1,608. Oliver
Goldsmith
"Oliver Goldsmith: A Poet, Naturalist, and Historian, who left
scarcely any style of writing untouched, and touched nothing that
he did not adorn. Of all the passions, whether smiles were to
move or tears, a powerful yet gentle master. In genius, vivid,
versatile, sublime. In style, clear, elevated, elegant."
Johnson: Epitaph for Oliver Goldsmith. (The original is
in Latin.)
Link
1,609. Oliver Goldsmith
"Dr. Goldsmith is one of the first men we now have as an authour,
and he is a very worthy man too. He has been loose in his
principles, but he is coming right."
Boswell: Life of Johnson
Link
1,610. Oliver Goldsmith
On Goldsmith's Traveller: "There has not been so fine a
poem since Pope's time."
Boswell: Life of Johnson
Link
1,611. Oliver Goldsmith
"Goldsmith's 'Life of Parnell' is poor; not that it is poorly
written, but that he had poor materials; for nobody can write the
life of a man, but those who have eat and drunk and lived in
social intercourse with him."
Boswell: Life of Johnson
Link
1,612. Oliver Goldsmith
Of our friend Goldsmith, he said, "Sir, he is so much afraid of
being unnoticed, that he often talks merely lest you should
forget that he is in the company." BOSWELL. "Yes, he stands
forward." JOHNSON. "True, Sir; but if a man is to stand forward,
he should wish to do it not in an aukward posture, not in rags,
not so as that he shall only be exposed to ridicule." BOSWELL:
"For my part, I like very well to hear honest Goldsmith talk away
carelessly." JOHNSON: "Why yes, Sir. But he should not like to
hear himself."
Boswell: Life of Johnson
Link
1,613. Oliver Goldsmith
"The misfortune of Goldsmith in conversation is this: he goes on
without knowing how he is to get off. His genius is great, but
his knowledge is small. As they say of a generous man, it is a
pity he is not rich, we may say of Goldsmith, it is a pity he is
not knowing. He would not keep his knowledge to himself."
Boswell: Life of Johnson
Link
1,614. Oliver Goldsmith
On Saturday, April 3, the day after my arrival in London this
year, I went to his house late in the evening, and sat with Mrs.
Williams till he came home. I found in the London Chronicle, Dr.
Goldsmith's apology to the publick for beating Evans, a
bookseller, on account of a paragraph in a news-paper published
by him, which Goldsmith thought impertinent to him and to a lady
of his acquaintance. The apology was written so much in Dr.
Johnson's manner, that both Mrs. Williams and I supposed it to be
his; but when he came home, he soon undeceived us. When he said
to Mrs. Williams, "Well, Dr. Goldsmith's manifesto has got
into your paper;" I asked him if Dr. Goldsmith had written it,
with an air that made him see I suspected it was his, though
subscribed by Goldsmith. JOHNSON: "Sir, Dr. Goldsmith would no
more have asked me to write such a thing as that for him, than he
would have asked me to feed him with a spoon, or to do any thing
else that denoted his imbecility. I as much believe that he wrote
it, as if I had seen him do it. Sir, had he shewn it to any one
friend, he would not have been allowed to publish it. He has,
indeed, done it very well; but it is a foolish thing well done. I
suppose he has been so much elated with the success of his new
comedy, that he has thought every thing that concerned him must
be of importance to the publick." BOSWELL. "I fancy, Sir, this is
the first time that he has been engaged in such an adventure."
JOHNSON. "Why, Sir, I believe it is the first time he has
beat; he may have been beaten before. This, Sir,
is a new plume to him."
Boswell: Life of Johnson
Link
1,615. Oliver Goldsmith
I told [Johnson] that Goldsmith had said to me a few days before,
"As I take my shoes from the shoemaker, and my coat from the
taylor, so I take my religion from the priest." I regretted this
loose way of talking. JOHNSON. "Sir, he knows nothing; he has
made up his mind about nothing."
Boswell: Life of Johnson
Link
1,616. Oliver Goldsmith
"Goldsmith should not be for ever attempting to shine in
conversation: he has not temper for it, he is so much mortified
when he fails. Sir, a game of jokes is composed partly of skill,
partly of chance. A man may be beat at times by one who has not
the tenth part of his wit. Now Goldsmith's putting himself
against another, is like a man laying a hundred to one who cannot
spare the hundred. It is not worth a man's while. A man should
not lay a hundred to one, unless he can easily spare it, though
he has a hundred chances for him: he can get but a guinea, and he
may lose a hundred. Goldsmith is in this state. When he
contends, if he gets the better, it is a very little addition to
a man of his literary reputation: if he does not get the better,
he is miserably vexed."
Boswell: Life of Johnson
Link
1,617. Oliver Goldsmith
On She Stoops To Conquer: "I know of no comedy for many
years that has so much exhilarated an audience, that has answered
so much the great end of comedy — making an audience
merry."
Boswell: Life of Johnson
Link
1,618. Oliver Goldsmith
JOHNSON. "It is amazing how little Goldsmith knows. He seldom
comes where he is not more ignorant than any one else." SIR
JOSHUA REYNOLDS. "Yet there is no man whose company is more
liked." JOHNSON. "To be sure, Sir. When people find a man of the
most distinguished abilities as a writer, their inferiour while
he is with them, it must be highly gratifying to them. What
Goldsmith comically says of himself is very true,— he
always gets the better when he argues alone; meaning, that he is
master of a subject in his study, and can write well upon it; but
when he comes into company, grows confused, and unable to talk.
Take him as a poet, his Traveller is a very fine
performance; ay, and so is his Deserted Village, were it
not sometimes too much the echo of his Traveller. Whether,
indeed, we take him as a poet,—as a comick writer,—or
as an historian, he stands in the first class." BOSWELL. "An
historian! My dear Sir, you surely will not rank his compilation
of the Roman History with the works of other historians of this
age?" JOHNSON. "Why, who are before him?" BOSWELL.
"Hume,—Robertson, or the foppery of Dalrymple." BOSWELL.
"Will you not admit the superiority of Robertson, in whose
History we find such penetration—such painting?" JOHNSON.
"Sir, you must consider how that penetration and that painting
are employed. It is not history, it is imagination. He who
describes what he never saw, draws from fancy. Robertson paints
minds as Sir Joshua paints faces in a history-piece: he imagines
an heroick countenance. You must look upon Robertson's work as
romance, and try it by that standard. History it is not.
Besides, Sir, it is the great excellence of a writer to put into
his book as much as his book will hold. Goldsmith has done this
in his History. Now Robertson might have put twice as much into
his book. Robertson is like a man who has packed gold in wool:
the wool takes up more room than the gold. No, Sir; I always
thought Robertson would be crushed by his own weight,—would
be buried under his own ornaments. Goldsmith tells you shortly
all you want to know: Robertson detains you a great deal too
long. No man will read Robertson's cumbrous detail a second time;
but Goldsmith's plain narrative will please again and again. I
would say to Robertson what an old tutor of a college said to one
of his pupils: 'Read over your compositions, and where ever you
meet with a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike
it out.' Goldsmith's abridgement is better than that of Lucius
Florus or Eutropius; and I will venture to say, that if you
compare him with Vertot, in the same places of the Roman
History, you will find that he excels Vertot. Sir, he has the art
of compiling, and of saying every thing he has to say in a
pleasing manner. He is now writing a Natural History and will
make it as entertaining as a Persian Tale."
Boswell: Life of Johnson
Link
1,619. Oliver Goldsmith
In our way to the club to-night, when I regretted that Goldsmith
would, upon every occasion, endeavour to shine, by which he often
exposed himself, Mr. Langton observed, that he was not like
Addison, who was content with the fame of his writings, and did
not aim also at excellency in conversation, for which he found
himself unfit; and that he said to a lady, who complained of his
having talked little in company, "Madam, I have but ninepence in
ready money, but I can draw for a thousand pounds." I observed,
that Goldsmith had a great deal of gold in his cabinet, but, not
content with that, was always taking out his purse. JOHNSON.
"Yes, Sir, and that so often an empty purse!"
Boswell: Life of Johnson
Link
1,620. Oliver Goldsmith
Upon another occasion, when Goldsmith confessed himself to be of
an envious disposition, I contended with Johnson that we ought
not to be angry with him, he was so candid in owning it. "Nay,
Sir, (said Johnson,) we must be angry that a man has such a
superabundance of an odious quality, that he cannot keep it
within his own breast, but it boils over.'"
Boswell: Life of Johnson
Link
1,621. Oliver Goldsmith
I told him that our friend Goldsmith had said to me, that he had
come too late into the world, for that Pope and other poets had
taken up the places in the Temple of Fame; so that as but a few
at any period can possess poetical reputation, a man of genius
can now hardly acquire it. JOHNSON. "That is one of the most
sensible things I have ever heard of Goldsmith. It is difficult
to get literary fame, and it is every day growing more
difficult."
Boswell: Life of Johnson
Link
1,622. Oliver Goldsmith
"Goldsmith referred every thing to vanity; his virtues, and his
vices too, were from that motive. He was not a social man. He
never exchanged mind with you."
Boswell: Life of Johnson
Link
1,623. Oliver Goldsmith
"Goldsmith was a plant that flowered late. There appeared nothing
remarkable about him when he was young; though when he had got
high in fame, one of his friends began to recollect something of
his being distinguished at College. Goldsmith in the same manner
recollected more of that friend's early years, as he grew a
greater man."
Boswell: Life of Johnson
Link
1,624. Oliver Goldsmith
"[Goldsmith] He was not an agreeable companion, for he talked
always for fame. A man who does so never can be pleasing."
Boswell: Life of Johnson
Link
1,625. Oliver Goldsmith
"Nay, Sir, the partiality of his friends was all against him. It
was with difficulty we could give him a hearing. Goldsmith had
no settled notions upon any subject; so he talked always at
random. It seemed to be his intention to blurt out whatever was
in his mind, and see what would become of it. He was angry too,
when catched in an absurdity; but it did not prevent him from
falling into another the next minute."
Boswell: Life of Johnson
Link
1,626. Oliver Goldsmith
"Goldsmith, however, was a man, who, whatever he wrote, did it
better than any other man could do. He deserved a place in
Westminster-Abbey, and every year he lived, would have deserved
it better. He had, indeed, been at no pains to fill his mind with
knowledge. He transplanted it from one place to another; and it
did not settle in his mind; so he could not tell what was in his
own books."
Boswell: Life of Johnson
Link
1,627. Envy; Oliver Goldsmith
Talking of Goldsmith, Johnson said, he was very envious. I
defended him, by observing that he owned it frankly upon all
occasions. JOHNSON. 'Sir, you are enforcing the charge. He had so
much envy, that he could not conceal it. He was so full of it
that he overflowed. He talked of it to be sure often enough. Now,
Sir, what a man avows, he is not ashamed to think; though many a
man thinks, what he is ashamed to avow. We are all envious
naturally; but by checking envy, we get the better of it. So we
are all thieves naturally; a child always tries to get at what it
wants, the nearest way; by good instruction and good habits this
is cured, till a man has not even an inclination to seize what is
another's; has no struggle with himself about it."
Boswell: Life of Johnson
Link
1,628. Oliver Goldsmith
Goldsmith had long a visionary project, that some time or other
when his circumstances should be easier, he would go to Aleppo,
in order to acquire a knowledge as far as might be, of any arts
peculiar to the East, and introduce them into Britain. When this
was talked of in Dr. Johnson's company, he said, "Of all men
Goldsmith is the most unfit to go out upon such an inquiry; for
he is utterly ignorant of such arts as we already possess, and
consequently could not know what would be accessions to our
present stock of mechanical knowledge. Sir, he would bring home a
grinding-barrow, which you see in every street in London, and
think that he had furnished a wonderful improvement."
Boswell: Life of Johnson (Anecdote from Bennett
Langton)
Link
1,629. Oliver Goldsmith
"No man was more foolish when he had not a pen in his hand, or
more wise when he had."
Boswell: Life of Johnson
Link
1,630. Oliver Goldsmith
On Goldsmith as a candidate to write Johnson's biography: "The
dog would write it best to be sure, replied he; but his
particular malice towards me, and general disregard for truth,
would make the book useless to all, and injurious to my
character."
Johnson (Piozzi: Anecdotes)
Link
