The poetical works ... With the life of the author / [Oliver Goldsmith].
- Oliver Goldsmith
- Date:
- [1795?]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The poetical works ... With the life of the author / [Oliver Goldsmith]. Source: Wellcome Collection.
25/94 page 21
![’The Deferted Village is generally admired : the cha- raflers are drawn from the life. The defcriptions arc lively and piflurefqiie; and the whole appears lb eafy and natural, as to bear the femblance of hiftorical truth more than poetical fiftion. The Hermit hold equal eftimation with the reft of his poetical produftions; and its beauties did not fail to at- traft the notice of the artift. The fubjecl is delineated in a mafterl/ manner by the pencil of Mr. Kirk, to which ample juftice is done by tlie Engraving of Mr. Anker Smith ; and, through the united ftcill of thofe in- genious Artilts, produces a very chafte and elegant Vignette. His laft Poem of Retaliatioti, to which we have before adverted, is replete with humour, free from fpletn, and forcibly exhibits the prominent features of the feveral , charaflers to which it alludes. Dr. Johnfon, as re- , ported by Mr. Bofwellj fums up his literary charafler in the following concilc manner. “ Take him [Gold- Ihiith] as a Poet, his ’Tra'^jeller is a very fine perfor- mance, and fo is his Defcrtc4 Village, were it not fome- times too much tlie echo of his Ti-aveller. Whether we take him as a Poet, as a Comic Writer, or as an Hiftorian, he (lands in the firft dais.” C](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28779575_0027.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
