PLAYS AND ESSAYS,

BY

OLIVER GOLDSMITH, M. B.

WITH

AN ACCOUNT OF HIS LIFE AND WRITINGS;

TO WHICH IS ADDED

A CRITICAL DISSERTATION ON HIS POETRY.

BY JOHN AIKIN, M. D.

BOSTON:

PHILLIPS, SAMPSON, AND COMPANY,

110 Washington Street.

CONTENTS

Page

vii

. xxxiv

1

Dr. Aikin's Memoirs of the Author

Remarks on the Poetry of Dr. Goldsmith: by

Dr. Aikin

Verses on the death of Dr. Goldsmith

POEMS.

The Traveller; or, a Prospect of Society

The Deserted Village

The Hermit, a Ballad

The Haunch of Venison, to Lord Clare

Retaliation.

Postscript

The Double Transformation, a Tale

The Gift: to Iris, in Bow-street, Covent-

garden.

An Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog

The Logicians Refuted: Imitation of Dean

A Prologue by the Poet Laberius, whom

Cæsar forced upon the Stage

An Elegy on Mrs. Mary Blaize

Page

On a beautiful Youth struck blind by Lightning 63

The Clown's Reply

Epitaph on Dr. Parnell

Epitaph on Edward Purdon

Stanzas on the taking of Quebec

Stanzas on Woman

Song, intended to have been sung in the Co-

medy of She Stoops to Conquer

Prologue to Zobeide, a Tragedy

Epilogue to the Comedy of the Sisters

Epilogue intended for Mrs. Bulkley

Epilogue, spoken by Mr. Lee Lewes

Threnodia Augustalis

The Captivity: an Oratorio

Lines attributed to Dr. Goldsmith

66

66

69

The Good-natured Man, a Comedy

She Stoops to Conquer, or the Mistakes of a

Night

96

96

171

CONTENTS.

ESSAYS.

Introduction

Love and Friendship, or the Story of Alcander

and Septimus, taken from a Byzantine

On the Versatility of popular Favour

Specimen of a Magazine in Miniature

Beau Tibbs; a Character

Beau Tibbs-continued

On the Irresolution of Youth

On Mad Dogs

Page

251

254

258

262

270

275

279

On the increased Love of Life with Age

Ladies' Passion for levelling Distinction of

Dress

Asem, an Eastern Tale; or, the Wisdom of

Providence in the moral Government of

On the English Clergy, and popular Preachers 326

On the Advantages to be derived from sending

a judicious Traveller into Asia

Reverie at the Boar's-head Tavern, in East-