viii LIFE OF GOLDSMfTH. 



Earl of Lisburne, whose classical taste is well known, one day at a dinner of the Royal Acade- 

 micians, lamented to the Doctor his neglecting the muses, and inquired of him why he forsook 

 poetry, in which he was sure of charming his readers, to compile histories and write novels? 

 The Doctor replied, 'My Lord, by courting the muses I shall starve; but by my other labours, 

 I eat, drink, have good clothes, and enjoy the luxuries of life.' 



This finished Poem was by no means a hasty production ; it occupied two years in com- 

 posing; and was the effect of the most minute observation, during an excursion of between 

 four and five years. Soon after the appearance of this work, he paid a tribute to the merit 

 of Dr. Parnell, in a Life prefixed to a new Edition of that elegant writer's " Poems on several 

 occasions ;" a work that does honour to the head and heart of the author. 



The next Comedy the Doctor produced was in the year 1772: it was called, She Stoops to 

 Conquer, and proved more successful than the Good-natured Man. Colman, who was then 

 manager of Covent-Garden Theatre, and had given incontestible proofs of dramatic genius in 

 the production of various excellent pieces, was greatly mistaken in his judgment of this comedy, 

 which he thought too farcical, and had consigned to condemnation at the time of its last re- 

 hearsal. Indeed, the performers, in general, coincided with the manager in opinion. The 

 piece, however, notwithstanding the sentence pronounced by that acknowledged critic, was 

 received with great applause, to his mortification, and the exultation of the author, who was 

 not a little piqued at the critic from the following circumstance. 



The first night of the performance of his comedy, Goldsmith did not come to the house till 

 it approached the close, having been ruminating in St. James's Park on the very important 

 decision of the fate of his piece then pending; and such were his anxiety, and apprehension 

 of its failure, that he was with great difficulty prevailed on to repair to the theatre, on the sugges- 

 tion of a friend, who pointed out the necessity of his presence, in order to take cognizance of 

 any passages that might appear objectionable, for the purpose of omission, or alteration in the 

 repetition of the performance. Our Author, with an expectation suspended between hope 

 and fear, had scarcely entered the passage that leads to the stage, than his ears were shock 

 ed at a hiss, which proceeded from the audience, as a token of their disapprobation of the 

 farcical supposition of Mrs. Hardcastle's being so palpably deluded, as to conceive herself at 

 the distance of fifty miles from her house, when she was not at the distance of fifty yards. 

 Such was the tremor and agitation of the Doctor on this unwelcome salute, that, running up 

 to the manager, he exclaimed, "What's that?" Pshaw! Doctor,'' replied Colman, in a sar- 

 castic tone, " don't be terrified at squibs, when we have been sitting these two hours upon a 

 barrel of gunpowder." 1 Goldsmith's pride was so hurt by the poignancy of this remark, that the 

 friendship which had before subsisted between the Manager and the Author was dissolved 

 for life. 



The success of the comedy of She Stoops to Conquer produced a most illiberal personal at- 



