being apprehenfive it might injure the play, the Manager, with great keenefs replied, "Pha, my dear Doctor, do not be fearful of Squibs, when we have been fitting almost these two hours upon a barrel of gunpowder." The piece, however, contrary to Mr. Coleman's expectation, was received with uncommon applaufe by the audience; and Goldfmith's pride was fo hurt by the severity of the above obfervation, that it entirely put an end to his friendship for the gentleman who made it. Notwithstanding the great fuccefs of his pieces, by fome of which, it is afferted upon good authority, he cleared 1800l. in one year, his circumstances were by no means in a profperous fituation! partly owing to the liberality of his difpofition, and partly to an unfortunate habit he had contracted of gaming, with the arts of which he was very little acquainted, and confequently became the prey of those who were unprincipled enough to take advantage of his igno rance. Juft before his death he had formed a defign for executing an Univerfal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, the profpectus of which he actually printed and diftributed among his acquaintance. In this work feveral of his literary friends (particularly Sir Joshua Reynolds, Doctor Johnfon, Mr. Beauclerc and Mr. Garrick) had promised to affift, and to furnish him with articles on different fubjects. He had had entertained the moft fanguine expectations from the fuccefs of it. The undertaking, however, did not meet with that encouragement from the bookfellers which he had imagined it would undoubtedly receive; and he used to lament this circumftance almoft to the laft hour of his exiftence. He had been for fome years afflicted, at different times, with a violent ftranguary, which contributed not a little to imbitter the latter part of his life; and which, united with the vexations he fuffered upon other occafions, brought on a kind of habitual defpondency. In this unhappy difpofition he was attacked by a nervous fever, which being improperly treated, terminated in his diffolution on the 4th day of April, 1774, in the forty-fifth year of his age. His friends, who were very numerous and respectable, had determined to bury him in Weftminster abbey, where a tablet was to have been erected to his memory. His paul was to have been fupported by Lord Shelburne, Lord Louth, Sir Joshua Reynolds, the Hon. Mr. Beauclerc, Mr. Edmond Burke and Mr. Garrick; but from fome unaccountable circumftances this defign was dropped, and his remains were privately depofited in the Temple burial ground. * A fubfcription, however, has fince been raifed by his friends, to defray the expenfe of a marble monument which is now executed by Mr. Nollikens, an eminent statuary in London As to his character it is strongly illuftrated by Mr. Pope's line, "In wit a man, fimplicity a child.” The learned leifure he loved to enjoy was too often interrupted by diftreffes which arofe from the openness of his temper, and which fometimes threw him into loud fits of paffion; but this impetuofity was cor. rected by a moment's reflection, and his fervants have London, and is placed in Westminster-abbey, between Gay's monument and the Duke of Argyle's, in the poet's corner, with the following Latin inscription, written by his friend Dr. Samuel Johnson : OLIVARII GOLDSMITH, POETE, PHYSICI, HISTORICI, QUI NULLUM FERE SCRIBENDI GENUS, NULLUM QUOD TETIGIT NON ORNAVIT: SIVE LACRIMÆ, AFFECTUUM POTENS AT LENIS DOMINATOR: INGENIO SUBLIMIS, VIVIDUS, VERSATILIS, ORATIONE GRANDIS, NITIDUS, VENUSTUS: HOC MONUMENTO MEMORIAM COLUIT SODALIUM AMOR AMICORUM FIDES, LECTORUM VENERATIO. ELFINIÆ IN HIBERNIA NATUS MDCCXXIX EBLANE LITERIS ISTITUTUS: LONDINI OBIIT MDCCLXXIV. have been known upon thefe occafions, purpofely to throw themselves in his way, that they might profit by it immediately after; for he who had the good fortune to be reproved was certain of being rewarded for it. His disappointments at other times made him peevish and fullen, and he has often left a party of convivial friends abruptly in the evening, in order to go home and brood over his misfortunes. The universal esteem in which his poems are held, and the repeated pleasure they give in the perufal, are ftriking proofs of their merit. He was a studious and correct obferver of nature, happy in the selection of his images, in the choice of his fubjects, and in the harmony of his verfification; and, though his embarraffed fituation prevented him from putting the last hand to many of his productions, his Hermit, his Traveller, and his Deferted Village, bid fair to claim a place among the most finished pieces in the English language. As different accounts have been given of this ingenious man, the Writer of these anecdotes cannot conclude without declaring, that they are all founded upon facts, and collected by one who lived with him upon the most friendly footing for a great number of years, and never felt any forrow more sensibly than that which was occafioned by his death. ON THE DEATH ог DR. GOLDSMITH, BY W. WOTY. ADIEU, fweet bard! to each fine feeling true, Thy virtues many, and thy foibles few; Thofe form'd to charm e'en vicious minds,—and thele |