LIFE OF GOLDSMITH. iiv 



rassed situation. He applied to several apothecaries, in hopes of being received in the capa- 

 city 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 tribe. The next day, however, 

 a chymist, near Fish-street, struck with his forlorn condition, arid the simplicity of his manner, 

 took him into his laboratory, where he continued till he discovered that his old friend Dr. 

 Sleigh was in London. " It was Sunday," said Goldsmith, " when I paid him a visit ; and it is 

 to be supposed, in my best clothes. Sleigh scarcely knew me: such is the tax the unfortu- 

 nate pay to p >veity. However, when he did recollect me, I found his heart as warm as ever; 

 and he shared his purse and his friendship with me during his continuance in London." Gold- 

 smith, unwilling to be a burden to his friend, a short time after, eagerly embraced an offer 

 which was made him to assist the late Rev. Dr. Milner, in instructing the young gentlemen 

 at the Academy at Peckham ; and acquitted himself greatly to the Doctor's satisfaction for a 

 short time; but, having obtained some reputation by the criticisms he had written in the 

 Monthly Review, Mr. Griffith, the principal proprietor, engaged him in the compilation of it; 

 and resolving to pursue the profession of writing, he returned to London, as the mart where 

 abilities of every kind were sure of meeting distinction and reward. Here he determined to 

 adopt a plan of the strictest economy, and, at the close of the year 1759, took lodgings in 

 Green-Arbour-Court, in the Okl Baily, where he wrote several ingenious pieces. His first 

 works were The Bee, a weekly pamphlet; and Jin Inquiry into the present State of Polite Learning 

 in Europe. The late Mr. Newberry, who, at that time, gave great encouragement to men of 

 literary abilities, became a kind of patron to Goldsmith, and introduced him as one of the 

 writers in the Public Ledger," in which his Citizen of the World originally appeared, under 

 title of "Chinese Letters." 



Through the generosi y of Mr. Newberry, for whom he had written and compiled a variety 

 of pieces, or, in other terms, had held the "pen of a ready writer," our Author was enabled 

 to shift his quarters from Green-Arbour-Court to Wine-Olfice-Court, in Fleet-street, where 

 he put the finishing stroke to his Vicar of Wakficll. Having conciliated the esteem of Dr. 

 Johnson by that passport to the human heart, flattery, the Colossus of Literature gave so strong 

 a recommendation of Goldsmith's Novel, that the Author obtained sixty pounds for the copy; 

 a sum far beyond his expectation, as he candidly acknowledged to a literary friend. It was, 

 however, a very seasonable relief, as it extricated our Author from many embarrassments un- 



(a) During this time (according to another account) he wrote for the British Magazine, of which Dr. Smollett was then 

 editor, most of those Essays and Tales, which he afterwards collected and published in a separate volume- He also 

 wrote occasionally for the Critical Review; and it was the merit which he discovered in criticising a despicable transla- 

 tion of Ovid's Fasti, by a pedantic schoolmaster, and his Inquiry into the pmtent State of Learning in Europe, \vhicli 

 first introduced him to the acquaintance of Dr. Smollett, who recommended him to several literati, and to most of the 



booksellers by whom he was afterwards patronized. 



a* 



