Dalziels' Illustrated Goldsmith ... With one hundred pictures drawn by G. J. Pinwell, engraved by the brothers Dalziel

Front matter

DALZIELS' ILLUSTRATED GOLDSMITH : COMPRISING THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD THE TEAYELLEE EETALIATION THE DESEETED VILLAGE THE HAUNCH OF YENISON THE CAPTIVITY: An Oratorio MISCELLANEOUS POEMS THE GOOD-NATTJEED MAN SHE STOOPS TO CONQITEB AND A SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF OLIVER GOLDSMITH, By H. W. DULCKEN, Ph.D. WITH ONE HUNDRED PICTURES DKAWN BY G. J. P I N W E L L, ENGEAVED BY THE BEOTHEES DALZIEL. LONDON: WAED AND LOCK, 158, FLEET STEEET. MDCCCLXV. CONTENTS. PAGE A SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF OLIVER GOLDSMITH . . VI1 THE YICAR OF WAKEFIELD . . . . . ** THE TRAVELLER . . . . * .175 THE DESERTED VILLAGE ..... 189 THE HAUNCH OF VENISON . . . • .202 THE CAPTIVITY .....* -**05 RETALIATION . ..... '-12 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS .... * 225 THE GOOD-NATURED MAN ..... . . 26t SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER . • • 321 -IS A SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF OLIVER GOLDSMITH.

The middle of the last century was an evil time, in England, for literature and for literary men. The period was eminently one of transition • and transition periods are always times of trial to all whose interests they affect. The old system passes away, bearing with it those who cling to it ; the new system requires time until it is in Avorking order, and those who depend upon its advent for their subsistence are sorely harassed while the turmoil lasts. Thus it was with literature at the time when Goldsmith began to write. The age in which literary men depended upon patrons had passed away. No more snug government berths, no more secretaryships, as in the time of Addison and Prior and Steele — and the time when the public was to support literature had not yet come. Thus the author was compelled either to depend entirely on the booksellers, or to sell his pen, in true hireling fashion, to the government of the day, or to the opposition, and to scribble approval or invective at his master's dictation.

Happily for his own fame, happily for English literature, the author of the "Vicar of Wakefield " chose the former alternative. Oliver Goldsmith was born at Pallas, or Pallasmore, county Longford, Ireland, on the 10th of November, 1728. He was one of a numerous family, of whom he alone attained celebrity. His father, the Rev. Charles Goldsmith, a clergyman of the Established Church, Avas in very poor circumstances at the time of the birth of his famous son ; but little Oliver was only two years old when the sunshine of prosperity descended upon his house, Avith what must have appeared to the inmates quite a blaze of noonday splendour. The small income of forty pounds a-year, upon which the Rev. Charles Goldsmith had managed painfully and penuriously to struggle on with his family, was suddenly increased to two hundred, when the rectory of Kilkenny-west was obtained by that fortunate divine ; and the Goldsmiths removed to Lissoy, near Athlone.

Chapter I

The description os the family of Wahefield, in which a kindred likeness prevails as well of minds as of persons I was ever of opinion that the honest man, who married and brought up a large family, did more service than he avIio continued single, and only talked of population. From this motive, I had scarcely taken orders a year, before I 1 B The Vicar os Wahefield. 2 bewail to think seriously of matrimony, and chose my wife, as she did her wedding gown, not for a fine glossy surface, but such qualities as would wear well. To do her justice, she was a good-natured, notable woman ; and as for breeding, there Avere feAv country ladies who could shoAV more. She could read any English book Avithout much spelling ; but for pickling, preserving, and cookery, none could excel her. She prided herself also upon being an excellent contriver in housekeeping, though I could never find that we grew richer with all her contrivances..

However, we loved each other tenderly, and our fondness increased as avc greAv old. There Avas, in fact, nothing that could make us angry with the world or each other. We had an elegant house, situated in a fine country and a good neighbourhood. The year Avas spent in moral or rural amusement ; in visiting our rich neighbours, and relieving such as were poor. We had no revolutions to fear, nor fatigues to undergo; all our adventures Avere by the fireside, and all our migrations from the blue bed to the brown . As we lived near the road, we often had the traveller or stranger visit us to taste our gooseberry-wine, for which we had great reputation ; and I profess, with the veracity of an historian, that I never knew one of them find fault with it. Our cousins too, even to the fortieth remove, all remembered their affinity, without any help from the heralds' office, and came very frequently to see us.

Some of them did us no great honour by these claims of kindred ; as we had the blind, the maimed, and the halt amongst the number. However, my wife always insisted that, as they were the same flesh and blood, they should sit with us at the same table : so that if we had not very rich, we generally had very happy friends about us ; for this remark will hold good through life, that the poorer the guest the better pleased he ever is with being treated ; and as some men gaze with admiration at the colours of a tulip, or the wing of a butterfly, so i was by nature an admirer of happy human faces. However, when any one of our relations was found to be a person of a very bad character, a troublesome guest, or one we desired to get rid of, upon his leaving my house I ever took care to lend him a riding-coat, or a pair of boots, or sometimes a horse of small value, and I always had the satisfaction of finding he never came back to return them.

By this the house was cleared of such as we did not like ; but never was the family of Wakefield known to turn the traveller or the poor dependent out of doors. Thus we lived several years in a state of much happiness ; not but that we sometimes had those little rubs whigh-Bumdence sends to enhance the value The Hear os Wahefield. 3 of its favours. My orchard Avas often robbed by school-boys, and my wife's custards plundered by the cats or the children. The squire would sometimes fall asleep in the most pathetic parts of my sermon, or his lady return my Aviso's civilities at church with a mutilated curtsey. But we soon got over the uneasiness caused by such accidents, and usually in three or four days began to wonder how they vexed us. My children, the offspring of temperance, as they were educated Avithout softness, so they were at once Avell-formed and healthy ; my sons hardy and active, my daughters beautiful and blooming.

When I stood in the midst of the little circle, Avhich promised to be the support of my declining age, I could not avoid repeating the famous story of Count Abensberg, avIio, in Henry the Second's progress through Germany, while other courtiers came with their treasures, brought his thirty-two children, and presented them to his sovereign as the most valuable offering he had to bestoAV. In this manner, though I had but six, I considered them as a very valuable present made to my country, and consequently looked upon it as my debtor. Our eldest son was named George, after his uncle, who left us ten thousand pounds. Our second child, a girl, I intended to call after her aunt Grissel; but my AA'ife, who during her pregnancy had been reading romances, insisted upon her being called Olivia. In less than another year Ave had another daughter, and now I was determined that Grissel should be her name ; but a rich relation taking a fancy to stand godmother, the" girl was by her directions called Sophia ; so that we had tAvo romantic names in the family ; but I solemnly protest I had no hand in it.

Moses was our next, and after an interval of twelve years we had two sons more. It Avould be fruitless to deny my exultation when I saw my little ones about me ; but the vanity and the satisfaction of my Avife were even greater than mine. When our visitors would say, "Well, upon my word, Mrs. Primrose, you have the finest children in the whole country ;" — " Ay, neighbour," she would answer, " they are as heaven made them — handsome enough, if they be good enough; for handsome is that handsome does." And then she would bid the girls hold up their heads ; who, to conceal nothing, were certainly very handsome. Mere outside is so very trifling a circumstance with me, that I should scarcely have remembered to mention it, had it not been a general topic of conversation in the country. Olivia, noAV about eighteen, had that luxuriancy of beauty with which painters generally draw Hebe: open, sprightly, and commanding.

Sophia's features Avere not so striking at The Hear of Wahefield. 4 first, but often did more certain execution ; for they were soft, modest, and alluring. The one vanquished by a single blow, the other by efforts succes sively repeated. The temper of a Avoman is generally formed from the turn of her features ; at least it was so with my daughters. Olivia Avished for many lovers ; Sophia Olk'ia ana Sophia. to secure one. Olivia was often affected, from too great a desire to please ■ Sophia even repressed excellence, from her fear to offend. The one enter tained me with her vivacity when 1 was gay, the other with her sense when I was serious. But these qualities were never carried to excess in either, and "And having got it copied fair, with an elegant fra?ne, it was placed over the chimney-piece" 1 have often seen them exchange characters for a whole day together.

A suit of mourning has transformed my coquette into a prude, and a new set of ribands has given her younger sister more than natural vivacity. My eldest son, George, was bred at Oxford, as I intended him for one of the learned professions. My second boy, Moses, whom I designed for business, received a sort of miscellaneous education at home. But it is needless to attempt describing the particular characters of young people that had seen but very little of the Avorld. In short, a family likeness prevailed through all ; and, properly speaking, they had but one character — that of being all equally generous, credulous, simple, and inoffensive.

Chapter II

Family misfortunes. — The loss of fortune only serves to increase the pride of the worthy. The temporal concerns of our family Avere chiefly committed to my Avife's management; as to the spiritual, I took them entirely under my own direction. The profits of my living, Avhich amounted to about thirty-five pounds a year, I made over to the orphans and widows of the clergy of our diocese ; for, having a sufficient fortune of my own, I was careless of temporalities, and felt a secret pleasure in doing my duty Avithout reward. I also set a resolution of keeping no curate, and of being acquainted with every man in the parish, exhorting the married men to temperance, and the bachelors to matrimony ; so that in a feAv years it was a common saying, that there were three strange Avants at Wakefield — a parson Avanting pride, young men Avanting Avives, and alehouses Avanting customers.

Matrimony Avas ahvays one of my favourite topics, and I Avrote several sermons to prove its happiness ; but there was a peculiar tenet which I made a point of support ng : for I maintained, Avith Whiston, that it Avas unlawful for a priest of the Church of England, after the death of his first Avife, to take a second : or, to express it in one word, I valued myself upon being a strict monogamist. I Avas early initiated into this important dispute, on which so many laborious volumes have been Avritten. I published some tracts upon, the subject myself, which, as they never sold, I have the consolation of thinking were read only by the happy few. Some of my friends called this my weak side ; but, alas ! they had not, like me, made it the subject of long contem plation. The more I reflected upon it, the more important it appeared.

I even went a step beyond Whist on in displaying my principles: as he had engraven upon his Avifc's tomb that she Avas the only wife of William Winston ; so I wrote a similar epitaph for my wife, though still living, in Avhich I extolled her prudence, economy, and obedience till death ; and, having got it copied fair, with an elegant frame, it was placed over the chimney-piece, Avhere it ansAvered several very useful purposes. It admonished my wife of her -duty to me and my fidelity to her ; it inspired her with a passion for fame, and constantly put her in mind of her end. It Avas thus, perhaps, from hearing marriage so often recommended, that my eldest son, just upon leaving college, fixed his affections upon the daughter of a neighbouring clergyman, who Avas a dignitary in the church, and in circumstances to give her a large fortune ; but fortune Avas her smallest accomplishment.

Miss Arabella Wilmot Avas allowed by all (except my tAvo daughters) to be completely pretty. Her youth, health, and innocence were still heightened by a complexion so transparent, and. such a happy sensibility of look, as even age could not gaze on with indifference. As Mr. Wilmot kneAv that I could make a very handsome settlement on my son, he Avas not averse to the match ; so both families lived together in all that harmony Avhich generally precedes an expected alliance. Being convinced, by experience, that the days of courtship are the most happy of our lives, I Avas willing enough to lengthen the period ; and the various amusements which the young couple every day shared in each other's company seemed to increase their passion. We Avere generally aAvakened in the morning by music, and on fine clays rode a-hunting.

The hours betAveen breakfast and dinner the ladies devoted to dress and study : they usually read a page, aud then gazed at themselves in the glass, AA*hich even philosophers might oavii often presented the page of greatest beauty. At dinner my AArife took the lead ; for, as she ahvays insisted upon carving everything herself, it being her mother's way, she gave us, upon these occasions, the history of every dish. When we had dined, to pre\*ent the ladies leaving us I generally ordered the table to be removed ; and sometimes, with the music-master's assistance, the girls Avould give us a very agreeable concert. Walking out, drinking tea, country dances, and forfeits shortened the rest of the day, Avithout the assistance of cards, as I hated all manner of gaming, except backgammon, at AA*hich my old friend and I some times took a twopenny hit.

Nor can I here pass over an ominous circum stance that happened the last time we played together : I only wanted to fling a quatre, and yet I threAv deuce-ace five times running. Some months were elapsed in this manner, till at last it was thought convenient to fix a day for the nuptials of the young couple, who seemed earnestly to desire it. During the preparations for the Avedding, 1 need not describe the busy importance of my wife, nor the sly looks of my daughters : in fact my attention was fixed on another object — the completing a tract which I intended shortly to publish in defence of my favourite principle. As I looked upon this as a masterpiece, both for argument and style, I could not in the pride of my heart avoid showing it to my old friend Mr. Wilmot, as I made no doubt of receiving his approbation : but not till too late I discovered that he was violently attached to the contrary opinion, and with good reason ; for he was at that time actually courting a fourth Avife.

This, as may be expected, produced a dispute attended with some acrimony, which threatened to interrupt our intended alliance ; but, on the day before that appointed for the ceremony, A\*e agreed to discuss the subject at large. It Avas managed with .proper spirit on both sides: he asserted that I Avas heterodox; I retorted the charge; he replied, and I rejoined. In the mean time, while the controversy Avas hottest, I was called out by one of my relations, who, with a face of concern, advised me to give up the dispute, at least till my son's Avedding Avas over. " Hoav !" cried I, " relinquish the cause of truth, and let him be a husband, already driven to the very verge of absurdity ? You might as Avell advise me to give up my fortune as my argument." " Your fortune," returned my friend, " I am now sorry to inform you, is almost nothing.

The merchant in town in whose hands your money was lodged, has gone off, to avoid a statute of bankruptcy, and is thought not to have left a shilling in the pound. I was 'unwilling to shock you or the family with the account till after the Avedding ; but now it may serve to moderate your warmth in the argument ; for I suppose your own prudence will enforce the necessity of dissembling, at least till your son has the young lady's fortune secure." " Well," returned I, " if what you tell me be true, and if I am to be a beggar, it shall never make me a rascal, or induce me to disavow my principles. I'll go this moment and inform the company of my circumstances ! and as for the argument, I even here retract my former concessions in the old gentleman's favour, nor will I alloAv him iioav to be a husband in any sense of the expression."

It Avould be useless to describe the different sensations of both families, when I divulged the news of our misfortune ; but what others felt Avas slight to what the. lovers appeared to endure. Mr. Wilmot, avIio seemed before " And take this book too, it will be your comfort on the way? sufficiently inclined to break off the match, Avas by this blow soon determined one virtue he had in perfection, Avhich Avas prudence — too often the only one that is left us at seventy-two. •> c

Chapter III

A migration. — The fortunate circumstances of our lives are generally found at last to be os our own procuring. The only hope of our family iioav Avas, that the report of our misfortune might be malicious or premature : but a letter from my agent in toAvn soon came with a confirmation of every particular. The loss of fortune to myself alone Avould have been trifling : the only uneasiness I felt Avas for my family, avIio Avere to be humbled, without an education to render them callous to contempt. Near a fortnight had passed before I attempted to restrain their affliction ; for premature consolation is but the remembrancer of sorrow. During this interval, my thoughts Avere employed on some future means of supporting them ; and at last a small cure of fifteen pounds a year Avas offered me in a distant neighbourhood, where I could still enjoy my principles Avithout molesta tion.

AVith this proposal I joyfully closed, having determined to increase my salary by managing a little farm. Having taken this resolution, my next care was to get together the Avrecks of my fortune ; and, all debts collected and paid, out of fourteen thousand pounds Ave had but four hundred remaining. My chief attention, therefore, was noAV to bring down the pride of my family to their circumstances ; for I Avell knew that aspiring beggary is Avretchedness itself. " You cannot be ignorant, my children," cried I, " that no prudence of ours could have prevented our late misfortune ; but prudence may do much in disappointing its effects. We are iioav poor, my fondlings, and Avisdom bids us to conform to our humble situation. Let us, then, Avithout repining, give up those ■splendours Avith AA'hich numbers are Avretched, and seek, in humbler circumstances, that peace with which all may be happy.

The poor live pleasantly without our help ; Avhy then should not Ave learn to live Avithout theirs ? No, my children, let us from this moment give up all pretensions to gentility ; Ave have still enough left for happiness if Ave are Avise, and let us draw upon content for the deficiencies of fortune." As my eldest son Avas bred a scholar, I determined to send him to toAA*n, where his abilities might contribute to our support and his own. The The J "tear of JVakefield. 11 separation of friends and families is, perhaps, one of the most distressful circumstances attendant on penury. The day soon arrived on which Ave were to disperse for the first time. My son, after taking leave of his mother and the rest, who mingled their tears with their kisses, came to ask a blessing from me. This I gave him from my heart, and which, added to five guineas, was all the patrimony I had uoav to bestow.

" You are going, my boy," cried I, " to London on foot, in the manner Hooker, your great ancestor, travelled there before you. Take from me the same horse that Avas given him by the good Bishop JeAvel, this staff; and take this book too — it -will be your comfort on the Avay ; these tAvo lines in it are worth a million — I have been young, and now am old; yet never saw I the righteous man forsaken, nor his seed begging their bread. Let this be your consolation as you travel on. Go, my boy; Avhatever be thy fortune, let me see thee once a year; still keep a good heart, and fareAvell." As he Avas possessed of integrity and honour, 1 Avas under no apprehensions from throAving him naked into the amphitheatre of life ; for I knew he Avould act a good part, Avhether vanquished or victorious. His departure only prepared the way for our oavii, Avhich arrived a few days afterwards.

The leaving a neighbourhood in which Ave had enjoyed so many hours of tranquillity was not without a tear, which scarcely fortitude itself could suppress. Besides, a journey of seventy miles, to a family that had hitherto never been above ten from home, filled us with apprehension ; and the cries of the poor, aa'Iio folloAA'ed us for some miles, contributed to increase it. The first day's journey brought us in safety within thirty miles of our future retreat, and Ave put up for the night at an obscure inn in a village by the Avay. When we were shown a room, I desired the landlord, in my usual way, to let us have his company, with Avhich he complied, as what he drank would increase the bill next morning. He kneAv, hoAvever, the Avhole neighbourhood to which I Avas removing, particularly Squire Thornhill, avIio was to be my landlord, and Avho lived Avithin a feAV miles of the place.

This gentleman he described as one avIio desired to knoAV little more of the world than its pleasures, being particularly remarkable for his attachment to the fair sex. He observed, that no virtue was able to resist his arts and assiduity, and that there was scarcely a farmer's daughter Avithin ten miles round but Avhat had found him successful and faithless. Though this account gave me some pain, it had a very different effect upon my daughters, whose features seemed to brighten with the expecta^ tion of an approaching triumph ; nor was my Avife less pleased and confident of their allurements and virtue. While our thoughts were thus employed, the Wakes eld. 12 hostess entered the room to inform her husband that the strange gentleman, Avho had been two days in the house, wanted money, and could not satisfy them for his reckoning.

" Want money !" replied the host, " that must be impossible ; for it was no later than yesterday he paid three guineas to our beadle to spare an old broken soldier that was to be whipped through the town for dog-stealing." The hostess, hoAvever, still persisting in her first assertion, he was preparing to leave the room, swearing that he would be satisfied one way or another, Avhen I begged the landlord Avould introduce me to a stranger of so much charity as he described. With this he complied, shoAving in a gentleman avIio seemed to be about thirty, dressed in clothes that once were laced. His person Avas Avell-formed, and his face marked with the lines of thinking. He had something short and dry in his address, and seemed not to understand ceremony, or to despise it. Upon the landlord's leaving the room, I could not avoid expressing my concern to the stranger at seeing a gentleman in such circumstances, and offered him my purse to satisfy the present demand.

" I take it with all my heart, sir," replied he, " and am glad that a late oversight, in giving what money I had about me, has shown me that there are still some men like you. I must, however, previously entreat being informed of the name and residence of my benefactor, in order to repay him as soon as possible." In this I satisfied him fully, not only mentioning my name and late misfortune, but the place to Avhich I Avas going to remove. " This," cried he, " happens still more luckily than I hoped for, as 1 am going the same way myself, having been detained here tAvo days by the floods, which I hope, by to-morrow, will be found passable." I testified the pleasure I should have in his company, and my wife and daughters joining in entreaty, he AA*as prevailed upon to stay supper. The stranger's conversation, which was at once pleasing and instructive, induced me to Avish for a continuance of it ; but it was now high time to retire and take refreshment against the fatigues of the folloAving day.

The next morning we all set forward together : my family on horseback, Avhile Mr. Burchell, our neAV companion, walked along the foot-path by the road-side, observing, Avith a smile, that as Ave were ill mounted he would be too generous to attempt leaving us behind. As the floods were not yet subsided, we were obliged to hire a guide, Avho trotted on before, Mr. Burchell and I bringing up the rear. We lightened the fatigues of the road with philosophical disputes, Avhich he seemed to understand perfectly. But Avhat surprised me most was, that though he was a money-borrower, he defended his opinions Avith as much obstinacy as if he had been my patron. He iioav and then also informed me to Avhom the different seats belonged that lay in our view as we travelled the road. " That," cried he, pointing to a very magnificent house AA-hich stood at some distance, " belongs to Mr. Thornhill, a young gentleman who enjoys a large fortune, though entirely dependent on the will of his uncle, Sir William Thornhill, a gentleman who, content with a little himself, permits his nephew to enjoy the rest, and chiefly resides in town."

" What !" cried I, "My wife and daughters joining in entreaty, he was prevailed upon to stay supper." " is my young landlord then the nephew of a man whose virtues, generosity, and singularities are so universally knoAvn ? I have heard Sir William Thornhill represented as one of the most generous, yet whimsical men in the kingdom; a man of consummate benevolence." "Something, perhaps, too much so," replied Mr. Burchell ; " at least, he carried benevolence to an excess when young, for his passions Avere then strong, and as they were all upon the side of virtue, they led it up to a romantic extreme. He early began to aim at the qualifications of the soldier and the scholar ; was soon distinguished in the army, and had some reputation among men of learning. Adulation ever folloAvs the ambitious ; for such alone receive most pleasure from flattery.

" He Avas surrounded with crowds, who shoAved him only one side of their character ; so that he began to lose a regard for private interest in universal sympathy. He loved all mankind ; for fortune prevented him from knoAving that there were rascals. Physicians tell us of a disorder in Avhich the Avhole body is so exquisitely sensible, that the slightest touch gives pain : what some have thus suffered in their persons, this gentleman felt in his mind. The slightest distress, whether real or fictitious, touched him to the quick, and his soul laboured under a sickly sensibility of the miseries of others. Thus disposed to relieve, it Avill be easily conjectured he found numbers disposed to solicit : his profusion began to impair his fortune, but not his good-nature ; that, indeed, Avas seen to increase as the other seemed to decay ; he gre\v impro vident as he greAV poor ; and though he talked like a man of sense, his actions Avere those of a fool.