and +was the life and delight of the company. + +The writer of these pages visited old Canonbury Castle some years since, +out of regard to the memory of Goldsmith. The apartment was still shown +which the poet had inhabited, consisting of a sitting-room and small +bedroom, with paneled wainscots and Gothic windows. The quaintness and +quietude of the place were still attractive. It was one of the resorts of +citizens on their Sunday walks, who would ascend to the top of the tower +and amuse themselves with reconnoitering the city through a telescope. Not +far from this tower were the gardens of the White Conduit House, a Cockney +Elysium, where Goldsmith used to figure in the humbler days of his fortune. +In the first edition of his Essays he speaks of a stroll in these gardens, +where he at that time, no doubt, thought himself in perfectly genteel +society. After his rise in the world, however, he became too knowing to +speak of such plebeian haunts. In a new edition of his Essays, therefore, +the White Conduit House and its garden disappears, and he speaks of "a +stroll in the Park." + +While Goldsmith was literally living from hand to mouth by the forced +drudgery of the pen, his independence of spirit was subjected to a sore +pecuniary trial. It was the opening of Lord North's administration, a time +of great political excitement. The public mind was agitated by the question +of American taxation, and other questions of like irritating tendency. +Junius and Wilkes and other powerful writers were attacking the +administration with all their force; Grub Street was stirred up to its +lowest depths; inflammatory talent of all kinds was in full activity, and +the kingdom was deluged with pamphlets, lampoons and libels of the grossest +kinds. The ministry were looking anxiously round for literary support. It +was thought that the pen of Goldsmith might be readily enlisted. His +hospitable friend and countryman, Robert Nugent, politically known as +Squire Gawky, had come out strenuously for colonial taxation; had been +selected for a lordship of the board of trade, and raised to the rank of +Baron Nugent and Viscount Clare. His example, it was thought, would be +enough of itself to bring Goldsmith into the ministerial ranks; and then +what writer of the day was proof against a full purse or a pension? +Accordingly one Parson Scott, chaplain to Lord Sandwich, and author of Anti +Se anus Panurge, and other political libels in support of the +administration, was sent to negotiate with the poet, who at this time was +returned to town. Dr. Scott, in after years, when his political +subserviency had been rewarded by two fat crown livings, used to make what +he considered a good story out of this embassy to the poet. "I found him," +said he, "in a miserable suit of chambers in the Temple. I told him my +authority: I told how I was empowered to pay most liberally for his +exertions; and, would you believe it! he was so absurd as to say, 'I can +earn as much as will supply my wants without writing for any party; the +assistance you offer is therefore unnecessary to me'; and so I left him in +his garret!" Who does not admire the sturdy independence of poor Goldsmith +toiling in his garret for nine guineas the job, and smile with contempt at +the indignant wonder of the political divine, albeit his subserviency +_was_ repaid by two fat crown livings? + +Not long after this occurrence, Goldsmith's old friend, though +frugal-handed employer, Newbery, of picture-book renown, closed his mortal +career. The poet has celebrated him as the friend of all mankind; he +certainly lost nothing by his friendship. He coined the brains of his +authors in the times of their exigency, and made them pay dear for the +plank put out to keep them from drowning. It is not likely his death caused +much lamentation among the scribbling tribe; we may express decent respect +for the memory of the just, but we shed tears only at the grave of the +generous. + + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO + +THEATRICAL MANEUVERING--THE COMEDY OF FALSE DELICACY--FIRST PERFORMANCE OF +THE GOOD-NATURED MAN--CONDUCT OF JOHNSON--CONDUCT OF THE +AUTHOR--INTERMEDDLING OF THE PRESS + + +The comedy of The Good-Natured Man was doomed to experience delays and +difficulties to the very last. Garrick, notwithstanding his professions, +had still a lurking grudge against the author, and tasked his managerial +arts to thwart him in his theatrical enterprise. For this purpose he +undertook to build up Hugh Kelly, Goldsmith's boon companion of the +Wednesday Club, as a kind of rival. Kelly had written a comedy called False +Delicacy, in which were embodied all the meretricious qualities of the +sentimental school. Garrick, though he had decried that school, and had +brought out his comedy of The Clandestine Marriage in opposition to it, now +lauded False Delicacy to the skies, and prepared to bring it out at Drury +Lane with all possible stage effect. He even went so far as to write a +prologue and epilogue for it, and to touch up some parts of the dialogue. +He had become reconciled to his former colleague, Colman, and it is +intimated that one condition in the treaty of peace between these +potentates of the realms of pasteboard (equally prone to play into each +other's hands with the confederate potentates on the great theater of life) +was that Goldsmith's play should be kept back until Kelly's had been +brought forward. + +In the meantime the poor author, little dreaming of the deleterious +influence at work behind the scenes, saw the appointed time arrive and pass +by without the performance of his play; while False Delicacy was brought +out at Drury Lane (January 23, 1768) with all the trickery of managerial +management. Houses were packed to applaud it to the echo; the newspapers +vied with each other in their venal praises, and night after night seemed +to give it a fresh triumph. + +While False Delicacy was thus borne on the full tide of fictitious +prosperity, The Good-Natured Man was creeping through the last rehearsals +at Covent Garden. The success of the rival piece threw a damp upon author, +manager, and actors. Goldsmith went about with a face full of anxiety; +Colman's hopes in the piece declined at each rehearsal; as to his fellow +proprietors, they declared they had never entertained any. All the actors +were discontented with their parts, excepting Ned Shuter, an excellent low +comedian, and a pretty actress named Miss Walford; both of whom the poor +author every afterward held in grateful recollection. + +Johnson, Goldsmith's growling monitor and unsparing castigator in times of +heedless levity, stood by him at present with that protecting kindness with +which he ever befriended him in time of need. He attended the rehearsals; +he furnished the prologue according to promise; he pish'd and pshaw'd at +any doubts and fears on the part of the author, but gave him sound counsel, +and held him up with a steadfast and manly hand. Inspirited by his +sympathy, Goldsmith plucked up new heart, and arrayed himself for the grand +trial with unusual care. Ever since his elevation into the polite world, he +had improved in his wardrobe and toilet. Johnson could no longer accuse him +of being shabby in his appearance; he rather went to the other extreme. On +the present occasion there is an entry in the books of his tailor, Mr. +William Filby, of a suit of "Tyrian bloom, satin grain, and garter blue +silk breeches, £8 2s. 7d." Thus magnificently attired, he attended the +theater and watched the reception of the play and the effect of each +individual scene, with that vicissitude of feeling incident to his +mercurial nature. + +Johnson's prologue was solemn in itself, and being delivered by Brinsley in +lugubrious tones suited to the ghost in Hamlet, seemed to throw a +portentous gloom on the audience. Some of the scenes met with great +applause, and at such times Goldsmith was highly elated; others went off +coldly, or there were slight tokens of disapprobation, and then his spirits +would sink. The fourth act saved the piece; for Shuter, who had the main +comic character of Croaker, was so varied and ludicrous in his execution of +the scene in which he reads an incendiary letter that he drew down thunders +of applause. On his coming behind the scenes, Goldsmith greeted him with an +overflowing heart; declaring that he exceeded his own idea of the +character, and made it almost as new to him as to any of the audience. + +On the whole, however, both the author and his friends were disappointed at +the reception of the piece, and considered it a failure. Poor Goldsmith +left the theater with his towering hopes completely cut down. He endeavored +to hide his mortification, and even to assume an air of unconcern while +among his associates; but, the moment he was alone with Dr. Johnson, in +whose rough but magnanimous nature he reposed unlimited confidence, he +threw off all restraint and gave way to an almost childlike burst of grief. +Johnson, who had shown no want of sympathy at the proper time, saw nothing +in the partial disappointment of overrated expectations to warrant such +ungoverned emotions, and rebuked him sternly for what he termed a silly +affectation, saying that "No man should be expected to sympathize with the +sorrows of vanity." + +When Goldsmith had recovered from the blow, he, with his usual unreserve, +made his past distress a subject of amusement to his friends. Dining one +day, in company with Dr. Johnson, at the chaplain's table at St. James's +Palace, he entertained the company with a particular and comic account of +all his feelings on the night of representation, and his despair when the +piece was hissed. How he went, he said, to the Literary Club; chatted +gayly, as if nothing had gone amiss; and, to give a greater idea of his +unconcern, sang his favorite song about an old woman tossed in a blanket +seventeen times as high as the moon.... "All this while," added he, "I was +suffering horrid tortures, and, had I put a bit in my mouth, I verily +believe it would have strangled me on the spot, I was so excessively ill: +but I made more noise than usual to cover all that; so they never perceived +my not eating, nor suspected the anguish of my heart; but, when all were +gone except Johnson here, I burst out a-crying, and even swore that I would +never write again." + +Dr. Johnson sat in amaze at the odd frankness and childlike self-accusation +of poor Goldsmith. When the latter had come to a pause, "All this, doctor," +said he dryly, "I thought had been a secret between you and me, and I am +sure I would not have said anything about it for the world." But Goldsmith +had no secrets: his follies, his weaknesses, his errors were all thrown to +the surface; his heart was really too guileless and innocent to seek +mystery and concealment. It is too often the false, designing man that is +guarded in his conduct and never offends proprieties. + +It is singular, however, that Goldsmith, who thus in conversation could +keep nothing to himself, should be the author of a maxim which would +inculcate the most thorough dissimulation. "Men of the world," says he, in +one of the papers of the "Bee," "maintain that the true end of speech is +not so much to express our wants as to conceal them." How often is this +quoted as one of the subtle remarks of the fine witted Talleyrand! + +The Good-Natured Man was performed for ten nights in succession; the third, +sixth, and ninth nights were for the author's benefit; the fifth night it +was commanded by their majesties; after this it was played occasionally, +but rarely, having always pleased more in the closet than on the stage. + +As to Kelly's comedy, Johnson pronounced it entirely devoid of character, +and it has long since passed into oblivion. Yet it is an instance how an +inferior production, by dint of puffing and trumpeting, may be kept up for +a time on the surface of popular opinion, or rather of popular talk. What +had been done for False Delicacy on the stage was continued by the press. +The booksellers vied with the manager in launching it upon the town. They +announced that the first impression of three thousand copies was exhausted +before two o'clock on the day of publication; four editions, amounting to +ten thousand copies, were sold in the course of the season; a public +breakfast was given to Kelly at the Chapter Coffee House, and a piece of +plate presented to him by the publishers. The comparative merits of the two +plays were continually subjects of discussion in green-rooms, coffeehouses, +and other places where theatrical questions were discussed. + +Goldsmith's old enemy, Kenrick, that "viper of the press," endeavored on +this as on many other occasions to detract from his well-earned fame; the +poet was excessively sensitive to these attacks, and had not the art and +self-command to conceal his feelings. + +Some scribblers on the other side insinuated that Kelly had seen the +manuscript of Goldsmith's play, while in the hands of Garrick or elsewhere, +and had borrowed some of the situations and sentiments. Some of the wags of +the day took a mischievous pleasure in stirring up a feud between the two +authors. Goldsmith became nettled, though he could scarcely be deemed +jealous of one so far his inferior. He spoke disparagingly, though no doubt +sincerely, of Kelly's play: the latter retorted. Still, when they met one +day behind the scenes of Covent Garden, Goldsmith, with his customary +urbanity, congratulated Kelly on his success. "If I thought you sincere, +Mr. Goldsmith," replied the other, abruptly, "I should thank you." +Goldsmith was not a man to harbor spleen or ill-will, and soon laughed at +this unworthy rivalship: but the jealousy and envy awakened in Kelly's mind +long continued. He is even accused of having given vent to his hostility by +anonymous attacks in the newspapers, the basest resource of dastardly and +malignant spirits; but of this there is no positive proof. + + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE + +BURNING THE CANDLE AT BOTH ENDS--FINE APARTMENTS--FINE FURNITURE--FINE +CLOTHES--FINE ACQUAINTANCES--SHOEMAKER'S HOLIDAY AND JOLLY PIGEON +ASSOCIATES--PETER BARLOW, GLOVER, AND THE HAMPSTEAD HOAX--POOR FRIENDS +AMONG GREAT ACQUAINTANCES + + +The profits resulting from The Good-Natured Man were beyond any that +Goldsmith had yet derived from his works. He netted about four hundred +pounds from the theater, and one hundred pounds from his publisher. + +Five hundred pounds! and all at one miraculous draught! It appeared to him +wealth inexhaustible. It at once opened his heart and hand, and led him +into all kinds of extravagance. The first symptom was ten guineas sent to +Shuter for a box ticket for his benefit, when The Good-Natured Man was to +be performed. The next was an entire change in his domicile. The shabby +lodgings with Jeffs the butler, in which he had been worried by Johnson's +scrutiny, were now exchanged for chambers more becoming a man of his ample +fortune. The apartments consisted of three rooms on the second floor of No. +2 Brick Court, Middle Temple, on the right hand ascending the staircase, +and overlooked the umbrageous walks of the Temple garden. The lease he +purchased for four hundred pounds, and then went on to furnish his rooms +with mahogany sofas, card-tables, and book-cases; with curtains, mirrors, +and Wilton carpets. His awkward little person was also furnished out in a +style befitting his apartment; for, in addition to his suit of "Tyrian +bloom, satin grain," we find another charged about this time, in the books +of Mr. Filby, in no less gorgeous terms, being "lined with silk and +furnished with gold buttons." Thus lodged and thus arrayed, he invited the +visits of his most aristocratic acquaintances, and no longer quailed +beneath the courtly eye of Beauclerc. He gave dinners to Johnson, Reynolds, +Percy, Bickerstaff, and other friends of note; and supper parties to young +folks of both sexes. These last were preceded by round games of cards, at +which there was more laughter than skill, and in which the sport was to +cheat each other; or by romping games of forfeits and blind-man's buff, at +which he enacted the lord of misrule. Blackstone, whose chambers were +immediately below, and who was studiously occupied on his Commentaries, +used to complain of the racket made overhead by his reveling neighbor. + +Sometimes Goldsmith would make up a rural party, composed of four or five +of his "jolly pigeon" friends, to enjoy what he humorously called a +"shoemaker's holiday." These would assemble at his chambers in the morning, +to partake of a plentiful and rather expensive breakfast; the remains of +which, with his customary benevolence, he generally gave to some poor woman +in attendance. The repast ended, the party would set out on foot, in high +spirits, making extensive rambles by footpaths and green lanes to +Blackheath, Wandsworth, Chelsea, Hampton Court, Highgate, or some other +pleasant resort, within a few miles of London. A simple but gay and +heartily relished dinner, at a country inn, crowned the excursion. In the +evening they strolled back to town, all the better in health and spirits +for a day spent in rural and social enjoyment. Occasionally, when +extravagantly inclined, they adjourned from dinner to drink tea at the +White Conduit House; and, now and then, concluded their festive day by +supping at the Grecian or Temple Exchange Coffee Houses, or at the Globe +Tavern, in Fleet Street. The whole expenses of the day never exceeded a +crown, and were oftener from three and sixpence to four shillings; for the +best part of their entertainment, sweet air and rural scenes, excellent +exercise and joyous conversation, cost nothing. + +One of Goldsmith's humble companions, on these excursions, was his +occasional amanuensis, Peter Barlow, whose quaint peculiarities afforded +much amusement to the company. Peter was poor but punctilious, squaring his +expenses according to his means. He always wore the same garb; fixed his +regular expenditure for dinner at a trifling sum, which, if left to +himself, he never exceeded, but which he always insisted on paying. His +oddities always made him a welcome companion on the "shoemaker's holidays." +The dinner on these occasions generally exceeded considerably his tariff; +he put down, however, no more than his regular sum, and Goldsmith made up +the difference. + +Another of these hangers-on, for whom, on such occasions, he was content to +"pay the shot," was his countryman, Glover, of whom mention has already +been made, as one of the wags and sponges of the Globe and Devil taverns, +and a prime mimic at the Wednesday Club. + +This vagabond genius has bequeathed us a whimsical story of one of his +practical jokes upon Goldsmith, in the course of a rural excursion in the +vicinity of London. They had dined at an inn on Hampstead Heights and were +descending the hill, when, in passing a cottage, they saw through the open +window a party at tea. Goldsmith, who was fatigued, cast a wistful glance +at the cheerful tea-table. "How I should like to be of that party," +exclaimed he. "Nothing more easy," replied Glover, "allow me to introduce +you." So saying, he entered the house with an air of the most perfect +familiarity, though an utter stranger, and was followed by the unsuspecting +Goldsmith, who supposed, of course, that he was a friend of the family. The +owner of the house rose on the entrance of the strangers. The undaunted +Glover shook hands with him in the most cordial manner possible, fixed his +eye on one of the company who had a peculiarly good-natured physiognomy, +muttered something like a recognition, and forthwith launched into an +amusing story, invented at the moment, of something which he pretended had +occurred upon the road. The host supposed the new-comers were friends at +his guests; the guests that they were friends of the host. Glover did not +give them time to find out the truth. He followed one droll story with +another; brought his powers of mimicry into play, and kept the company in a +roar. Tea was offered and accepted; an hour went off in the most sociable +manner imaginable, at the end of which Glover bowed himself and his +companion out of the house with many facetious last words, leaving the host +and his company to compare notes, and to find out what an impudent +intrusion they had experienced. + +Nothing could exceed the dismay and vexation of Goldsmith when triumphantly +told by Glover that it was all a hoax, and that he did not know a single +soul in the house. His first impulse was to return instantly and vindicate +himself from all participation in the jest; but a few words from his free +and easy companion dissuaded him. "Doctor," said he, coolly, "we are +unknown; you quite as much as I; if you return and tell the story, it will +be in the newspapers to-morrow; nay, upon recollection I remember in one of +their offices the face of that squinting fellow who sat in the corner as if +he was treasuring up my stories for future use, and we shall be sure of +being exposed; let us therefore keep our own counsel." + +This story was frequently afterward told by Glover, with rich dramatic +effect, repeating and exaggerating the conversation, and mimicking in +ludicrous style, the embarrassment, surprise, and subsequent indignation of +Goldsmith. + +It is a trite saying that a wheel cannot run in two ruts; nor a man keep +two opposite sets of intimates. Goldsmith sometimes found his old friends +of the "jolly pigeon" order turning up rather awkwardly when he was in +company with his new aristocratic acquaintances. He gave a whimiscal +account of the sudden apparition of one of them at his gay apartments in +the Temple, who may have been a welcome visitor at his squalid quarters in +Green Arbor Court. "How do you think he served me?" said he to a friend. +"Why, sir, after staying away two years, he came one evening into my +chambers, half drunk, as I was taking a glass of wine with Topham Beauclerc +and General Oglethorpe; and sitting himself down, with most intolerable +assurance inquired after my health and literary pursuits, as if he were +upon the most friendly footing. I was at first so much ashamed of ever +having known such a fellow that I stifled my resentment and drew him into a +conversation on such topics as I knew he could talk upon; in which, to do +him justice, he acquitted himself very reputably; when all of a sudden, as +if recollecting something, he pulled two papers out of his pocket, which he +presented to me with great ceremony, saying, 'Here, my dear friend, is a +quarter of a pound of tea, and a half pound of sugar, I have brought you; +for though it is not in my power at present to pay you the two guineas you +so generously lent me, you, nor any man else, shall ever have it to say +that I want gratitude.' This," added Goldsmith, "was too much. I could no +longer keep in my feelings, but desired him to turn out of my chambers +directly; which he very coolly did, taking up his tea and sugar; and I +never saw him afterward." + + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR + +REDUCED AGAIN TO BOOK-BUILDING--RURAL RETREAT AT SHOEMAKER'S +PARADISE--DEATH OF HENRY GOLDSMITH--TRIBUTES TO HIS MEMORY IN THE DESERTED +VILLAGE + + +The heedless expenses of Goldsmith, as may easily be supposed, soon brought +him to the end of his "prize money," but when his purse gave out he drew +upon futurity, obtaining advances from his booksellers and loans from his +friends in the confident hope of soon turning up another trump. The debts +which he thus thoughtlessly incurred in consequence of a transient gleam of +prosperity embarrassed him for the rest of his life; so that the success of +The Good-Natured Man may be said to have been ruinous to him. He was soon +obliged to resume his old craft of book-building, and set about his History +of Rome, undertaken for Davies. + +It was his custom, as we have shown, during the summer time, when pressed +by a multiplicity of literary jobs, or urged to the accomplishment of some +particular task, to take country lodgings a few miles from town, generally +on the Harrow or Edgeware roads, and bury himself there for weeks and +months together. Sometimes he would remain closely occupied in his room, at +other times he would stroll out along the lanes and hedge-rows, and taking +out paper and pencil, note down thoughts to be expanded and connected at +home. His summer retreat for the present year, 1768, was a little cottage +with a garden, pleasantly situated about eight miles from town on the +Edgeware road. He took it in conjunction with a Mr. Edmund Botts, a +barrister and man of letters, his neighbor in the Temple, having rooms +Immediately opposite him on the same floor. They had become cordial +intimates, and Botts was one of those with whom Goldsmith now and then took +the friendly but pernicious liberty of borrowing. + +The cottage which they had hired belonged to a rich shoemaker of +Piccadilly, who had embellished his little domain of half an acre with +statues and jets, and all the decorations of landscape gardening; in +consequence of which Goldsmith gave it the name of The Shoemaker's +Paradise. As his fellow-occupant, Mr. Botts, drove a gig, he sometimes, in +an interval of literary labor, accompanied him to town, partook of a social +dinner there, and returned with him in the evening. On one occasion, when +they had probably lingered too long at the table, they came near breaking +their necks on their way homeward by driving against a post on the +sidewalk, while Botts was proving by the force of legal eloquence that they +were in the very middle of the broad Edgeware road. + +In the course of this summer Goldsmith's career of gayety was suddenly +brought to a pause by intelligence of the death of his brother Henry, then +but forty-five years of age. He had led a quiet and blameless life amid the +scenes of his youth, fulfilling the duties of village pastor with +unaffected piety; conducting the school at Lissoy with a degree of industry +and ability that gave it celebrity, and acquitting himself in all the +duties of life with undeviating rectitude and the mildest benevolence. How +truly Goldsmith loved and venerated him is evident in all his letters and +throughout his works; in which his brother continually forms his model for +an exemplification of all the most endearing of the Christian virtues; yet +his affection at his death was imbittered by the fear that he died with +some doubt upon his mind of the warmth of his affection. Goldsmith had been +urged by his friends in Ireland, since his elevation in the world, to use +his influence with the great, which they supposed to be all powerful, in +favor of Henry, to obtain for him church preferment. He did exert himself +as far as his diffident nature would permit, but without success; we have +seen that, in the case of the Earl of Northumberland, when, as Lord +Lieutenant of Ireland, that nobleman proffered him his patronage, he asked +nothing for himself, but only spoke on behalf of his brother. Still some of +his friends, ignorant of what he had done and of how little he was able to +do, accused him of negligence. It is not likely, however, that his amiable +and estimable brother joined in the accusation. + +To the tender and melancholy recollections of his early days awakened by +the death of this loved companion of his childhood, we may attribute some +of the most heartfelt passages in his Deserted Village. Much of that poem, +we are told, was composed this summer, in the course of solitary strolls +about the green lanes and beautifully rural scenes of the neighborhood; and +thus much of the softness and sweetness of English landscape became blended +with the ruder features of Lissoy. It was in these lonely and subdued +moments, when tender regret was half mingled with self-upbraiding, that he +poured forth that homage of the heart, rendered, as it were, at the grave +of his brother. The picture of the village pastor in this poem, which, we +have already hinted, was taken in part from the character of his father, +embodied likewise the recollections of his brother Henry; for the natures +of the father and son seem to have been identical. In the following lines, +however, Goldsmith evidently contrasted the quiet, settled life of his +brother, passed at home in the benevolent exercise of the Christian duties, +with his own restless, vagrant career: + + "Remote from towns he ran his goodly race, + Nor e'er had changed, nor wished to change his place." + +To us the whole character seems traced, as it were, in an expiatory spirit; +as if, conscious of his own wandering restlessness, he sought to humble +himself at the shrine of excellence which he had not been able to practice: + + "At church, with meek and unaffected grace, + His looks adorn'd the venerable place; + Truth from his lips prevail'd with double sway, + And fools, who came to scoff, remain'd to pray. + The service past, around the pious man, + With steady zeal, each honest rustic ran; + Even children follow'd, with endearing wile, + And pluck'd his gown, to share the good man's smile; + His ready smile a parent's warmth express'd, + Their welfare pleas'd him, and their cares distress'd; + To them his heart, his love, his griefs were given, + But all his serious thoughts had rest in heaven. + + * * * * * + + "And as a bird each fond endearment tries + To tempt its new-fledged offspring to the skies, + He tried each art, reprov'd each dull delay, + Allur'd to brighter worlds, _and led the way_." + + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE + +DINNER AT BICKERSTAFF'S--HIFFERNAN AND HIS IMPECUNIOSITY--KENRICK'S +EPIGRAM--JOHNSON'S CONSOLATION--GOLDSMITH'S TOILET--THE BLOOM-COLORED +COAT--NEW ACQUAINTANCES--THE HORNECKS--A TOUCH OF POETRY AND PASSION--THE +JESSAMY BRIDE + + +In October Goldsmith returned to town and resumed his usual haunts. We hear +of him at a dinner given by his countryman, Isaac Bickerstaff, author of +Love in a Village, Lionel and Clarissa, and other successful dramatic +pieces. The dinner was to be followed by the reading by Bickerstaff of a +new play. Among the guests was one Paul Hiffernan, likewise an Irishman; +somewhat idle and intemperate; who lived nobody knew how nor where, +sponging wherever he had a chance, and often of course upon Goldsmith, who +was ever the vagabond's friend, or rather victim. Hiffernan was something +of a physician, and elevated the emptiness of his purse into the dignity of +a disease, which he termed _impecuniosity_, and against which he +claimed a right to call for relief from the healthier purses of his +friends. He was a scribbler for the newspapers, and latterly a dramatic +critic, which had probably gained him an invitation to the dinner and +reading. The wine and wassail, however, befogged his senses. Scarce had the +author got into the second act of his play, when Hiffernan began to nod, +and at length snored outright. Bickerstaff was embarrassed, but continued +to read in a more elevated tone. The louder he read, the louder Hiffernan +snored; until the author came to a pause. "Never mind the brute, Bick, but +go on," cried Goldsmith. "He would have served Homer just so if he were +here and reading his own works." + +Kenrick, Goldsmith's old enemy, travestied this anecdote in the following +lines, pretending that the poet had compared his countryman Bickerstaff to +Homer. + + "What are your Bretons, Romans, Grecians, + Compared with thoroughbred Milesians! + Step into Griffin's shop, he'll tell ye + Of Goldsmith, Bickerstaff, and Kelly ... + And, take one Irish evidence for t'other, + Ev'n Homer's self is but their foster brother." + +Johnson was a rough consoler to a man when wincing under an attack of this +kind. "Never mind, sir," said he to Goldsmith, when he saw that he felt the +sting. "A man whose business it is to be talked of is much helped by being +attacked. Fame, sir, is a shuttlecock; if it be struck only at one end of +the room, it will soon fall to the ground; to keep it up, it must be struck +at both ends." + +Bickerstaff, at the time of which we are speaking, was in high vogue, the +associate of the first wits of the day; a few years afterward he was +obliged to fly the country to escape the punishment of an infamous crime. +Johnson expressed great astonishment at hearing the offense for which he +had fled. "Why, sir," said Thrale; "he had long been a suspected man." +Perhaps there was a knowing look on the part of the eminent brewer, which +provoked a somewhat contemptuous reply. "By those who look close to the +ground," said Johnson, "dirt will sometimes be seen; I hope I see things +from a greater distance." + +We have already noticed the improvement, or rather the increased expense, +of Goldsmith's wardrobe since his elevation into polite society. "He was +fond," says one of his contemporaries, "of exhibiting his muscular little +person in the gayest apparel of the day, to which was added a bag-wig and +sword." Thus arrayed, he used to figure about in the sunshine in the Temple +Gardens, much to his own satisfaction, but to the amusement of his +acquaintances. + +Boswell, in his memoirs, has rendered one of his suits forever famous. That +worthy, on the 16th of October in this same year, gave a dinner to Johnson, +Goldsmith, Reynolds, Garrick, Murphy, Bickerstaff, and Davies. Goldsmith +was generally apt to bustle in at the last moment, when the guests were +taking their seats at table, but on this occasion he was unusually early. +While waiting for some lingerers to arrive, "he strutted about," says +Boswell, "bragging of his dress, and I believe was seriously vain of it, +for his mind was undoubtedly prone to such impressions. 'Come, come,' said +Garrick, 'talk no more of that. You are perhaps the worst--eh, eh?' +Goldsmith was eagerly attempting to interrupt him, when Garrick went on, +laughing ironically, 'Nay, you will always _look_ like a gentleman; +but I am talking of your being well or _ill dressed_.' 'Well, let me +tell you,' said Goldsmith, 'when the tailor brought home my bloom-colored +coat, he said, 'Sir, I have a favor to beg of you; when anybody asks you +who made your clothes, be pleased to mention John Filby, at the Harrow, in +Water Lane.' 'Why, sir,' cried Johnson, 'that was because he knew the +strange color would attract crowds to gaze at it, and thus they might hear +of him, and see how well he could make a coat of so absurd a color.'" + +But though Goldsmith might permit this raillery on the part of his friends, +he was quick to resent any personalities of the kind from strangers. As he +was one day walking the Strand in grand array with bag-wig and sword, he +excited the merriment of two coxcombs, one of whom called to the other to +"look at that fly with a long pin stuck through it." Stung to the quick, +Goldsmith's first retort was to caution the passers-by to be on their guard +against "that brace of disguised pickpockets"--his next was to step into +the middle of the street, where there was room for action, half draw his +sword, and beckon the joker, who was armed in like manner, to follow him. +This was literally a war of wit which the other had not anticipated. He had +no inclination to push the joke to such an extreme, but abandoning the +ground, sneaked off with his brother wag amid the hootings of the +spectators. + +This proneness to finery in dress, however, which Boswell and others of +Goldsmith's contemporaries, who did not understand the secret plies of his +character, attributed to vanity, arose, we are convinced, from a widely +different motive. It was from a painful idea of his own personal defects, +which had been cruelly stamped upon his mind in his boyhood by the sneers +and jeers of his playmates, and had been ground deeper into it by rude +speeches made to him in every step of his struggling career, until it had +become a constant cause of awkwardness and embarrassment. This he had +experienced the more sensibly since his reputation had elevated him into +polite society; and he was constantly endeavoring by the aid of dress to +acquire that personal _acceptability_, if we may use the phrase, which +nature had denied him. If ever he betrayed a little self-complacency on +first turning out in a new suit, it may perhaps have been because he felt +as if he had achieved a triumph over his ugliness. + +There were circumstances too about the time of which we are treating which +may have rendered Goldsmith more than usually attentive to his personal +appearance. He had recently made the acquaintance of a most agreeable +family from Devonshire, which he met at the house of his friend, Sir Joshua +Reynolds. It consisted of Mrs. Horneck, widow of Captain Kane Horneck; two +daughters, seventeen and nineteen years of age, and an only son, Charles, +"the Captain in Lace," as his sisters playfully and somewhat proudly called +him, he having lately entered the Guards. The daughters are described as +uncommonly beautiful, intelligent, sprightly, and agreeable. Catharine, the +eldest, went among her friends by the name of "Little Comedy," indicative, +very probably, of her disposition. She was engaged to William Henry +Bunbury, second son of a Suffolk baronet. The hand and heart of her sister +Mary were yet unengaged, although she bore the by-name among her friends of +the "Jessamy Bride." This family was prepared, by their intimacy with +Reynolds and his sister, to appreciate the merits of Goldsmith. The poet +had always been a chosen friend of the eminent painter, and Miss Reynolds, +as we have shown, ever since she had heard his poem of The Traveler read +aloud, had ceased to consider him ugly. The Hornecks were equally capable +of forgetting his person in admiring his works. On becoming acquainted with +him, too, they were delighted with his guileless simplicity; his buoyant +good-nature and his innate benevolence, and an enduring intimacy soon +sprang up between them. For once poor Goldsmith had met with polite society +with which he was perfectly at home, and by which he was fully appreciated; +for once he had met with lovely women, to whom his ugly features were not +repulsive. A proof of the easy and playful terms in which he was with them +remains in a whimsical epistle in verse, of which the following was the +occasion. A dinner was to be given to their family by a Dr. Baker, a friend +of their mother's, at which Reynolds and Angelica Kauffman were to be +present. The young ladies were eager to have Goldsmith of the party, and +their intimacy with Dr. Baker allowing them to take the liberty, they wrote +a joint invitation to the poet at the last moment. It came too late, and +drew from him the following reply; on the top of which was scrawled, "This +is a poem! This _is_ a copy of verses!" + + "Your mandate I got, + You may all go to pot; + Had your senses been right, + You'd have sent before night-- + So tell Horneck and Nesbitt, + And Baker and his bit, + And Kauffman beside, + And the _Jessamy Bride_, + With the rest of the crew. + The Reynoldses too, + _Little Comedy's_ face, + And the _Captain in Lace_-- + Tell each other to rue + Your Devonshire crew, + For sending so late + To one of my state. + But 'tis Reynolds's way + From wisdom to stray, + And Angelica's whim + To befrolic like him; + But alas! your good worships, how could they be wiser, + When both have been spoil'd in to-day's 'Advertiser'?" + +[Footnote: The following lines had appeared in that day's "Advertiser," on +the portrait of Sir Joshua by Angelica Kauffman: + + "While fair Angelica, with matchless grace, + Paints Conway's burly form and Stanhope's face; + Our hearts to beauty willing homage pay, + We praise, admire, and gaze our souls away. + + But when the likeness she hath done for thee, + O Reynolds! with astonishment we see, + Forced to submit, with all our pride we own, + Such strength, such harmony excelled by none. + And thou art rivaled by thyself alone."] + +It has been intimated that the intimacy of poor Goldsmith with the Misses +Horneck, which began in so sprightly a vein, gradually assumed something of +a more tender nature, and that he was not insensible to the fascinations of +the younger sister. This may account for some of the phenomena which about +this time appeared in his wardrobe and toilet. During the first year of his +acquaintance with these lovely girls, the tell-tale book of his tailor, Mr. +William Filby, displays entries of four or five full suits, besides +separate articles of dress. Among the items we find a green half-trimmed +frock and breeches, lined with silk; a queen's blue dress suit; a half +dress suit of ratteen, lined with satin; a pair of silk stocking breeches, +and another pair of bloom color. Alas! poor Goldsmith! how much of this +silken finery was dictated, not by vanity, but humble consciousness of thy +defects; how much of it was to atone for the uncouthness of thy person, and +to win favor in the eyes of the Jessamy Bride! + + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX + +GOLDSMITH IN THE TEMPLE--JUDGE DAY AND GRATTAN--LABOR AND +DISSIPATION--PUBLICATION OF THE ROMAN HISTORY--OPINIONS OF IT--HISTORY OF +ANIMATED NATURE--TEMPLE ROOKERY--ANECDOTES OF A SPIDER + + +In the winter of 1768-69 Goldsmith occupied himself at his quarters in the +Temple, slowly "building up" his Roman History. We have pleasant views of +him in this learned and half-cloistered retreat of wit and lawyers and +legal students, in the reminiscences of Judge Day of the Irish Bench, who +in his advanced age delighted to recall the days of his youth, when he was +a templar, and to speak of the kindness with which he and his +fellow-student, Grattan, were treated by the poet. "I was just arrived from +college," said he, "full freighted with academic gleanings, and our author +did not disdain to receive from me some opinions and hints toward his Greek +and Roman histories. Being then a young man, I felt much flattered by the +notice of so celebrated a person. He took great delight in the conversation +of Grattan, whose brilliancy in the morning of life furnished full earnest +of the unrivaled splendor which awaited his meridian; and finding us +dwelling together in Essex Court, near himself, where he frequently visited +my immortal friend, his warm heart became naturally prepossessed toward the +associate of one whom he so much admired." + +The judge goes on, in his reminiscences, to give a picture of Goldsmith's +social habits, similar in style to those already furnished. He frequented +much the Grecian Coffee-House, then the favorite resort of the Irish and +Lancashire Templars. He delighted in collecting his friends around him at +evening parties at his chambers, where he entertained them with a cordial +and unostentatious hospitality. "Occasionally," adds the judge, "he amused +them with his flute, or with whist, neither of which he played well, +particularly the latter, but, on losing his money, he never lost his +temper. In a run of bad luck and worse play, he would fling his cards upon +the floor and exclaim, '_Byefore_ George, I ought forever to renounce +thee, fickle, faithless Fortune.'" + +The judge was aware at the time that all the learned labor of poor +Goldsmith upon his Roman History was mere hack work to recruit his +exhausted finances. "His purse replenished," adds he, "by labors of this +kind, the season of relaxation and pleasure took its turn, in attending the +theaters, Ranelagh, Vauxhall, and other scenes of gayety and amusement. +Whenever his funds were dissipated--and they fled more rapidly from being +the dupe of many artful persons, male and female, who practiced upon his +benevolence--he returned to his literary labors, and shut himself up from +society to provide fresh matter for his bookseller, and fresh supplies for +himself." + +How completely had the young student discerned the characteristics of poor, +genial, generous, drudging, holiday-loving Goldsmith; toiling that he might +play; earning his bread by the sweat of his brains, and then throwing it +out of the window. + +The Roman History was published in the middle of May, in two volumes of +five hundred pages each. It was brought out without parade or pretension, +and was announced as for the use of schools and colleges; but, though a +work written for bread, not fame, such is its ease, perspicuity, good +sense, and the delightful simplicity of its style, that it was well +received by the critics, commanded a prompt and extensive sale, and has +ever since remained in the hands of young and old. + +Johnson, who, as we have before remarked, rarely praised or dispraised +things by halves, broke forth in a warm eulogy of the author and the work, +in a conversation with Boswell, to the great astonishment of the latter. +"Whether we take Goldsmith," said he, "as a poet, as a comic writer, or as +a historian, he stands in the first class." Boswell.--"A historian! My dear +sir, you surely will not rank his compilation of the Roman History with the +works of other historians of this age." Johnson.--"Why, who are before +him?" Boswell.--"Hume--Robertson--Lord Lyttelton." Johnson (his antipathy +against the Scotch beginning to rise).--"I have not read Hume; but +doubtless Goldsmith's History is better than the verbiage of Robertson, or +the foppery of Dalrymple." Boswell.--"Will you not admit the superiority of +Robertson, in whose history we find such penetration, such painting?" +Johnson.--"Sir, you must consider how that penetration and that painting +are employed. It is not history, it is imagination. He who describes what +he never saw, draws from fancy. Robertson paints minds as Sir Joshua paints +faces, in a history-piece; he imagines a heroic countenance. You must look +upon Robertson's work as romance, and try it by that standard. History it +is not. Besides, sir, it is the great excellence of a writer to put into +his book as much as his book will hold. Goldsmith has done this in his +history. Now Robertson might have put twice as much in his book. Robertson +is like a man who has packed gold in wool; the wool takes up more room than +the gold. No, sir, I always thought Robertson would be crushed with his own +weight--would be buried under his own ornaments. Goldsmith tells you +shortly all you want to know; Robertson detains you a great deal too long. +No man will read Robertson's cumbrous detail a second time; but Goldsmith's +plain narrative will please again and again. I would say to Robertson what +an old tutor of a college said to one of his pupils, 'Read over your +compositions, and whenever you meet with a passage which you think is +particularly fine, strike it out!'--Goldsmith's abridgment is better than +that of Lucius Floras or Eutropius; and I will venture to say, that if you +compare him with Vertot in the same places of the Roman History, you will +find that he excels Vertot. Sir, he has the art of compiling, and of saying +everything he has to say in a pleasing manner. He is now writing a Natural +History, and will make it as entertaining as a Persian tale." + +The Natural History to which Johnson alluded was the History of Animated +Nature, which Goldsmith commenced in 1769, under an engagement with +Griffin, the bookseller, to complete it as soon as possible in eight +volumes, each containing upward of four hundred pages, in pica; a hundred +guineas to be paid to the author on the delivery of each volume in +manuscript. + +He was induced to engage in this work by the urgent solicitations of the +booksellers, who had been struck by the sterling merits and captivating +style of an introduction which he wrote to Brookes' Natural History. It was +Goldsmith's intention originally to make a translation of Pliny, with a +popular commentary; but the appearance of Buffon's work induced him to +change his plan and make use of that author for a guide and model. + +Cumberland, speaking of this work, observes: "Distress drove Goldsmith upon +undertakings neither congenial with his studies nor worthy of his talents. +I remember him when, in his chambers in the Temple, he showed me the +beginning of his Animated Nature; it was with a sigh, such as genius draws +when hard necessity diverts it from its bent to drudge for bread, and talk +of birds, and beasts, and creeping things, which Pidock's showman would +have done as well. Poor fellow, he hardly knows an ass from a mule, nor a +turkey from a goose, but when he sees it on the table." + +Others of Goldsmith's friends entertained similar ideas with respect to his +fitness for the task, and they were apt now and then to banter him on the +subject, and to amuse themselves with his easy credulity. The custom among +the natives of Otaheite of eating dogs being once mentioned in company, +Goldsmith observed that a similar custom prevailed in China; that a +dog-butcher is as common there as any other butcher; and that when he walks +abroad all the dogs fall on him. Johnson.--"That is not owing to his +killing dogs; sir, I remember a butcher at Litchfield, whom a dog that was +in the house where I lived always attacked. It is the smell of carnage +which provokes this, let the animals he has killed be what they may." +Goldsmith.--"Yes, there is a general abhorrence in animals at the signs of +massacre. If you put a tub full of blood into a stable, the horses are +likely to go mad." Johnson.--"I doubt that." Goldsmith.--"Nay, sir, it is a +fact well authenticated." Thrale.--"You had better prove it before you put +it into your book on Natural History. You may do it in my stable if you +will." Johnson.--"Nay, sir, I would not have him prove it. If he is content +to take his information from others, he may get through his book with +little trouble, and without much endangering his reputation. But if he +makes experiments for so comprehensive a book as his, there would be no end +to them; his erroneous assertions would fall then upon himself; and he +might be blamed for not having made experiments as to every particular." + +Johnson's original prediction, however, with respect to this work, that +Goldsmith would make it as entertaining as a Persian tale, was verified; +and though much of it was borrowed from Buffon, and but little of it +written from his own observation; though it was by no means profound, and +was chargeable with many errors, yet the charms of his style and the play +of his happy disposition throughout have continued to render it far more +popular and readable than many works on the subject of much greater scope +and science. Cumberland was mistaken, however, in his notion of Goldsmith's +ignorance and lack of observation as to the characteristics of animals. On +the contrary, he was a minute and shrewd observer of them; but he observed +them with the eye of a poet and moralist as well as a naturalist. We quote +two passages from his works illustrative of this fact, and we do so the +more readily because they are in a manner a part of his history, and give +us another peep into his private life in the Temple; of his mode of +occupying himself in his lonely and apparently idle moments, and of another +class of acquaintances which he made there. + +Speaking in his Animated Nature of the habitudes of Rooks, "I have often +amused myself," says he, "with observing their plans of policy from my +window in the Temple, that looks upon a grove, where they have made a +colony in the midst of a city. At the commencement of spring the rookery, +which, during the continuance of winter, seemed to have been deserted, or +only guarded by about five or six, like old soldiers in a garrison, now +begins to be once more frequented; and in a short time, all the bustle and +hurry of business will be fairly commenced." + +The other passage, which we take the liberty to quote at some length, is +from an admirable paper in the "Bee," and relates to the House Spider. + +"Of all the solitary insects I have ever remarked, the spider is the most +sagacious, and its motions to me, who have attentively considered them, +seem almost to exceed belief.... I perceived, about four years ago, a large +spider in one corner of my room making its web; and, though the maid +frequently leveled her broom against the labors of the little animal, I had +the good fortune then to prevent its destruction, and I may say it more +than paid me by the entertainment it afforded. + +"In three days the web was, with incredible diligence, completed; nor could +I avoid thinking that the insect seemed to exult in its new abode. It +frequently traversed it round, examined the strength of every part of it, +retired into its hole, and came out very frequently. The first enemy, +however, it had to encounter was another and a much larger spider, which, +having no web of its own, and having probably exhausted all its stock in +former labors of this kind, came to invade the property of its neighbor. +Soon, then, a terrible encounter ensued, in which the invader seemed to +have the victory, and the laborious spider was obliged to take refuge in +its hole. Upon this I perceived the victor using every art to draw the +enemy from its stronghold. He seemed to go off, but quickly returned; and +when he found all arts in vain, began to demolish the new web without +mercy. This brought on another battle, and, contrary to my expectations, +the laborious spider became conqueror, and fairly killed his antagonist. + +"Now, then, in peaceable possession of what was justly its own, it waited +three days with the utmost patience, repairing the breaches of its web, and +taking no sustenance that I could perceive. At last, however, a large blue +fly fell into the snare, and struggled hard to get loose. The spider gave +it leave to entangle itself as much as possible, but it seemed to be too +strong for the cobweb. I must own I was greatly surprised when I saw the +spider immediately sally out, and in less than a minute weave a new net +round its captive, by which the motion of its wings was stopped; and when +it was fairly hampered in this manner it was seized and dragged into the +hole. + +"In this manner it lived, in a precarious state; and nature seemed to have +fitted it for such a life, for upon a single fly it subsisted for more than +a week. I once put a wasp into the net; but when the spider came out in +order to seize it, as usual, upon perceiving what kind of an enemy it had +to deal with, it instantly broke all the bands that held it fast, and +contributed all that lay in its power to disengage so formidable an +antagonist. When the wasp was set at liberty, I expected the spider would +have set about repairing the breaches that were made in its net; but those, +it seems, were irreparable; wherefore the cobweb was now entirely forsaken, +and a new one begun, which was completed in the usual time. + +"I had now a mind to try how many cobwebs a single spider could furnish; +wherefore I destroyed this, and the insect set about another. When I +destroyed the other also, its whole stock seemed entirely exhausted, and it +could spin no more. The arts it made use of to support itself, now deprived +of its great means of subsistence, were indeed surprising. I have seen it +roll up its legs like a ball, and lie motionless for hours together, but +cautiously watching all the time; when a fly happened to approach +sufficiently near, it would dart out all at once, and often seize its prey. + +"Of this life, however, it soon began to grow weary, and resolved to invade +the possession of some other spider, since it could not make a web of its +own. It formed an attack upon a neighboring fortification with great vigor, +and at first was as vigorously repulsed. Not daunted, however, with one +defeat, in this manner it continued to lay siege to another's web for three +days, and at length, having killed the defendant, actually took possession. +When smaller flies happen to fall into the snare, the spider does not sally +out at once, but very patiently waits till it is sure of them; for, upon +his immediately approaching the terror of his appearance might give the +captive strength sufficient to get loose; the manner, then, is to wait +patiently, till, by ineffectual and impotent struggles, the captive has +wasted all its strength, and then he becomes a certain and easy conquest. + +"The insect I am now describing lived three years; every year it changed +its skin and got a new set of legs. I have sometimes plucked off a leg, +which grew again in two or three days. At first it dreaded my approach to +its web, but at last it became so familiar as to take a fly out of my hand; +and, upon my touching any part of the web, would immediately leave its +hole, prepared either for a defense or an attack." + + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN + +HONORS AT THE ROYAL ACADEMY--LETTER TO HIS BROTHER MAURICE--FAMILY +FORTUNES--JANE CONTARINE AND THE MINIATURE--PORTRAITS AND +ENGRAVINGS--SCHOOL ASSOCIATIONS--JOHNSON AND GOLDSMITH IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY + + +The latter part of the year 1768 had been made memorable in the world of +taste by the institution of the Royal Academy of Arts, under the patronage +of the king, and the direction of forty of the most distinguished artist. +Reynolds, who had been mainly instrumental in founding it, had been +unanimously elected president, and had thereupon received the honor of +knighthood. [Footnote: We must apologize for the anachronism we have +permitted ourselves, in the course of this memoir, in speaking of Reynolds +as _Sir Joshua_, when treating of circumstances which occurred prior +to his being dubbed; but it is so customary to speak of him by that title +that we found it difficult to dispense with it.] Johnson was so delighted +with his friend's elevation that he broke through a rule of total +abstinence with respect to wine, which he had maintained for several years, +and drank bumpers on the occasion. Sir Joshua eagerly sought to associate +his old and valued friends with him in his new honors, and it is supposed +to be through his suggestions that, on the first establishment of +professorships, which took place in December, 1769, Johnson was nominated +to that of Ancient Literature, and Goldsmith to that of History. They were +mere honorary titles, without emolument, but gave distinction, from the +noble institution to which they appertained. They also gave the possessors +honorable places at the annual banquet, at which were assembled many of the +most distinguished persons of rank and talent, all proud to be classed +among the patrons of the arts. + +The following letter of Goldsmith to his brother alludes to the foregoing +appointment, and to a small legacy bequeathed to him by his uncle +Contarine. + +"_To Mr. Maurice Goldsmith, at James Lawders, Esq., at Kilmore, near +Carrick-on-Shannon._ + +"January, 1770. + +"DEAR BROTHER--I should have answered your letter sooner, but, in truth, I +am not fond of thinking of the necessities of those I love, when it is so +very little in my power to help them. I am sorry to find you are every way +unprovided for; and what adds to my uneasiness is, that I have received a +letter from my sister Johnson, by which I learn that she is pretty much in +the same circumstances. As to myself, I believe I think I could get both +you and my poor brother-in-law something like that which you desire, but I +am determined never to ask for little things, nor exhaust any little +interest I may have, until I can serve you, him, and myself more +effectually. As yet, no opportunity has offered; but I believe you are +pretty well convinced that I will not be remiss when it arrives. + +"The king has lately been pleased to make me Professor of Ancient History +in the Royal Academy of Painting which he has just established, but there +is no salary annexed; and I took it rather as a compliment to the +institution than any benefit to myself. Honors to one in my situation are +something like ruffles to one that wants a shirt. + +"You tell me that there are fourteen or fifteen pounds left me in the hands +of my cousin Lawder, and you ask me what I would have done with them. My +dear brother, I would by no means give any directions to my dear worthy +relations at Kilmore how to dispose of money which is, properly speaking, +more theirs than mine. All that I can say is, that I entirely, and this +letter will serve to witness, give up any right and title to it; and I am +sure they will dispose of it to the best advantage. To them I entirely +leave it; whether they or you may think the whole necessary to fit you out, +or whether our poor sister Johnson may not want the half, I leave entirely +to their and your discretion. The kindness of that good couple to our +shattered family demands our sincerest gratitude; and though they have +almost forgotten me, yet, if good things at last arrive, I hope one day to +return and increase their good-humor, by adding to my own. + +"I have sent my cousin Jenny a miniature picture of myself, as I believe it +is the most acceptable present I can offer. I have ordered it to be left +for her at George Faulkner's, folded in a letter. The face, you well know, +is ugly enough, but it is finely painted. I will shortly also send my +friends over the Shannon some mezzotinto prints of myself, and some more of +my friends here, such as Burke, Johnson, Reynolds, and Colman. I believe I +have written a hundred letters to different friends in your country, and +never received an answer to any of them. I do not know how to account for +this, or why they are unwilling to keep up for me those regards which I +must ever retain for them. + +"If, then, you have a mind to oblige me, you will write often, whether I +answer you or not. Let me particularly have the news of our family and old +acquaintances. For instance, you may begin by telling me about the family +where you reside, how they spend their time, and whether they ever make +mention of me. Tell me about my mother, my brother Hodson, and his son, my +brother Harry's son and daughter, my sister Johnson, the family of +Ballyoughter, what is become of them, where they live, and how they do. You +talked of being my only brother: I don't understand you. Where is Charles? +A sheet of paper occasionally filled with the news of this kind would make +me very happy, and would keep you nearer my mind. As it is, my dear +brother, believe me to be + +"Yours, most affectionately, + +"OLIVER GOLDSMITH." + +By this letter we find the Goldsmiths the same shifting, shiftless race as +formerly; a "shattered family," scrambling on each other's back as soon as +any rise above the surface. Maurice is "every way unprovided for"; living +upon Cousin Jane and her husband, and, perhaps, amusing himself by hunting +otter in the river Inny. Sister Johnson and her husband are as poorly off +as Maurice, with, perhaps, no one at hand to quarter themselves upon; as to +the rest, "what is become of them; where do they live; how do they do; what +is become of Charles?" What forlorn, haphazard life is implied by these +questions! Can we wonder that, with all the love for his native place, +which is shown throughout Goldsmith's writings, he had not the heart to +return there? Yet his affections are still there. He wishes to know whether +the Lawders (which means his cousin Jane, his early Valentine) ever make +mention of him; he sends Jane his miniature; he believes "it is the most +acceptable present he can offer"; he evidently, therefore, does not believe +she has almost forgotten him, although he intimates that he does: in his +memory she is still Jane Contarine, as he last saw her, when he accompanied +her harpsichord with his flute. Absence, like death, sets a seal on the +image of those we have loved; we cannot realize the intervening changes +which time may have effected. + +As to the rest of Goldsmith's relatives, he abandons his legacy of fifteen +pounds, to be shared among them. It is all he has to give. His heedless +improvidence is eating up the pay of the booksellers in advance. With all +his literary success, he has neither money nor influence; but he has empty +fame, and he is ready to participate with them; he is honorary professor, +without pay; his portrait is to be engraved in mezzotint, in company with +those of his friends, Burke, Reynolds, Johnson, Colman, and others, and he +will send prints of them to his friends over the Shannon, though they may +not have a house to hang them up in. What a motley letter! How indicative +of the motley character of the writer! By the bye, the publication of a +splendid mezzotinto engraving of his likeness by Reynolds, was a great +matter of glorification to Goldsmith, especially as it appeared in such +illustrious company. As he was one day walking the streets in a state of +high elation, from having just seen it figuring in the print-shop windows, +he met a young gentleman with a newly married wife hanging on his arm, whom +he immediately recognized for Master Bishop, one of the boys he had petted +and treated with sweetmeats when a humble usher at Milner's school. The +kindly feelings of old times revived, and he accosted him with cordial +familiarity, though the youth may have found some difficulty in recognizing +in the personage, arrayed, perhaps, in garments of Tyrian dye, the dingy +pedagogue of the Milners. "Come, my boy," cried Goldsmith, as if still +speaking to a schoolboy, "Come, Sam, I am delighted to see you. I must +treat you to something--what shall it be? Will you have some apples?" +glancing at an old woman's stall; then, recollecting the print-shop window: +"Sam," said he, "have you seen my picture by Sir Joshua Reynolds? Have you +seen it, Sam? Have you got an engraving?" Bishop was caught; he +equivocated; he had not yet bought it; but he was furnishing his house, and +had fixed upon the place where it was to be hung. "Ah, Sam!" rejoined +Goldsmith reproachfully, "if your picture had been published, I should not +have waited an hour without having it." + +After all, it was honest pride, not vanity, in Goldsmith, that was +gratified at seeing his portrait deemed worthy of being perpetuated by the +classic pencil of Reynolds, and "hung up in history," beside that of his +revered friend, Johnson. Even the great moralist himself was not insensible +to a feeling of this kind. Walking one day with Goldsmith, in Westminster +Abbey, among the tombs of monarchs, warriors, and statesmen, they came to +the sculptured mementos of literary worthies in Poets' Corner. Casting his +eye round upon these memorials of genius, Johnson muttered in a low tone to +his companion, + + "Forsitan et nostrum nomen miscebitur istis." + +Goldsmith treasured up the intimated hope, and shortly afterward, as they +were passing by Temple bar, where the heads of Jacobite rebels, executed +for treason, were mouldering aloft on spikes, pointed up to the grizzly +mementos, and echoed the intimation, + + "Forsitan et nostrum nomen miscebitur _istis_." + + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT + +PUBLICATION OF THE DESERTED VILLAGE--NOTICES AND ILLUSTRATIONS OF IT + + +Several years had now elapsed since the publication of The Traveler, and +much wonder was expressed that the great success of that poem had not +excited the author to further poetic attempts. On being questioned at the +annual dinner of the Royal Academy by the Earl of Lisburn, why he neglected +the muses to compile histories and write novels, "My Lord," replied he, "by +courting the muses I shall starve, but by my other labors I eat, drink, +have good clothes, and can enjoy the luxuries of life." So, also, on being +asked by a poor writer what was the most profitable mode of exercising the +pen, "My dear fellow," replied he, good-humoredly, "pay no regard to the +draggle-tailed muses; for my part I have found productions in prose much +more sought after and better paid for." + +Still, however, as we have heretofore shown, he found sweet moments of +dalliance to steal away from his prosaic toils, and court the muse among +the green lanes and hedgerows in the rural environs of London, and on the +26th of May, 1770, he was enabled to bring his Deserted Village before the +public. + +The popularity of The Traveler had prepared the way for this poem, and its +sale was instantaneous and immense. The first edition was immediately +exhausted; in a few days a second was issued; in a few days more a third, +and by the 16th of August the fifth edition was hurried through the press. +As is the case with popular writers, he had become his own rival, and +critics were inclined to give the preference to his first poem; but with +the public at large we believe the Deserted Village has ever been the +greatest favorite. Previous to its publication the bookseller gave him in +advance a note for the price agreed upon, one hundred guineas. As the +latter was returning home he met a friend to whom he mentioned the +circumstance, and who, apparently judging of poetry by quantity rather than +quality, observed that it was a great sum for so small a poem. "In truth," +said Goldsmith, "I think so too; it is much more than the honest man can +afford or the piece is worth. I have not been easy since I received it." In +fact, he actually returned the note to the bookseller, and left it to him +to graduate the payment according to the success of the work. The +bookseller, as may well be supposed, soon repaid him in full with many +acknowledgments of his disinterestedness. This anecdote has been called in +question, we know not on what grounds; we see nothing in it incompatible +with the character of Goldsmith, who was very impulsive, and prone to acts +of inconsiderate generosity. + +As we do not pretend in this summary memoir to go into a criticism or +analysis of any of Goldsmith's writings, we shall not dwell upon the +peculiar merits of this poem; we cannot help noticing, however, how truly +it is a mirror of the author's heart, and of all the fond pictures of early +friends and early life forever present there. It seems to us as if the very +last accounts received from home, of his "shattered family," and the +desolation that seemed to have settled upon the haunts of his childhood, +had cut to the roots one feebly cherished hope, and produced the following +exquisitely tender and mournful lines: + + "In all my wand'rings round this world of care, + In all my griefs--and God has giv'n my share-- + I still had hopes my latest hours to crown, + Amid these humble bowers to lay me down; + To husband out life's taper at the close, + And keep the flame from wasting by repose; + I still had hopes, for pride attends us still, + Amid the swains to show my book-learn'd skill, + Around my fire an ev'ning group to draw, + And tell of all I felt and all I saw; + And as a hare, whom hounds and horns pursue, + Pants to the place from whence at first she flew; + I still had hopes, my long vexations past, + Here to return--_and die at home at last_." + +How touchingly expressive are the succeeding lines, wrung from a heart +which all the trials and temptations and buffetings of the world could not +render worldly; which, amid a thousand follies and errors of the head, +still retained its childlike innocence; and which, doomed to struggle on to +the last amid the din and turmoil of the metropolis, had ever been cheating +itself with a dream of rural quiet and seclusion: + + "Oh, bless'd retirement! friend to life's decline, + Retreats from care, _that never must be mine_, + How blest is he who crowns, in shades like these, + A youth of labor with an age of ease; + Who quits a world where strong temptations try, + And, since 'tis hard to combat, learns to fly! + For him no wretches, born to work and weep, + Explore the mine, or tempt the dangerous deep; + Nor surly porter stands, in guilty state, + To spurn imploring famine from the gate; + But on he moves to meet his latter end, + Angels around befriending virtue's friend; + Sinks to the grave with unperceived decay, + While resignation gently slopes the way; + And all his prospects brightening to the last, + His heaven commences ere the world be past." + + * * * * * + +NOTE + +The following article, which appeared in a London periodical, shows the +effect of Goldsmith's poem in renovating the fortunes of Lissoy. + +"About three miles from Ballymahon, a very central town in the sister +kingdom, is the mansion and village of Auburn, so called by their present +possessor, Captain Hogan. Through the taste and improvement of this +gentleman, it is now a beautiful spot, although fifteen years since it +presented a very bare and unpoetical aspect. This, however, was owing to a +cause which serves strongly to corroborate the assertion that Goldsmith had +this scene in view when he wrote his poem of The Deserted Village. The then +possessor, General Napier, turned all his tenants out of their farms that +he might inclose them in his own private domain. Littleton, the mansion of +the general, stands not far off, a complete emblem of the desolating spirit +lamented by the poet, dilapidated and converted into a barrack. + +"The chief object of attraction is Lissoy, once the parsonage house of +Henry Goldsmith, that brother to whom the poet dedicated his Traveler, and +who is represented as the village pastor, + + "'Passing rich with forty pounds a year.' + +"When I was in the country, the lower chambers were inhabited by pigs and +sheep, and the drawing-rooms by oats. Captain Hogan, however, has, I +believe, got it since into his possession, and has, of course, improved its +condition. + +"Though at first strongly inclined to dispute the identity of Auburn, +Lissoy House overcame my scruples. As I clambered over the rotten gate, and +crossed the grass-grown lawn or court, the tide of association became too +strong for casuistry; here the poet dwelt and wrote, and here his thoughts +fondly recurred when composing his Traveler in a foreign land. Yonder was +the decent church, that literally 'topped the neighboring hill.' Before me +lay the little hill of Knockrue, on which he declares, in one of his +letters, he had rather sit with a book in hand than mingle in the proudest +assemblies. And, above all, startlingly true, beneath my feet was + + "'Yonder copse, where once the garden smiled, + And still where many a garden-flower grows wild.' + +"A painting from the life could not be more exact. 'The stubborn +currant-bush' lifts its head above the rank grass, and the proud hollyhock +flaunts where its sisters of the flower-knot are no more. + +"In the middle of the village stands the old 'hawthorn-tree,' built up with +masonry to distinguish and preserve it; it is old and stunted, and suffers +much from the depredations of post-chaise travelers, who generally stop to +procure a twig. Opposite to it is the village alehouse, over the door of +which swings 'The Three Jolly Pigeons.' Within everything is arranged +according to the letter: + + 'The whitewash'd wall, the nicely-sanded floor, + The varnish'd clock that click'd behind the door: + The chest, contrived a double debt to pay, + A bed by night, a chest of drawers by day; + The pictures placed for ornament and use, + The twelve good rules, the royal game of goose.' + +"Captain Hogan, I have heard, found great difficulty in obtaining 'the +twelve good rules,' but at length purchased them at some London bookstall +to adorn the whitewashed parlor of 'The Three Jolly Pigeons.' However +laudable this may be, nothing shook my faith in the reality of Auburn so +much as this exactness, which had the disagreeable air of being got up for +the occasion. The last object of pilgrimage is the quondam habitation of +the schoolmaster, + + "'There, in his noisy mansion, skill'd to rule.' + +"It is surrounded with fragrant proofs of identity in + + "'The blossom'd furze, unprofitably gay.' + +"There is to be seen the chair of the poet, which fell into the hands of +its present possessors at the wreck of the parsonage-house; they have +frequently refused large offers of purchase; but more, I daresay, for the +sake of drawing contributions from the curious than from any reverence for +the bard. The chair is of oak, with back and seat of cane, which precluded +all hopes of a secret drawer, like that lately discovered in Gay's. There +is no fear of its being worn out by the devout earnestness of sitters--as +the cocks and hens have usurped undisputed possession of it, and protest +most clamorously against all attempts to get it cleansed or to seat one's +self. + +"The controversy concerning the identity of this Auburn was formerly a +standing theme of discussion among the learned of the neighborhood; but, +since the pros and cons have been all ascertained, the argument has died +away. Its abettors plead the singular agreement between the local history +of the place and the Auburn of the poem, and the exactness with which the +scenery of the one answers to the description of the other. To this is +opposed the mention of the nightingale, + + "'And fill'd each pause the nightingale had made'; + +there being no such bird in the island. The objection is slighted, on the +other hand, by considering the passage as a mere poetical license. +'Besides,' say they, 'the robin is the Irish nightingale.' And if it be +hinted how unlikely it was that Goldsmith should have laid the scene in a +place from which he was and had been so long absent, the rejoinder is +always, 'Pray, sir, was Milton in hell when he built Pandemonium?' + +"The line is naturally drawn between; there can be no doubt that the poet +intended England by + + "'The land to hast'ning ills a prey, + Where wealth accumulates and men decay.' + +"But it is very natural to suppose that, at the same time, his imagination +had in view the scenes of his youth, which give such strong features of +resemblance to the picture." + + * * * * * + +Best, an Irish clergyman, told Davis, the traveler in America, that the +hawthorn-bush mentioned in the poem was still remarkably large. "I was +riding once," said he, "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!' replied I, 'cut down the +bush that supplies so beautiful an image in The Deserted Village?'--'Ma +foy!' exclaimed the bishop, 'is that the hawthorn-bush? Then let it be +sacred from the edge of the ax, and evil be to him that should cut off a +branch.' "--The hawthorn-bush, however, has long since been cut up, root +and branch, in furnishing relics to literary pilgrims. + + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE + +THE POET AMONG THE LADIES--DESCRIPTION OF HIS PERSON AND +MANNERS--EXPEDITION TO PARIS WITH THE HORNECK FAMILY--THE TRAVELER OF +TWENTY AND THE TRAVELER OF FORTY--HICKEY, THE SPECIAL ATTORNEY--AN UNLUCKY +EXPLOIT + + +The Deserted Village had shed an additional poetic grace round the homely +person of the author; he was becoming more and more acceptable in ladies' +eyes, and finding himself more and more at ease in their society; at least +in the society of those whom he met in the Reynolds circle, among whom he +particularly affected the beautiful family of the Hornecks. + +But let us see what were really the looks and manners of Goldsmith about +this time, and what right he had to aspire to ladies' smiles; and in so +doing let us not take the sketches of Boswell and his compeers, who had a +propensity to represent him in caricature; but let us take the apparently +truthful and discriminating picture of him as he appeared to Judge Day, +when the latter was a student in the Temple. + +"In person," says the judge, "he was short; about five feet five or six +inches; strong, but not heavy in make; rather fair in complexion, with +brown hair; such, at least, as could be distinguished from his wig. His +features were plain, but not repulsive--certainly not so when lighted up by +conversation. His manners were simple, natural, and perhaps on the whole, +we may say, not polished; at least without the refinement and good-breeding +which the exquisite polish of his compositions would lead us to expect. He +was always cheerful and animated, often, indeed, boisterous in his mirth; +entered with spirit into convivial society; contributed largely to its +enjoyments by solidity of information, and the naļvete and originality of +his character; talked often without premeditation, and laughed loudly +without restraint." + +This, it will be recollected, represents him as he appeared to a young +Templar, who probably saw him only in Temple coffee-houses, at students' +quarters, or at the jovial supper parties given at the poet's own chambers; +here, of course, his mind was in its rough dress; his laugh may have been +loud and his mirth boisterous; but we trust all these matters became +softened and modified when he found himself in polite drawing-rooms and in +female society. + +But what say the ladies themselves of him; and here, fortunately, we have +another sketch of him, as he appeared at the time to one of the Horneck +circle; in fact, we believe, to the Jessamy Bride herself. After admitting, +apparently with some reluctance, that "he was a very plain man," she goes +on to say, "but had he been much more so, it was impossible not to love and +respect his goodness of heart, which broke out on every occasion. His +benevolence was unquestionable, and _his countenance bore every trace of +it_: no one that knew him intimately could avoid admiring and loving his +good qualities." When to all this we add the idea of intellectual delicacy +and refinement associated with him by his poetry and the newly plucked bays +that were flourishing round his brow, we cannot be surprised that fine and +fashionable ladies should be proud of his attentions, and that even a young +beauty should not be altogether displeased with the thoughts of having a +man of his genius in her chains. + +We are led to indulge some notions of the kind from finding him in the +month of July, but a few weeks after the publication of the Deserted +Village, setting off on a six weeks' excursion to Paris, in company with +Mrs. Horneck and her two beautiful daughters. A day or two before his +departure we find another new gala suit charged to him on the books of Mr. +William Filby. Were the bright eyes of the Jessamy Bride responsible for +this additional extravagance of wardrobe? Goldsmith had recently been +editing the works of Parnell; had he taken courage from the example of +Edwin in the fairy tale?-- + + "Yet spite of all that nature did + To make his uncouth form forbid, + This creature dared to love. + He felt the force of Edith's eyes, + Nor wanted hope to gain the prize + _Could ladies look within--_" + +All this we throw out as mere hints and surmises, leaving it to our readers +to draw their own conclusions. It will be found, however, that the poet was +subjected to shrewd bantering among his contemporaries about the beautiful +Mary Horneck, and that he was extremely sensitive on the subject. + +It was in the month of June that he set out for Paris with his fair +companions, and the following letter was written by him to Sir Joshua +Reynolds, soon after the party landed at Calais: + +"MY DEAR FRIEND--We had a very quick passage from Dover to Calais, which we +performed in three hours and twenty minutes, all of us extremely seasick, +which must necessarily have happened, as my machine to prevent seasickness +was not completed. We were glad to leave Dover, because we hated to be +imposed upon; so were in high spirits at coming to Calais, where we were +told that a little money would go a great way. + +"Upon landing, with two little trunks, which was all we carried with us, we +were surprised to see fourteen or fifteen fellows all running down to the +ship to lay their hands upon them; four got under each trunk, the rest +surrounded and held the hasps; and in this manner our little baggage was +conducted, with a kind of funeral solemnity, till it was safely lodged at +the custom-house. We were well enough pleased with the people's civility +till they came to be paid; every creature that had the happiness of but +touching our trunks with their finger expected sixpence; and they had so +pretty and civil a manner of demanding it that there was no refusing them. + +"When we had done with the porters, we had next to speak with the +custom-house officers, who had their pretty civil ways too. We were +directed to the Hotel d'Angleterre, where a valet-de-place came to offer +his service, and spoke to me ten minutes before I once found out that he +was speaking English. We had no occasion for his services, so we gave him a +little money because he spoke English, and because he wanted it. I cannot +help mentioning another circumstance: I bought a new ribbon for my wig at +Canterbury, and the barber at Calais broke it in order to gain sixpence by +buying me a new one." + +An incident which occurred in the course of this tour has been tortured by +that literary magpie, Boswell, into a proof of Goldsmith's absurd jealousy +of any admiration shown to others in his presence. While stopping at a +hotel in Lisle, they were drawn to the windows by a military parade in +front. The extreme beauty of the Misses Horneck immediately attracted the +attention of the officers, who broke forth with enthusiastic speeches and +compliments intended for their ears. Goldsmith was amused for a while, but +at length affected impatience at this exclusive admiration of his beautiful +companions, and exclaimed, with mock severity of aspect, "Elsewhere I also +would have my admirers." + +It is difficult to conceive the obtuseness of intellect necessary to +misconstrue so obvious a piece of mock petulance and dry humor into an +instance of mortified vanity and jealous self-conceit. + +Goldsmith jealous of the admiration of a group of gay officers for the +charms of two beautiful young women! This even out-Boswells Boswell; yet +this is but one of several similar absurdities, evidently misconceptions of +Goldsmith's peculiar vein of humor, by which the charge of envious jealousy +has been attempted to be fixed upon him. In the present instance it was +contradicted by one of the ladies herself, who was annoyed that it had been +advanced against him. "I am sure," said she, "from the peculiar manner of +his humor, and assumed frown of countenance, what was often uttered in jest +was mistaken, by those who did not know him, for earnest." No one was more +prone to err on this point than Boswell. He had a tolerable perception of +wit, but none of humor. + +The following letter to Sir Joshua Reynolds was subsequently written: + +"To _Sir Joshua Reynolds_. + +"PARIS, _July 29 (1770)_. + +"MY DEAR FRIEND--I began a long letter to you from Lisle, giving a +description of all that we had done and seen, but, finding it very dull, +and knowing that you would show it again, I threw it aside and it was lost. +You see by the top of this letter that we are at Paris, and (as I have +often heard you say) we have brought our own amusement with us, for the +ladies do not seem to be very fond of what we have yet seen. + +"With regard to myself, I find that traveling at twenty and forty are very +different things. I set out with all my confirmed habits about me, and can +find nothing on the Continent so good as when I formerly left it. One of +our chief amusements here is scolding at everything we meet with, and +praising everything and every person we left at home. You may judge, +therefore, whether your name is not frequently bandied at table among us. +To tell you the truth, I never thought I could regret your absence so much +as our various mortifications on the road have often taught me to do. I +could tell you of disasters and adventures without number; of our lying in +barns, and of my being half poisoned with a dish of green peas; of our +quarreling with postilions, and being cheated by our landladies; but I +reserve all this for a happy hour which I expect to share with you upon my +return. + +"I have little to tell you more but that we are at present all well, and +expect returning when we have stayed out one month, which I did not care if +it were over this very day. I long to hear from you all, how you yourself +do, how Johnson, Burke, Dyer, Chamier, Colman, and every one of the club +do. I wish I could send you some amusement in this letter, but I protest I +am so stupefied by the air of this country (for I am sure it cannot be +natural) that I have not a word to say. I have been thinking of the plot of +a comedy, which shall be entitled A Journey to Paris, in which a family +shall be introduced with a full intention of going to France to save money. +You know there is not a place in the world more promising for that purpose. +As for the meat of this country, I can scarce eat it; and, though we pay +two good shillings a head for our dinner, I find it all so tough that I +have spent less time with my knife than my picktooth. I said this as a good +thing at the table, but it was not understood. I believe it to be a good +thing. + +"As for our intended journey to Devonshire, I find it out of my power to +perform it; for, as soon as I arrive at Dover, I intend to let the ladies +go on, and I will take a country lodging somewhere near that place in order +to do some business. I have so outrun the constable that I must mortify a +little to bring it up again. For God's sake, the night you receive this, +take your pen in your hand and tell me something about yourself and myself, +if you know anything that has happened. About Miss Reynolds, about Mr. +Bickerstaff, my nephew, or anybody that you regard. I beg you will send to +Griffin the bookseller to know if there be any letters left for me, and be +so good as to send them to me at Paris. They may perhaps be left for me at +the Porter's Lodge, opposite the pump in Temple Lane. The same messenger +will do. I expect one from Lord Clare, from Ireland. As for the others, I +am not much uneasy about. + +"Is there anything I can do for you at Paris? I wish you would tell me. The +whole of my own purchases here is one silk coat, which I have put on, and +which makes me look like a fool. But no more of that. I find that Colman +has gained his lawsuit. I am glad of it. I suppose you often meet. I will +soon be among you, better pleased with my situation at home than I ever was +before. And yet I must say that, if anything could make France pleasant, +the very good women with whom I am at present would certainly do it. I +could say more about that, but I intend showing them the letter before I +send it away. What signifies teasing you longer with moral observations, +when the business of my writing is over? I have one thing only more to say, +and of that I think every hour in the day; namely, that I am your most +sincere and most affectionate friend, + +"OLIVER GOLDSMITH. + + "Direct to me at the Hotel de Danemarc, + Rue Jacob, Fauxbourg St. Germains." + +A word of comment on this letter: + +Traveling is, indeed, a very different thing with Goldsmith the poor +student at twenty, and Goldsmith the poet and professor at forty. At +twenty, though obliged to trudge on foot from town to town, and country to +country, paying for a supper and a bed by a tune on the flute, everything +pleased, everything was good; a truckle bed in a garret was a conch of +down, and the homely fare of the peasant a feast fit for an epicure. Now, +at forty, when he posts through the country in a carriage, with fair ladies +by his side, everything goes wrong: he has to quarrel with postilions, he +is cheated by landladies, the hotels are barns, the meat is too tough to be +eaten, and he is half poisoned by green peas! A line hi his letter explains +the secret: "The ladies do not seem to be very fond of what we have yet +seen." "One of our chief amusements is scolding at everything we meet with, +and praising everything and every person we have left at home!" the true +English traveling amusement. Poor Goldsmith! he has "all his +_confirmed_ habits about him"; that is to say, he has recently risen +into high life, and acquired highbred notions; he must be fastidious like +his fellow-travelers; he dare not be pleased with what pleased the vulgar +tastes of his youth. He is unconsciously illustrating the trait so +humorously satirized by him in Bill Tibbs, the shabby beau, who can find +"no such dressing as he had at Lord Crump's or Lady Crimp's"; whose very +senses have grown genteel, and who no longer "smacks at wretched wine or +praises detestable custard." A lurking thorn, too, is worrying him +throughout this tour; he has "outrun the constable"; that is to say, his +expenses have outrun his means, and he will have to make up for this +butterfly flight by toiling like a grub on his return. + +Another circumstance contributes to mar the pleasure he had promised +himself in this excursion. At Paris the party is unexpectedly joined by a +Mr. Hickey, a bustling attorney, who is well acquainted with that +metropolis and its environs, and insists on playing the cicerone on all +occasions. He and Goldsmith do not relish each other, and they have several +petty altercations. The lawyer is too much a man of business and method for +the careless poet, and is disposed to manage everything. He has perceived +Goldsmith's whimsical peculiarities without properly appreciating his +merits, and is prone to indulge in broad bantering and raillery at his +expense, particularly irksome if indulged in presence of the ladies. He +makes himself merry on his return to England, by giving the following +anecdote as illustrative of Goldsmith's vanity: + +"Being with a party at Versailles, viewing the waterworks, a question arose +among the gentlemen present, whether the distance from whence they stood to +one of the little islands was within the compass of a leap. Goldsmith +maintained the affirmative; but, being bantered on the subject, and +remembering his former prowess as a youth, attempted the leap, but, falling +short, descended into the water, to the great amusement of the company." + +Was the Jessamy Bride a witness of this unlucky exploit? + +This same Hickey is the one of whom Goldsmith, some time subsequently, gave +a good-humored sketch in his poem of The Retaliation. + + "Here Hickey reclines, a most blunt, pleasant creature, + And slander itself must allow him good nature; + He cherish'd his friend, and he relish'd a bumper, + Yet one fault he had, and that one was a thumper. + Perhaps you may ask if the man was a miser; + I answer No, no, for he always was wiser; + Too courteous, perhaps, or obligingly flat, + His very worst foe can't accuse him of that; + Perhaps he confided in men as they go, + And so was too foolishly honest? Ah, not + Then what was his failing? Come, tell it, and burn ye-- + He was, could he help it? a special attorney." + +One of the few remarks extant made by Goldsmith during his tour is the +following, of whimsical import, in his Animated Nature. + +"In going through the towns of France, some time since, I could not help +observing how much plainer their parrots spoke than ours, and how very +distinctly I understood their parrots speak French, when I could not +understand our own, though they spoke my native language. I at first +ascribed it to the different qualities of the two languages, and was for +entering into an elaborate discussion on the vowels and consonants; but a +friend that was with me solved the difficulty at once, by assuring me that +the French women scarce did anything else the whole day than sit and +instruct their feathered pupils; and that the birds were thus distinct in +their lessons in consequence of continual schooling." + +His tour does not seem to have left in his memory the most fragrant +recollections; for, being asked, after his return, whether traveling on the +Continent repaid "an Englishman for the privations and annoyances attendant +on it," he replied, "I recommend it by all means to the sick, if they are +without the sense of _smelling_, and to the poor, if they are without +the sense of _feeling_; and to both, if they can discharge from their +minds all idea of what in England we term comfort." + +It is needless to say that the universal improvement in the art of living +on the Continent has at the present day taken away the force of Goldsmith's +reply, though even at the time it was more humorous than correct. + + + + +CHAPTER THIRTY + +DEATH OF GOLDSMITH'S MOTHER--BIOGRAPHY OF PARNELL--AGREEMENT WITH DAVIES +FOR THE HISTORY OF ROME--LIFE OP BOLINGBROKE--THE HAUNCH OF VENISON + + +On his return to England, Goldsmith received the melancholy tidings of the +death of his mother. Notwithstanding the fame as an author to which he had +attained, she seems to have been disappointed in her early expectations +from him. Like others of his family, she had been more vexed by his early +follies than pleased by his proofs of genius; and in subsequent years, when +he had risen to fame and to intercourse with the great, had been annoyed at +the ignorance of the world and want of management, which prevented him from +pushing his fortune. He had always, however, been an affectionate son, and +in the latter years of her life, when she had become blind, contributed +from his precarious resources to prevent her from feeling want. + +He now resumed the labors of the pen, which his recent excursion to Paris +rendered doubly necessary. We should have mentioned a Life of Parnell, +published by him shortly after the Deserted Village. It was, as usual, a +piece of job work, hastily got up for pocket-money. Johnson spoke +slightingly of it, and the author, himself, thought proper to apologize for +its meagerness; yet, in so doing, used a simile which for beauty of imagery +and felicity of language is enough of itself to stamp a value upon the +essay. + +"Such," says he, "is the very unpoetical detail of the life of a poet. Some +dates and some few facts, scarcely more interesting than those that make +the ornaments of a country tombstone, are all that remain of one whose +labors now begin to excite universal curiosity. A poet, while living, is +seldom an object sufficiently great to attract much attention; his real +merits are known but to a few, and these are generally sparing in their +praises. When his fame is increased by time, it is then too late to +investigate the peculiarities of his disposition; _the dews of morning +are past, and we vainly try to continue the chase by the meridian +splendor_." + +He now entered into an agreement with Davies to prepare an abridgment, in +one volume duodecimo, of his History of Rome; but first to write a work for +which there was a more immediate demand. Davies was about to republish Lord +Bolingbroke's Dissertation on Parties, which he conceived would be +exceedingly applicable to the affairs of the day, and make a probable +_hit_ during the existing state of violent political excitement; to +give it still greater effect and currency he engaged Goldsmith to introduce +it with a prefatory life of Lord Bolingbroke. + +About this time Goldsmith's friend and countryman, Lord Clare, was in great +affliction, caused by the death of his only son, Colonel Nugent, and stood +in need of the sympathies of a kind-hearted friend. At his request, +therefore, Goldsmith paid him a visit at his noble seat of Gosford, taking +his tasks with him. Davies was in a worry lest Gosford Park should prove a +Capua to the poet, and the time be lost. "Dr. Goldsmith," writes he to a +friend, "has gone with Lord Clare into the country, and I am plagued to get +the proofs from him of the Life of Lord Bolingbroke." The proofs, however, +were furnished in time for the publication of the work in December. The +Biography, though written during a time of political turmoil, and +introducing a work intended to be thrown into the arena of politics, +maintained that freedom from party prejudice observable in all the writings +of Goldsmith. It was a selection of facts drawn from many unreadable +sources, and arranged into a clear, flowing narrative, illustrative of the +career and character of one who, as he intimates, "seemed formed by nature +to take delight in struggling with opposition; whose most agreeable hours +were passed in storms of his own creating; whose life was spent in a +continual conflict of politics, and as if that was too short for the +combat, has left his memory as a subject of lasting contention." The sum +received by the author for this memoir is supposed, from circumstances, to +have been forty pounds. + +Goldsmith did not find the residence among the great unattended with +mortifications. He had now become accustomed to be regarded in London as a +literary lion, and was annoyed at what he considered a slight on the part +of Lord Camden. He complained of it on his return to town at a party of his +friends. "I met him," said he, "at Lord Clare's house in the country; and +he took no more notice of me than if I had been an ordinary man." "The +company," says Boswell, "laughed heartily at this piece of 'diverting +simplicity.'" And foremost among the laughters was doubtless the +rattle-pated Boswell. Johnson, however, stepped forward, as usual, to +defend the poet, whom he would allow no one to assail but himself; perhaps +in the present instance he thought the dignity of literature itself +involved in the question. "Nay, gentlemen," roared he, "Dr. Goldsmith is in +the right. A nobleman ought to have made up to such a man as Goldsmith, and +I think it is much against Lord Camden that he neglected him." + +After Goldsmith's return to town he received from Lord Clare a present of +game, which he has celebrated and perpetuated in his amusing verses +entitled the Haunch of Venison. Some of the lines pleasantly set forth the +embarrassment caused by the appearance of such an aristocratic delicacy in +the humble kitchen of a poet, accustomed to look up to mutton as a treat: + + "Thanks, my lord, for your venison; for finer or fatter + Never rang'd in a forest, or smok'd in a platter: + The haunch was a picture for painters to study, + The fat was so white, and the lean was so ruddy; + Though my stomach was sharp, I could scarce help regretting, + To spoil such a delicate picture by eating: + I had thought in my chambers to place it in view, + To be shown to my friends as a piece of virtu; + As in some Irish houses where things are so-so, + One gammon of bacon hangs up for a show; + But, for eating a rasher, of what they take pride in, + They'd as soon think of eating the pan it was fry'd in. + + * * * * * * * + + "But hang it--to poets, who seldom can eat, + Your very good mutton's a very good treat; + Such dainties to them, their health it might hurt; + _It's like sending them ruffles, when wanting a shirt._" + +We have an amusing anecdote of one of Goldsmith's blunders which took place +on a subsequent visit to Lord Clare's, when that nobleman was residing in +Bath. + +Lord Clare and the Duke of Northumberland had houses next to each other, of +similar architecture. Returning home one morning from an early walk, +Goldsmith, in one of his frequent fits of absence, mistook the house, and +walked up into the duke's dining-room, where he and the duchess were about +to sit down to breakfast. Goldsmith, still supposing himself in the house +of Lord Clare, and that they were visitors, made them an easy salutation, +being acquainted with, them, and threw himself on a sofa in the lounging +manner of a man perfectly at home. The duke and duchess soon perceived his +mistake, and, while they smiled internally, endeavored, with the +considerateness of well-bred people, to prevent any awkward embarrassment. +They accordingly chatted sociably with him about matters in Bath, until, +breakfast being served, they invited him to partake. The truth at once +flashed upon poor heedless Goldsmith; he started up from the free-and-easy +position, made a confused apology for his blunder, and would have retired +perfectly disconcerted, had not the duke and duchess treated the whole as a +lucky occurrence to throw him in their way, and exacted a promise from him +to dine with them. + +This may be hung up as a companion-piece to his blunder on his first visit +to Northumberland House. + + + + +CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE + +DINNER AT THE ROYAL ACADEMY--THE ROWLEY CONTROVERSY--HORACE WALPOLE'S +CONDUCT TO CHATTERTON--JOHNSON AT REDCLIFFE CHURCH--GOLDSMITH'S HISTORY OF +ENGLAND--DAVIES' CRITICISM--LETTER TO BENNET LANGTON + + +On St. George's day of this year (1771), the first annual banquet of the +Royal Academy was held in the exhibition room; the walls of which were +covered with works of art, about to be submitted to public inspection. Sir +Joshua Reynolds, who first suggested this elegant festival, presided in his +official character; Drs. Johnson and Goldsmith, of course, were present, as +professors of the academy; and, besides the academicians, there was a large +number of the most distinguished men of the day as guests. Goldsmith on +this occasion drew on himself the attention of the company by launching out +with enthusiasm on the poems recently given to the world by Chatterton as +the works of an ancient author by the name of Rowley, discovered in the +tower of Redcliffe Church, at Bristol. Goldsmith spoke of them with +rapture, as a treasure of old English poetry. This immediately raised the +question of their authenticity; they having been pronounced a forgery of +Chatterton's. Goldsmith was warm for their being genuine. When he +considered, he said, the merit of the poetry; the acquaintance with life +and the human heart displayed in them, the antique quaintness of the +language and the familiar knowledge of historical events of their supposed +day, he could not believe it possible they could be the work of a boy of +sixteen, of narrow education, and confined to the duties of an attorney's +office. They must be the productions of Rowley. + +Johnson, who was a stout unbeliever in Rowley, as he had been in Ossian, +rolled in his chair and laughed at the enthusiasm of Goldsmith. Horace +Walpole, who sat near by, joined in the laugh and jeer as soon as he found +that the "_trouvaille_," as he called it, "of _his friend_ +Chatterton" was in question. This matter, which had excited the simple +admiration of Goldsmith, was no novelty to him, he said. "He might, had he +pleased, have had the honor of ushering the great discovery to the learned +world." And so he might, had he followed his first impulse in the matter, +for he himself had been an original believer; had pronounced some specimen +verses sent to him by Chatterton wonderful for their harmony and spirit; +and had been ready to print them and publish them to the world with his +sanction. When he found, however, that his unknown correspondent was a mere +boy, humble in sphere and indigent in circumstances, and when Gray and +Mason pronounced the poems forgeries, he had changed his whole conduct +toward the unfortunate author, and by his neglect and coldness had dashed +all his sanguine hopes to the ground. + +Exulting in his superior discernment, this cold-hearted man of society now +went on to divert himself, as he says, with the credulity of Goldsmith, +whom he was accustomed to pronounce "an inspired idiot"; but his mirth was +soon dashed, for on asking the poet what had become of this Chatterton, he +was answered, doubtless in the feeling tone of one who had experienced the +pangs of despondent genius, that "he had been to London and had destroyed +himself." + +The reply struck a pang of self-reproach even to the cold heart of Walpole; +a faint blush may have visited his cheek at his recent levity. "The persons +of honor and veracity who were present," said he in after years, when he +found it necessary to exculpate himself from the charge of heartless +neglect of genius, "will attest with what surprise and concern. I thus +first heard of his death." Well might he feel concern. His cold neglect had +doubtless contributed to madden the spirit of that youthful genius, and +hurry him toward his untimely end; nor have all the excuses and palliations +of Walpole's friends and admirers been ever able entirely to clear this +stigma from his fame. + +But what was there in the enthusiasm and credulity of honest Goldsmith in +this matter to subject him to the laugh of Johnson or the raillery of +Walpole? Granting the poems were not ancient, were they not good? Granting +they were not the productions of Rowley, were they the less admirable for +being the productions of Chatterton? Johnson himself testified to their +merits and the genius of their composer when, some years afterward, he +visited the tower of Redcliffe Church, and was shown the coffer in which +poor Chatterton had pretended to find them. "This," said he, "is the most +extraordinary young man that has encountered my knowledge. _It is +wonderful how the whelp has written such things_." + +As to Goldsmith, he persisted in his credulity, and had subsequently a +dispute with Dr. Percy on the subject, which interrupted and almost +destroyed their friendship. After all, his enthusiasm was of a generous, +poetic kind; the poems remain beautiful monuments of genius, and it is even +now difficult to persuade one's self that they could be entirely the +productions of a youth of sixteen. + +In the month of August was published anonymously the History of England, on +which Goldsmith had been for some time employed. It was in four volumes, +compiled chiefly, as he acknowledged in the preface, from Rapin, Carle, +Smollett and Hume, "each of whom," says he, "have their admirers, in +proportion as the reader is studious of political antiquities, fond of +minute anecdote, a warm partisan, or a deliberate reasoner." It possessed +the same kind of merit as his other historical compilations; a clear, +succinct narrative, a simple, easy, and graceful style, and an agreeable +arrangement of facts; but was not remarkable for either depth of +observation or minute accuracy of research. Many passages were transferred, +with little if any alteration, from his Letters from a Nobleman to his Son +on the same subject. The work, though written without party feeling, met +with sharp animadversions from political scribblers. The writer was charged +with being unfriendly to liberty, disposed to elevate monarchy above its +proper sphere; a tool of ministers; one who would betray his country for a +pension. Tom Davies, the publisher, the pompous little bibliopole of +Russell Street, alarmed lest the book should prove unsalable, undertook to +protect it by his pen, and wrote a long article in its defense in "The +Public Advertiser." He was vain of his critical effusion, and sought by +nods and winks and innuendoes to intimate his authorship. "Have you seen," +said he in a letter to a friend, "'An Impartial Account of Goldsmith's +History of England'? If you want to know who was the writer of it, you will +find him in Russell Street--_but mum_!" + +The history, on the whole, however, was well received; some of the critics +declared that English history had never before been so usefully, so +elegantly, and agreeably epitomized, "and, like his other historical +writings, it has kept its ground" in English literature. + +Goldsmith had intended this summer, in company with Sir Joshua Reynolds, to +pay a visit to Bennet Langton, at his seat in Lincolnshire, where he was +settled in domestic life, having the year previously married the Countess +Dowager of Rothes. The following letter, however, dated from his chambers +in the Temple, on the 7th of September, apologizes for putting off the +visit, while it gives an amusing account of his summer occupations and of +the attacks of the critics on his History of England: + +"MY DEAR SIR--Since I had the pleasure of seeing you last, I have been +almost wholly in the country, at a farmer's house, quite alone, trying to +write a comedy. It is now finished; but when or how it will be acted, or +whether it will be acted at all, are questions I cannot resolve. I am +therefore so much employed upon that, that I am under the necessity of +putting off my intended visit to Lincolnshire for this season. Reynolds is +just returned from Paris, and finds himself now in the case of a truant +that must make up for his idle time by diligence. We have therefore agreed +to postpone our journey till next summer, when we hope to have the honor of +waiting upon Lady Rothes and you, and staying double the time of our late +intended visit. We often meet, and never without remembering you. I see Mr. +Beauclerc very often both in town and country. He is now going directly +forward to become a second Boyle; deep in chemistry and physics. Johnson +has been down on a visit to a country parson, Dr. Taylor; and is returned +to his old haunts at Mrs. Thrale's. Burke is a farmer, _en attendant_ +a better place; but visiting about too. Every soul is visiting about and +merry but myself. And that is hard too, as I have been trying these three +months to do something to make people laugh. There have I been strolling +about the hedges, studying jests with a most tragical countenance. The +Natural History is about half finished, and I will shortly finish the rest. +God knows I am tired of this kind of finishing, which is but bungling work; +and that not so much my fault as the fault of my scurvy circumstances. They +begin to talk in town of the Opposition's gaining ground; the cry of +liberty is still as loud as ever. I have published, or Davies has published +for me, an 'Abridgment of the History of England,' for which I have been a +good deal abused in the newspapers, for betraying the liberties of the +people. God knows I had no thought for or against liberty in my head; my +whole aim being to make up a book of a decent size, that, as 'Squire +Richard says, _would do no harm to nobody_. However, they set me down +as an arrant Tory, and consequently an honest man. When you come to look at +any part of it, you'll say that I am a sore Whig. God bless you, and with +my most respectful compliments to her ladyship, I remain, dear sir, your +most affectionate humble servant, + +"OLIVER GOLDSMITH." + + + + +CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO + +MARRIAGE OF LITTLE COMEDY--GOLDSMITH AT BARTON--PRACTICAL JOKES AT THE +EXPENSE OF HIS TOILET--AMUSEMENTS AT BARTON--AQUATIC MISADVENTURE + + +Though Goldsmith found it impossible to break from his literary occupations +to visit Bennet Langton, in Lincolnshire, he soon yielded to attractions +from another quarter, in which somewhat of sentiment may have mingled. Miss +Catharine Horneck, one of his beautiful fellow-travelers, otherwise called +"Little Comedy," had been married in August to Henry William Bunbury, Esq., +a gentleman of fortune, who has become celebrated for the humorous +productions of his pencil. Goldsmith was shortly afterward invited to pay +the newly married couple a visit at their seat, at Barton, in Suffolk. How +could he resist such an invitation--especially as the Jessamy Bride would, +of course, be among the guests? It is true, he was hampered with work; he +was still more hampered with debt; his accounts with Newbery were +perplexed; but all must give way. New advances are procured from Newbery, +on the promise of a new tale in the style of the Vicar of Wakefield, of +which he showed him a few roughly-sketched chapters; so, his purse +replenished in the old way, "by hook or by crook," he posted off to visit +the bride at Barton. He found there a joyous household, and one where he +was welcomed with affection. Garrick was there, and played the part of +master of the revels, for he was an intimate friend of the master of the +house. Notwithstanding early misunderstandings, a social intercourse +between the actor and the poet had grown up of late, from meeting together +continually in the same circle. A few particulars have reached us +concerning Goldsmith while on this happy visit. We believe the legend has +come down from Miss Mary Horneck herself. "While at Barton," she says, "his +manners were always playful and amusing, taking the lead in promoting any +scheme of innocent mirth, and usually prefacing the invitation with 'Come, +now, let us play the fool a little.' At cards, which was commonly a round +game, and the stake small, he was always the most noisy, affected great +eagerness to win, and teased his opponents of the gentler sex with +continual jest and banter on their want of spirit in not risking the +hazards of the game. But one of his most favorite enjoyments was to romp +with the children, when he threw off all reserve, and seemed one of the +most joyous of the group. + +"One of the means by which he amused us was his songs, chiefly of the comic +kind, which were sung with some taste and humor; several, I believe, were +of his own composition, and I regret that I neither have copies, which +might have been readily procured from him at the time, nor do I remember +their names." + +His perfect good humor made him the object of tricks of all kinds; often in +retaliation of some prank which he himself had played off. Unluckily these +tricks were sometimes made at the expense of his toilet, which, with a view +peradventure to please the eye of a certain fair lady, he had again +enriched to the impoverishment of his purse. "Being at all times gay in his +dress," says this ladylike legend, "he made his appearance at the +breakfast-table in a smart black silk coat with an expensive pair of +ruffles; the coat some one contrived to soil, and it was sent to be +cleansed; but, either by accident, or probably by design, the day after it +came home, the sleeves became daubed with paint, which was not discovered +until the ruffles also, to his great mortification, were irretrievably +disfigured. + +"He always wore a wig, a peculiarity which those who judge of his +appearance only from the fine poetical head of Reynolds would not suspect; +and on one occasion some person contrived seriously to injure this +important adjunct to dress. It was the only one he had in the country, and +the misfortune seemed irreparable until the services of Mr. Bunbury's valet +were called in, who, however, performed his functions so indifferently that +poor Goldsmith's appearance became the signal for a general smile." + +This was wicked waggery, especially when it was directed to mar all the +attempts of the unfortunate poet to improve his personal appearance, about +which he was at all times dubiously sensitive, and particularly when among +the ladies. + +We have in a former chapter recorded his unlucky tumble into a fountain at +Versailles, when attempting a feat of agility in presence of the fair +Hornecks. Water was destined to be equally baneful to him on the present +occasion. "Some difference of opinion," says the fair narrator, "having +arisen with Lord Harrington respecting the depth of a pond, the poet +remarked that it was not so deep, but that, if anything valuable was to be +found at the bottom, he would not hesitate to pick it up. His lordship, +after some banter, threw in a guinea; Goldsmith, not to be outdone in this +kind of bravado, in attempting to fulfill his promise without getting wet, +accidentally fell in, to the amusement of all present, but persevered, +brought out the money, and kept it, remarking that he had abundant objects +on whom to bestow any further proofs of his lordship's whim or bounty." + +All this is recorded by the beautiful Mary Horneck, the Jessamy Bride +herself; but while she gives these amusing pictures of poor Goldsmith's +eccentricities, and of the mischievous pranks played off upon him, she +bears unqualified testimony, which we have quoted elsewhere, to the +qualities of his head and heart, which shone forth, in his countenance, and +gained him the love of all who knew him. + +Among the circumstances of this visit vaguely called to mind by this fair +lady in after years, was that Goldsmith read to her and her sister the +first part of a novel which he had in hand. It was doubtless the manuscript +mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, on which he had obtained an +advance of money from Newbery to stave off some pressing debts, and to +provide funds for this very visit. It never was finished. The bookseller, +when he came afterward to examine the manuscript, objected to it as a mere +narrative version of the Good-Natured Man. Goldsmith, too easily put out of +conceit of his writings, threw it aside, forgetting that this was the very +Newbery who kept his Vicar of Wakefield by him nearly two years through +doubts of its success. The loss of the manuscript is deeply to be +regretted; it doubtless would have been properly wrought up before given to +the press, and might have given us new scenes in life and traits of +character, while it could not fail to bear traces of his delightful style. +What a pity he had not been guided by the opinions of his fair listeners at +Barton, instead of that of the astute Mr. Newbery! + + + + +CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE + +DINNER AT GENERAL OGLETHORPE'S--ANECDOTES OF THE GENERAL--DISPUTE ABOUT +DUELING--GHOST STORIES + + +We have mentioned old General Oglethorpe as one of Goldsmith's +aristocratical acquaintances. This veteran, born in 1698, had commenced +life early, by serving, when a mere stripling, under Prince Eugene, against +the Turks. He had continued in military life, and been promoted to the rank +of major-general in 1745, and received a command during the Scottish +rebellion. Being of strong Jacobite tendencies, he was suspected and +accused of favoring the rebels; and though acquitted by a court of inquiry, +was never afterward employed; or, in technical language, was shelved. He +had since been repeatedly a member of parliament, and had always +distinguished himself by learning, taste, active benevolence, and high Tory +principles. His name, however, has become historical, chiefly from his +transactions in America, and the share he took in the settlement of the +colony of Georgia. It lies embalmed in honorable immortality in a single +line of Pope's: + + "One, driven _by strong benevolence of soul_, + Shall fly, like Oglethorpe, from pole to pole." + +The veteran was now seventy-four years of age, but healthy and vigorous, +and as much the preux chevalier as in his younger days, when he served with +Prince Eugene. His table was often the gathering-place of men of talent. +Johnson was frequently there, and delighted in drawing from the general +details of his various "experiences." He was anxious that he should give +the world his life. "I know no man," said he, "whose life would be more +interesting." Still the vivacity of the general's mind and the variety of +his knowledge made him skip from subject to subject too fast for the +lexicographer. "Oglethorpe," growled he, "never completes what he has to +say." + +Boswell gives us an interesting and characteristic account of a dinner +party at the general's (April 10, 1772), at which Goldsmith and Johnson +were present. After dinner, when the cloth was removed, Oglethorpe, at +Johnson's request, gave an account of the siege of Belgrade, in the true +veteran style. Pouring a little wine upon the table, he drew his lines and +parallels with a wet finger, describing the positions of the opposing +forces. "Here were we--here were the Turks," to all which Johnson listened +with the most earnest attention, poring over the plans and diagrams with +his usual purblind closeness. + +In the course of conversation the general gave an anecdote of himself in +early life, when serving under Prince Eugene. Sitting at table once in +company with a prince of Wurtemberg, the latter gave a fillip to a glass of +wine, so as to make some of it fly in Oglethorpe's face. The manner in +which it was done was somewhat equivocal. How was it to be taken by the +stripling officer? If seriously, he must challenge the prince; but in so +doing he might fix on himself the character of a drawcansir. If passed over +without notice, he might be charged with cowardice. His mind was made up in +an instant. "Prince," said he, smiling, "that is an excellent joke; but we +do it much better in England." So saying, he threw a whole glass of wine in +the prince's face. "Il a bien fait, mon prince," cried an old general +present, "vouz l'avez commencé." (He has done right, my prince; you +commenced it.) The prince had the good sense to acquiesce in the decision +of the veteran, and Oglethorpe's retort in kind was taken in good part. + +It was probably at the close of this story that the officious Boswell, ever +anxious to promote conversation for the benefit of his note-book, started +the question whether dueling were consistent with moral duty. The old +general fired up in an instant. "Undoubtedly," said he, with a lofty air; +"undoubtedly a man has a right to defend his honor." Goldsmith immediately +carried the war into Boswell's own quarters, and pinned him with the +question, "what he would do if affronted?" The pliant Boswell, who for the +moment had the fear of the general rather than of Johnson before his eyes, +replied, "he should think it necessary to fight." "Why, then, that solves +the question," replied Goldsmith. "No, sir," thundered out Johnson; "it +does not follow that what a man would do, is therefore right." He, however, +subsequently went into a discussion to show that there were necessities in +the case arising out of the artificial refinement of society, and its +proscription of any one who should put up with an affront without fighting +a duel. "He then," concluded he, "who fights a duel does not fight from +passion against his antagonist, but out of self-defense, to avert the +stigma of the world, and to prevent himself from being driven out of +society. I could wish there were not that superfluity of refinement; but +while such notions prevail, no doubt a man may lawfully fight a duel." + +Another question started was, whether people who disagreed on a capital +point could live together in friendship. Johnson said they might. Goldsmith +said they could not, as they had not the idem velle atque idem voile--the +same liking and aversions. Johnson rejoined that they must shun the subject +on which they disagreed. "But, sir," said Goldsmith, "when people live +together who have something as to which they disagree, and which they want +to shun, they will be in the situation mentioned in the story of Blue +Beard: 'you may look into all the chambers but one'; but we should have the +greatest inclination to look into that chamber, to talk of that subject." +"Sir," thundered Johnson, in a loud voice, "I am not saying that _you_ +could live in friendship with a man from whom you differ as to some point; +I am only saying that _I_ could do it." + +Who will not say that Goldsmith had not the best of this petty contest? How +just was his remark! how felicitous the illustration of the blue chamber! +how rude and overbearing was the argumentum ad hominem of Johnson, when he +felt that he had the worst of the argument! + +The conversation turned upon ghosts! General Oglethorpe told the story of a +Colonel Prendergast, an officer in the Duke of Marlborough's army, who +predicted among his comrades that he should die on a certain day. The +battle of Malplaquet took place on that day. The colonel was in the midst +of it but came out unhurt. The firing had ceased, and his brother officers +jested with him about the fallacy of his prediction. "The day is not over," +replied he, gravely, "I shall die notwithstanding what you see." His words +proved true. The order for a cessation of firing had not reached one of the +French batteries, and a random shot from it killed the colonel on the spot. +Among his effects was found a pocketbook in which he had made a solemn +entry, that Sir John Friend, who had been executed for high treason, had +appeared to him, either in a dream or vision, and predicted that he would +meet him on a certain day (the very day of the battle). Colonel Cecil, who +took possession of the effects of Colonel Prendergast, and read the entry +in the pocketbook, told this story to Pope, the poet, in the presence of +General Oglethorpe. + +This story, as related by the general, appears to have been well received, +if not credited, by both Johnson and Goldsmith, each of whom had something +to relate in kind. Goldsmith's brother, the clergyman in whom he had such +implicit confidence, had assured him of his having seen an apparition. +Johnson also had a friend, old Mr. Cave, the printer, at St. John's Gate, +"an honest man, and a sensible man," who told him he had seen a ghost: he +did not, however, like to talk of it, and seemed to be in great horror, +whenever it was mentioned. "And pray, sir," asked Boswell, "what did he say +was the appearance?" "Why, sir, something of a shadowy being." + +The reader will not be surprised at this superstitious turn in the +conversation of such intelligent men, when he recollects that, but a few +years before this time, all London had been agitated by the absurd story of +the Cock Lane ghost; a matter which Dr. Johnson had deemed worthy of his +serious investigation, and about which Goldsmith had written a pamphlet. + + + + +CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR + +MR. JOSEPH CRADOCK--AN AUTHOR'S CONFIDINGS--AN AMANUENSIS--LIFE AT +EDGEWARE--GOLDSMITH CONJURING--GEORGE COLMAN--THE FANTOCCINI + + +Among the agreeable acquaintances made by Goldsmith about this time was a +Mr. Joseph Cradock, a young gentleman of Leicestershire, living at his +ease, but disposed to "make himself uneasy," by meddling with literature +and the theater; in fact, he had a passion for plays and players, and had +come up to town with a modified translation of Voltaire's tragedy of +Zobeide, in a view to get it acted. There was no great difficulty in the +case, as he was a man of fortune, had letters of introduction to persons of +note, and was altogether in a different position from the indigent man of +genius whom managers might harass with impunity. Goldsmith met him at the +house of Yates, the actor, and finding that he was a friend of Lord Clare, +soon became sociable with him. Mutual tastes quickened the intimacy, +especially as they found means of serving each other. Goldsmith wrote an +epilogue for the tragedy of Zobeide; and Cradock, who was an amateur +musician, arranged the music for the Threnodia Augustalis, a lament on the +death of the Princess Dowager of Wales, the political mistress and patron +of Lord Clare, which Goldsmith had thrown off hastily to please that +nobleman. The tragedy was played with some success at Covent Garden; the +Lament was recited and sung at Mrs. Cornelys' rooms--a very fashionable +resort in Soho Square, got up by a woman of enterprise of that name. It was +in whimsical parody of those gay and somewhat promiscuous assemblages that +Goldsmith used to call the motley evening parties at his lodgings "little +Cornelys." + +The Threnodia Augustalis was not publicly known to be by Goldsmith until +several years after his death. + +Cradock was one of the few polite intimates who felt more disposed to +sympathize with the generous qualities of the poet than to sport with his +eccentricities. He sought his society whenever he came to town, and +occasionally had him to his seat in the country. Goldsmith appreciated his +sympathy, and unburdened himself to him without reserve. Seeing the +lettered ease in which this amateur author was enabled to live, and the +time he could bestow on the elaboration of a manuscript, "Ah! Mr. Cradock," +cried he, "think of me that must write a volume every month!" He complained +to him of the attempts made by inferior writers, and by others who could +scarcely come under that denomination, not only to abuse and depreciate his +writings, but to render him ridiculous as a man; perverting every harmless +sentiment and action into charges of absurdity, malice, or folly. "Sir," +said he, in the fullness of his heart, "I am as a lion bated by curs!" + +Another acquaintance which he made about this time, was a young countryman +of the name of M'Donnell, whom he met in a state of destitution, and, of +course, befriended. The following grateful recollections of his kindness +and his merits were furnished by that person in after years: + +"It was in the year 1772," writes he, "that the death of my elder +brother--when in London, on my way to Ireland--left me in a most forlorn +situation; I was then about eighteen; I possessed neither friends nor +money, nor the means of getting to Ireland, of which or of England I knew +scarcely anything, from having so long resided in France. In this situation +I had strolled about for two or three days, considering what to do, but +unable to come to any determination, when Providence directed me to the +Temple Gardens. I threw myself on a seat, and, willing to forget my +miseries for a moment, drew out a book; that book was a volume of Boileau. +I had not been there long when a gentleman, strolling about, passed near +me, and observing, perhaps, something Irish or foreign in my garb or +countenance, addressed me: 'Sir, you seem studious; I hope you find this a +favorable place to pursue it.' 'Not very studious, sir; I fear it is the +want of society that brings me hither; I am solitary and unknown in this +metropolis'; and a passage from Cicero--Oratio pro Archia--occurring to me, +I quoted it; 'Haec studia pronoctant nobiscum, perigrinantur, rusticantur.' +'You are a scholar, too, sir, I perceive.' 'A piece of one, sir; but I +ought still to have been in the college where I had the good fortune to +pick up the little I know.' A good deal of conversation ensued; I told him +part of my history, and he, in return, gave his address in the Temple, +desiring me to call soon, from which, to my infinite surprise and +gratification, I found that the person who thus seemed to take an interest +in my fate was my countryman, and a distinguished ornament of letters. + +"I did not fail to keep the appointment, and was received in the kindest +manner. He told me, smilingly, that he was not rich; that he could do +little for me in direct pecuniary aid, but would endeavor to put me in the +way of doing something for myself; observing, that he could at least +furnish me with advice not wholly useless to a young man placed in the +heart of a great metropolis. 'In London,' he continued, 'nothing is to be +got for nothing; you must work; and no man who chooses to be industrious +need be under obligations to another, for here labor of every kind commands +its reward. If you think proper to assist me occasionally as amanuensis, I +shall be obliged, and you will be placed under no obligation, until +something more permanent can be secured for you.' This employment, which I +pursued for some time, was to translate passages from Buffon, which was +abridged or altered, according to circumstances, for his Natural History." + +Goldsmith's literary tasks were fast getting ahead of him, and he began now +to "toil after them in vain." + +Five volumes of the Natural History here spoken of had long since been paid +for by Mr. Griffin, yet most of them were still to be written. His young +amanuensis bears testimony to his embarrassments and perplexities, but to +the degree of equanimity with which he bore them: + +"It has been said," observes he, "that he was irritable. Such may have been +the case at times; nay, I believe it was so; for what with the continual +pursuit of authors, printers, and booksellers, and occasional pecuniary +embarrassments, few could have avoided exhibiting similar marks of +impatience. But it was never so toward me. I saw him only in his bland and +kind moods, with a flow, perhaps an overflow, of the milk of human kindness +for all who were in any manner dependent upon him. I looked upon him with +awe and veneration, and he upon me as a kind parent upon a child. + +"His manner and address exhibited much frankness and cordiality, +particularly to those with whom he possessed any degree of intimacy. His +good-nature was equally apparent. Ton could not dislike the man, although +several of his follies and foibles you might be tempted to condemn. He was +generous and inconsiderate; money with him had little value." + +To escape from many of the tormentors just alluded to, and to devote +himself without interruption to his task, Goldsmith took lodgings for the +summer at a farmhouse near the six-mile stone on the Edgeware road, and +carried down his books in two return post-chaises. He used to say he +believed the farmer's family thought him an odd character, similar to that +in which the "Spectator" appeared to his landlady and her children: he was +"The Gentleman." Boswell tells us that he went to visit him at the place in +company with Mickle, translator of the Lusiad. Goldsmith was not at home. +Having a curiosity to see his apartment, however, they went in, and found +curious scraps of descriptions of animals scrawled upon the wall with a +black lead pencil. + +The farmhouse in question is still in existence, though much altered. It +stands upon a gentle eminence in Hyde Lane, commanding a pleasant prospect +toward Hendon. The room is still pointed out in which She Stoops to Conquer +was written; a convenient and airy apartment, up one Sight of stairs. + +Some matter-of-fact traditions concerning the author were furnished, a few +years since, by a son of the farmer, who was sixteen years of age at the +time Goldsmith resided with his father. Though he had engaged to board with +the family, his meals were generally sent to him in his room, in which he +passed the most of his time, negligently dressed, with his shirt collar +open, busily engaged in writing. Sometimes, probably when in moods of +composition, he would wander into the kitchen, without noticing any one, +stand musing with his back to the fire, and then hurry off again to his +room, no doubt to commit to paper some thought which had struck him. + +Sometimes he strolled about the fields, or was to be seen loitering and +reading and musing under the hedges. He was subject to fits of wakefulness +and read much in bed; if not disposed to read, he still kept the candle +burning; if he wished to extinguish it, and it was out of his reach, he +flung his slipper at it, which would be found in the morning near the +overturned candlestick, and daubed with grease. He was noted here, as +everywhere else, for his charitable feelings. No beggar applied to him in +vain, and he evinced on all occasions great commiseration for the poor. + +He had the use of the parlor to receive and entertain company, and was +visited by Sir Joshua Reynolds, Hugh Boyd, the reputed author of Junius, +Sir William Chambers, and other distinguished characters. He gave +occasionally, though rarely, a dinner party; and on one occasion, when his +guests were detained by a thunder shower, he got up a dance, and carried +the merriment late into the night. + +As usual, he was the promoter of hilarity among the young, and at one time +took the children of the house to see a company of strolling players at +Hendon. The greatest amusement to the party, however, was derived from his +own jokes on the road and his comments on the performance, which produced +infinite laughter among his youthful companions. + +Near to his rural retreat at Edgeware, a Mr. Seguin, an Irish merchant, of +literary tastes, had country quarters for his family, where Goldsmith was +always welcome. + +In this family he would indulge in playful and even grotesque humor, and +was ready for anything--conversation, music, or a game of romps. He prided +himself upon his dancing, and would walk a minuet with Mrs. Seguin, to the +infinite amusement of herself and the children, whose shouts of laughter he +bore with perfect good-humor. He would sing Irish songs, and the Scotch +ballad of Johnny Armstrong. He took the lead in the children's sports of +blind man's buff, hunt the slipper, etc., or in their games at cards, and +was the most noisy of the party, affecting to cheat and to be excessively +eager to win; while with children of smaller size he would turn the hind +part of his wig before, and play all kinds of tricks to amuse them. + +One word as to his musical skill and his performance on the flute, which +comes up so invariably in all his fireside revels. He really knew nothing +of music scientifically; he had a good ear, and may have played sweetly; +but we are told he could not read a note of music. Roubillac, the statuary, +once played a trick upon him in this respect. He pretended to score down an +air as the poet played it, but put down crotchets and semi-breves at +random. When he had finished, Goldsmith cast his eyes over it and +pronounced it correct! It is possible that his execution in music was like +his style in writing; in sweetness and melody he may have snatched a grace +beyond the reach of art! + +He was at all times a capital companion for children, and knew how to fall +in with their humors. "I little thought," said Miss Hawkins, the woman +grown, "what I should have to boast, when Goldsmith taught me to play Jack +and Jill by two bits of paper on his fingers." He entertained Mrs. Garrick, +we are told, with a whole budget of stories and songs; delivered the +Chimney Sweep with exquisite taste as a solo; and performed a duet with +Garrick of Old Rose and Burn the Bellows. + +"I was only five years old," says the late George Colman, "when Goldsmith +one evening, when drinking coffee with my father, took me on his knee and +began to play with me, which amiable act I returned with a very smart slap +in the face; it must have been a tingler, for I left the marks of my little +spiteful paw upon his cheek. This infantile outrage was followed by summary +justice, and I was locked up by my father in an adjoining room, to undergo +solitary imprisonment in the dark. Here I began to howl and scream most +abominably. At length a friend appeared to extricate me from jeopardy; it +was the good-natured doctor himself, with a lighted candle in his hand, and +a smile upon his countenance, which was still partially red from the +effects of my petulance. I sulked and sobbed, and he fondled and soothed +until I began to brighten. He seized the propitious moment, placed three +hats upon the carpet, and a shilling under each; the shillings, he told me, +were England, France, and Spain. 'Hey, presto, cockolorum!' cried the +doctor, and, lo! on uncovering the shillings, they were all found +congregated under one. I was no politician at the time, and therefore might +not have wondered at the sudden revolution which brought England, France, +and Spain all under one crown; but, as I was also no conjurer, it amazed me +beyond measure. From that time, whenever the doctor came to visit my +father, + + "'I pluck'd his gown to share the good man's smile'; + +a game of romps constantly ensued, and we were always cordial friends and +merry playfellows." + +Although Goldsmith made the Edgeware farmhouse his headquarters for the +summer, he would absent himself for weeks at a time on visits to Mr. +Cradock, Lord Clare, and Mr. Langton, at their country-seats. He would +often visit town, also, to dine and partake of the public amusements. On +one occasion he accompanied Edmund Burke to witness a performance of the +Italian Fantoccini or Puppets, in Panton Street; an exhibition which had +hit the caprice of the town, and was in great vogue. The puppets were set +in motion by wires, so well concealed as to be with difficulty detected. +Boswell, with his usual obtuseness with respect to Goldsmith, accuses him +of being jealous of the puppets! "When Burke," said he, "praised the +dexterity with which one of them tossed a pike, 'Pshaw,' said Goldsmith +_with some warmth_, 'I can do it better myself.'" "The same evening," +adds Boswell, "when supping at Burke's lodgings, he broke his shin by +attempting to exhibit to the company how much better he could jump over a +stick than the puppets." + +Goldsmith jealous of puppets! This even passes in absurdity Boswell's +charge upon him of being jealous of the beauty of the two Misses Horneck. + +The Panton Street puppets were destined to be a source of further amusement +to the town, and of annoyance to the little autocrat of the stage. Foote, +the Aristophanes of the English drama, who was always on the alert to turn +every subject of popular excitement to account, seeing the success of the +Fantoccini, gave out that he should produce a Primitive Puppet-show at the +Haymarket, to be entitled the Handsome Chambermaid, or Piety in Pattens: +intended to burlesque the _sentimental comedy_ which Garrick still +maintained at Drury Lane. The idea of a play to be performed in a regular +theater by puppets excited the curiosity and talk of the town. "Will your +puppets be as large as life, Mr. Foote?" demanded a lady of rank. "Oh, no, +my lady," replied Foote, "_not much larger than Garrick_." + + + + +CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE + +BROKEN HEALTH--DISSIPATION AND DEBTS--THE IRISH WIDOW--PRACTICAL +JOKES--SCRUB--A MISQUOTED PUN--MALAGRIDA--GOLDSMITH PROVED TO BE A +FOOL--DISTRESSED BALLAD SINGERS--THE POET AT RANELAGH + +Goldsmith returned to town in the autumn (1772), with his health much +disordered. His close fits of sedentary application, during which he in a +manner tied himself to the mast, had laid the seeds of a lurking malady in +his system, and produced a severe illness in the course of the summer. Town +life was not favorable to the health either of body or mind. He could not +resist the siren voice of temptation, which, now that he had become a +notoriety, assailed him on every side. Accordingly we find him launching +away in a career of social dissipation; dining and supping out; at clubs, +at routs, at theaters; he is a guest with Johnson at the Thrales, and an +object of Mrs. Thrale's lively sallies; he is a lion at Mrs. Vesey's and +Mrs. Montagu's, where some of the high-bred blue-stockings pronounce him a +"wild genius," and others, peradventure, a "wild Irishman." In the meantime +his pecuniary difficulties are increasing upon him, conflicting with his +proneness to pleasure and expense, and contributing by the harassment of +his mind to the wear and tear of his constitution. His Animated Nature, +though not finished, had been entirely paid for, and the money spent. The +money advanced by Garrick on Newbery's note still hangs over him as a debt. +The tale on which Newbery had loaned from two to three hundred pounds +previous to the excursion to Barton has proved a failure. The bookseller is +urgent for the settlement of his complicated account; the perplexed author +has nothing to offer him in liquidation but the copyright of the comedy +which he has in his portfolio; "Though to tell you the truth, Frank," said +he, "there are great doubts of its success." The offer was accepted, and, +like bargains wrung from Goldsmith in times of emergency, turned out a +golden speculation to the bookseller. + +In this way Goldsmith went on "outrunning the constable," as he termed it; +spending everything in advance; working with an overtasked head and weary +heart to pay for past pleasures and past extravagance, and at the same time +incurring new debts, to perpetuate his struggles and darken his future +prospects. While the excitement of society and the excitement of +composition conspire to keep up a feverishness of the system, he has +incurred an unfortunate habit of quacking himself with James' powders, a +fashionable panacea of the day. + +A farce, produced this year by Garrick, and entitled The Irish Widow, +perpetuates the memory of practical jokes played off a year or two +previously upon the alleged vanity of poor, simple-hearted Goldsmith. He +was one evening at the house of his friend Burke, when he was beset by a +tenth muse, an Irish widow and authoress, just arrived from Ireland, full +of brogue and blunders, and poetic fire and rantipole gentility. She was +soliciting subscriptions for her poems; and assailed Goldsmith for his +patronage; the great Goldsmith--her countryman, and of course her friend. +She overpowered him with eulogiums on his own poems, and then read some of +her own, with vehemence of tone and gesture, appealing continually to the +great Goldsmith to know how he relished them. + +Poor Goldsmith did all that a kind-hearted and gallant gentleman could do +hi such a case; he praised her poems as far as the stomach of his sense +would permit: perhaps a little further; he offered her his subscription, +and it was not until she had retired with many parting compliments to the +great Goldsmith that he pronounced the poetry which had been inflicted on +him execrable. The whole scene had been a hoax got up by Burke for the +amusement of his company, and the Irish widow, so admirably performed, had +been personated by a Mrs. Balfour, a lady of his connection, of great +sprightliness and talent. + +We see nothing in the story to establish the alleged vanity of Goldsmith, +but we think it tells rather to the disadvantage of Burke; being +unwarrantable under their relations of friendship, and a species of waggery +quite beneath his genius. Croker, in his notes to Boswell, gives another of +these practical jokes perpetrated by Burke at the expense of Goldsmith's +credulity. It was related to Croker by Colonel O'Moore, of Cloghan Castle, +in Ireland, who was a party concerned. The colonel and Burke, walking one +day through Leicester Square on their way to Sir Joshua Reynolds', with +whom they were to dine, observed Goldsmith, who was likewise to be a guest, +standing and regarding a crowd which was staring and shouting at some +foreign ladies in the window of a hotel. "Observe Goldsmith," said Burke to +O'Moore, "and mark what passes between us at Sir Joshua's." They passed on +and reached there before him. Burke received Goldsmith with affected +reserve and coldness; being pressed to explain the reason. "Really," said +he, "I am ashamed to keep company with a person who could act as you have +just done in the Square." Goldsmith protested he was ignorant of what was +meant. "Why," said Burke, "did you not exclaim as you were looking up at +those women, what stupid beasts the crowd must be for staring with such +admiration at those _painted Jezebels_, while a man of your talents +passed by unnoticed?" "Surely, surely, my dear friend," cried Goldsmith, +with alarm, "surely I did not say so?" "Nay," replied Burke, "if you had +not said so, how should I have known it?" "That's true," answered +Goldsmith, "I am very sorry--it was very foolish: _I do recollect that +something thing of the kind passed through my mind, but I did not think I +had uttered it_." + +It is proper to observe that these jokes were played off by Burke before he +had attained the full eminence of his social position, and that he may have +felt privileged to take liberties with Goldsmith as his countryman and +college associate. It is evident, however, that the peculiarities of the +latter, and his guileless simplicity, made him a butt for the broad waggery +of some of his associates; while others more polished, though equally +perfidious, are on the watch to give currency to his bulls and blunders. + +The Stratford jubilee, in honor of Shakespeare, where Boswell had made a +fool of himself, was still in every one's mind. It was sportively suggested +that a fete should be held at Lichfield in honor of Johnson and Garrick, +and that the Beaux' Stratagem should be played by the members of the +Literary Club. "Then," exclaimed Goldsmith, "I shall certainly play Scrub. +I should like of all things to try my hand at that character." The unwary +speech, which any one else might have made without comment, has been +thought worthy of record as whimsically characteristic. Beauclerc was +extremely apt to circulate anecdotes at his expense, founded perhaps on +some trivial incident, but dressed up with the embellishments of his +sarcastic brain. One relates to a venerable dish of peas, served up at Sir +Joshua's table, which should have been green, but were any other color. A +wag suggested to Goldsmith, in a whisper, that they should be sent to +Hammersmith, as that was the way to _turn-em-green_ (Turnham-Green). +Goldsmith, delighted with the pun, endeavored to repeat it at Burke's +table, but missed the point. "That is the way to _make_ 'em green," +said he. Nobody laughed. He perceived he was at fault. "I mean that is the +_road_ to turn 'em green." A dead pause and a stare; "whereupon," adds +Beauclerc, "he started up disconcerted and abruptly left the table." This +is evidently one of Beauclerc's caricatures. + +On another occasion the poet and Beauclerc were seated at the theater next +to Lord Shelburne, the minister, whom political writers thought proper to +nickname Malagrida. "Do you know," said Goldsmith to his lordship, in the +course of conversation, "that I never could conceive why they called you +Malagrida, _for_ Malagrida was a very good sort of man." This was too +good a trip of the tongue for Beauclerc to let pass: he serves it up in his +next letter to Lord Charlemont, as a specimen of a mode of turning a +thought the wrong way, peculiar to the poet; he makes merry over it with +his witty and sarcastic compeer, Horace Walpole, who pronounces it "a +picture of Goldsmith's whole life." Dr. Johnson alone, when he hears it +bandied about as Goldsmith's last blunder, growls forth a friendly defense: +"Sir," said he, "it was a mere blunder in emphasis. He meant to say, I +wonder they should use Malagrida as a term of reproach." Poor Goldsmith! On +such points he was ever doomed to be misinterpreted. Rogers, the poet, +meeting in times long subsequent with a survivor of those days, asked him +what Goldsmith really was in conversation. The old conversational character +was too deeply stamped in the memory of the veteran to be effaced. "Sir," +replied the old wiseacre, "_he was a fool_. The right word never came +to him. If you gave him back a bad shilling, he'd say, Why, it's as good a +shilling as ever was _born_. You know he ought to have said +_coined_. _Coined_, sir, never entered his head. _He was a +fool, sir_." + +We have so many anecdotes in which Goldsmith's simplicity is played upon +that it is quite a treat to meet with one in which he is represented +playing upon the simplicity of others, especially when the victim of his +joke is the "Great Cham" himself, whom all others are disposed to hold so +much in awe. Goldsmith and Johnson were supping cozily together at a tavern +in Dean Street, Soho, kept by Jack Roberts, a singer at Drury Lane, and a +protege of Garrick's. Johnson delighted in these gastronomical +tete-a-tetes, and was expatiating in high good-humor on rumps and kidneys, +the veins of his forehead swelling with the ardor of mastication. "These," +said he, "are pretty little things; but a man must eat a great many of them +before he is filled." "Ay; but how many of them," asked Goldsmith, with +affected simplicity, "would reach to the moon?" "To the moon! Ah, sir, +that, I fear, exceeds your calculation." "Not at all, sir; I think I could +tell." "Pray, then, sir, let us hear." "Why, sir, one, _if it were long +enough_!" Johnson growled for a time at finding himself caught in such a +trite schoolboy trap. "Well, sir," cried he at length, "I have deserved it. +I should not have provoked so foolish an answer by so foolish a question." + +Among the many incidents related as illustrative of Goldsmith's vanity and +envy is one which occurred one evening when he was in a drawing-room with a +party of ladies, and a ballad-singer under the window struck up his +favorite song of Sally Salisbury. "How miserably this woman sings!" +exclaimed he. "Pray, doctor," said the lady of the house, "could you do it +better?" "Yes, madam, and the company shall be judges." The company, of +course, prepared to be entertained by an absurdity; but their smiles were +wellnigh turned to tears, for he acquitted himself with a skill and pathos +that drew universal applause. He had, in fact, a delicate ear for music, +which had been jarred by the false notes of the ballad-singer; and there +were certain pathetic ballads, associated with recollections of his +childhood, which were sure to touch the springs of his heart. We have +another story of him, connected with ballad-singing, which is still more +characteristic. He was one evening at the house of Sir William Chambers, in +Berners Street, seated at a whist table with Sir William, Lady Chambers, +and Baretti, when all at once he threw down his cards, hurried out of the +room and into the street. He returned in an instant, resumed his seat, and +the game went on. Sir William, after a little hesitation, ventured to ask +the cause of his retreat, fearing he had been overcome by the heat of the +room. "Not at all," replied Goldsmith; "but in truth I could not bear to +hear that unfortunate woman in the street, half singing, half sobbing, for +such tones could only arise from the extremity of distress; her voice +grated painfully on my ear and jarred my frame, so that I could not rest +until I had sent her away." It was in fact a poor ballad-singer, whose +cracked voice had been heard by others of the party, but without having the +same effect on their sensibilities. It was the reality of his fictitious +scene in the story of the "Man in Black"; wherein he describes a woman in +rags with one child in her arms and another on her back, attempting to sing +ballads, but with such a mournful voice that it was difficult to determine +whether she was singing or crying. "A wretch," he adds, "who, in the +deepest distress, still aimed at good-humor, was an object my friend was by +no means capable of withstanding." The Man in Black gave the poor woman all +that he had--a bundle of matches. Goldsmith, it is probable, sent his +ballad-singer away rejoicing with all the money in his pocket. + +Ranelagh was at that time greatly in vogue as a place of public +entertainment. It was situated near Chelsea; the principal room was a +rotunda of great dimensions, with an orchestra in the center and tiers of +boxes all round. It was a place to which Johnson resorted occasionally. "I +am a great friend to public amusements," said he, "for they keep people +from vice." [Footnote: "Alas, sir!" said Johnson, speaking, when in another +mood, of grand houses, fine gardens, and splendid places of public +amusement; "alas, sir! these are only struggles for happiness. When I first +entered Ranelagh it gave an expansion and gay sensation to my mind, such as +I never experienced anywhere else. But, as Xerxes wept when he viewed his +immense army, and considered that not one of that great multitude would be +alive a hundred years afterward, so it went to my heart to consider that +there was not one in all that brilliant circle that was not afraid to go +home and think."] Goldsmith was equally a friend to them, though perhaps +not altogether on such moral grounds. He was particularly fond of +masquerades, which were then exceedingly popular, and got up at Ranelagh +with great expense and magnificence. Sir Joshua Reynolds, who had likewise +a taste for such amusements, was sometimes his companion, at other times he +went alone; his peculiarities of person and manner would soon betray him, +whatever might be his disguise, and he would be singled out by wags, +acquainted with his foibles, and more successful than himself in +maintaining their incognito, as a capital subject to be played upon. Some, +pretending not to know him, would decry his writings, and praise those of +his contemporaries; others would laud his verses to the skies, but +purposely misquote and burlesque them; others would annoy him with +parodies; while one young lady, whom he was teasing, as he supposed, with +great success and infinite humor, silenced his rather boisterous laughter +by quoting his own line about "the loud laugh that speaks the vacant mind." +On one occasion he was absolutely driven out of the house by the +persevering jokes of a wag, whose complete disguise gave him no means of +retaliation. + +His name appearing in the newspapers among the distinguished persons +present at one of these amusements, his old enemy, Kenrick, immediately +addressed to him a copy of anonymous verses, to the following purport. + +TO DR. GOLDSMITH + +ON SEEING HIS NAME IN THE LIST OF MUMMERS AT THE LATE MASQUERADE + + "How widely different, Goldsmith, are the ways + Of doctors now, and those of ancient days! + Theirs taught the truth in academic shades, + Ours in lewd hops and midnight masquerades. + So changed the times! say, philosophic sage, + Whose genius suits so well this tasteful age, + Is the Pantheon, late a sink obscene, + Become the fountain of chaste Hippocrene? + Or do thy moral numbers quaintly flow, + Inspired by th' _Aganippe_ of Soho? + Do wisdom's sons gorge cates and vermicelli, + Like beastly Bickerstaffe or bothering Kelly? + Or art thou tired of th' undeserved applause + Bestowed on bards affecting Virtue's cause? + Is this the good that makes the humble vain, + The good philosophy should not disdain? + If so, let pride dissemble all it can, + A modern sage is still much less than man." + +Goldsmith was keenly sensitive to attacks of the kind, and meeting Kenrick +at the Chapter Coffee-house, called him to sharp account for taking such a +liberty with his name, and calling his morals in question, merely on +account of his being seen at a place of general resort and amusement. +Kenrick shuffled and sneaked, protesting that he meant nothing derogatory +to his private character. Goldsmith let him know, however, that he was +aware of his having more than once indulged in attacks of this dastard +kind, and intimated that another such outrage would be followed by personal +chastisement. + +Kenrick having played the craven in his presence, avenged himself as soon +as he was gone by complaining of his having made a wanton attack upon him, +and by making coarse comments upon his writings, conversation and person. + +The scurrilous satire of Kenrick, however unmerited, may have checked +Goldsmith's taste for masquerades. Sir Joshua Reynolds, calling on the poet +one morning, found him walking about his room in somewhat of a reverie, +kicking a bundle of clothes before him like a football. It proved to be an +expensive masquerade dress, which he said he had been fool enough to +purchase, and as there was no other way of getting the worth of his money, +he was trying to take it out in exercise. + + + + +CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX + +INVITATION TO CHRISTMAS--THE SPRING VELVET COAT--THE HAYMAKING WIG--THE +MISCHANCES OF LOO--THE FAIR CULPRIT--A DANCE WITH THE JESSAMY BRIDE + + +From the feverish dissipations of town, Goldsmith is summoned away to +partake of the genial dissipations of the country. In the month of +December, a letter from Mrs. Bunbury invites him down to Barton, to pass +the Christmas holidays. The letter is written in the usual playful vein +which marks his intercourse with this charming family. He is to come in his +"smart spring-velvet coat," to bring a new wig to dance with the haymakers +in, and, above all, to follow the advice of herself and her sister (the +Jessamy Bride), in playing loo. This letter, which plays so archly, yet +kindly, with some of poor Goldsmith's peculiarities, and bespeaks such real +ladylike regard for him, requires a word or two of annotation. The +spring-velvet suit alluded to appears to have been a gallant adornment +(somewhat in the style of the famous bloom-colored coat) in which Goldsmith +had figured in the preceding month of May--the season of blossoms--for, on +the 21st of that month we find the following entry in the chronicle of Mr. +William Filby, tailor: _To your blue velvet suit_, £21 10s. 9d. Also, +about the same time, a suit of livery and a crimson collar for the serving +man. Again we hold the Jessamy Bride responsible for this gorgeous splendor +of wardrobe. + +The new wig no doubt is a bag-wig and solitaire, still highly the mode, and +in which Goldsmith is represented as figuring when in full dress, equipped +with his sword. + +As to the dancing with the haymakers, we presume it alludes to some gambol +of the poet, in the course of his former visit to Barton; when he ranged +the fields and lawns a chartered libertine, and tumbled into the +fish-ponds. + +As to the suggestions about loo, they are in sportive allusion to the +doctor's mode of playing that game in their merry evening parties; +affecting the desperate gambler and easy dupe; running counter to all rule; +making extravagant ventures; reproaching all others with cowardice; dashing +at all hazards at the pool, and getting himself completely loo'd, to the +great amusement of the company. The drift of the fair sisters' advice was +most probably to tempt him on, and then leave him in the lurch. + +With these comments we subjoin Goldsmith's reply to Mrs. Bunbury, a fine +piece of off-hand, humorous writing, which has but in late years been given +to the public, and which throws a familiar light on the social circle at +Barton. + +"Madam--I read your letter with all that allowance which critical candor +could require, but after all find so much to object to, and so much to +raise my indignation, that I cannot help giving it a serious answer. I am +not so ignorant, madam, as not to see there are many sarcasms contained in +it, and solecisms also. (Solecism is a word that comes from the town of +Soleis in Attica, among the Greeks, built by Solon, and applied as we use +the word Kidderminster for curtains from a town also of that name--but this +is learning you have no taste for!)--I say, madam, there are many sarcasms +in it, and solecisms also. But not to seem an ill-natured critic, I'll take +leave to quote your own words, and give you my remarks upon them as they +occur. You begin as follows: + + "'I hope, my good doctor, you soon will be here, + And your spring-velvet coat very smart will appear, + To open our ball the first day of the year.' + +"Pray, madam, where did you ever find the epithet 'good,' applied to the +title of doctor? Had you called me 'learned doctor,' or 'grave doctor,' or +'noble doctor,' it might be allowable, because they belong to the +profession. But, not to cavil at trifles, you talk of 'my spring-velvet +coat,' and advise me to wear it the first day in the year, that is, in the +middle of winter!--a spring-velvet coat in the middle of winter!!! That +would be a solecism indeed! and yet to increase the inconsistence, in +another part of your letter you call me a beau. Now, on one side or other +you must be wrong. If I am a beau, I can never think of wearing a +spring-velvet in winter; and if I am not a beau, why then, that explains +itself. But let me go on to your two next strange lines: + + "'And bring with you a wig, that is modish and gay, + To dance with the girls that are makers of hay.' + +"The absurdity of making hay at Christmas you yourself seem sensible of: +you say your sister will laugh; and so indeed she well may! The Latins have +an expression for a contemptuous kind of laughter, 'naso contemnere +adunco'; that is, to laugh with a crooked nose. She may laugh at you in the +manner of the ancients if she thinks fit. But now I come to the most +extraordinary of all extraordinary propositions, which is, to take your and +your sister's advice in playing at loo. The presumption of the offer raises +my indignation beyond the bounds of prose; it inspires me at once with +verse and resentment. I take advice! and from whom? You shall hear. + + "First let me suppose, what may shortly be true, + The company set, and the word to be Loo: + All smirking, and pleasant, and big with adventure, + And ogling the stake which is fix'd in the center. + Round and round go the cards, while I inwardly damn + At never once finding a visit from Pam. + I lay down my stake, apparently cool, + While the harpies about me all pocket the pool. + I fret in my gizzard, yet, cautious and sly, + I wish all my friends may be bolder than I: + Yet still they sit snug, not a creature will aim + By losing their money to venture at fame. + 'Tis in vain that at niggardly caution I scold, + 'Tis in vain that I flatter the brave and the bold: + All play their own way, and they think me an ass,... + 'What does Mrs. Bunbury?' ... 'I, Sir? I pass.' + 'Pray what does Miss Horneck? take courage, come do,'... + 'Who, I? let me see, sir, why I must pass too.' + Mr. Bunbury frets, and I fret like the devil, + To see them so cowardly, lucky, and civil. + Yet still I sit snug, and continue to sigh on, + Till, made by my losses as bold as a lion, + I venture at all, while my avarice regards + The whole pool as my own... 'Come, give me five cards.' + 'Well done!' cry the ladies; 'Ah, doctor, that's good! + The pool's very rich,... ah! the doctor is loo'd!' + Thus foil'd in my courage, on all sides perplext, + I ask for advice from the lady that's next: + 'Pray, ma'am, be so good as to give your advice; + Don't you think the best way is to venture for't twice!' + 'I advise,' cries the lady, 'to try it, I own.... + Ah! the doctor is loo'd! Come, doctor, put down.' + Thus, playing, and playing, I still grow more eager, + And so bold, and so bold, I'm at last a bold beggar. + Now, ladies, I ask, if law-matters you're skill'd in, + Whether crimes such as yours should not come before Fielding: + For giving advice that is not worth a straw, + May well be call'd picking of pockets in law; + And picking of pockets, with which I now charge ye, + Is, by quinto Elizabeth, Death without Clergy. + What justice, when both to the Old Bailey brought! + By the gods, I'll enjoy it, tho' 'tis but in thought! + Both are plac'd at the bar, with all proper decorum, + With bunches of fennel, and nosegays before 'em; + Both cover their faces with mobs and all that, + But the judge bids them, angrily, take off their hat. + When uncover'd, a buzz of inquiry runs round, + 'Pray what are their crimes?'... 'They've been pilfering found.' + 'But, pray, who have they pilfer'd?'... 'A doctor, I hear.' + _'What, yon solemn-faced, odd-looking man that stands near?'_ + 'The same.'... 'What a pity! how does it surprise one, + _Two handsomer culprits I never set eyes on!'_ + Then their friends all come round me with cringing and leering, + To melt me to pity, and soften my swearing. + First Sir Charles advances with phrases wellstrung, + 'Consider, dear doctor, the girls are but young.' + 'The younger the worse,' I return him again, + 'It shows that their habits are all dyed in grain.' + 'But then they're so handsome, one's bosom it grieves. + 'What signifies _handsome_, when people are thieves?' + 'But where is your justice? their cases are hard.' + 'What signifies _justice_? I want the _reward_. + +"'There's the parish of Edmonton offers forty pounds; there's the parish of +St. Leonard Shoreditch offers forty pounds; there's the parish of Tyburn, +from the Hog-in-the-pound to St. Giles' watch-house, offers forty pounds--I +shall have all that if I convict them!'-- + + "'But consider their case,... it may yet be your own! + And see how they kneel! Is your heart made of stone!' + This moves!... so at last I agree to relent, + For ten pounds in hand, and ten pounds to be spent.' + +"I challenge you all to answer this: I tell you, you cannot. It cuts deep. +But now for the rest of the letter: and next--but I want room--so I believe +I shall battle the rest out at Barton some day next week. I don't value you +all! + +"O. G." + +We regret that we have no record of this Christmas visit to Barton; that +the poet had no Boswell to follow at his heels, and take note of all his +sayings and doings. We can only picture him in our minds, casting off all +care; enacting the lord of misrule; presiding at the Christmas revels; +providing all kinds of merriment; keeping the card-table in an uproar, and +finally opening the ball on the first day of the year in his spring-velvet +suit, with the Jessamy Bride for a partner. + + + + +CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN + +THEATRICAL DELAYS--NEGOTIATIONS WITH COLMAN--LETTER TO GARRICK--CROAKING OF +THE MANAGER--NAMING OF THE PLAY--SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER--FOOTE'S PRIMITIVE +PUPPET-SHOW, PIETY ON PATTENS--FIRST PERFORMANCE OF THE COMEDY--AGITATION +OF THE AUTHOR--SUCCESS--COLMAN SQUIBBED OUT OF TOWN + + +The gay life depicted in the two last chapters, while it kept Goldsmith in +a state of continual excitement, aggravated the malady which was impairing +his constitution; yet his increasing perplexities in money matters drove +him to the dissipation of society as a relief from solitary care. The +delays of the theater added to those perplexities. He had long since +finished his new comedy, yet the year 1772 passed away without his being +able to get it on the stage. No one, uninitiated in the interior of a +theater, that little world of traps and trickery, can have any idea of the +obstacles and perplexities multiplied in the way of the most eminent and +successful author by the mismanagement of managers, the jealousies and +intrigues of rival authors, and the fantastic and impertinent caprices of +actors. A long and baffling negotiation was carried on between Goldsmith +and Colman, the manager of Covent Garden; who retained the play in his +hands until the middle of January (1773), without coming to a decision. The +theatrical season was rapidly passing away, and Goldsmith's pecuniary +difficulties were augmenting and pressing on him. We may judge of his +anxiety by the following letter: + +"_To George Colman, Esq._ + +"DEAR SIR--I entreat you'll relieve me from that state of suspense in which +I have been kept for a long time. Whatever objections you have made or +shall make to my play, I will endeavor to remove and not argue about them. +To bring in any new judges, either of its merits or faults, I can never +submit to. Upon a former occasion, when my other play was before Mr. +Garrick, he offered to bring me before Mr. Whitehead's tribunal, but I +refused the proposal with indignation: I hope I shall not experience as +harsh treatment from you as from him. I have, as you know, a large sum of +money to make up shortly; by accepting my play, I can readily satisfy my +creditor that way; at any rate, I must look about to some certainty to be +prepared. For God's sake take the play, and let us make the best of it, and +let me have the same measure, at least, which you have given as bad plays +as mine. I am your friend and servant, + +"OLIVER GOLDSMITH." + +Colman returned the manuscript with the blank sides of the leaves scored +with disparaging comments and suggested alterations, but with the +intimation that the faith of the theater should be kept, and the play acted +notwithstanding. Goldsmith submitted the criticisms to some of his friends, +who pronounced them trivial, unfair, and contemptible, and intimated that +Colman, being a dramatic writer himself, might be actuated by jealousy. The +play was then sent, with Colman's comments written on it, to Garrick; but +he had scarce sent it when Johnson interfered, represented the evil that +might result from an apparent rejection of it by Covent Garden, and +undertook to go forthwith to Colman, and have a talk with him on the +subject. Goldsmith, therefore, penned the following note to Garrick: + +"DEAR SIR--I ask many pardons for the trouble I gave you yesterday. Upon +more mature deliberation, and the advice of a sensible friend, I began to +think it indelicate in me to throw upon you the odium of confirming Mr. +Colman's sentence. I therefore request you will send my play back by my +servant; for, having been assured of having it acted at the other house, +though I confess yours in every respect more to my wish, yet it would be +folly in me to forego an advantage which lies in my power of appealing from +Mr. Colman's opinion to the judgment of the town. I entreat, if not too +late, you will keep this affair a secret for some time. + +"I am, dear sir, your very humble servant, + +"OLIVER GOLDSMITH." + +The negotiation of Johnson with the manager of Covent Garden was effective. +"Colman," he says, "was prevailed on at last, by much solicitation, nay, a +kind of force," to bring forward the comedy. Still the manager was +ungenerous; or, at least, indiscreet enough to express his opinion, that it +would not reach a second representation. The plot, he said, was bad, and +the interest not sustained; "it dwindled, and dwindled, and at last went +out like the snuff of a candle." The effect of his croaking was soon +apparent within the walls of the theater. Two of the most popular actors, +Woodward and Gentleman Smith, to whom the parts of Tony Lumpkin and Young +Marlow were assigned, refused to act them; one of them alleging, in excuse, +the evil predictions of the manager. Goldsmith was advised to postpone the +performance of his play until he could get these important parts well +supplied. "No," said he, "I would sooner that my play were damned by bad +players than merely saved by good acting." + +Quick was substituted for Woodward in Tony Lumpkin, and Lee Lewis, the +harlequin of the theater, for Gentleman Smith in Young Marlow; and both did +justice to their parts. + +Great interest was taken by Goldsmith's friends in the success of his +piece. The rehearsals were attended by Johnson, Cradock, Murphy, Reynolds +and his sister, and the whole Horneck connection, including, of course, the +"Jessamy Bride," whose presence may have contributed to flutter the anxious +heart of the author. The rehearsals went off with great applause, but that +Colman attributed to the partiality of friends. He continued to croak, and +refused to risk any expense in new scenery or dresses on a play which he +was sure would prove a failure. + +The time was at hand for the first representation, and as yet the comedy +was without a title. "We are all in labor for a name for Goldy's play," +said Johnson, who, as usual, took a kind of fatherly protecting interest in +poor Goldsmith's affairs. The Old House a New Inn was thought of for a +time, but still did not please. Sir Joshua Reynolds proposed The Belle's +Stratagem, an elegant title, but not considered applicable, the +perplexities of the comedy being produced by the mistake of the hero, not +the stratagem of the heroine. The name was afterward adopted by Mrs. Cowley +for one of her comedies. The Mistakes of a Night was the title at length +fixed upon, to which Goldsmith prefixed the words She Stoops to Conquer. + +The evil bodings of Colman still continued; they were even communicated in +the box office to the servant of the Duke of Gloucester, who was sent to +engage a box. Never did the play of a popular writer struggle into +existence through more difficulties. + +In the meantime Foote's Primitive Puppet-show, entitled the Handsome +Housemaid, or Piety on Pattens, had been brought out at the Haymarket on +the 15th of February. All the world, fashionable and unfashionable, had +crowded to the theater. The street was thronged with equipages--the doors +were stormed by the mob. The burlesque was completely successful, and +sentimental comedy received its quietus. Even Garrick, who had recently +befriended it, now gave it a kick, as he saw it going down hill, and sent +Goldsmith a humorous prologue to help his comedy of the opposite school. +Garrick and Goldsmith, however, were now on very cordial terms, to which +the social meetings in the circle of the Hornecks and Bunburys may have +contributed. + +On the 15th of March the new comedy was to be performed. Those who had +stood up for its merits, and been irritated and disgusted by the treatment +it had received from the manager, determined to muster their forces, and +aid in giving it a good launch upon the town. The particulars of this +confederation, and of its triumphant success, are amusingly told by +Cumberland in his memoirs. + +"We were not over-sanguine of success, but perfectly determined to struggle +hard for our author. We accordingly assembled our strength at the +Shakespeare Tavern, in a considerable body, for an early dinner, where +Samuel Johnson took the chair at the head of a long table, and was the life +and soul of the corps: the poet took post silently by his side, with the +Burkes, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Fitzherbert, Caleb Whitefoord, and a phalanx +of North British, predetermined applauders, under the banner of Major +Mills, all good men and true. Our illustrious president was in inimitable +glee; and poor Goldsmith that day took all his raillery as patiently and +complacently as my friend Boswell would have done any day or every day of +his life. In the meantime, we did not forget our duty; and though we had a +better comedy going, in which Johnson was chief actor, we betook ourselves +in good time to our separate and allotted posts, and waited the awful +drawing up of the curtain. As our stations were preconcerted, so were our +signals for plaudits arranged and determined upon in a manner that gave +every one his cue where to look for them, and how to follow them up. + +"We had among us a very worthy and efficient member, long since lost to his +friends and the world at large, Adam Drummond, of amiable memory, who was +gifted by nature with the most sonorous, and, at the same time, the most +contagious laugh that ever echoed from the human lungs. The neighing of the +horse of the son of Hystaspes was a whisper to it; the whole thunder of the +theater could not drown it. This kind and ingenious friend fairly +forewarned us that he knew no more when to give his fire than the cannon +did that was planted on a battery. He desired, therefore, to have a flapper +at his elbow, and I had the honor to be deputed to that office. I planted +him in an upper box, pretty nearly over the stage, in full view of the pit +and galleries, and perfectly well situated to give the echo all its play +through the hollows and recesses of the theater. The success of our +maneuver was complete. All eyes were upon Johnson, who sat in a front row +of a side box; and when he laughed, everybody thought themselves warranted +to roar. In the meantime, my friend followed signals with a rattle so +irresistibly comic that, when he had repeated it several times, the +attention of the spectators was so engrossed by his person and performances +that the progress of the play seemed likely to become a secondary object, +and I found it prudent to insinuate to him that he might halt his music +without any prejudice to the author; but alas! it was now too late to rein +him in; he had laughed upon my signal where he found no joke, and now, +unluckily, he fancied that he found a joke in almost everything that was +said; so that nothing in nature could be more malapropos than some of his +bursts every now and then were. These were dangerous moments, for the pit +began to take umbrage; but we carried our point through, and triumphed not +only over Colman's judgment, but our own." + +Much of this statement has been condemned as exaggerated or discolored. +Cumberland's memoirs have generally been characterized as partaking of +romance, and in the present instance he had particular motives for +tampering with the truth. He was a dramatic writer himself, jealous of the +success of a rival, and anxious to have it attributed to the private +management of friends. According to various accounts, public and private, +such management was unnecessary, for the piece was "received throughout +with the greatest acclamations." + +Goldsmith, in the present instance, had not dared, as on a former occasion, +to be present at the first performance. He had been so overcome by his +apprehensions that, at the preparatory dinner he could hardly utter a word, +and was so choked that he could not swallow a mouthful. When his friends +trooped to the theater, he stole away to St. James' Park: there he was +found by a friend between seven and eight o'clock, wandering up and down +the Mall like a troubled spirit. With difficulty he was persuaded to go to +the theater, where his presence might be important should any alteration be +necessary. He arrived at the opening of the fifth act, and made his way +behind the scenes. Just as he entered there was a slight hiss at the +improbability of Tony Lumpkin's trick on his mother, in persuading her she +was forty miles off, on Crackskull Common, though she had been trundled +about on her own grounds. "What's that? what's that!" cried Goldsmith to +the manager, in great agitation. "Pshaw! doctor," replied Colman, +sarcastically, "don't be frightened at a squib, when we've been sitting +these two hours on a barrel of gunpowder!" Though of a most forgiving +nature Goldsmith did not easily forget this ungracious and ill-timed sally. + +If Colman was indeed actuated by the paltry motives ascribed to him in his +treatment of this play, he was most amply punished by its success, and by +the taunts, epigrams, and censures leveled at him through the press, in +which his false prophecies were jeered at; his critical judgment called in +question; and he was openly taxed with literary jealousy. So galling and +unremitting was the fire, that he at length wrote to Goldsmith, entreating +him "to take him off the rack of the newspapers"; in the meantime, to +escape the laugh that was raised about him in the theatrical world of +London, he took refuge in Bath during the triumphant career of the comedy. + +The following is one of the many squibs which assailed the ears of the +manager: + +TO GEORGE COLMAN, ESQ. + +ON THE SUCCESS OF DR. GOLDSMITH'S NEW COMEDY + + "Come, Coley, doff those mourning weeds, + Nor thus with jokes be flamm'd; + Tho' Goldsmith's present play succeeds, + His next may still be damn'd. + + "As this has 'scaped without a fall, + To sink his next prepare; + New actors hire from Wapping Wall, + And dresses from Rag Fair. + + "For scenes let tatter'd blankets fly, + The prologue Kelly write; + Then swear again the piece must die + Before the author's night. + + "Should these tricks fail, the lucky elf, + To bring to lasting shame, + E'en write _the best you can yourself_, + And print it in _his name_." + +The solitary hiss, which had startled Goldsmith, was ascribed by some of +the newspaper scribblers to Cumberland himself, who was "manifestly +miserable" at the delight of the audience, or to Ossian Macpherson, who was +hostile to the whole Johnson clique, or to Goldsmith's dramatic rival, +Kelly. The following is one of the epigrams which appeared: + + "At Dr. Goldsmith's merry play, + All the spectators laugh, they say; + The assertion, sir, I must deny, + For Cumberland and Kelly cry. + + "_Ride, si sapis_." + +Another, addressed to Goldsmith, alludes to Kelly's early apprenticeship to +stay-making: + + "If Kelly finds fault with the _shape_ of your muse, + And thinks that too loosely it plays, + He surely, dear doctor, will never refuse + To make it a new _Pair of Stays_!" + +Cradock had returned to the country before the production of the play; the +following letter, written just after the performance, gives an additional +picture of the thorns which beset an author in the path of theatrical +literature: + +"MY DEAR SIR--The play has met with a success much beyond your expectations +or mine. I thank you sincerely for your epilogue, which, however, could not +be used, but with your permission shall be printed. The story in short is +this. Murphy sent me rather the outline of an epilogue than an epilogue, +which was to be sung by Miss Catley, and which she approved; Mrs. Bulkley +hearing this, insisted on throwing up her part" (Miss Hardcastle) "unless, +according to the custom of the theater, she were permitted to speak the +epilogue. In this embarrassment I thought of making a quarreling epilogue +between Catley and her, debating _who_ should speak the epilogue; but +then Mrs. Catley refused after I had taken the trouble of drawing it out. I +was then at a loss indeed; an epilogue was to be made, and for none but +Mrs. Bulkley. I made one, and Colman thought it too bad to be spoken; I was +obliged, therefore, to try a fourth time, and I made a very mawkish thing, +as you'll shortly see. Such is the history of my stage adventures, and +which I have at last done with. I cannot help saying that I am very sick of +the stage; and though I believe I shall get three tolerable benefits, yet I +shall, on the whole, be a loser, even in a pecuniary light; my ease and +comfort I certainly lost while it was in agitation. + +"I am, my dear Cradock, your obliged and obedient servant, OLIVER +GOLDSMITH. + +"P.S.--Present my most humble respects to Mrs. Cradock." + +Johnson, who had taken such a conspicuous part in promoting the interests +of poor "Goldy," was triumphant at the success of the piece. "I know of no +comedy for many years," said he, "that has so much exhilarated an audience; +that has answered so much the great end of comedy--making an audience +merry." + +Goldsmith was happy, also, in gleaning applause from less authoritative +sources. Northcote, the painter, then a youthful pupil of Sir Joshua +Reynolds; and Ralph, Sir Joshua's confidential man, had taken their +stations in the gallery to lead the applause in that quarter. Goldsmith +asked Northcote's opinion of the play. The youth modestly declared he could +not presume to judge in such matters. "Did it make you laugh?" "Oh. +exceedingly!" "That is all I require," replied Goldsmith; and rewarded him +for his criticism by box-tickets for his first benefit night. + +The comedy was immediately put to press, and dedicated to Johnson in the +following grateful and affectionate terms: + +"In inscribing this slight performance to you, I do not mean so much to +compliment you as myself. It may do me some honor to inform the public that +I have lived many years in intimacy with you. It may serve the interests of +mankind also to inform them that the greatest wit may be found in a +character, without impairing the most unaffected piety." + +The copyright was transferred to Mr. Newbery, according to agreement, whose +profits on the sale of the work far exceeded the debts for which the author +in his perplexities had pre-engaged it. The sum which accrued to Goldsmith +from his benefit nights afforded but a slight palliation of his pecuniary +difficulties. His friends, while they exulted in his success, little knew +of his continually increasing embarrassments, and of the anxiety of mind +which kept tasking his pen while it impaired the ease and freedom of spirit +necessary to felicitous composition. + + + + +CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT + +A NEWSPAPER ATTACK--THE EVANS AFFRAY--JOHNSON'S COMMENT + + +The triumphant success of She Stoops to Conquer brought forth, of course, +those carpings and cavilings of underling scribblers which are the thorns +and briers in the path of successful authors. + +Goldsmith, though easily nettled by attacks of the kind, was at present too +well satisfied with the reception of his comedy to heed them; but the +following anonymous letter, which appeared in a public paper, was not to be +taken with equal equanimity: + +[FOR THE LONDON PACKET.] + +"TO DR. GOLDSMITH. + +"_Vous vous noyez par vanité_. + +"SIR--The happy knack which you have learned of puffing your own +compositions, provokes me to come forth. You have not been the editor of +newspapers and magazines not to discover the trick of literary +_humbug_; but the gauze is so thin that the very foolish part of the +world see through it, and discover the doctor's monkey face and cloven +foot. Your poetic vanity is as unpardonable as your personal. Would man +believe it, and will woman bear it, to be told that for hours the great +Goldsmith will stand surveying his grotesque orang-outang's figure in a +pier-glass? Was but the lovely H--k as much enamored, you would not sigh, +my gentle swain, in vain. But your vanity is preposterous. How will this +same bard of Bedlam ring the changes in the praise of Goldy! But what has +he to be either proud or vain of? The Traveler is a flimsy poem, built upon +false principles--principles diametrically opposite to liberty. What is The +Good-Natured Man but a poor, water-gruel dramatic dose? What is The +Deserted Village but a pretty poem of easy numbers, without fancy, dignity, +genius, or fire? And, pray, what may be the last _speaking pantomime_, +so praised by the doctor himself, but an incoherent piece of stuff, the +figure of a woman with a fish's tail, without plot, incident, or intrigue? +We are made to laugh at stale, dull jokes, wherein we mistake pleasantry +for wit, and grimace for humor; wherein every scene is unnatural and +inconsistent with the rules, the laws of nature and of the drama; viz., two +gentlemen come to a man of fortune's house, eat, drink, etc., and take it +for an inn. The one is intended as a lover for the daughter; he talks with +her for some hours; and, when he sees her again in a different dress, he +treats her as a bar-girl, and swears she squinted. He abuses the master of +the house, and threatens to kick him out of his own doors. The squire, whom +we are told is to be a fool, proves to be the most sensible being of the +piece; and he makes out a whole act by bidding his mother lie close behind +a bush, persuading her that his father, her own husband, is a highwayman, +and that he has come to cut their throats; and, to give his cousin an +opportunity to go off, he drives his mother over hedges, ditches, and +through ponds. There is not, sweet, sucking Johnson, a natural stroke in +the whole play but the young fellow's giving the stolen jewels to the +mother, supposing her to be the landlady. That Mr. Colman did no justice to +this piece, I honestly allow; that he told all his friends it would be +damned, I positively aver; and, from such ungenerous insinuations, without +a dramatic merit, it rose to public notice, and it is now the ton to go and +see it, though I never saw a person that either liked it or approved it, +any more than the absurd plot of Home's tragedy of Alonzo. Mr. Goldsmith, +correct your arrogance, reduce your vanity, and endeavor to believe, as a +man, you are of the plainest sort; and as an author, but a mortal piece of +mediocrity. + + "Brise le miroir infidčle + Qui vous cache la vérité. + + "TOM TICKLE." + +It would be difficult to devise a letter more calculated to wound the +peculiar sensibilities of Goldsmith. The attacks upon him as an author, +though annoying enough, he could have tolerated; but then the allusion to +his "grotesque" person, to his studious attempts to adorn it; and, above +all, to his being an unsuccessful admirer of the lovely H--k (the Jessamy +Bride), struck rudely upon the most sensitive part of his highly sensitive +nature. The paragraph, it was said, was first pointed out to him by an +officious friend, an Irishman, who told him he was bound in honor to resent +it; but he needed no such prompting. He was in a high state of excitement +and indignation, and accompanied by his friend, who is said to have been a +Captain Higgins, of the marines, he repaired to Paternoster Row, to the +shop of Evans, the publisher, whom he supposed to be the editor of the +paper. Evans was summoned by his shopman from an adjoining room. Goldsmith +announced his name. "I have called," added he, "in consequence of a +scurrilous attack made upon me, and an unwarrantable liberty taken with the +name of a young lady. As for myself, I care little; but her name must not +be sported with." + +Evans professed utter ignorance of the matter, and said he would speak to +the editor. He stooped to examine a file of the paper, in search of the +offensive article; whereupon Goldsmith's friend gave him a signal, that now +was a favorable moment for the exercise of his cane. The hint was taken as +quick as given, and the cane was vigorously applied to the back of the +stooping publisher. The latter rallied in an instant, and, being a stout, +high-blooded Welshman, returned the blows with interest. A lamp hanging +overhead was broken, and sent down a shower of oil upon the combatants; but +the battle raged with unceasing fury. The shopman ran off for a constable; +but Dr. Kenrick, who happened to be in the adjacent room, sallied forth, +interfered between the combatants, and put an end to the affray. He +conducted Goldsmith to a coach, in exceedingly battered and tattered +plight, and accompanied him home, soothing him with much mock +commiseration, though he was generally suspected, and on good grounds, to +be the author of the libel. + +Evans immediately instituted a suit against Goldsmith for an assault, but +was ultimately prevailed upon to compromise the matter, the poet +contributing fifty pounds to the Welsh charity. + +Newspapers made themselves, as may well be supposed, exceedingly merry with +the combat. Some censured him severely for invading the sanctity of a man's +own house; others accused him of having, in his former capacity of editor +of a magazine, been guilty of the very offenses that he now resented in +others. This drew from him the following vindication: + +"_To the Public_. + +"Lest it should be supposed that I have been willing to correct in others +an abuse of which I have been guilty myself, I beg leave to declare, that, +in all my life, I never wrote or dictated a single paragraph, letter, or +essay in a newspaper, except a few moral essays under the character of a +Chinese, about ten years ago, in the 'Ledger,' and a letter, to which I +signed my name in the 'St. James' Chronicle.' If the liberty of the press, +therefore, has been abused, I have had no hand in it. + +"I have always considered the press as the protector of our freedom, as a +watchful guardian, capable of uniting the weak against the encroachments of +power. What concerns the public most properly admits of a public +discussion. But, of late, the press has turned from defending public +interest to making inroads upon private life; from combating the strong to +overwhelming the feeble. No condition is now too obscure for its abuse, and +the protector has become the tyrant of the people. In this manner the +freedom of the press is beginning to sow the seeds of its own dissolution; +the great must oppose it from principle, and the weak from fear; till at +last every rank of mankind shall be found to give up its benefits, content +with security from insults. + +"How to put a stop to this licentiousness, by which all are +indiscriminately abused, and by which vice consequently escapes in the +general censure, I am unable to tell; all I could wish is that, as the law +gives us no protection against the injury, so it should give calumniators +no shelter after having provoked correction. The insults which we receive +before the public, by being more open, are the more distressing; by +treating them with silent contempt we do not pay a sufficient deference to +the opinion of the world. By recurring to legal redress we too often expose +the weakness of the law, which only serves to increase our mortification by +failing to relieve us. In short, every man should singly consider himself +as the guardian of the liberty of the press, and, as far as his influence +can extend, should endeavor to prevent its licentiousness becoming at last +the grave of its freedom. + +"OLIVER GOLDSMITH." + +Boswell, who had just arrived in town, met with this article in a newspaper +which he found at Dr. Johnson's. The doctor was from home at the time, and +Bozzy and Mrs. Williams, in a critical conference over the letter, +determined from the style that it must have been written by the +lexicographer himself. The latter on his return soon undeceived them. +"Sir," said he to Boswell, "Goldsmith would no more have asked me to have +wrote such a thing as that for him than he would have asked me to feed him +with a spoon, or do anything else that denoted his imbecility. Sir, had he +shown it to any one friend, he would not have been allowed to publish it. +He has, indeed, done it very well; but it is a foolish thing well done. I +suppose he has been so much elated with the success of his new comedy that +he has thought everything that concerned him must be of importance to the +public." + + + + +CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE + +BOSWELL IN HOLY WEEK--DINNER AT OGLETHORPE'S--DINNER AT PAOLI'S--THE +POLICY OF TRUTH--GOLDSMITH AFFECTS INDEPENDENCE OF ROYALTY--PAOLI'S +COMPLIMENT--JOHNSON'S EULOGIUM ON THE FIDDLE--QUESTION ABOUT +SUICIDE--BOSWELL'S SUBSERVIENCY + + +The return of Boswell to town to his task of noting down the conversations +of Johnson enables us to glean from his journal some scanty notices of +Goldsmith. It was now Holy Week, a time during which Johnson was +particularly solemn in his manner and strict in his devotions. Boswell, who +was the imitator of the great moralist in everything, assumed, of course, +an extra devoutness on the present occasion. "He had an odd mock solemnity +of tone and manner," said Miss Burney (afterward Madame D'Arblay), "which +he had acquired from constantly thinking, and imitating Dr. Johnson." It +would seem, that he undertook to deal out some secondhand homilies, _ą la +Johnson_, for the edification of Goldsmith during Holy Week. The poet, +whatever might be his religious feeling, had no disposition to be schooled +by so shallow an apostle. "Sir," said he in reply, "as I take my shoes from +the shoemaker, and my coat from the tailor, so I take my religion from the +priest." + +Boswell treasured up the reply in his memory or his memorandum book. A few +days afterward, the 9th of April, he kept Good Friday with Dr. Johnson, in +orthodox style; breakfasted with him on tea and crossbuns; went to church +with him morning and evening; fasted in the interval, and read with him in +the Greek Testament; then, in the piety of his heart, complained of the +sore rebuff he had met with in the course of his religious exhortations to +the poet, and lamented that the latter should indulge in "this loose way of +talking." "Sir," replied Johnson, "Goldsmith knows nothing--he has made up +his mind about nothing." + +This reply seems to have gratified the lurking jealousy of Boswell, and he +has recorded it in his journal. Johnson, however, with respect to +Goldsmith, and indeed with respect to everybody else, blew hot as well as +cold, according to the humor he was in. Boswell, who was astonished and +piqued at the continually increasing celebrity of the poet, observed some +time after to Johnson, in a tone of surprise, that Goldsmith had acquired +more fame than all the officers of the last war who were not generals. +"Why, sir," answered Johnson, his old feeling of good-will working +uppermost, "you will find ten thousand fit to do what they did, before you +find one to do what Goldsmith has done. You must consider that a thing is +valued according to its rarity. A pebble that paves the street is in itself +more useful than the diamond upon a lady's finger." + +On the 13th of April we find Goldsmith and Johnson at the table of old +General Oglethorpe, discussing the question of the degeneracy of the human +race. Goldsmith asserts the fact, and attributes it to the influence of +luxury. Johnson denies the fact; and observes that, even admitting it, +luxury could not be the cause. It reached but a small proportion of the +human race. Soldiers, on sixpence a day, could not indulge in luxuries; the +poor and laboring classes, forming the great mass of mankind, were out of +its sphere. Wherever it could reach them, it strengthened them and rendered +them prolific. The conversation was not of particular force or point as +reported by Boswell; the dinner party was a very small one, in which there +was no provocation to intellectual display. + +After dinner they took tea with the ladies, where we find poor Goldsmith +happy and at home, singing Tony Lumpkin's song of the Three Jolly Pigeons, +and another called the Humors of Ballamaguery, to a very pretty Irish tune. +It was to have been introduced in She Stoops to Conquer, but was left out, +as the actress who played the heroine could not sing. + +It was in these genial moments that the sunshine of Goldsmith's nature +would break out, and he would say and do a thousand whimsical and agreeable +things that made him the life of the strictly social circle. Johnson, with +whom conversation was everything, used to judge Goldsmith too much by his +own colloquial standard, and undervalue him for being less provided than +himself with acquired facts, the ammunition of the tongue and often the +mere lumber of the memory; others, however, valued him for the native +felicity of his thoughts, however carelessly expressed, and for certain +good-fellow qualities, less calculated to dazzle than to endear. "It is +amazing," said Johnson one day, after he himself had been talking like an +oracle; "it is amazing how little Goldsmith knows; he seldom comes where he +is not more ignorant than any one else." "Yet," replied Sir Joshua +Reynolds, with affectionate promptness, "there is no man whose company is +more _liked_." + +Two or three days after the dinner at General Oglethorpe's, Goldsmith met +Johnson again at the table of General Paoli, the hero of Corsica. +Martinelli, of Florence, author of an Italian History of England, was among +the guests; as was Boswell, to whom we are indebted for minutes of the +conversation which took place. The question was debated whether Martinelli +should continue his history down to that day. "To be sure he should," said +Goldsmith. "No, sir;" cried Johnson, "it would give great offense. He would +have to tell of almost all the living great what they did not wish told." +Goldsmith.--"It may, perhaps, be necessary for a native to be more +cautious; but a foreigner, who comes among us without prejudice, may be +considered as holding the place of a judge, and may speak his mind freely." +Johnson.--"Sir, a foreigner, when he sends a work from the press, ought to +be on his guard against catching the error and mistaken enthusiasm of the +people among whom he happens to be." Goldsmith.--"Sir, he wants only to +sell his history, and to tell truth; one an honest, the other a laudable +motive." Johnson.--"Sir, they are both laudable motives. It is laudable in +a man to wish to live by his labors; but he should write so as he may live +by them, not so as he may be knocked on the head. I would advise him to be +at Calais before he publishes his history of the present age. A foreigner +who attaches himself to a political party in this country is in the worst +state that can be imagined; he is looked upon as a mere intermeddler. A +native may do it from interest." Boswell.--"Or principle." +Goldsmith.--"There are people who tell a hundred political lies every day, +and are not hurt by it. Surely, then, one may tell truth with perfect +safety." Johnson.--"Why, sir, in the first place, he who tells a hundred +lies has disarmed the force of his lies. But, besides, a man had rather +have a hundred lies told of him than one truth which he does not wish to be +told." Goldsmith.--"For my part, I'd tell the truth, and shame the devil." +Johnson.--"Yes, sir, but the devil will be angry. I wish to shame the devil +as much as you do, but I should choose to be out of the reach of his +claws." Goldsmith.--"His claws can do you no hurt where you have the +shield of truth." + +This last reply was one of Goldsmith's lucky hits, and closed the argument +in his favor. + +"We talked," writes Boswell, "of the king's coming to see Goldsmith's new +play." "I wish he would," said Goldsmith, adding, however, with an affected +indifference, "Not that it would do me the least good." "Well, then," cried +Johnson, laughing, "let us say it would do _him_ good. No, sir, this +affectation will not pass; it is mighty idle. In such a state as ours, who +would not wish to please the chief magistrate?" + +"I _do_ wish to please him," rejoined Goldsmith. "I remember a line in +Dryden: + + "'And every poet is the monarch's friend,' + +"it ought to be reversed." "Nay," said Johnson, "there are finer lines in +Dryden on this subject: + + "'For colleges on bounteous kings depend, + And never rebel was to arts a friend.'" + +General Paoli observed that "successful rebels might be." "Happy +rebellions," interjected Martinelli. "We have no such phrase," cried +Goldsmith. "But have you not the thing?" asked Paoli. "Yes," replied +Goldsmith, "all our _happy_ revolutions. They have hurt our +constitution, and _will_ hurt it, till we mend it by another HAPPY +REVOLUTION." This was a sturdy sally of Jacobitism that quite surprised +Boswell, but must have been relished by Johnson. + +General Paoli mentioned a passage in the play, which had been construed +into a compliment to a lady of distinction, whose marriage with the Duke of +Cumberland had excited the strong disapprobation of the king as a +mesalliance. Boswell, to draw Goldsmith out, pretended to think the +compliment unintentional. The poet smiled and hesitated. The general came +to his relief. "Monsieur Goldsmith," said he, "est comme la mer, qui jette +des perles et beaucoup d'autres belles choses, sans s'en appercevoir" (Mr. +Goldsmith is like the sea, which casts forth pearls and many other +beautiful things without perceiving it). + +"Trčs-bien dit, et trčs-elegamment" (very well said, and very elegantly), +exclaimed Goldsmith; delighted with so beautiful a compliment from such a +quarter. + +Johnson spoke disparagingly of the learning of a Mr. Harris, of Salisbury, +and doubted his being a good Grecian. "He is what is much better," cried +Goldsmith, with a prompt good-nature, "he is a worthy, humane man." "Nay, +sir," rejoined the logical Johnson, "that is not to the purpose of our +argument; that will prove that he can play upon the fiddle as well as +Giardini, as that he is an eminent Grecian." Goldsmith found he had got +into a scrape, and seized upon Giardini to help him out of it. "The +greatest musical performers," said he, dexterously turning the +conversation, "have but small emoluments; Giardini, I am told, does not get +above seven hundred a year." "That is indeed but little for a man to get," +observed Johnson, "who does best that which so many endeavor to do. There +is nothing, I think, in which the power of art is shown so much as in +playing on the fiddle. In all other things we can do something at first. +Any man will forge a bar of iron, if you give him a hammer; not so well as +a smith, but tolerably. A man will saw a piece of wood, and make a box, +though a clumsy one; but give him a fiddle and fiddlestick, and he can do +nothing." + +This, upon the whole, though reported by the one-sided Boswell, is a +tolerable specimen of the conversations of Goldsmith and Johnson; the +farmer heedless, often illogical, always on the kind-hearted side of the +question, and prone to redeem himself by lucky hits; the latter closely +argumentative, studiously sententious, often profound, and sometimes +laboriously prosaic. + +They had an argument a few days later at Mr. Thrale's table, on the subject +of suicide. "Do you think, sir," said Boswell, "that all who commit suicide +are mad?" "Sir," replied Johnson, "they are not often universally +disordered in their intellects, but one passion presses so upon them that +they yield to it, and commit suicide, as a passionate man will stab +another. I have often thought," added he, "that after a man has taken the +resolution to kill himself, it is not courage in him to do anything, +however desperate, because he has nothing to fear." "I don't see that," +observed Goldsmith. "Nay, but, my dear sir," rejoined Johnson, "why should +you not see what every one else does?" "It is," replied Goldsmith, "for +fear of something that he has resolved to kill himself; and will not that +timid disposition restrain him?" "It does not signify," pursued Johnson, +"that the fear of something made him resolve; it is upon the state of his +mind, after the resolution is taken, that I argue. Suppose a man, either +from fear, or pride, or conscience, or whatever motive, has resolved to +kill himself; when once the resolution is taken he has nothing to fear. He +may then go and take the King of Prussia by the nose at the head of his +army. He cannot fear the rack who is determined to kill himself." Boswell +reports no more of the discussion, though Goldsmith might have continued it +with advantage; for the very timid disposition, which, through fear of +something, was impelling the man to commit suicide, might restrain him from +an act involving the punishment of the rack, more terrible to him than +death itself. + +It is to be regretted in all these reports by Boswell we have scarcely +anything but the remarks of Johnson; it is only by accident that he now and +then gives us the observations of others, when they are necessary to +explain or set off those of his hero. "When in _that presence_," says +Miss Burney, "he was unobservant, if not contemptuous of every one else. In +truth, when he met with Dr. Johnson, he commonly forbore even answering +anything that was said, or attending to anything that went forward, lest he +should miss the smallest sound from that voice, to which he paid such +exclusive, though merited, homage. But the moment that voice burst forth, +the attention which it excited on Mr. Boswell amounted almost to pain. His +eyes goggled with eagerness; he leaned his ear almost on the shoulder of +the doctor; and his mouth dropped open to catch every syllable that might +be uttered; nay, he seemed not only to dread losing a word, but to be +anxious not to miss a breathing; as if hoping from it latently, or +mystically, some information." + +On one occasion the doctor detected Boswell, or Bozzy, as he called him, +eavesdropping behind his chair, as he was conversing with Miss Burney at +Mr. Thrale's table. "What are you doing there, sir?" cried he, turning +round angrily, and clapping his hand upon his knee. "Go to the table, sir." + +Boswell obeyed with an air of affright and submission, which raised a smile +on every face. Scarce had he taken his seat, however, at a distance, than, +impatient to get again at the side of Johnson, he rose and was running off +in quest of something to show him, when the doctor roared after him +authoritatively, "What are you thinking of, sir? Why do you get up before +the cloth is removed? Come back to your place, sir"--and the obsequious +spaniel did as he was commanded. "Running about in the middle of meals!" +muttered the doctor, pursing his mouth at the same time to restrain his +rising risibility. + +Boswell got another rebuff from Johnson, which would have demolished any +other man. He had been teasing him with many direct questions, such as What +did you do, sir? What did you say, sir? until the great philologist became +perfectly enraged. "I will not be put to the _question!_" roared he. +"Don't you consider, sir, that these are not the manners of a gentleman? I +will not be baited with _what_ and _why;_ What is this? What is +that? Why is a cow's tail long? Why is a fox's tail bushy?" "Why, +sir," replied pil-garlick, "you are so good that I venture to trouble you," +"Sir," replied Johnson, "my being so _good_ is no reason why you +should be so _ill_." "You have but two topics, sir," exclaimed he on +another occasion, "yourself and me, and I am sick of both." + +Boswell's inveterate disposition to _toad_ was a sore cause of +mortification to his father, the old laird of Auchinleck (or Affleck). He +had been annoyed by his extravagant devotion to Paoli, but then he was +something of a military hero; but this tagging at the heels of Dr. Johnson, +whom he considered a kind of pedagogue, set his Scotch blood in a ferment. +"There's nae hope for Jamie, mon," said he to a friend; "Jamie is gaen +clean gyte. What do you think, mon? He's done wi' Paoli; he's off wi' the +land-louping scoundrel of a Corsican; and whose tail do you think he has +pinn'd himself to now, mon? A _dominie_ mon; an auld dominie: he +keeped a schule, and cau'd it an acaadamy." + +We shall show in the next chapter that Jamie's devotion to the dominie did +not go unrewarded. + + + + +CHAPTER FORTY + +CHANGES IN THE LITERARY CLUB--JOHNSON'S OBJECTION TO GARRICK--ELECTION OP +BOSWELL + + +The Literary Club (as we have termed the club in Gerard Street, though it +took that name some time later) had now been in existence several years. +Johnson was exceedingly chary at first of its exclusiveness, and opposed to +its being augmented in number. Not long after its institution, Sir Joshua +Reynolds was speaking of it to Garrick. "I like it much," said little +David, briskly; "I think I shall be of you." "When Sir Joshua mentioned +this to Dr. Johnson," says Boswell, "he was much displeased with the +actor's conceit. '_He'll be of us?_' growled he. 'How does he know we +will _permit_ him? The first duke in England has no right to hold such +language.'" + +When Sir John Hawkins spoke favorably of Garrick's pretensions, "Sir," +replied Johnson, "he will disturb us by his buffoonery." In the same spirit +he declared to Mr. Thrale that if Garrick should apply for admission he +would blackball him. "Who, sir?" exclaimed Thrale, with surprise; "Mr. +Garrick--your friend, your companion--blackball him!" "Why, sir," replied +Johnson, "I love my little David dearly--better than all or any of his +flatterers do; but surely one ought to sit in a society like ours, + + "'Unelbowed by a gamester, pimp, or player.'" + +The exclusion from the club was a sore mortification to Garrick, though he +bore it without complaining. He could not help continually to ask questions +about it--what was going on there--whether he was ever the subject of +conversation. By degrees the rigor of the club relaxed: some of the members +grew negligent. Beauclerc lost his right of membership by neglecting to +attend. On his marriage, however, with Lady Diana Spencer, daughter of the +Duke of Marlborough, and recently divorced from Viscount Bolingbroke, he +had claimed and regained his seat in the club. The number of members had +likewise been augmented. The proposition to increase it originated with +Goldsmith. "It would give," he thought, "an agreeable variety to their +meetings; for there can be nothing new among us," said he; "we have +traveled over each other's minds." Johnson was piqued at the suggestion. +"Sir," said he, "you have not traveled over my mind, I promise you." Sir +Joshua, less confident in the exhaustless fecundity of his mind, felt and +acknowledged the force of Goldsmith's suggestion. Several new members, +therefore, had been added; the first, to his great joy, was David Garrick. +Goldsmith, who was now on cordial terms with him, had zealously promoted +his election, and Johnson had given it his warm approbation. Another new +member was Beauclerc's friend, Lord Charlemont; and a still more important +one was Mr., afterward Sir William Jones, the famous Orientalist, at that +time a young lawyer of the Temple and a distinguished scholar. + +To the great astonishment of the club, Johnson now proposed his devoted +follower, Boswell, as a member. He did it in a note addressed to Goldsmith, +who presided on the evening of the 23d of April. The nomination was +seconded by Beauclerc. According to the rules of the club, the ballot would +take place at the next meeting (on the 30th); there was an intervening +week, therefore, in which to discuss the pretensions of the candidate. We +may easily imagine the discussions that took place. Boswell had made +himself absurd in such a variety of ways, that the very idea of his +admission was exceedingly irksome to some of the members. "The honor of +being elected into the Turk's Head Club," said the Bishop of St. Asaph, "is +not inferior to that of being representative of Westminster and Surrey." +What had Boswell done to merit such an honor? What chance had he of gaining +it? The answer was simple: he had been the persevering worshiper, if not +sycophant of Johnson. The great lexicographer had a heart to be won by +apparent affection; he stood forth authoritatively in support of his +vassal. If asked to state the merits of the candidate, he summed them up in +an indefinite but comprehensive word of his own coining; he was +_clubable_. He moreover gave significant hints that if Boswell were +kept out he should oppose the admission of any other candidate. No further +opposition was made; in fact none of the members had been so fastidious and +exclusive in regard to the club as Johnson himself; and if he were pleased, +they were easily satisfied; besides, they knew that, with all his faults, +Boswell was a cheerful companion, and possessed lively social qualities. + +On Friday, when the ballot was to take place, Beauclerc gave a dinner, at +his house in the Adelphi, where Boswell met several of the members who were +favorable to his election. After dinner the latter adjourned to the club, +leaving Boswell in company with Lady Di Beauclerc until the fate of his +election should be known. He sat, he says, in a state of anxiety which even +the charming conversation of Lady Di could not entirely dissipate. It was +not long before tidings were brought of his election, and he was conducted +to the place of meeting, where, besides the company he had met at dinner, +Burke, Dr. Nugent, Garrick, Goldsmith, and Mr. William Jones were waiting +to receive him. The club, notwithstanding all its learned dignity in the +eyes of the world, could at times "unbend and play the fool" as well as +less important bodies. Some of its jocose conversations have at times +leaked out, and a society in which Goldsmith could venture to sing his song +of "an old woman tossed in a blanket," could not be so very staid in its +gravity. We may suppose, therefore, the jokes that had been passing among +the members while awaiting the arrival of Boswell. Beauclerc himself could +not have repressed his disposition for a sarcastic pleasantry. At least we +have a right to presume all this from the conduct of Dr. Johnson himself. + +With all his gravity he possessed a deep fund of quiet humor, and felt a +kind of whimsical responsibility to protect the club from the absurd +propensities of the very questionable associate he had thus inflicted on +them. Rising, therefore, as Boswell entered, he advanced with a very +doctorial air, placed himself behind a chair, on which he leaned as on a +desk or pulpit, and then delivered, _ex cathedra_, a mock solemn +charge, pointing out the conduct expected from him as a good member of the +club; what he was to do, and especially what he was to avoid; including in +the latter, no doubt, all those petty, prying, questioning, gossiping, +babbling habits which had so often grieved the spirit of the lexicographer. +It is to be regretted that Boswell has never thought proper to note down +the particulars of this charge, which, from the well known characters and +positions of the parties, might have furnished a parallel to the noted +charge of Launcelot Gobbo to his dog. + + + + +CHAPTER FORTY-ONE + +DINNER AT THE DILLYS'--CONVERSATIONS ON NATURAL HISTORY--INTERMEDDLING OF +BOSWELL--DISPUTE ABOUT TOLERATION--JOHNSON'S REBUFF TO GOLDSMITH--HIS +APOLOGY--MAN-WORSHIP--DOCTORS MAJOR AND MINOR--A FAREWELL VISIT + + +A few days after the serio-comic scene of the elevation of Boswell into the +Literary Club, we find that indefatigable Biographer giving particulars of +a dinner at the Dillys', booksellers, in the Poultry, at which he met +Goldsmith and Johnson, with several other literary characters. His +anecdotes of the conversation, of course, go to glorify Dr. Johnson; for, +as he observes in his biography, "His conversation alone, or what led to +it, or was interwoven with it, is the business of this work." Still on the +present, as on other occasions, he gives unintentional and perhaps +unavoidable gleams of Goldsmith's good sense, which show that the latter +only wanted a less prejudiced and more impartial reporter to put down the +charge of colloquial incapacity so unjustly fixed upon him. The +conversation turned upon the natural history of birds, a beautiful subject, +on which the poet, from his recent studies, his habits of observation, and +his natural tastes, must have talked with instruction and feeling; yet, +though we have much of what Johnson said, we have only a casual remark or +two of Goldsmith. One was on the migration of swallows, which he pronounced +partial; "the stronger ones," said he, "migrate, the others do not." + +Johnson denied to the brute creation the faculty of reason. "Birds," said +he, "build by instinct; they never improve; they build their first nest as +well as any one they ever build." "Yet we see," observed Goldsmith, "if you +take away a bird's nest with the eggs in it, she will make a slighter nest +and lay again." "Sir," replied Johnson, "that is because at first she has +full time, and makes her nest deliberately. In the case you mention, she is +pressed to lay, and must, therefore, make her nest quickly, and +consequently it will be slight." "The nidification of birds," rejoined +Goldsmith, "is what is least known in natural history, though one of the +most curious things in it." While conversation was going on in this +placid, agreeable and instructive manner, the eternal meddler and busybody +Boswell, must intrude, to put it in a brawl. The Dillys were dissenters; +two of their guests were dissenting clergymen; another, Mr. Toplady, was a +clergyman of the established church. Johnson, himself, was a zealous, +uncompromising churchman. None but a marplot like Boswell would have +thought, on such an occasion, and in such company, to broach the subject of +religious toleration; but, as has been well observed, "it was his perverse +inclination to introduce subjects that he hoped would produce difference +and debate." In the present instance he gamed his point. An animated +dispute immediately arose in which, according to Boswell's report, Johnson +monopolized the greater part of the conversation; not always treating the +dissenting clergymen with the greatest courtesy, and even once wounding the +feelings of the mild and amiable Bennet Langton by his harshness. + +Goldsmith mingled a little in the dispute and with some advantage, but was +cut short by flat contradictions when most in the right. He sat for a time +silent but impatient under such overbearing dogmatism, though Boswell, with +his usual misinterpretation, attributes his "restless agitation" to a wish +to _get in and shine_. "Finding himself excluded," continued Boswell, +"he had taken his hat to go away, but remained for a time with it in his +hand, like a gamester, who, at the end of a long night, lingers for a +little while to see if he can have a favorable opportunity to finish with +success." Once he was beginning to speak when he was overpowered by the +loud voice of Johnson, who was at the opposite end of the table, and did +not perceive his attempt; whereupon he threw down, as it were, his hat and +his argument, and, darting an angry glance at Johnson, exclaimed in a +bitter tone, "_Take it._" + +Just then one of the disputants was beginning to speak, when Johnson +uttering some sound, as if about to interrupt him, Goldsmith, according to +Boswell, seized the opportunity to vent his own _envy and spleen_ +under pretext of supporting another person. "Sir," said he to Johnson, "the +gentleman has heard you patiently for an hour; pray allow us now to hear +him." It was a reproof in the lexicographer's own style, and he may have +felt that he merited it; but he was not accustomed to be reproved. "Sir," +said he sternly, "I was not interrupting the gentleman; I was only giving +him a signal of my attention. Sir, _you are impertinent_." Goldsmith +made no reply, but after some time went away, having another engagement. + +That evening, as Boswell was on the way with Johnson and Langton to the +club, he seized the occasion to make some disparaging remarks on Goldsmith, +which he thought would just then be acceptable to the great lexicographer. +"It was a pity," he said, "that Goldsmith would, on every occasion, +endeavor to shine, by which he so often exposed himself." Langton +contrasted him with Addison, who, content with the fame of his writings, +acknowledged himself unfit for conversation; and on being taxed by a lady +with silence in company, replied, "Madam, I have but ninepence in ready +money, but I can draw for a thousand pounds." To this Boswell rejoined that +Goldsmith had a great deal of gold in his cabinet, but was always taking +out his purse. "Yes, sir," chuckled Johnson, "and that so often an empty +purse." + +By the time Johnson arrived at the club, however, his angry feelings had +subsided, and his native generosity and sense of justice had got the +uppermost. He found Goldsmith in company with Burke, Garrick, and other +members, but sitting silent and apart, "brooding," as Boswell says, "over +the reprimand he had received." Johnson's good heart yearned toward him; +and knowing his placable nature, "I'll make Goldsmith forgive me," +whispered he; then, with a loud voice, "Dr. Goldsmith," said he, "something +passed to-day where you and I dined--_I ask your pardon_." The ire of +the poet was extinguished in an instant, and his grateful affection for the +magnanimous though sometimes overbearing moralist rushed to his heart. "It +must be much from you, sir," said he, "that I take ill!" "And so," adds +Boswell, "the difference was over, and they were on as easy terms as ever, +and Goldsmith rattled away as usual." We do not think these stories tell to +the poet's disadvantage, even though related by Boswell. + +Goldsmith, with all his modesty, could not be ignorant of his proper merit; +and must have felt annoyed at times at being undervalued and elbowed aside +by light-minded or dull men, in their blind and exclusive homage to the +literary autocrat. It was a fine reproof he gave to Boswell on one +occasion, for talking of Johnson as entitled to the honor of exclusive +superiority. "Sir, you are for making a monarchy what should be a +republic." On another occasion, when he was conversing in company with +great vivacity, and apparently to the satisfaction of those around him, an +honest Swiss, who sat near, one George Michael Moser, keeper of the Royal +Academy, perceiving Dr. Johnson rolling himself as if about to speak, +exclaimed, "Stay, stay! Toctor Shonson is going to say something." "And are +you sure, sir," replied Goldsmith, sharply, "that _you_ can comprehend +what he says?" + +This clever rebuke, which gives the main zest to the anecdote, is omitted +by Boswell, who probably did not perceive the point of it. + +He relates another anecdote of the kind, on the authority of Johnson +himself. The latter and Goldsmith were one evening in company with the Rev. +George Graham, a master of Eton, who, notwithstanding the sobriety of his +cloth, had got intoxicated "to about the pitch of looking at one man and +talking to another." "Doctor," cried he in an ecstasy of devotion and +good-will, but goggling by mistake upon Goldsmith, "I should be glad to see +you at Eton." "I shall be glad to wait upon you," replied Goldsmith. "No, +no!" cried the other eagerly, "'tis not you I mean, Doctor _Minor_, +'tis Doctor _Major_ there." "You may easily conceive," said Johnson in +relating the anecdote, "what effect this had upon Goldsmith, who was +irascible as a hornet." The only comment, however, which he is said to have +made, partakes more of quaint and dry humor than bitterness: "That Graham," +said he, "is enough to make one commit suicide." What more could be said to +express the intolerable nuisance of a consummate bore? + +We have now given the last scenes between Goldsmith and Johnson which stand +recorded by Boswell. The latter called on the poet a few days after the +dinner at Dillys', to take leave of him prior to departing for Scotland; +yet, even in this last interview, he contrives to get up a charge of +"jealousy and envy." Goldsmith, he would fain persuade us, is very angry +that Johnson is going to travel with him in Scotland; and endeavors to +persuade him that he will be a dead weight "to lug along through the +Highlands and Hebrides." Any one else, knowing the character and habits of +Johnson, would have thought the same; and no one but Boswell would have +supposed his office of bear-leader to the ursa major a thing to be envied. +[Footnote: One of Peter Pindar's (Dr. Wolcot) most amusing _jeux +d'esprit_ is his congratulatory epistle to Boswell on his tour, of which +we subjoin a few lines. + + "O Boswell, Bozzy, Bruce, whate'er thy name, + Thou mighty shark for anecdote and fame; + Thou jackal, leading lion Johnson forth, + To eat M'Pherson 'midst his native north; + To frighten grave professors with his roar, + And shake the Hebrides from shore to shore. + * * * * * + "Bless'd be thy labors, most adventurous Bozzy, + Bold rival of Sir John and Dame Piozzi; + Heavens! with what laurels shall thy head be crown'd! + A grove, a forest, shall thy ears surround! + Yes! whilst the Rambler shall a comet blaze, + And gild a world of darkness with his rays, + Thee, too, that world with wonderment shall hail, + A lively, bouncing cracker at his tail!"] + + + + +CHAPTER FORTY-TWO + +PROJECT OF A DICTIONARY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES--DISAPPOINTMENT--NEGLIGENT +AUTHORSHIP--APPLICATION FOR A PENSION--BEATTIE'S ESSAY ON TRUTH--PUBLIC +ADULATION--A HIGH-MINDED REBUKE + + +The works which Goldsmith had still in hand being already paid for, and the +money gone, some new scheme must be devised to provide for the past and the +future--for impending debts which threatened to crush him, and expenses +which were continually increasing. He now projected a work of greater +compass than any he had yet undertaken; a Dictionary of Arts and Sciences +on a comprehensive scale, which was to occupy a number of volumes. For this +he received promises of assistance from several powerful hands. Johnson was +to contribute an article on ethics; Burke, an abstract of his Essay on the +Sublime and Beautiful, an essay on the Berkleyan system of philosophy, and +others on political science; Sir Joshua Reynolds, an essay on painting; and +Garrick, while he undertook on his own part to furnish an essay on acting, +engaged Dr. Burney to contribute an article on music. Here was a great +array of talent positively engaged, while other writers of eminence were to +be sought for the various departments of science. Goldsmith was to edit the +whole. An undertaking of this kind, while it did not incessantly task and +exhaust his inventive powers by original composition, would give agreeable +and profitable exercise to his taste and judgment in selecting, compiling, +and arranging, and he calculated to diffuse over the whole the acknowledged +graces of his style. + +He drew up a prospectus of the plan, which is said by Bishop Percy, who saw +it, to have been written with uncommon ability, and to have had that +perspicuity and elegance for which his writings are remarkable. This paper, +unfortunately, is no longer in existence. + +Goldsmith's expectations, always sanguine respecting any new plan, were +raised to an extraordinary height by the present project; and well they +might be, when we consider the powerful coadjutors already pledged. They +were doomed, however, to complete disappointment. Davies, the bibliopole of +Russell Street, lets us into the secret of this failure. "The booksellers," +said he, "notwithstanding they had a very good opinion of his abilities, +yet were startled at the bulk, importance, and expense of so great an +undertaking, the fate of which was to depend upon the industry of a man +with whose indolence of temper and method of procrastination they had long +been acquainted." + +Goldsmith certainly gave reason for some such distrust by the heedlessness +with which he conducted his literary undertakings. Those unfinished, but +paid for, would be suspended to make way for some job that was to provide +for present necessities. Those thus hastily taken up would be as hastily +executed, and the whole, however pressing, would be shoved aside and left +"at loose ends," on some sudden call to social enjoyment or recreation. + +Cradock tells us that on one occasion, when Goldsmith was hard at work on +his Natural History, he sent to Dr. Percy and himself, entreating them to +finish some pages of his work which lay upon his table, and for which the +press was urgent, he being detained by other engagements at Windsor. They +met by appointment at his chambers in the Temple, where they found +everything in disorder, and costly books lying scattered about on the +tables and on the floor; many of the books on natural history which he had +recently consulted lay open among uncorrected proof-sheets. The subject in +hand, and from which he had suddenly broken off, related to birds. "Do you +know anything about birds?" asked Dr. Percy, smiling. "Not an atom," +replied Cradock; "do you?" "Not I! I scarcely know a goose from a swan: +however, let us try what we can do." They set to work and completed their +friendly task. Goldsmith, however, when he came to revise it, made such +alterations that they could neither of them recognize their own share. The +engagement at Windsor, which had thus caused Goldsmith to break off +suddenly from his multifarious engagements, was a party of pleasure with +some literary ladies. Another anecdote was current, illustrative of the +carelessness with which he executed works requiring accuracy and research. +On the 22d of June he had received payment in advance for a Grecian History +in two volumes, though only one was finished. As he was pushing on doggedly +at the second volume, Gibbon, the historian, called in. "You are the man of +all others I wish to see," cried the poet, glad to be saved the trouble of +reference to his books. "What was the name of that Indian king who gave +Alexander the Great so much trouble?" "Montezuma," replied Gibbon, +sportively. The heedless author was about committing the name to paper +without reflection, when Gibbon pretended to recollect himself, and gave +the true name, Porus. + +This story, very probably, was a sportive exaggeration; but it was a +multiplicity of anecdotes like this and the preceding one, some true and +some false, which had impaired the confidence of booksellers in Goldsmith, +as a man to be relied on for a task requiring wide and accurate research, +and close and long-continued application. The project of the Universal +Dictionary, therefore, met with no encouragement, and fell through. + +The failure of this scheme, on which he had built such spacious hopes, sank +deep into Goldsmith's heart. He was still further grieved and mortified by +the failure of an effort made by some of his friends to obtain for him a +pension from government. There had been a talk of the disposition of the +ministry to extend the bounty of the crown to distinguished literary men in +pecuniary difficulty, without regard to their political creed: when the +merits and claims of Goldsmith, however, were laid before them, they met no +favor. The sin of sturdy independence lay at his door. He had refused to +become a ministerial hack when offered a _carte blanche_ by Parson, +Scott, the cabinet emissary. The wondering parson had left him his poverty +and "_his garrets_" and there the ministry were disposed to suffer him +to remain. + +In the meantime Dr. Beattie comes out with his Essay On Truth, and all the +orthodox world are thrown into a paroxysm of contagious ecstasy. He is +cried up as the great champion of Christianity against the attacks of +modern philosophers and infidels; he is feted and flattered in every way. +He receives at Oxford the honorary degree of doctor of civil law, at the +same time with Sir Joshua Reynolds. The king sends for him, praises his +Essay, and gives him a pension of two hundred pounds. + +Goldsmith feels more acutely the denial of a pension to himself when one +has thus been given unsolicited to a man he might without vanity consider +so much his inferior. He was not one to conceal his feelings. "Here's such +a stir," said he one day at Thrale's table, "about a fellow that has +written one book, and I have written so many!" + +"Ah, doctor!" exclaimed Johnson, in one of his caustic moods, "there go two +and forty sixpences, you know, to one guinea." This is one of the cuts at +poor Goldsmith in which Johnson went contrary to head and heart in his love +for saying what is called a "good thing." No one knew better than himself +the comparative superiority of the writings of Goldsmith; but the jingle of +the sixpences and the guinea was not to be resisted. + +"Everybody," exclaimed Mrs. Thrale, "loves Dr. Beattie, but Goldsmith, who +says he cannot bear the sight of so much applause as they all bestow upon +him. Did he not tell us so himself no one would believe he was so +exceedingly ill-natured." + +He told them so himself because he was too open and unreserved to disguise +his feelings, and because he really considered the praise lavished on +Beattie extravagant, as in fact it was. It was all, of course, set down to +sheer envy and uncharitableness. To add to his annoyance, he found his +friend, Sir Joshua Reynolds, joining in the universal adulation. He had +painted a full-length portrait of Beattie decked in the doctor's robes in +which he had figured at Oxford, with the Essay on Truth under his arm and +the angel of truth at his side, while Voltaire figured as one of the demons +of infidelity, sophistry, and falsehood, driven into utter darkness. + +Goldsmith had known Voltaire in early life; he had been his admirer and his +biographer; he grieved to find him receiving such an insult from the +classic pencil of his friend. "It is unworthy of you," said he to Sir +Joshua, "to debase so high a genius as Voltaire before so mean a writer as +Beattie. Beattie and his book will be forgotten in ten years, while +Voltaire's fame will last forever. Take care it does not perpetuate this +picture to the shame of such a man as you." This noble and high-minded +rebuke is the only instance on record of any reproachful words between the +poet and the painter; and we are happy to find that it did not destroy the +harmony of their intercourse. + + + + +CHAPTER FORTY-THREE + +TOIL WITHOUT HOPE--THE POET IN THE GREEN-ROOM--IN THE FLOWER GARDEN--AT +VAUXHALL--DISSIPATION WITHOUT GAYETY--CRADOCK IN TOWN--FRIENDLY SYMPATHY--A +PARTING SCENE--AN INVITATION TO PLEASURE + + +Thwarted in the plans and disappointed in the hopes which had recently +cheered and animated him, Goldsmith found the labor at his half-finished +tasks doubly irksome from the consciousness that the completion of them +could not relieve him from his pecuniary embarrassments. His impaired +health, also, rendered him less capable than formerly of sedentary +application, and continual perplexities disturbed the flow of thought +necessary for original composition. He lost his usual gayety and +good-humor, and became, at times, peevish and irritable. Too proud of +spirit to seek sympathy or relief from his friends, for the pecuniary +difficulties he had brought upon himself by his errors and extravagance; +and unwilling, perhaps, to make known their amount, he buried his cares and +anxieties in his own bosom, and endeavored in company to keep up his usual +air of gayety and unconcern. This gave his conduct an appearance of +fitfulness and caprice, varying suddenly from moodiness to mirth, and from +silent gravity to shallow laughter; causing surprise and ridicule in those +who were not aware of the sickness of heart which lay beneath. + +His poetical reputation, too, was sometimes a disadvantage to him; it drew +upon him a notoriety which he was not always in the mood or the vein to act +up to. "Good heavens, Mr. Foote," exclaimed an actress at the Haymarket +Theater, "what a humdrum kind of man Dr. Goldsmith appears in our +green-room compared with the figure he makes in his poetry!" "The reason of +that, madam," replied Foote, "is because the muses are better company than +the players." + +Beauclerc's letters to his friend, Lord Charlemont, who was absent in +Ireland, give us now and then an indication of the whereabout of the poet +during the present year. "I have been but once to the club since you left +England," writes he; "we were entertained, as usual, with Goldsmith's +absurdity." With Beauclerc everything was absurd that was not polished and +pointed. In another letter he threatens, unless Lord Charlemont returns to +England, to bring over the whole club, and let them loose upon him to drive +him home by their peculiar habits of annoyance--Johnson shall spoil his +books; Goldsmith shall _pull his flowers;_ and last, and most +intolerable of all, Boswell shall--talk to him. It would appear that the +poet, who had a passion for flowers, was apt to pass much of his time in +the garden when on a visit to a country seat, much to the detriment of the +flowerbeds and the despair of the gardener. + +The summer wore heavily away with Goldsmith. He had not his usual solace of +a country retreat; his health was impaired and his spirits depressed. Sir +Joshua Reynolds, who perceived the state of his mind, kindly gave him much +of his company. In the course of their interchange of thought, Goldsmith +suggested to him the story of Ugolino, as a subject for his pencil. The +painting founded on it remains a memento of their friendship. + +On the 4th of August we find them together at Vauxhall; at that time a +place in high vogue, and which had once been to Goldsmith a scene of +Oriental splendor and delight. We have, in fact, in the Citizen of the +World, a picture of it as it had struck him in former years and in his +happier moods. "Upon entering the gardens," says the Chinese philosopher, +"I found every sense occupied with more than expected pleasure; the lights +everywhere glimmering through the scarcely-moving trees; the full-bodied +concert bursting on the stillness of the night; the natural concert of the +birds in the more retired part of the grove, vying with that which was +formed by art; the company gayly dressed, looking satisfaction, and the +tables spread with various delicacies, all conspired to fill my imagination +with the visionary happiness of the Arabian lawgiver, and lifted me into an +ecstasy of admiration." [Footnote: Citizen of the World, Letter xxi] + +Everything now, however, is seen with different eyes; with him it is +dissipation without pleasure; and he finds it impossible any longer, by +mingling in the gay and giddy throng of apparently prosperous and happy +beings, to escape from the carking care which is clinging to his heart. + +His kind friend, Cradock, came up to town toward autumn, when all the +fashionable world was in the country, to give his wife the benefit of a +skillful dentist. He took lodgings in Norfolk Street, to be in Goldsmith's +neighborhood, and passed most of his mornings with him. "I found him," he +says, "much altered and at times very low. He wished me to look over and +revise some of his works; but, with a select friend or two, I was more +pressing that he should publish by subscription his two celebrated poems of +the Traveler and the Deserted Village, with notes." The idea of Cradock was +that the subscription would enable wealthy persons, favorable to Goldsmith, +to contribute to his pecuniary relief without wounding his pride. +"Goldsmith," said he, "readily gave up to me his private copies, and said, +'Pray do what you please with them.' But while he sat near me, he rather +submitted to than encouraged my zealous proceedings. + +"I one morning called upon him, however, and found him infinitely better +than I had expected; and, in a kind of exulting style, he exclaimed, 'Here +are some of the best of my prose writings; _I have been hard at work +since midnight,_ and I desire you to examine them.' 'These,' said I, +'are excellent indeed.' 'They are,' replied he, 'intended as an +introduction to a body of arts and sciences.'" + +Poor Goldsmith was, in fact, gathering together the fragments of his +shipwreck; the notes and essays and memoranda collected for his dictionary, +and proposed to found on them a work in two volumes, to be entitled A +Survey of Experimental Philosophy. + +The plan of the subscription came to nothing, and the projected survey +never was executed. The head might yet devise, but the heart was failing +him; his talent at hoping, which gave him buoyancy to carry out his +enterprises, was almost at an end. + +Cradock's farewell scene with him is told in a simple but touching manner. + +"The day before I was to set out for Leicestershire I insisted upon his +dining with us. He replied, 'I will, but on one condition, that you will +not ask me to eat anything.' 'Nay,' said I, 'this answer is absolutely +unkind, for I had hoped, as we are supplied from the Crown and Anchor, that +you would have named something you might have relished.' 'Well,' was the +reply, 'if you will but explain it to Mrs. Cradock, I will certainly wait +upon you.' + +"The doctor found, as usual, at my apartments, newspapers and pamphlets, +and with a pen and ink he amused himself as well as he could. I had ordered +from the tavern some fish, a roasted joint of lamb, and a tart; and the +doctor either sat down or walked about just as he pleased. After dinner he +took some wine with biscuits; but I was obliged soon to leave him for a +while, as I had matters to settle prior to my next day's journey. On my +return coffee was ready, and the doctor appeared more cheerful (for Mrs. +Cradock was always rather a favorite with him), and in the evening he +endeavored to talk and remark as usual, but all was forced. He stayed till +midnight, and I insisted on seeing him safe home, and we most cordially +shook hands at the Temple gate." Cradock little thought that this was to be +their final parting. He looked back to it with mournful recollections in +after years, and lamented that he had not remained longer in town at every +inconvenience, to solace the poor broken-spirited poet. + +The latter continued in town all the autumn. At the opening of the Opera +House, on the 20th of November, Mrs. Yates, an actress whom he held in +great esteem, delivered a poetical exordium of his composition. Beauclerc, +in a letter to Lord Charlemont, pronounced it very good, and predicted that +it would soon be in all the papers. It does not appear, however, to have +been ever published. In his fitful state of mind Goldsmith may have taken +no care about it, and thus it has been lost to the world, although it was +received with great applause by a crowded and brilliant audience. + +A gleam of sunshine breaks through the gloom that was gathering over the +poet. Toward the end of the year he receives another Christmas invitation +to Barton. A country Christmas! with all the cordiality of the fireside +circle, and the joyous revelry of the oaken hall--what a contrast to the +loneliness of a bachelor's chambers in the Temple! It is not to be +resisted. But how is poor Goldsmith to raise the ways and means? His purse +is empty; his booksellers are already in advance to him. As a last +resource, he applies to Garrick. Their mutual intimacy at Barton may have +suggested him as an alternative. The old loan of forty pounds has never +been paid; and Newbery's note, pledged as a security, has never been taken +up. An additional loan of sixty pounds is now asked for, thus increasing +the loan to one hundred; to insure the payment, he now offers, besides +Newbery's note, the transfer of the comedy of the Good-Natured Man to Drury +Lane, with such alterations as Garrick may suggest. Garrick, in reply, +evades the offer of the altered comedy, alludes significantly to a new one +which Goldsmith had talked of writing for him, and offers to furnish the +money required on his own acceptance. + +The reply of Goldsmith bespeaks a heart brimful of gratitude and +overflowing with fond anticipations of Barton and the smiles of its fair +residents. "My dear friend," writes he, "I thank you. I wish I could do +something to serve you. I shall have a comedy for you in a season, or two +at furthest, that I believe will be worth your acceptance, for I fancy I +will make it a fine thing. You shall have the refusal.... I will draw upon +you one month after date for sixty pounds, and your acceptance will be +ready money, _part of which I want to go down to Barton with_. May God +preserve my honest little man, for he has my heart. Ever, + +"OLIVER GOLDSMITH." + +And having thus scrambled together a little pocket-money, by hard +contrivance, poor Goldsmith turns his back upon care and trouble, and +Temple quarters, to forget for a time his desolate bachelorhood in the +family circle and a Christmas fireside at Barton. + + + + +CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR + +A RETURN TO DRUDGERY--FORCED GAYETY--RETREAT TO THE COUNTRY--THE POEM OF +RETALIATION--PORTRAIT OF GARRICK--OF GOLDSMITH--OF REYNOLDS--ILLNESS OF THE +POET--HIS DEATH--GRIEF OF HIS FRIENDS--A LAST WORD RESPECTING THE JESSAMY +BRIDE + + +The Barton festivities are over; Christmas, with all its home-felt revelry +of the heart, has passed like a dream; the Jessamy Bride has beamed her +last smile upon the poor poet, and the early part of 1774 finds him in his +now dreary bachelor abode in the Temple, toiling fitfully and hopelessly at +a multiplicity of tasks. His Animated Nature, so long delayed, so often +interrupted, is at length announced for publication, though it has yet to +receive a few finishing touches. He is preparing a third History of +England, to be compressed and condensed in one volume, for the use of +schools. He is revising his Inquiry into Polite Learning, for which he +receives the pittance of five guineas, much needed in his present +scantiness of purse; he is arranging his Survey of Experimental Philosophy, +and he is translating the Comic Romance of Scarron. Such is a part of the +various labors of a drudging, depressing kind, by which his head is made +wrong and his heart faint. "If there is a mental drudgery," says Sir Walter +Scott, "which lowers the spirits and lacerates the nerves, like the toil of +a slave, it is that which is exacted by literary composition, when the +heart is not in unison with the work upon which the head is employed. Add +to the unhappy author's task sickness, sorrow, or the pressure of +unfavorable circumstances, and the labor of the bondsman becomes light in +comparison." Goldsmith again makes an effort to rally his spirits by going +into gay society. "Our club," writes Beauclerc to Charlemont, on the 12th +of February, "has dwindled away to nothing. Sir Joshua and Goldsmith have +got into such a round of pleasures that they have no time." This shows how +little Beauclerc was the companion of the poet's mind, or could judge of +him below the surface. Reynolds, the kind participator in joyless +dissipation, could have told a different story of his companion's +heart-sick gayety. + +In this forced mood Goldsmith gave entertainments in his chambers in the +Temple; the last of which was a dinner to Johnson, Reynolds, and others of +his intimates, who partook with sorrow and reluctance of his imprudent +hospitality. The first course vexed them by its needless profusion. When a +second, equally extravagant, was served up, Johnson and Reynolds declined +to partake of it; the rest of the company, understanding their motives, +followed their example, and the dishes went from the table untasted. +Goldsmith felt sensibly this silent and well-intended rebuke. + +The gayeties of society, however, cannot medicine for any length of time a +mind diseased. Wearied by the distractions and harassed by the expenses of +a town life, which he had not the discretion to regulate, Goldsmith took +the resolution, too tardily adopted, of retiring to the serene quiet and +cheap and healthful pleasures of the country, and of passing only two +months of the year in London. He accordingly made arrangements to sell his +right in the Temple chambers, and in the month of March retired to his +country quarters at Hyde, there to devote himself to toil. At this +dispirited juncture, when inspiration seemed to be at an end, and the +poetic fire extinguished, a spark fell on his combustible imagination and +set it in a blaze. + +He belonged to a temporary association of men of talent, some of them +members of the Literary Club, who dined together occasionally at the St. +James' Coffee-house. At these dinners, as usual, he was one of the last to +arrive. On one occasion, when he was more dilatory than usual, a whim +seized the company to write epitaphs on him, as "The late Dr. Goldsmith," +and several were thrown off in a playful vein, hitting off his +peculiarities. The only one extant was written by Garrick, and has been +preserved, very probably, by its pungency: + + "Here lies poet Goldsmith, for shortness called Noll, + Who wrote like an angel, but talked like poor poll." + +Goldsmith did not relish the sarcasm, especially as coming from such a +quarter. He was not very ready at repartee; but he took his time, and in +the interval of his various tasks concocted a series of epigrammatic +sketches, under the title of Retaliation, in which the characters of his +distinguished intimates were admirably hit off, with a mixture of generous +praise and good-humored raillery. In fact, the poem for its graphic truth; +its nice discrimination; its terse good sense, and its shrewd knowledge of +the world, must have electrified the club almost as much as the first +appearance of The Traveler, and let them still deeper into the character +and talents of the man they had been accustomed to consider as their butt. +Retaliation, in a word, closed his accounts with the club, and balanced all +his previous deficiencies. + +The portrait of David Garrick is one of the most elaborate in the poem. +When the poet came to touch it off, he had some lurking piques to gratify, +which the recent attack had revived. He may have forgotten David's cavalier +treatment of him, in the early days of his comparative obscurity; he may +have forgiven his refusal of his plays; but Garrick had been capricious in +his conduct in the times of their recent intercourse; sometimes treating +him with gross familiarity, at other times affecting dignity and reserve, +and assuming airs of superiority; frequently he had been facetious and +witty in company at his expense, and lastly he had been guilty of the +couplet just quoted. Goldsmith, therefore, touched off the lights and +shadows of his character with a free hand, and, at the same time, gave a +side hit at his old rival, Kelly, and his critical persecutor, Kenrick, in +making them sycophantic satellites of the actor. Goldsmith, however, was +void of gall, even in his revenge, and his very satire was more humorous +than caustic: + + "Here lies David Garrick, describe him who can, + An abridgment of all that was pleasant in man; + As an actor, confess'd without rival to shine; + As a wit, if not first, in the very first line: + Yet, with talents like these, and an excellent heart. + The man had his failings, a dupe to his art. + Like an ill-judging beauty, his colors he spread, + And beplaster'd with rouge his own natural red. + On the stage he was natural, simple, affecting; + 'Twas only that when he was off he was acting. + With no reason on earth to go out of his way, + He turn'd and he varied full ten times a day: + Though secure of our hearts, yet confoundedly sick + If they were not his own by finessing and trick: + He cast off his friends as a huntsman his pack, + For he knew, when he pleased, he could whistle them back. + Of praise a mere glutton, he swallow'd what came, + And the puff of a dunce he mistook it for fame; + Till his relish, grown callous almost to disease, + Who pepper'd the highest was surest to please. + But let us be candid, and speak out our mind, + If dunces applauded, he paid them in kind. + Ye Kenricks, ye Kellys, and Woodfalls so grave, + What a commerce was yours, while you got and you gavel + How did Grub Street re-echo the shouts that you raised, + While he was be-Rosciused and you were be-praised! + But peace to his spirit, wherever it flies, + To act as an angel and mix with the skies; + Those poets who owe their best fame to his skill, + Shall still be his flatterers, go where he will; + Old Shakespeare receive him with praise and with love, + And Beaumonts and Bens be his Kellys above." + +This portion of Retaliation soon brought a retort from Garrick, which we +insert, as giving something of a likeness of Goldsmith, though in broad +caricature: + + "Here, Hermes, says Jove, who with nectar was mellow, + Go fetch me some clay--I will make an odd fellow: + Right and wrong shall be jumbled, much gold and some dross, + Without cause be he pleased, without cause be he cross; + Be sure, as I work, to throw in contradictions, + A great love of truth, yet a mind turn'd to fictions; + Now mix these ingredients, which, warm'd in the baking, + Turn'd to _learning_ and _gaming_, _religion_, and + _raking_, + With the love of a wench, let his writings be chaste; + Tip his tongue with strange matters, his lips with fine taste; + That the rake and the poet o'er all may prevail, + Set fire to the head and set fire to the tail; + For the joy of each sex on the world I'll bestow it, + This scholar, rake, Christian, dupe, gamester, and poet. + Though a mixture so odd, he shall merit great fame, + And among brother mortals be Goldsmith his name; + When on earth this strange meteor no more shall appear, + You, _Hermes_, shall fetch him, to make us sport here." + +The charge of raking, so repeatedly advanced in the foregoing lines, must +be considered a sportive one, founded, perhaps, on an incident or two +within Garrick's knowledge, but not borne out by the course of Goldsmith's +life. He seems to have had a tender sentiment for the sex, but perfectly +free from libertinism. Neither was he an habitual gamester. The strictest +scrutiny has detected no settled vice of the kind. He was fond of a game of +cards, but an unskillful and careless player. Cards in those days were +universally introduced into society. High play was, in fact, a fashionable +amusement, as at one time was deep drinking; and a man might occasionally +lose large sums, and be beguiled into deep potations, without incurring the +character of a gamester or a drunkard. Poor Goldsmith, on his advent into +high society, assumed fine notions with fine clothes; he was thrown +occasionally among high players, men of fortune who could sport their cool +hundreds as carelessly as his early comrades at Ballymahon could their half +crowns. Being at all times magnificent in money matters, he may have played +with them in their own way, without considering that what was sport to them +to him was ruin. Indeed part of his financial embarrassments may have +arisen from losses of the kind, incurred inadvertently, not in the +indulgence of a habit. "I do not believe Goldsmith to have deserved the +name of gamester," said one of his contemporaries; "he liked cards very +well, as other people do, and lost and won occasionally; but as far as I +saw or heard, and I had many opportunities of hearing, never any +considerable sum. If he gamed with any one, it was probably with Beauclerc, +but I do not know that such was the case." + +Retaliation, as we have already observed, was thrown off in parts, at +intervals, and was never completed. Some characters, originally intended to +be introduced, remained unattempted; others were but partially +sketched--such was the one of Reynolds, the friend of his heart, and which +he commenced with a felicity which makes us regret that it should remain +unfinished. + + "Here Reynolds is laid, and to tell you my mind, + He has not left a wiser or better behind. + His pencil was striking, resistless, and grand; + His manners were gentle, complying, and bland; + Still born to improve us in every part, + His pencil our faces, his manners our heart. + To coxcombs averse, yet most civilly steering, + When they judged without skill he was still hard of hearing: + When they talked of their Raphaels, Correggios, and stuff, + He shifted his trumpet and only took snuff. + By flattery unspoiled--" + +The friendly portrait stood unfinished on the easel; the hand of the artist +had failed! An access of a local complaint, under which he had suffered for +some time past, added to a general prostration of health, brought Goldsmith +back to town before he had well settled himself in the country. The local +complaint subsided, but was followed by a low nervous fever. He was not +aware of his critical situation, and intended to be at the club on the 25th +of March, on which occasion Charles Fox, Sir Charles Bunbury (one of the +Horneck connection), and two other new members were to be present. In the +afternoon, however, he felt so unwell as to take to his bed, and his +symptoms soon acquired sufficient force to keep him there. His malady +fluctuated for several days, and hopes were entertained of his recovery, +but they proved fallacious. He had skillful medical aid and faithful +nursing, but he would not follow the advice of his physicians, and +persisted in the use of James' powders, which he had once found beneficial, +but which were now injurious to him. His appetite was gone, his strength +failed him, but his mind remained clear, and was perhaps too active for his +frame. Anxieties and disappointments which had previously sapped his +constitution, doubtless aggravated his present complaint and rendered him +sleepless. In reply to an inquiry of his physician, he acknowledged that +his mind was ill at ease. This was his last reply; he was too weak to talk, +and in general took no notice of what was said to him. He sank at last into +a deep sleep, and it was hoped a favorable crisis had arrived. He awoke, +however, in strong convulsions, which continued without intermission until +he expired, on the fourth of April, at five o'clock in the morning; being +in the forty-sixth year of his age. + +His death was a shock to the literary world, and a deep affliction to a +wide circle of intimates and friends; for with all his foibles and +peculiarities, he was fully as much beloved as he was admired. Burke, on +hearing the news, burst into tears. Sir Joshua Reynolds threw by his pencil +for the day, and grieved more than he had done in times of great family +distress. "I was abroad at the time of his death," writes Dr. M'Donnell, +the youth whom when in distress he had employed as an amanuensis, "and I +wept bitterly when the intelligence first reached me. A blank came over my +heart as if I had lost one of my nearest relatives, and was followed for +some days by a feeling of despondency." Johnson felt the blow deeply and +gloomily. In writing some time afterward to Boswell, he observed, "Of poor +Dr. Goldsmith there is little to be told more than the papers have made +public. He died of a fever, made, I am afraid, more violent by uneasiness +of mind. His debts began to be heavy, and all his resources were exhausted. +Sir Joshua is of opinion that he owed no less than two thousand pounds. +Was ever poet so trusted before?" + +Among his debts were seventy-nine pounds due to his tailor, Mr. William +Filby, from whom he had received a new suit but a few days before his +death. "My father," said the younger Filby, "though a loser to that amount, +attributed no blame to Goldsmith; he had been a good customer, and had he +lived would have paid every farthing." Others of his tradespeople evinced +the same confidence in his integrity, notwithstanding his heedlessness. Two +sister milliners in Temple Lane, who had been accustomed to deal with him, +were concerned, when told, some time before his death, of his pecuniary +embarrassments. "Oh, sir," said they to Mr. Cradock, "sooner persuade him +to let us work for him gratis than apply to any other; we are sure he will +pay us when he can." + +On the stairs of his apartment there was the lamentation of the old and +infirm, and the sobbing of women; poor objects of his charity to whom he +had never turned a deaf ear, even when struggling himself with poverty. + +But there was one mourner, whose enthusiasm for his memory, could it have +been foreseen, might have soothed the bitterness of death. After the coffin +had been screwed down, a lock of his hair was requested for a lady, a +particular friend, who wished to preserve it as a remembrance. It was the +beautiful Mary Horneck--the Jessamy Bride. The coffin was opened again, and +a lock of hair cut off; which she treasured to her dying day. Poor +Goldsmith! could he have foreseen that such a memorial of him was to be +thus cherished! + +One word more concerning this lady, to whom we have so often ventured to +advert. She survived almost to the present day. Hazlitt met her at +Northcote's painting-room, about twenty years since, as Mrs. Gwyn, the +widow of a General Gwyn of the army. She was at that time upward of seventy +years of age. Still, he said, she was beautiful, beautiful even in years. +After she was gone, Hazlitt remarked how handsome she still was. "I do not +know," said Northcote, "why she is so kind as to come to see me, except +that I am the last link in the chain that connects her with all those she +most esteemed when young--Johnson, Reynolds, Goldsmith--and remind her of +the most delightful period of her life." "Not only so," observed Hazlitt, +"but you remember what she was at twenty; and you thus bring back to her +the triumphs of her youth--that pride of beauty, which must be the more +fondly cherished as it has no external vouchers, and lives chiefly in the +bosom of its once lovely possessor. In her, however, the Graces had +triumphed over time; she was one of Ninon de l'Enclos' people, of the last +of the immortals. I could almost fancy the shade of Goldsmith in the room, +looking round with complacency." + +The Jessamy Bride survived her sister upward of forty years, and died in +1840, within a few days of completing her eighty-eighth year. "She had gone +through all the stages of life," says Northcote, "and had lent a grace to +each." However gayly she may have sported with the half-concealed +admiration of the poor awkward poet in the heyday of her youth and beauty, +and however much it may have been made a subject of teasing by her youthful +companions, she evidently prided herself in after years upon having been an +object of his affectionate regard; it certainly rendered her interesting +throughout life in the eyes of his admirers, and has hung a poetical wreath +above her grave. + + + + +CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE + +THE FUNERAL--THE MONUMENT--THE EPITAPH--CONCLUDING REMARKS + + +In the warm feeling of the moment, while the remains of the poet were +scarce cold, it was determined by his friends to honor them by a public +funeral and a tomb in Westminster Abbey. His very pall-bearers were +designated: Lord Shelburne, Lord Lowth, Sir Joshua Reynolds; the Hon. Mr. +Beauclerc, Mr. Burke, and David Garrick. This feeling cooled down, however, +when it was discovered that he died in debt, and had not left wherewithal +to pay for such expensive obsequies. Five days after his death, therefore, +at five o'clock of Saturday evening, the 9th of April, he was privately +interred in the burying-ground of the Temple Church; a few persons +attending as mourners, among whom we do not find specified any of his +peculiar and distinguished friends. The chief mourner was Sir Joshua +Reynolds' nephew, Palmer, afterward Dean of Cashel. One person, however, +from whom it was but little to be expected, attended the funeral and +evinced real sorrow on the occasion. This was Hugh Kelly, once the dramatic +rival of the deceased, and often, it is said, his anonymous assailant in +the newspapers. If he had really been guilty of this basest of literary +offenses, he was punished by the stings of remorse, for we are told that he +shed bitter tears over the grave of the man he had injured. His tardy +atonement only provoked the lash of some unknown satirist, as the following +lines will show: + + "Hence Kelly, who years, without honor or shame, + Had been sticking his bodkin in Oliver's fame, + Who thought, like the Tartar, by this to inherit + His genius, his learning, simplicity, spirit; + Now sets every feature to weep o'er his fate, + And acts as a mourner to blubber in state." + +One base wretch deserves to be mentioned, the reptile Kenrick, who, after +having repeatedly slandered Goldsmith while living, had the audacity to +insult his memory when dead. The following distich is sufficient to show +his malignancy, and to hold him up to execration: + + "By his own art, who justly died, + A blund'ring, artless suicide: + Share, earthworms, share, since now he's dead, + His megrim, maggot-bitten head." + +This scurrilous epitaph produced a burst of public indignation that awed +for a time even the infamous Kenrick into silence. On the other hand, the +press teemed with tributes in verse and prose to the memory of the +deceased; all evincing the mingled feeling of admiration for the author and +affection for the man. + +Not long after his death the Literary Club set on foot a subscription, and +raised a fund to erect a monument to his memory in Westminster Abbey. It +was executed by Nollekins, and consisted simply of a bust of the poet in +profile, in high relief, in a medallion, and was placed in the area of a +pointed arch, over the south door in Poets' Corner, between the monuments +of Gay and the Duke of Argyle. Johnson furnished a Latin epitaph, which was +read at the table of Sir Joshua Reynolds, where several members of the club +and other friends of the deceased were present. Though considered by them a +masterly composition, they thought the literary character of the poet not +defined with sufficient exactness, and they preferred that the epitaph +should be in English rather than Latin, as "the memory of so eminent an +English writer ought to be perpetuated in the language to which his works +were likely to be so lasting an ornament." These objections were reduced to +writing, to be respectfully submitted to Johnson, but such was the awe +entertained of his frown that every one shrank from putting his name first +to the instrument; whereupon their names were written about it in a circle, +making what mutinous sailors call a Round Robin. Johnson received it half +graciously, half grimly. "He was willing," he said, "to modify the sense of +the epitaph in any manner the gentlemen pleased; _but he never would +consent to disgrace the walls of Westminster Abbey with an English +inscription_." Seeing the names of Dr. Wharton and Edmund Burke among +the signers, "he wondered," he said, "that Joe Wharton, a scholar by +profession, should be such a fool; and should have thought that Mund Burke +would have had more sense." The following is the epitaph as it stands +inscribed on a white marble tablet beneath the bust: + + OLIVARII GOLDSMITH, + + Poetae, Physici, Historici, + Qui nullum ferč scribendi genus + Non tetigit, + Nullum quod tetigit non ornavit + Sive risus essent movendi, + Sive lacrymae, + Affectuum potens ac lenis dominator: + Ingenio sublimis, vividus, versatilis, + Oratione grandis, nitidus, venustus: + Hoc monumento memoriam coluit + Sodalium amor, + Amicorum fides, + Lectorum veneratio. + Natus in Hibernia Forniae Longfordiensis, + In loco cui nomen Pallas, + Nov. xxix. MDCCXXXI.; + Eblanse literis institutus; + Obiit Londini, + April iv. MDCCLXXIV. + +The following translation is from Croker's edition of Boswell's Johnson: + +OF OLIVER GOLDSMITH-- + + A Poet, Naturalist, and Historian, + Who left scarcely any style of writing untouched, + And touched nothing that he did not adorn; + Of all the passions, + Whether smiles were to be moved or tears, + A powerful yet gentle master; + In genius, sublime, vivid, versatile, + In style, elevated, clear, elegant-- + The love of companions, + The fidelity of friends, + And the veneration of readers, + Have by this monument honored the memory. + He was born in Ireland, + At a place called Pallas, + [In the parish] of Forney, [and county] of Longford, + On the 29th Nov., 1731,[*] + Educated at [the University of] Dublin, + And died in London, + 4th April, 1774. +[Footnote *: Incorrect. See page 12.] + + * * * * * + +We shall not pretend to follow these anecdotes of the life of Goldsmith +with any critical dissertation on his writings; their merits have long +since been fully discussed, and their station in the scale of literary +merit permanently established. They have outlasted generations of works of +higher power and wider scope, and will continue to outlast succeeding +generations, for they have that magic charm of style by which works are +embalmed to perpetuity. Neither shall we attempt a regular analysis of the +character of the poet, but will indulge in a few desultory remarks in +addition to those scattered throughout the preceding chapters. + +Never was the trite, because sage apothegm, that "The child is father to +the man," more fully verified than in the case of Goldsmith. He is shy, +awkward, and blundering in childhood, yet full of sensibility; he is a butt +for the jeers and jokes of his companions, but apt to surprise and confound +them by sudden and witty repartees; he is dull and stupid at his +tasks, yet an eager and intelligent devourer of the traveling tales and +campaigning stories of his half military pedagogue; he may be a dunce, but +he is already a rhymer; and his early scintillations of poetry awaken the +expectations of his friends. He seems from infancy to have been compounded +of two natures, one bright, the other blundering; or to have had fairy +gifts laid in his cradle by the "good people" who haunted his birthplace, +the old goblin mansion on the banks of the Inny. + +He carries with him the wayward elfin spirit, if we may so term it, +throughout his career. His fairy gifts are of no avail at school, academy, +or college; they unfit him for close study and practical science, and +render him heedless of everything that does not address itself to his +poetical imagination and genial and festive feelings; they dispose him to +break away from restraint, to stroll about hedges, green lanes, and haunted +streams, to revel with jovial companions, or to rove the country like a +gypsy in quest of odd adventures. + +As if confiding in these delusive gifts, he takes no heed of the present +nor care for the future, lays no regular and solid foundation of knowledge, +follows out no plan, adopts and discards those recommended by his friends, +at one time prepares for the ministry, next turns to the law, and then +fixes upon medicine. He repairs to Edinburgh, the great emporium of medical +science, but the fairy gifts accompany him; he idles and frolics away his +time there, imbibing only such knowledge as is agreeable to him; makes an +excursion to the poetical regions of the Highlands; and having walked the +hospitals for the customary time, sets off to ramble over the Continent, in +quest of novelty rather than knowledge. His whole tour is a poetical one. +He fancies he is playing the philosopher while he is really playing the +poet; and though professedly he attends lectures and visits foreign +universities, so deficient is he on his return, in the studies for which he +set out, that he fails in an examination as a surgeon's mate; and while +figuring as a doctor of medicine, is outvied on a point of practice by his +apothecary. Baffled in every regular pursuit, after trying in vain some of +the humbler callings of commonplace life, he is driven almost by chance to +the exercise of his pen, and here the fairy gifts come to his assistance. +For a long time, however, he seems unaware of the magic properties of that +pen; he uses it only as a makeshift until he can find a _legitimate_ +means of support. He is not a learned man, and can write but meagerly and +at second-hand on learned subjects; but he has a quick convertible talent +that seizes lightly on the points of knowledge necessary to the +illustration of a theme; his writings for a time are desultory, the fruits +of what he has seen and felt, or what he has recently and hastily read; but +his gifted pen transmutes everything into gold, and his own genial nature +reflects its sunshine through his pages. + +Still unaware of his powers he throws off his writings anonymously, to go +with the writings of less favored men; and it is a long time, and after a +bitter struggle with poverty and humiliation, before he acquires confidence +in his literary talent as a means of support, and begins to dream of +reputation. + +From this time his pen is a wand of power in his hand, and he has only to +use it discreetly, to make it competent to all his wants. But discretion is +not a part of Goldsmith's nature; and it seems the property of these fairy +gifts to be accompanied by moods and temperaments to render their effect +precarious. The heedlessness of his early days; his disposition for social +enjoyment; his habit of throwing the present on the neck of the future, +still continue. His expenses forerun his means; he incurs debts on the +faith of what his magic pen is to produce, and then, under the pressure of +his debts, sacrifices its productions for prices far below their value. It +is a redeeming circumstance in his prodigality, that it is lavished oftener +upon others than upon himself; he gives without thought or stint, and is +the continual dupe of his benevolence and his trustfulness in human nature. +We may say of him as he says of one of his heroes, "He could not stifle the +natural impulse which he had to do good, but frequently borrowed money to +relieve the distressed; and when he knew not conveniently where to borrow, +he has been observed to shed tears as he passed through the wretched +suppliants who attended his gate.".... + +"His simplicity in trusting persons whom he had no previous reasons to +place confidence in, seems to be one of those lights of his character +which, while they impeach his understanding, do honor to his benevolence. +The low and the timid are ever suspicious; but a heart impressed with +honorable sentiments expects from others sympathetic sincerity." [Footnote: +Goldsmith's Life of Nashe.] + +His heedlessness in pecuniary matters, which had rendered his life a +struggle with poverty even in the days of his obscurity, rendered the +struggle still more intense when his fairy gifts had elevated him into the +society of the wealthy and luxurious, and imposed on his simple and +generous spirit fancied obligations to a more ample and bounteous display. + +"How comes it," says a recent and ingenious critic, "that in all the miry +paths of life which he had trod, no speck ever sullied the robe of his +modest and graceful muse. How amid all that love of inferior company, which +never to the last forsook him, did he keep his genius so free from every +touch of vulgarity?" + +We answer that it was owing to the innate purity and goodness of his +nature; there was nothing in it that assimilated to vice and vulgarity. +Though his circumstances often compelled him to associate with the poor, +they never could betray him into companionship with the depraved. His +relish for humor and for the study of character, as we have before +observed, brought him often into convivial company of a vulgar kind; but he +discriminated between their vulgarity and their amusing qualities, or +rather wrought from the whole those familiar features of life which form +the staple of his most popular writings. + +Much, too, of this intact purity of heart may be ascribed to the lessons of +his infancy under the paternal roof; to the gentle, benevolent, elevated, +unworldly maxims of his father, who "passing rich with forty pounds a +year," infused a spirit into his child which riches could not deprave nor +poverty degrade. Much of his boyhood, too, had been passed in the household +of his uncle, the amiable and generous Contarine; where he talked of +literature with the good pastor, and practiced music with his daughter, and +delighted them both by his juvenile attempts at poetry. These early +associations breathed a grace and refinement into his mind and tuned it up, +after the rough sports on the green, or the frolics at the tavern. These +led him to turn from the roaring glees of the club, to listen to the harp +of his cousin Jane; and from the rustic triumph of "throwing sledge," to a +stroll with his flute along the pastoral banks of the Inny. + +The gentle spirit of his father walked with him through life, a pure and +virtuous monitor; and in all the vicissitudes of his career we find him +ever more chastened in mind by the sweet and holy recollections of the home +of his infancy. + +It has been questioned whether he really had any religious feeling. Those +who raise the question have never considered well his writings; his Vicar +of Wakefield, and his pictures of the Village Pastor, present religion +under its most endearing forms, and with a feeling that could only flow +from the deep convictions of the heart. When his fair traveling companions +at Paris urged him to read the Church Service on a Sunday, he replied that +"he was not worthy to do it." He had seen in early life the sacred offices +performed by his father and his brother, with a solemnity which had +sanctified them in his memory; how could he presume to undertake such +functions? His religion has been called in question by Johnson and by +Boswell; he certainly had not the gloomy hypochondriacal piety of the one, +nor the babbling mouth-piety of the other; but the spirit of Christian +charity breathed forth in his writings and illustrated in his conduct give +us reason to believe he had the indwelling religion of the soul. + +We have made sufficient comments in the preceding chapters on his conduct +in elevated circles of literature and fashion. The fairy gifts which took +him there were not accompanied by the gifts and graces necessary to sustain +him in that artificial sphere. He can neither play the learned sage with +Johnson, nor the fine gentleman with Beauclerc, though he has a mind +replete with wisdom and natural shrewdness, and a spirit free from +vulgarity. The blunders of a fertile but hurried intellect, and the awkward +display of the student assuming the man of fashion, fix on him a character +for absurdity and vanity which, like the charge of lunacy, it is hard to +disprove, however weak the grounds of the charge and strong the facts in +opposition to it. + +In truth, he is never truly in his place in these learned and fashionable +circles, which talk and live for display. It is not the kind of society he +craves. His heart yearns for domestic life; it craves familiar, confiding +intercourse, family firesides, the guileless and happy company of children; +these bring out the heartiest and sweetest sympathies of his nature. + +"Had it been his fate," says the critic we have already quoted, "to meet a +woman who could have loved him, despite his faults, and respected him +despite his foibles, we cannot but think that his life and his genius would +have been much more harmonious; his desultory affections would have been +concentered, his craving self-love appeased, his pursuits more settled, his +character more solid. A nature like Goldsmith's, so affectionate, so +confiding--so susceptible to simple, innocent enjoyments--so dependent on +others for the sunshine of existence, does not flower if deprived of the +atmosphere of home." + +The cravings of his heart in this respect are evident, we think, throughout +his career; and if we have dwelt with more significancy than others upon +his intercourse with the beautiful Horneck family, it is because we fancied +we could detect, amid his playful attentions to one of its members, a +lurking sentiment of tenderness, kept down by conscious poverty and a +humiliating idea of personal defects. A hopeless feeling of this kind--the +last a man would communicate to his friends--might account for much of that +fitfulness of conduct, and that gathering melancholy, remarked, but not +comprehended by his associates, during the last year or two of his life; +and may have been one of the troubles of the mind which aggravated his last +illness, and only terminated with his death. + +We shall conclude these desultory remarks with a few which have been used +by us on a former occasion. From the general tone of Goldsmith's biography, +it is evident that his faults, at the worst, were but negative, while his +merits were great and decided. He was no one's enemy but his own; his +errors, in the main, inflicted evil on none but himself, and were so +blended with humorous, and even affecting circumstances, as to disarm anger +and conciliate kindness. Where eminent talent is united to spotless virtue, +we are awed and dazzled into admiration, but our admiration is apt to be +cold and reverential; while there is something in the harmless infirmities +of a good and great, but erring individual, that pleads touchingly to our +nature; and we turn more kindly toward the object of our idolatry, when we +find that, like ourselves, he is mortal and is frail. The epithet so often +heard, and in such kindly tones, of "Poor Goldsmith," speaks volumes. Few +who consider the real compound of admirable and whimsical qualities which +form his character would wish to prune away its eccentricities, trim its +grotesque luxuriance, and clip it down to the decent formalities of rigid +virtue. "Let not his frailties be remembered," said Johnson; "he was a very +great man." But, for our part, we rather say "Let them be remembered," +since their tendency is to endear; and we question whether he himself would +not feel gratified in hearing his reader, after dwelling with admiration on +the proofs of his greatness, close the volume with the kind-hearted phrase, +so fondly and familiarly ejaculated, of "POOR GOLDSMITH." + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, OLIVER GOLDSMITH *** + +This file should be named 8ogld10.txt or 8ogld10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 8ogld11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 8ogld10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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