A few of his ballads and songs display great lyric power, but the most of
his poetry is not lyric; it is rather a blending of the pastoral and epic
with rare success. His minor poems are few, but favorites. Among these is
the beautiful ballad entitled _Edwin and Angelina_, or _The Hermit_, which
first appeared in _The Vicar of Wakefield_, but which has since been
printed separately among his poems. Of its kind and class it has no
superior. _Retaliation_ is a humorous epitaph upon his friends and
co-literati, hitting off their characteristics with truth and point; and
_The Haunch of Venison_--upon which he did not dine--is an amusing
incident which might have happened to any Londoner like himself, but which
no one could have related so well as he.
He died in 1774, at the age of forty-five; but his fame--his better
life--is more vigorous than ever. Washington Irving, whose writings are
similar in style to those of Goldsmith, has extended and perpetuated his
reputation in America by writing his Biography; a charming work, many
touches of which seem almost autobiographical, as displaying the
resemblance between the writer and his subject.
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