G O L 



' for (Icbts iiicurr,;d, probably to adminiftcr to his diffipation. 

 He was intercepted at Suuder'and, and thrown into con- 

 finenient, from which he \<as re'eafed by the kindncfs of two 

 fellow-collegians. After this, he determined to vifit the 

 continent, embarked for Holland, travelled through Flan- 

 ders and part of Germany, pafTed fome time at the imiver- 

 fities of Stralburg and Louvain ; at the latter place he took 

 his degree of bachelor of phyfic, and thence accompanied 

 an Englifh gentleman to Geneva. Here heengagid himfelf 

 cis travelling tutor to a young man who liad become poffelTed 

 of a large fortune, but whofc mind was ill adapted to do 

 credit to the giits of Providence. They difagreed in the 

 foulh of France, and Goldfmith was left to contend «ilh 

 the hardlhips of indigence in a foreign country. He re- 

 turned in 175'^, and had in mod of his peregrinations truft- 

 ed tor hh iupport to his own cafual efforts. His learning 

 enlured him a favourable reception at the monaderies, and 

 his Genr.an flute feldom failed to procuie him a meal and a 

 night's lodging from the peafantry, who were delighted 

 with ftrains which a politer audience would have treated 



• with difdain. His arrival at London with a few pence in 

 his pocket, was not likely to be the termination of his pecu- 

 niary diftreiTes. He attempted to get into the employ 

 of un apothecary, but his appearance being againft him, his 

 application was treated with uifdain. He at length was ad- 

 Tui ted a:^ uflier to Dr. Milner, who kept an academy at 

 Pcckham. Here he remained but a fliort time, and tlien 

 relolved to lollow the profeflion of an author in London. 

 He obta:nev\ fome ei^rploymcnt in the Mo.nti'jly Review, 

 ond furnhhed paper:, for tlie public Ledger. He publiflied 

 a weekly pamphler, entitled " The Bee," and " An Enquiry 

 into the flate of Polite Learning in Europe." After he 

 had been fome time exercifing his pen in obfcuritv, he be- 

 came on a fudd >n celebrated as a poet, by the publication of 

 Ins " Travcllev, or a Profpecl of Society." This work 

 had lain by lum in MS. fome years, and it was at the infti- 

 gation of Dr. Johnfon that he prepared it for the prefs. 

 That great critic declared it as his opinion, that there had 

 not be.-n fo fine a poem fmce tJie days of Pope. In this de- 

 cifion the public concurred, and the author was, slaioft im- 

 mediately, inti-odiiced to the moft eminent 'iterary characters 

 o; the age. In the following year was pi.b'ilhed his novel 

 of the " Vicar of Wakeii.-Id/' which had been fold to a 

 bcokfe!Ier fome years before, but had been kept back as 

 the work of an unknown writer, and exciting no e xpefta- 

 tioHS cf fuccefs. It was, however, received with unbounded 

 applaufe, and has ever fmce borne a diftingniflicd rank 

 among funilar compofitions. His next work was a " Htf- 

 tory of England," in a feries of letters from a nobleman to 

 his fun, in two VLlumes i2nio. a work that ftill continues to 

 be read with great delight. His poetical fem% reached its 

 fummit in 1770, by the publication of his " Deferted Vil- 

 lage,'' which was univerfally admired. For this he obtain- 

 ed of his bookfcller ioo/. a fum whSci appeared to the a'l- 

 thor fo exorbitantly grent, that he refufcd to take it ; but 

 the fale of the work convinced l.im that he might fairly ap- 

 propriate the fum out of the profits. A s an author of 

 comedy, he produced in 1768' " The Good-natured 

 Man," which was not very fucccfsful ; and in 1772 

 another play, entitled " She Stoops to Conquer, or the 

 Millakes of a Night. " From this Gordfi.Mth cleared a 

 large fum, and it is ilill occafionally reprefented to applaud- 

 ing audiences. Notwithftanding the fuccefs of his pieces, 

 by fome of which it is aflerted he cleared 1800/. in a fingle 

 ' year, his circum.tances were never very profperous, which 

 • -was partly owing to the liberality of his difpofition, and 

 jartfy to an ur.fsrtumte hsbit wh ch _hc had contracted of 



G O L 



gaming ; the arts of which he knew very little of, and con-- 

 fequently became the prey of thofe who were bafe enough 

 to take advantage of his fimplicity. Befidcs the works 

 already treated of, Dr. Goldfmith, as he was called, though 

 he had only taken a bachelor's degree, compiled an Enghlh 

 hiftory in four vohunes, and a Roman and Grecian hillory 

 in two volumes each ; and " A Hillory of the Earth smd 

 Animated N-ature," in eight volumes Svo. Such was the 

 confidence which he acquired in his fliill at compilation, that 

 he formed a plan for a much greater work, w's. " A Dic- 

 tionary uf Arts and Sciences," but this and otiier fchemes 

 which he had planned were cut off by his untimely death. 

 A defpondence of mind, probably occalioncd by the con- 

 fcioufnefs of the bad (late ot his affairs, had been fecreuly 

 preying upon him, wlien in March 1774 he was attacked 

 with the fymptoms of a low fever, under which he funk on 

 the 4th of April He was buried in the Temple church- 

 yard without much attendance-, but a monument has fmce 

 been erefted to his memory in AVeilrainlter abbey, with a 

 Latin infcription by Dr. .Tohnfon. 



Goldfmith, as a man, was rather adinired for his genius^ 

 and beloved for his benevolence, than folidly elleemed_ 

 The bell part of his moral character was a warmth of fenfi- 

 bility, which made him in all tortunes ready to fliare his- 

 purfe with the indigent, and rendered him in his writingii 

 the conftant advocate of the poor and oppreffed. The woril 

 feature was a malignant envy and jealoufy ot fuccefsful ri- 

 vals, which he fometimes difplayed iif a niamier not lets ridi- 

 culous than offenfive. 



As a writer, no one of his time was poffcffed of more true- 

 humour, or was capable of more poignancy in marking the* 

 foibles of individuals. This lall talent he dilplayed in a 

 very amufing manner in his poem entitled " Retaliation," 

 written as a retort to the jocular attacks made upon liim in 

 a club of which he was a member. His literary fame ilanth 

 highell as a poet, in which character a place may be given 

 him perhaps at the head of the minor clafs, the term nunoir 

 being apphed with relation to the quantity, rather than the- 

 excel'ence of compofition. " It would not be eafy," lavs, 

 his biographer, " to point out in the whole compafs of Eng- 

 liih poetry, pieces that are read with more delight thim 

 " Tlie Traveller j" and " The Defertcd Village." The 

 elegance of the verfification, the force and fplcndour vst 

 fimplicity of the diAion ; the happy mixture of animatsA 

 fentiment with glnwing defcrij'tion, are calculated to pleafe 

 equally the refined and tiie imcultivated tal'te. The moral 

 and philofophical views of fociety they exliibit arc, indeed, 

 objectionable ; yet upon the whole they e.iert a favourable 

 influence over the heart. In addition to ihcie capital worksj^ 

 his pleafing bullid of " Tlie Hermit," and lome ihort hu- 

 morous and milce'laneous pieces, c<Mnpletc the catalogue o£ 

 his performances in verfe. As a profe writer he defcrves. 

 high praife for llyle, which he adapts with great felicity to- 

 his fubject, and which, whether elevated or plain, is always 

 clear, pure, and imsutetled. Life prefixed to his poems. 

 Europ. M;ig. Ann. Regis. 



GOLDWIN, Joav, an ecelefialtit-al eompofer, was 

 brought up under Dr. William Child, and, in 1697, fuc- 

 ceeded him as organilt at the free chapel of St. George at 

 AVindfor. In 1 703 he was appointed uiaUer cf the choirif- 

 ters there, in both which itarions he continued to the time 

 of his death in 17 19. Dr. Boyee, out of a great number of 

 anthems by this eompofer, feletted one for four voices, " I 

 have fet God always before me,' wliich he has infertcd in 

 the fecond volume of his "Collection of Cathedral Mufic," 

 and \\ ell charaAeri'z.ed it with reipedt to the n iidulation, by 

 faying that " it is fingiilar and agreeable." 



GOLDY. 



