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The preceding forms the Index to only so much of the text of Goldsmith as relates to
the Quadrupeds. In addition, a GENERAL INDEX includes the many hundred species
unnoticed by Goldsmith, and in no other edition of his Natural History, described and
illustrated here.

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1

LIFE OF
OF OLIVER GOLDSMITH.

HE chequered life of the author of the 'Vicar of Wakefield,' unlike the lives of professional literary men in general, abounds in incident, and is replete with entertainment and instruction. It is a chapter in the History of English literature, which the student will peruse and reperuse with feelings of mingled delight and pain; but which he must needs linger over, if he desires to understand the character of the age which the writings of Goldsmith contributed so greatly to enlighten, refine and amuse. The following-the chief materials for which have been derived from the laborious Biography of the Poet, by Mr. Prioris necessarily limited to a brief sketch.

Oliver was the fifth child of the Reverend Charles Goldsmith, at that time Curate of Forney, in the County of Longford, and Kingdom of Ireland. He was born on the 10th November, 1728, at a place called Pallas, in the parish of Forney. The income of his father was exceedingly limited, and, as he had seven children, he was reduced to considerable straights to maintain his family with any show of respectability. Henry, the eldest son, was destined for the church, and consequently a good education was to him indispensable. To obtain this, the other branches of the family were compelled to be comparatively neglected. It was proposed from his birth to bring up Oliver to some mercantile profession, which at that period was supposed to require little learning or accomplishments. Reading,

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writing and arithmetic were deemed as much as men of the ledger could digest with ease; and these were set down as the sum of knowledge the future painter of life and manners was to derive from his tutors. His first school was one kept by a dame at Lissoy; in the Parish of Kilkenny West, County Westmeath, to the rectory of which Charles Goldsmith was inducted in 1730. The characteristics of the child's mind appeared anything but promising. Mrs. Delap, his schoolmistress, admitted that he was one of the dullest boys ever placed under her charge, and doubted for some time whether anything could be made of him. In the words of a Mr. Handcock, who supplied Mr. Prior with some of his information, he seemed "impenetrably stupid!" or as Dr. Strean ascertained, "he was considered by his contemporaries and schoolfellows, as a heavy blockhead, little better than a fool, whom every body made fun of."

From the terrors and mortifications of Mrs. Delap's nursery for rising critics, young Goldsmith was removed to the domus of the village schoolmaster, Thomas Byrne-a man who had been a soldier in the wars of Queen Anne, and had seen some service in Spain. This old campaigner had more reverence for military orders of the day, than for the rules of syntax, and preferred recounting his strange adventures beyond the Pyrenees to solving the abstrusities of arithmetical compounds. He was, moreover, of a romantic turn, wrote poetry, and was well versed in the fairy lore of the country. His pupils, doubtless, had similar predilections; at all events, Master Oliver had; and to the marvellous relations which he was then accustomed to hear, his family afterwards attributed that wandering and unsettled disposition which was remarked in him through life. His eldest sister, Mrs. Hodson, has furnished an account of him at this period. "His temper, though peculiar, was kind and affectionate; his manner for the most part uncommonly serious and reserved; but, when in gay humour, none was more cheerful and agreeable. He was then, as he afterwards appeared to his acquaintances in London, solemn and yet gay, good-natured yet irritable, petulant sometimes, and instantly appeased by the smallest concession-so that such as did not understand or enquire into the occasional peculiarities of genius were puzzled by this contrariety of disposition; and the remark is preserved, that he seemed to possess two natures."

But though in all this there were some indications of the superficial man, there was little to reveal the spirit of genius which was struggling for birth within him. He plodded on with his "impenetrable stupidity,' and picked up some knowledge of the horn-book, a facility at pot-hooks, and, it may be, a smattering of figures. He at the same time read and learned by rote many of the wild ballads common among the peasantry; and took great delight in listening to the fairy tales and superstitions with which every hill and valley-every stream and thicket, was rendered classical. But among his associates he was still made fun of, and misunderstood. It was while at the day-school at Lissoy, when Goldsmith was eight or nine years old, that he was attacked by the small-pox, the ravages of which left indelible traces upon a countenance which had always been uncommonly plain. On his recovery he was sent to a superior school kept by a clergyman, at Elphin, in Roscommon; in the neighbourhood

of which lived one of his uncles, Mr. John Goldsmith, with whom he spent much of his time, and who was the first to notice the indications of talent which he exhibited.

His trials of temper and buffetings with the world had already commenced. He was scoffed and jeered by his schoolmates, as being ugly; and was nicknamed Esop in derision. His sensitive nature felt these ribald taunts keenly: for his happiness always depended more upon the good opinion of others than upon himself; but the little of peevishness that was suffered to escape him, consisted of smart repartees, in which he sought to turn the jests discharged on him upon the head of his assailants. He did something better, however, in his leisure, than squabble with the idle and the brutal. He began to make verses, and to fancy that nature had designed him for a poet. It is not improbable that he and mankind owe the discovery and developement of his genius to his want of personal beauty;-to that which made it necessary for him to draw upon himself for his enjoyments;-to the creative power in his bosom, which loved to people its ideal world with happy human faces, in order to compensate for the repulses it was continually meeting with in actual life. He read much, grew intoxicated with literature, and became an incurable rhymer. Fortunately his uncle and mother were capable of seeing through his "impenetrable stupidity," and discerning the dawn of genius beyond. They had a good opinion of Oliver, encouraged his studies, and desired that he should have such an education given to him as might afford him a chance of making his way through life in a manner more congenial to him than at the desk of a merchant's counting-house. His father, with little demur, though it must have sorely tasked his means,—whose narrowness had, from youth upwards, kept him engaged in that perpetual struggle of the poor man, whose table is surrounded by "olive branches," to "make one guinea do the work of two," acquiesced with the general entreaty, and it was decided that Oliver, at a fitting age, should be sent to the University.

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To prepare him for his altered destiny, he was removed first to a school at Athlone, and subsequently to one at Edgeworthstown in Longford his relatives contributing a trifle each to ease the extra burden thus cast upon the poor old rector of Kilkenny. A singular anecdote is related of Oliver's last journey to Edgeworthstown, previously to his entrance at college. Having left home on horseback, he reached Ardagh, where it was necessary for him to sleep, at night-fall. He had a guinea in his pocket, and was determined to enjoy himself. He asked for the best house in the place, and from a piece of Irish literal comprehension, or waggery, was directed to a private house instead of an inn. Goldsmith had no thought of a mistake, and, being readily admitted by the servants, who, from his confidence concluded that he was some well known friend and invited guest of their master, he gave directions concerning his horse, and being shewn into the parlour, found there the owner of the mansion at his fire-side-a Mr. Featherstone, a gentleman of fortune, and somewhat of a wit. Goldsmith began to call about him with authority, as one entitled to attention; and, his host having soon detected the youth's error, and being willing to enjoy an evening's amusement,

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