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Ellesmere Guardian, Volume XLV, Issue 3078, 8 April 1927, Page 6

APRIL 4—DEATH OF OLIVER GOLDSMITH One hundred and fifty-three years been one of at least moderate prosperago, on the 4th April, 1774, Dr. Oliver ity, but he promptly forgot all his Goldsmith, one of the most lovable / past privations and launched out. into a characters in the annals of English lit- career of needless extravagance. He craturc, died at the age of 46. purchased the lease of some chambers Few men of genius have expericne- iv the Temple, which he furnished in a cd privations and struggles such as sumptuous manner and where he lavmarked the career of this warm-heart- Lshly entertained his friends, with the cd Irishman, whose works are better result that he was never out of diffiknown and more popular to-day than eultics, and when he died six years those of any of his brilliant contempor- later he left debts amounting to over aries. The majority of his troubles J two thousand pounds, were the result of his own folly, -which The rooms immediately below Goldin his younger days caused him to smith's chambers in the Temple were throw away golden opportunities and occupied by Sir William Blackstone, which, when success came to him and the great lawyer, who complained very a steady income was assured, led him bitterly of the discordant noises made to indulge in reckless extravagance. by a gang of drunken ruffians who ire* When at the age of 27 he left Ley- quented the floor above. "The gang" den University, the third at which he consisted of the most illustrious men had spent a profitless period of study, of the day and included Dr. Johnson, he wandered for a year through Eu- James Boswell, Sir Joshua Reynolds, rope, leading tfic life of a homeless Edmund Burke, David Garrick, Dr. vagabond, and obtaining food and shel- Charles Burney and Edward Gibbon, ter by playing on his flute. He was 28 These great geniuses would vary the when he arrived in London, and having monotony of sparkling conversation failed to make a living in many occu- and exchange of wit by indulging in pations he fell back on the lowest form the lusty singing of jovial chorus songs of literary drudgery, and for eight or a boisterous game of '' Blind Man's years was on the verges of starvation. Buff," so that there seems to have Fame came to him with the publica- been ample justification for the comtion of "The Vicar of Wakefield" and plaints of Blackstone, who was engag"The Traveller," and ho then gained ed at that time in writing- his famous admittance into the circle of brilliant commentaries on the laws of England, men and enjoyed the friendship of Dr. Goldsmith was the soul of generSamuel Johnson, the uncrowned liter- osity, and after his death his rooms ary monarch of the day, but it was were besieged by a swarm of poor pennot until tho production of his play, sioners who loudly bewailed the loss "The Good-Natured Man" twelve of their benefactor. The offer of a years after his advent in London, that tomb in Westminster Abbey was rehe received any large amount of mon- fused by the friends of Goldsmith, and ey for his work. The play brought him in accordance with his own often-ex-five hundred pounds and the assurance .-pressed wish he was laid to rest in the of a remunerative market for future J churchyard of the Temple, the spot in work, and with reasonable providence which he had passed the only happy his life thenceforward would have hours of his otherwise wretched life. (Copyrighted).