G OLDS 
In this fitnation, he rnfFei'e<I many vtcilhtudes of for¬ 
tune ; for licre he (hewed himfelf addidted to gaming', 
a praiflicc which occafioned all the future hardfliips 
that he underwent, and in the fatal confequences of 
whicli originated thofe (tains that fullied his moral cha- 
rafter. On leaving Leyden, he paded fotne time at the 
univeviities of Strafburg and Louvain, at the latter of 
■«\ hich he took 'tlie degree of baciielor of phyfic, and 
tlience accompanied an Englifh gentleman to Geneva. 
At that city he was e/ignged as travelling tutor to a 
young man who had become heir to a large fortune, but 
who feeius to have been deltitute of a proportional li¬ 
berality of mind. They difagreed and parted in the 
I'outh of France ; and Goldfmith was left to contend as 
he could with tlie hardihips of indigence in a foreign 
country. But he found means to get back to Fhigland 
in the beginning of 1756. In a great part of tliofe pe¬ 
regrinations lie appears to have trufted for fupport to 
his own cafual efforts ; and Ite had learning and addrefs 
(ufiicient to enfure a hofpitable reception at the monaf- 
teries. A vigorous conllitution alfo enabled him to re- 
filf the fatigues of pedeflrian travel and the inclemen¬ 
cies of tlie feafon, and lie could not fail to receive much 
gratification from the fcenes of nature and the different 
forms of human life which prefented themfelves to his 
mind ; but there were, doubtlcfs, many folitary hours 
in wdiicli lie fenfibly felt thofe circumftances of his (itu- 
ation whicli form the pathetic exordium of hisTraveller. 
On his arrival in London, he could obtain no better 
employment than that of afliftant in the laboratory of a 
cheniift near Fifli-ffreet hill. Luckily he difcovered 
the refidence of his old college friend Dr. Sleigh, who 
liberally ihared his purfe with him, and gave him a 
countenance whicli probably was the caufe of liis being 
recommended as an ufiier to Dr. Milner, who kept an 
academy at Peckham. His adfivity of mind, however, 
allowed iiim to remain but a lliort time in that fituation, 
and he then took lodgings in London with a view of fol- 
lowing the profellion of an author. He fiidl publidied 
a weekly pamphlet, entitled, The Bee; and an Enquiry 
into the State of Polite Learning in Europe. He had 
been for I'oiiie years exerciling Ids pen in obfeunty, 
when, in 1765, he fuddeiily buril from the clouds as a 
poet, in his 1 raveller, or a Profpecl of Society. This 
performance had lain by him fome years in maiiufcript, 
and it was at tlie iiifiigation of Dr. Johiifon that he en¬ 
larged and finilhed it for publication. 1 hat great critic 
liberally and juftly laid that “there had not been Id 
fine a poem lince Pope’s time.’’ d'lie public were 
equally fenfible of its merit, and it conferred upon him 
a celebrity which gave him an introduction to fome of 
the molt eminent literary charadfers of the time. In 
1766 was publifhed his novel of tlie Vicar of Wake¬ 
field. It was received with merited applaiife, and has 
ever fince borne a di(tingui(hed rank among fimilar com- 
pofitiqns. He now took rooms in the 1 emple, and at 
the fame time joined with a friend in a country-houfe. 
At the latter he conipofed one of his moft plealing and 
fuccefsful works, A Hiltory of England, in a Series of 
Letters from a Nobleman to his Son, 2 vols. 121110. 
The elegance and liberal fpirit of this hiflorical fketcli 
cauled'itto be generally attributed to lord Lyttletoii. 
That lie pofielled a rich vein of comic humour he had 
proved by his Vicar of Wakefield ; and it was further 
evinced by his comedy of The Goodnatured Man, added 
at Covent-Garden in 1768. Yet the piece was not very 
fuccefsful ; wiiich niioht partly be attributed to defedds 
of plot and want ot dramatic eliect, and partly to the 
fondne-fs for lentimeiital writing, which then charac- 
terifed the public lalte. By gratifying tliis tafic, Ktdly 
hud about the lame time obtained great applaufe for 
his Falie Delicacy ; and thi^ luccels loll him tlie friend- 
Ihip of Goldliiiiih. A Roman hiltory, in 2 vols. 8vo. 
and a Hiltory of England, in 4 volo. 8vo. dilplayed his 
iiidiiltry at itiij period. A periodical publication, called 
M. IT.H. 
Tlie Gentleman’s Journal, in which he bore a (hare with 
feveral other w’riters, enjoyed but a (Tiort fife;; dying, 
as he himfelf laid, “of too many dodtors.” 
His poetical fame reached its fuminit in 1770, by the 
publication of The Defected Village, a diarming piece, 
which was univerfally.admired. The price offered for 
it by the bookfeller (viz. lool.) appeared to him fo ex¬ 
orbitantly great, being nearly five (liillings a couplet, 
that he refufed at firft to take it; but the fale the poem 
met with convinced liim that he might fairly appropri¬ 
ate that fum out of the profit. This incident proves 
that he made a very inodett ellimate of his labours. 
His fpleen againlf the fentimental drama of Kelly, in¬ 
cited him to make a bold effort to bring back the relith 
of the public for broad humour; and in 1772 lie pro¬ 
duced She Stoops to Conquer; r, tlie Miffakes of a 
Night. The characters and plot of this piece certainly 
make a near approach to farce; yef fuch was its comic 
power, that the fpedtators received it with uncommon 
favour. Goldfmith cleared a confidenib?e fum by this 
play, and it is (till occafionally reprefented to applaud¬ 
ing audiences. Tliis was a gainful year to him; yet 
thouglitlefs profufion, and inconfiderate bounty to ac¬ 
quaintances in diltrefs, left him confiderably in debt at 
the dole of it ; and lie therefore continued to exercife 
his indiittry in compilation. Befides a Grecian Hiftory, 
he fupplied the bookfellers with a Hiltory of the Earth 
and Animated Nature, in 8 vols. 8vo. 1774. Goldfmith 
was by no means a man of fcience ; but he polfetfed 
good tafte and a cliariiiing ffylc ; and with the help of 
Buffbn and other writers, lie produced a wofk that w'as 
both aimifmg and inftriuftive. Sucli was the confidence 
he liad in his native induftry and Ikilt at compilation, 
that he formed a plan for a mucli greater work ; no lefs 
than an Univerlal Didlionary of Arts and Sciences, in 
whicli he w'as to receive atfiffance from fome of his lite¬ 
rary friends ; but this and all otlier fchemes were cut 
otf by his untimely death. He was attacked with the 
fymptoms of a fever in March, and died on' April 4, 
1774) aged forty-five. He was buried in the Temple 
cluirch-) ard ; and a monument has fince been erected 
to his memory in Weffminller-abbey, with a Latin in- 
Icription by Dr. Johnfon. 
Doftor Goldfmith (fo he xvas nfually ftyled, though 
only M. B.) appears to have been more admired for his 
genius, and beloved for his benevolence, than folidly 
effeemed. The beft part of his moral character was a 
w'armth of fenlibility, which made him in all fortunes 
ready to (liare his purfe with the indigent, and rendered 
him in his writings the conffant advocate of the poor 
and opprefTed. His worft feature was a tiiRture of envy 
and jealoufy of fuccefsful rivals, which he fometimes 
difplayed in a manner not a little ridiculous. Yet, 
perliaps, no writer of his time was poifelfed of more 
true liumour, or was capable of more poignancy in 
marking the foibles of other individuals. This lait ta¬ 
lent he has difplayed in a very amufing manner in his 
unfinilhed poem of Retaliation, written as a kind of re¬ 
tort to tlie jocular attacks made upon him in the lite¬ 
rary club. Under the malk of epitaplis, he has given 
mallerly (ketches of lome of the principal members, 
■with a mixture of ferious praife and good-humoured 
raillery. His charatler of Garrick, however, is parti¬ 
cularly fevere, and was fo much felt by that witty addor, 
as to provoke a Itill feverer return in kind; and it is 
not probable that any frienddiip could liibliff between 
them after thofe lioffilities. 
Goldfmith’s literary fame Hands higheft as a poet, in 
which cliarafter a place may be given liim perliaps at 
the head of the minor dal's, rellraining the term 7?itnor 
rather to the quantity., than the excellence, of his com- 
politions. It wotiid not be ealy to point out in the 
w'liole compafs of Eiiglifh poetry pieces that are read 
with more delight than Tlie 7 'raveller, and The De- 
ferted Village. The eldgance of the verlilication ; the 
force 
