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Article ANECDOTES OF DR. GOLDSMITH. ← Page 6 of 6
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Anecdotes Of Dr. Goldsmith.
when he went up to bed took up his books and paper with h . ' m , where he generally wrote the chapter , or the best part of it , before he went to rest . This latter exercise cost him very little trouble , he said ; for having all his materials ready for him , he wrote it with as much facility as a common letter . But of all his compilationshe used to s his Selections of
^ , ay , " English Poetry" shewed more " the art of profession . " Here he did nothing but mark the particular passages with a red lead pencil , and for this he got two hundred pounds—but then he used to add , " a man shews his judgment in these selections , and he may be often twenty years of his life cultivating that judgment . In 176 S , he brought out , "The Good Natured Man , " a Comed which h evidentl
y , , thoug y written by a scholar and a man of observation , did not please equal to its merits . Nothing shews the prevalence of fashion in literary matters more than the want of success in this comed y . Sentimental writing had then got possession of the stage , and nothing but morality and sententious writing lifted upon stilts , could meet the vitiated taste of the audience ; in vain did the fine writing and yet finer actino- of Croaker ( a character in the play ) , engage the applause of the °
judicious few—in vain did the bailiff' scene mark with true comic discrimination the manners of that tribe , with the elegant and embarrassed feelings of the benevolent man . The predominant cry of the prejudiced and illiterate part of the pit was , " it was low it was d—mn'd . wulgar , & c . " and this barbarous judgment had very nearly damned this comedy the very first ni ght , but for the unexertions of the Author
common ' s friends , in whom were included all the judges and amateurs of dramatic excellence . It is even doubtful whether these would have beehrsufficientto save the play , was it not for Croaker ' s admirable reading of the incendiary letter in the . fourth act . To be composed at so trul y comic an exhibition , . " must have exceeded all power of face ; " even the riid moral of the it
g -mongers pforgot their usual severi ty on this occasion , and their nature , truer than their judgments , joined in the full-toned roar of approbation . Goldsmith himself was so charmed with this performance of Shuter ' s , that he followed him into the green-room after the play was over , and thanked him in his honest , sincere manner , before all the performers ; telling him "he had exceeded his own idea of the character , and that the fine comic richness of his colouring made it almost appear as new to him as to any . other person in the house . "
The Doctor followed up this compliment with a more solid one , by giving him ten guineas for his benefit ticket the same season , { To be continued . ' }
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Anecdotes Of Dr. Goldsmith.
when he went up to bed took up his books and paper with h . ' m , where he generally wrote the chapter , or the best part of it , before he went to rest . This latter exercise cost him very little trouble , he said ; for having all his materials ready for him , he wrote it with as much facility as a common letter . But of all his compilationshe used to s his Selections of
^ , ay , " English Poetry" shewed more " the art of profession . " Here he did nothing but mark the particular passages with a red lead pencil , and for this he got two hundred pounds—but then he used to add , " a man shews his judgment in these selections , and he may be often twenty years of his life cultivating that judgment . In 176 S , he brought out , "The Good Natured Man , " a Comed which h evidentl
y , , thoug y written by a scholar and a man of observation , did not please equal to its merits . Nothing shews the prevalence of fashion in literary matters more than the want of success in this comed y . Sentimental writing had then got possession of the stage , and nothing but morality and sententious writing lifted upon stilts , could meet the vitiated taste of the audience ; in vain did the fine writing and yet finer actino- of Croaker ( a character in the play ) , engage the applause of the °
judicious few—in vain did the bailiff' scene mark with true comic discrimination the manners of that tribe , with the elegant and embarrassed feelings of the benevolent man . The predominant cry of the prejudiced and illiterate part of the pit was , " it was low it was d—mn'd . wulgar , & c . " and this barbarous judgment had very nearly damned this comedy the very first ni ght , but for the unexertions of the Author
common ' s friends , in whom were included all the judges and amateurs of dramatic excellence . It is even doubtful whether these would have beehrsufficientto save the play , was it not for Croaker ' s admirable reading of the incendiary letter in the . fourth act . To be composed at so trul y comic an exhibition , . " must have exceeded all power of face ; " even the riid moral of the it
g -mongers pforgot their usual severi ty on this occasion , and their nature , truer than their judgments , joined in the full-toned roar of approbation . Goldsmith himself was so charmed with this performance of Shuter ' s , that he followed him into the green-room after the play was over , and thanked him in his honest , sincere manner , before all the performers ; telling him "he had exceeded his own idea of the character , and that the fine comic richness of his colouring made it almost appear as new to him as to any . other person in the house . "
The Doctor followed up this compliment with a more solid one , by giving him ten guineas for his benefit ticket the same season , { To be continued . ' }