related in Otridge's splendid edition of his works, and confirmed to me by the late Sir Thomas Fetherston, Baronet, a short time before his death. Some friend had given the young Poet a present of a guinea on his going from his mother's residence in this town, to a school in Edgeworthstown, where, it appears, he finished his education, of which he received the rudiments from the reverend Mr Hughes, vicar of this parish. He had diverted himself on the way the whole day, by viewing the gentlemen's seats on the road, until the fall of night, when he found himself a mile or two out of his direct road, in the middle of the street of Ardagh. Here he inquired for the best house in the place, meaning an inn; but being wilfully misunderstood by a wag, a fencing-master, of the name of Kelly, who boasted of having been the instructor of the celebrated Marquis of Granby, he was directed to the large old-fashioned residence of Sir Ralph Fetherston, the landlord of the town, where he was shewn into the parlour, when he found the hospitable master of the house sitting by a good fire. His mistake was immediately perceived by Sir Ralph, who being a man of humour, and well acquainted with the Poet's family, encouraged him in the deception. Goldsmith ordered a good supper, invited his host and the family to partake of it, treated them with a bottle or two of wine, and at going to bed, ordered a hot cake to be prepared for his breakfast; nor was it till his departure, when he called for the bill, that he discovered that while he imagined he was at an inn, he had been hospitably entertained in a private family of the first rank in the country.

"It was originally intended, gentlemen, to hold this first anniversary of the birth of our Poet in Dublin, where, at this season of the year, we might hope for an attendance far more numerous than under any circumstances could be hoped for here; but it occurred to some of us, bound by ties whose force the Poet felt, that in this neighbourhood, if not in this very spot, directly opposite to the house in which he dwelt for many a year with his widowed mother, the proceedings ought to commence, which will, we hope, lead to the erection of some testimonial equally worthy of his memory and the spirit of a county which claims the honour of his birth.

"The necessity of our being among the first to carry so just and so patriotic an undertaking into effect, may be readily proved. I need not inform you, gentlemen, that the natal spot of Goldsmith, as well as that of Homer, is in some danger of being disputed by posterity. Such has been the blundering stupidity of several of the early editors of our Poet's works, in the biographical scraps which they prefixed to them, that one of them tells us he was born at Elphin, in the county of Roscommon, merely because he had many relations in that neighbourhood, and among them his cousin-german, the grandfather of my venerable friend here, John Goldsmith, of Ballyoughter, Esq.; and in the very same page almost, gives us his epitaph, written by Dr Johnson, directly contradicting that allegation in these words, which are inscribed on his monument in Westminster Abbey:

Natus in Hibernia Forniæ Longfordiensis
In loco cui nomen Pallas.

"Another biographer, worthy to be classed among the early editors of Shakespeare, gives the original words of this epitaph, and translates them thus in a parallel column, transferring the birth-place of the Poet

into the county of Wexford, He was born at Fernes, in the province of Leinster, at a place where Pallas had set her name. An unlucky mistake respecting the natal spot of our Poet, occurs also on the books of Trinity College, owing to the residence of his uncle Henry at Lishoy, or the circumstance of his father having resided there; the entry runs thus: 1744, Olivarius Goldsmith, Siz. Filius Caroli Clerici, ann. agens 15, natus in Comitatu Westmeath, educatus sub Ferula M. Hughes-Tutor, M. Wilder.' But, notwithstanding these very contradictory statements, we may give full credit to the united testimony of many respectable persons, including some of the nearest relations of the Poet, but lately gone to their graves, that Oliver Goldsmith, who has been, in the same spirit of error, so often denominated a Doctor, was born within a mile and a half of Ballymahon, on the southern bank of the river Inny, at Pallas, in the parish of Cloncalla, commonly called Forney. The walls of the house are yet standing; the roof fell in but two years ago; it is distinctly visible from the canal between this and Tenelick, and in it, perhaps, rather than on any other spot, even his beloved mount before Lishoy gate,' should his monumental pillar be erected. The name of the townland in which this interesting ruin stands is spelled Pallice in our barony books; but those who can feel the charm of classic allusion under such a temptation, will readily pardon the great Antæus of literature, the author of the Dictionary of the English Language, for having once in his lifetime spelled a word erroneously. This evidence, gentlemen, I consider to be conclusive; for Dr Johnson cannot be supposed to have known that such obscure places as Pallice or Forney existed, except from the lips of the Poet himself, who was on the most intimate terms of friendship with him.

"If we, in Ballymahon, have, on this occasion, dwelt with too much minuteness upon this disputed point, our best apology is, that the contending for the honour of the birth-place of such an ornament to his country, is a pardonable ambition; and it will be recollected, too, in favour of our claim, as well as in apology for our maintenance of it, that one of the wishes dearest to the poet's heart, when unable to return to the place of his nativity, was, that his brother and his sister, Lissoy and Ballymahon, would altogether make a migration to him into the county of Middlesex.

"We have now, gentlemen, only to read some of the many interesting letters addressed to us on this occasion, and afterwards proceed to the consideration of the most practicable means of accomplishing the object of our meeting. Our undertaking is an honourable one, but we should recollect in limine, that the success of it depends upon causes entirely beyond our control. It is, as it were, a touchstone of the times we live in; if it succeeds, the statesman and the philosopher may augur favourably of the rising intelligence and prosperity of our island - if not, the very effort will stand in record on the pages of our history, to protect this generation, at least, from the Bœotian imputation of insensibility to the honour which devolves upon our country, for having produced such a man. As for him, to use the language of one of his earliest admirers,

His own harmonious lays
Have sculptured out his monument of praise:
These shall survive to Time's remotest day,
While pillars fall, and marble tombs decay."

EXTRACTS OF LETTERS READ AT THE MEETING.

From Mr, now Sir Walter Scott, dated in April, 1818, observing that the neglect of the birth-place of Goldsmith is rather discreditable to the country which derives so much honour from his birth.

From a gentleman present at the meeting, whose exertions, on this occasion, received the unanimous thanks of those assembled at it, John Hogan of Auburn, Esq.

"Circumstances led me, in the early part of my life, to the knowledge of part of Goldsmith's family, and to the acquaintance of his nephew, Mr William Hudson, whose beautiful elegy on the death of several members of his family, including the Poet, bears the strongest marks of hereditary genius, and the lost stanza of which I make no doubt of being able to recover. You may suppose I became interested in every thing bolonging to the Poet. When I settled on the spot, I attempted to replace some of the almost forgotten identities that delighted me forty years since. I rebuilt his Three Jolly Pigeons,' restored his Twelve Good Rules, and Royal Game of Goose,' enclosed his 'Hawthorn Tree,' now almost cut away by the devotion of the literary pilgrims who resort to it; I also planted his favourite hill before Lissoy gate that spot which presented to his eye the most agreeable horizon in nature; and, had not family affairs led me to reside in England for some years, I should have done a great deal more to gratify myself, and to point out the localities of the charming scene of the Deserted Village.

"Some years past, a gentleman named Newell, a fellow of Cambridge, came over here on a literary tour, and sketched these scenes alluded to in the poem, with great truth and spirit. On his return to England, he published an edition of Goldsmith's Poems in thin quarto, embellished by those views, and enriched by copious notes on the Deserted Village, proving the scenery of Lissoy to have been uppermost in the poet's mind, while composing it. He meant to have followed this up, by soliciting subscriptions for some public testimonial to the memory of Goldsmith, on the spot of the Deserted Village, and even on that mount before Lissoy gate, which he mentioned with so much enthusiasm in one of his letters; but Mr Newell died before he could accomplish his wish."

Several other letters were read to the meeting.

John Hogan, Esq. being called to the chair, - it was resolved, that a committee and secretary should be appointed, for the purpose of managing the concerns of this undertaking: and it was also resolved, that Lord Viscount Newcomen and Company be requested to receive the subscriptions.

INDEX.