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ANECDOTES OF GOLDSMITH,

FROM

I. NORTHCOTE'S LIFE OF REYNOLDS.

II. CRADOCK'S MEMOIRS.

III. DAVIES'S LIFE OF GARRICK.

IV. BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON.

V. MISS HAWKINS'S ANECDOTES.
VI. COLMAN'S RANDOM RECORDS.
VII. CUMBERLAND'S MEMOIRS.
VIII. NORTHCOTE'S CONVERSATIONS.
IX. HAWKINS'S LIFE OF JOHNSON.

ANECDOTES OF GOLDSMITH.

NORTHCOTE'S LIFE OF REYNOLDS.

In the course of this year, Sir Joshua took another trip to Paris, from which he had scarcely returned when Mr. Bennet Langton renewed, in a very pressing manner, an invitation which he had given to him and Goldsmith to spend some part of the autumn with him and his lady, the Countess of Rothes, at their seat in Lincolnshire. With this obliging request, however, he was unable to comply; and Goldsmith, in a letter to Mr. Langton, declining the invitation on the part of both, says, Reynolds is just returned from Paris, and finds himself now in the case of a truant, that must make up for his idle time by diligence: we have therefore agreed to postpone our journey till next summer.'

In fact, at this period Sir Joshua may be said to have been at the zenith of his eminence, as we see him now employed in portraying the most illustrious personages in every different department, whilst his intimacy was sedulously sought after by all degrees of persons.

Much of the attention which even Goldsmith personally met with was undoubtedly owing to the patronage of his admired friend; yet Sir Joshua used to say that Goldsmith looked at or considered public notoriety or fame as one great parcel, to the whole of which he laid claim, and whoever partook of any part of it, whether dancer, singer, sleight-of-hand man, or tumbler, deprived him of his right, and drew off the attention of the world from himself, and which he was striving to gain.

Notwithstanding this, he lamented that whenever he entered into a mixed company, he struck a kind of awe on them, which

deprived him of the enjoyment and freedom of society, and which he then made it his endeavour to dispel by playing wanton and childish pranks in order to bring himself to the wished-for level.

It was very soon after my i.rst arrival in London, where every thing appeared new and wonderful to me, that I expressed to Sir Joshua my impatient curiosity to see Dr. Goldsmith, and he promised I should do so on the first opportunity. Soon afterwards Goldsmith came to dine with him, and immediately on my entering the room, Sir Joshua, with a designed abruptness, said to me, 'This is Dr. Goldsmith: pray, why did you wish to see him?' I was much confused by the suddenness of the question, and answered, in my hurry, Because he is a notable man.' This, in one sense of the word, was so very contrary to the character and conduct of Goldsmith, that Sir Joshua burst into a hearty laugh, and said that Goldsmith should in future always be called the notable man.

What I meant, however, to say was, that he was a man of note or eminence.

He appeared to me to be very unaffected and good-natured; but he was totally ignorant of the art of painting, and this he often confessed with much gaiety.

It has been often said of Goldsmith, that he was ever desirous of being the object of attention in all companies where he was present, which the following anecdote may serve to prove:

On a summer's excursion to the continent, he accompanied a lady and her two beautiful daughters into France and Flanders, and often expressed a little displeasure at perceiving that more attention was paid to them than to himself. On their entering a town, I think Antwerp, the populace surrounded the door of the hotel at which they alighted, and testified a desire to see those beautiful young women; and the ladies, willing to gratify them, came into a balcony at the front of the house, and Goldsmith with them; but perceiving that it was not himself who was the object of admiration, he presently withdrew, with evident signs of mortification, saying, as he went out, 'There are places where I am the object of admiration also.'

One day when Drs. Goldsmith and Johnson were at dinner with Sir Joshua, a poem, by a poet already alluded to, was presented to Sir Joshua, by his servant, from the author. Goldsmith immediately laid hold of it and began to read it, and at every line cut almost through the paper with his finger-nail, crying out,What d-d nonsense is this!' when Sir Joshua caught it out of his hands, saying, 'No, no, don't do so; you shall not spoil my book, neither;' for the Doctor could not bear to hear of another's fame.

Sir Joshua was always cautious to preserve an unblemished character, and careful not to make any man his enemy. I remember, when he was told of some very indiscreet speech or action of Goldsmith, he quickly said, 'What a fool he is thus to commit himself, when he has so much more cause to be careful of his reputation than I have of mine!' well recollecting that even the most trivial circumstance which tells against an eminent person will be remembered as well as those in his favour, and that the world watches those who are distinguished for their abilities with a jealous eye.

To Goldsmith, in particular, he was always attentive; a man of whom it has been not unaptly said, that his carelessness of conduct and frivolity of manners obscured the goodness of his heart. Mr. Cumberland, in his own Memoirs, has a passage peculiarly illustrative of this, where he says that 'Sir Joshua Reynolds was very good to him, and would have drilled him into better trim and order for society, if he would have been amenable; for Reynolds was a perfect gentleman, had good sense, great propriety, with all the social attributes, and all the graces of hospitality, equal to any man. He well knew how to appreciate men of talents, and how near akin the Muse of Poetry was to that art of which he was so eminent a master. From Goldsmith he caught the subject of his famous Ugolino: what aids he got from others, if he got any, were worthily bestowed and happily applied.'

Mr. Cumberland, however, is perhaps rather inaccurate in his assertion respecting the painting of Ugolino,' which was finished in this year (1773), and begun, not long before, as an historical subject.

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