lent, of which he had given some striking proofs at the college of Edinburgh. It was from hence he sent the first sketch of his delightful epistle, called The Traveller, to his brother, the clergyman, in Ireland, who, giving up fame and fortune, had retired, with an amiable wife, to happiness and obscurity, on an income of only 401. a year.

"From Geneva, Mr. Goldsmith and his pupil visited the South of France, where the young man, upon some disagreement with his preceptor, paid him the small part of his salary which was due and embarked at Marseilles for England. Our wanderer was left once more upon the world at large, and passed through a number of difficulties in traversing the greatest part of France, at length, his curiosity being gratified, he bent his course towards England, and arrived at Dover, the beginning of the winter, in the year 1758.

"His finances were so low on his return to England, that he with difficulty got to the metropolis, his whole stock of cash amounting to no more than a few halfpence! An entire stranger in London, his mind was filled with the most gloomy reflections, in consequence of his embarrassed situation! He applied to several apothecaries, in hopes of being received in the capacity of a journeyman; but his broad Irish accent, and the uncouthness of his appearance, occasioned him to meet with insult from most of the medi

cal tribe. The next day, however, a chymist near Lish-Street, struck with his forlorn condition, and the simplicity of his manner, took him into his laboratory, where he continued till he discovered his old friend Dr. Sleigh was in London. This gentleman received him with the warmest affection, and liberally invited him to share his purse till some establishment could be procured for him. Goldsmith, unwilling to be a burthen to his friend, a short time after eager ly embraced an offer which was made him, to assist the late Rev. Dr. Milner, in instructing the young gentlemen at the academy at Peckham; and acquitted himself greatly to the Doc. tor's satisfaction for a short time; but, having obtained some reputation by the criticisms he had written in the Monthly Review, Mr. Griffiths, the principal proprietor, engaged him in the compilation of it; and, resolving to pursue the profession of writing, he returned to London, as the mart where abilities of every kind were sure of meeting distinction and reward. Here he determined to adopt a plan of the strictest economy, took lodgings in Green-Arbour Court, in the Old Bailey, where he wrote several ingenious pieces. The late Mr. Newbery, who at that time gave great encouragement to men of literary abilities, became a kind of patron to our young author, and introduced him as one of the first writers in the Public Ledger, in which his Citizen of the World originally appeared,under the title of Chinese Letters.

Fortune now seemed to take some notice of a man she had long neglected. The simplicity of his character, the integrity of his heart, and the merit of his productions, made his company very acceptable to a number of respectable persons; and he emerged from his shabby apartments near the Old-Bailey to the politer air of the Temple, where he took handsome chambers, and lived in a genteel style. The publication of his Traveller, his Vicar of Wakefield, and his Letters on the History of England, was folfollowed by the performance of his comedy of The Good-natured Man, at Covent-garden, theatre, and placed him in the first rank of the poets of the present age.

"Our Doctor, as he was now universally called, had a constant levee of his distressed countrymen, whose wants, as far as he was able, he always relieved, and he has been often known to leave himself even without a guinea, in order to supply the necessities of others!

"Another feature in his character we cannot help laying before the reader. Previous to the publication of his Deserted Village, the bookseller had given him a note for one hundred guineas for the copy; which the Doctor mentioned, a few hours afer, to one of his friends, who observed it was a very great sum for so short a performance. In truth,' replied Goldsmith, I think so too; it is much more than the honest man can afford, or the piece is worth; I have not been

easy since I received it; therefore I will go back and return him his note;' which he absolutely did, and left it entirely to the bookseller to pay him according to the profits produced by the sale of the poem, which turned out very consi derable.

During the last rehearsal of his comedy, intitled, She Stoops to Conquer, which Mr. Ca. man had no opinion would succeed, on the Doctor's objecting to the repetition of one of Tony Lumpkin's speeches, being apprehensive it might injure the play, the manager with great keenness replied, Psha, my dear Doctor, do not be fearful of squibs, when we have been sitting almost these two hours upon a barrel of gunpowder!' The piece, however, contrary to Mr. Colman's expectation, was received with uncommon applause by the audience; and Goldsmith's pride was so hurt by the severity of the above observation, that it intirely put an end to his friendship for the gentleman who made it.

"Notwithstanding the great success of his pieces, by some of which, it was asserted, upon good authority, he cleared 18001. in one year, his circumstances were by no means in a prosperous situation! partly owing to the liberality of his disposition, and partly to an unfortnate habit he had coutracted of gaming, the arts of which he knew very little of, and consequently became the prey of those who were unprincipled enough to take advantage of his ignorance.

Just before his death, he had formed a de sign for executing an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, the prospectus of which he actually printed, and distributed among his acquaintance. In this work several of his literary friends (particularly Sir Joshua Reynolds, Dr. Johnson, Mr. Beauclerc, and Mr. Garrick) had engaged to furnish him with articles upon different subjects. He had entertained the most sanguine expectations from the success of it. The undertaking, however did not meet with encouragement from the booksellers which he had imagined it would undoubtedly receive; and he used to lament this circumstannce almost to the last hour of his existence.

"He had been for some years afflicted, at different times, with a violent strangury, which contributed not a littlefto imbitter the latter part of his life; and which, with the vexations he suffered upon other occasions, brought on a kind of habitual despondency. In this unhappy condition he was attacked by a nervous fever, which, being improperly treated, terminated in his dissolution on the 4th day of April, 1774, in the forty-third year of his age. His friends, who were very numerous and respectable, had determined to bury him in Westminster-Abbey, where a tablet was to be erected to his mẹmory. His pall was to have been supported by Lord Shelburne, Lord Sonth, Sir Joshua Reynolds, the Hon. Mr. Beauclerc, Mr. Edmund