only the more unsparing for its exquisite good manners and good taste.' 1. 115. Ye Kenricks. See note to line 86. ye Kellys. Hugh Kelly (1739–1777), an Irishman, the author of False Delicacy, 1768; A Word to the Wise, 1770; The School for Wives, 1774, and other ́ sentimental dramas,' is here referred to. His first play, which is described in Garrick's prologue as a 'Sermon,' 'preach'd in Acts,' was produced at Drury Lane just six days before Goldsmith's comedy of The Good Natur'd Man appeared at Covent Garden, and obtained a success which it ill deserved. False Delicacy-said Johnson truly (Birkbeck Hill's Boswell, 1887, ii. 48)—' was totally void of character,'— a crushing accusation to make against a drama. But Garrick, for his private ends, had taken up Kelly as a rival to Goldsmith ; and the comédie sérieuse or larmoyante of La Chaussée, Sedaine, and Diderot had already found votaries in Engand. False Delicacy, weak, washy, and invertebrate as it was, completed the transformation of 'genteel' into 'sentimental' comedy, and establishing that genre for the next few years, effectually retarded the wholesome reaction towards humour and character which Goldsmith had tried to promote by The Good Natur'd Man. (See note to l. 66.) Woodfalls. 'William Woodfall' says Bolton Corneysuccessively editor of The London Packet and The Morning Chronicle, was matchless as a reporter of speeches, and an able theatrical critic. He made lofty pretensions to editorial impartiality-but the actor [i. e. Garrick] was not always satisfied.' He died in 1803. He must not be confounded with Henry Sampson Woodfall, the editor of Junius's Letters. (See note to 1. 162.) 1. 120. To act as an angel. There is a sub-ironic touch in this phrase which should not be overlooked. Cf. 1. 102. 1. 125. Here Hickey reclines. See note to l. 15. In Cumberland's Poetical Epistle to Dr. Goldsmith; or Supplement to his Retaliation (Gentleman's Magazine, Aug. 1778, p. 384) Hickey's genial qualities are thus referred to : Give RIDGE and HICKY, generous souls! Of WHISKEY PUNCH convivial bowls. 1. 134. a special attorney. A special attorney was merely an attorney who practised in one court only. The species is now said to be extinct. 1. 135. burn ye. The annotator of the second edition, apologizing for this 'forced' rhyme to 'attorney,' informs the English reader that the phrase of 'burn ye' is ‘a familiar method of salutation in Ireland amongst the lower classes of the people.' 1. 137. Here Reynolds is laid. This shares the palm with the admirable epitaphs on Garrick and Burke. But Goldsmith loved Reynolds, and there are no satiric strokes in the picture. If we are to believe Malone (Reynolds's Works, second edition, 1801, i. xc), these were the last lines the author wrote.' 1. 140. bland. Malone (ut supra, lxxxix) notes this word as ' eminently happy, and characteristick of his [Reynolds's] easy and placid manners.' Boswell (Dedication of Life of Johnson) refers to his 'equal and placid temper.' Cf. also Dean Barnard's verses (Northcote's Life of Reynolds, 2nd ed., 1819, i. 220), and Mrs. Piozzi's lines in her Autobiography, 2nd ed., 1861, ii. 175–6. 1. 146. He shifted his trumpet. While studying Raphael in the Vatican in 1751, Reynolds caught so severe a cold 'as to occasion a deafness which obliged him to use an ear-trumpet for the remainder of his life.' (Taylor and Leslie's Reynolds, 1865, i. 50.) This instrument figures in a portrait of himself which he painted for Thrale about 1775. See also Zoffany's picture of the Academicians gathered about the model in the Life School at Somerset House,' 1772, where he is shown employing it to catch the conversation of Wilton and Chambers. and only took snuff. Sir Joshua was a great snuff-taker. His snuff-box, described in the Catalogue as the one 'immortalized in Goldsmith's Retaliation,' was exhibited, with his spectacles and other personal relics, at the Grosvenor Gallery in 1883-4. In the early editions this epitaph breaks off abruptly at the word 'snuff.' But Malone says that half a line more had been written. Prior gives this half line as 'By flattery unspoiled-,' and affirms that among several erasures in the manuscript sketch devoted to Reynolds it 'remained unaltered.' (Life, 1837, ii. 499.) See notes to ll. 53, 56, and 91 of The Haunch of Venison. 1. 147. Here Whitefoord reclines. The circumstances which led to the insertion of these lines in the fifth edition are detailed in the prefatory words of the publisher given at p. 92. There is more than a suspicion that Whitefoord wrote them himself; but they have too long been accepted as an appendage to the poem to be now displaced. Caleb Whitefoord (born 1734) was a Scotchman, a wine-merchant, and an art connoisseur, to whom J. T. Smith, in his Life of Nollekens, 1828, i. 333-41, devotes several pages. He was one of the party at the St. James's Coffee-house. He died in 1810. There is a caricature of him in 'Connoisseurs inspecting a Collection of George Morland,' November, 16, 1807; and Wilkie's Letter of Introduction, 1814, was a reminiscence of a visit which, when he first came to London, he paid to Whitefoord. He was also painted by Reynolds and Stuart. Hewins's Whitefoord Papers, 1898, throw no light upon the story of the epitaph. 1. 148. a grave man. Cf. Romeo and Juliet, Act iii, Sc. 1:·--'Ask for me to-morrow, and you shall find me a grave man.' This Shakespearean recollection is a little like Goldsmith's way. (See note to The Haunch of Venison, 1. 120.) 1. 150. and rejoic'd in a pun. 'Mr. W. is so notorious a punster, that Doctor Goldsmith used to say, it was impossible to keep him company, without being infected with the itch of punning.' (Note to fifth edition.) 1. 160. if the table he set on a roar.' Cf. Hamlet, Act v, Sc. 1. 1. 162. Woodfall, i. e. Henry Sampson Woodfall, printer of The Public Advertiser. He died in 1805. (See note to l. 115.) 1. 170. Cross-Readings, Ship-News, and Mistakes of the Press. Over the nom de guerre of 'Papyrius Cursor,' a real Roman name, but as happy in its applicability as Thackeray's 'Manlius Pennialinus,' Whitefoord contributed many specimens of this mechanic wit to The Public Advertiser. The 'Cross Readings' were obtained by taking two or three columns of a newspaper horizontally and onwards instead of vertically and downwards, thus:: or Colds caught at this season are To be sold to the best Bidder, My seat in Parliament being vacated. A more elaborate example is On Tuesday an address was presented; it unhappily missed fire and the villain made off, when the honour of knighthood was conferred on him to the great joy of that noble family Goldsmith was hugely delighted with Whitefoord's 'lucky inventions' when they first became popular in 1766. 'He declared, in the heat of his admiration of them, it would have given him more pleasure to have been the author of them than of all the works he had ever published of his own' (Northcote's Life of Reynolds, 2nd ed., 1819, i. 217). What is perhaps more remarkable is, that Johnson spoke of Whitefoord's performances as 'ingenious and diverting' (Birkbeck Hill's Boswell, 1887, iv. 322); and Horace Walpole laughed over them till he cried (Letter to Montagu, December 12, 1766). To use Voltaire's witticism, he is bien heureux who can laugh now. It may be added that Whitefoord did not, as he claimed, originate the 'Cross Readings.' They had been anticipated in No. 49 of Harrison's spurious Tatler, vol. v [1720]. The fashion of the 'Ship-News' was in this wise: 'August 25 [1765]. We hear that his Majestys Ship Newcastle will soon have a new figurehead, the old one being almost worn out.' The 'Mistakes of the Press' explain themselves. (See also Smith's Life of Nollekens, 1828, i. 336-7; Debrett's New Foundling Hospital for Wit, 1784, vol. ii, and Gentleman's Magazine, 1810, p. 300.) 1. 172. That a Scot may have humour, I had almost said wit. Goldsmith,—if he wrote these verses,—must have forgotten that he had already credited Whitefoord with 'wit' in l. 153. 1. 174. Thou best humour'd man with the worst humour'd muse. Cf. Rochester of Lord Buckhurst, afterwards Earl of Dorset : The best good man, with the worst-natur'd muse. Whitefoord's contribution to the epitaphs on Goldsmith is said to have been unusually severe,-so severe that four only of its eight lines are quoted in the Whitefoord Papers, 1898, the rest being 'unfit for publication' (p. xxvii). He afterwards addressed a metrical apology to Sir Joshua, which is printed at pp. 217-8 of Northcote's Life, 2nd ed., 1819. See also Forster's Goldsmith, 1871, ii. 408-9. SONG FOR 'SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER.' Boswell, to whom we are indebted for the preservation of this lively song, sent it to The London Magazine for June, 1774 (vol. xliii, p. 295), with the following : : To the Editor of The London Magazine. SIR,-I send you a small production of the late Dr. Goldsmith, which has never been published, and which might perhaps have been totally lost had I not secured it. He intended it as a song in the character of Miss Hardcastle, in his admirable comedy, She stoops to conquer; but it was left out, as Mrs. Bulkley who played the part did not sing. He sung it himself in private companies very agreeably. The tune is a pretty Irish air, called The Humours of Balamagairy, to which, he told me, he found it very difficult to adapt words; but he has succeeded happily in these few lines. As I could sing the tune, and was fond of them, he was so good as to give me them about a year ago, just as I was leaving London, and bidding him adieu for that season, little apprehending that it was a last farewell. I preserve this little relick in his own handwriting with an affectionate care. I am, Sir, Your humble Servant, JAMES BOSWELL.' When, seventeen years later, Boswell published his Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D., he gave an account of his dining at General Oglethorpe's in April, 1773, with Johnson and Goldsmith; and he says that the latter sang the Three Jolly Pigeons, and this song, to the ladies in the tea-room. Croker, in a note, adds that the younger Colman more appropriately employed the essentially low comic' air for Looney Mactwolter in the [Review; or the] Wags of Windsor, 1808 [i. e. in that character's song beginning-'Oh, whack! Cupid 's a mannikin '], and that Moore tried to bring it into good company in the ninth number of the Irish Melodies. But Croker did not admire the tune, and thought poorly of Goldsmith's words. Yet they are certainly fresher Sing-sing-Music was given, To brighten the gay, and kindle the loving; By harmony's laws alone are kept moving, &c. |