The Life of Oliver Goldsmith, M.B.

Maurice, who it will be remembered was a younger brother, had been brought up to no occupation, but found support in occasional visits to his relatives. He was at this period, the inmate of Mr. Lawder, who it has been mentioned had married his cousin Miss Contarine, and the fitting out mentioned in his brother's letter, alludes to a project for trying his fortune in some capacity abroad. This, from disinclination, or that indolence arising from want of fixed occupation and not turning the mind of youth to some specific pursuit at an earlier period of life, was relinquished; and having some time afterwards complained to the Poet that he found it diffcult to live like a gentlemen, was told by him in reply, by all means to quit such an unprofitable calling, and betake himself to some handicraft employment. This advice as the most suited to his education and habits was adopted; he bound himself to a cabinet-maker in Drumsna in the county of Leitrim; and afterwards removing to Dublin, kept a shop many years in Hendrick Street.* He partook of the peculiarities of the family; was honest, good-humoured, social, giddy, and careless; and the possession of such qualities seldom indicates a prosperous tradesman. Bishop Percy discovered him labouring in poverty about 1785, and to relieve his wants, which appear to have been urgent, first projected that edition of his brother's works, which failed in its immediate object by not appearing till long after his death. His situation is thus described by that prelate in a letter written to Malone from Dublin, June 16th, 1785.

"He (Goldsmith) has an only brother living, a cabinet-maker, who has been a decent tradesman, a very honest, worthy man, but he has been very unfortunate, and is at this time in great indigence. It has occurred to such of us here as were acquainted with the doctor, to print an edition of his poems chiefly under the direction of the Bishop of Killaloe and myself, and prefix a new, correct life of the author, for the poor man's benefit, and to get you and Sir Joshua Reynolds, Mr. Steevens, &c., to recommend the same in England; especially among the members of the club." After a lengthened detail of the best mode of negotiating this work with the booksellers, and pushing it among the former friends of the Poet, he thus concludes a subject which much interested him:-"If we can but subsist this poor man at present, and relieve him from immediate indigence, Mr. Orde our Secretary of State has given us hope that he will procure him some little place that will make him easy for life; and thus we will have shown our regard for the departed bard by relieving his only brother, and so far as I hear, the only one of his family that wants relief."

"In the meantime," he writes in the following year, 1786, Oct. 17th, "I must entreat you to exert all your influence among the gentlemen of the club, and particularly urge it to Joshua Reynolds,

* As the relatives of eminent men derive some importance from their connexion, so honest Maurice is still mentioned in Drumsna, and a table of his workmanship shown to strangers; as the writer is informed by one who, as having a large share of genius himself, takes an interest in all that relates to the genius of a mutual country, Mr. Charles Phillips.

to procure subscriptions for the present relief of poor Maurice Goldsmith, who is suffering great penury and distress, being not only poor, but very unhealthy. I procured him a present supply of between thirty and forty guineas last year; but I fear his creditors did not suffer much of that money to remain with him. Their demands being so far satisfied, further relief would probably reach himself and remain with him to his great comfort. Our new Society of Arts and Sciences have made him mace-bearer; but without present subsistence, I fear he will not live to derive the future emoluments. A guinea a-piece from the members of the club would be a great relief to him."

It evinces the little attention paid to claims of this kind, that no subscription even at the moderate amount of a guinea, could be procured from members of the club, most of whom it may be presumed could sufficiently afford so moderate a tax upon their generosity. Malone in a packet of MS. correspondence submitted to the writer, complains much of this difficulty; and also of the backwardness which he found to pay the amount nominally subscribed by the members on another matter, namely for the monument to Dr. Johnson. When the works of Goldsmith at length appeared, and he was written to by the bishop to dispose of a copy to each member, the same objection of the difficulty of getting the sale price occurred; on mentioning the matter at the club dinner, several talked vaguely about it, but only one actually produced his contribution, and without others had done the same on the instant, Malone who was zealous in the business adds, it would be useless to send the books, as payment would be forgotten, and it would be impossible to press gentlemen for money.

Maurice however was not wholly neglected in Íreland-"I reminded Mr. Orde," writes the bishop, Feb. 12th, 1787, "to-day of his promise to give some little place to Goldsmith's poor brother, and he kindly engaged to do something for him soon. In the meantime however the poor creature is starving. Lord Charlemont made him mace-bearer to the Academy, but he has yet got no salary.

The object was at length accomplished.-" Mr. Orde," says the prelate, April 14th 1787, "has lately done a handsome thing which ought to be mentioned to his honour, and we have accordingly reported it in the Freeman's Journal. He has given a snug little place in the License Office to Maurice Goldsmith, in honour of his brother's literary merit, which with the mace-bearer's office in the Royal Academy, and the money we hope to get by subscription to his brother's works, we hope will make the poor man easy for life."+

This situation he filled with integrity and diligence, and became the means of discovering a fraud upon the revenue, from which had he been of a different character, considerable personal advantages might have been derived. He visited London shortly after his

• Royal Irish Academy, then recently instituted.

From MS. correspondence obligingly supplied by Dr. H. U. Thomson.

brother's death, of which notice will be hereafter taken, and died in the latter part of 1792 without issue, his widow who survived many years having afterwards married a person named Macdonnell. His death is thus mentioned by Dr. Thos. Campbell in a letter to Bishop Percy in allusion to their joint endeavours for his benefit, dated June 12th, 1793:-"I am glad to hear that you have brought the affair of Goldsmith to so good an issue-but, alas! poor Maurice. He is to receive no comfort from your Lordship's labours in his behalf He departed from a miserable life early last winter and luckily has left no children."

CHAPTER XIX.

His Dress. Baretti.-Percival Stockdale.-Deserted Village.-Its Localities taken from his Father's Residence.

TOWARDS the conclusion of 1769 and the commencement of the following year, his literary occupations appear to have been multifarious. By his engagement with Griffin, he should seem to have been employed on the Natural History; by that with Davies, upon the History of England; he was avowedly at work in finishing and polishing the Deserted Village, for two advertisements stating its speedy publication appeared in November; and these were followed in a few days, by similar announcements of a new edition being in preparation, of the "Poems of Dr. Parnell, with a life of the author by Dr. Goldsmith." With the respective publishers it seemed to be a struggle, who should have the credit, or advantage, of first ushering his writings into the world.

An amusing anecdote of his taste in dress at this moment is told by Boswell, who having just returned from the Stratford Jubilee, where he had incurred no little ridicule by exhibiting himself in the character of a Corsican, by publicly reciting verses upon the occasion, and by wearing the placard of "Corsica Boswell" in his hat, was willing perhaps to conceal his own follies, by pointing out what he considered those of his acquaintance. He had invited Goldsmith, Johnson, Reynolds, Garrick and others to dinner, when the party were kept waiting by the non-arrival of one of the guests. "Goldsmith" (in the words of the biographer, who however seems to overcharge the description,) "to divert the tedious minutes, strutted about bragging of his dress, and I believe was seriously vain of it, for his mind was wonderfully prone to such impressions. Come,

Public Advertiser, Nov. 16th-17th, 1769.

† Id. Nov. 22d-27th, 1769.

Public Advertiser, Sept. 11th, 1769.-Croker's Boswell's Johnson, vol. ii.

p. 71.

come, (said Garrick,) talk no more of that. You are perhaps the worst-eh, eh?' Goldsmith was eagerly attempting to interrupt him, when Garrick went on laughing ironically. Nay, you will always look like a gentleman; but I am talking of being well or ill drest.' Well, let me tell you (said Goldsmith,) when my tailor brought home my bloom-coloured coat, he said, 'Sir I have a favour to beg of you, when any body asks you who made your clothes, be pleased to mention John Filby at the Harrow in Water-Lane.' Johnson: Why, Sir, that was because he knew the strange colour would attract crowds to gaze at it, and thus they might hear of him, and see how well he could make a coat of so absurd a colour.""

The date of this dinner, October 16th, is creditable to Boswell's accuracy, as on reference to the tailor's account books already mentioned, it appears that a new suit of clothes of an expensive kind, is charged to Goldsmith on that day; the entry terms it "a half dress suit of ratteen, lined with silk," and the price twelve guineas. But his dress has been so often alluded to by contemporaries who either wrote or spoke of him, that it may amuse the reader and assist the future antiquary in tracing the fleeting and most changeable peculiarities of our garb, to subjoin a few of his bills. By these it clearly appears he was by no means an economist in the article of dress any more that in other matters; yet the obligations thus incurred were pretty punctually paid until a short time before his death, at which period he proved to be 797. in debt, and this appears to have been lost to the tradesman, the remark of whose son shows their joint