Produced by Juliet Sutherland and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net OLIVER GOLDSMITH [Illustration: _Rischgitz Collection._] OLIVER GOLDSMITH. (From the painting by Reynolds.)] Bell's Miniature Series of Great Writers Oliver Goldsmith BY E. S. LANG BUCKLAND [Illustration] LONDON GEORGE BELL & SONS 1909 PREFACE It is only right to acknowledge my indebtedness in the compilation of this volume to John Forster, to whom as one of the most courageous, industrious, and sympathetic of the writers of biography, all students of Goldsmith must be profoundly grateful. To several other writers I must also express my thanks, and to save the time of my kind readers and to preserve a proper sense of obligation, it would perhaps be best to admit at once that if this little book has any merits, they are due to others, while its errors are all my own. E. S. L. B. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. "THE BEST BELOVED OF ENGLISH WRITERS" 1 II. "THE DESERTED VILLAGE" 13 III. "THE TRAVELLER" 27 IV. LONDON 36 V. "THE CITIZEN OF THE WORLD" 45 VI. THE LITERARY CLUB 50 VII. DEBTS AND DIGNITIES 59 VIII. CONSUMMATE COMEDY 66 IX. THE POET AND THE ESSAYIST 75 X. THE LIGHT OF LOVE 84 LIST OF THE WORKS OF OLIVER GOLDSMITH 88 SOME WORKS OF REFERENCE 89 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE OLIVER GOLDSMITH, FROM A PAINTING BY REYNOLDS _Frontispiece_ GOLDSMITH AS A YOUNG MAN 28 DR. JOHNSON, BOSWELL, AND GOLDSMITH AT THE MITRE TAVERN 46 THE ORIGINAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN GOLDSMITH AND DODSLEY, 1763 52 GOLDSMITH IN MIDDLE AGE 56 NO. 2, BRICK COURT, TEMPLE (WHERE GOLDSMITH DIED) 63 STATUE OF GOLDSMITH 80 CHAPTER I "THE BEST BELOVED OF ENGLISH WRITERS"