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Article ANECDOTES OF DR. GOLDSMITH. ← Page 5 of 8 →
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Anecdotes Of Dr. Goldsmith.
whispered Goldsmith , and asked him how he could permit B -y to take such a liberty with him . " * Let him alone , " says the Doctor , " and you 'Usee how civilly I'll let him down . " Accordingly , some time after , taking advantage of a pause in conversation , he called out aloud , " Mr . B -y , I have the honour of drinking your good health . ' * On which the other , instead of feeling any reproofbriskly answeredafter first taking the piout of his mouth
, , pe , " Thankee , thankee , Noll . " " Well , where is the advantage of your reproof now ? " said Glover . " In truth , " said the Doctor , very good-humouredly , " I give it up ; I ought to have known before now , there is no putting a pig in the right way . " The Doctor was at times very absent , and shewed such an inconsistency - of mind , that if a person was to judge of his literary
knowledge from some particular instances , they must think very-meanly of his information or talents . He was once engaged in a violent dispute with George Bellas , the Proctor ( at the very time he was writing his History of Animated Nature ) , about the motion of the upper jaw ; ant ! when Bellas laughed at him on the absurdity of his assertionthe Doctor very seriouslybut warmlydesired him to put his
, , , finger in his mouth , and he 'd convince him . Being soon after desired by a friend to recollect what he iiad asserted , he paused for some time , and said , "In truth I had forgot myself , but any way I ought not to have given up the victory to such an antagonist . " A vanity of occasional ! } ' thinking he was able to do any thing as well as another man , was amongst the other peculiarities of this
whimsical character . Johnson , who was nostranger to Goldsmith ' s oddities , used to say , " Poor Goldy , rather than hold his tongue , will often talk of what he knows himself to he ignorant of , and which can only end in exposing himself . If he was in company with two founders , he would begin talking with them on the construction of cannon , though both of them would soon see he did not know what metal a camion was made of . "
As an instance of the above , he was one night at the club , at St , James ' s-street , when the company were praising a speech which Mr . Burke had made that day in the House of Commons . This was enough to set Goldsmith agoing , who said speechifying was all a knack , and that he would venture to make as good a speech in either Latin , Greek , or English . The company took him at his word , but to spare him the difficulties of the dead languages would be
content with a trial in English . The Doctor instantly mounted a chair , but could not get on above a sentence without the most evident embarrassment . " Well , " says he , after a time , " I find this won ' t do , therefore I'll write my speech . " No , Doctor , said the company , we do n ' t question your talents for writing , it was speaking you engaged for . " Wellwell" the Doctor" I ' m out
, , says , qf luck now , but ycyi may depend on it , as I said before , that oratory is a mere knack , which any man of education may practise with success in a very little time . " Another time , being in company with a great number of ladies
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Anecdotes Of Dr. Goldsmith.
whispered Goldsmith , and asked him how he could permit B -y to take such a liberty with him . " * Let him alone , " says the Doctor , " and you 'Usee how civilly I'll let him down . " Accordingly , some time after , taking advantage of a pause in conversation , he called out aloud , " Mr . B -y , I have the honour of drinking your good health . ' * On which the other , instead of feeling any reproofbriskly answeredafter first taking the piout of his mouth
, , pe , " Thankee , thankee , Noll . " " Well , where is the advantage of your reproof now ? " said Glover . " In truth , " said the Doctor , very good-humouredly , " I give it up ; I ought to have known before now , there is no putting a pig in the right way . " The Doctor was at times very absent , and shewed such an inconsistency - of mind , that if a person was to judge of his literary
knowledge from some particular instances , they must think very-meanly of his information or talents . He was once engaged in a violent dispute with George Bellas , the Proctor ( at the very time he was writing his History of Animated Nature ) , about the motion of the upper jaw ; ant ! when Bellas laughed at him on the absurdity of his assertionthe Doctor very seriouslybut warmlydesired him to put his
, , , finger in his mouth , and he 'd convince him . Being soon after desired by a friend to recollect what he iiad asserted , he paused for some time , and said , "In truth I had forgot myself , but any way I ought not to have given up the victory to such an antagonist . " A vanity of occasional ! } ' thinking he was able to do any thing as well as another man , was amongst the other peculiarities of this
whimsical character . Johnson , who was nostranger to Goldsmith ' s oddities , used to say , " Poor Goldy , rather than hold his tongue , will often talk of what he knows himself to he ignorant of , and which can only end in exposing himself . If he was in company with two founders , he would begin talking with them on the construction of cannon , though both of them would soon see he did not know what metal a camion was made of . "
As an instance of the above , he was one night at the club , at St , James ' s-street , when the company were praising a speech which Mr . Burke had made that day in the House of Commons . This was enough to set Goldsmith agoing , who said speechifying was all a knack , and that he would venture to make as good a speech in either Latin , Greek , or English . The company took him at his word , but to spare him the difficulties of the dead languages would be
content with a trial in English . The Doctor instantly mounted a chair , but could not get on above a sentence without the most evident embarrassment . " Well , " says he , after a time , " I find this won ' t do , therefore I'll write my speech . " No , Doctor , said the company , we do n ' t question your talents for writing , it was speaking you engaged for . " Wellwell" the Doctor" I ' m out
, , says , qf luck now , but ycyi may depend on it , as I said before , that oratory is a mere knack , which any man of education may practise with success in a very little time . " Another time , being in company with a great number of ladies