The one is a Scotchman, the other a Jew, They both of them merry, and authors like you :' At the top a fried liver and bacon were seen, Pray, a slice of your liver, though, may I be curst, 1 2 "Who dabble and write in the papers like you.'"-First Edition. "In the middle a place where the Venison-was not."-First Edition. 3 "Before I would stoop to slavery, may this be my poison (and he held the goblet in his hand), may this be my poison-but I would sooner list for a soldier." -The Citizen of the World, Letter iv. vol. ii. p. 96. See also vol. iii, p. 264. "Your tripe!' quoth the Jew, if the truth I may speak, 4 I could eat of this tripe seven days in the week.'" "We'll all keep a corner," the lady cried out; Wak'd Priam in drawing his curtains by night. But we quickly found out-for who could mistake her?— And so it fell out; for that negligent sloven "The leading idea of 'The Haunch of Venison' is taken from Boileau's third satire (which itself was, no doubt, suggested by Horace's raillery of the banquet of Nasidienus); and two or three of the passages which one would, a priori, have pronounced the most original and natural are closely copied from the French poet: 'We'll have Johnson and Burke: all the wits will be there; My acquaintance is slight, or I'd ask my Lord Clare. Molière avec Tartuffe y doit jouer son rôle, Et Lambert, qui plus est, m'a donné sa parole.' 'My friend bade me welcome, but struck me quite dumb A peine étais-je entré, que, ravi de me voir, Nous n'avons, m'a-t-il dit, ni Lambert ni Molière.' But, to be sure, Goldsmith's host, and his wife 'Little Kitty,' and the Scot, and the Jew, with his chocolate cheek,' are infinitely more droll and more natural than Boileau's deux campagnards. The details of the dinner, too, overdone and tedious in Boileau, are touched by Goldsmith with a pleasantry not carried too far."-CROKER. THE CAPTIVITY. An Oratorio' IN THREE ACTS. Written in 1764, but never set to music, or even published by its author. It is here printed from the original manuscript in Goldsmith's handwriting, in the possession of Mr. Murray, of Albemarle Street, compared with the copy printed by Messrs. Prior and Wright in 1837. I have adopted the most poetical readings of both copies. For this oratorio Goldsmith received at least ten guineas. In Mr. Murray's collection is the following receipt in Goldsmith's handwriting: "Received from Mr. Dodsley ten guineas for an oratorio, which he and Mr. Newbery are to share. "October 31st, 1764." "OLIVER GOLDSMITH. Mr. Murray's MS. is the copy sold by Goldsmith to James Dodsley. |