No More Learning

-----
"ye macaroni train". The Macaronies were the foplings,
fribbles, or beaux of Goldsmith's day. Walpole refers to them as
early as 1764; but their flourishing time was 1770-3, when the
print-shops, and especially Matthew Darly's in the Strand, No.
39, swarmed with satirical designs of which they were the
subject. Selwyn, March -- many well-known names -- are found in
their ranks. Richard Cosway figured as 'The Macaroni Painter';
Angelica Kauffmann as 'The Paintress of Maccaroni's'; Thrale as
'The Southwark Macaroni. ' Another caricature ('The Fluttering
Macaroni') contains a portrait of Miss Catley, the singing
actress of the present epilogue; while Charles Horneck, the
brother of 'The Jessamy Bride' (see p. 251, l. 14) is twice
satirized as 'The Martial Macaroni' and 'The Military Macaroni. '
The name, as may be guessed, comes from the Italian dish first
made fashionable by the 'Macaroni Club,' being afterwards
applied by extension to 'the younger and gayer part of our
nobility and gentry, who, at the same time that they gave in to
the luxuries of eating, went equally into the extravagancies of
dress. ' ('Macaroni and Theatrical Magazine', Oct. 1772. ) Cf. Sir
Benjamin Backbite's later epigram in 'The School for Scandal',
1777, Act ii, Sc. 2:--

Sure never was seen two such beautiful ponies;
Other horses are clowns, but these 'macaronies':
To give them this title I'm sure can't be wrong,
Their legs are so slim and their tails are so long.

l. 36. -----
"Their hands are only lent to the Heinel". See note to
l. 28, p. 85.







EPILOGUE INTENDED FOR 'SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER. '

This epilogue, given by Goldsmith to Dr. Percy in MS. , was first
published in the 'Miscellaneous Works' of 1801, ii. 87-8, as 'An
Epilogue intended for Mrs. Bulkley'. Percy did not remember for what
play it was intended; but it is plainly (see note to l. 40) the second
epilogue for 'She Stoops to Conquer' referred to in the letter printed
in this volume.

l. 1. -----
"There is a place, so Ariosto sings". 'The poet
alludes to the thirty-fourth canto of 'The Orlando furioso'.
Ariosto, as translated by Mr. Stewart Rose, observes of the
'lunar world';

There thou wilt find, if thou wilt thither post,
Whatever thou on earth beneath hast lost.

Astolpho undertakes the journey; discovers a portion of his
own sense; and, in an ample flask, the lost wits of Orlando. '
(Bolton Corney. ) Cf. also 'Rape of the Lock',
Canto v, ll. 113-14:

Some thought it mounted to the Lunar sphere,
Since all things lost on earth are treasur'd there.

Lord Chesterfield also refers to the 'happy extravagancy'
of Astolpho's journey in his 'Letters', 1774, i. 557.

l. 9. -----
"at Foote's Alone". 'Foote's' was the Little Theatre in
the Haymarket, where, in February, 1773, he brought out what he
described as a 'Primitive Puppet Show,' based upon the Italian
Fantoccini, and presenting a burlesque sentimental Comedy called
'The Handsome Housemaid; or, Piety in Pattens', which did as
much as 'She Stoops' to laugh false sentiment away. Foote warned
his audience that they would not discover 'much wit or humour'
in the piece, since 'his brother writers had all agreed that it
was highly improper, and beneath the dignity of a mixed
assembly, to show any signs of joyful satisfaction; and that
creating a laugh was forcing the higher order of an audience to
a vulgar and mean use of their muscles' -- for which reason, he
explained, he had, like them, given up the sensual for the
sentimental style. And thereupon followed the story of a maid of
low degree who, 'by the mere effects of morality and virtue,
raised herself [like Richardson's 'Pamela'], to riches and
honours. ' The public, who for some time had acquiesced in the
new order of things under the belief that it tended to the
reformation of the stage, and who were beginning to weary of the
'moral essay thrown into dialogue,' which had for some time
supplanted humorous situation, promptly came round under the
influence of Foote's Aristophanic ridicule, and the 'comedie
larmoyante' received an appreciable check. Goldsmith himself had
prepared the way in a paper contributed to the 'Westminster
Magazine' for December, 1772 (vol. I. p. 4), with the title of
'An Essay on the Theatre; or, A Comparison between Laughing and
Sentimental Comedy. ' The specific reference in the Prologue is
to the fact that Foote gave morning performances of 'The
Handsome Housemaid'. There was one, for instance, on Saturday,
March 6, 1773.

l. 27. -----
"The Mohawk". This particular species of the genus
'rake' belongs more to Swift's than Goldsmith's time, though the
race is eternal. There is an account of the 'Mohock Club' in
'Spectator', No. 324. See also 'Spectator', No. 347; Gay's
'Trivia', 1716, Book iii. p. 74; Swift's 'Journal to Stella',
March 8 and 26, 1712; and the 'Wentworth Papers', 1883, pp.
277-8.

l. 40. -----
"Still stoops among the low to copy nature". This line,
one would think, should have helped to convince Percy that the
epilogue was intended for 'She Stoops to Conquer', and for no
other play.






THE CAPTIVITY.

The Oratorio of the 'Captivity' was written in 1764; but never set to
music. It was first printed in 1820 at pp. 451-70 of vol. ii of the
octavo edition of the 'Miscellaneous Works' issued by the trade in that
year. Prior reprinted it in 1837 ('Works', iv. Pp. 79-95) from the
'original manuscript' in Mr. Murray's possession; and Cunningham again
in 1854 ('Works', i. pp. 63-76). It is here reproduced from Prior. James
Dodsley, who bought the MS. for Newbery and himself, gave Goldsmith ten
guineas. Murray's copy was the one made for Dodsley, October 31, 1764;
the one printed in 1820, that made for Newbery. The latter, which once
belonged to the autograph collector, William Upcott, was in the market
in 1887.

l. 23. -----
Act i. This song had been published in the first
edition of 'The Haunch of Venison', 1776, with the second stanza
varied thus:--

Thou, like the world, th' opprest oppressing,
Thy smiles increase the wretch's woe'
And he who wants each other blessing,
In thee must ever find a foe.

l. 33. -----
Act ii. This song also had appeared in the first edition
of 'The Haunch of Venison', 1776, in a different form:--

The Wretch condemn'd with life to part,
Still, still on Hope relies;
And ev'ry pang that rends the heart,
Bids Expectation rise.

Hope, like the glim'ring taper's light,
Adorns and chears the way;
And still, as darker grows the night,
Emits a brighter ray.

Mitford, who printed 'The Captivity' from Newbery's version,
records a number of 'first thoughts' afterwards altered or
improved by the author in his MS. Modern editors have not
reproduced them, and their example has been followed here. 'The
Captivity' is not, in any sense, one of Goldsmith's important
efforts.







VERSES IN REPLY TO AN INVITATION TO DINNER.

These were first published in the 'Miscellaneous Works' of 1837, iv.
132-3, having been communicated to the editor by Major-General Sir H. E.
Bunbury, Bart. , the son of Henry William Bunbury, the well-known comic
artist, and husband of Catherine Horneck, the 'Little Comedy' to whom
Goldsmith refers. Dr. Baker, to whose house the poet was invited, was
Dr. (afterwards Sir George) Baker, 1722-1809. He was Sir Joshua's
doctor; and in 1776 became physician to George III, whom he attended
during his illness of 1788-9. He is often mentioned by Fanny Burney and
Hannah More.

l. 11. -----
"Horneck", i. e. Mrs. Hannah Horneck -- the 'Plymouth
Beauty' -- widow of Captain Kane William Horneck, grandson of
Dr. Anthony Horneck of the Savoy, mentioned in Evelyn's 'Diary',
for whose 'Happy Ascetick', 1724, Hogarth designed a
frontispiece. Mrs. Horneck died in 1803. Like Sir Joshua, the
Hornecks came from Devonshire; and through him, had made the
acquaintance of Goldsmith.

"Nesbitt". Mr. Nesbitt was the husband of one of Mr. Thrale's
handsome sisters. He was a member of the Devonshire Club, and
twice (1759-61) sat to Reynolds, with whom he was intimate. He
died in 1779, and his widow married a Mr. Scott.

l. 13. -----
"Kauffmann". Angelica Kauffmann, the artist, 1741-1807.
She had come to London in 1766. At the close of 1767 she had
been cajoled into a marriage with an impostor, Count de Horn,
and had separated from him in 1768. In 1769 she painted a 'weak
and uncharacteristic' portrait of Reynolds for Mr. Parker of
Saltram (afterwards Baron Boringdon), which is now in the
possession of the Earl of Morley. It was exhibited at the Royal
Academy in the winter of 1876, and is the portrait referred to
at l. 44 below.

l. 14. -----
"the Jessamy Bride". This was Goldsmith's pet-name for
Mary, the elder Miss Horneck. After Goldsmith's death she
married Colonel F. E. Gwyn (1779). She survived until 1840. 'Her
own picture with a turban,' painted by Reynolds, was left to her
in his will ('Works' by Malone, 2nd ed. , 1798, p. cxviii). She
was also painted by Romney and Hoppner. 'Jessamy,' or 'jessimy,'
with its suggestion of jasmine flowers, seems in
eighteenth-century parlance to have stood for 'dandified,'
'superfine,' 'delicate,' and the whole name was probably coined
after the model of some of the titles to Darly's prints, then
common in all the shops.

l. 16. -----
"The Reynoldses two", i. e. Sir Joshua and his sister,
Miss Reynolds.

l. 17. -----
"Little Comedy's face". 'Little Comedy' was Goldsmith's
name for the younger Miss Horneck, Catherine, and already
engaged to H. W. Bunbury ('v. supra'), to whom she was married
in 1771. She died in 1799, and had also been painted by
Reynolds.

l. 18. -----
"the Captain in lace". This was Charles Horneck, Mrs.
Horneck's son, an officer in the Foot-guards. He afterwards
became a general, and died in 1804. (See note, p. 247, l. 31. )

l. 44. -----
"to-day's Advertiser". The lines referred to are said
by Prior to have been as follows:--

While fair Angelica, with matchless grace,
Paints Conway's lovely form and Stanhope's face;
Our hearts to beauty willing homage pay,
We praise, admire, and gaze our souls away.
But when the likeness she hath done for thee,
O Reynolds! with astonishment we see,
Forced to submit, with all our pride we own,
Such strength, such harmony, excell'd by none,
And thou art rivall'd by thyself alone.

They probably appeared in the newspaper at some date between
1769, when the picture was painted, and August 1771, when
'Little Comedy' was married, after which time Goldsmith would
scarcely speak of her except as 'Mrs. Bunbury' (see p. 132, l.
15).







LETTER IN PROSE AND VERSE TO MRS. BUNBURY.

This letter, which contains some of the brightest and easiest of
Goldsmith's familiar verses, was addressed to Mrs. Bunbury (the 'Little
Comedy' of the 'Verses in Reply to an Invitation to Dinner', pp. 250-2),
in answer to a rhymed summons on her part to spend Christmas at Great
Barton in Suffolk, the family seat of the Bunburys. It was first printed
by Prior in the 'Miscellaneous Works' of 1837, iv. 148-51, and again in
1838 in Sir Henry Bunbury's 'Correspondence of Sir Thomas Hanmer,
Bart. ', pp. 379-83. The text of the latter issue is here followed. When
Prior published the verses, they were assigned to the year 1772; in the
'Hanmer Correspondence' it is stated that they were 'probably written in
1773 or 1774. '

P. 130. -----
"your spring velvet coat". Goldsmith's pronounced
taste in dress, and his good-natured simplicity, made his
costume a fertile subject for playful raillery, -- sometimes,
for rather discreditable practical jokes. (See next note. )

P. 131. -----
"a wig, that is modish and gay".
'He always wore a
wig' -- said the 'Jessamy Bride' in her reminiscences to Prior
-- 'a peculiarity which those who judge of his appearance only
from the fine poetical head of Reynolds, would not suspect; and
on one occasion some person contrived to seriously injure this
important adjunct to dress. It was the only one he had in the
country, and the misfortune seemed irreparable until the
services of Mr. Bunbury's valet were called in, who however
performed his functions so indifferently that poor Goldsmith's
appearance became the signal for a general smile' (Prior's
'Life', 1837, ii. 378-9).

P. 131. -----
"Naso contemnere adunco". Cf. Horace, 'Sat'. i. 6. 5:--

naso suspendis adunco
Ignotos,

and Martial, 'Ep'. i. 4. 6:--
Et pueri nasum Rhinocerotis habent.

l. 2. -----
"Loo", i. e. Lanctre- or Lanterloo, a popular
eighteenth-century game, in which 'Pam', l. 6, the knave of
clubs, is the highest card. Cf. Pope, 'Rape of the Lock', 1714,
iii. 61:--

Ev'n might 'Pam', that Kings and Queens o'erthrew,
And mow'd down armies in the fights of Lu;
and Colman's epilogue to 'The School for Scandal', 1777:--
And at backgammon mortify my soul,
That pants for 'loo', or flutters at a vole?

l. 17. -----
"Miss Horneck". Miss Mary Horneck, the 'Jessamy Bride'
('vide' note, p. 251, l. 14).

l. 36. -----
"Fielding". Sir John Fielding, d. 1780, Henry
Fielding's blind half-brother, who succeeded him as a Justice of
the Peace for the City and Liberties of Westminster. He was
knighted in 1761. There are two portraits of him by Nathaniel
Hone.

l. 40. -----
"by quinto Elizabeth, Death without Clergy". Legal
authorities affirm that the Act quoted should be 8 Eliz. cap.
iv, under which those who stole more than twelvepence 'privately
from a man's person' were debarred from benefit of clergy. But
'quint. Eliz. ' must have offered some special attraction to
poets, since Pope also refers to it in the 'Satires and
Epistles', i. 147-8:--
Consult the Statute: 'quart'. I think, it is,
'Edwardi sext. ' or 'prim. et quint. Eliz. '

l. 44. -----
"With bunches of fennel, and nosegays before 'em". This
was a custom dating from the fearful jail fever of 1750, which
carried off, not only prisoners, but a judge (Mr. Justice Abney)
'and many jurymen and witnesses. ' 'From that time up to this day
[i. e. 1855] it has been usual to place sweet-smelling herbs in
the prisoner's dock, to prevent infection. ' (Lawrence's 'Life of
Henry Fielding', 1855, p. 296. ) The close observation of
Cruikshank has not neglected this detail in the Old Bailey plate
of 'The Drunkard's Children', 1848, v.

l. 45. -----
"mobs". The mob was a loose undress or 'deshabille',
sometimes a hood. 'When we poor souls had presented ourselves
with a contrition suitable to our worthlessness, some pretty
young ladies in 'mobs', popped in here and there about the
church. ' ('Guardian', No. 65, May 26, 1713. ) Cf. also Addison's
'Fine Lady's Diary' ('Spectator', No. 323); 'Went in our 'Mobbs'
to the Dumb Man' (Duncan Campbell).

l. 50. -----
"yon solemn-faced". Cf. 'Introduction', p. xxvii.
According to the 'Jessamy Bride,' Goldsmith sometimes aggravated
his plainness by an 'assumed frown of countenance' (Prior,
'Life', 1837, ii. 379).

l. 55. -----
"Sir Charles", i. e. Sir Thomas Charles Bunbury, Bart. ,
M. P. , Henry Bunbury's elder brother. He succeeded to the title
in 1764, and died without issue in 1821. Goldsmith, it may be
observed, makes 'Charles' a disyllable. Probably, like many of
his countrymen, he so pronounced it. (Cf. Thackeray's
'Pendennis', 1850, vol. ii, chap. 5 [or xliii], where this is
humorously illustrated in Captain Costigan's 'Sir 'Chorlus', I
saw your neem at the Levee. ' Perhaps this accounts for 'failing'
and 'stealing,' -- 'day on' and 'Pantheon,' in the 'New Simile'.
Cooke ('European Magazine', October, 1793, p. 259) says that
Goldsmith 'rather cultivated (than endeavoured to get rid of)
his brogue. '

l. 58. -----
"dy'd in grain", i. e. fixed, ineradicable. To 'dye in
grain' means primarily to colour with the scarlet or purple dye
produced by the 'kermes' insect, called 'granum' in Latin, from
its similarity to small seeds. Being what is styled a 'fast' dye
the phrase is used by extension to signify permanence.







VIDA'S GAME OF CHESS.

Forster thus describes the MS. of this poem in his 'Life of Goldsmith':
-- 'It is a small quarto manuscript of thirty-four pages, containing 679
lines, to which a fly-leaf is appended in which Goldsmith notes the
differences of nomenclature between Vida's chessmen and our own. It has
occasional interlineations and corrections, but such as would occur in
transcription rather than in a first or original copy. Sometimes indeed
choice appears to have been made (as at page 29) between two words
equally suitable to the sense and verse, as "to" for "toward"; but the
insertions and erasures refer almost wholly to words or lines
accidentally omitted and replaced. The triplet is always carefully
marked; and seldom as it is found in any other of Goldsmith's poems. I
am disposed to regard its frequent recurrence here as even helping, in
some degree, to explain the motive which had led him to the trial of an
experiment in rhyme comparatively new to him. If we suppose him, half
consciously, it may be, taking up the manner of the great master of
translation, Dryden, who was at all times so much a favourite with him,
he would at least, in so marked a peculiarity, be less apt to fall short
than to err perhaps a little on the side of excess. Though I am far from
thinking such to be the result in the present instance. The effect of
the whole translation is pleasing to me, and the mock-heroic effect I
think not a little assisted by the reiterated use of the triplet and
alexandrine. As to any evidence of authorship derivable from the
appearance of the manuscript, I will only add another word. The lines in
the translation have been carefully counted, and the number is marked in
Goldsmith's hand at the close of his transcription. Such a fact is, of
course, only to be taken in aid of other proof; but a man is not
generally at the pains of counting, still less, I should say in such a
case as Goldsmith's, of elaborately transcribing, lines which are not
his own. ' (Forster's 'Goldsmith', 1871, ii. 235-6).

When Forster wrote the above, the MS. was in the possession of Mr.
Bolton Corney, who had not been aware of its existence when he edited
Goldsmith's Poems in 1845. In 1854 it was, with his permission, included
in vol. iv of Cunningham's 'Works' of 1854, and subsequently in the
Aldine 'Poems' of 1866.

Mark Jerome Vida of Cremona, 1490-1566, was Bishop of Alba, and
favourite of Leo the Magnificent. Several translators had tried their
hand at his 'Game of Chess' before Goldsmith. Lowndes mentions
Rowbotham, 1562; Jeffreys, 1736; Erskine, 1736; Pullin, 1750; and
'Anon'. (Eton), 1769 (who may have preceded Goldsmith). But after his
(Goldsmith's) death appeared another Oxford anonymous version, 1778, and
one by Arthur Murphy, 1786.







APPENDIXES

A. PORTRAITS OF GOLDSMITH.
B. DESCRIPTIONS OF NEWELL'S VIEWS OF LISSOY, ETC.
C. THE EPITHET 'SENTIMENTAL. '
D. FRAGMENTS OF TRANSLATIONS, ETC. BY GOLDSMITH.
E. GOLDSMITH ON POETRY UNDER ANNE AND GEORGE THE FIRST.
F. CRITICISMS FROM GOLDSMITH'S 'BEAUTIES OF ENGLISH POESY. '



APPENDIX A

PORTRAITS OF GOLDSMITH.

PORTRAITS of Goldsmith are not numerous; and the best known are those of
Reynolds and H. W. Bunbury. That by Sir Joshua was painted in 1766-70,
and exhibited in the Royal Academy (No. 151) from April 24th to May 28th
in the latter year. It represents the poet in a plain white collar,
furred mantle open at the neck, and holding a book in his right hand.
Its general characteristics are given at p. xxviii of the
'Introduction. ' It was scraped in mezzotint in 1770 by Reynolds's
Italian pupil, Giuseppe, or Joseph Marchi; and it is dated 1st
December. * Bunbury's portrait first appeared, after Goldsmith's death,
as a frontispiece to the 'Haunch of Venison'; and it was etched in
facsimile by James Bretherton. The plate is dated May 24, 1776. In his
loyal but despotic 'Life of Goldsmith' (Bk. iv, ch. 6), Mr. John Forster
reproduces these portraits side by side; in order, he professes, to show
'the distinction between truth and a caricature of it. ' Bunbury, it may
be, was primarily a caricaturist, and possibly looked at most things
from a more or less grotesque point of view; but this sketch -- it
should be observed -- was meant for a likeness, and we have the express
testimony of one who, if she was Bunbury's sister-in-law, was also
Goldsmith's friend, that it rendered Goldsmith accurately. It 'gives the
head with admirable fidelity' -- says the 'Jessamy Bride' (afterwards
Mrs. Gwyn) -- 'as he actually lived among us; nothing can exceed its
truth' (Prior's 'Life', 1837, ii. 380). In other words, it delineates
Goldsmith as his contemporaries saw him, with bulbous forehead,
indecisive chin, and long protruding upper lip, -- awkward,
insignificant, ill at ease, -- restlessly burning 'to get in and shine. '
It enables us moreover to understand how people who knew nothing of his
better and more lovable qualities, could speak of him as an 'inspired
idiot,' as 'silly Dr. Goldsmith,' as 'talking like poor Poll. ' It is, in
short, his external, objective presentment. The picture by Sir Joshua,
on the contrary, is almost wholly subjective. Draped judiciously in a
popular studio costume, which is not that of the sitter's day, it
reveals to us the author of 'The Deserted Village' as Reynolds conceived
him to be at his best, serious, dignified, introspective, with his
physical defects partly extenuated by art, partly over-mastered by his
intellectual power. To quote the 'Jessamy Bride' once more -- it is 'a
fine poetical head for the admiration of posterity, but as it is
divested of his wig and with the shirt collar open, it was not the man
as seen in daily life' ('Ib'. ii. 380). Had Goldsmith lived in our era
of photography, photography would doubtless have given us something
which would have been neither the one nor the other, but more like
Bunbury than Reynolds. Yet we may be grateful for both. For Bunbury's
sketch and Reynolds's portrait are alike indispensable to the true
comprehension of Goldsmith's curiously dual personality. **

[footnote]* This was the print to which Goldsmith referred in a
well-known anecdote. Speaking to his old Peckham pupil, Samuel Bishop,
whom, after many years, he met accidentally in London, he asked him
eagerly whether he had got an engraving of the new portrait, and finding
he had not, 'said with some emotion, "if your picture had been
published, I should not have suffered an hour to elapse without
procuring it. "' But he was speedily 'appeased by apologies. ' (Prior's
'Life', 1837, i. 219-20. )

[footnote]** There is in existence another undated etching by Bretherton
after Bunbury on a larger scale, which comes much nearer to Reynolds;
and it is of course possible, though not in our opinion probable, that
Mrs. Gwyn may have referred to this. But Forster selected the other for
his comparison; it is prefixed to the 'Haunch of Venison'; it is
certainly the better known; and (as we believe) cannot ever have been
intended for a caricature.

The portrait by Reynolds, above referred to, was painted for the Thrale
Gallery at Streatham, on the dispersion of which, in May, 1816, it was
bought for the Duke of Bedford for 133 pounds 7s. It is now at Woburn
Abbey (Cat. No. 254). At Knole, Lord Sackville possesses another version
(Cat. No. 239), which was purchased in 1773 by the Countess Delawarr,
and was shown at South Kensington in 1867. Here the dress is a black
coat and a brown mantle with fur. The present owner exhibited it at the
Guelph Exhibition of 1891. A third version, now in the Irish National
Gallery, once belonged to Goldsmith himself, and then to his
brother-in-law, Daniel Hodson. Finally there is a copy, by a pupil of
Reynolds, in the National Portrait Gallery, to which it was bequeathed
in 1890 by Dr. Leifchild, having formerly been the property of Caleb
Whitefoord. Caleb Whitefoord also had an 'admirable miniature' by
Reynolds, which belongs to the Rev. Benjamin Whitefoord, Hon. Canon of
Salisbury ('Whitefoord Papers', 1898, p. xxvii). A small circular print,
based upon Reynolds, and etched by James Basire, figures on the
title-page of 'Retaliation'. Some of the plates are dated April 18,
1774.