The irregularities of Goldsmith's private life seem to have been rather
defects in his character than intentional wrong-doings. Generous to a
fault, squandering without thought what was due to his creditors, losing
at play, he lived in continual pecuniary embarrassment, and died unhappy,
with a debt of L1000, the existence of which led Johnson to ejaculate,
"Was ever poet so trusted before?" He lived a bachelor; and the conclusion
seems forced upon us that had he married a woman who could have controlled
him, he, would have been a happier and more respectable man, but perhaps
have done less for literature than he did.
While Goldsmith was a type and presenter of his age, and while he took no
high flights in the intellectual realms, he so handled what the age
presented that he must be allowed the claim of originality, both in his
poems and in the _Vicar_; and he has had, even to the present day, hosts
of imitators. Poems on college gala-days were for a long time faint
reflections of his _Traveller_, and simple, causal stories of quiet life
are the teeming progeny of the _Vicar_, in spite of the Whistonian
controversy, and the epitaph of his living wife.
Pages:
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506