Under this gentleman he was prepared for the university; and on the 11th of June, 1744, was admitted a Sizer of Trinity college, Dublin*, under the tuition of the Rev. Mr. Wilder, one of the Fellows, who was a man of harsh temper and violent passions; and Oliver being of a thoughtless and gay turn, it cannot be surprising that they should soon be dissatisfied with each other.

Oliver, it seems, had one day imprudently invited a party of both sexes to a supper and ball in his rooms; which coming to the ears of his tutor, the latter entered the place in the midst of their jollity, abused the whole company, and inflicted manual correction on Goldsmith in their presence.

mistake; but being a man of humour, and learning from him the name of his father (whom he knew), he favoured the deception. Oliver ordered a good supper, and invited his landlord and landlady, with their daughters, to partake of it; he treated them with a bottle or two of wine, and, at going to bed, ordered a hot cake to be prepared for his breakfast: nor was it till he was about to depart, and called for his bill, that he discovered his mistake.

*The celebrated Edmund Burke was at the same time a collegian there.

This mortification had such an effect on the mind of Oliver, that he resolved to seck his fortune in some place where he should be unknown: accordingly, he sold his books and clothes, and quitted the university; but loitered about the streets, considering of a destination, till his money was exhausted. With a solitary shilling in his pocket he at last left Dublin; by abstinence he made this sum last him three days, and then was obliged to part, by degrees, with the clothes off his back; in short, to such an extremity was he reduced, as to find a handful of gray-peas, given him by a girl at a wake, the most comfortable repast that he had ever made.

After numberless adventures in this vagrant state, he found his way home, and was replaced under his morose and merciless tutor; by whom he was again exposed to so many mortifications, as induced an habitual despondence of mind, and a total carelessness about his studies; the consequence of which was, that he neither obtained a scholarship, nor became a candidate for the premiums. On the 25th of May, 1747, he re

ceived a public admonition, for having assisted other collegians in a riot occasioned by a scholar having been arrested, quod seditioni favisset, et tumultuantibus opem tulisset: in this case, however, he appears to have fared better than some of his companions, who were expelled the university. On the 15th of June following he was elected one of the exhibitioners on the foundation of Erasmus Smyth; but was not admitted to the degree of Bachelor of Arts till February, 1749, which was two years after the usual period.

Oliver's father being now dead, his uncle Contarine undertook to supply his place, and wished him to prepare for holy orders. This proposal not meeting with the young man's inclination, Mr. Contarine next resolved on sending him to London, that he might study law in the Temple. Whilst at Dublin, however, on his way to England, he fell in with a sharper, who cheated him at play of 501. which had been provided for his carriage, &c. He returned, and received his uncle's forgiveness: it was now finally settled that he should make physic his profession; and

he departed for Edinburgh, where he settled about the latter end of the year 1752. Here he attended the lectures of Dr. Monroe and the other medical professors; but his studies were by no means regular; and an indu!gence in dissipated company, with a ready hand to administer to the necessities of whoever asked him, kept him always poor.

Having, however, gone through the usual courses of physic and anatomy in the Scottish university, Goldsmith was about to remove to Leyden to complete his studies; and his departure was hastened, by a debt to Mr. Barclay, a tailor in Edinburgh, which he had imprudently made his own by becoming security for a fellow-student, who, either from want of principle or of means, had failed to pay it for this debt he was arrested; but was released by the kindness of Dr. Sleigh and Mr. Laughlin Maclaine, whose friendship he had acquired at the college.

He now embarked for Bourdeaux on board a Scotch vessel called the St. Andrew's, Capt. John Wall, master. The ship made a tolerable appearance; and, as another inducement to

our hero, he was informed that six agreeable passengers were to be his company. They had been but two days at sea, however, when a storm drove them into Newcastle-uponTyne, and the passengers went ashore to refresh after the fatigue of their voyage. "Seven men and I (says Goldsmith) were on shore the following evening; but as we were all very merry, the room door burst open, and there entered a serjeant and twelve grenadiers, with their bayonets screwed, who put us all under the King's arrest. It seems, my company were Scotchmen in the French service, and had been in Scotland to enlist soldiers for Louis XV. I endeavoured all I could to prove my innocence; however, I remained in prison with the rest a fortnight, and with difficulty got off even then. But hear how Providence interposed in my favour: the ship, which had set sail for Bourdeaux before I got from prison, was wrecked at the mouth of the Garonne, and every one of the crew drowned."-Fortunately there was a ship now ready at Newcastle, for Holland, on board of which he embarked, and