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Article ANECDOTES OF DR. GOLDSMITH. ← Page 3 of 7 →
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Anecdotes Of Dr. Goldsmith.
industry of the other , after one or two numbers it fell off exceedingly , and , I believe , hardly lived to its six month . When it ceased to be published , a friend was observing what an extraordinary sudden death it had . "Not at all , Sir , " says Goldsmith ; " a very common case ; it died of too many Doctors . " His next orig inal publication was " The Deserted Village , " which came out in the spring of 1770 . Of the success of this
poem it is now'unnecessary to speak : the circumstance of his returning the hundred pound note to the bookseller for the copy-ri ght , under an idea of its being too much , is strictly true ,. and his way of computation was this , " that it was near Jive shillings a couplet , which was more than any bookseller could afford , or , indeed , more than any modern poetry was worth . " The Poet , however , lost nothing b
y Jus generosity , as his bookseller ( the late Mr . Griffin , of Catherinestreet , Strand ) paid him the remainder of the hundred pounds , which the rapid sale of the poem soon enabled him to do . Goldsmith , though quick enough at prose , was rather slow in his poetry—not from the tardiness of fancy , but the time he took in
pointing the sentiment , and polishing the versification . He was by his Own confession , four or five years collecting materials in all his country excursions for this poem , and was actually engaged in the construction of it above two years . His manner of writingpoetry was this : he first sketched apart of his design in prose , in which he threw out bis ideas as they occurred to him ; be then sat carefull y "
down to versify them , correct them , and add such other ideas as -he thought better fitted to the subject . He sometimes would exceed his prose design , by writing several verses impromptu , but these he would take uncommon pains afterwards to revise , lest they should be found unconnected with his ' main design . The writer of these Memoirs called upon the Doctor the second
morning after he had begun "The Deserted Village , " and to him he communicated the plan of his poem . " Some of my friends , ' * continued he , " differ with me on this plan , and think this depopulation of villages does not exist—but I myself am satisfied of the fact . I remember it in my own country , and have seen it in this . " He then read what he had done that morning , beginning ,
" Dear lovely bowers of innocence and ease , Seats of my youth , when every sport could please , How often have I loitered o ' er the green , Where humble happiness endear d each scene l How often have I pans d on every charm , The shelter d cot—the cultivated farm ,
The never-failing brook—the busy mill , The decent church , that topi the nei ghbouring bill , The hawthorn bush , with seats beneath the shade , For talking age and whispering lovers made .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Anecdotes Of Dr. Goldsmith.
industry of the other , after one or two numbers it fell off exceedingly , and , I believe , hardly lived to its six month . When it ceased to be published , a friend was observing what an extraordinary sudden death it had . "Not at all , Sir , " says Goldsmith ; " a very common case ; it died of too many Doctors . " His next orig inal publication was " The Deserted Village , " which came out in the spring of 1770 . Of the success of this
poem it is now'unnecessary to speak : the circumstance of his returning the hundred pound note to the bookseller for the copy-ri ght , under an idea of its being too much , is strictly true ,. and his way of computation was this , " that it was near Jive shillings a couplet , which was more than any bookseller could afford , or , indeed , more than any modern poetry was worth . " The Poet , however , lost nothing b
y Jus generosity , as his bookseller ( the late Mr . Griffin , of Catherinestreet , Strand ) paid him the remainder of the hundred pounds , which the rapid sale of the poem soon enabled him to do . Goldsmith , though quick enough at prose , was rather slow in his poetry—not from the tardiness of fancy , but the time he took in
pointing the sentiment , and polishing the versification . He was by his Own confession , four or five years collecting materials in all his country excursions for this poem , and was actually engaged in the construction of it above two years . His manner of writingpoetry was this : he first sketched apart of his design in prose , in which he threw out bis ideas as they occurred to him ; be then sat carefull y "
down to versify them , correct them , and add such other ideas as -he thought better fitted to the subject . He sometimes would exceed his prose design , by writing several verses impromptu , but these he would take uncommon pains afterwards to revise , lest they should be found unconnected with his ' main design . The writer of these Memoirs called upon the Doctor the second
morning after he had begun "The Deserted Village , " and to him he communicated the plan of his poem . " Some of my friends , ' * continued he , " differ with me on this plan , and think this depopulation of villages does not exist—but I myself am satisfied of the fact . I remember it in my own country , and have seen it in this . " He then read what he had done that morning , beginning ,
" Dear lovely bowers of innocence and ease , Seats of my youth , when every sport could please , How often have I loitered o ' er the green , Where humble happiness endear d each scene l How often have I pans d on every charm , The shelter d cot—the cultivated farm ,
The never-failing brook—the busy mill , The decent church , that topi the nei ghbouring bill , The hawthorn bush , with seats beneath the shade , For talking age and whispering lovers made .