Oliver Goldsmith, Irish Author and Playwright

Oliver Goldsmith, Irish Author and Playwright

Oliver Goldsmith (February 9, 1728 - April 1, 1774) was an Irish novelist, playwright and poet, who is best known for his novel The Vicar of Wakefield (1766), his pastoral poem The Deserted Village (1770), and his plays The Good-Natur'd Man (1768) and She Stoops to Conquer (1771, first performed in 1773). He is thought to have written the classic children's tale The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes (1765). In 1744 Goldsmith went up to Trinity College, Dublin. Neglecting his studies in theology and law, he fell to the bottom of his class. He was graduated in 1749 as a Bachelor of Arts, but his education seemed to have given him mainly a taste for fine clothes, playing cards, singing Irish airs and playing the flute. Goldsmith was between 5'4" and 5'6" in height, not heavily built but quite muscular and with rather plain features. In character he had a lively sense of fun, was totally guileless, and never happier than when in the light-hearted company of children. Goldsmith was described by contemporaries as prone to envy, a congenial but impetuous and disorganized personality who once planned to emigrate to America but failed because he missed his ship. His premature death in 1774, at the age of 45, may have been partly due to his own misdiagnosis of his kidney infection. Stipple engraving, no artist credited, undated.

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