Mirror of the times. (Augusta [Ga.]) 1808-1814, November 28, 1808, Image 4

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—■ ■ ■- HE DEFIANCE, TUA V t’SO LADY. * -fyrv ?evi 1. tfm’l dare. 11* ‘>t ■vn r'»'cnre- A. trucb ii.vtm prapare ' „n.th my fFeoce. Th- ” r\. 5 inlhre r< -p* tto 'mw« f Y<* j» r h r ’ Im* I’i'e, At f* l>y off print', hold*— gr* wo, I cLailrrg* jcu to fmilc. Trr m?rey mufit"i»t liofom move, IfowrVr »"r»i> 0 fticlr w’H, Ard »hu«. liy paid • i « me, you prove, That y- u tc an ange! (till. Cn txvo beautiful .'inters unhappily drowned in the Sea. V' l »» tr- • li«* f »Vrf» rc*c» new it due ? She gave on* Ftitu, and have taken two. Imitated by a School-bay. Ah ’ tel' me now, ungenerous wave, What think* to thee are due ? One Ftnui, it is true yru gave ; But you have taken two. YROMTHK I'D! T FOLtO. MEMOIRS OF oltvfr got D-vrrn, m. n. Continued front No. V. i* i ti<TK rr\l!v tindt rstood, (hat in thr h’lMorv «'( his PhiLnopV’ck Vagabond (Vicar of Wakefield, than. \x )he has related many <)i h ; * rwn adven'ures, and that wh-*n on his pedestiiau tour thro’ Flanders nnd France, as he had some knowledge of mnsick, he turnrd what had (formerly been his jmiiv ment into a present means of subsistence. “ ! passed (says he) the harmless peasants of Flanders, and among such ol the French as were poor enough to be very merry ; for I ever them found sprighly in proporoion to their wants. Whenever I ,p. pmac.hrd a peasant’s home to wards nightfall, I played on the German flute one cf mv most mer. ry tunes, and that procured me not only a lodging, biit subsis tence for the next day* I once or twice attempted 10 play for people of fashion ; but they al ways thought mv performance o* dious, and never rewarded me, even with a trifle. This was to me the more extraordinary ; as whenever I used in better davs to play for company, when playing was my amusement, my tnusick never failed to throw them into raptures, and the ladies especi ally ; but as it was now my only means, ii was received with con tempt : a proof how ready (he world is to underrate those tal ents by which a man is suppor ted !” At the different monaster ies in his tour, especially those of his own nation, his learning I generally procured him tempora ry entertainment ; and- thus he I made his way to Switzerland, in which country he first cultivated bis poetical talents with any par ticular effect ; for here we find be wrote about two hundred lines of his “ Traveller •” The story which has commonly been told, of his having ncted a3 travelling tutor to a young miser, is now thought to have been too hastily adopted from the aforesaid History of a Pn'dosophick Vaga bond, and never to have been the real situation of the suthour of that history. From Switzerland Goldsmith proceeded to Padau, where de stayed six months, and is bv some supposed to have there taken his degree of Bachelor of Physick ; though others are of o pinion that if ever really took any n-cdical degree abroad, it was at Louvain.* After visiting all the northern part of Italy , he travelled, still on foot, through France ; and, em barking at Calais ; lauded at Do ver in the summer of lrjb, un known, as he supposed, to a sin gle individual, and with not a guinea in his pocket. 1116 first endeavours were, to * procure employment as an usher ( in some school , but the want of 1 a recommendation as to character and ability rendered his efforts for ■onae time fruitless ; and how he subsisted is not easy to guess. At length, however,' it appears, he procured an ushuer’s place ■ but in what part the school was 1° *769, it it certain, he wn admitted M. H. at Coord, whichunivcrfity he vifued •a February, iu company with Dr, Johuiun. 1 situated, or bow long he continu ed in it we do not learn ; though we may f-om some idea of The uncr ngrnialitv of the place to his mind, from the following passape in the PhilotopliitV Vagabond : “ ! have been an usher at a board ing school, and may I die but I would rather bean under turnkey in Newgate. I was up early and late 5 I was browbeat by the mas* trr, hated for my ugly face by mv mistress, worried bv the boys within, and never permitted to stir out to meet civility abroad.” W ben in a fit of disgust he had Quitted this academy, his pecuui* ary necessities soon became pres sing ; to relieve whiclf he applied 'o several apothecaries and chy mists for employment as a jour neyman ; but here his thread bare appearance, awkward man ners, and the want of a recom mendation operated sorely’ to his prejudice ;* till at last achy mist near Fishstreet-hill, probably mo ved bv compassion, gave him cm. ployment in his laboratory, where he continued till he learned that his old friend Dr. Sleigh of Edin burgh, wi.s in town s on him (who had, an we have seen formerly re lieved him from embarrassment) Goldsmith waited, was kindly re* ceive.l, and invited to share his pulse during his continuance in London. This timely assistance enabled ourauthour to commence medi cal practice at Bankside in South wark, whence he afterwards re moved to the neighbourhood of the Temple ; his success as a phy sician is not known, but bis in come was very small ; for as he used to say, he got very few fees, though he had abundance of pa tients. Some addition, however, he uow began to derive from the efforts oi Ins pen j and it appears, that he was for a while wuh the celebrated Samuel Richardson as corrector of the press. About this time he renewed his acquaintance, .with one of the young physicians whom he had known at Edinbugh: This wa3 a son of ths Ke v . Doctor John Mil ner, a dissenting minister, who kept a classical school of eminence at Peckham in Smrv. Mr. Mil ner observing Goldsmith’s uncer- ) tain mode oi living, invited him to take the charge of his father’s school, the Doctor then being con lined by illness: to this he con sented ; and Doctor Milner, in return, promised to exert his in terest w iih the India D iftetors, j to procure for him some medical eftabliffiment m the Company’s service. This promtfe he faith fully performed, and Goldsmith was actually appointed phylici an to one of the fattors in India in *758. It appears, however, (hat our author never availed hitnfelf of this pofl,t but con tinued in Dr. Milner’s Acade. my ; and in this very year fold to Mr. Edward Dilly, for twen ty guineas, “ The Memoirs of a Vrotcjlant condemned to the G al lies of France for his religion. Written by himfclf. Tranjlated from the Original , ju/l publijhed at the H ague, by James Wil lington, 2 vols. 12 mo. Toward the latter end of 1758, Goldlmith happened to dine at Dr. Milner’s table with Mr. Ralph Griffiths, the proprietor of The Monthly review, who \ invited him to write articles oT criticiun for that refpefclable publication, on the terms of a liberal (alary, besides board and lodging. By a written agree ment this engagement was to lad lor a year ; but at the end of (even or eight months it was diflolved by mutual consent, Sc • In a letter, dated Dec* 17J7, lie write. I tbu» At London, you may catily imagine ■ what difficulties I had to encounter; with* • cut friends, recommendations, money, or ini j pudeuce : and that in a country where be ing born an IrilTiman was futlicient to keep me unemployed. Many iti such circum ft.mtes, would have had recourse to the friar’* cotd, or the fuicide'a haltar. But with all my follies I had principle to refill the one and resolution to combat the other." f 1 hough, it is certain that, in contem plation of "oirt<- to India, he circulated Pro pofal* to priir ui luhlcription, “ An b-Jjay cn ibt Prcftnt Skill j■ 'Tift j&J Liierutun in £u- I rest," as a mean- of defraying the expence* of bis fitting out for the voyage, Goldsmith took a mifcrable a partment in Green-Arbor court. Linlc O'd Baily.* In this wretched hovel our author com peeled his 44 Enquiry into the present State of Pilite literature in Europe ,” which was publish. <*d in i 759, bv Dodfley, and was well received. In October of the lame year, he began “ The Bte ,” a weekly publica lion, which terminated a*, the eighth number. About this time also he contributed some articles to Tht Critical Review, one of which (wc believe ate view of Ovid’s Epistles, transla ted into Enolifli verse by a Mr. Barrett, mailer of ti e Grammar School at Afhford in Kent”) introduced him to the acquain. tance of Dr. Smollef, who was then Editor of the Bdtifh Maga zine ; and for that work Gold, fniith wrote moll of thole 44 Es. says,” which were afterwards collefted aod published in a se parate volume. By I)r. Smol lett too, he was re commended to some refpeftable bookfellcrs, particularly to Mr, John New. berv, who well deierved the eulogium beftowxd by Wabur ton on the trade in general, as one of 44 the bell judges & moll liberal rewarders of literary me. rit.” By Mr. Newbery, Gold, fmiih was engaged at a Diary of too/, a year to write for the Public Ledger, a series of peri odical papers. Thcfe he called “ Chintfe Letters j” and they were afterwards coiletlcd in two vols—under the title of 44 The Citizen of the World.” It was soon after this that he commen. ced his acquaintance with Dr. Johnson. The important engagement with Newbery, for a hundred pounds a year, encouraged Goldlmiib to defeend Break, neck fleps,t r.nd to hire a decen apartment in Wine. Office-court Fleet direct. Here he dropped the humble Mijier , and dubbed himfelf Do£l>, Gold fmiih. Here also he put the finifhing hand t<> his excellent novel called 44 The Vtcar cf Wakefield," but was. when he had done, extremely cmbarrafTcd in his circumftan. ces, dunned by his landlady for arrears of rent, and not daring to Itir abroad for fear of arrell : in fad, fire herlelf at length had him a» retied; he then summon. ed resolution to fend a uidlagc to Di. johnfon, Hating that he was in gieat dill refs, end beging that he would come to him as soon as pollible. lohnfon sent him a guinea and promiled to follow almost immediately. — When he ariivcd, he found Go'dfinith in a violent paffton with the woman of the houfc, butconfoling himfelf as well as he could with a bottle of Ma. deira, which he had already purchased with part of the gui nea. Johnson, corking the bott'e, delired Goldsmith would be calm, and conlider what way 1 he could extricate himfelf. The \ latter then produced his novel as ready for the press. The Doer looked into it, law its merit, Sc went away with it to Mr. New. , bery, who gave him 60/. for it; with this sum he returned to « Goldsmith, w ho, with many j invetlives, paid his landlady her j rent. Newbery, however, ieems not to have been very languine in his hopes of this novel, for he kept the MS by him near 3 years unprinted; his ready purchale j of it, probably was in the way of a benefaction to its diflreffed | author, rather than under any • An Engraving of the house, iiluArated by a defcriptiou, w»» given in the European Magazine, Vol xiiii.pp. 7, 8. +A ijteep flight ot flair* (commonly so terra* 1 ed) lead.tg from the door of hi» lodging houte in Grecn-Aibour-coun to fleet-mar ket. idea of profit by the public®, tion. Eatly in the year 1769 Go.d smith removed to lodgings at Canonbury-Houle, Iflington, where he compiled (everal works for Mr. Newbery ; among which were, 44 The Art of P or try,” 2 vols. 12 mo. ; a “ Life 0} Xajh ” and a Hiftory of England, in a Series of Letters from a Xcbltman to his Son. this latter book was for along lime attributed to George lord L ytdeton. I n the following year he took chambers on the upper flory of the Library flair-cafe in the In ner Temple, and began to live in a genteel flyle. Still, howe ver, he was little known, except among the bookfellcrs, till the year 17G5, when he produced his Poem called “ Traveller ; or A Yrofpetiof Society which had obtained high commenda tion from Dr. Johnson, who declared, “ that there had not been so fine a Poem since the time of Pope ; yet such was Goldsmiths diffidence, that tho ! he had completed it some years before, he had not courage e nough to publish, till urged to it by Johnson’s fudged ions.— This poem heightened his lite rarv character with the bookfeL lers, and introduced him to fe veral persons of superior rank and talents, as Lord Nugent (afterwards Earl of Clare,) Mr. Burke, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Dr. N ugent, Mr- Bcrrnet Lang- j ton, Mr. Topham Beauclerc, ' &c. and he was eletlcd one of the fir ft members of “The Lite, rary Club,” which had bcenjull ittflituted by johnfon, Burke, and Sir Joshua, and met at the Lurk’s Head, Gerard street, Soho, every Friday evening. His pathetick ballad of 44 The Hermit which was also pub lished in 1765, recommended him to the Countels (afterwards Duchess) of Noithuir.berland,’ who v.'as a generous patroneis of mirit. In the following year hts 44 Vicar of Wakefield ” was printed and univei faily read and admired. His reputation being now fairly dlimated as a novelrft, a poet, and a critick. Goldsmith turned his thoughts to the dra ma, and let about his comedy called. 14 The Good natured Man” This he firfl offered to Garrick, who, alter a long fluctuation between doubt and encourage ment, at length declined bring ing it forward at Drury-lane the. atre ; it was therefore take#* to Covent-garden, accepted by Mr. Colman, and prefcnied for the firft time on the 29th of Jan* uary 1768. It was acted nine times ; and by the profits of the author’s three third-nights, with he sale of the copy right, a clear 500 1 was produced. With this, and some money which he had refer ved out of the produce of a 44 Roman Hifiory,” ! in 2 vols. Bvo. and other works ■ he was enabled to defeend from his attick (lory in the Inner Temple, and purchase for 400/. | and iurnilh elegantly, a spacious set of chambers on the firfl floor, at No. 2, Brick court, 1 Middle Temple, j On the ellablifhment of the ' Royal Academy, 1769, Sir Joshua Reynolds recommended Gotdfmith to his Majelty for the Honorary Piofefforfhip of His • tory, which was graciously con ! ferred on hitn. In the follow* j mg year he produced that high iy fimfhed poem, called 44 The Dcjeried Village.” Previous to its publication, we are told, the bookleller (Mr. Griffin, of Ca. tharine iireet, Strand) had given htm a note of a hundred gui. neas for the copy. This ctr. J eamtUMe Goldsmith me*';''™;/ e d Coon afterwards to a friend, who observed that it was a large sum for so small a performance. “In truth, ’Replied Goldlmith, « [ think so too; it is near five a (hillings a coplet, which is much more than the honed man can afford, and, indeed, more than j any modern poetry is worth.—• # I have not been easy fmce I re. *, ceived it ; I will therefore go back, and return him his note ; which he accordingly did : but the sale was so rapid, that the book lei lor soon paid him the hundred guineas, with proper acknowledgments for the gene- l roffity of his conduth Soon after the appearance of the Defertcd Village, our an. thor paid a tribute to the memo, j ry of Dr. Varnell, in a Tift * prefixed to a new edition of hi* “ Poems on several occafions.’* In the year 1771, he produced his u lliflory of England from the earue[l times to the death of George II" in 4 vois. Bvo. for which Mr. Thomas Davies, the bookfellcr, paid him 50of. The £3rl of Lifburne, one day at a dinner of the Royal A. cademicians, lamented to Gold, smith that he should neglcft the Muses to compile histories and write novels, instead of penning poetry, with which he was sure to charm his readers. “My Lord,” replied our author, “ in courting the Muses I should Itatve; but by my other labor* | I eat, drink, wear good clothes* 1 and enjoy the luxuries of life.’* Goldsmith had, besides hi* tegular works, much of the o iher hufinefs of an author by « profeffian ; such as penning Prefaces and Introductions to the books of other writers; fomc of these have been publilhed among his prose works; but, no doubt, many remain at this day unknown. His lecond dramatic effort, being fa comedy called u She Stoops to Conquer ; or The mis takes of a Night," was fir ft pre sented at Covent-garden theatre* March 15, 1773, and received with an applause fully adequate to the auahor’s sanguine hopes, and contrary to the expetiati -0113 of Mr. Colman, who had not consented to receive the piece, but at the earnest Sc i cite* rated inftancesof many frineds* W hat was called lentimenlal comedy had at that time got an unaccountable hold of the pub* li r taste : Kelly \yas fubferving this unbritifh propensity by his - “ False Delicacy,” &c. and Goldsmith’s piece (which was designed by him to bring back the town to a reliff* of humor) being certainly in the opposite extreme, and hardly any thing else than a farce of five afls in stead of two, Colman, and his aftors from him, had predeftin. ed the play to condemnation : when, therefore, towards the conclusion of the firft perform, ance, the author expressed some apprehension left some of the jokes put in the mouth of Tony Lumkin should not be relished by the audience, the Manager, who had been in fear through the whole piece, replied, “ D —n it Doflor, don’t be terrified at a fouio; why, we have been fitting these two hours on a bar rel of gunpowder-” Gold smith’s pride was so much hurt at this remark, that the friend fhip which had till then fubfifU ed between him and Colman, was thenceforth annihilated. Blanks of all kinds executed at ihefhorteil notice at this Offic.