SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR'S LIFE. 



V 



in the bud of this sweet rose." In a little more than six months his beloved 

 companion died of consumption. 



Such was the shock upon his sensibilities produced by this sad and me- 

 lancholy bereavement, that it seemed to have paralyzed his mental energies ; 

 during the four years of his solitary condition, he seemed to suspend 

 those active literary employments, of which he had given so hopeful promise. 

 In 1789, he married a second time. The object of his choice was the 

 daughter of Thomas Fenn, Esq., a highly respectable banker at Sudbury. 

 With this lady, who possessed superior excellence and worth, he shared 

 the conjugal endearments during the last thirty-eight years of his life. 

 The fruits of this marriage were six children, two only of whom with their 

 widowed mother survive. 



The year after this marriage. Dr. Good commenced the study of the 

 Hebrew language, of which he soon acquired a critical knowledge, as was 

 exhibited in some of the most valuable productions of his pen. The 

 sphere of his professional labour became very extensive, and a pros- 

 pect of competence and even wealth was opened before him. But too 

 soon he proved the versatility of all human possessions ; for in 1792, by becom- 

 ing legally bound for the debts of others, or by lending a large sum of money 

 to personal friends which they were unable to pay, he became involved in 

 great pecuniary embarrassment. Instead, however, of availing him- 

 self of the entire relief which was promptly offered by Mr. Fenn, he esti- 

 mated his loss as the penal infliction for his imprudence, and therefore de- 

 termined to tax his mental resources for his penance ; and to his misfor- 

 tune he was indebted for the developement of genius and talent of which he 

 was till then unconscious. 



He began with increasing assiduity a course of literary activity almost 

 without a parallel. He wrote plays, made translations, composed poems 

 and philosophical essays, which, though possessed of acknowledged merit, all 

 failed to yield him pecuniary remuneration to any extent. At length, how- 

 ever, he published his fugitive pieces in " The World," the Morning Post 

 of that day, and under the signature of the " Rural Bard," he introduced 

 himself to popular favour. 



In the year 1793, having unsuccessfully contended against the frowns of 

 adversity, he was fortunate enough to receive a proposition to remove to 

 London, and engage in partnership with a surgeon and apothecary of ex- 

 tensive practice in the metropolis, and to obtain an official connexion as 

 surgeon in one of the prisons. He availed himself of this opening, and 

 went to London, his spirits buoyant with hope, that a fairer and brighter 

 day was about to dawn upon him. But again he was doomed to the sad 

 and unavoidable defeat of his apparently well-founded expectations ; for, 

 having been admitted the same year a member of the College of Surgeons, 

 and having received other marks of professional distinction, his partner 

 became jealous of his rising popularity, and his envy caused him to pursue 

 a course of conduct which resulted in the failure of their business and 

 the dissolution of their partnership. Still he concealed from his father- 

 in-law, and even from his own family, the extent of his embarrassments, 

 and shrunk from receiving full relief, though perfectly within his reach ; and 

 resolved to incur no obligation, but rely upon his own resources. 



