which he had made, of the course which he had taken, of the situation and riches of the countries which he had discovered, and of the colony that he had left there. Having wrapped up this in an oiled cloth, which he inclosed in a cake of wax, he put it into a cask carefully stopped up, and threw it into the sea, in hopes that some fortunate accident might preserve a deposit of so much importance to10 the world. At length Providence interposed11 to save a life reserved for other services. The wind abated 12, the sea became calm, and on the evening of the fifteenth, Columbus and his companions discovered land. They found it 18 to be St. Mary, one of the Azores.

Robertson.

9) in ein Wachstuch. 10) für. 11) legte sich ins Mittel. 12) refl. v. legte sich. 13) Sie fanden, daß es Sct. Marie war; s. Gram. L. 44, § 12.

10.

Life and writings of Oliver Goldsmith.

I.

Oliver Goldsmith was a native of Ireland, and was born on the 29th of November, 1728. Two villages claim the honour of having given him birth: Pallas, in the county of Longford; and Elphin, in the county of Roscommon. The former is named as the place in the epitaph by Dr. Johnson, inscribed on his monument in Westminster Abbey, but later investigations have decided in favour of Elphin.

He was the second son of the Rev. C. Goldsmith, a clergyman of the established church, but without any patrimony. He was equally distinguished for his literary attainments and for his benevolence. His family consisted of five sons and two daughters, and from this little world at home, Goldsmith has drawn many of his domestic scenes, both1 whimsical and1 touching; his father's fireside furnished many of the family scenes of the Vicar of Wakefield, and it is said that the learned simplicity and amiable peculiarities of that worthy divine have been happily illustrated in the character of Dr. Primrose. 1) both and, conj. sowohl als. 2) gezeichnet, geschildert.

After being instructed in the classics, to qualify him for the University, on the 11th of June 1744, Goldsmith, then fifteen years of age, was placed in Trinity College, Dublin, and was admitted to the degree of Master of Arts in February 1749. After various consultations respecting his future pursuits, it was at last determined that he should study physic, and accordingly he proceeded to Edinburgh in 1752, and there studied medicine under the professors of that university.

After he had attended some courses of lectures, it was thought advisable that he should complete his medical studies at the university of Leyden, then celebrated as a great medical school; and being from his benevolents disposition involved in difficulties, augmented by an engagement to pay a considerable sum for a fellow student, he was obliged to leave Scotland precipitately. In the beginning of 1754, he arrived at Leith, where he was arrested at the suit of a tailor in Edinburgh, to whom he had given security for his friend. By the good offices of Lachlan Maclane, esq.' and Dr. Sleigh, then in college, he was delivered out of the hands of the bailiff, and took his passage, on board a Dutch ship to Rotterdam, from whence, after a short stay, he proceeded to Leyden.

3) zu der Magisterwürde. 4) hielt man es für rathsam. 5) durch seine wohlwollende Gesinnung or Gutmüthigkeit. 6) auf die Klage. 7) Herrn, before the name. 8) auf einem holl. Schiff.

II.

His passion for travel, which had long lain dormant was now thoroughly awakened; he visited great part of Flanders, and after passing some time at Strasbourg and Louvain, where he took the degree of M. B., he accompanied an English gentleman to Berne and Geneva. He travelled on foot during the greatest part of his tour, having left England with very little money. Being capable of sustaining fatigue, and not easily terrified at danger he became enthuciastically fond of visiting different countries. He had some knowledge of French and of music, and played tolerably well on the German flute; 1) Reiselust, f. 2) als Baccalaureus der Medizin. OTTO, Translations into German.

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which, from an amusement, became at times the means of subsistence. His learning procured him a hospitable reception at most of the religious houses, and his music. made him welcome to the peasants of Flanders, and other parts of Germany. "Whenever I approached,' he said, "a peasant's house toward night-fall, I played one of my most merry tunes, and that procured me not only a lodging, but subsistence for the next day; but in truth, I must own, whenever I attempted to entertain persons of a higher rank, the always thought my performances odious, and never made any return for my endeavour to please them.

5

8

On his arrival at Geneva, he was recommended as a travelling tutor to a young man to whom a considerable sum of money had been left by his uncle, a pawnbroker near Holborn. During Goldsmith's continuance in Switzerland, he assiduously cultivated his poetical talents, of which he had given some proof while at the college of Edinburgh. It was from hence he sent the first sketch of his delightful poem, "The Traveller," to his brother, the clergyman in Ireland, who lived with an amiable wife on an income of only 40 L. a year. From Geneva, Goldsmith and his pupil visited the South of France, where the young man, upon some disagreement with his preceptor, paid him the small part of his salary which was due1o, and embarked at Marseilles for England.

Our wanderer was left once more on the world 11 at large. He set out from hence on foot, and in that manner travelled through various districts of France. He finally pursued his journey into Italy, visiting Venice, Verona, Florence, and other celebrated places. At Padua. where he staid six months, he is said to have taken a medical degree. In Italy Goldsmith found his talent for music almost useless, for every peasant was a better musician than himself; but his skill for disputation still served his purpose, and the religious etablishments were

12

3) zeitweise. 4) gegen Einbruch der Nacht. 5) mein Spiel, sing. 6) Genf. 7) Aufenthalt, m. 8) add: he was. 9) rou. 10) verfallen, fällig. 11) in der weiten Welt. 12) soll er sein Doctor-Examen gemacht haben.

equally hospitable. At length, his curiosity being fully gratified, he resolved to trace 13 his steps towards his native home. He returned through France, as the shorter route and as affording greater facilities to a pedestrian. He was lodged and entertained as formerly, sometimes at religious and learned establishments, and sometimes at the cottages of the peasantry 14, and thus, with [the] aid of his philosophy and his flute, he disputed 15 and piped his way homewards.

13) zu lenken. 14) der Bauern. 15) disputirte.

III.

He arrived at Dover in the beginning of the winter of 1756. His whole stock' of cash could not defray the expense of the ordinary conveyance, and neither flute. nor logic could help him to a supper or a bed. He however contrived to reach London in safety, where, to use his own words, he found himself "without friends, money, or impudence"; his mind, too, was filled with the gloomiest apprehensions. By the kind recommendation of Dr. Radcliffe, one of his tutors at Trinity College, he obtained a situation as assistant to a boarding-school or academy. But to a person of his temper and habits, this employment was peculiarly distasteful."

3

6

How long he remained in this situation, is not known, but he left it to take that of assistant to a chemist, near Fish-street hill. While here, he discovered that his old friend and fellow-student, Dr. Sleigh, was in London, and he soon found him out. By his advice and friendly assistance, Goldsmith commenced medical practitioner at Bankside, in Southwark, whence he afterwards removed to the Temple. His practice was not very productive; he was obliged to have recourse also to his pen, and thus, as he says, "with very little practice as a physician, and very little reputation as a poet, I made a shift to live."

A rapid change now took place in his circumstances, in consequence of the increased patronage of the book

8

1) Kaffen - Vorrath. 2) brachte es dahin. 3) Hilfslehrer an 4) einem Manne von. 5) zuwider. 6) als praktischer Arzt. 7) half ich mir durchs Leben, or brachte ich mich durch. 8) Theilnahme.

sellers. The late Mr. Newberry, who gave encouragement to men of literary abilities, became his patron, and introduced him as one of the writers in the Public Led

ger, in which his "Citizen of the World" originally appeared, under the title [of] Chinese Letters. At this time also he wrote occasionally for the British Magazine and Critical Review, conducted by Dr. Smollet, from which connexion Goldsmith is said to have derived important advantages. The liberal soul of Smollet made him the friend of every author in distress; and he warmly interested himself in Goldsmith's success. He not only recommended him to the patronage of the most eminent booksellers, but introduced him to the notice of the first literary characters; but the most remarkable in point of 10 eminence to whom he was introduced at this time, was Dr. Johnson, with whom he now regularly associated, either from similarity of dispositions or pursuits.

He now removed to Wine Office Court, in Fleetstreet, where he occupied genteel apartments, received visits of ceremony, and sometimes gave entertainments to his literary friends. But his improvidence and generosity soon produced embarrassments in his circumstances, notwithstanding the sums which he received for his writings, which ought to have more than sufficed to keep him out of debt: and we find him under arrest12 for his rent 13, just as he was finishing for the press his Vicar of Wakefield. In this dilemma he sent for his friend Johnson, who sold the work to Mr. Newberry for sixty pounds, and paid his landlady.

11

This price was certainly little for a work of such merit, but the author's name was not then well known to the public, and the purchaser took the whole risk on himself, by paying the money down. It was not till after the publication of his "Traveller," which met with great success, that Mr. Newberry ventured to put the "Vicar of Wakefield" to the press, and he then reaped

9) soll... gezogen haben. 10) in Hinsicht auf das Talent. 11) hätten sein sollen. 12) in Verhaft. 13) Miethzins, m. 14) to pay down, ausbezahlen.