of Goldsmith in the possession of the writer and hereafter to be mentioned, it appears that the latter took part with Smollett in the warfare between him and Grainger relative to the translation of Tibullus, and wrote a defence of him on that occasion. The following is the note:

"This MS. is one of the productions of, and in the hand-writing of Dr. Goldsmith. It was given to me by Mr. Steevens, who received it from Hamilton, the printer. He had also another MS. by the Doctor, a defence of Dr. Smollett against Dr. Grainger's attack on him relative to the criticism on Tibullus in the Critical Review. This last I think Mr. Stevens gave to Mr. Beauclerk."

This piece, though probably still in existence, has not been discovered. It was no doubt written for the Review, but whether published cannot be certainly known until found and compared with the article in that journal for February 1759, which forms Smollett's defence, and where Grainger's intemperate and extremely personal reply to the supposed criticism of Smollett on his translation in the previous December, is answered in a manner scarcely less vituperative.

*

imagination and an innate love of change; furnished with a body capable of sustaining every fatigue, and a heart not easily terrified at danger."

* The spirit in which this quarrel was conducted will be seen from the following extracts. The first is from the conclusion of the Review of Goldsmith's Enquiry into Polite Learning.

Sixteen pages of the Review are occupied by this paper, which from its tone and language is not likely to be wholly, if at all, from the pen of Goldsmith, or if so, it is unlike any thing else from the same source. Smollett, in return to a personal attack, would no doubt trust only to himself for vindication. But as Goldsmith also appears from the preceding memorandum to have written something in defence of his coadjutor to whom he was probably under obligations, the former may have embodied in the reply such parts of this paper as related to the merely literary demerits of the work

"N. B. We must observe that, against his own conviction, this author has indiscriminately censured the two Reviews, confounding a work undertaken from public spirit (meaning the Critical) with one supported for the sordid purposes of a bookseller. It might not become us to say more on this subject."

"Whereas one of the owls belonging to the proprietor of the M-thly R —w which answers to the name of Grainger, hath suddenly broke from his mew, where he used to hoot in darkness and peace, and now screeches openly in the face of day, we shall take the first opportunity to chastise this troublesome owl, and drive him back to his original obscurity."

Note to the Critical Rev. Jan. 1759.

This is beneath the dignity of literary contest, if enraged authors at such moments could remember that they have something to lose in public opinion by unseemly exhibitions of temper. Smollett, however, was not without cause of complaint against the rival journal. His "Reprisal, or Tars of Old England," is thus characterised in the Monthly Review for Feb. 1757: "Calculated for the meridian of Bartholomew Fair; but by some unnatural accident (as jarring elements are sometimes made to unite) exhibited eight nights at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane."

under consideration; errors of fact, mistranslation, omissions, and defective or inharmonious lines; for in these respects, his judgment was fully appreciated, his department in both Reviews being classical literature, poetry, the drama, and polite literature generally. There were few of his contemporaries who brought to such subjects more correct taste, or discriminating judgment.

CHAPTER IX.

RESIDENCE IN GREEN-ARBOUR COURT.-THE BEE.-BUSY BODY. LADY'S MAGAZINE. NEWBERY THE BOOKSELLER.

NOTES OF DR. JOHNSON.-SMOLLETT.- BRITISH MAGAZINE.

His residence at this period was on the first floor of the house, No. 12. Green-Arbour Court, between the Old Bailey and what was lately Fleet Market. Here he took up his abode toward the end of 1758; the spot was central, in the immediate vicinity of the booksellers, now his chief or only employers, and here he became well known to his literary brethren, was visited by them, and his lodgings well remembered.

it

This house a few years ago formed the abode, as appears to have done in his own time, of laborious indigence. The adjoining houses likewise presented every appearance of squalid poverty, every floor being occupied by the poorest class; two of the number fell down from age and dilapidation; and the remainder on the same side of the court, including that in which the Poet resided standing in the right-hand corner on entering from Farringdon Street by what is called from their steepness and number Break-neck Steps, were taken down some time afterwards to avoid a similar catastrophe. They were four stories in height; the attics had casement windows, and at one time they were pro

bably inhabited by a superior class of tenants. The site is now occupied by a large building, enclosed by a wall running through the court or square, intended for the stabling and lofts of a waggonoffice.

Several intimate associates at this time remembered and repeated after his death, that while here he had formed the strictest resolutions of future economy. His letters to Ireland, and occasional essays written at this time and in these apartments, impress as we have seen in a preceding page, in the strongest manner the virtues of prudence; and the same friends stated, that for a time he permitted these lessons to influence his conduct. It may be true he had not much to spend; but imprudence may be as marked in the disbursements of a small income as a great; penury and carelessness in the majority of minds, act and re-act in producing each other; and as this seems to have been his own case, he was willing to try what could be done in shaking off two such inconvenient companions. No keen observer of human life, such as he was, could doubt the truth of his prudential maxims, though many persons, and he himself among the number, not only proud but very sensitive to the contempt which penury brings with it, fail to adopt the obvious remedy for their misfortune by becoming economical; and it is said that Goldsmith, however bent on improving his condition, could not long withstand solicitations for