The Works Of Oliver Goldsmith

by Oliver Goldsmith

Overview

This collection presents a comprehensive view of Oliver Goldsmith's shorter prose works, showcasing his wit, insight, and enduring literary talent. Included are the complete contents of "The Bee," a series of essays on various topics, alongside a selection of his other essays, prefaces, and introductions to various works.

Goldsmith's essays cover a wide range of subjects, from social commentary and literary criticism to observations on human nature and reflections on the arts. His writing is characterized by a graceful style, a keen eye for detail, and a gentle humor that has captivated readers for generations. This volume offers a valuable glimpse into the mind of one of the 18th century's most beloved authors, and is an essential resource for students and enthusiasts of English literature.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.

This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.

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Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781024856514
Publisher:	Hutson Street Press
Publication date:	05/22/2025
Pages:	470
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.95(d)

Read an Excerpt

THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD: A TALE. Sperate miseri, cavete feliccs. ['The Vicar of Wakefield' was first published on March the 27th, 1766. The second and third editions followed in the same year, and the sixth was issued in the year of the author's death, 1774. Up to 1792 the publishers had sent forth twenty-two editions ; and by that time several translations had also been published in France and Germany. For the story of the sale of the work to its first publisher, Francis Nevv- bery, by Dr. Johnson, when its author was under a species of arrest for debt by his landlady, see the' Life of Goldsmith,' ante, p. 20. Our text is mainly that of the fifth edition, which is the last Goldsmith might have revised. He seems, however, to have made very few alterations after the second edition. We give the chief variations of text in the early editions in our Appendix, p. 236. A passage in the ' Memoirs ' of Goldsmith's friend Cradock (1828, v. iv. p. 279), suggests that the real scene of the story of the ' Vicar of Wakeh'eld' was the neighbourhood of Wakefield, in Yorkshire, Goldsmith having been, so Cradock seems to assert, in that part of the country when the tale was written or finished. This passage, however, is very vague. We notice it further in the Appendix, p. 237, and in a note to the ' Letters' at the end of the present volume.Ed. An objection has been made to the latter part of the story, by the Edinburgh Review (art. on Standard Novels, Feb. 1815), viz. that it is " an almost entire plagiarism from Wilson's account of himself, and Adams's domestic history," in Fielding's ' Joseph Andrews.' This,however, is an idle charge. A similarity may indeed be traced in some of the incidents; and the character of the Vicar may have been suggested, indeed probably was, by that of ...