1728-1774
[Sidenote: Forster’s _Life and Times of Oliver Goldsmith_.]
“You scarcely can conceive how much eight years of disappointment,
anguish, and study, have worn me down.... Imagine to yourself a pale
melancholy visage, with two great wrinkles between the eyebrows, with
an eye disgustingly severe, and, a big wig, and you may have a perfect
picture of my present appearance.... I can neither laugh nor drink,
have contracted a hesitating disagreeable manner of speaking, and a
visage that looks ill-nature itself; in short, I have thought myself
into a settled melancholy, and an utter disgust of all that life brings
with it.”--1759.
[Sidenote: Boswell’s _Life of Dr. Johnson_.]
“He was very much what the French call _un étourdi_, and from
vanity and an eager desire of being conspicuous wherever he was, he
frequently talked carelessly without knowledge of the subject, or even
without thought. His person was short, his countenance coarse and
vulgar, his deportment that of a scholar awkwardly affecting the easy
gentleman.”--1763.
[Sidenote: R. Walsh’s _British Poets_. *]
“Nothing could be more amiable than the general features of his mind;
those of his person were not perhaps so engaging. His stature was under
the middle size, his body strongly built, and his limbs more sturdy
than elegant. His complexion was pale, his forehead low, his face
almost round and pitted with the small-pox, but marked with strong
lines of thinking. His first appearance was not captivating; but when
he grew easy and cheerful in company, he relaxed into such a display of
good-humour as soon removed every unfavourable impression.”