1770. portrait, in memory of an original "almost forgot." The letter is directed to "Mr. Maurice Goldsmith, at James Et. 42. "Lawder's, Esq, at Kilmore, near Carrick-on-Shannon," and bears the date of "January 1770." 66 "DEAR BROTHER, I should have answered your letter sooner, but in "truth I am not fond of thinking of the necessities of those I love, "when it is so very little in my power to help them. I am sorry to “find you are still every way unprovided for; and what adds to my " uneasiness is, that I have received a letter from my sister Johnson,* “by which I learn that she is pretty much in the same circumstances. "As to myself, I believe I could get both you and my poor brother"in-law something like that which you desire, but I am determined never to ask for little things, nor exhaust any little interest I may "have until I can serve you, him, and myself more effectually. As "yet no opportunity has offered, but I believe you are pretty well 66 convinced, that I will not be remiss when it arrives. The king has lately been pleased to make me Professor of Ancient History in a "royal Academy of Painting, which he has just established, but there " is no salary annexed; and I took it rather as a compliment to the institution than any benefit to myself. Honours to one in my “situation are something like ruffles to a man that wants a shirt.† You "tell me that there are fourteen or fifteen pounds left me in the "hands of my cousin Lawder, and you ask me what I would have "done with them. My dear brother, I would by no means give any "directions to my dear worthy relations at Kilmore, how to dispose of money, which is, properly speaking, more theirs than mine. All that "I can say is, that I entirely, and this letter will serve to witness, give up any right and title to it; and I am sure they will dispose of it to "the best advantage. To them I entirely leave it, whether they or "you may think the whole necessary to fit you out, or whether our poor sister Johnson may not want the half, I leave entirely to their 66 and your discretion. The kindness of that good couple to our poor The "Jenny" of a former letter; see ante, i. 176. +He uses the same comparison in one of his essays, and again introduces it into the Haunch of Venison. Yet it belongs to Tom Brown, who in his Laconics (pointed out to me by Mr. Peter Cunningham) says that "to treat a poor wretch "with a bottle of Burgundy, or fill his snuff-box, is like giving a pair of lace ruffles, to a man that has never a shirt on his back. Put something into his "pocket.". (Works, Ed. 1709, iv. 14.) 1770. Æt. 42. 66 66 "shattered family, demands our sincerest gratitude, and though they "have almost forgot me, yet, if good things at last arrive, I hope one 66 day to return, and encrease their good humour by adding to my own. "I have sent my cousin Jenny a miniature picture of myself, as I "believe it is the most acceptable present I can offer. I have ordered "it to be left for her at George Faulkenor's, folded in a letter. The "face you well know, is ugly enough, but it is finely painted. I will 66 shortly also send my friends over the Shannon some mezzotinto prints of myself, and some more of my friends here, such as Burke, Johnson, Reynolds, and Colman. I believe I have written an hundred "letters to different friends in your country, and never received an 66 answer from any of them. I do not know how to account for this, or why they are unwilling to keep up for me these regards, which I must ever retain for them. If then you have a mind to oblige me, "you will write often whether I answer you or not. Let me particularly "have the news of our family and old acquaintances. For instance, you may begin by telling me about the family where you reside, how they spend their time, and whether they ever make mention of me. "Tell me about my mother, my brother Hodson, and his son; my "brother Harry's son and daughter, my sister Johnson, the family of 66 66 66 66 Ballyoughter, what is become of them, where they live, and how they "do. You talked of being my only brother, I don't understand you"Where is Charles? A sheet of paper occasionally filled with news "of this kind, would make me very happy, and would keep you nearer my mind. As it is, my dear brother, believe me to be yours, most affectionately, OLIVER GOLDSMITH.” * The writer's weakness is here, too, as of old. He believes he could get, for his poor, idle, thriftless petitioners, exactly what they want; though ruffles, minus the shirt, are the sum of his own acquisitions. But he will wait; and they must wait; and good things are sure to arrive; and they will one day be all in good humour again. The old, hopeful, sanguine, unreflecting story! Nevertheless, Maurice soon tired of waiting, as his wealthier relatives tired of helping him to * Percy Memoir, 86-89. To the original is annexed a receipt which shows that the sum of 151. was paid to Maurice Goldsmith for a legacy bequeathed to Oliver Goldsmith by the late Rev. Thomas Contarine. Dated 4th Feb. 1770. 1770. wait; and he is shortly afterwards discovered again complaining to his brother, that really he finds it difficult to live like Æt. 42. a gentleman. Oliver replies upon this in somewhat plainer fashion; recommending him by all means to quit the unprofitable calling, and betake himself to some handicraft employment, if no better can be found: whereupon Maurice bound himself to a cabinet-maker in Drumsna, in the county of Leitrim, in which calling, several years after his brother's death, he kept a shop in Dublin. Meanwhile Oliver's enquiry after brother-in-law Hodson's son, had the effect, soon after his letter reached Athlone, of bringing back to London a very unsettled, and somewhat eccentric youth: who had formerly visited Goldsmith, after abruptly quitting Dublin University, leaving at that time obscure traces of the extent to which his celebrated relative had befriended him; and who now, having chiefly occupied the interval in foreign travel, during which he had turned to account certain halffinished medical studies, lived for the most part in London, until his uncle Oliver's death, as a pensioner on his scanty resources. He resembled Oliver in some thoughtless peculiarities of character, and in his odd vicissitudes of good and evil fortune, for he once paid a small debt with an undrawn lottery ticket which turned out a prize of £20,000. During his residence in London, he practised occasionally, without any regular qualification, as an apothecary in Newman-street, but he ultimately ended his days as a prosperous Irish gentleman, farming a patrimonial estate. When Goldsmith died, half the unpaid bill he owed to Mr. William Filby, and which amounted in all to only £79, was for clothes supplied to this nephew Hodson. Yet it does not appear that the bill * His son, Oliver Goldsmith Hodson, when Dr. Annesley Strean was writing to Mr. Mangin from Athlone at the close of 1807, had inherited and was living "on an "estate of about 7001. a year, eight miles from this town." Mangin's Essay, 148. 1770. was paid by this very genuine young branch of the old Et. 42. careless, idle, improvident Goldsmith stock.* * I here give, from Mr. Filby's ledger, that account with the worthy citizen during the last three years of Goldsmith's life, which was the last ever delivered to him. The balance will be given hereafter, as it stood at the period of his death. (Of this, 50l. was paid the 5th April, and 60%. the 14th September, 1773, leaving a balance against Goldsmith of 481. 48. 6d.) CHAPTER VI. DINNER ENJOYMENTS AND CONVERSATIONS. 1770. IN Goldsmith's letter to his brother Maurice, it will have been observed that the writer's friends over the Shannon were told shortly to expect some mezzotinto prints of himself, and of such friends of his as Burke, Johnson, Reynolds, and Colman. The fact thus indicated has its proper biographical significance. The head of the author of the Traveller now figured in the print-shops. Reynolds had painted his portrait. "In poetry we may be said to have nothing new," says a letter-writer of the day; "but we have the mezzotinto "print of the new poet, Doctor Goldsmith, in the print-shop windows. It is in profile from a painting of Reynolds, "and resembles him greatly."*. The engraving was an admirable one, having been executed, under the eye of the great painter himself, by Guiseppe Marchi, his first pupil. The original, which Reynolds intended for himself, passed into the possession of the Duke of Dorset, and remains still at Knowle; but a copy also painted by Reynolds, and the only other portrait of Goldsmith known to have been touched by his pencil, was taken afterwards for Thrale, and ultimately John Gray to Smollett. Now Lord Amherst's. 1770. Æt. 42. |