Oliver Goldsmith

Oliver Goldsmith was born near Ballymahon, Ireland and educated at several grammar schools before entering Trinity College Dublin as a sizar (B.A. 1750); he studied medicine in Edinburgh (1752-53). Goldsmith traveled on the Continent before settling in London (1756); failing to establish a medical practice, he taught school and wrote for the Monthly Review (1757-58); in 1759 he edited The Bee before gaining a high reputation as a poet, playwright, and novelist shortly before his death.

TEXT RECORDS:

1767The Beauties of English Poesy: The School-Mistress.
1770The Deserted Village, a Poem.

PUBLICATIONS:

J. Marteilhe, Memoirs of a Protestant [trans. Goldsmith]. 2 vols, 1758.
The bee. 1759.
The present state of polite learning in Europe. 1759.
The citizen of the world. 2 vols, 1762.
The life of Richard Nash of Bath. 1762.
The mystery revealed. 1762.
Plutarch's Lives [trans. Goldsmith]. 4 vols, 1762.
The history of England in a series of letters. 2 vols, 1764.
The history of the Martyrs and primitive fathers of the church. 1764.
Essays. 1765, 1766.
M. Formey, A concise history of philosophy [trans. Goldsmith]. 1766.
The traveller; or, a prospect of society. 1764.
The vicar of Wakefield. 1766.
The beauties of English poetry [ed. Goldsmith]. 2 vols, 1767.
Poems for young ladies. 1767.
The good-natured man. 1768.
The present state of the British empire. 1768.
The Roman history. 2 vols, 1769.
The deserted village. 1770.
The life of Henry St. John, Lord Viscount Bolingbroke. 1770.
The life of Thomas Parnell. 1770.
The history of England, from the earliest times to the death of George II. 4 vols, 1771.
Threnodia Augustalis. 1772.
She stoops to conquer. 1773.
The Grecian history. 2 vols, 1774.
An history of the Earth and animated nature. 8 vols, 1774.
Retaliation. 1774.
The comic romance of Scarron [trans. Goldsmith]. 2 vols, 1775.
The haunch of venison: a poetical epistle. 1776.
A survey of experimental philosophy. 2 vols, 1776.
The Poetical Works of Goldsmith, Collins, and T. Warton, ed. G. Gilfillan. 1854.
The grumbler, ed. Alice I. P. Wood. 1931.
Collected letters, ed. Katherine C. Balderson. 1928.
Collected works, ed. Arthur Friedman. 5 vols, 1966.

PROFILE AND
ASSOCIATES:

Irish
English
Anglican

Trinity College Dublin
Bachelor of Arts
Edinburgh University

editor
poet
essayist
journalist
dramatist
novelist
historian

The Critical Review
The Monthly Review
The Bee
British Magazine
Lady's Magazine
The Public Ledger
Busy Body
Westminster Magazine
Royal Magazine

Edmund Burke
Lord Charlemont
George Colman
William Cook
Richard Cumberland
Richard Fenton
Rev. James Fordyce
David Garrick
Ralph Griffiths
William Jackson of Exeter
Samuel Johnson
Anthony King
Rev. Vicesimus Knox
Edmond Malone
William Julius Mickle
John Newbery
Bp. Thomas Percy
Joshua Reynolds
Tobias Smollett
Rev. William Thompson

REFERENCE:

DNB; NCBEL.

William Rider, Living Authors of Great Britain (1762); Pearch, Supplement to Dodsley's Collection (1768-83); "Short Character of Dr. Goldsmith" London Magazine 42 (February 1773) 57-58 [portrait]; "Anecdotes of Goldsmith" Annual Register for 1774 (1774) 29-34; "Anecdotes of Goldsmith" Westminster Magazine 2 (April 1774) 167; "Anecdotes of the late Dr. Goldsmith" Walker's Hibernian Magazine 4 (May 1774) 267-68; "Anecdotes of the late Dr. Goldsmith" Annual Register for 1774 (1774) 29-34; Thomas Davies, in Life of Garrick (1780); "Anecdotes of the late Dr. Goldsmith" Public Advertiser (29 September 1780); Biographia Dramatica (1782; 1812); "Anecdotes of Goldsmith" New London Magazine 5 (July 1789) 345-48; "Anecdotes of Goldsmith" Massachusetts Magazine 2 (February 1790) 51-52; James Boswell, Life of Johnson (1791); Lounger's Common-Place Book (1792; 1796); William Cook, "Anecdotes of Goldsmith" European Magazine 24 (August-October 1793) 91-93, 170-74, 258-63; "New Anecdotes of Oliver Goldsmith" Town and Country Magazine 26 (March-July 1794) 109-14, 244-48, 294-97; Robert Anderson, British Poets (1795); "Cursory Observations on Goldsmith's Deserted Village" Walker's Hibernian Magazine (November 1800) 270-73; "Original Anecdotes of Goldsmith" Monthly Magazine 14 (December 1802) 362; "Life of Goldsmith" Port Folio [Philadelphia] 5 (29 June-27 July 1805) 193-94, 201-02, 209-10, 225-26; Samuel Egerton Brydges, "Oliver Goldsmith" Censura Literaria 5 (1807) 54-75; Richard Cumberland, in Memoirs (1807); Robert Southey, Specimens of Later English Poets (1807); John Evans, "Anecdotes of Dr. Goldsmith" Monthly Magazine 25 (June 1808) 393-94; John Aikin, "Oliver Goldsmith" Port Folio [Philadelphia] NS 6 (15 October-5 November 1808)246-48, 260-64, 277-80, 295-300; John Aikin, "On the Poetry of Oliver Goldsmith" Port Folio [Philadelphia] NS 6 (26 November, 10 December 1808) 342-46, 376-80; Samuel Jackson Pratt, Cabinet of Poetry (1808); "Comments on the Character and Writings of Oliver Goldsmith" Port Folio [Philadelphia] NS 6 (September 1811) 210-25; "Cumberland and Goldsmith" Port Folio [Philadelphia] NS 6 (October-November 1811) 370-77, 480-84; Alexander Chalmers, General Biographical Dictionary (1812-17); "Oliver Goldsmith" The Champion (11 December 1814) 398-99; "A Curious Criticism on Goldsmith's Deserted Village" Port Folio S3 4 (October 1814) 315-21; "[French] Translation of Goldsmith's Deserted Village" Port Folio [Philadelphia] S4 1 (January 1816) 38-42; "The Solitary Reflector: Goldsmith" European Magazine 70 (September-October 1816) 233-36, 308-11; Percy correspondence in Nichols, Illustrations of the Literary History of the XVIII Century (1817-58); "Anecdotes of Oliver Goldsmith" Gentleman's Magazine 88 (July 1818) 17-21; Richard Ryan, Biographia Hibernica (1819); John Aikin, Select Works of the British Poets (1820); John Graham, "Oliver Goldsmith's Family" Gentleman's Magazine 91 (May 1821) 392; "Modern Pilgrimages: Auburn" New Monthly Magazine NS 2 (November 1821) 449-53; Henry Francis Cary, "Oliver Goldsmith" London Magazine 5 (February 1822) 106-12; "Eminent Authors: Goldsmith" Literary Speculum 1 (March 1822) 312-14; "Life of Oliver Goldsmith" Port Folio [Philadelphia] S4 13 (June 1822) 473-87 [from Cary]; William Hazlitt, Select British Poets (1824); "Oliver Goldsmith" The Minerva [New York] NS 2 (13 December 1824) 155-57; Robert Watt, Bibliotheca Britannica (1824); Biographical Magazine 1 (1829) [portrait]; George B. Cheever, Studies in Poetry ... Elegant Extracts (1830); The Georgian Era: Memoirs of the most Eminent Persons (1832-34); James Prior, Life of Oliver Goldsmith (1837); Robert Chambers, Cyclopaedia of English Literature (1844); Thomas Babington Macaulay, "Oliver Goldsmith" Critical and Historical Essays (1843); Washington Irving, Life of Oliver Goldsmith (1844); William Howitt, Homes and Haunts of the ... British Poets (1847); John Forster, The Life and Times of Oliver Goldsmith (1848); Thomas De Quincey, "Oliver Goldsmith" North British Review (May 1848); Allibone, Critical Dictionary of English Literature (1858-71; 1882); David Masson, memoir in Miscellaneous Works of Oliver Goldsmith (1868); Alfred Webb, Compendium of Irish Biography (1878); William Black, Oliver Goldsmith (1879); The English Poets, ed. Thomas Humphry Ward (1880); Austin Dobson, Life of Oliver Goldsmith (1888); Austin Dobson, "Goldsmith's Library" in Eighteenth-Century Vignettes (1892-96); Moulton, Library of Literary Criticism (1901-05); Richard Ashe King, Oliver Goldsmith (1910); D. J. O'Donoghue, Poets of Ireland (1912); Iolo Williams, Seven Eighteenth-Century Bibliographies (1924); Alumni Dublinenses (1924); Alda Milner-Barry, "A Note on the Early Literary Relations of Oliver Goldsmith and Thomas Percy" RES 2 (1926) 51-66; Austin Dobson, "Percy and Goldsmith" in Old Kensington Palace (1926); John S. Crone, Concise Dictionary of Irish Biography (1928); Temple Scott, Oliver Goldsmith, Bibliographically and Biographically Considered (1928); R. S. Crane, "Oliver Goldsmith, M.B." Modern Language Notes 48 (1933) 462-65; Arthur Friedman, "Goldsmith's Contributions to the Critical Review" Modern Philology 44 (1946) 23-52; Ralph Wardle, Goldsmith (1957); Ricardo Quintana, Goldsmith: a Georgian Study (1967); A. N. L. Munby, Sale Catalogues of Libraries of Eminent Persons (1971-75); George S. Rousseau, Goldsmith: The Critical Heritage (1974); Chadwyck-Healey English Poetry Database (1995); Andrew Carpenter, Verse ... from Eighteenth-Century Ireland (1998).

COMMENTARY RECORDS
for Oliver Goldsmith:

1.	1759  William Shenstone to Thomas Percy, 6 June 1759; Letters, ed Williams (1939) 513-14.
2.	1765  A., "On perusing the Traveller: or, a Prospect of Society" Lloyd's Evening Post (1 March 1765) 202.
3.	1766  Joseph Warton to Thomas Warton, 22 January 1766; Wooll, Biographical Memoirs of Joseph Warton (1806) 312.
4.	1768  Frances Burney, 1768; The Early Diary of Frances Burney (1889) 1:12-13.
5.	1768  William Kenrick, "The Poetical Triumvirate. Written in the Year MDCCLXVII" Kenrick, Poems; ludicrous, satirical, and moral (1768) 269.
6.	1770  Corbyn Morris, Esq.; "On reading Goldsmith's Poem, The Deserted Village. Au Contraire" Middlesex Journal (24 November 1770).
7.	1770 ca.  D. G., "Epitaph on Doctor Goldsmith, read at the Literary Club when the Doctor was present" 1770 ca.; Morning Post and Daily Advertiser (3 April 1778).
8.	1770  Thersites, "To Dr. Goldsmith, on his Deserted Village" Weekly Magazine or Edinburgh Amusement 9 (20 September 1770) 373.
9.	1770  W. Willis, "Address to Oliver Goldsmith" Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser (21 July 1770).
10.	1772  Anonymous, in "Catalogue of the most celebrated Writers" Letters concerning the present State of England (1772) 359.
11.	1772  Anonymous, "To Dr. G—. On seeing his Name in the List of Mummers at a late Masquerade" Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser (9 June 1772).
12.	1773  T. S., "To Dr. Goldsmith, on the merited Success of his new Comedy, called, She Stoops to Conquer" Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser (17 April 1773).
13.	1773  Anonymous, "On the Success of Dr. Goldsmith's new Comedy, The Mistakes of a Night" St. James's Chronicle (18 March 1773).
14.	1773  Orlando, "Epigram on the Scuffle between Dr. Goldsmith and Mr. Evans" St. James's Chronicle (6 May 1773).
15.	1773  Anonymous, "Short Character of Dr. Goldsmith" London Magazine 42 (February 1773) 57-58.
16.	1773  Richard Fenton, "To Dr. Goldsmith, on the Publication of his Deserted Village" Poems (1773) 26-33.
17.	1773  J., "On the Successful Reception of the New Comedy, Mistakes of a Night" General Evening Post (20 March 1773).
18.	1773  S. J. [not Samuel Johnson], "Verses from Doctor Johnson to Doctor Goldsmith, occasioned by the new Comedy, intitled, The Mistakes of a Night" London Chronicle (1 April 1773) 313.
19.	1773  A. B., "On the Success of Dr. Goldsmith's Comedy" Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser (18 March 1773).
20.	1773  P. H. M. D. "On Seeing the second Performance of She stoops to Conquer" Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser (18 March 1773).
21.	1773  Percival Stockdale, in The Poet, a Poem (1773) 12-13 &n.
22.	1773  Anonymous, "On Mr. Hugh Kelly's Censure of the new Comedy. Addressed to Dr. Goldsmith" St. James's Chronicle (20 March 1773).
23.	1773  Anonymous, "The Combat" St. James's Chronicle (30 March 1773).
24.	1773  B. G., "To Dr. Goldmsith" St. James's Chronicle (22 April 1773).
25.	1774  Horace Walpole to William Mason, 7 April 1774; Letters, ed. Cunningham (1906) 6:72-73.
26.	1774  William Woty, "Epitaph on Dr. Goldsmith" Public Advertiser (14 April 1774).
27.	1774  John Tait, The Druid's Monument (1774) 5-14.
28.	1774  Samuel Jackson Pratt, in The Tears of Genius. Occasioned by the Death of Dr. Goldsmith (1774) 10-12.
29.	1774  Miss L—, "Elegy on Doctor Goldsmith" 1774; London Chronicle (5 December 1775) 541.
30.	1774  Richard Cumberland, "Poetical Epistle to Dr. Goldsmith; or Supplement to his Retaliation: a Poem" 1774; General Advertiser and Morning Intelligencer (1 August 1778).
31.	1774  Anonymous, "To the Author of the satirical Verses on Doctor Goldsmith's Encomiasts" Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser (15 July 1774).
32.	1774  Anonymous, "Epitaph on Dr. Goldsmith" Public Advertiser (4 May 1774).
33.	1774  Anonymous, "On the Death of Dr. Goldsmith" Public Advertiser (11 May 1774).
34.	1774  Anonymous, "Epitaph on the late Dr. Goldsmith" St. James's Chronicle (9 April 1774).
35.	1774  Cerynx, "Tears of the Muses. An Elegy, on the Death of Dr. Goldsmith" Sentimental Magazine 2 (April 1774) 174-75.
36.	1774  David Garrick, "Jupiter and Mercury" 1774; Works of Oliver Goldsmith, ed. Peter Cunningham (1854) 1:86.
37.	1774  Anonymous, in An Impartial Character of the late Dr. Goldsmith (1774); London Chronicle (9 July 1774) 29.
38.	1774  Anonymous, A Monody on the Death of Oliver Goldsmith (1774) 1-26.
39.	1775  Robert Hill, "On the Death of Oliver Goldsmith" Poems on Several Occasions, chiefly miscellaneous (1775) 155-57.
40.	1775  W. P., "Sonnet, written at the Village of Auburn, in 1775" Morning Post and Daily Advertiser (13 November 1776).
41.	1776 ca.  Joshua Reynolds, 1776 ca.; Goldsmith: The Critical Heritage (1974) 167-68.
42.	1778  Anonymous, "Sonnet. On the Report of a Monument to be erected in Westminster Abbey, to the Memory of Oliver Goldsmith" Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser (28 February 1778).
43.	1778  Anonymous, Goldsmith's Monument in Westminster Abbey; General Advertiser and Morning Intelligencer (3 March 1778).
44.	1778  M. Macgreggor, Esq., in "The Battle of the Busts" Hibernian Magazine 8 (April 1778) 194.
45.	1780  Thomas Davies, in Life of Garrick (1780) 2:141, 150-51.
46.	1787  A Clergyman of Ireland, "Translation of Goldsmith's Epitaph" Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser (12 September 1787).
47.	1788  James Beattie to William Forbes, 10 July 1788; Forbes, Life and Writings of James Beattie (1806) 2:233-34.
48.	1788  Anonymous, in "Edmund Burke" Catalogue of five hundred Celebrated Authors (1788).
49.	1790  Robert Burns to Mrs. Dunlop, 10 April 1790; Works, ed. Douglas (1877-79) 5:307.
50.	1791  James Boswell, in Life of Johnson, 1791; ed. G. B. Hill (1891) 1:477.
51.	1795  Robert Anderson, in Works of the British Poets (1795) 10: 811.
52.	1796  A Gentleman of Canada, "Elegy on the Death of Dr. Goldsmith" New York Magazine and Literary Repository NS 1 (October 1796) 551-52..
53.	1800  Thomas Dermody, in "The Retrospect" Poems Moral and Descriptive (1800) 11-12.
54.	1805  Charles Brockden Brown?, "Goldsmith and Johnson" Literary Magazine and American Register [Philadelphia] 3 (June 1805) 403-04
55.	1806  John Aikin, in Letters to a Young Lady (1806) 264-66.
56.	1807  Robert Southey, in Specimens of the Later English Poets (1807) 3:77.
57.	1807  Samuel Egerton Brydges, "Dr. Oliver Goldsmith" Censura Literaria 5 (1807) 54-75.
58.	1809  Nathan Drake, in Essays Illustrative of the Rambler (1809-10) 2:347-48.
59.	1811  Richard Cumberland, in Retrospection, a Poem (1811) 17-20.
60.	1812  William Henry Ireland, "Oliver Goldsmith" Neglected Genius (1812) 43-46.
61.	1813  William Cameron, in "Poet's Manual" Poems (1813) 113.
62.	1817  Anonymous, "The Deserted Village" Dublin Evening Post (11 November 1817).
63.	1818  Francis Hodgson, in Childe Harold's Monitor (1818) 49.
64.	1820  Lord Byron to John Murray 23 April 1820; Letters and Journals, ed. Rowland E. Prothero (1898-1901) 5:18.
65.	1820  John Graham, "A Song for the Anniversary of Oliver Goldsmith, celebrated at Mr. Leed's Inn in Ballymahon" Gentleman's Magazine 90 (November 1820) 448.
66.	1821  Thomas Stott, "Lines on reading the Resolutions of the Gentlemen who lately met at Ballymahon, for the Purpose of promoting a Subscription to erect a Monument to the Memory of Dr. Goldsmith, on the Spot where he was born" Morning Post (16 January 1821).
67.	1822  William Cook, in The Pleasures of Conversation (1822) 80-81.
68.	1822  Tobias Oldschool, Gentleman, "Eminent Authors: Goldsmith" Literary Speculum 1 (March 1822) 312-14.
69.	1824  William Hazlitt, in Select British Poets (1824); Works, ed. Howe (1932) 9:241-42.
70.	1824  Bryan Waller Procter, in Effigies Poeticae, or, the Portraits of the British Poets (1824) 90-91.
71.	1825 ca.  Joseph Cradock, in Literary and Miscellaneous Memoirs (1828) 4:279-88.
72.	1826  Richard Ryan, in Poetry and Poets: being a Collection of the choicest Anecdotes relative to the Poets of every Age and Nation (1826) 1:198-99.
73.	1827  William Goodhugh, in The English Gentleman's Library Manual (1827) 295.
74.	1829  Anna Brownell Jameson, "Poetical Old Bachelors" Loves of the Poets (1829; 1857) 480-81.
75.	1830 ca.  William Roscoe, 1830 ca.; in Life of William Roscoe (1833) 1:11.
76.	1830  George Barrell Cheever, in Studies in Poetry ... A copious Collection of Elegant Extracts (1830) 159-61.
77.	1830  Senex, "Thoughts on Poets: Goldsmith" Saturday Evening Post [Philadelphia] (17 April 1830).
78.	1831  John Wilson Croker, Note in Boswell, Life of Johnson, ed. Croker (1831) 1:423n.
79.	1832  John Taylor Esq., in Records of my Life (1832) 1:107-09.
80.	1850  Leigh Hunt, in Autobiography of Leigh Hunt (1850) 1:168.
81.	1880  Edward Dowden, in The English Poets: Selections with Critical Introductions, ed. Thomas Humphry Ward (1880) 3:368-72.
82.	1882  Epes Sargent, in Harper's Cyclopaedia of British and American Poetry (1882) 195.

BIOGRAPHY RECORDS
for Oliver Goldsmith:

1.	1762  William Rider, in Living Authors of Great Britain (1762) 13-14.
2.	1774  Anonymous, Obituary Notice in Gentleman's Magazine 44 (April 1774) 190.
3.	1783  Isaac Reed, in Pearch, Supplement to Dodsley (1783) 4:134-35n.
4.	1789  Anonymous, in Bell's Classical Arrangement of Fugitive Poetry (1789-97) 4:181-83.
5.	1808  Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 5:229-30.
6.	1810  Alexander Chalmers, in Works of the English Poets (1810) 16:479-87.
7.	1819  Thomas Campbell, in Specimens of the British Poets (1819; 1845) 522-26.
8.	1820  John Aikin, in Select Works of the British Poets (1820) 674.
9.	1822  Henry Francis Cary, "Lives of the Poets: Oliver Goldsmith" London Magazine 5 (February 1822) 105-12.
10.	1824  Walter Scott, "Oliver Goldsmith" 1824; Scott, Miscellaneous Prose Works (1829) 3:162-78.
11.	1834  G. G. Cunningham, in Memoirs of Illustrious Englishmen (1834-37) 6:81-86.
12.	1836  John Gibson Lockhart, "Prior's Life and Works of Goldsmith" Quarterly Review 57 (December 1836) 274-324.
13.	1844  Robert Chambers, in Cyclopaedia of English Literature (1844; 1850) 2:58-61.
14.	1847  William Howitt, "Oliver Goldsmith" Homes and Haunts of the Most Eminent British Poets (1847) 1:286-336.
15.	1876  Robert Carruthers, in Chambers's Cyclopaedia of English Literature, 3rd ed. (1876; 1879) 4:127-31.

AUTHOR AS CRITIC:
(commentary records)

1.	1759  Sir Richard Steele:   Oliver Goldsmith, in The Bee No. 8 (24 November 1759); Moulton, Library of Literary Criticism (1901-05) 2:762.
2.	1767  John Gay:   Oliver Goldsmith, in Beauties of English Poesy (1767) 1:133.
3.	1767  John Sheffield:   Oliver Goldsmith, in Beauties of English Poesy (1767) 2:163.
4.	1767  Thomas Tickell:   Oliver Goldsmith, in Beauties of English Poesy (1767) 2:24.
5.	1770  Alexander Pope:   Oliver Goldsmith, in Life of Parnell (1770); Works, ed. Cunningham (1854) 4:143.
6.	1774  Edmund Burke:   Oliver Goldsmith, in Retaliation. A Poem (1774) 7-8.
7.	1774  Richard Cumberland:   Oliver Goldsmith, in Retaliation. A Poem (1774) 10-11.
8.	1774  William Lauder:   Oliver Goldsmith, in Retaliation. A Poem (1774) 11-12.
9.	1776  Sir John Denham:   Oliver Goldsmith, in Beauties of English Poetry (1776); Works (1908) 9:230.
10.	1776  Matthew Prior:   Oliver Goldsmith, in Beauties of English Poetry (1776); Works (1908) 9:238.
11.	1776  Edmund Waller:   Oliver Goldsmith, in Beauties of English Poetry (1776); Works (1908) 9:237.

AUTHOR AS CRITIC:
(biography records)

1.	1770  Rev. Thomas Parnell:   Oliver Goldsmith, Life of Parnell (1770) in Goldsmith, Works, ed. Cunningham (1854) 4:129-45.