1769. Hume he had never read, because of his infidelity; but Robertson, he protested, might have put twice as much into Et.41. his book as he had done, whereas Goldsmith had put into his as much as the book would hold. This, he affirmed, was the great art for the man who tells the world shortly what it wants to know, will, with his plain full narrative, please again and again; while the more cumbrous writer, still interposing himself before what you wish to know, is crushed with his own weight, and buried under his own ornaments. "Goldsmith's abridgement," he added, " 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 everything "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." 66 66 For this Natural History the first agreement dates as early as the close of February in the present year, five years before it was completed and published. It is made between Griffin and Goldsmith: and stipulates that the history is to be in eight volumes, each containing " from twenty-five to twenty"seven sheets of pica print;" that for each, a hundred guineas are to be paid on its delivery in manuscript; that 66 "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. Gold"smith 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 whenever you meet with a passage which you think is “particularly fine, strike it out.'" Boswell, iii. 280-1. 466 VOL. II. N 1769. Et. 41. 66 66 for this consideration the author is to make over all his right and title to, and in, the copy; that "Doctor Goldsmith is to "set about the work immediately, and to finish the whole as soon as he conveniently can;" and that (this is put as a rider to the agreement, with fresh signatures) “if the work "makes less than eight volumes the Doctor is to be paid in proportion." Soon after the memorandum thus drawn up the book was begun, but it was worked at in occasional intervals only for, when the first month's sale of the Roman History had established its success, Davies tempted him with an offer of five hundred pounds for a History of England in four volumes, to be "written and compiled in the space of "two years" from the date of the agreement, but not to be paid for till delivered, and the printer had given his opinion that the quantity of matter stipulated for was complete; * The agreement, dated 13th of June 1769, is printed in the Percy Memoir, 78, with the particular mention that both this, and a subsequent one, also with Davies, for abridgment of the Roman History, "were drawn up by Dr. Goldsmith himself." This fact induces me to subjoin them, if only to preserve such examples of his business-style! The first runs thus: "MEMORANDUM. Russel-street, Covent"Garden. It is agreed between Oliver Goldsmith, M.B. on the one hand, and "Thomas Davies, bookseller, of Russel-street, Covent-Garden, on the other, that "Oliver Goldsmith shall write for Thomas Davies, an History of England, from the "birth of the British Empire, to the death of George the Second, in four volumes, "octavo, of the size and the letter of the Roman History, written by Oliver Gold"smith. The said History of England shall be written and compiled in the space "of two years from the date hereof. And when the said history is written and "delivered in manuscript, the printer giving his opinion that the quantity above "mentioned is completed, that then Oliver Goldsmith shall be paid by Thomas "Davies, the sum of five hundred pounds sterling, for having written and compiled "the same. It is agreed also, that Oliver Goldsmith shall print his name to the "said work. In witness whereof we have set our names this thirteenth of June, "1769. OLIVER GOLDSMITH. THOMAS DAVIES." For the abridged History, the subjoined was the prepared "MEMORANDUM. September 15, 1770. It is agreed "between Oliver Goldsmith, M. B. and Thomas Davies, of Covent-Garden, book"seller, that Oliver Goldsmith shall abridge for Thomas Davies the book entitled "Goldsmith's Roman History in two volumes 8vo into one volume in 12mo, so as "to fit it for the use of such as will not be at the expence of that in 8vo. For the "abridging of the said history and for putting his name thereto, said Thomas "Davies shall pay Oliver Goldsmith fifty guineas, to be paid him on the abridgment 1769. and this later labour superseded that of the earlier contract. There is no reason to believe that any money Et. 41. was advanced on the English History; and the preservation of the specific agreement enables us to test the truth of one of Miss Hawkins's most delicate anecdotes. She says that soon after Goldsmith had contracted with the booksellers for this particular compilation, for which he was to be paid five hundred guineas, he went to Mr. Cadell and told him he was in imminent danger of being arrested; that Cadell immediately called a meeting of the proprietors, and prevailed on them to advance him a considerable part of the sum, which, by the original agreement, he was not entitled to till after a twelvemonth from the publication of his work; and that, on a day which Mr. Cadell had named for giving the needy author an answer, Goldsmith came and received the money, under pretence of instantly satisfying his creditors; whereupon Cadell, to discover the truth of his pretext, watched whither he went, and after following him to Hyde-park-corner, saw him get into a postchaise, " in which a woman of the town was waiting for him, and with "whom, it afterwards appeared, he went to Bath to dissipate "what he had thus fraudulently obtained."* It has been seen that Cadell had nothing to do with the matter; and it may be presumed that the good-natured lady's other facts rest on as slender a foundation.t On her authority, if it be received at all, must also be received another anecdote which is meant for a companionpiece to the sketch of dissipation just given. On one of his country excursions in that kind of company, the lady tells us, "and delivery of the copy: as witness our hands. OLIVER GOLDSMITH. THOMAS + Cadell became subsequently the owner of a part of this copyright, as the assignee of Davies; but the fact does not vitiate the argument in the text. 1769. Æt. 41. Goldsmith happened to stop at an inn on the road, where he found an old portrait hanging up in the parlour, which seemed to him so admirably painted, that he suspected it at once to be a Vandyke, and resolved to become possessed of it if he could. He summoned the mistress of the house, asked her if she set any value on that oldfashioned picture, and, finding that she was wholly a stranger to its worth, told her it bore really such a great resemblance to his dear aunt Salisbury (picking up on the instant Mrs. Thrale's maiden name), that if she would sell it cheap he would buy it. A bargain was struck, a price infinitely below the value was paid, Goldsmith carried away the picture with him, and, adds the amiable relater of the story (who alleges for it, I should remark, the authority of Mr. Langton), "had the satisfaction to find that by this "scandalous trick he had indeed procured a genuine and "very saleable painting of Vandyke's."* It is hardly worth while to remark, of the incident thus narrated, that, even if its main facts were true (which, if we are to believe Northcote's evidence as to Goldsmith's utter ignorance of painting, backed by his own, in the dedication of the Deserted Village, they could hardly have been), it takes its character and colour from the animus of the narrator; and that if the mere purchase of a picture at a price greatly below its worth must be held to involve a scandalous trick,-for as to the romance about his aunt Salisbury, it is not credible for a moment, a very long list indeed of extremely scandalous tricksters might be named, from Swift+ upwards and downwards, on whom much * Memoirs, i. 295. "I was to-day at an auction of pictures with Pratt, and laid out two pounds "five shillings for a picture of Titian, and if it were a Titian it would be worth **twice as many pounds. (!) If I am cheated, I'll part with it to Lord Masham; if it be a bargain, I'll keep it to myself. That's my conscience." Journal to Stella, Works, iii. 126. 66 66 hitherto hoarded indignation should straightway be poured. It is to be feared, therefore, that the dissipation-piece is on the whole to be regarded as the more characteristic of the two. Indeed it would be idle to deny the charge of dissipation altogether. It is clear that with the present year he passed into habits of needless expense; used the influence of a popularity which was never higher than now, to obtain means for their thoughtless indulgence; and involved himself in the responsibilities which at last overwhelmed him. He exchanged his simple habits, says Cooke, for those of the great; he commenced quite a man of lettered ease and consequence; he was obliged to run into debt; " and his 'debts rendered him at times so melancholy and dejected, that I am sure he felt himself a very unhappy man."* One of these sad involvements occurred in the autumn; when, it is supposed, being pressed for some portion of the loan expended on his chambers, he exacted from Griffin an advance of five hundred guineas for the first five volumes of the Natural History, which the bookseller was obliged to make up by disposing of half a share to another bookseller (Mr. Nourse), and which Goldsmith had wholly expended before half-a-dozen chapters were written. For he had laid the subject aside to go on with his English History; though not unwarned of the unpopularity the latter might involve him in, so mad was the excitement of the time. Would he be a Hume or a Mrs. Macauley? He would be neither, he said ; he objected equally to both. Yet the old habits remained. "I have heard Sir Joshua remark of him, in "times of his greatest distress, he was often obliged to supplicate a friend for the "loan of ten pounds for his immediate relief; yet if by accident a distressed "petitioner told him a piteous tale, nay, if a subscription for any folly was proposed "to him, he, without any thought of his own poverty, would, with an air of generosity, freely bestow on the person who solicited for it, the very loan he had "himself but just before obtained." Northcote's Life of Reynolds, i. 288. 66 1769. Æt. 41. |