and ‘The Deserted Village.’  Indeed, we could almost imagine that Dr Primrose himself had described the panic at the supposed ghost in the church in the same tone as the ride to church, the family portrait, or the gross of green spectacles.’[D] We find in “Goody Two Shoes” every one of those distinctive qualities of Goldsmith’s writings which Mr William Black so well summarizes in the book already referred to—­“his genuine and tender pathos, that never at any time verges on the affected or theatrical;” his “quaint, delicate, delightful humour;” his “broader humour, that is not afraid to provoke the wholesome laughter of mankind by dealing with common and familiar ways and manners and men;” his “choiceness of diction;” his “lightness and grace of touch, that lend a charm even to” his “ordinary hack work.”

* * * * *

The reprint which is here presented is a photographic facsimile of the earliest complete copy that we have been able to procure.  Judging from fragments of earlier editions in the possession of the publishers, it would appear to be printed from exactly the same types as the original issue of April 1765.  The copy from which the reprint is made was kindly lent to the publishers by Mr Ernest Hartley Coleridge, whose collection at the South Kensington Museum of eighteenth century books for children is well known.  The actual size of that book is 4 inches by 2-3/4, but it has been thought better to print on somewhat larger paper.  The original is bound in the once familiar Dutch flowered and gilt pattern paper, and we had hoped to present the reprint in a similar cover, but it was found impossible, as nothing like it could be procured, nor could the manufacturers of the present day exactly reproduce it.

[Footnote A:  Essays from the Times.  Robert Southey.  By Samuel Phillips, pp. 168-169, vol. i.]

[Footnote B:  See “The Works of Charles Lamb.”  By Percy Fitzgerald, M.A., F.S.A.  Vol. 1.  Page 420.  London:  E. Moxon & Co., 1876.]

[Footnote C:  “A Storehouse of Stories,” p. 69, First Series.]

[Footnote D:  “A Storehouse of Stories,” First Series, preface.]

[Illustration:  Little Goody Two-Shoes.]

The

History

Of

>Little goody two-shoes;

Otherwise called,

Mrs. Margery two-shoes.

With

The Means by which she acquired her Learning and Wisdom, and in consequence thereof her Estate; set forth at large for the Benefit of those,

Who from a State of Rags and Care
And having Shoes but half a Pair;
Their Fortune and their Fame would fix,
And gallop in a Coach and Six.

See the Original Manuscript in the Vatican at Rome, and the Cuts by Michael Angelo.  Illustrated with the Comments of our great modern Critics.