THE FOLLOWING LETTER, ADDRESSED TO THE PRINTER OF THE ST. JAMES'S CHRONICLE, APPEARED IN THAT PAPER IN JUNE, M.DCC.LXVII. SIR, As there is nothing I dislike so much as newspaper controversy, particularly upon trifles, permit me to be as concise as possible in informing a correspondent of yours, that I recommended Blainville's Travels, because I thought the book was a good one; and I think so still. I said, I was told by the bookseller that it was then first published; but in that, it seems, I was misinformed, and my reading was not extensive enough to set me right. Another correspondent of yours accuses me of having taken a ballad, I published some time ago, from one1 by the ingenious Mr. Percy. I do not think there is any great resemblance between the two pieces in question. If there be any, his ballad is taken from mine. I read it to Mr. Percy some years ago; and he (as we both 1 The Friar of Orders Gray.' - Reliq. of Anc. Poetry, vol. i. p. 243. 78 considered these things as trifles at best) told me with his usual good humour, the next time I saw him, that he had taken my plan to form the fragments of Shakespeare into a ballad of his own. He then read me his little Cento, if I may so call it, and I highly approved it. Such petty anecdotes as these are scarce worth printing; and, were it not for the busy disposition of some of your correspondents, the public should never have known that he owes me the hint of his ballad, or that I am obliged to his friendship and learning for communications of a much more important nature. I am, Sir, yours, &c. OLIVER GOLDSMITH. M THE HERMIT. TURN, gentle Hermit of the dale, For here forlorn and lost I tread, Forbear, my son,' the Hermit cries, To tempt the dangerous gloom; For yonder faithless phantom flies To lure thee to thy doom. 'Here to the houseless child of want My door is open still; And though my portion is but scant, I give it with good will. Then turn to-night, and freely share 1 See the Vicar of Wakefield, cap. viii. |