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Home , George Daniel (writer), Hugh Kelly (poet), The Deserted Village, William Mason (poet), William Mudford

OLIVER GOLDSMITH

THE CRITICAL HERITAGE

Edited by

G. S. ROUSSEAU

London and New York Contents

PREFACE pagexvn ACKNOWLEDGMENTS XIX CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE XXi INTRODUCTION I

The Traveller, or a Prospect of Society (December 1764) 1 DR JOHNSON, Critical Review, December 1764 29 2 Unsigned notice, Gentleman's Magazine, December 1764 33 3 Unsigned notice, Chronicle, 18-20 December 1764 34 4 JOHN LANGHORNE, Monthly Review, January 1765 35

The Vicar of Wakefield (27 March 1766) 5 Unsigned notice, Monthly Review, May 1766 44 6 Unsigned review, Critical Review, June 1766 45 7 MME RICCOBONI, in a letter to on the plot of The Vicar of Wakefield, 11 September 1766 48 8 LADY SARAH PENNINGTON, ^4« Unfortunate Mother's Advice to Her Absent Daughters, 1767 51 9 FANNY BURNBY compares The Vicar of Wakefield with other sentimental novels, 1768 52 10 Two brief estimates of Goldsmith's novel, 1776, 1785 (a) Unsigned review in Hugh Kelly's Babler, July 1776 54 (b) CLARA REEVE'S estimate of The Vicar of Wakefield in The Progress of Romance, 1785 56 11 MRS JANE WEST commenting on 'criminal conversation* in The Vicar of Wakefield, in Letters to a Young Lady: in which the duties and characters of women are considered . . . 1806 57 12 EDWARD MANGIN compares Goldsmith and Richardson as novelists in An Essay on Light Reading, 1808 58 13 BYRON comments on Schlegel's estimate of The Vicar of Wakefield, 29 January 1821 62 14 GEORGE ELIOT on story telling and narrative art in The Vicar of Wakefield, in Essays and Leaves from a Notebook, 1884 63 ix CONTENTS

15 HENRY JAMES'S introduction to The Vicar of Wakefield, 1900 65 The Good Natured Man (29 January 1768) 16 Two early reviews of The Good Natured Man, 1768, 1772 (a) Unsigned review, Critical Review, February 1768 70 (b) SIR NICHOLAS NIPCLOSE [pseudonym] commenting on Goldsmith and other theatrical delinquents in 1768, in The Theatres. A Poetical Discussion, 1772 71 17 GEORGE DANIEL on The Good Natured Man, in an edition of the British Theatre published by John Cumberland in 48 vols, 1829 73 The Deserted Village (26 May 1770) 18 Unsigned review, Critical Review, June 1770 76 19 JOHN HAWKESWORTH'S review, Monthly Review, June 1770 83 20 An anonymous and 'impartial review,' London Magazine, June 1770 87 21 ANTHONY KING'S poem 'The Frequented Village,' a poetic statement about The Deserted Village, I77i[?] 88 22 CORBYN MORRIS'S rhapsodic verses 'On Reading Dr. Goldsmith's Poem, the Deserted Village,' published in The New Foundling Hospital for Wit, 1784 90 23 EDMUND BURKE on Goldsmith's images, in a letter to Richard Shackleton, 6 May 1780 91 24 JOHN SCOTT writes an early literary appraisal of The Deserted Village, in Critical Essays on Some of the Poems of Several English Poets, 1785 92 25 EDWARD MANGIN on Goldsmith's greatness as a moral instructor, in An Essay on Light Reading, 1808 108 26 JOHANN WILHELM VON GOETHE on the pictures evoked by The Deserted Village, 1821 113 She Stoops to Conquer (March 1773) 27 Two unfavorable notices, 1773 (a) WILLIAM WOODFALL'S review, Monthly Review, March 1773 115 (b) to William Mason on Goldsmith's opposition to sentimental comedy in She Stoops to Conquer, 27 March 1773 118 28 Unsigned review, London Magazine, March 1773 119 29 Unsigned review, Critical Review, March 1773 122 CONTENTS 30 Unsigned letter about Goldsmith's brand of sentiment sent 'To the Printer of the St. fames''s Chronicle, March 1773,' and reprinted in the London Chronicle, March 1773 124 Retaliation (19 April 1774, posthumously published) 31 Unsigned notice, Monthly Review, April 1774 128 32 Unsigned notice, Critical Review, May 1774 129 33 Unsigned notice in the London Chronicle containing an epitaph on Goldsmith, 7-9 July 1774 130 34 RICHARD CUMBERLAND'S imitation of Retaliation entitled 'A Poetical Epistle, from Mr. Cumberland to Dr. Goldsmith, or Supplement to his Retaliation, a Poem,' printed in The New Foundling Hospital for Wit, 1784 132 History of the Earth, and Animated Nature (1 July 1774 posthumously published) 35 Descriptive and analytic review, Critical Review, August-November 1774 135 36 EDWARD BANCROFT attacks Goldsmith's History of the Earth, Monthly Review, April 1775 152 On Goldsmith's Life and Works 37 WILLIAM RIDER on Goldsmith's prose style, in An Historical and Critical Account of the Lives and Writings of the Living Authors of Great Britain, 1762 157 38 JAMES BEATTIE on Goldsmith's envy of other authors, in A London Diary, 14 June 1773 . 159 39 COURTNEY MELMOTH writing about Goldsmith's greatness on the day of his funeral, 9 April 1774, The Tears of Genius, Occasioned by the Death of Dr. Goldsmith, April 1774 161 40 A tribute to Goldsmith as a poet byjOHNTAiT, author of The Druid's Monument, 1774 165 41 EDMUND BURKE writes a fitting monument to Goldsmith, in a letter to Thomas Davies, 28 June 1776 170 42 FRANCIS SPILSBURY esteems Goldsmith as a poet in a medical pamphlet, Free Thoughts on Quacks and their Medicines, Occasioned by the Death of Dr. Goldsmith . . . 1776 171 43 SIR on the total genius of Goldsmith in a sketch of his character, I776[?] 172 xi CONTENTS 44 SAMUEL FOOTE on Goldsmith as a dramatist and a person, in Memoirs of Samuel Foote, Esq., 1777 45 JOHN WATKINSON relates the circumstances of Goldsmith's early life and his struggle to write, in A Philosophical Survey of the South of Ireland, 1777 46 Words on Goldsmith's writing career and poetic attainment by EDMOND MALONE, in the preface to Poems and Plays by , 1777 47 BOSWELL reports Johnson's account of Goldsmith's work, in Boswell's Life of Johnson, 25 April 1778 48 MADAMS D'ARBLAY'S high opinion of The Vicar of Wakefield in her Diary, August 1778 49 THOMAS DAVIES on Goldsmith's life and art, in Memoirs of the Life of David Garrick, Esq. .. . in Two Volumes, 1780 50 Unsigned notice on Goldsmith's pride, in European Magazine, January 1784 51 Two poems on Goldsmith by David Garrick in The Poetical Works of David Garrick, 1785 52 THOMAS BARNARD, Dean of Derry, on Goldsmith's rivalry with Garrick, in The New Foundling Hospital for Wit, 1786 53 HESTER LYNCH PIOZZI on Goldsmith's relations with Johnson in the 'Literary Club,' printed in Anecdotes of the Late , LL.D., 1786 54 Further remarks on Goldsmith as a writer and member of Dr Johnson's Club, in The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. by Sir John Hawkins, Knt., 1787 55 Goldsmith given credit for having predicted the French Revolution, in an unsigned article in European Magazine, February 1792 56 Further comments on the relation between Goldsmith and Johnson as writers and in , from ARTHUR MURPHY'S Essay on the Life and Genius of Samuel Johnson, LL.D., 1792 57 Goldsmith's life viewed at the turn of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by ROBERT ANDERSON, in The Works of the British Poets . . . In Ten Volumes, 1795 58 A scientist appraises Goldsmith as a writer, in 'A Critical Dissertation' prefaced to The Poetical Works of Oliver Goldsmith, M.B., 1796

Xll CONTENTS

59 THOMAS PERCY'S memoir of Goldsmith, in an introduction to The Miscellaneous Works of Goldsmith, 1801 237 60 WILLIAM MUDFORD on Goldsmith's achievement in poetry, in a preface to Mudford's Essays, 4 June 1804 242 61 RICHARD CUMBERLAND on Goldsmith's dramatic difficulties, in Memoirs of Richard Cumberland, 1806-7 248 62 Goldsmith contrasted with by in a letter to J. Neville White, 30 September 1808 250 63 Unsigned preface to an early American edition of Goldsmith's works, 1809 251 64 An artist writing memoirs of Sir Joshua Reynolds comments on Goldsmith, in Memoirs of Sir Joshua Reynolds . . . by James Northcote, Esq., R.A., 1813 253 65 JOHN KEATS to Fanny Keats in a letter, 11 February 1819 256 66 on Goldsmith's writings and quality of mind, 1819-24 (a) On Citizen of the World in 'On the Periodical Essayists,' fiom Lectures on Comic Writers, 1819 257 (b) On The Vicar of Wakefield in 'On the English Novelists,' from Lectures on Comic Writers, 1819 258 (c) On The Good Natured Man and She Stoops to Conquer in 'The Comic Writers of the Last Century,' from Lectures on Comic Writers, 1819 258 (d) On Goldsmith's genius in 'On Genius and Common Sense,' from Table-Talk, 1821 258 (e) Hazlitt's estimate of Goldsmith in A Critical List ofAuthors from Select British Poets, 1824 258 67 WILHELM ADOLF LINDAU, German critic and author, introduces The Vicar of Wakefield in. a new edition, 1825 259 68 WASHINGTON IRVING comments on Goldsmith's life and writings, 1825 263 69 Extracts from JOSEPH CRADOCK'S Literary and Miscellaneous Memoirs dealing with Goldsmith, 1826 270 70 SIR writes about Goldsmith's works in Biographical and Critical Notes of Eminent Novelists, 1827 272 71 GOETHE on Goldsmith's irony and vision of man in The Vicar of Wakefield, in a letter to his friend Zelter, 25 December 1829 277

xni CONTENTS 72 Anecdotes of Goldsmith by a friend and enemy, GEORGE COLMAN (the younger) in his Random Records, 1830 278 73 THOMAS CARLYLE on the poetry of the eighteenth century —especially Goldsmith, in an essay on Goethe, 1832 280 74 HENRY CRABB ROBINSON on aspects of Goldsmith's writing and influence, 1834-7 (a) On first person style in Goldsmith, 1 November 1834 281 (b) Recalling Mrs Anna Barbauld on Goldsmith's poetry, 29 December 1835 281 (c) On Goldsmith's influence on Wordsworth, 28 March 1837 282 75 Goldsmith's first Victorian biographer: selections from JAMES PRIOR'S Life of Oliver Goldsmith . . . in Two Volumes, 1837 (a) On Goldsmith's early display of poetic genius in The Traveller 283 (b) The originality of The Vicar of Wakefield 292 (c) On The Deserted Village 295 (d) Goldsmith's dramatic achievement in She Stoops to Conquer 298 76 ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING On the poetry of Goldsmith, in a letter to Hugh Stuart Boyd, i842[?] 300 77 The anonymous author of 'Table Talk' in the Morning Post, London, comments on Goldsmith's indifference to sublime nature in The Traveller, 18 December 1844 301 78 GEORGE CRAIK on Goldsmith's plot in The Vicar of Wakefield, in Sketches of the History of Literature and Learning in , 1845 303 79 JOHANN WILHELM VON GOETHE on the influence of The Vicar of Wakefield on his whole life, in The Autobiography (Dichtung und Wahrheit), 1846 308 80 LEIGH HUNT'S pronouncements on Goldsmith the genius and writer, in Wit and Humour, Selected from the English Poets, 1846 312 81 GEORGE LEWES reviewing Forster's Life of Oliver Goldsmith (1848), in the British Quarterly, 1 August 1848 325 82 HENRY GEORGE BOHN on Goldsmith's 'moral character' and its influence on his writings, prefaced to an edition of The Works of Goldsmith, 1848 333 xiv CONTENTS 83 W. M. THACKERAY and THOMAS DB QUINCEY on aspects of Goldsmith's genius and 'goodness,' 1853-4 (a) Thackeray on Goldsmith's 'goodness,' in English Humourists of the Eighteenth Century, 1853 339 (b) de Quincey on The Vicar of Wakefield as a 'pure fiction' containing little of reality, in a postscript to The Spanish Nun, 1854 342 (c) de Quincey on Goldsmith as a novelist, in a review of John Forster's Life of Goldsmith (1848), first published in the North British Review for May 1848 and revised by de Quincey in 1857 for his collected works 344 84 From THOMAS BABINGTON MACAULAY'S life of Goldsmith in Encyclopedia Britannica, eighth edition, 1856 347 85 DAVID MASSON on Goldsmith's 'English style,' from a memoir prefixed to the Globe edition of Miscellaneous Works of Oliver Goldsmith, August 1868 353 86 FREDERIC HARRISON on Goldsmith's prose artistry, 1883, 1912 (a) The age of Goldsmith as an 'Age of Prose' in 'A Few Words About the Eighteenth Century,' Nineteenth Century, March 1883 357 (b) Goldsmith as the 'Mozart of English Prose,' in Among My Books, Centenaries, Reviews, Memoirs, 1912 358 SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY 359 INDEX 36l

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