So doubtful was the publisher, who had bought the manuscript for £60, that he held it back for two years, until the name of the author had become known through _The Traveller_, and was thus a guarantee for its success. The _Vicar of Wakefield_ has also an additional value in its delineation of manners, persons, and conditions in that day, and in its strictures upon the English penal law, in such terms and with such suggestions as seem a prophecy of the changes which have since taken place.
HISTORIES, AND OTHER WORKS.--Of Goldsmith's various histories it may be said that they are of value for the clear, if superficial, presentation of facts, and for their charm of style.
The best is, without doubt, _The History of England_; but the _Histories of Greece and Rome_, re-edited, are still used as text-books in many schools. The _Vicar_ has been translated into most of the modern languages, and imitated by many writers since.
As an essayist, Goldsmith has been a great enricher of English history. His Chinese letters--for the idea of which he was indebted to the _Lettres Persanes_ of Montesquieu--describe England in his day with the same _vraisemblance_ which we have noticed in _The Spectator_. These were afterwards collected and published in a volume entitled _The Citizen of the World_. And besides the pleasure of biography, and the humor of the presentment, his _Life of Beau Nash_ introduces us to Bath and its frequenters with historical power. The life at the Spring is one and a very valuable phase of English society.
As a dramatist, he was more than equalled by Sheridan; but his two plays, _The Good-Natured Man_ and _She Stoops to Conquer_, are still favorites upon the stage.
The irregularities of Goldsmith's private life seem to have been rather defects in his character than intentional wrong-doings. Generous to a fault, squandering without thought what was due to his creditors, losing at play, he lived in continual pecuniary embarrassment, and died unhappy, with a debt of £1000, the existence of which led Johnson to ejaculate, "Was ever poet so trusted before?" He lived a bachelor; and the conclusion seems forced upon us that had he married a woman who could have controlled him, he, would have been a happier and more respectable man, but perhaps have done less for literature than he did.