Oliver Goldsmith, (Bell's miniature series of great writers)
Book Details
Author(s)E. S. Lang Buckland
PublisherG. Bell & sons
ISBN / ASINB0006AFOSW
ISBN-13978B0006AFOS4
MarketplaceUnited Kingdom 🇬🇧
Description
Formatted for Kindle.
Linked Contents and footnotes.
Illustrations.
CONTENTS
I. "The Best Beloved of English Writers"
II. "The Deserted Village"
III. "The Traveller"
IV. London
V. "The Citizen of the World"
VI. The Literary Club
VII. Debts and Dignities
VIII. Consummate Comedy
IX. The Poet and the Essayist
X. The Light of Love
List of the Works of Oliver Goldsmith
Some Works of Reference
Excerpt:
Sir Walter Scott writes: "The wreath of Goldsmith is unsullied; he wrote to exalt virtue and expose vice; and he accomplished his task in a manner that raises him to the highest rank among British authors. We close his volumes with a sigh that such an author should have written so little from the stores of his own genius, and that he should have been so prematurely removed from the sphere of literature which he adorned." Johnson writes: "The Life of Dr. Parnell is a task which I should very willingly decline, since it has been lately written by Goldsmith—a man of such variety of powers, and such felicity of performance, that he always seemed to do best that which he was doing. What such an author has told, who would wish to tell again?" The same generous soul exclaimed: "Is there a man, sir, now, who can pen an essay with such ease and elegance as Goldsmith?" All can see how true this is when they compare Goldsmith's style with that of his contemporaries—that hostile essay, for example, published from Richardson's firm, in which, time after time, sneers must cease and praise prevail, despite the intention to decry. If reluctant laudation is most sincere, then Boswell himself said of Goldsmith that there was nothing that he touched that he did not adorn. Goldsmith adorned, but not with mere polish or veneer.
Linked Contents and footnotes.
Illustrations.
CONTENTS
I. "The Best Beloved of English Writers"
II. "The Deserted Village"
III. "The Traveller"
IV. London
V. "The Citizen of the World"
VI. The Literary Club
VII. Debts and Dignities
VIII. Consummate Comedy
IX. The Poet and the Essayist
X. The Light of Love
List of the Works of Oliver Goldsmith
Some Works of Reference
Excerpt:
Sir Walter Scott writes: "The wreath of Goldsmith is unsullied; he wrote to exalt virtue and expose vice; and he accomplished his task in a manner that raises him to the highest rank among British authors. We close his volumes with a sigh that such an author should have written so little from the stores of his own genius, and that he should have been so prematurely removed from the sphere of literature which he adorned." Johnson writes: "The Life of Dr. Parnell is a task which I should very willingly decline, since it has been lately written by Goldsmith—a man of such variety of powers, and such felicity of performance, that he always seemed to do best that which he was doing. What such an author has told, who would wish to tell again?" The same generous soul exclaimed: "Is there a man, sir, now, who can pen an essay with such ease and elegance as Goldsmith?" All can see how true this is when they compare Goldsmith's style with that of his contemporaries—that hostile essay, for example, published from Richardson's firm, in which, time after time, sneers must cease and praise prevail, despite the intention to decry. If reluctant laudation is most sincere, then Boswell himself said of Goldsmith that there was nothing that he touched that he did not adorn. Goldsmith adorned, but not with mere polish or veneer.
