-----
"Here Reynolds is laid".
"Here Reynolds is laid".
Oliver Goldsmith
Reynolds
painted his portrait for Burke, and it was exhibited at the
Royal Academy in 1772 (No. 208). In 1833 it belonged to Mr. T.
H. Burke. Sir Joshua also painted Miss Hickey in 1769-73. Her
father, not much to Goldsmith's satisfaction, was one of the
Paris party in 1770. See also note to l. 125.
l. 16. -----
"Magnanimous Goldsmith". According to Malone
(Reynolds's 'Works', second edition, 1801, i. xc), Goldsmith
intended to have concluded with his own character.
l. 34. -----
"Tommy Townshend", M. P. for Whitchurch, Hampshire,
afterwards first Viscount Sydney. He died in 1800. Junius says
Bolton Corney, gives a portrait of him as 'still life'. His
presence in 'Retaliation' is accounted for by the fact that he
had commented in Parliament upon Johnson's pension. 'I am well
assured,' says Boswell, 'that Mr. Townshend's attack upon
Johnson was the occasion of his "hitching in a rhyme"; for, that
in the original copy of Goldsmith's character of Mr. Burke, in
his 'Retaliation' another person's name stood in the couplet
where Mr. Townshend is now introduced. ' (Birkbeck Hill's
'Boswell', 1887, iv. 318. )
l. 35. -----
"too deep for his hearers". 'The emotion to which he
commonly appealed was that too rare one, the love of wisdom, and
he combined his thoughts and knowledge in propositions of wisdom
so weighty and strong, that the minds of ordinary hearers were
not on the instant prepared for them. ' (Morley's 'Burke', 1882,
209-10. )
l. 36. -----
"And thought of convincing, while they thought of
dining". For the reason given in the previous note, many of
Burke's hearers often took the opportunity of his rising to
speak, to retire to dinner. Thus he acquired the nickname of the
'Dinner Bell. '
l. 42. -----
"To eat mutton cold". There is a certain resemblance
between this character and Gray's lines on himself written in
1761, beginning 'Too poor for a bribe, and too proud to
importune. ' (See Gosse's 'Gray's Works', 1884, i. 127. ) But both
Gray and Goldsmith may have been thinking of a line in the once
popular song of 'Ally Croaker':--
Too dull for a wit, too grave for a joker.
l. 43. -----
"honest William", i. e. William Burke ('v. supra').
l. 54. -----
"Now breaking a jest, and now breaking a limb". A note
to the second edition says -- 'The above Gentleman [Richard
Burke, 'v. supra'] having slightly fractured one of his arms and
legs, at different times, the Doctor [i. e. Goldsmith] has
rallied him on those accidents, as a kind of 'retributive'
justice for breaking his jests on other people. '
l. 61. -----
"Here Cumberland lies". According to Boaden's 'Life of
Kemble', 1825, i. 438, Mrs. Piozzi rightly regarded this
portrait as wholly ironical; and Bolton Corney, without much
expenditure of acumen, discovers it to have been written in a
spirit of 'persiflage'. Nevertheless, Cumberland himself
('Memoirs', 1807, i. 369) seems to have accepted it in good
faith. Speaking of Goldsmith he says -- I conclude my account of
him with gratitude for the epitaph he bestowed on me in his poem
called 'Retaliation'. ' From the further details which he gives
of the circumstances, it would appear that his own performance,
of which he could recall but one line --
All mourn the poet, I lament the man --
was conceived in a less malicious spirit than those of the
others, and had predisposed the sensitive bard in his favour.
But no very genuine cordiality could be expected to exist
between the rival authors of 'The West Indian' and 'She Stoops
to Conquer'.
l. 66. -----
"And Comedy wonders at being so fine". It is
instructive here to transcribe Goldsmith's serious opinion of
the kind of work which Cumberland essayed:-- 'A new species of
Dramatic Composition has been introduced, under the name of
'Sentimental' Comedy, in which the virtues of Private Life are
exhibited, rather than the Vices exposed; and the Distresses
rather than the Faults of Mankind, make our interest in the
piece. . . . In these Plays almost all the Characters are good, and
exceedingly generous; they are lavish enough of their 'Tin'
Money on the Stage, and though they want Humour, have abundance
of Sentiment and Feeling. If they happen to have Faults or
Foibles, the Spectator is taught not only to pardon, but to
applaud them, in consideration of the goodness of their hearts;
so that Folly, instead of being ridiculed, is commended, and the
Comedy aims at touching our Passions without the power of being
truly pathetic. ' ('Westminster Magazine', 1772, i. 5. ) Cf. also
the 'Preface to The Good Natur'd Man', where he 'hopes that too
much refinement will not banish humour and character from our's,
as it has already done from the French theatre. Indeed the
French comedy is now become so very elevated and sentimental,
that it has not only banished humour and 'Moliere' from the
stage, but it has banished all spectators too. '
l. 80. -----
"The scourge of impostors, the terror of quacks". Dr.
John Douglas ('v. supra') distinguished himself by his exposure
of two of his countrymen, Archibald Bower, 1686-1766, who, being
secretly a member of the Catholic Church, wrote a 'History of
the Popes'; and William Lauder 1710-1771, who attempted to prove
Milton a plagiarist. Cf. Churchill's 'Ghost', Bk. ii:--
By TRUTH inspir'd when 'Lauder's' spight
O'er MILTON cast the Veil of Night,
DOUGLAS arose, and thro' the maze
Of intricate and winding ways,
Came where the subtle Traitor lay,
And dragg'd him trembling to the day.
'Lauder on Milton' is one of the books bound to the
trunk-maker's in Hogarth's 'Beer Street', 1751. He imposed on
Johnson, who wrote him a 'Preface' and was consequently trounced
by Churchill ('ut supra') as 'our Letter'd POLYPHEME. '
l. 86. -----
"Our Dodds shall be pious". The reference is to the
Rev. Dr. William Dodd, who three years after the publication of
'Retaliation' (i. e. June 27, 1777) was hanged at Tyburn for
forging the signature of the fifth Earl of Chesterfield, to whom
he had been tutor. His life previously had long been scandalous
enough to justify Goldsmith's words. Johnson made strenuous and
humane exertions to save Dodd's life, but without avail. (See
Birkbeck Hill's 'Boswell', 1887, iii. 139-48. ) There is an
account of Dodd's execution at the end of vol. i of Angelo's
'Reminiscences', 1830.
"our Kenricks". Dr. William Kenrick -- say the earlier
annotators -- who 'read lectures at the Devil Tavern, under the
Title of "The School of Shakespeare. "' The lectures began
January 19, 1774, and help to fix the date of the poem.
Goldsmith had little reason for liking this versatile and
unprincipled Ishmaelite of letters, who, only a year before, had
penned a scurrilous attack upon him in 'The London Packet'.
Kenrick died in 1779.
l. 87. -----
"Macpherson". 'David [James] Macpherson, Esq. ; who
lately, from the mere 'force of his style', wrote down the first
poet of all antiquity. ' (Note to second edition. ) This was
'Ossian' Macpherson, 1738-96, who, in 1773, had followed up his
Erse epics by a prose translation of Homer, which brought him
little but opprobrium. 'Your abilities, since your Homer, are
not so formidable,' says Johnson in the knockdown letter which
he addressed to him in 1775. (Birkbeck Hill's 'Boswell', 1887,
ii. 298. )
l. 88. -----
"Our Townshend". See note to line 34.
l. 89. -----
"New Lauders and Bowers". See note to l. 80.
l. 92. -----
"And Scotchman meet Scotchman, and cheat in the dark".
Mitford compares Farquhar's 'Love and a Bottle', 1699, Act iii--
But gods meet gods and jostle in the dark.
But Farquhar was quoting from Dryden and Lee's 'Oedipus', 1679,
Act iv (at end).
l. 93. -----
"Here lies David Garrick". 'The sum of all that can be
said for and against Mr. Garrick, some people think, may be
found in these lines of Goldsmith,' writes Davies in his 'Life
of Garrick', 2nd ed. , 1780, ii. 159. Posterity has been less
hesitating in its verdict. 'The lines on Garrick,' says Forster,
'Life of Goldsmith', 1871, ii. 409, 'are quite perfect writing.
Without anger, the satire is finished, keen, and uncompromising;
the wit is adorned by most discriminating praise; and the truth
is only the more unsparing for its exquisite good manners and
good taste. '
l. 115. -----
"Ye Kenricks". See note to line 86.
"ye Kellys". Hugh Kelly (1739-1777), an Irishman, the author of
'False Delicacy', 1768; 'A Word to the Wise', 1770; 'The School
for Wives', 1774, and other 'sentimental dramas,' is here
referred to. His first play, which is described in Garrick's
prologue as a 'Sermon,' 'preach'd in Acts,' was produced at
Drury Lane just six days before Goldsmith's comedy of 'The Good
Natur'd Man' appeared at Covent Garden, and obtained a success
which it ill deserved. 'False Delicacy' -- said Johnson truly
(Birkbeck Hill's 'Boswell', 1887, ii. 48) -- 'was totally void
of character,' -- a crushing accusation to make against a drama.
But Garrick, for his private ends, had taken up Kelly as a rival
to Goldsmith; and the 'comedie serieuse' or 'larmoyante' of La
Chaussee, Sedaine, and Diderot had already found votaries in
England. 'False Delicacy', weak, washy, and invertebrate as it
was, completed the transformation of 'genteel' into
'sentimental' comedy, and establishing that 'genre' for the next
few years, effectually retarded the wholesome reaction towards
humour and character which Goldsmith had tried to promote by
'The Good Natur'd Man'. (See note to l. 66. )
"Woodfalls". 'William Woodfall' -- says Bolton Corney --
'successively editor of 'The London Packet' and 'The Morning
Chronicle', was matchless as a reporter of speeches, and an able
theatrical critic. He made lofty pretensions to editorial
impartiality -- but the actor [i. e. Garrick] was not 'always'
satisfied. ' He died in 1803. He must not be confounded with
Henry Sampson Woodfall, the editor of Junius's 'Letters'. (See
note to l. 162. )
l. 120. -----
"To act as an angel". There is a sub-ironic touch in
this phrase which should not be overlooked. Cf. l. 102.
l. 125. -----
"Here Hickey reclines". See note to l. 15. In
Cumberland's 'Poetical Epistle to Dr. Goldsmith; or Supplement
to his Retaliation' {'Gentleman's Magazine', Aug. 1778, p. 384)
Hickey's genial qualities are thus referred to:--
Give RIDGE and HICKY, generous souls!
Of WHISKEY PUNCH convivial bowls.
l. 134. -----
"a special attorney". A special attorney was merely an
attorney who practised in one court only. The species is now
said to be extinct.
l. 135. -----
"burn ye". The annotator of the second edition,
apologizing for this 'forced' rhyme to 'attorney,' informs the
English reader that the phrase of 'burn ye' is 'a familiar
method of salutation in Ireland amongst the lower classes of the
people. '
l. 137.
-----
"Here Reynolds is laid". This shares the palm with the
admirable epitaphs on Garrick and Burke. But Goldsmith loved
Reynolds, and there are no satiric strokes in the picture. If we
are to believe Malone (Reynolds's 'Works', second edition, 1801,
i. xc), 'these were the last lines the author wrote. '
l. 140. -----
"bland". Malone ('ut supra', lxxxix) notes this word
as 'eminently happy, and characteristick of his [Reynolds's]
easy and placid manners. ' Boswell (Dedication of 'Life of
Johnson') refers to his 'equal and placid temper. ' Cf. also Dean
Barnard's verses (Northcote's 'Life of Reynolds', 2nd ed. , 1819,
i. 220), and Mrs. Piozzi's lines in her 'Autobiography', 2nd
ed. , 1861, ii. 175-6.
l. 146. -----
"He shifted his trumpet". While studying Raphael in
the Vatican in 1751, Reynolds caught so severe a cold 'as to
occasion a deafness which obliged him to use an ear-trumpet for
the remainder of his life. ' (Taylor and Leslie's 'Reynolds',
1865, i. 50. ) This instrument figures in a portrait of himself
which he painted for Thrale about 1775. See also Zoffany's
picture of the 'Academicians gathered about the model in the
Life School at Somerset House,' 1772, where he is shown
employing it to catch the conversation of Wilton and Chambers.
"and only took snuff". Sir Joshua was a great snuff-taker. His
snuff-box, described in the Catalogue as the one 'immortalized
in Goldsmith's 'Retaliation',' was exhibited, with his
spectacles and other personal relics, at the Grosvenor Gallery
in 1883-4. In the early editions this epitaph breaks off
abruptly at the word 'snuff. ' But Malone says that half a line
more had been written. Prior gives this half line as 'By
flattery unspoiled --,' and affirms that among several erasures
in the manuscript sketch devoted to Reynolds it 'remained
unaltered. ' ('Life', 1837, ii. 499. ) See notes to ll. 53, 56,
and 91 of 'The Haunch of Venison'.
l. 147. -----
"Here Whitefoord reclines". The circumstances which
led to the insertion of these lines in the fifth edition are
detailed in the prefatory words of the publisher given at p. 92.
There is more than a suspicion that Whitefoord wrote them
himself; but they have too long been accepted as an appendage to
the poem to be now displaced. Caleb Whitefoord (born 1734) was a
Scotchman, a wine-merchant, and an art connoisseur, to whom J.
T. Smith, in his 'Life of Nollekens', 1828, i. 333-41, devotes
several pages. He was one of the party at the St. James's
Coffee-house. He died in 1810. There is a caricature of him in
'Connoisseurs inspecting a Collection of George Morland,'
November, 16, 1807; and Wilkie's 'Letter of Introduction', 1814,
was a reminiscence of a visit which, when he first came to
London, he paid to Whitefoord. He was also painted by Reynolds
and Stuart. Hewins's 'Whitefoord Papers', 1898, throw no light
upon the story of the epitaph.
l. 148. -----
"a grave man". Cf. 'Romeo and Juliet', Act iii, Sc. 1:
-- 'Ask for me to-morrow, and you shall find me 'a grave man'. '
This Shakespearean recollection is a little like Goldsmith's
way. (See note to 'The Haunch of Venison', l. 120. )
l. 150. -----
"and rejoic'd in a pun". 'Mr. W. is so notorious a
punster, that Doctor Goldsmith used to say, it was impossible to
keep him company, without being 'infected' with the 'itch of
punning'. ' (Note to fifth edition. )
l. 160. -----
'"if the table he set on a roar". ' Cf. 'Hamlet', Act
v, Sc. I.
l. 162. -----
"Woodfall", i. e. Henry Sampson Woodfall, printer of
'The Public Advertiser'. He died in 1805. (See note to l. 115. )
l. 170. -----
"Cross-Readings, Ship-News, and Mistakes of the Press".
Over the 'nom de guerre' of 'Papyrius Cursor,' a real Roman
name, but as happy in its applicability as Thackeray's 'Manlius
Pennialinus,' Whitefoord contributed many specimens of this
mechanic wit to 'The Public Advertiser'. The 'Cross Readings'
were obtained by taking two or three columns of a newspaper
horizontally and 'onwards' instead of 'vertically' and
downwards, thus:--
Colds caught at this season are
The Companion to the Playhouse.
or
To be sold to the best Bidder,
My seat in Parliament being vacated.
A more elaborate example is
On Tuesday an address was presented;
it unhappily missed fire and the villain made off,
when the honour of knighthood was conferred on him
to the great joy of that noble family
Goldsmith was hugely delighted with Whitefoord's 'lucky
inventions' when they first became popular in 1766. 'He
declared, in the heat of his admiration of them, it would have
given him more pleasure to have been the author of them than of
all the works he had ever published of his own' (Northcote's
'Life of Reynolds', 2nd ed. , 1819, i. 217). What is perhaps more
remarkable is, that Johnson spoke of Whitefoord's performances
as 'ingenious and diverting' (Birkbeck Hill's 'Boswell', 1887,
iv. 322); and Horace Walpole laughed over them till he cried
(Letter to Montagu, December 12, 1766). To use Voltaire's
witticism, he is 'bien heureux' who can laugh now. It may be
added that Whitefoord did not, as he claimed, originate the
'Cross Readings. ' They had been anticipated in No. 49 of
Harrison's spurious 'Tatler', vol. v [1720].
The fashion of the 'Ship-News' was in this wise: 'August 25
[1765]. We hear that his Majestys Ship 'Newcastle' will soon
have a new figurehead, the old one being almost worn out. ' The
'Mistakes of the Press' explain themselves. (See also Smith's
'Life of Nollekens', 1828, i. 336-7; Debrett's 'New Foundling
Hospital for Wit', 1784, vol. ii, and 'Gentleman's Magazine',
1810, p. 300. )
l. 172. -----
"That a Scot may have humour, I had almost said wit".
Goldsmith, -- if he wrote these verses, -- must have forgotten
that he had already credited Whitefoord with 'wit' in l. 153.
l. 174. -----
"Thou best humour'd man with the worst humour'd muse".
Cf. Rochester of Lord Buckhurst, afterwards Earl of Dorset:--
The best good man, with the worst-natur'd muse.
Whitefoord's contribution to the epitaphs on Goldsmith is said
to have been unusually severe, -- so severe that four only of
its eight lines are quoted in the 'Whitefoord Papers', 1898, the
rest being 'unfit for publication' (p. xxvii). He afterwards
addressed a metrical apology to Sir Joshua, which is printed at
pp. 217-8 of Northcote's 'Life', 2nd ed. , 1819. See also
Forster's 'Goldsmith', 1871, ii. 408-9.
SONG FOR 'SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER. '
Boswell, to whom we are indebted for the preservation of this
lively song, sent it to 'The London Magazine' for June, 1774
(vol. xliii, p. 295), with the following:--
'To the Editor of 'The London Magazine'.
SIR, -- I send you a small production of the late Dr. 'Goldsmith', which
has never been published, and which might perhaps have been totally lost
had I not secured it. He intended it as a song in the character of Miss
'Hardcastle', in his admirable comedy, 'She stoops to conquer'; but it
was left out, as Mrs. 'Bulkley' who played the part did not sing. He
sung it himself in private companies very agreeably. The tune is a
pretty Irish air, called 'The Humours of Balamagairy', to which, he told
me, he found it very difficult to adapt words; but he has succeeded
happily in these few lines. As I could sing the tune, and was fond of
them, he was so good as to give me them about a year ago, just as I was
leaving London, and bidding him adieu for that season, little
apprehending that it was a last farewell. I preserve this little relick
in his own handwriting with an affectionate care.
I am, Sir,
Your humble Servant,
JAMES BOSWELL. '
When, seventeen years later, Boswell published his 'Life of Samuel
Johnson, LL. D. ', he gave an account of his dining at General
Oglethorpe's in April, 1773, with Johnson and Goldsmith; and he says
that the latter sang the 'Three Jolly Pigeons', and this song, to the
ladies in the tea-room. Croker, in a note, adds that the younger Colman
more appropriately employed the 'essentially low comic' air for Looney
Mactwolter in the ['Review; or the] Wags of Windsor', 1808 [i. e. in that
character's song beginning -- 'Oh, whack! Cupid's a mannikin'], and that
Moore tried to bring it into good company in the ninth number of the
'Irish Melodies'. But Croker did not admire the tune, and thought poorly
of Goldsmith's words. Yet they are certainly fresher than Colman's or
Moore's:--
Sing -- sing -- Music was given,
To brighten the gay, and kindle the loving;
Souls here, like planets in Heaven,
By harmony's laws alone are kept moving, etc.
TRANSLATION.
These lines, which appear at p. 312 of vol. V of the 'History of the
Earth and Animated Nature', 1774, are freely translated from some Latin
verses by Addison in No 412 of the 'Spectator', where they are
introduced as follows:-- 'Thus we see that every different Species of
sensible Creatures has its different Notions of Beauty, and that each of
them is most affected with the Beauties of its own kind. This is nowhere
more remarkable than in Birds of the same Shape and Proportion, where we
often see the Male determined in his Courtship by the single Grain or
Tincture of a Feather, and never discovering any Charms but in the
Colour of its own Species. ' Addison's lines, of which Goldsmith
translated the first fourteen only, are printed from his corrected MS.
at p. 4 of 'Some Portions of Essays contributed to the Spectator by Mr.
Joseph Addison [by the late J. Dykes Campbell], 1864.
THE HAUNCH OF VENISON.
It is supposed that this poem was written early in 1771, although it was
not printed until 1776, when it was published by G. Kearsly and J.
Ridley under the title of 'The Haunch of Venison, a Poetical Epistle to
the Lord Clare. By the late Dr. Goldsmith. With a Head of the Author,
Drawn by Henry Bunbury, Esq; and Etched by [James] Bretherton. ' A second
edition, the text of which is here followed, appeared in the same year
'With considerable Additions and Corrections, Taken from the Author's
'last' Transcript. ' The Lord Clare to whom the verses are addressed was
Robert Nugent, of Carlanstown, Westmeath, M. P. for St. Mawes in 1741-54.
In 1766 he was created Viscount Clare; in 1776 Earl Nugent. In his youth
he had himself been an easy if not very original versifier; and there
are several of his performances in the second volume of Dodsley's
'Collection of Poems by Several Hands', 4th ed. , 1755. One of the
Epistles, beginning 'Clarinda, dearly lov'd, attend The Counsels of a
faithful friend,' seems to have betrayed Goldsmith into the blunder of
confusing it, in the 'Poems for Young Ladies'. 1767, p. 114, with
Lyttelton's better-known 'Advice to a Lady' ('The counsels of a friend,
Belinda, hear'), also in Dodsley's miscellany; while another piece, an
'Ode to William Pultney, Esq. ', contains a stanza so good that Gibbon
worked it into his character of Brutus:--
What tho' the good, the brave, the wise,
With adverse force undaunted rise,
To break th' eternal doom!
Tho' CATO liv'd, tho' TULLY spoke,
Tho' BRUTUS dealt the godlike stroke,
Yet perish'd fated ROME.
Detraction, however, has insinuated that Mallet, his step-son's tutor,
was Nugent's penholder in this instance. 'Mr. Nugent sure did not write
his own Ode,' says Gray to Walpole (Gray's 'Works', by Gosse, 1884, ii.
220). Earl Nugent died in Dublin in October, 1788, and was buried at
Gosfield in Essex, a property he had acquired with his second wife. A
'Memoir' of him was written in 1898 by Mr. Claud Nugent. He is described
by Cunningham as 'a big, jovial, voluptuous Irishman, with a loud voice,
a strong Irish accent, and a ready though coarse wit. ' According to
Percy ('Memoir', 1801, p. 66), he had been attracted to Goldsmith by the
publication of 'The Traveller' in 1764, and he mentioned him favourably
to the Earl of Northumberland, then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. A note
in Forster's 'Life', 1871, ii. 329-30, speaks of Goldsmith as a frequent
visitor at Gosfield, and at Nugent's house in Great George Street,
Westminster, where he had often for playmate his host's daughter, Mary,
afterwards Marchioness of Buckingham.
Scott and others regarded 'The Haunch of Venison' as autobiographical.
To what extent this is the case, it is difficult to say. That it
represents the actual thanks of the poet to Lord Clare for an actual
present of venison, part of which he promptly transferred to Reynolds,
is probably the fact. But, as the following notes show, it is also clear
that Goldsmith borrowed, if not his entire fable, at least some of its
details from Boileau's third satire; and that, in certain of the lines,
he had in memory Swift's 'Grand Question Debated', the measure of which
he adopts. This throws more than a doubt upon the truth of the whole.
'His genius' (as Hazlitt says) 'was a mixture of originality and
imitation'; and fact and fiction often mingle inseparably in his work.
The author of the bailiff scene in the 'Good Natur'd Man' was quite
capable of inventing for the nonce the tragedy of the unbaked pasty, or
of selecting from the Pilkingtons and Purdons of his acquaintance such
appropriate guests for his Mile End Amphitryon as the writers of the
'Snarler' and the 'Scourge'. It may indeed even be doubted whether, if
'The Haunch of Venison' had been absolute personal history, Goldsmith
would ever have retailed it to his noble patron at Gosfield, although it
may include enough of real experience to serve as the basis for a 'jeu
d'esprit'.
l. 4. -----
"The fat was so white, etc. " The first version reads --
'The white was so white, and the red was so ruddy. '
l. 5. -----
"Though my stomach was sharp, etc.
painted his portrait for Burke, and it was exhibited at the
Royal Academy in 1772 (No. 208). In 1833 it belonged to Mr. T.
H. Burke. Sir Joshua also painted Miss Hickey in 1769-73. Her
father, not much to Goldsmith's satisfaction, was one of the
Paris party in 1770. See also note to l. 125.
l. 16. -----
"Magnanimous Goldsmith". According to Malone
(Reynolds's 'Works', second edition, 1801, i. xc), Goldsmith
intended to have concluded with his own character.
l. 34. -----
"Tommy Townshend", M. P. for Whitchurch, Hampshire,
afterwards first Viscount Sydney. He died in 1800. Junius says
Bolton Corney, gives a portrait of him as 'still life'. His
presence in 'Retaliation' is accounted for by the fact that he
had commented in Parliament upon Johnson's pension. 'I am well
assured,' says Boswell, 'that Mr. Townshend's attack upon
Johnson was the occasion of his "hitching in a rhyme"; for, that
in the original copy of Goldsmith's character of Mr. Burke, in
his 'Retaliation' another person's name stood in the couplet
where Mr. Townshend is now introduced. ' (Birkbeck Hill's
'Boswell', 1887, iv. 318. )
l. 35. -----
"too deep for his hearers". 'The emotion to which he
commonly appealed was that too rare one, the love of wisdom, and
he combined his thoughts and knowledge in propositions of wisdom
so weighty and strong, that the minds of ordinary hearers were
not on the instant prepared for them. ' (Morley's 'Burke', 1882,
209-10. )
l. 36. -----
"And thought of convincing, while they thought of
dining". For the reason given in the previous note, many of
Burke's hearers often took the opportunity of his rising to
speak, to retire to dinner. Thus he acquired the nickname of the
'Dinner Bell. '
l. 42. -----
"To eat mutton cold". There is a certain resemblance
between this character and Gray's lines on himself written in
1761, beginning 'Too poor for a bribe, and too proud to
importune. ' (See Gosse's 'Gray's Works', 1884, i. 127. ) But both
Gray and Goldsmith may have been thinking of a line in the once
popular song of 'Ally Croaker':--
Too dull for a wit, too grave for a joker.
l. 43. -----
"honest William", i. e. William Burke ('v. supra').
l. 54. -----
"Now breaking a jest, and now breaking a limb". A note
to the second edition says -- 'The above Gentleman [Richard
Burke, 'v. supra'] having slightly fractured one of his arms and
legs, at different times, the Doctor [i. e. Goldsmith] has
rallied him on those accidents, as a kind of 'retributive'
justice for breaking his jests on other people. '
l. 61. -----
"Here Cumberland lies". According to Boaden's 'Life of
Kemble', 1825, i. 438, Mrs. Piozzi rightly regarded this
portrait as wholly ironical; and Bolton Corney, without much
expenditure of acumen, discovers it to have been written in a
spirit of 'persiflage'. Nevertheless, Cumberland himself
('Memoirs', 1807, i. 369) seems to have accepted it in good
faith. Speaking of Goldsmith he says -- I conclude my account of
him with gratitude for the epitaph he bestowed on me in his poem
called 'Retaliation'. ' From the further details which he gives
of the circumstances, it would appear that his own performance,
of which he could recall but one line --
All mourn the poet, I lament the man --
was conceived in a less malicious spirit than those of the
others, and had predisposed the sensitive bard in his favour.
But no very genuine cordiality could be expected to exist
between the rival authors of 'The West Indian' and 'She Stoops
to Conquer'.
l. 66. -----
"And Comedy wonders at being so fine". It is
instructive here to transcribe Goldsmith's serious opinion of
the kind of work which Cumberland essayed:-- 'A new species of
Dramatic Composition has been introduced, under the name of
'Sentimental' Comedy, in which the virtues of Private Life are
exhibited, rather than the Vices exposed; and the Distresses
rather than the Faults of Mankind, make our interest in the
piece. . . . In these Plays almost all the Characters are good, and
exceedingly generous; they are lavish enough of their 'Tin'
Money on the Stage, and though they want Humour, have abundance
of Sentiment and Feeling. If they happen to have Faults or
Foibles, the Spectator is taught not only to pardon, but to
applaud them, in consideration of the goodness of their hearts;
so that Folly, instead of being ridiculed, is commended, and the
Comedy aims at touching our Passions without the power of being
truly pathetic. ' ('Westminster Magazine', 1772, i. 5. ) Cf. also
the 'Preface to The Good Natur'd Man', where he 'hopes that too
much refinement will not banish humour and character from our's,
as it has already done from the French theatre. Indeed the
French comedy is now become so very elevated and sentimental,
that it has not only banished humour and 'Moliere' from the
stage, but it has banished all spectators too. '
l. 80. -----
"The scourge of impostors, the terror of quacks". Dr.
John Douglas ('v. supra') distinguished himself by his exposure
of two of his countrymen, Archibald Bower, 1686-1766, who, being
secretly a member of the Catholic Church, wrote a 'History of
the Popes'; and William Lauder 1710-1771, who attempted to prove
Milton a plagiarist. Cf. Churchill's 'Ghost', Bk. ii:--
By TRUTH inspir'd when 'Lauder's' spight
O'er MILTON cast the Veil of Night,
DOUGLAS arose, and thro' the maze
Of intricate and winding ways,
Came where the subtle Traitor lay,
And dragg'd him trembling to the day.
'Lauder on Milton' is one of the books bound to the
trunk-maker's in Hogarth's 'Beer Street', 1751. He imposed on
Johnson, who wrote him a 'Preface' and was consequently trounced
by Churchill ('ut supra') as 'our Letter'd POLYPHEME. '
l. 86. -----
"Our Dodds shall be pious". The reference is to the
Rev. Dr. William Dodd, who three years after the publication of
'Retaliation' (i. e. June 27, 1777) was hanged at Tyburn for
forging the signature of the fifth Earl of Chesterfield, to whom
he had been tutor. His life previously had long been scandalous
enough to justify Goldsmith's words. Johnson made strenuous and
humane exertions to save Dodd's life, but without avail. (See
Birkbeck Hill's 'Boswell', 1887, iii. 139-48. ) There is an
account of Dodd's execution at the end of vol. i of Angelo's
'Reminiscences', 1830.
"our Kenricks". Dr. William Kenrick -- say the earlier
annotators -- who 'read lectures at the Devil Tavern, under the
Title of "The School of Shakespeare. "' The lectures began
January 19, 1774, and help to fix the date of the poem.
Goldsmith had little reason for liking this versatile and
unprincipled Ishmaelite of letters, who, only a year before, had
penned a scurrilous attack upon him in 'The London Packet'.
Kenrick died in 1779.
l. 87. -----
"Macpherson". 'David [James] Macpherson, Esq. ; who
lately, from the mere 'force of his style', wrote down the first
poet of all antiquity. ' (Note to second edition. ) This was
'Ossian' Macpherson, 1738-96, who, in 1773, had followed up his
Erse epics by a prose translation of Homer, which brought him
little but opprobrium. 'Your abilities, since your Homer, are
not so formidable,' says Johnson in the knockdown letter which
he addressed to him in 1775. (Birkbeck Hill's 'Boswell', 1887,
ii. 298. )
l. 88. -----
"Our Townshend". See note to line 34.
l. 89. -----
"New Lauders and Bowers". See note to l. 80.
l. 92. -----
"And Scotchman meet Scotchman, and cheat in the dark".
Mitford compares Farquhar's 'Love and a Bottle', 1699, Act iii--
But gods meet gods and jostle in the dark.
But Farquhar was quoting from Dryden and Lee's 'Oedipus', 1679,
Act iv (at end).
l. 93. -----
"Here lies David Garrick". 'The sum of all that can be
said for and against Mr. Garrick, some people think, may be
found in these lines of Goldsmith,' writes Davies in his 'Life
of Garrick', 2nd ed. , 1780, ii. 159. Posterity has been less
hesitating in its verdict. 'The lines on Garrick,' says Forster,
'Life of Goldsmith', 1871, ii. 409, 'are quite perfect writing.
Without anger, the satire is finished, keen, and uncompromising;
the wit is adorned by most discriminating praise; and the truth
is only the more unsparing for its exquisite good manners and
good taste. '
l. 115. -----
"Ye Kenricks". See note to line 86.
"ye Kellys". Hugh Kelly (1739-1777), an Irishman, the author of
'False Delicacy', 1768; 'A Word to the Wise', 1770; 'The School
for Wives', 1774, and other 'sentimental dramas,' is here
referred to. His first play, which is described in Garrick's
prologue as a 'Sermon,' 'preach'd in Acts,' was produced at
Drury Lane just six days before Goldsmith's comedy of 'The Good
Natur'd Man' appeared at Covent Garden, and obtained a success
which it ill deserved. 'False Delicacy' -- said Johnson truly
(Birkbeck Hill's 'Boswell', 1887, ii. 48) -- 'was totally void
of character,' -- a crushing accusation to make against a drama.
But Garrick, for his private ends, had taken up Kelly as a rival
to Goldsmith; and the 'comedie serieuse' or 'larmoyante' of La
Chaussee, Sedaine, and Diderot had already found votaries in
England. 'False Delicacy', weak, washy, and invertebrate as it
was, completed the transformation of 'genteel' into
'sentimental' comedy, and establishing that 'genre' for the next
few years, effectually retarded the wholesome reaction towards
humour and character which Goldsmith had tried to promote by
'The Good Natur'd Man'. (See note to l. 66. )
"Woodfalls". 'William Woodfall' -- says Bolton Corney --
'successively editor of 'The London Packet' and 'The Morning
Chronicle', was matchless as a reporter of speeches, and an able
theatrical critic. He made lofty pretensions to editorial
impartiality -- but the actor [i. e. Garrick] was not 'always'
satisfied. ' He died in 1803. He must not be confounded with
Henry Sampson Woodfall, the editor of Junius's 'Letters'. (See
note to l. 162. )
l. 120. -----
"To act as an angel". There is a sub-ironic touch in
this phrase which should not be overlooked. Cf. l. 102.
l. 125. -----
"Here Hickey reclines". See note to l. 15. In
Cumberland's 'Poetical Epistle to Dr. Goldsmith; or Supplement
to his Retaliation' {'Gentleman's Magazine', Aug. 1778, p. 384)
Hickey's genial qualities are thus referred to:--
Give RIDGE and HICKY, generous souls!
Of WHISKEY PUNCH convivial bowls.
l. 134. -----
"a special attorney". A special attorney was merely an
attorney who practised in one court only. The species is now
said to be extinct.
l. 135. -----
"burn ye". The annotator of the second edition,
apologizing for this 'forced' rhyme to 'attorney,' informs the
English reader that the phrase of 'burn ye' is 'a familiar
method of salutation in Ireland amongst the lower classes of the
people. '
l. 137.
-----
"Here Reynolds is laid". This shares the palm with the
admirable epitaphs on Garrick and Burke. But Goldsmith loved
Reynolds, and there are no satiric strokes in the picture. If we
are to believe Malone (Reynolds's 'Works', second edition, 1801,
i. xc), 'these were the last lines the author wrote. '
l. 140. -----
"bland". Malone ('ut supra', lxxxix) notes this word
as 'eminently happy, and characteristick of his [Reynolds's]
easy and placid manners. ' Boswell (Dedication of 'Life of
Johnson') refers to his 'equal and placid temper. ' Cf. also Dean
Barnard's verses (Northcote's 'Life of Reynolds', 2nd ed. , 1819,
i. 220), and Mrs. Piozzi's lines in her 'Autobiography', 2nd
ed. , 1861, ii. 175-6.
l. 146. -----
"He shifted his trumpet". While studying Raphael in
the Vatican in 1751, Reynolds caught so severe a cold 'as to
occasion a deafness which obliged him to use an ear-trumpet for
the remainder of his life. ' (Taylor and Leslie's 'Reynolds',
1865, i. 50. ) This instrument figures in a portrait of himself
which he painted for Thrale about 1775. See also Zoffany's
picture of the 'Academicians gathered about the model in the
Life School at Somerset House,' 1772, where he is shown
employing it to catch the conversation of Wilton and Chambers.
"and only took snuff". Sir Joshua was a great snuff-taker. His
snuff-box, described in the Catalogue as the one 'immortalized
in Goldsmith's 'Retaliation',' was exhibited, with his
spectacles and other personal relics, at the Grosvenor Gallery
in 1883-4. In the early editions this epitaph breaks off
abruptly at the word 'snuff. ' But Malone says that half a line
more had been written. Prior gives this half line as 'By
flattery unspoiled --,' and affirms that among several erasures
in the manuscript sketch devoted to Reynolds it 'remained
unaltered. ' ('Life', 1837, ii. 499. ) See notes to ll. 53, 56,
and 91 of 'The Haunch of Venison'.
l. 147. -----
"Here Whitefoord reclines". The circumstances which
led to the insertion of these lines in the fifth edition are
detailed in the prefatory words of the publisher given at p. 92.
There is more than a suspicion that Whitefoord wrote them
himself; but they have too long been accepted as an appendage to
the poem to be now displaced. Caleb Whitefoord (born 1734) was a
Scotchman, a wine-merchant, and an art connoisseur, to whom J.
T. Smith, in his 'Life of Nollekens', 1828, i. 333-41, devotes
several pages. He was one of the party at the St. James's
Coffee-house. He died in 1810. There is a caricature of him in
'Connoisseurs inspecting a Collection of George Morland,'
November, 16, 1807; and Wilkie's 'Letter of Introduction', 1814,
was a reminiscence of a visit which, when he first came to
London, he paid to Whitefoord. He was also painted by Reynolds
and Stuart. Hewins's 'Whitefoord Papers', 1898, throw no light
upon the story of the epitaph.
l. 148. -----
"a grave man". Cf. 'Romeo and Juliet', Act iii, Sc. 1:
-- 'Ask for me to-morrow, and you shall find me 'a grave man'. '
This Shakespearean recollection is a little like Goldsmith's
way. (See note to 'The Haunch of Venison', l. 120. )
l. 150. -----
"and rejoic'd in a pun". 'Mr. W. is so notorious a
punster, that Doctor Goldsmith used to say, it was impossible to
keep him company, without being 'infected' with the 'itch of
punning'. ' (Note to fifth edition. )
l. 160. -----
'"if the table he set on a roar". ' Cf. 'Hamlet', Act
v, Sc. I.
l. 162. -----
"Woodfall", i. e. Henry Sampson Woodfall, printer of
'The Public Advertiser'. He died in 1805. (See note to l. 115. )
l. 170. -----
"Cross-Readings, Ship-News, and Mistakes of the Press".
Over the 'nom de guerre' of 'Papyrius Cursor,' a real Roman
name, but as happy in its applicability as Thackeray's 'Manlius
Pennialinus,' Whitefoord contributed many specimens of this
mechanic wit to 'The Public Advertiser'. The 'Cross Readings'
were obtained by taking two or three columns of a newspaper
horizontally and 'onwards' instead of 'vertically' and
downwards, thus:--
Colds caught at this season are
The Companion to the Playhouse.
or
To be sold to the best Bidder,
My seat in Parliament being vacated.
A more elaborate example is
On Tuesday an address was presented;
it unhappily missed fire and the villain made off,
when the honour of knighthood was conferred on him
to the great joy of that noble family
Goldsmith was hugely delighted with Whitefoord's 'lucky
inventions' when they first became popular in 1766. 'He
declared, in the heat of his admiration of them, it would have
given him more pleasure to have been the author of them than of
all the works he had ever published of his own' (Northcote's
'Life of Reynolds', 2nd ed. , 1819, i. 217). What is perhaps more
remarkable is, that Johnson spoke of Whitefoord's performances
as 'ingenious and diverting' (Birkbeck Hill's 'Boswell', 1887,
iv. 322); and Horace Walpole laughed over them till he cried
(Letter to Montagu, December 12, 1766). To use Voltaire's
witticism, he is 'bien heureux' who can laugh now. It may be
added that Whitefoord did not, as he claimed, originate the
'Cross Readings. ' They had been anticipated in No. 49 of
Harrison's spurious 'Tatler', vol. v [1720].
The fashion of the 'Ship-News' was in this wise: 'August 25
[1765]. We hear that his Majestys Ship 'Newcastle' will soon
have a new figurehead, the old one being almost worn out. ' The
'Mistakes of the Press' explain themselves. (See also Smith's
'Life of Nollekens', 1828, i. 336-7; Debrett's 'New Foundling
Hospital for Wit', 1784, vol. ii, and 'Gentleman's Magazine',
1810, p. 300. )
l. 172. -----
"That a Scot may have humour, I had almost said wit".
Goldsmith, -- if he wrote these verses, -- must have forgotten
that he had already credited Whitefoord with 'wit' in l. 153.
l. 174. -----
"Thou best humour'd man with the worst humour'd muse".
Cf. Rochester of Lord Buckhurst, afterwards Earl of Dorset:--
The best good man, with the worst-natur'd muse.
Whitefoord's contribution to the epitaphs on Goldsmith is said
to have been unusually severe, -- so severe that four only of
its eight lines are quoted in the 'Whitefoord Papers', 1898, the
rest being 'unfit for publication' (p. xxvii). He afterwards
addressed a metrical apology to Sir Joshua, which is printed at
pp. 217-8 of Northcote's 'Life', 2nd ed. , 1819. See also
Forster's 'Goldsmith', 1871, ii. 408-9.
SONG FOR 'SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER. '
Boswell, to whom we are indebted for the preservation of this
lively song, sent it to 'The London Magazine' for June, 1774
(vol. xliii, p. 295), with the following:--
'To the Editor of 'The London Magazine'.
SIR, -- I send you a small production of the late Dr. 'Goldsmith', which
has never been published, and which might perhaps have been totally lost
had I not secured it. He intended it as a song in the character of Miss
'Hardcastle', in his admirable comedy, 'She stoops to conquer'; but it
was left out, as Mrs. 'Bulkley' who played the part did not sing. He
sung it himself in private companies very agreeably. The tune is a
pretty Irish air, called 'The Humours of Balamagairy', to which, he told
me, he found it very difficult to adapt words; but he has succeeded
happily in these few lines. As I could sing the tune, and was fond of
them, he was so good as to give me them about a year ago, just as I was
leaving London, and bidding him adieu for that season, little
apprehending that it was a last farewell. I preserve this little relick
in his own handwriting with an affectionate care.
I am, Sir,
Your humble Servant,
JAMES BOSWELL. '
When, seventeen years later, Boswell published his 'Life of Samuel
Johnson, LL. D. ', he gave an account of his dining at General
Oglethorpe's in April, 1773, with Johnson and Goldsmith; and he says
that the latter sang the 'Three Jolly Pigeons', and this song, to the
ladies in the tea-room. Croker, in a note, adds that the younger Colman
more appropriately employed the 'essentially low comic' air for Looney
Mactwolter in the ['Review; or the] Wags of Windsor', 1808 [i. e. in that
character's song beginning -- 'Oh, whack! Cupid's a mannikin'], and that
Moore tried to bring it into good company in the ninth number of the
'Irish Melodies'. But Croker did not admire the tune, and thought poorly
of Goldsmith's words. Yet they are certainly fresher than Colman's or
Moore's:--
Sing -- sing -- Music was given,
To brighten the gay, and kindle the loving;
Souls here, like planets in Heaven,
By harmony's laws alone are kept moving, etc.
TRANSLATION.
These lines, which appear at p. 312 of vol. V of the 'History of the
Earth and Animated Nature', 1774, are freely translated from some Latin
verses by Addison in No 412 of the 'Spectator', where they are
introduced as follows:-- 'Thus we see that every different Species of
sensible Creatures has its different Notions of Beauty, and that each of
them is most affected with the Beauties of its own kind. This is nowhere
more remarkable than in Birds of the same Shape and Proportion, where we
often see the Male determined in his Courtship by the single Grain or
Tincture of a Feather, and never discovering any Charms but in the
Colour of its own Species. ' Addison's lines, of which Goldsmith
translated the first fourteen only, are printed from his corrected MS.
at p. 4 of 'Some Portions of Essays contributed to the Spectator by Mr.
Joseph Addison [by the late J. Dykes Campbell], 1864.
THE HAUNCH OF VENISON.
It is supposed that this poem was written early in 1771, although it was
not printed until 1776, when it was published by G. Kearsly and J.
Ridley under the title of 'The Haunch of Venison, a Poetical Epistle to
the Lord Clare. By the late Dr. Goldsmith. With a Head of the Author,
Drawn by Henry Bunbury, Esq; and Etched by [James] Bretherton. ' A second
edition, the text of which is here followed, appeared in the same year
'With considerable Additions and Corrections, Taken from the Author's
'last' Transcript. ' The Lord Clare to whom the verses are addressed was
Robert Nugent, of Carlanstown, Westmeath, M. P. for St. Mawes in 1741-54.
In 1766 he was created Viscount Clare; in 1776 Earl Nugent. In his youth
he had himself been an easy if not very original versifier; and there
are several of his performances in the second volume of Dodsley's
'Collection of Poems by Several Hands', 4th ed. , 1755. One of the
Epistles, beginning 'Clarinda, dearly lov'd, attend The Counsels of a
faithful friend,' seems to have betrayed Goldsmith into the blunder of
confusing it, in the 'Poems for Young Ladies'. 1767, p. 114, with
Lyttelton's better-known 'Advice to a Lady' ('The counsels of a friend,
Belinda, hear'), also in Dodsley's miscellany; while another piece, an
'Ode to William Pultney, Esq. ', contains a stanza so good that Gibbon
worked it into his character of Brutus:--
What tho' the good, the brave, the wise,
With adverse force undaunted rise,
To break th' eternal doom!
Tho' CATO liv'd, tho' TULLY spoke,
Tho' BRUTUS dealt the godlike stroke,
Yet perish'd fated ROME.
Detraction, however, has insinuated that Mallet, his step-son's tutor,
was Nugent's penholder in this instance. 'Mr. Nugent sure did not write
his own Ode,' says Gray to Walpole (Gray's 'Works', by Gosse, 1884, ii.
220). Earl Nugent died in Dublin in October, 1788, and was buried at
Gosfield in Essex, a property he had acquired with his second wife. A
'Memoir' of him was written in 1898 by Mr. Claud Nugent. He is described
by Cunningham as 'a big, jovial, voluptuous Irishman, with a loud voice,
a strong Irish accent, and a ready though coarse wit. ' According to
Percy ('Memoir', 1801, p. 66), he had been attracted to Goldsmith by the
publication of 'The Traveller' in 1764, and he mentioned him favourably
to the Earl of Northumberland, then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. A note
in Forster's 'Life', 1871, ii. 329-30, speaks of Goldsmith as a frequent
visitor at Gosfield, and at Nugent's house in Great George Street,
Westminster, where he had often for playmate his host's daughter, Mary,
afterwards Marchioness of Buckingham.
Scott and others regarded 'The Haunch of Venison' as autobiographical.
To what extent this is the case, it is difficult to say. That it
represents the actual thanks of the poet to Lord Clare for an actual
present of venison, part of which he promptly transferred to Reynolds,
is probably the fact. But, as the following notes show, it is also clear
that Goldsmith borrowed, if not his entire fable, at least some of its
details from Boileau's third satire; and that, in certain of the lines,
he had in memory Swift's 'Grand Question Debated', the measure of which
he adopts. This throws more than a doubt upon the truth of the whole.
'His genius' (as Hazlitt says) 'was a mixture of originality and
imitation'; and fact and fiction often mingle inseparably in his work.
The author of the bailiff scene in the 'Good Natur'd Man' was quite
capable of inventing for the nonce the tragedy of the unbaked pasty, or
of selecting from the Pilkingtons and Purdons of his acquaintance such
appropriate guests for his Mile End Amphitryon as the writers of the
'Snarler' and the 'Scourge'. It may indeed even be doubted whether, if
'The Haunch of Venison' had been absolute personal history, Goldsmith
would ever have retailed it to his noble patron at Gosfield, although it
may include enough of real experience to serve as the basis for a 'jeu
d'esprit'.
l. 4. -----
"The fat was so white, etc. " The first version reads --
'The white was so white, and the red was so ruddy. '
l. 5. -----
"Though my stomach was sharp, etc.
