GOLDSMITH, OLIVER (1728-74). An Eng lish author, He was born in the village of Pallas, County of Longford, Ireland, November 10, 1728. His father, Rev. Charles Goldsmith, a clergyman of the Established Church, was at that time curate to the rector of Kilkenny West. When six years old, Oliver was placed in the village school kept by an old soldier, Thomas Byrne, described in "The Deserted Village." While there he suffered permanent disfigurement from a bad attack of smallpox. He subsequently at tended other small schools, and at length entered Trinity College, Dublin, as a `sizar,' or poor scholar (June 11, 1744). Neither at school nor at the university did he display any conspicuous talents. But he had long been interested in chapbooks and the ballads of the peasantry, and had attempted verse. Disliking his tutor and his studies, humiliated by his position, and becoming involved in a college riot, he sold his books and ran away to Cork. Through the influence of his brother Henry, he was induced to return to the university, where he was graduated B.A. (Feb ruary 27, 1749). His uncle, Rev. Thomas Con tarine, who had helped Goldsmith at the univer sity, now tried to induce him to take orders; but he either declined or was rejected by the Bishop of Elphin. Thereupon he went to Cork to embark for America, but missed his ship. His uncle next gave him £50 to study law in London; but Goldsmith soon returned, having got no farther than Dublin, where he lost his money at a gaming-house. Again aided by Con tarine, he succeeded in reaching Edinburgh, where he began the study of medicine in 1752; but toward the end of the next year he sailed for Leyden, and then set out on the grand tour, wandering on foot through Flanders, France, Germany, and Italy, paying while in France for the hospitality of the peasants by playing on his flute. In 1756 he returned to England with empty pockets, and soon began to practice medi cine in Southwark. He quickly abandoned his profession to become, in turn, proof-reader, usher in an academy at Peckham, and then hack writer at `an adequate salary' for the Monthly Review. In 1758 he was nominated physician and surgeon in the India service, but the ap pointment was not confirmed; and being ex amined the same year at Surgeons' Hall for the post of 'hospital mate,' he was found `not quali fied.' The very clothes in which he appeared before his examiners were borrowed; and, being in great distress, he pawned them.
Besides several articles in the Monthly Re view, Goldsmith had by this time translated the Memoirs of Jean Marteilhe of Bergerac (1758). In April of the next year he attracted some attention by the Enquiry into the Present State of Polite Learning in Europe. lie was employed
on three periodicals started in this year, writing probably all the articles for the Bee, a weekly that ran through only eight numbers. On Jan uary 24, 1760, he contributed to the Publio Ledger the first of the celebrated Chinese Letters, republished two years later under the title of The Citizen of the World. In 1762 appeared also the Life of Richard Nash, the famous Bath beau. His literary work had already gained him the friendship of 'Bishop Percy and Dr. Johnson. In 1764 the Literary Club was founded, and Goldsmith was one of the nine original members. He was thus brought into intimacy with some of the most eminent men of the time. This year he published A History of England, in a series of letters, which was followed by "The Traveler" in 1765. a poem which placed him at once in the front rank of contemporary writers. The follow ing year came his only novel, The Vicar of Wake field, which, with all its faults, is one of the most delightful stories in English literature. It has passed through more than a hundred editions. Turning now to the drama. he produced The Man, performed at Covent Garden, January 29, 1768. It did not meet with great favor. Disheartened, he turned again to. hack ork; but in 1770 he published his finest poem, "The Deserted Village." On March 15, 1773, She stoops to Conquer, unsurpassed among later Eng lish comedies, was performed at Covent Garden, and met with instant success. Goldsmith died in his chambers at the Middle Temple, April 4, 1774, and was buried in the grounds of the Temple Church. The Literary Club erected a monument to his memory in Westminster Abbey, bearing an epitaph of Dr. Johnson. His statue stands at the portal of Trinity College, Dublin. While Gold smith was producing his finest work, he was also compiling histories and writing reviews. Among productions not mentioned above are: The Grecian History (1774) ; the incomplete History of Ani mated Nature (1774) ; and the delightful poems, "Retaliation" (1774) and "The Haunch of Veni son" (1776 I. Goldsmith was the most natural English genius of his time. He did not possess Johnson's massive intellect, nor Burke's passion and general force; but he wrote the finest poem, the most charming novel, and—with the excep tion perhaps of The School for best comedy of the period. Than his style, nothing could be more natural, simple, and graceful. For his Life, consult: Forster (London, 1848; enlarged ed. 1854) ; Irving (New York, 1849) ; Black, in English Men of Letters (London, 1879) ; and Dobson, in Great Writers (London, 1888) ; also Boswell, Life of Dr. Johnson (London, 1889) ; and the Wakefield edition of the Com plete Works (12 vols., London, 1900).