Burke, and Mr. Garrick; but, from some unaccountable circumstances, this design was dropred, and his remains were privately deposited in the Temple burial-ground.

"As to his character, it is strongly illustrated by Mr. Pope's line;

'In wit a man, simplicity a ehild.'

"The learned leisure he loved to enjoy was too often interrupted by distresses which arose from the openness of his temper, and which sometimes threw him into loud fits of passion; but this impetuosity was corrected at a moment's reflection; and his servants have been known, upon these occasions, purposely to throw themselves in his way, that they might profit by it immediately after; for he who had the good fortune to be reproved, was certain of being rewarded for it. His disappointments at other times made him peevish and sullen, and he has often left a party of convivial friends abruptly in the evening, in order to go home and brood over his misfortunes: a circumstance which contributed not a little to the increase of his malady.

"The universal esteem in which his poems are held, and the repeated pleasure they give in the perusal, is a striking test of their merit. He was a studious and correct observer of nature, happy in the selection of his images, in the choice of his subjects, and in the harmony of his versification; and, though his embarassed situation

prevented him from putting the last hand to many of his productions, his Hermit his Traveller, and his Deserted Village, bid fair to claim a place among the most finished pieces in the English language.

"The writer of these anecdotes cannot conclude without declaring, that, as different accounts have been given of this ingenious man, these are all founded upon facts, and collected by one who lived with him upon the most friendly footing for a great number of years, and who never felt any sorrow more sensibly than that which was occasioned by his death."

Let it be turned to what theme it will, the opinion of an elevated literary character will succeed best with the million. Let us hear what Dr. Johnson says of our author, in his life of Parnell.

"The Life of Dr. Parnell is a task which I should very willingly decline, since it has been lately written by Goldsmith, a man of such variety of powers, and such felicity of performance, that he always seemed to do best that which he was doing; a man who had the art of being minute without tediousness, and general without confusion; whose language was copious without exuberance, exact without constraint, and easy without weakness.

"What such an author has told, who would tell again? I have an abstract from his larger narrative; and shall have this gratification from

B

my attempt, that it gives me an opportunity of paying due tribute to the memory of departed genius."

The most interesting part of the account which Mr. Davies has given of our author, in his Life of Garrick, deserves the reader's attention. The latter part of it exhibits to mankind, feelings of the first quality in nature.

"EVERY thing of Goldsmith seems to bear the magical touch of an enchanter; no man took less pains, and yet produced so powerful an effects the great beauty of his composition consists in a clear, copious, and expressive style.

"Goldsmith was so sincere a man, that he could not conceal what was uppermost in his mind: so far from desiring to appear in the eye of the world to the best advautage, he took more pains to be esteemed worse than he was, than others do to appear better than they are.

"His disposition of mind was tender and compassionate; no unhappy person ever sued to him for relief, without obtaining it, if he had any thing to give; and, rather than not relieve the distressed, he would borrow. The poor woman, with whom he had lodged, during his obscurity, several years in Green-Arbour-Court, by his death lost an excellent friend; for the Doctor often supplied her with food from his table, and visited her frequently with the sole purpose to be kind to her. He had his dislike, as most men have, to particular people, but unmixed

with rancour. He, least of all mankind, approved Barretti's conversation; he considered him as an insolent, over-bearing foreigner; as Baretti, in his turn, thought him an unpolished man, and an absurd companion: but, when this unhappy Italian was charged with murder, and afterwards sent by Sir John Fielding to Newgate, Goldsmith opened his purse, and would have given him every shilling it contained; he, at the same time, insisted upon going in the coach with him to the place of his comfinement."

A handsome Monument was erected to his Memory, some time since, in Westminster-Abbey, in the Poet's corner, between Gay's and the Duke of Argyle's.