Yet bless'd with original powers like these,
His principal forte was on paper to please;
Like a fleet-footed hunter, though first in the chase,
On the road of plain sense he oft slacken'd his pace;
Whilst Dulness and Cunning, by whipping and goring,
Their hard-footed hacknies paraded before him.
Compounded likewise of such primitive parts,

That his manners alone would have gain'd him our hearts.
So simple in truth, so ingenuously kind,

So ready to feel for the wants of mankind;
Yet praise but an author of popular quill,
This flux of philanthropy quickly stood still;
Transform'd from himself, he grew meanly severe,
And rail'd at those talents he ought not to fear.

Such then were his foibles; but though they were such As shadow'd the picture a little too much,

The style was all graceful, expressive, and grand,
And the whole the result of a masterly hand.

Then hear me, blest spirit! now seated above,

Where all is beatitude, concord, and love,
If e'er thy regards were bestow'd on mankind,

THY MUSE AS A LEGACY LEAVE US BEHIND.

I ask it by proxy for letters and fame,

As the pride of our heart, and the old English name.

I demand it as such for virtue and truth,

As the solace of age, and the guide of our youth.
Consider what poets surround us-how dull!
From Minstrelsy Be to Rosamond H-II!
Consider what K-

Consider what K

O! protect us from

-ys enervate the stage;

-cks may poison the age; such, nor let it be said,

That in Goldsmith the last British poet lies dead!”

"In an age where genius and learning are too generally sacrificed to the purposes of ambition and avarice, it is the consolation of virtue, as well as of its friends, that they can commemorate the name of Goldsmith as a shining example to the contrary.

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Early compelled (like many of our greatest men) into the service of the muses, he never once permitted his necessities to have the least improper influence on his conduct; but knowing and respecting the honourable line of his profession, he made no farther use of fiction than to set off the dignity of truth; and in this he succeeded so happily, that his writings stamp him no less the man of genius than the universal friend of mankind.

"Such is the short outline of his public character, which, perhaps, will be remembered whilst the first-rate poets of this country have any monuments left them. But, alas! his nobler and immortal part, the good man, is only consigned to the short-lived memory of those who are left to lament his death.

"Having naturally a powerful bias on his mind to the cause of virtue, he was cheerful and indefatigable in every pursuit of it. Warm in his friendships, gentle in his manners, and in every act of charity and benevolence ‹ the very milk of human nature.' Nay, even his foibles and little weaknesses of temper may be said rather to simplify than degrade his understanding; for though there may be many instances adduced to prove he was no man of the world, most of those instances would attest the unadulterated purity of his heart.

"One who esteemed the kindness and friendship of such a man, as forming a principal part of the happiness of his life, pays this last sincere and grateful tribute to his memory.” 7

DR. JOHNSON, speaking of him a few years after his death, says, "He was a man of such variety of powers, and such felicity of performance, that he always seemed to do best that which he was doing; a man who had the art of being minute without tediousness, and general without confusion; whose language was copious without exuberance, exact without constraint, and easy without weakness."

MR. BOSWELL, who well knew Goldsmith, says, "No man had the art of displaying with more advantage, as a writer, whatever literary acquisition he made.-Nihil quod tetigit non ornavit.-His mind resembled a fertile, but thin soil. There was a quick, but not a strong vegetation, of whatever chanced to be thrown upon it. No deep root could be struck. The oak of the forest did not grow there; but the elegant shrubbery, and the fragrant parterre, appeared in gay succession. It has been generally circulated, and believed, that he was a mere fool in conversation; but, in truth, this has been greatly exaggerated. He had, no doubt, a more

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than common share of that hurry of ideas which we often find in his countrymen, and which sometimes produces a laughable confusion in expressing them. He was very much what the French call un etourdi; and from vanity, and an eager desire of being conspicuous wherever he was, he frequently talked carelessly, without knowledge of the subject, or even without thought. His person was short; his countenance coarse and vulgar; his deportment that of a scholar, awkwardly affecting the easy gentleman. Those who were in any way distinguished, excited envy in him to so ridiculous an excess, that the instances of it are hardly credible.""He, I am afraid, had no settled system of any sort, so that his conduct must not be strictly scrutinized; but his affections were social and generous; and when he had money, he gave it away very liberally."

To these accounts may be added, the following pleasant description of our author, by the sprightly pen of David Garrick :

" HERE, Hermes, says Jove, who with nectar was mellow,
Go, fetch me some clay-I will make an odd fellow.

Right and wrong shall be jumbled; much gold, and some dross;
Without cause be he pleas'd, without cause be he cross:
Be sure, as I work, to throw in contradictions;

A great lover of truth, yet a mind turn'd to fictions.
Now mix these ingredients, which, warm'd in the baking,
Turn to learning and gaming, religion and raking;
With the love of a wench, let his writings be chaste,
Tip his tongue with strange matter, his pen with fine taste;
That the rake and the poet o'er all may prevail,

Set fire to his head, and set fire to his tail:

For the joy of each sex on the world I'll bestow it,
This scholar, rake, christian, dupe, gamester, and poet.
Though a mixture so odd, he shall merit great fame,.
And among brother mortals be Goldsmith his name.
When on earth this strange meteor no more shall appear,
You, Hermes, shall fetch him, to make us sport here."