The Sun.
London, England, 1836-12-13 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

QUARTERLY RE VIE W.—No.
J. Murray, London, 1836.
In the first, and most amusing, article in this Num-
ber, a more detailed account is given of Goldsmith's
early life, very many years previous to the period when
he gained celebrity as an author, than we have yet met
with. These details are drawn from Mr. Prior's me-
moirs of the poet, which the Reviewer praises in lavish
terms for the research and impartiality displayed
throughout them. " Poor GOldy,",---as Johnson used
to call him—met, up to the age of thirty, with more
reverses than fall to the lot of nine out of ten authors.
" He was everything by turns, and nothing long ;"
physician—travelling tutor—usher—hack writer for
Griffiths—getter up of children's books for Newbery
—and, finally, essayist, poet, novelist, and dramatist,
in each of which last capacities he has achieved high
and enduring fame. We subjoin a diverting anecdote
of him when practising as a physician in South-
wark
" By Mr. Sleigh's assistance, Goldsmith was enabled to
set up as a physician, and one of his Trinity churns, the
the Rev. Mr. Beatty, met him in the street, in a suit of
green velvet and gold, but with a shirt and neckloth which
he must have worn for a fortnight ; when, however, he
seemed in excellent spirits, and said he was now practising
his profession, and doing very well. Mr. Prior quotes a
lady still living for a story that Sir Joshua Reynolds used
to tell at this period. The green velvet coat had been
bought second-hand ; he discovered presently an unseemly
patch, and one of his patients was highly amused when,
after several vists, he discovered why the doctor always
placed his hat over his left breast, while delivering his
opinion."
Goldsmith was always fond of tawdry and expensive
clothes—witness his famous peach-blossom coat, which
blooms, and will bloom for ever, in the pages of Boswell.
To such an extent did he carry this fancy, that he ac-
tually, when desirous to obtain orders, appeared before
the Bishop of Elphin in bright scarlet breeches, infi-
nitely to the astonishment and perplexity of the worthy
Prelate I On another occasion says the Reviewer—
" He took apartments in the Temple, hired a man-servant,
and appeared suddenly metamorphosed into a smart phy-
sician, with a professional wig and cane, purple silk small-
clothes and a scarlet silk roquelaire, buttoned to the chin,
charged in his tailor's bill at four guineas and a-half ; but
imposing as was this attire, it earned the Doctor more jests
than fees, and he soon retreated again to his Islington
lodgings."
Here he wrote the famous nursery tale " Goody
Two-Shoes"—a discovery for which we are indebted
to the indefatigable researches of Mr. Prior. Here,
too, most of his best works were penned, particularly
his " Letters on English History," which still maintain
their ground as a production of rare merit. As he
was not to be trusted with money himself, Mr. Newbery
the bookseller, one of his most generous friends, un-
dertook to arrange all household matters for him :
" His friend, Mr. Newbery, settled with his Islington
landlady quarterly, exactly as if the author had been in a
state of pupilage. Mr. Prior does not disdain to quote se-
veral of their accounts, from which it appears that Gold-
smith's board and lodging cost 12/. per quarter ; that his
extra expenses were quite trivial, and that the landlady,
from the regard she soon conceived for him, allowed him,
now and then, to invite a poor brother-author to dinner,
without making any claim for his entertainment. When
wine was produced, which did not happen above once or
twice in a month, Goldsmith was charged ls. 6d. per bottle,
and no one evening is burdened with two bottles. His usual
beverage in this retreat was a slight decoction of sassafras,
which had at that time a fashionable reputation as a puri-
fier of the blood ; and his supper was uniformly a dish of
boiled milk. Except when he went to dine in town on Fri-
days with the Club, such was his simple fare. He read in
the morning, strolled away into the fields to arrange his re-
flections, came home to his early dinner, and then sate down
to write for the evening. His chief amusement seemed to
be playing with the children, who had always free access to
his only room, and teaching the dog to beg. Whenever he
had done enough of his history to keep the press going for
a week or two, he turned to some child's book for his em-
ployer."
To the day of his death Mr. Newbery continued a
fast friend to Goldsmith ; but not so another bookseller,
who was at that time editor and proprietor of a perio-
dical, which, we believe, still lives, though " it makes
no sign." This fellow, though he scarcely gave the poet
enough to keep body and soul together, was never sa-
tisfied with his performances, invariably estimating them
by their length, and the speed with which they were pro-
duced. Luckily, Goldsmith soon got out of his clutches,
and lived to see the essays, of which his employer
thought nothing, because they were not long and com-
mon-place enough to suit his vulgar tastes, universally
recognised as among the best in the language. But
though celebrity did at length come to the poet, it did
not come till he had attained his thirty-
eighth year—
too late to recompense him for all the sufferings and
vicissitudes he had previously endured. His death,o;
it
seems, was occasioned by despair of getting free from
his pecuniary embarrassments s----he died, in short, of
a broken heart ; but he has left a name that will never
die. As a poet he has many superiors, but as a prose
writer, none. His " Vicar of Wakefield" still charms
all Europe ; and his " Citizen of the World," for the
ease, and grace, and perfect naturalness of its humour,
is not surpassed by even the happiest efiusions of
Steele and Addison. It is singular, however, that lie
could do nothing without a model, as Johnson has
justly observed. He had the curiosa felicitas in per-
fection, and touched nothing that he did not adorn ;
but little or no originality. His Dr. Primrose is but a
'variorum edition—a copy in water-colours—of Par-
son Adams ; but the character is embellished- with so
many nice traits of individuality ; enlivened by so
many racy touches of the quietest humour ; and
brought out with such exquisite unconsciousness (the
most difficult thing in the world for a novelist to
achieve) by the auto-biographer himself, that it has
all the vivid effect of an original conception. The
great merit of Goldsmith's works is, that they leave
a cheerful impression on the mind. They exhibit the
sunny side of humanity, forming in this respect a
marked contrast to the sterner and more vigorous
w Things of Fielding and Srnollett. Hence we always
tuim to them with pleasure, and recognize in Moses,
and the Miss Flamboroughs, and Beau Tibbs, and
even the knavish Mr. Jenkinson, with his one long
story of the " cosmogony, or creation of the world,"
acquaintances of whose diverting eccentricities we
never weary. Poor Goldsmith I He possessed every
sense but common-sense ; but wanting that, he wanted
everything. Among the moderns, Washington Irving
has imitated him the most closely, but is still far below
him as a humourist, though he surpasses him in ela-
borate polish of style, and a certain picturesque
power of description.
In the notice of Lord Mahon's " History of Eng-
land from the Peace of Utrecht," the Reviewer of
course praises his Lordship in unqualified terms, and
even joins with him in regretting that the Whigs of
the present day arc not the Whigs of Marlborough's
time. How absurd is this regret! As times and
circumstances change, so must statesmen change with
them. If not—if the policy of the past is to direct
the future—how happens it that the Tories are all
-.turning Reformers ? " Campbell's Poetical Works"
is a cold and somewhat churlish notice of the works of
otle of the most popular, and deservedly so, authors of
the age. The critic, however, is compelled to admit that
some of the poet's choicest lines have become " familiar
in oeus mouths as household words ;" but we will go
farther asnd state, that the oftenest quoted lines in this or
anvlangew ge, are to be found in Campbell's poems. Who
does not see, on a handsome average, at least three
'times a-week throughout the year, the allusions to
the meteor flag of England," and the still more no-
.
iorious " angels' visits ? Within the last twelve or
fosarteen years we have seen many poetical schools and
sys,4cms flourish and decay, but " Hope," and " Wyo-
naunc," and, the best of all, " O'Connor's Child,"
Still anaintain their ground. " Memoirs of Lucien