resting account of the singular circumstances under which that inimitable novel was composed, and sold by Johnson to a bookseller for sixty pounds; by which means Goldsmith was rescued for a time from his pecu. niary difficulties. The purchaser had, however, some doubts as to the success of his speculation; for the "Vicar of Wakefield" was not published until the publication of the "Traveller," in 1766. That delightful poem established the anthor's popularity, and smoothed his way to the summit of poetical fame.

Dr. Johnson has given an authentie narrative of the occurrence which led to the publication of that immortal novel. It is as follows:-"I received one morning a message from poor Goldsmith, that he was in great distress; and, as it was not in his power to come to me, begging that I would come to him as soon as possible. I sent him a guinea, and promised to come to him directly. I accordingly went as soon as I was dressed, and found that his landlady had arrested him for his rent, at which he was in a violent passion. I perceived that he had already changed my guinea, and had got a bottle of Madeira and a glass before him. I put the cork into the bottle, desired he would be calm, and began to talk to him of the means by which he might be extricated. He then told me that he had a novel ready for the press, which he produced to me. I looked into it and saw its merit; told the landlady I should. soon return, and having gone to a bookseller, sold it for sixty pounds. I brought Goldsmith the money, and he discharged his rent, not without rating his landlady in a high tone for having used him so ill."

Cumberland makes a feeling allusion to these circum→ stances in the following expressive stanzas:—

But what avail'd it thee, neglected bard,
How thy verse trickl'd, or thy period flow'd?
The loathsome vampire poverty, through life,
Insatiate, clung to thee, and suck'd thy blood
To the last drop. By thy siek couch I stood,
And saw death's hand was on thee; shall I say
That thou wert vain, and carelessly dispens'd
The slender pittance that thy genius earn'd?
No, 'twere a cruel comment on thy life;
He who no harvest reaps can hoard no grain ;

Had it not been that Johnson's generous zeal,
For a few pounds, barter'd thy "Vicar's Tale."
Penn'd in the veriest anguish of despair,

The pavement, or the step to some proud door,
Had been thy stony pillow for the night.

Tuckerman has said of Goldsmith's "Traveller," that the "subject evinces the taste of the author. The unpretending vein of enthusiasm which runs through it, is only equalled by the force and simplicity of the style. The rapid sketches of the several countries it presents are vigorous and pleasing; and the reflections interspersed abound with that truly humane spirit, and that deep sympathy with the good, the beautiful, and the true, which distinguishes the poet." In the same year that the "Traveller" was published, appeared his pleasing ballad of the "Hermit," which is a model in that department of composition. Goldsmith's writings. having secured admiration and respect, he became the intimate associate of the most eminent characters of the time for rank, talents, and literature. He was a member of the celebrated literary club, where he was in the habit of meeting, on terms of social intercourse, Dr. Johnson, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Garrick, Fox, Burke, and other distinguished characters. His peculiarities of manner, his vanity, and simplicity of character, were often made the subject of raillery amongst those brilliant wits; and Goldsmith revenged himself upon his associates for their personal attacks, in his satirical poem of "Retaliation," in which he ridicules them with severity, but with perfect good humour,

Goldsmith now made an attempt at dramatic composition; and in 1768 brought out his comedy of the "Good-natured Man," which did not at first meet with any decided success. Its production, however, afforded him ample remuneration, as the profits of three nights' performance, with the sum received for the copyright, amounted to five hundred pounds. The hero of the piece was intended to be a portrait of the author, and to exhibit the same extraordinary compound of amiability and folly,-of indiscretion and benevolence. His next work was his "Letters on the History of England," erroneously ascribed to Lord Littleton, containing an

excellent abridgment of the annals of Britain; and his "Roman History" followed. Of his historical compilations it must be admitted, that they were prepared without due care; and that in many points they cannot be relied upon for accuracy as to facts. The ease, grace, and simplicity of the style, render them attractive to young readers; and with the corrections which have been made in subsequent editions, they retain their popularity as valuable school books. Besides these histories, he wrote various prefaces and critical introductions to the works of other authors. He also made three successful attempts at biographical composition by writing the lives of Parnell, Lord Bolingbroke, and Beau Nash. It was in allusion to the life of Parnell, that Dr. Johnson, in his "Lives of the Poets," pays the following marked tribute to Goldsmith's merits:-" He was a man of such variety of powers, and such felicity of performance, that he always seemed to do best that which he was doing; a man who had the art of being minute without tediousness, and general without confusion; whose language was copious without exuberance, exact without constraint, and easy without weakness."

His charming poem of the "Deserted Village" was his next work. It may be considered as the companion to the "Traveller," and was published in 1770. Of all his productions this is unquestionably the most finished. He was two years preparing it for the press, and collected the materials for it during his excursion on the Continent. Its natural elegance, simplicity, and pathos, won all hearts; and the publisher, appreciating its superior merits, gave him a hundred guineas for the copyright; which Goldsmith, with his characteristic modesty and benevolence, returned, saying to a friend, "It is too much; it is more than the honest bookseller can afford, or, indeed, any modern poetry was worth." The sale was so large, that the bookseller was amply repaid, and insisted upon the generous author receiving the sum originally offered. The beauties of this exquisite poem are so numerous, that it is difficult to select the best passages. Thousands have admired and committed to memory the following delightful apostrophe to retirement:

O blest retirement! friend to life's decline,
Retreats from care, that never must be mine;
How blest is he who crowns, in shades like these,
A youth of labour with an age of ease;

Who quits a world where strong temptations try,
And, since 'tis hard to combat, learns to fly!
For him no wretches born, to work and weep,
Explore the mine, or tempt the dangerous deep;
No surly porter stands in guilty state,

To spurn imploring famine from the gate;
But on he moves to meet his latter end,
Angels around befriending virtue's friend;
Sinks to the grave with unperceiv'd decay,
While resignation gently slopes the way;
And all his prospects brightening to the last,
His heaven commences ere the world be pass'd.

The well-known address to poetry is equally polished and simple:

And thou, sweet poetry! thou loveliest maid,
Still first to fly where sensual joys invade;
Unfit in these degenerate times of shame,
To catch the heart, or strike for honest fame;
Dear charming nymph, neglected and decried,
My shame in crowds, my solitary pride;
Thou source of all my bliss, and all my woe,

That found'st me poor at first, and keep'st me so;
Thou guide by which the nobler arts excel,

Thou nurse of every virtue, fare thee well.

On the establishment of the Royal Academy of Painting, in 1770, Goldsmith was appointed Professor of History for the institution; but the appointment had no salary attached to it. In 1773 he appeared a second time as a dramatic author, by bringing out his agreeable play of "She Stoops to Conquer; or, the Mistakes of a Night." The plot of this piece is founded on an amusing blunder of the writer himself while travelling in Ireland, who mistook a gentleman's residence for an inn. The adventure referred to is thus described by an anonymous writer of his life:-"Some friend had given him a guinea, and in his way to Edgeworthstown, about twenty miles from his father's house, he had diverted himself the whole day by viewing the gentlemen's seats on the road, until at the fall of night, he found himself in the little town of Ardagh. Here he inquired for the best house in the place, meaning an inn, but being understood too literally, he was shown

to the house of a private gentleman, where, calling for somebody to take his horse, and lead him to the stable, he alighted and was shown into the parlour, being supposed to be a guest come to visit the master, whom he found sitting by a good fire. This gentleman immediately discovered Oliver's mistake; and being a man of humour, and having learned from him the name of his father, who happened to be his acquaintance, he encouraged his deception. Oliver accordingly called the servants about him, ordered a good supper, and generously invited the master and his wife and daughters to partake of it, treated them with a bottle or two of wine, and at going to bed, ordered a hot cake to be prepared for his breakfast; nor was it till his departure, when he called for the bill, that he discovered his mistake, and found he had been hospitably entertained in a private family."

The reception of this play was enthusiastic, and it still keeps possession of the stage as the most laughable of English comedies. One of our poet's last publications was, a "History of the Earth and Animated Nature;” in the preparation of which he was engaged for about three years, and which produced him £850, the largest sum he ever received for any work from his pen. This book was published in 1776. Though it cannot be safely consulted for depth of research, and accuracy as to scientific facts, it is composed in a pleasing style, and with the spirit of a man who knew he was writing on a subject congenial with his taste. As Johnson predicted, he had rendered the matter "as interesting as a Persian tale;" and there is no doubt, that if judiciously corrected, and enriched with the latest information on the various branches of Natural History, Goldsmith's "View of Animated Nature," would be highly prized as a popular contribution to that science. It is still s favourite work with all juvenile readers. During the last eight years of his life, it has been computed, that be made on an average by his literary labours, from £200 to £300 per annum. A prudent economical man, having no wife or family to support, would have managed to live in respectable competency, and free from debt;