ectual attempt to live by practicing medicine, turned to
literature. In this profession he at first managed to make only a
precarious living, for the most part as a hackwriter, working for
periodicals and filling contracts to compile popular histories of
England, Greece, Rome, and _Animated Nature_. He had so much skill in
knowing what to retain, emphasize, or subordinate, and so much genius
in presenting in an attractive style what he wrote, that his work of
this kind met with a readier sale than his masterpieces. Of the
_History of Animated Nature_, Johnson said: "Goldsmith, sir, will give
us a very fine book on the subject, but if he can tell a horse from a
cow, that I believe may be the extent of his knowledge of natural
history."

His first literary reputation was gained by a series of letters,
supposed to be written by a Chinaman as a record of his impressions of
England. These letters or essays, like so much of the work of Addison
and Steele, appeared first in a periodical; but they were afterwards
collected under the title, _Citizen of the World_ (1761). The
interesting creation of these essays is Beau Tibbs, a poverty-stricken
man, who derives pleasure from boasting of his frequent association
with the nobility.

[Illustration: GOLDSMITH GIVES DR. JOHNSON THE MS. OF THE VICAR OF
WAKEFIELD. _From a drawing by B. Westmacott_.]

It was not until the last ten years of his life that Goldsmith became
famous. He certainly earned enough then to be free from care, had he
but known how to use his money. His improvidence in giving to beggars
and in squandering his earnings on expensive rooms, garments, and
dinners, however, kept him always in debt.

One evening he gave away his blankets to a woman who told him a
pitiful tale. The cold was so bitter during the night that he had to
open the ticking of his bed and crawl inside. Although this happened
when he was a young man, it was typical of his usual response to
appeals for help. When his landlady had him arrested for failing to
pay his rent, he sent for Johnson to come and extricate him. Johnson
asked him if he had nothing that would discharge the debt, and
Goldsmith handed him the manuscript of _The Vicar of Wakefield_.
Johnson reported his action to Boswell, as follows:--

"I looked into it and saw its merit; told the landlady I should soon
return; and having gone to a bookseller, sold it for sixty pounds."

[Illustration: CANONBURY TOWER, LONDON, WHERE GOLDS