Oliver Goldsmith（ca.1730—1774）

Oliver Goldsmith, Anglo-Irish playwright, novelist, poet, and essayist, was born in Pallas, Ireland, where his father was an Anglican curate. Goldsmith earned his Bachelor of Arts in 1749 at Trinity College, Dublin, studying theology and law. He later studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh and the University of Leiden, and then toured Europe, supporting himself by playing the flute and by begging. On his return, he settled in London, where he worked as an apothecary's assistant. Perennially in debt and addicted to gambling, Goldsmith had a massive output as a hack writer for the publishers of London, but his few painstaking works earned him the company of Samuel Johnson, and became a member of his circle. Near the end of his life, Goldsmith made an ample income, but, through extravagance and open-handedness toward needy friends, spent far more than he earned. He died in London.

Goldsmith's works include the novel The Vicar of Wakefield（1766）, a social and political satire, in which rural honesty, kindness, and patience triumph over urban values. Other works include “The Traveler”（1674）, a philosophic poem that established him as an important writer and the poem “The Deserted Village”（1770）, which marked the transition in English literature from neoclassicism to romanticism. Goldsmith also produced dramatic works. She Stoops to Conquer（1773）achieved an immediate success. It remains one of the best-known comedies of the British drama.