Oliver Goldsmith

Oliver Goldsmith, subtitled A Biography, is by Washington Irving. The contents list names, among others, Birth and Parentage, Scenes of Boyhood, Goldsmith at the University and Goldsmith rejected by the Bishop. The text says that before he was eight years old Goldsmith had contracted a habit of scribbling verses on small scraps of paper, which, in a little while, he would throw into the fire. The text says Byrne was of a romantic vein, and exceedingly superstitious, and deeply versed in the fairy superstitions which abound in Ireland.

The text says someone promised to furnish a prologue, which became an object of great solicitude with Goldsmith, knowing the weight an introduction from the Great Cham of literature would have with the public. The text says Johnson was in the habit of visiting the royal library at the Queen's (Buckingham) House and was surprised there by the entrance of the king (George III.), then a young man. A quoted recollection says the speaker had ordered from the tavern some fish, a roasted joint of lamb, and a tart.