The Poems of Oliver Goldsmith

The Poems of Oliver Goldsmith

Oliver Goldsmith, the fifth child of Charles and Ann Goldsmith, was born at Pallas, a hamlet of the parish of Forney, county of Longford, Ireland, November 10th, 1728. His father, the Preacher of the Deserted Village, having been presented to the Rectory of Kilkenny-West, about the year 1730, removed his family to Lissoy, the Auburn of the Poet. The modest mansion is a ruin, or, by this time, has quite disappeared. His first schoolmaster is described, by one who remembered him, as a man stern to view, in whose morning face the disasters of the day might be easily read. Goldsmith made small progress under the ferule of Paddy Burns, and, after being for some time a pupil in the diocesan school of Elphin, he was placed with a competent teacher at Athlone, where he remained two years. He was then transferred to the care of Mr. Hughes, vicar of Shruel, who treated him with kindness, and whom he always mentioned with respect and gratitude. His eldest sister has given a specimen of her brothers early and ready humour. A large company of young people had assembled in his uncles house, at Elphin, and Oliver, then nine years old, was desired to dance a hornpipe, under very unfavourable circumstances, for his figure was short and thick, and the marks of recent small-pox were still conspicuous. A young man, who played thex violin, compared him to sop dancing; but Oliver, stopping short in the performance, immediately disabled his satirist with a sharp epigram: On the 11th of June, 1745, he was admitted a Sizar of Trinity College, Dublina fact which denoted a considerable proficiency in classical learning; but he was unfortunate in his tutor, who deserved, and has won, the title of Savage; and, perhaps, the promise of Oliver was blighted by his severity. He neglected his studies, and was seen perpetually lounging about the college gates. We find him elected, June 15th, 1747, to an Exhibition, on the foundation of Erasmus Smith, obtaining a premium at the Christmas examination, and, after a delay of two years, taking his Bachelors degree, February 27th, 1750. His father died in 1747, but he found a second parent in the Rev Thomas Contarine, who was descended from a noble ancestry in Venice, and had been a contemporary and friend of Berkeley. The relatives of the poet now advised him to go into orders, and yielding to the persuasion of Mr. Contarine, he presented himself before the Bishop of Elphin, and was rejected. Tradition ascribes the failure to his uncanonical costume, and the episcopal dislike of scarlet breeches. His kind friends might now, as he afterwards wrote, be perfectly satisfied that he was undone; but they did not abandon him. He was enabled to proceed to Edinburgh, towards the end of 1752, where he attended the lectures of Monro and the other Medical Professors. Scotland did not please him. Shall I tire you, he wrote to a friend, with a description of this unfruitful country, where I must lead you over their hills all brown with heath, or their valleys scarcely able to feed a rabbit? Man alone seems to be the only creature who has arrived to the natural size in this poor soil. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 49723
Author: Goldsmith, Oliver
Release Date: Aug 17, 2015
Format: eBook
Language: English

Contributors

Editor: Willmott, Robert Aris, 1809-1863
Illustrator: Evans, Edmund, 1826-1905 , Humphreys, Henry Noel, 1810-1879