Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774), essayist, poet, novelist, playwright, historian, biographer, and editor, was a many-sided genius, who, as Johnson said in his epitaph, left scarcely any kind of writing untouched, and touched none that he did not adorn.  Born, probably, in Co.  Longford, the son of a poor clergyman, he was educated at various country schools until, in 1744, he secured a sizarship in Trinity College, Dublin.  There he had a somewhat stormy career, but eventually took his degree in 1749.  He then lounged at home for a while in his widowed mother’s cottage at Ballymahon, until he was persuaded to take orders, but spoiled his already sufficiently poor chances of ordination by appearing before the bishop of Elphin in scarlet breeches.  After other adventures in search of a profession, he went to Edinburgh in 1752 to study medicine, and two years later transferred himself to Leyden for the same purpose.  It was from Leyden that, with one guinea in his pocket, one shirt on his person, and a flute in his hand, he started on his celebrated walking tour of Europe, during which he gained those impressions which he was afterwards to embody in some of his greater works.  In 1756 he arrived in England, where for three years he had very varied experiences—­as a strolling player, an apothecary’s journeyman, a practising physician, a reader for the press, an usher in an academy, and a hack-writer.  In 1759 he published anonymously his Enquiry into the Present State of Polite Learning in Europe, which was well received and helped him to other literary work. The Bee, a volume of essays and verses, appeared in the same year.  He was made editor of the Lady’s Magazine; he published Memoirs of Voltaire (1761), a History of Mecklenburgh (1762), and a Life of Richard Nash (1762).  In 1762 also he brought out his Citizen of the World, a collection of essays, which takes an extremely high rank.  In 1764 his poem, The Traveller, or a Prospect of Society, made its appearance; and in 1766 he gave to the world his famous novel, The Vicar of Wakefield.  His reputation as a writer was now established; he was received into Johnson’s circle and was a member of the Literary Club; Reynolds and Burke were proud to call him friend.  In 1768 he had his comedy, The Good Natured Man, produced at Covent Garden Theatre, where it achieved a fair measure of success and brought him in L400.  In 1770 he repeated his triumph as a poet with The Deserted Village.  He wrote a History of Animated Nature, a History of England, and a History of Rome, all compilations couched in that easy style of which he was master.  He also wrote a Life of Parnell and a Life of Bolingbroke.  Finally, in 1773, his great comedy, She Stoops to Conquer, was staged at Covent Garden, and met with wonderful success.  A little more than a year later Goldsmith died of a nervous fever, the result of overwork and anxiety,