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Article ANECDOTES OF DR. GOLDSMITH. Page 1 of 7 →
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Anecdotes Of Dr. Goldsmith.
ANECDOTES OF DR . GOLDSMITH .
( Continued from Page 330 . J HpHE success of the comedy of "The Good-natured Man" fell Jfj ' infinitely short of what either the Author or his friends had calcinated . During the run of it , in deference to the vitious ta ' steof the public , he was obliged to omit the liailh ? Scene , and even with this sacrificeit rather dragged through the remainder of the season .
, This irritated poor Goldsmith's feelings much , and what added to the irritation was , the very great success of" False Delicacy , " a comedy written by the late Hugh Kelly , which appeared at the other house just at the same time . Of the superior merit of " The Good-natured Man , " there could be but one opinion amongst the judges of dramatic merit , but
such was the taste ' of the town for sentimental writing , in wjiich this comedy abounds , that " False Delicacy" was played every night to crowded audiences—ten thousand copies of the play were soidthat season , and the Booksellers concerned in the profits of it , not only presented the Author with a piece of p late value 20 I . but gave a public breakfast at the Chapter Coffee-house . All this was wormwood to Goldsmith , who , though the type of his " Good-natured Man" in every other respect , yet , in point of
Authorship , and particularly in poetry , " Could bear no rival near his throne . " He vented his spleen-in conversations amongst his friends and in coffee-houses , abused " False Delicacy" in very unguarded terms , and said be would write no more for the stage whilst the dramatic
, chair was usurped by such blockheads . What further widened this breach between the two rival Authors was , their accidentally meeting in the green-room at Covent Garden , where Goldsmith , thinking ' twas necessary to say something civil to Kelly , faintly wished him joy on the success of his piece , to which the other ( who had heard ail the strong things Goldsmith had said of his play ) smartly
. enough replied , " 1 cannot thank you because 1 cannot believe you . " From that hour they never spoke to one another . Such was the cause of enmity between two men who were both candidates for public favour , and who were both very deserving characters . Kelly , by the publication of his "Thespis , " a poem ; his letters called "The Babblers , " some Novels , and " False Delicacy , " had raised himself much into public notice , and what justly increased jt was , the consideration of his doing all this from an humbj e
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Anecdotes Of Dr. Goldsmith.
ANECDOTES OF DR . GOLDSMITH .
( Continued from Page 330 . J HpHE success of the comedy of "The Good-natured Man" fell Jfj ' infinitely short of what either the Author or his friends had calcinated . During the run of it , in deference to the vitious ta ' steof the public , he was obliged to omit the liailh ? Scene , and even with this sacrificeit rather dragged through the remainder of the season .
, This irritated poor Goldsmith's feelings much , and what added to the irritation was , the very great success of" False Delicacy , " a comedy written by the late Hugh Kelly , which appeared at the other house just at the same time . Of the superior merit of " The Good-natured Man , " there could be but one opinion amongst the judges of dramatic merit , but
such was the taste ' of the town for sentimental writing , in wjiich this comedy abounds , that " False Delicacy" was played every night to crowded audiences—ten thousand copies of the play were soidthat season , and the Booksellers concerned in the profits of it , not only presented the Author with a piece of p late value 20 I . but gave a public breakfast at the Chapter Coffee-house . All this was wormwood to Goldsmith , who , though the type of his " Good-natured Man" in every other respect , yet , in point of
Authorship , and particularly in poetry , " Could bear no rival near his throne . " He vented his spleen-in conversations amongst his friends and in coffee-houses , abused " False Delicacy" in very unguarded terms , and said be would write no more for the stage whilst the dramatic
, chair was usurped by such blockheads . What further widened this breach between the two rival Authors was , their accidentally meeting in the green-room at Covent Garden , where Goldsmith , thinking ' twas necessary to say something civil to Kelly , faintly wished him joy on the success of his piece , to which the other ( who had heard ail the strong things Goldsmith had said of his play ) smartly
. enough replied , " 1 cannot thank you because 1 cannot believe you . " From that hour they never spoke to one another . Such was the cause of enmity between two men who were both candidates for public favour , and who were both very deserving characters . Kelly , by the publication of his "Thespis , " a poem ; his letters called "The Babblers , " some Novels , and " False Delicacy , " had raised himself much into public notice , and what justly increased jt was , the consideration of his doing all this from an humbj e