Imágenes de página
PDF
ePub
[ocr errors]

fufficient price when it was fold" as he informed Mr. Boswell d), for then the fame of Goldsmith had not been elevated, as it afterwards was by his Traveller; and the bookfeller hat fo faint hopes of profit by his bargain, that he kept the manuscript by him a long time and did not publifh it till after The Traveller had appeared. Then to be fure, it was accidentally worth more money".

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

In 1765, he publifhed The Traveller; or a profpect of Society, 4to, of which Dr. Johnson said,,,There has not been so fine a poem fince Pope's e) time. Part of his poem, as he fays in his dedication to his brother, the Rev. Henry Goldfmith, was formerly written to him from Switzerland, and contained about two hundred lines. The manufcript lay by him fome years without any determined idea of publifhing, till perfuaded to it by Dr. Johnson, who gave him fome general hints towards enlarging it; and in particular, as Mr. Boswell informs furnished line 240,

us,

To stop too fearful, and too faint to go.

and the concluding ten lines, except the last couplet but one.

The lifted ax, the agonizing wheel,

Luke's iron crown, and Damien's bed of steel f).

d) Boswell, Verfasser einer Biographie des Dr. Johnson und verfchiedener anderer Schriften.

e) f. Kap. 15. S. 103.

f) . die Erläuterung diefer Stelle in dem diefer Ausgabe beigefügen Gedichte, S. 288.

This poem established his reputation among the bookfellers, and introduced him to the acquaintance of several men of rank and abilities, Lord Nugent, Mr. Burke g), Sir Joshua Reynolds h), Dr. Nugent i), Topham Beauclerc k), Mr. Dyer etc., who took pleasure in his converfation, and by turns laughed at his blunders 1), and admired the fimplicity of the man, and the elegance of his poetical talents.

The fame year he published a collection of Effays, which had been printed in the

g) Burke, ein, Irländer, geb. 1730, geft. 1795, zeichnete fich als Parliamentsredner vorzüglich aus.

ปิด

h) Ueber Joshua Reynolds f. die Anmerkung zu dem Gedichte the Deferted Village, fo wie über den Titel Sir das, was in einer Anmerkung zum dritten Kap. des Vicar, S. 23, 24 gefagt worden ist.

i) Dr. Nugent, vorzüglich als Verfaffer einer Franzöfifch-Englifchen Sprachlehre bekannt.

k) Topham Beauclerc, ein fehr geistreicher Mann feiner Zeit. Er tödtete fich felbft.

1) „Ein blunder (fagt Küttner, in feinen Beiträgen über Irland, S. 211.) ist eine Uebereilung, eine Verwirrung, eine Etourderie, durch die fich einer lächerlich macht, indem er ohne Ueberlegung Spricht oder handelt, Dinge zusammensetzt, die nicht zufammen gehören, Zeiten, Perfonen n. S. w. mit einander verwechselt. Ein bull ist jedes Gefagte, in dem ein Satz den andern widerlegt oder unmöglich macht." Die Irländer stehen bei den Engländern in dem Ruf, fich viele folche bulls and blunders zu Schulden kommen zu laffen. Eine vor kurzem erfchienene Schrift: Effay on Irifch Bulls by Richard Lovell Edgeworth and Maria Edgeworth etc. London, Johnson 1802. 8. (5. Sh.) enthält viele dergleichen Irländische blunders, aber auch viele, welche fich Engländer, und zum Theil die vorzüglichsten Köpfe unter ihnen, zu Schulden kommen liessen.

newspapers, magazines, and other periodical publications.

He now made his appearance in a profes fional manner in a fcarlet great coat, buttoned clofe under the chin, a phyfical wig m) and cane as was the fashion of the times, and declined vifiting many of thofe public places, which formerly were fo convenient to him in point of expence, and which contributed fo much to his amusement. In truth", faid he, ,,one facrifies fomething for the fake of good company; for here I am shut out of feveral places where I used to play the fool very agreeably."

In 1766, the Vicar of Wakefield appeared, and completely established his literary reputation.

Soon after the publication of The Traveller, he removed from Wine Office Court to the Library Staircase, Inner Temple n), and at the fame time to a country houfe, in conjunc

[ocr errors]

m) a phyfical wig, d. i. eine sehr grosse Perücke, wie fie fonft die Englischen Aerzte zu tragen pflegten.

n) Temple ist der Name mehrerer grosser, bei dem Thore Templebar belegener Häufer, die ehemals den Tempelherren gehörten. Nachdem letztere auch in England aufgehoben worden waren, kam der Temple in London an die Johanniterritter, welche ihn an die Studenten der Rechtsgelehrfamkeit vermietheten, denen er auch noch gehört Diefe formiren zwei Collegien, darin die Studenten für ein gewiffes Geld studieren und freien Gebrauch der Bibliothek haben. In unfrer Stelle ift unter Library Staircase wahrscheinlich der Theil diefer Gebäude gemeint, in welchem die Bibliothek ift.) Der Tempel besteht übrigens aus zwei Höfen, dem innern (Inner-Temple) und dem mittlern (Middle - Temple); die darin befindlichen Wohnungen find an ver. fchiedene Perfonen vermiethet.

tion with Mr. Bot, an intimate literary friend, on the Edgware Road o), at the back of Cannons P). This place he jocularly called the Shoemaker's Paradife, being originally built, in a fantastic tafte, by one of the craft.

Here he wrote his Hiftory of England, in a series of letters from a nobleman to his fon, 2 vols. 12mo, a work generally attributed to Lyttelton 4) and, which is rather fingular, never contradicted either directly by that nobleman or any of his friends. This book had a very rapid fale, and continues to be esteemed one of the most useful introductions of that fort to the ftudy of our history.

His manner of compiling this history is thus defcribed by an intelligent writer, who lived in the clofest habits of intimacy with him for the laft ten years of his life in the ,,European Magazine ) for 1793.

„He first read in a morning from Hume $),

o) Edgware oder Edgworth, ein Marktflecken bei London. p) Cannons, ein Ort bei London.

q) Lyttleton, geb. 1709, gest. 1773, am bekanntesten durch feine Dialogues of the Dead und eine Hiftory of Henry the fecond.

r) European Magazine, Titel einer periodifchen Schrift. $) Hume, ein bekannter Englischer Philosoph und GeSchichtfchreiber, geb. 1711, geft. 1776. Eine Hauptausgabe feines hiftorischen Werks ift die, welche London 1778 in 8 Vol. in 8. unter dem Titel erfchien: History of England from the invafion of Julius Caefar to the Revolution in 1688 by David Hume, Efq. a new edition with the author's laft corrections and improvements, to which is prefixed a fhort account of his life, written by himself.

Rapin t), and fometimes Kennet u), as much as he defigned for one letter, marking down the paffages referred to on a fheet of paper, with remarks. He then rode or walked out with a friend or two, whom he had conftantly with him, returned to dinner, fpent the day generally convivially, without much drinking (which he never was in the habit of); and when he went up to bed, took up his books and papers with him, where he generally wrote the chapter, or the best part of it, before he went to reft. This latter exercife coft him very little trouble, he faid; for, having all his materials ready for him; he wrote it with as much facility as a cominon letter."

وو

Of all his compilations," he used to say, his,,Selection of English Poetry," fhowed more, the art of profeffion." Here he did nothing but mark the particular paffages with a red lead pencil, and for this he got two hundred pounds x); but then he used to add,,,a man fhows his judgment in these felections, and he may be often twenty years of his life in cultivating that judgment.

[ocr errors]

In 1768 he brought on the stage at Covent Garden y) his Good-natured Man, a co

t) Rapin de Thoyras (Paul), geb. zu Caftres 1661, geft. 1725, ein Gefchichtschreiber. Sein Hauptwerk ift die Hiftoire Angleterre.

u) Kennet, geft. 1714, Verfasser eines Werks über die Römifchen Alterthümer; auch hat man von ihm Biographien der Griechischen Dichter.

x) pound, f. Kap. 1. S. 7.

y) Covent Garden. Die beiden Haupttheater in London find das in Drury Lane und in Covent Garden;

« AnteriorContinuar »