but three weak monarchs more successively on the throne, the mask will be laid aside, and the country will certainly once more be free."*

CHAPTER VI.

Arrival in England.-Early struggles in London.-Becomes usher in the school of Dr. Milner at Peckham.-Engages in the Monthly Review.-Dr. James Grainger.

EARLY in the year 1756 he reached England, having spent about two years on the Continent; and London, as the general resort of talent and necessity, became his first object. Here his prospects were of the most discouraging nature. Whatever advances he had made in learning, or in the knowledge of mankind in the abstract, he had made none in what is more commonly considered the prac tical business of life. It was doubtful what course to pursue for a livelihood; he was in, to him, a strange land; he possessed neither friends nor money; and laboured under the disadvantage of being an Irishman, which at that period as he says in one of his letters, formed of itself an obstacle to gaining employment.

Some obscurity exists as to the exact incidents of his life on revisiting England, of the order in which they preceded each other, or whether his first attempt to obtain a livelihood was in the medical or scholastic profession. Much of his early career, of what was known to many acquaintance during his life is now forgotten, although in this and other details he may not have thought it necessary to be explicit to such as were likely to record them; unwilling to disclose struggles which were unsuccessful or involving details distressing to his pride. Yet we know that hints and allusions fell from him in conversation, casting partial light on parts of his history, which it would have been indelicate nevertheless to pursue by direct ques tions further than he thought proper to go. After his death, an anonymous contributor to the newspapers stated, that the Poet having been bred to pharmacy had attempted to practise as an apothe cary in a country town, but failing of success, proceeded to London and accepted the situation of usher to Dr. Milner. A contradiction to the former part of this account soon appeared, which brought forth the following rejoinder: it must be remembered that the autho rity is anonymous, although there seems no inducement for wilful misstatement or that the writer had not sufficient authority for what

*It is remarkable that Burke was impressed with the same idea; first in 1768, in his pamphlet in reply to one of Mr. George Grenville; and again in 1771, on his return from a visit to that country. If the coincidence of opinion be accidental, it is curious; but as Goldsmith was prior in time, Burke may have been led to con sider the subject by hearing his observations.

he says: "A writer in a daily paper pretends to contradict some part of our account of the late Dr. Goldsmith. He says, the Doctor was not bred to pharmacy, and that he did not set up as an apothecary in a country town in Ireland. We never said that he set up in Ireland. The country town alluded to is an English town, the name of which is forgotten. But the writer of this and the former paragraph assures the public, that he had the anecdote from the Doctor's own mouth. As to what the writer mentions of the Doctor having been a student in Edinburgh after he left Ireland, and then travelling into Germany and other parts of Europe, it is very true, and to that circumstance the public is probably indebted for his pretty poem of the Traveller.'"*

A rumour (mentioned by Mr. English who conducted the Annual Register for twenty years after Burke relinquished it) prevailed about the year 1766, of his having once attempted the stage in the line of low comedy, in a country town, when pressed for the means of subsistence. Whether this story was circulated in jest or earnest, may be doubted; want makes us familiar with strange pursuits as with strange acquaintance; and as the scheme may have seemed to him to require little preliminary knowledge and no introduction, it is just possible some such resource was tried in making his way from the coast to London, destitute as he avowedly was of money. The greater probability indeed is, that like some other stories told of him it had no foundation, or was conjectured from the seeming knowledge of such a life shown in the "Adventures of a Strolling Player," printed in the British Magazine, where the scene is placed in Kent; or from the conclusion of the story of George Primrose. It is however true that he was afterwards known to express desire to play as a piece of admirable low comedy, the character of Scrub in "The Beaux Stratagem."

As far as can be ascertained, after reaching London his first determination seems to have been to turn his classical knowledge to account as usher in a school. With this view he made application to one of those establishments under a feigned name; ashamed, as it appears, of an occupation from which he soon hoped to escape and which by this device might never be known. A reference as to character was however required, and knowing none in England to whom to apply, he gave the name of the gentleman already mentioned, Dr. Radcliff of Dublin; but at the same time wrote to that gentleman himself, requesting him to give no answer to the inquiry of the schoolmaster. The reason of this we may readily conceive: having given a wrong name at first, expecting to be received without reference, he could not without hazard of total rejection afterwards acknowledge the deception; he sought besides, merely temporary shelter, which was probably afforded until the answer from Dublin should arrive, trusting in the mean time that his attainments and moral conduct would establish their own character; while as it was obvious that Doctor Radcliff could not recommend a ficti

• St. James's Chronicle, April 12-14, 1774.

tious person, no answer from him was better than direct denial of all knowledge of the applicant.

This story was told soon after the death of the Poet, by a writer of credit from a then living authority. In the statements mingled with it however several errors crept in, in consequence of few authentic particulars of the Poet's life being then (1776) known; thus the real place of his birth is thought to be Roscommon; and he is believed to have lived in England previous to visiting the Continent: while the interval between the two applications to Dr. Radcliff, instead of being passed in travelling, as this writer thinks, were really spent in London; that is between 1756, when seeking the ushership, and 1758, when he wrote again to that gentleman, soliciting aid in procuring subscriptions for one of his forthcoming works. That his adventures as related by him to that gentleman were, as is here said, amusing, we may readily believe: situated as he was while on the Continent, they must from any pen have possessed no ordinary interest; and from his own, ever abundant in humour and ease, no doubt a peculiar charm. Nor from a correspondent, to whom he stood partly in the relation of pupil, and who had known his previous struggles in Dublin, would he probably conceal much which it might not be necessary to disclose to others.

"This country," (Roscommon,) writes the Rev. Dr. Thomas Campbell, whose connexion with Bishop Percy in drawing up a memoir of the Poet has been mentioned, " boasts of a still greater honour, the birth of the much-lamented Oliver Goldsmith. I have learned a very curious anecdote of this extraordinary man, from the widow of a Dr. Radcliff, who had been his tutor in Trinity College, Dublin. She mentioned to me a very long letter from him, which she had often heard her husband read to his friends upon the commencement of Goldsmith's celebrity. But this, with other things of more value, was unfortunately lost by an accidental fire since her husband's death. It appears that the beginning of his career was one continued struggle against adversity. Upon his first going to England, he was in such distress, that he would have gladly become an usher to a country school; but so destitute was he of friends to recommend him, that he could not without difficulty obtain even this low department. The master of the school scrupled to employ him without some testimonial of his past life. Goldsmith referred him to his tutor at college for a character; but all this while he went under a feigned name. From this resource, therefore, one would think that little in his favour could be ever hoped for. But he only wanted to serve a present exigency;-an ushership was not his object

"In this strait, he wrote a letter to Dr. Radcliff, imploring him, as he tendered the welfare of an old pupil, not to answer a letter which he would probably receive the same post with his own from the schoolmaster. He added that he had good reasons for concealing both from him and the rest of the world his name, and the real state of his case; every circumstance of which he promised to communicate upon some future occasion. His tutor, embarrassed

enough to know what answer he should give, resolved at last to give none. And thus was poor Goldsmith snatched from between the horns of his present dilemma, and suffered to drag on a miserable life for a few probationary months. It was not till after his return from his rambles over great part of the world, and after having got some footing on this slippery globe, that he at length wrote to Dr. Radcliff to thank him for not answering the schoolmaster's letter, and to fulfil his promise of giving him a history of the whole transaction. It contained a comical narrative of his adventures from leaving Ireland to that time. His musical talents had procured him a welcome reception wherever he went. My authority says that her husband admired this letter more than any part of his works. But she would not venture to trust her memory in detailing particulars, which, after all, could not be so interesting but from his own. manner of stating them."*

The situation of the school where he obtained temporary relief from absolute want, is not remembered: by some it was said to be Yorkshire, probably from his familiar acquaintance with parts of that county evinced in conversation; from other circumstances there is more reason to believe it Kent, and in the neighbourhood of Tenterden or Ashford, the journey to which from London would be also more within the reach of his finances. How long he continued is likewise unknown. The silence of Dr. Radcliff no doubt augured ill in the eyes of his employer; and very simple perhaps rather homely manners, a distressed condition, and rugged appearance, were little calculated to remove any unfavourable impression. The consideration shown him in the school under such circumstances was not likely to be great: his pride, seconded by disgust at the occupation, probably took the alarm; and he was soon therefore again in London, equally friendless and distressed as before, but with a recollection of the miseries of his employment that breaks out in various parts of his writings, and the application of which to his personal peculiarities, is immediately obvious in the supposed treatment of an usher:

"The truth is, in spite of all their labours to please, they are generally the laughing stock of the school. Every trick is played upon the usher; the oddity of his manners, his dress, or his language, are a fund of eternal ridicule; the master himself now and then cannot avoid joining in the laugh, and the poor wretch, eternally resenting this ill usage, seems to live in a state of warfare with all the family."-"After all the fatigues of the day," he was in the habit of saying on other occasions, "the poor usher of an academy is obliged to sleep in the same bed with a Frenchman, a teacher of that language to the boys; who disturbs him every night an hour, perhaps, in papering and filleting his hair, and stinks worse than a carrion, with his rancid pomatums whem he lays his head beside him on the bolster."

"Historical Survey of the South of Ireland." 8vo. Lond. 1777, pp. 286–289. Works, vol. i. Bee, No. VI. Essay on Education.

6

"Upon my arrival in town, sir," we are again told in the novel, "my first care was to deliver your letter of recommendation to our cousin, who was himself in little better circumstances than I. My first scheme, you know, sir, was to be usher at an academy, and I asked his advice on the affair. Our cousin received the proposal with a true sardonic grin. Ay,' cried he, this is indeed a very pretty career that has been chalked out for you. I have been an usher at a boarding school myself; and may I die by an anodyne necklace, but I had rather be under-turnkey in Newgate. I was up early and late: I was browbeat by the master, hated for my ugly face by the mistress, worried by the boys within, and never permitted to stir out to receive civility abroad. But are you sure you are fit for a school? Let me examine you a little. Have you been bred apprentice to the business? No.' Then you won't do for a school. Can you dress the boys' hair?' 'No.' Then you won't do for a school. Have you had the smallpox?' 'No.' Then you won't do for a school. Can you lie three in a bed?' 'No.' Then you will never do for a school. Have you got a good stomach?' 'Yes.' Then you will by no means do for a school.""

His dependence now for a livelihood rested on such professional acquirements as circumstances had best enabled him to make. Application was therefore made to several apothecaries for the situation of assistant, but the same obstacles that operated against him at the academy prevented his reception here. Ultimately a chemist, said to have been named Jacob, and residing at the corner of Monument or Bell Yard, on Fish Street Hill, taking compassion on his destitute condition, and pleased with the degree of chemical science he displayed, admitted him into his establishment.* Here he remained only a few months. Hearing that Dr. Sleigh was in London, he called to renew his acquaintance, and was received with every demonstration of regard, or, in the words put into his mouth by a gentlemant who knew him for several years, he is said to have described their interview in the following manner:-"But notwithstanding it was Sunday, and it is to be supposed in my best clothes, Sleigh scarcely knew me-such is the tax the unfortunate pay to poverty. However, when he did recollect me, I found his heart as warm as ever, and he shared his purse and friendship with me during his continuance in London."

At this time it appears he had not acquainted his friends in Ireland with his situation, a previous application to that quarter for pecuniary aid having failed; rather from want of the means, as it would seem, than diminution of their regard. His distress before being engaged by the chemist, was therefore no doubt extreme, and such as with all his buoyancy of spirit, to have produced the most gloomy reflections. In a subsequent letter to Mr. Hodson it will be seen he

The late Richard Sharp, Esq. remembered to have had the house pointed out to him, as he informed the writer, in early life, with an anecdote or two of the poet which he had since forgotten.

Mr. William Cooke, the barrister; author of an Essay on the "Dramatic Art," and "Conversation," a poem.