He was now engaged in the compilation of the “History of the Earth and Animated Nature,” for which he was to receive eight hundred guineas; and about this time, according to Percy, he wrote “the ‘Haunch of Venison,’ ‘Retaliation,’ and some other little sportive sallies, which were not printed until after his death.” Mr. Peter Cunningham[1] has, for the first time, related the true story of “Retaliation,” in the original words of Garrick:--A party of friends, at the St. James’s Coffee House, were diverting themselves with the peculiar oddities of Goldsmith, who insisted upon trying his epigrammatic powers with Garrick. Each was to write the other’s epitaph. Garrick immediately spoke the following lines:-- “Here lies Nolly Goldsmith, for shortness call’d Noll, Who wrote like an angel, and talk’d like poor Poll.” The company laughed, and Goldsmith grew serious; he went to work, and some weeks after produced “Retaliation,” which was not written in anger, but with the utmost good humour. His path seemed now to be winding out of gloom into the full sunlight,--but, of a sudden, there rose up in it the “Shadow feared of man.” He was busy with projects, and had prepared a “Prospectus of an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Science,” when a complaint, from which he had previously suffered, returned with extreme severity. His unskilful treatment of the disorder was aggravated by the agitation of his mind, and he gradually sank, until Monday, April 4th, 1774, when death released him, in the forty-sixth year of his age. His remains were interred in the burial-ground of the Temple; Nollekens carved his profile in marble, and Johnson wrote a Latin inscription for the monument, which was erected in the south transept of Westminster Abbey. The epitaph is thus given in English:-- OF OLIVER GOLDSMITH-- Poet, Naturalist, and Historian, who left scarcely any style of writing untouched, and touched nothing that he did not adorn; of all the passions, whether smiles were to be moved, or tears, a powerful yet gentle master; in genius, sublime, lively, versatile; in style, elevated, clear, elegant-- the love of companions, the fidelity of friends, and the veneration of readers, have by this monument honoured the memory. He was born in Ireland, at a place called Pallas, [in the parish] of Forney, [and county] of Longford, On the 29th Nov., 1731;[2] educated at [the university of] Dublin; and died in London, 4th April, 1774.