9 GEMS OF GOLDSMITH. ...THE TRAVELLER, With Botes and Illustrations. TOGETHER WITH A SKETCH OF THE GREAT AUTHOR. NEW YORK: S. R. WELLS & CO., 737 BROADWAY. 1880. INTRODUCTION. HIS Poem is said by the biographers of Goldsmith to be founded on his adventurous wanderings, "flute in hand," on the continent of Europe in the years 1754 and 1755. One says: "In these wanderings he encountered many privations. After a hard day's toil ho knew what it was to be refused a night's shelter at a peasant's cottage. His flare aid him good service except while in Italy, where, as he says, ys,.. every, peasant was a better musician than I." He had also become a good disputant; and by maintaining his ground in the open discussions going on in the universities and convents on certain days, he was open to claim the gratuity of a small sum of money, a dinner, and a bed for one night." “The Traveller" was published in December, 1764, and for the first time Goldsmith's name appeared as an author, the numerous works which he had written previously having been published by the booksellers without allusion to their authorship. Dr. Johnson examined the proof-sheets, and favorably considered it in the Critical Review. The Poem proved a great success, and made Goldsmith's name famous. It had been his dream for eight years, and the writing of it his principal solace in many hours of affliction. So much care did he bestow upon the work, that Johnson pronounced it to be "a poem to which it would not be easy to find anything equal since the death of Pope;" and Charles Fox said that "The Traveller" was "one of the first poems in the English language." Up to the time of its author's death there were nine |