[Illustration: Oliver Goldsmith] OLIVER GOLDSMITH (Sir Joshua Reynolds) _OXFORD EDITION_ THE COMPLETE POETICAL WORKS OF OLIVER GOLDSMITH Edited with Introduction and Notes by AUSTIN DOBSON HON. LL.D. EDIN. PREFATORY NOTE This volume is a reprint, extended and revised, of the _Selected Poems_ of Goldsmith issued by the Clarendon Press in 1887. It is ‘extended,’ because it now contains the whole of Goldsmith’s poetry: it is ‘revised’ because, besides the supplementary text, a good deal has been added in the way of annotation and illustration. In other words, the book has been substantially enlarged. Of the new editorial material, the bulk has been collected at odd times during the last twenty years; but fresh Goldsmith facts are growing rare. I hope I have acknowledged obligation wherever it has been incurred; I trust also, for the sake of those who come after me, that something of my own will be found to have been contributed to the literature of the subject. AUSTIN DOBSON. Ealing, _September_, 1906. CONTENTS Introduction Chronology of Goldsmith’s Life and Poems POEMS Descriptive Poems The Traveller; or, A Prospect of Society The Deserted Village Lyrical and Miscellaneous Pieces Prologue of Laberius On a Beautiful Youth struck Blind with Lightning The Gift. To Iris, in Bow Street The Logicians Refuted A Sonnet Stanzas on the Taking of Quebec An Elegy on Mrs. Mary Blaize Description of an Author’s Bedchamber On seeing Mrs. *** perform in the Character of **** On the Death of the Right Hon.*** An Epigram. Addressed to the Gentlemen reflected on in ‘The Rosciad’, a Poem, by the Author To G. C. and R. L. Translation of a South American Ode The Double Transformation. A Tale A New Simile, in the Manner of Swift Edwin and Angelina Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog Song (‘When Lovely Woman,’ etc.) Epilogue to _The Good Natur’d Man_ Epilogue to _The Sister_ Prologue to _Zobeide_ Threnodia Augustalis: Sacred to the Memory of Her Late Royal Highness the Princess Dowager of Wales Song (‘Let school-masters,’ etc.) Epilogue to _She Stoops to Conquer_ Retaliation Song (‘Ah, me! when shall I marry me?’) Translation (‘Chaste are their instincts’) The Haunch of Venison Epitaph on Thomas Parnell The Clown’s Reply Epitaph on Edward Purdon Epilogue for Lee Lewes Epilogue written for _She Stoops to Conquer_ (1) Epilogue written for _She Stoops to Conquer_ (2) The Captivity. An Oratorio Verses in Reply to an Invitation to Dinner Letter in Prose and Verse to Mrs. Bunbury Vida’s Game of Chess