ginal, and unhappy experience in all probability, had enabled him to give the details as he says "from nature;" for there is an air of verisimilitude about the scene that renders it difficult to believe it was not one he had known by experience. With a few additions, the lines are introduced in the account of a club of authors in the Citizen of the World; and but for having thus been used in a previous work, would, no doubt, have been applied in detail to the description of the alehouse in the Deserted Village, a hint or two only being now retained in that poem.

The other production mentioned with a degree of coyness in this letter, the Life of Voltaire, completed within a period of four weeks, as he informs us, and acknowledged as a sacrifice to necessity, would appear to be that already alluded to, with which he intended to repay Griffiths for the apparel, the subject of dispute, by the following announcement in the Public Advertiser, 7th February, 1759:"Speedily will be published, Memoirs of the Life of Monsieur de Voltaire; with Critical Observations on the Writings of that celebrated Poet, and a new Translation of the Henriade. Printed for R. Griffiths, in Paternoster Row."

This seems a solitary advertisement, no other having been found. And notwithstanding every diligence on the part of those most accustomed to such inquiries, it has not been discovered as a separate work; but after a long search the writer found it printed in detached portions of the Lady's Magazine for 1761.

Of the general character of this piece little need be said. What he so lightly estimated himself cannot be highly valued by others in consequence of its deficiency in facts; but the reflections and style possess his accustomed qualities of elegance and vivacity. Considered as an exercise, though a slight one, of his pen, it will interest the literary inquirer; and as it is not likely to be published at length and indeed is not to be found, such passages as admit of being detached from the narrative will find admission in another place. The first paragraph, varied slightly in expression, is in thought similar to that which introduces the memoir of Parnell. "That life which has been wholly employed in the study, is properly seen only in the author's writings; there is no variety to entertain, nor adventure to interest us in the calm anecdotes of such an existence. Cold criticism is all the reader must expect, instead of instructive history."

The version of the Henriade to which it was meant to form an introduction was again announced singly, in April*: but like the Life, this form of publication seems to have been abandoned by the publisher. It is to be found, however, where he probably thought it more immediately useful, in his Magazine (the Grand) for September 1759, a book of the poem being published in each succeeding number, and is there stated to be for the first time rendered into English. Goldsmith is believed to have had little more to do with it than the

revision and correction, which a correct taste for poetry and friendship towards the translator, an unhappy follower of letters, might supply.

This person is said to have been Edward Purdon, an old college friend* and like himself, the son of a clergyman. Being of a thoughtless turn and dissipated habits, he enlisted as a private soldier after quitting the University; but becoming tired of this mode of life, he procured his discharge, commenced professional writer in London, and renewed his acquaintance with Goldsmith, of whose bounty he frequently partook, and is believed to have been the cause of some of the difficulties and imprudences of his good-natured friend. Not destitute of talents, a necessitous life and ill-regulated passions interfered with their reputable exertion. Poverty long continued, particularly in those who have known a contrary lot, too often begets disregard of intellectual as well as of moral pre-eminence; and he who under favourable circumstances might acquire fame, when pursued by want cannot always become even respectable. He produced nothing therefore worth remembering. Compelled to have recourse to such fleeting topics as promised immediate subsistence, he seems, except in the instance of this translation, never to have ascended above petty pamphlets, contributions to periodical works and newspapers, and that never-failing topic for all writers good and badthe theatre. For an abusive pamphlet against the performers of Drury Lane, particularly Mossop, he was obliged to make an abject apology, to which was subjoined another from his publisher, Pottinger, who pleaded ignorance of its contents, which appeared in the London Chronicle, Oct. 13-15, 1759.

A life such as this, where the labour is great, the reward little, and the reputation more than questionable, seems the consummation of human misery; yet how often is it embraced in the first glow of youthful hope or ambition by such as have or have not qualifications for the pursuit, in the forlorn hope of acquiring distinction! Relieved frequently by Goldsmith when denial would have been no more than prudence to himself, Purdon was long known as one of his pensioners; he saw much of his benefactor, was not ungrateful for the assistance rendered, and related many anecdotes of him, of which a few only have travelled down to us, preserved by casual auditors. He died as he had lived, in penury; and it was, perhaps, with reference to him and others whom he avows to have known in the same unfortunate situation, and it is to be feared with the remembrance of some sufferings of his own, that we find the following passage on the effects of hunger in " Animated Nature:"-" The lower race of animals, when satisfied for the instant moment, are perfectly happy; but it is otherwise with man: his mind anticipates distress, and feels the pangs of want even before it arrests him. Thus the mind being continually harassed by the situation, it at length influ

• "1744, Julii 28°-Edwardus Purdon Pens-Filius Edwardi Clerici.-Annum agens 15-Natus in Comitatu Limerick-Educatus sub ferula Ma: Jessop Tutor Mr. Holt."

ences the constitution, and unfits it for all its functions. Some cruel disorder, but no way like hunger, seizes the unhappy sufferer; so that almost all those men who have thus long lived by chance, and whose every day may be considered as a happy escape from famine, are known at last to die in reality of a disorder caused by hunger, but which, in common language, is often called a broken heart. Some of these I have known myself when very little able to relieve them."

To the unhappy existence of this poor man more direct allusion is made in the well-known epitaph on him, in his poetical works, paltry taken from the French, in which notwithstanding the smile created by its point, there is something of tenderness for an old acquaintance."

Toward the end of March, 1759, was published, for the Dodsleys, the piece from which a portion of fame and money were expected to accrue, "An Inquiry into the Present State of Polite Learning in Europe." No reasonable means were neglected to make it known through the usual channels. The first announcement appears in the London Chronicle newspaper, April 3-5, and repeated in the Public Advertiser soon afterwards, April 26-28. An extract occupying six columns was given in the former. A long letter from a correspondent, directing attention to the work, found place in the Gentleman's Magazine, followed by a favourable, though not indiscriminately laudatory, notice in the Critical Review for April; while in the Annual Register, commenced and conducted by Burke for the first seven years, it is likewise mentioned with approbation.

Thus introduced, and showing proofs of coming from a man of genius and considerable observation and learning, it was favourably received. The style has all his characteristic perspicuity; more terse, perhaps, and epigrammatic than his other writings,-qualities which, while they give pungency to a sentence, impart something of the appearance of labour. It is, however, free from stiffness. But the promise of the title-page appeared obviously of a nature too extensive for any one man, however high his attainments or numerous his opportunities for observation, to treat in a satisfactory manner. means and the leisure of Goldsmith were certainly inadequate to the purpose. He had enjoyed the advantage, indeed, of seeing France, Germany, and Italy, in his tour; but under circumstances not favourable to research, or for adequate acquaintance with their men of letters, and for a period too short for any diligence to acquire the requisite information by personal inquiry.

The

Polite literature, unlike science, has not the same fixed principles in every country. The progress or limits of mathematics or of astronomy, of chemistry or of the branches of natural philosophy in one kingdom may be investigated by the native of another competently informed, with the certainty of arriving at pretty accurate conclusions. But the state of Polite Letters is more variable and to be very differently estimated, for scarcely any two nations possess precisely similar standards of taste. Thus, France and England differ widely in their estimate of poetry and the drama, and quite as much so perhaps, in the arts of design. We cannot procure Shakspeare and Milton to be received with all the consideration due to their ex

traordinary powers, in France; and in return, we scarcely allow that country to possess any poetry except dramatic, of a high order. It requires therefore, not merely an intimate acquaintance with the language and history, but with the genius, manners, opinions, prejudices, and local peculiarities of a people, for a foreigner to enter upon the consideration of their polite literature, in order to appreciate it thoroughly or to decide upon it justly. To attempt to do, therefore, for all Europe what is so difficult to perform for one of its states, nay, what few writers can successfully accomplish for their own country, presented obstacles which no individual could expect to overcome. The title adopted on the occasion, implying a range which could not be taken in a duodecimo, was perhaps not judiciously chosen. But the spirit of the remarks, the information although more limited than we desire, and the ingenuity of his views, render the work as coming from his pen worthy of perusal.

Its weaker points were a somewhat affected, for it could scarcely be real, depreciation of science; some contradictions; a few paradoxes and novelties, advanced probably with the design of provoking discussion or drawing attention to the book, although such motives are expressly disclaimed.

"Dissenting from received opinions m may frequently render this essay liable to correction; yet the reader may be assured that a passion for singularity never gives rise to the error. Novelty is not permitted to usurp the place of reason."-Remembering, however, the humorous account given by George Primrose of the supposed publication of his paradoxes, and of the disappointment experienced by their being unnoticed, it is difficult to believe that Goldsmith did not shadow out himself in the hero of the tale, when the latter is made to describe himself as full of importance and expecting the "whole learned world to rise and oppose them, but then he was ready to oppose the whole learned world;" but the learned said nothing about him or his paradoxes, and he "suffered the cruellest mortification, neglect."*

One of the positions strenuously maintained in this work says little for the merit of the employment of which he had now sufficient experience, that of a professional reviewer. He estimates criticism and the increase of critics and commentators as indicative of the decay of polite letters. "Learning may be distinguished into three periods. Its commencement, or the age of poets; its maturity, or the age of philosophers; and its decline, or the age of critics." "When polite learning was no more, then it was those literary lawgivers made the most formidable appearance. Corruptissima republica plurimæ leges."-"Wherever the poet was permitted to improve his native language, polite learning flourished; where the critic undertook the same task, it never rose to any degree of perfection."

"Other depravations," he continnes, "in the republic of letters, such as affectation in some popular writers leading others into vicious imitation; political struggles in the state; a depravity of morals among the people; ill directed encouragement or no encouragement from the great: these have been often found to co-operate in the decline of literature; but an increase of criticism has always portended a decay."* It may be remarked that Dr. Johnson, though so eminent in the art, when he condescended to exercise it, which was not often, speaks in a strain scarcely more favourable of "the disquisitions of criticism, which, in my opinion, is only to be ranked among the subordinate and instrumental arts."†

This opinion is no doubt true; for though good criticism requires talent, it is talent of a secondary order. Great critics indeed, such as Johnson himself, like great writers, are rare; but for every purpose of instruction or amusement, for the original ideas thrown out, or developement of the subject in hand, the best periodical critic is inferior to an original writer even of a middling order; for the latter must give much time and consideration to matters on which the former commonly can bestow little; no reader of taste will take up a commentary, who can refer to the original. Whether the opinion of Goldsmith be correct that the increase of critics, fearful beyond all precedent in our own day, indicates the decline of letters, may be doubted: they are but the shadows of authors, and as naturally follow the substance from which they emanate and of whose existence they furnish evidence. But from the numbers daily starting into existence in every shape and place, inexperienced in life, in letters, and often in judgment, it would seem as if the calling required a very moderate portion of ingenuity, and were pursued rather by the journeymen of Genius than by Genius herself. Writers of very original powers cannot long pursue such an occupation solely; like him indeed, whose opinions are here adduced, they may be compelled to the task for a time by necessity, or when entering upon a literary career in order to learn the mere mechanical parts of the art; but it soon becomes irksome, and we gladly fly from examination of the ideas of other men to the more grateful exercise of our own.‡

One of the inconveniences of poverty, besides its positive privations, is not only the bar thrown in our way to pursue the path we wish, but the frequent necessity of adopting that which we dislike. Thus, the wayward fate of Goldsmith seemed constantly to thwart the bent of his inclinations as well in life as in letters. It caused him to enter the university in a situation he disliked if not despised; it made him a traveller on foot through Europe when his ambition was

• Inquiry into Polite Learning, Works, vol. i. † See last number of the Rambler.

A passage in the "Inquiry into Polite Learning" seems to have given origin to a celebrated simile in the Letters of Junius, applied by that writer to the Duke of Grafton, when he says of Lord Chatham, "after going through all the resolutions of political chemistry, he has arrived at the caput mortuum of vitriol in your Grace." -Goldsmith says, speaking of the difficulties of introducing a play upon the stage, "Our poet's performances must undergo a process truly chemical before it is presented to the public. It must be tried in the manager's fire, strained through a licenser, and purified in the review of the newspaper of the day. At this rate, before it can come to a private table, it may probably be a mere caput mortuum, and only proper entertainment for the licenser, manager, or critic himself."