Oliver Goldsmithy

Eng (y. Preoman from a pairting by die Ershus Eegrotos. by J.

A. Fullare & Co Dublin London & Edinburgh

labour necessary to discover and relish the high excellencies of the metaphysical Montaigne, will find his toil lightened as he proceeds, by a growing indulgence, if not partiality, for the foibles of the humorist; and at last rewarded, in a greater degree perhaps than by any other writer on mixed and applied philosophy, by being led to commanding stations and new points of view, whence the mind of a moralist can hardly fail to catch some fresh prospects of nature and duty."

Oliver Goldsmith.

BORN A. D. 1729.-DIED A, D. 1774.

OLIVER GOLDSMITH, son of the Reverend Charles Goldsmith, was born at Elphin, in the county of Roscommon in Ireland, in the year 1729. His father had four sons, of whom Oliver was the third. After being well-instructed in the classics at the school of Mr Hughes, he was admitted a sizer of Trinity college, Dublin, on the 11th of June,

1744.

While at college he exhibited no specimens of that genius which his maturer years displayed. On the 27th of February, 1749, two years after the regular time, he obtained the degree of B. A. Soon after, he turned his thoughts to the profession of physic; and, after attending some courses of anatomy in Dublin, proceeded to Edinburgh, in the year 1751, where he studied the several branches of medicine under the different professors in that university. His beneficent disposition soon involved him in unexpected difficulties; and he was obliged precipitately to leave Scotland, in consequence of having engaged to pay a considerable sum of money for a fellow-student. A few days after, about the beginning of the year 1754, he arrived at Sunderland near Newcastle, where he was arrested at the suit of one Barclay, a tailor in Edinburgh, to whom he had given security for his friend. By the friendship of Mr Laughlin Maclane and Dr Sleigh, he was soon delivered out of the hands of the bailiff, and took his passage on board a Dutch ship to Rotterdam, whence, after a short stay, he proceeded to Brussels. He then visited great part of Flanders, and after passing some time at Strasburg and Louvain, where he obtained the degree of bachelor in physic, he accompanied an English gentleman to Geneva, Goldsmith made the greater part of his continental tour on foot. He had left England with very little money; but, possessing a body capable of sustaining any fatigue, and a heart not easily terrified by danger, he became an enthusiast to the design he had formed of seeing the manners of different countries. He had some knowledge of the French language, and of music, and he played tolerably well on the German flute, which, from amusement, became at times to him the means of subsistence. His learning produced him a hospitable reception at most of the religious houses that he visited, and his music made him welcome to the peasants of Flanders and Germany. "Whenever I approached a peasant's house towards nightfall," he used to say, "I played one of my most merry tunes, and that generally procured me not only a lodging, but subsistence for the next day; but, in truth"-his constant expression "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 endeavour to please them."

On his arrival at Geneva, he was recommended as a proper person for a travelling tutor to a young man who had been unexpectedly left a considerable sum of money by his uncle. This youth, who was arti cled to an attorney, on receipt of his fortune determined to see the world; and, on his engaging with his preceptor, made a proviso that he should be permitted to govern himself; but our traveller soon found that his pupil understood the art of directing in money concerns extremely well, as avarice was his prevailing passion. During Goldsmith's continuance in Switzerland he assiduously cultivated his poetical talents, of the possession of which he had given some striking proofs at the college of Edinburgh. It was from hence he sent the first sketch of his delightful epistle called the Traveller,' to his brother Henry, a clergyman in Ireland, who, giving up fame and fortune, had retired with an amiable wife to happiness and obscurity, on an income of only £40 a-year. The great affection Goldsmith bore for his brother is beautifully expressed in the poem above-mentioned, and gives a striking picture of his situation:

"Remote, unfriended, melancholy, slow,

Or by the lazy Scheldt, or wandering Po;
Or onward, where the rude Carinthian boor,
Against the houseless stranger shuts the door;
Or where Campania's plain forsaken lies,
A weary waste expanding to the skies;
Where'er I roam, whatever realms I see,
My heart untravel'd fondly turns to thee:
Still to my brother turns, with ceaseless pain,
And drags at each remove a length'ning chain.
Eternal blessings crown my earliest friend,
And round his dwelling guardian saints attend!
Blest be that spot, where cheerful guests retire
Το pause from toil, and trim their evening fire;
Blest that abode, where want and pain repair,
And every stranger finds a ready chair;
Blest 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!"

From Geneva, Goldsmith and his pupil proceeded to the south of France, where the young man, upon some disagreement with his preceptor, paid him the small part of his salary which was due, and embarked at Marseilles for England. Our wanderer was now left once more upon the world, and encountered a number of hardships in traversing the greater part of France. At length his curiosity being gratified, he bent his course towards England, and arrived at Dover in the beginning of the winter of 1758.

His finances were so low on his return to England, that he with difficulty got to the metropolis. On entering London, his whole stock of cash amounted to no more than a few halfpence! He applied to several apothecaries in hopes of being received in the capacity of a journeyman, but his broad Irish accent, and the uncouthness of his appearance, occasioned him to meet with insult from most of the medical