In December, 1769, the recent appointment of his friend Reynolds as President of the Royal Academy brought him the honorary office of Professor of History to that institution; and to Reynolds _The Deserted Village_ was dedicated. It appeared on the 26th of May, 1770, with a success equal, if not superior, to that of _The Traveller_. It ran through five editions in the year of its publication; and has ever since retained its reputation. If, as alleged, contemporary critics ranked it below its predecessor, the reason advanced by Washington Irving, that the poet had become his own rival, is doubtless correct; and there is always a prejudice in favour of the first success. This, however, is not an obstacle which need disturb the reader now; and he will probably decide that in grace and tenderness of description _The Deserted Village_ in no wise falls short of _The Traveller_; and that its central idea, and its sympathy with humanity, give it a higher value as a work of art. After _The Deserted Village_ had appeared, Goldsmith made a short trip to Paris, in company with Mrs. and the two Miss Hornecks, the elder of whom, christened by the poet with the pretty pet-name of ‘The Jessamy Bride,’ is supposed to have inspired him with more than friendly feelings. Upon his return he had to fall again to the old ‘book-building’ in order to recruit his exhausted finances. Since his last poem he had published a short _Life of Parnell_; and Davies now engaged him on a _Life of Bolingbroke_, and an abridgement of the _Roman History_. Thus, with visits to friends, among others to Lord Clare, for whom he wrote the delightful occasional verses called _The Haunch of Venison_, the months wore on until, in December, 1770, the print-shops began to be full of the well-known mezzotint which Marchi had engraved from his portrait by Sir Joshua.