taught general, the Rev. George Walker, a clergyman, who had chanced to take refuge in that city; and who with the assistance of one or two officers, accidentally there, conducted their defence with such admirable courage, skill, and judgment, and was so well seconded by the persevering valour, fortitude, and patience of the poor destitute inhabitants, that they finally saved the city, and thereby in effect, as was then judged, the whole kingdom.

This extraordinary man, is slightly mentioned by Goldsmith, as "one Walker a dissenting minister :" for which he received a proper reproof in the following letter.

TO DR. GOLDSMITH.

SIR,

I BEG leave to acquaint you, there is a mistake in your Abridgement of the History of England, respecting Dr. Walker, viz. one Walker a dissenting minister.

1 venture to assure you, Mr. Walker was a clergyman of the established church of Ireland, that was appointed Bishop of Dromore by king William for his services at Derry; but was unfortunately killed at the battle of the Boyne. Which I hope you will

be

be pleased to insert in future editions of book.

your late

The Duke of Schomberg was certainly killed in passing the river Boyne. I am, Sir, with great respect,

Your most obedient humble servant,

THOMAS WOOLSEY.

Dundalk, April 10, 1772.

Had this ecclesiastic been, as Goldsmith supposed, a dissenting minister, he ought not to have passed over with so little notice a man, of whatever profession, who had been the instrument of saving so many lives and a whole city from destruction. But it was the fate of Walker to be considered with almost as little attention by king William himself, to whose cause he had afforded such important assistance. For when the king heard he was killed in the field of battle, he asked with true Batavian sang froid, "What business had he there?" But his Majesty should have considered, that although Mr. Walker wore a black coat and not a red one, he had shown great skill and courage in one of the most arduous services in war; that he had displayed a very superior genius for military command, and had been led by a natural and allowable curiosity to view the conduct of a battle under so distinguished a commander,

VOL. I.

g

and

and to examine cirtically a subject, in one branch of which he had shown himself so great a master.*

Besides his regular histories, of which Dr. Johnson thought very favourably†, Goldsmith had all the other business of an author by profession: he wrote introductions and prefaces to the books and compilations of other writers; many of which have never come to our notice, but such as have occurred will be inserted in this collection. They all exhibit ingenious proofs of his talents as a composer, and generally give a better display of the subjects than could have been done by their own authors. But herein he is rather to be considered as an advocate pleading the cause of another, than delivering his own sentiments, for he often recommends the peculiarities, if not the defects of a work; which, if his

pen were engaged on the other side, he would with equal ability and eloquence detect. The reader will find something like this in an address to the public, which was to usher in proposals (dated March

* A curious journal, which he had kept of all that passed during the siege, was published at that time in 4to. and republished by the late Dr. Brown, author of the Estimate, &c.

One very remarkable providence happened to the besieged, who, being reduced by extremest famine to eat unwholesome food, were dying fast of the bloody flux: when accidentally discovering some concealed barrels of starch and tallow, had thereby theif hunger not only relieved, but were cured of their disentery.

Boswell, Vol. ii. p. 234.

1,1764)

1,1764), for "A New History of the World from "the Creation to the present Time. By William "Guthrie, Esq. &c. in 12 volumes, 8vo. to be printed "for Newbery, &c." This was to be an abridgment of all the volumes of the ancient and modern universal histories: and he urges a great variety of topics in praise of such contracting and condensing histories as the present subject required; which with equal ingenuity he could have opposed and confuted. But the whole is excellent as a composition. In the preceding year, he drew up a Preface or Introduction to Dr. Brooks's "System of Natural History," 1763, in 6 vols. 12mo. a very dull and uninteresting work; but in this preface he gave such an admirable display of the subject, which he rendered so extremely interesting and captivating, that both himself and the booksellers were induced by it to engage him in his larger work of the "History of the Earth and "Animated Nature." This, although finely written, is full of mistakes and defects, from which this preliminary essay or prospectus of the subject is entirely free of this work Dr. Johnson said, He is now writing a Natural History, and will make it as entertaining as a Persian tale.'*

He also drew up a "Life of Parnell," to be prefixed to an edition of his poems, in which the want of incidents in the private life of a scholar, is very ingeniously supplied by the biographer's reflections.

*Boswell's Life. Vol. ii. p. 236,

g 2

Johnson

Johnson in his lives of the Poets says, The life of Dr. Parnell is a task which I should very willingly decline, since it has lately been written by Goldsmith, a man of such variety of powers, and such felicity of performance that he always seemed to do best that which he was doing; a man who had the art of being minute without tediousness, and general without confusion: whose language was copious without exuberance, exact without constraint, and easy without weakness.

'What such an author told, who would tell again? I have made an abstract from his larger narration: and have this gratification from my attempt, that it gives me an opportunity of paying due tribute to the memory of Goldsmith.'

Το γαρ γέρας επί θανόντων.

In another of his undertakings for the trade he was not so successful; for, being desired by Griffin the bookseller to make a selection of elegant poems from our best English classics, for the use of boarding schools, and to prefix to it one of his captivating prefaces, he carelessly, without reading it, marked for the printer one of the most indecent tales of Prior. This, as might be supposed, prevented the sale of the book, which had been printed in two vols. 12mo. Of this production the late ingenious Mr. Headley says, 'Dr. Goldsmith, who was only unhappy amidst all the works he undertook in his

Beauties