Chapter I: 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