MEMOIRS OF M. DE VOLTAIRE. [Now first collected] THE LIFE OF RICHARD NASH, of Bath, Esq., extracted principally from Original Papers. [Now first collected] 249 VI. Formey's Philosophical Miscellanies VII. Van Egmont's Travels into Asia THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD; A TALE. Sperate miseri, cavete felices. (1) (1.) [Let the wretched live in hope, and the happy be on their guard.] ["THE Vicar of Wakefield was published in March 1766. Towards the end of May a second edition was called for, and the third appeared on the 25th of August. The work immediately secured friends among every description of readers, and has long been considered one of the most interesting Tales in our language. From the numerous testimonials which have been borne by distinguished writers to its extraordinary merits we select the following: Mrs. Barbauld. "One of the most pleasing novels of a modern cast is The Vicar of Wakefield.' It is on this work that the author's talent for humour most successfully displays itself. Many of the incidents are irresistibly comic. Such are the gravity and self-importance of Moses when he produces his bargain of spectacles with silver rims; the expedition to church upon Blackberry and Dobbin; the family picture which was too large to enter the doors; the slyness of the Vicar in overturning the cosmetic, while he pretended to stir the fire; and the schemes and plottings of good notable Mrs. Primrose with her gooseberry wine, We are at once touched and diverted with the harmless vanities of the whole group, joined with innocence and benevolence. The character of the Vicar somewhat resembles Parson Adams, and perhaps still more, the author's village pastor,- A man to all the country dear! ' His kind feelings towards his family, the affecting tenderness with which he receives again his repentant daughter, his hospitality and flowing benevolence, with his behaviour in every scene of distress, make him a pleasing and venerable character, and are evidently painted by a man, who strongly felt the enthusiasm of virtue and piety."-British Novelists, vol. xxiii. Sir Walter Scott. "Whatever defects occur in the tenor of the story, the admirable ease and grace of the narrative, as well as the pleasing truth with which the principal characters are designed, make 'The Vicar of Wakefield' one of the most delicious morsels of fictitious composition on which the human mind was ever employed. The principal character, that of the simple pastor himself, with all the worth and excellency which ought to distinguish the ambassador of God to man, and yet with just so much of pedantry and literary vanity as serves to show that he is made of mortal mould, and subject to human failings, is one of the best and most pleasing pictures ever de xi signed. It is, perhaps, impossible to place frail humanity before us in an attitude of more simple dignity than the Vicar, in his character of pastor, of parent, and of husband. His excellent helpmate, with all her motherly cunning and housewifery prudence, loving and respecting her husband, but counter-plotting his wisest schemes, at the dictates of maternal vanity, forms an excellent counterpart. Both, with their children around them, their quiet labour and domestic happiness, compose a fireside picture of such a perfect kind, as perhaps is no where else equalled. It is sketched indeed from common life, and is a strong contrast to the exaggerated and extraordinary characters and incidents which are the resource of those authors, who, like Bayes, make it their business to elevate and surprise ; but the very simplicity of this charming book renders the pleasure it affords more permanent. We read 'The Vicar of Wakefield' in youth and in age,— we return to it again and again, and bless the memory of an author who contrives so well to reconcile us to human nature. Whether we choose the pathetic and distressing incidents of the fire, the scenes at the jail, or the lighter and humorous parts of the story, we find the best and truest sentiments enforced in the most beautiful language; and perhaps there are few characters of purer dignity have been described than that of the excellent pastor, rising above sorrow and oppression, and labouring for the conversion of those felons, into whose company he had been thrust by his villainous creditor. In too many works of this class, the critics must apologize for, or censure particular passages in the narrative, as unfit to be perused by youth and innocence. But the wreath of Goldsmith is unsullied; he wrote to exalt virtue and expose vice; and he accomplished his task in a manner which raises him to the highest rank among British authors. We close his volume with a sigh that such an author should have written so little from the stores of his own genius, and that he should have been so prematurely removed from the sphere of literature, which he so highly adorned.”—Prose Works, vol. iii. p. 258, edit. 1834. Washington Irving. "There are few writers for whom the reader feels such personal kindness as for Oliver Goldsmith. The fascinating ease and simplicity of his style; the benevolence that beams through every page; the whimsical yet amiable views of human life and human nature; the mellow unforced humour, blended so happily with good feeling and good sense, throughout his writings, win their way irresistibly to the affections, and carry the author with them. While writers of greater pretensions and more sounding names are suffered to lie upon our shelves, the works of Goldsmith are cherished and laid in our bosoms. We do not quote them with ostentation, but they |