[GOLDSMITH'S 'Essays' have been frequently reprinted, either separately, or in the same volume with his 'Poems. Some of these Essays were collected from the Citizen of the World,' and the 'Bee,' and in the present edition these have been restored to their place in the works to which they properly belong. Most of them were contributed to the British Magazine (of which Smollett was then editor), and other periodical publications, with which Goldsmith had no more special connection. They were written between the year 1758, when the author first began to write for the press, and 1765, when they were published in a collected form.-B. 6 The first edition was published by "W. Griffin, in Fetter Lane,” 1765. This contained twenty-seven essays, and was in 12mo. Its title was Essays by Mr. Goldsmith. Collecta revirescunt.' The second edition appeared in 1766, with the title slightly altered, as on the preceding page, and the publisher's address showing that he had removed to "Catherine Street.' This was the first edition "corrected," and having two more essays, viz., the essay "Written at the time of the last Coronation" and that "To the Printer." This edition appears to have been the last issued in the author's lifetime, and to it, accordingly, we have, in the main, gone for our text. Two other editions appeared in 1775, the year after Goldsmith's death, one by W. Griffin, the original publisher, and the other by Rivingtons. We give in the present edition the essays afterwards collected by Percy, but have separated these from the author's own collection.-ED.] 1 The Essays of the 1766 edition, now given in their original places, CONTENTS. Preface to the Essays ESSAYS. I. Description of various Clubs II. Specimen of a Magazine in Miniature III. Asem, an Eastern Tale; or a Vindication of the Wisdom PAGE 245 249 259 of Providence in the Moral Government of the World. 263 IV. On the English Clergy and Popular Preachers VII. Rules enjoined to be observed at a Russian Assembly 270 275 290 299 301 304 307 IX. From a Common-Councilman. [On the Superabundance of " Addresses" to Royalty] X. To the Printer. [Seeing the Coronation] ESSAYS COLLECTED BY BISHOP PERCY. IV. On Poetry, as distinguished from other Writing 352 Schools of Music, Objections thereto, and Answers. [The Tenants of the Leasowes:] A Poet's Garden Essay on the Theatre; or a Comparison between Senti mental and Laughing Comedy A Register of Scotch Marriages On the Dignity of Human Nature1 'Percy concluded his collection with an essay so titled, but this we omit, simply because the "Dignity of Human Nature" is merely a reprint of Letter CXV. of the Citizen of the World,' and duly appears in its proper place, and with its proper title,-" On the Danger of having too high an opinion of Human Nature "-in our vol. iii.-ED. THE PREFACE. [BY GOLDSMITH.] THE following Essays have already appeared at different times, and in different publications. The pamphlets in which they were inserted being generally unsuccessful, these shared the common fate, without assisting the bookseller's aims, or extending the writer's reputation. The public were too strenuously employed with their own follies to be assiduous in estimating mine; so that many of my best attempts in this way have fallen victims to the transient topic of the times-the Ghost in Cock Lane, or the siege of Ticonderago. But though they have past pretty silently into the world, I can by no means complain of their circulation. The magazines and papers of the day have indeed been. liberal enough in this respect. Most of these Essays have been regularly reprinted twice or thrice a-year, and conveyed to the public through the kennel of some engaging compilation. If there be a pride in multiplied editions, I have seen some of my labours sixteen times reprinted, and claimed by different parents as their own. I have seen them flourished at the beginning with praise, and signed at the end with the names of Philantos, Philalethes, Philalutheros, and Philanthropos.' These gentlemen have kindly stood sponsors to my productions, and, to flatter me more, have always taken my errors on themselves.2 1 See' Vicar of Wakefield,' ch. xx. ante, p. 159.—Ed. 2 So in the second edition. The first has-"past them as their own." -ED. |