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Oliver Goldsmith By: E. S. Lang Buckland |
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[Illustration:
Rischgitz Collection. ]
OLIVER GOLDSMITH.
(From the painting by Reynolds.)]
Bell's Miniature Series of Great Writers
Oliver Goldsmith BY E. S. LANG BUCKLAND [Illustration]
LONDON
GEORGE BELL & SONS
1909
PREFACE
It is only right to acknowledge my indebtedness in the compilation of
this volume to John Forster, to whom as one of the most courageous,
industrious, and sympathetic of the writers of biography, all students
of Goldsmith must be profoundly grateful. To several other writers I
must also express my thanks, and to save the time of my kind readers
and to preserve a proper sense of obligation, it would perhaps be best
to admit at once that if this little book has any merits, they are due
to others, while its errors are all my own. E. S. L. B.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. "THE BEST BELOVED OF ENGLISH WRITERS" 1
II. "THE DESERTED VILLAGE" 13
III. "THE TRAVELLER" 27
IV. LONDON 36
V. "THE CITIZEN OF THE WORLD" 45
VI. THE LITERARY CLUB 50
VII. DEBTS AND DIGNITIES 59
VIII. CONSUMMATE COMEDY 66
IX. THE POET AND THE ESSAYIST 75
X. THE LIGHT OF LOVE 84 LIST OF THE WORKS OF OLIVER GOLDSMITH 88
SOME WORKS OF REFERENCE 89
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
OLIVER GOLDSMITH, FROM A PAINTING BY REYNOLDS Frontispiece
GOLDSMITH AS A YOUNG MAN 28
DR. JOHNSON, BOSWELL, AND GOLDSMITH AT THE MITRE TAVERN 46
THE ORIGINAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN GOLDSMITH AND DODSLEY, 1763 52
GOLDSMITH IN MIDDLE AGE 56
NO. 2, BRICK COURT, TEMPLE (WHERE GOLDSMITH DIED) 63
STATUE OF GOLDSMITH 80
CHAPTER I "THE BEST BELOVED OF ENGLISH WRITERS"
The Goldsmith family sprang originally from Crayford, a nestling
village in Kent. This southern county, in all its loveliness, can thus
add this high honour to its other though not greater glories. "To be
the best beloved of English writers," said Thackeray, "what a title
that is for a man!" This he gave to Goldsmith. It is a title that none
will dispute. Here is a love that will never pass away from our
hearts. Of Oliver Goldsmith, as poet and novelist, essay writer, wit
and playwright, it may be said that his distinction and celebrity are
essentially English. Erin, sweet sister island, that land of loving
hearts, gave this child of sun and shade, his birthplace, his home and
many dear delightful days, never to be forgotten. Across the
separating years, to the very end and through all, the grateful heart
of the poet looked back very fondly upon the gentle and pathetic land
of his nativity. On November 10, 1728, Oliver Goldsmith first saw the
light of that world which, to the last, he loved, and greeted that
suffering heart and seeking aspiration of humanity, that above and
beyond almost all other men he could, and did, unfailingly
compassionate. It is needless to trace and recall, the ancestral
traditions of the Goldsmith family. Of its early history in England
and later settlement in Ireland, it will suffice that its annals are
as honourable as they are obscure. It had its men of light and
learning, but their power attained neither fame nor rank, and their
virtues were rather domestic than distinguished... Continue reading book >>
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