Aetat. 54.] Oliver Goldsmith. 477 studiously copied the manner of Johnson', though, indeed, upon a smaller scale. At this time I think he had published nothing with his name', though it was pretty generally known that one Dr. Goldsmith was the authour of An Enquiry 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. No man had the art of displaying with more advantage as a writer, whatever literary acquisitions he made. Nihil quod tetigit non ornavit.' His mind resembled a fertile, but thin soil. There was a quick, but not a strong vegetation, of whatever chanced to be thrown upon it. No deep root could be struck. The oak of the forest did not grow there; but the elegant shrubbery and the fragrant parterre appeared in gay succession. It has been generally circulated and believed that he was a mere fool in conversation"; but, in truth, this has been greatly 'Dr. Warton wrote to his brother on Jan. 22, 1766:-'Of all solemn coxcombs Goldsmith is the first; yet sensible-but affects to use Johnson's hard words in conversation.' Wooll's Warton, p. 312. 'It was long believed that the author of one of Goldsmith's early works was Lord Lyttelton. Whenever I write anything," said Goldsmith, "I think the public make a point to know nothing about it." So the present book was issued as a History of England in a series of Letters from a Nobleman to his Son. The persuasion at last became general that the author was Lord Lyttelton, and the name of that grave good lord is occasionally still seen affixed to it on the bookstalls.' Forster's Goldsmith, i. 301. The Traveller was the first of his works to which he put his name. It was published in 1764. Ib. p. 364. Published in 1759. • Published in 1760-1. 5 See his Epitaph in Westminster Abbey, written by Dr. Johnson. BOSWELL. 'Qui nullum fere scribendi genus Non tetigit, Post, under June 22, 1776. In allusion to this, Mr. Horace Walpole, who admired his writings, said he was 'an inspired ideot;' and Garrick described him as one for shortness call'd Noll, Who wrote like an angel, and talk'd like poor Poll.' exaggerated. 478 Oliver Goldsmith. [A.D. 1763. exaggerated. He had, no doubt, a more than common share of that hurry of ideas which we often find in his countrymen, and which sometimes produces a laughable confusion in expressing them. He was very much what the French call un étourdi', and from vanity and an eager desire of being conspicuous wherever he was, he frequently talked carelessly without knowledge of the subject, or even without thought. His person was short, his countenance coarse and vulgar, his deportment that of a scholar aukwardly affecting Sir Joshua Reynolds mentioned to me that he frequently heard Goldsmith talk warmly of the pleasure of being liked, and observe how hard it would be if literary excellence should preclude a man from that satisfaction, which he perceived it often did, from the envy which attended it; and therefore Sir Joshua was convinced that he was intentionally more absurd, in order to lessen himself in social intercourse, trusting that his character would be sufficiently supported by his works. If it indeed was his intention to appear absurd in company, he was often very successful. But with due deference to Sir Joshua's ingenuity, I think the conjecture too refined. BOSWELL. Horace Walpole's saying of the 'inspired ideot' is recorded in Davies's Garrick, ii. 151. Walpole, in his Letters, describes Goldsmith as 'a changeling that has had bright gleams of parts,' (v. 458); ́ a fool, the more wearing for having some sense,' (vi. 29); 'a poor soul that had sometimes parts, though never common sense,' (ib. p. 73); and 'an idiot, with once or twice a fit of parts,' (ib. p. 379). lines Garrick's 'Here lies Nolly Goldsmith, for shortness called Noll, Who wrote like an angel, but talked like poor Poll,' are his imaginary epitaph on Goldsmith, which, with the others, gave rise to Retaliation. Forster's Goldsmith, ii. 405. 1 Rousseau accounting for the habit he has 'de balbutier promptement des paroles sans idées,' continues, 'je crois que voilà de quoi faire assez comprendre comment n'étant pas un sot, j'ai cependant souvent passé pour l'être, même chez des gens en état de bien juger. .. Le parti que j'ai pris d'écrire et de me cacher est précisément celui qui me convenait. Moi présent on n'aurait jamais su ce que je valois, on ne l'aurait pas soupconné même.' Les Confessions, Livre iii. See post, April 27, 1773, where Boswell admits that 'Goldsmith was often very fortunate in his witty contests, even when he entered the lists with Johnson himself:' and April 30, 1773, where Reynolds says of him: There is no man whose company is more liked.' the Aetat. 54.] Oliver Goldsmith. 479 the easy gentleman'. Those who were in any way distinguished, excited envy in him to so ridiculous an excess, that the instances of it are hardly credible'. When accompanying two beautiful young ladies' with their mother on a tour in France, he was seriously angry that more attention was paid to them than to him'; and once at the exhibition of the Fantoccini in London, when those who sat next him observed with what dexterity a puppet was made to toss a 'Northcote, a few weeks before his death, said to Mr. Prior :'When Goldsmith entered a room, Sir, people who did not know him became for a moment silent from awe of his literary reputation; when he came out again, they were riding upon his back.' Prior's Goldsmith, i. 440. According to Dr. Percy:-' His face was marked with strong lines of thinking. His first appearance was not captivating; but when he grew easy and cheerful in company, he relaxed into such a display of good humour as soon removed every unfavourable impression.' Goldsmith's Misc. Works, i. 117. ''Dr. Goldsmith told me, he himself envied Shakespeare.' Walpole's Letters, vi. 379. Boswell, later on (post, May 9, 1773), says:— In my opinion Goldsmith had not more of it [an envious disposition] than other people have, but only talked of it freely.' See also post, April 12, 1778. According to Northcote, 'Sir Joshua said that Goldsmith considered public notoriety or fame as one great parcel, to the whole of which he laid claim, and whoever partook of any part of it, whether dancer, singer, slight of hand man, or tumbler, deprived him of his right.' Northcote's Reynolds, i. 248. See post, April 7, 1778, where Johnson said that 'Goldsmith was not an agreeable companion, for he talked always for fame:' and April 9, 1778. Miss Hornecks, one of whom is now married to Henry Bunbury, Esq., and the other to Colonel Gwyn. Boswell. • Standing at the window of their hotel [in Lisle] to see a company of soldiers in the Square, the beauty of the sisters Horneck drew such marked admiration, that Goldsmith, heightening his drollery with that air of solemnity so generally a point in his humour and so often more solemnly misinterpreted, turned off from the window with the remark that elsewhere he too could have his admirers. The Jessamy Bride, Mrs. Gwyn, was asked about the occurrence not many years ago; remembered it as a playful jest; and said how shocked she had subsequently been "to see it adduced in print as a proof of his envious disposition." Forster's Goldsmith, ii. 217. • Puppets. 480 THE VICAR OF WAKEFIeld. (A.D. 1763. pike, he could not bear that it should have such praise, and exclaimed with some warmth, Pshaw! I can do it better myself'.' He, I am afraid, had no settled system of any sort, so that his conduct must not be strictly scrutinised; but his affections were social and generous, and when he had money he gave it away very liberally. His desire of imaginary consequence predominated over his attention to truth. When he began to rise into notice, he said he had a brother who was Dean of Durham3, a fiction so easily detected, that it is wonderful how he should have been so inconsiderate as to hazard it. He boasted to me at this time of the power of his in commanding money, which I believe was true in a certain degree, though in the instance he gave he was by no means correct. He told me that he had sold a novel for four hundred pounds. This was his Vicar of Wakefield. But Johnson informed me, that he had made the bargain for Goldsmith, and the price was sixty pounds'. 'And, Sir, 1 1 He went home with Mr. Burke to supper; and broke his shin by attempting to exhibit to the company how much better he could jump over a stick than the puppets. BOSWELL. Mr. Hoole was one day in a coach with Johnson, when 'Johnson, who delighted in rapidity of pace, and had been speaking of Goldsmith, put his head out of one of the windows to see they were going right, and rubbing his hands with an air of satisfaction exclaimed:-"This man drives fast and well; were Goldsmith here now he would tell us he could do better."' Prior's Goldsmith, ii. 127. 2 * See post, April 9, 1773; also April 9, 1778, where Johnson says, 'Goldsmith had no settled notions upon any subject.' I am willing to hope that there may have been some mistake as to this anecdote, though I had it from a Dignitary of the Church. Dr. Isaac Goldsmith, his near relation, was Dean of Cloyne, in 1747. BOSWELL. This note first appears in the second edition. Mr. Welsh, in A Bookseller of the Last Century, p. 58, quotes the following entry from an account-book of B. Collins of Salisbury, the printer of the first edition of the Vicar:- Vicar of Wakefield, 2 vols. 12m0., rd. B. Collins, Salisbury, bought of Dr. Goldsmith, the author, October 28, 1762, £21.' Goldsmith, it should seem from this, as Collins's third share was worth twenty guineas, was paid not sixty pounds, but sixty guineas. Collins shared in many of the ventures of Aetat. 54.] THE VICAR OF WAKEFIeld. 481 (said he,) a sufficient price too, when it was sold; for then the fame of Goldsmith had not been elevated, as it afterwards was, by his Traveller; and the bookseller had such faint hopes of profit by his bargain, that he kept the manuscript by him a long time, and did not publish it till after The Traveller had appeared'. Then, to be sure, it was accidentally worth more money'.' Mrs. Piozzi and Sir John Hawkins' have strangely misstated the history of Goldsmith's situation and Johnson's friendly interference, when this novel was sold. I shall give it authentically from Johnson's own exact narration:- I received one morning 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 drest, 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 got a bottle of Newbery, Goldsmith's publisher. Mr. Welsh says (ib. p. 61) that Collins's accounts show 'that the first three editions resulted in a loss.' If this was so, the booksellers must have been great bunglers, for the book ran through three editions in six or seven months. Forster's Goldsmith, i. 425. 'The Traveller (price one shilling and sixpence) was published in December 1764, and The Vicar of Wakefield in March 1766. In August 1765 the fourth edition of The Traveller appeared, and the ninth in the year Goldsmith died. He received for it £21. Forster's Goldsmith, i. 364, 374, 409. See ante, p. 224, note 1. * "Miss Burney," said Mrs. Thrale [to Dr. Johnson], "is fond of The Vicar of Wakefield, and so am I. Don't you like it, Sir?" "No, madam, it is very faulty; there is nothing of real life in it, and very little of nature. It is a mere fanciful performance."' Mme. D'Arblay's Diary, i. 83. There are a hundred faults in this Thing,' said Goldsmith in the preface, and a hundred things might be said to prove them beauties. But it is needless. A book may be amusing with numerous errors, or it may be very dull without a single absurdity.' See post, April 25, 1778. 'Anecdotes of Johnson, p. 119. BOSWELL. BOSWELL. • Life of Johnson, p. 420. I.-31 Madeira |