re remarkable no less for their
curious quaintness and their clever ingenuity than for their
attractiveness to both parents (who, it must not be forgotten, are
more often the real buyers of children's books) and the young people
for whom they were written, and they are in themselves most
entertaining and amusing reading. This group of little books
possesses, moreover, another characteristic that is sufficiently
remarkable of itself to be noticed. While they all evince a real
genius for writing in a style suited to the capacities of little folk,
there is a nameless something about them which, far more than is the
case with thousands of other books for the young, is calculated to
enforce the attention and excite the interest of "children of a larger
growth."

Now one of this little group, "The Lilliputian Magazine," is
attributed in the British Museum Catalogue to Oliver Goldsmith; and so
strong is the family likeness in all the books I have mentioned, that
I cannot but believe they are all by the same hand--a belief which I
think will be shared by any one who will take the trouble to compare
them carefully. But I should advise him to rely on the Newbery
editions alone, for grievously garbled versions of nearly every one of
these books have been issued from many different houses throughout the
country.

Many authorities have supported the view that Goldsmith was the author
of "Goody Two Shoes." Conspicuous among them was Washington Irving,
who says, "It is suggested with great probability that he wrote for Mr
Newbery the famous nursery story of 'Goody Two Shoes.'" It is said
also that William Godwin held this opinion; and I believe there is
authority for stating that the Misses Bewick, the daughters of the
celebrated engraver, who illustrated an edition of the book for T.
Saint, of Newcastle, understood from their father that it was by
Oliver Goldsmith.

But let us turn to the book itself and see if it furnishes any
evidence on the point. The very title, with its quaint phrasing, shows
no common genius, and as Washington Irving says, "bears the stamp of
his [Goldsmith's] sly and playful humour." As the book was published
in 1765, it would most likely have been written just at the time when
Goldsmith was working most industriously in the service of Newbery
(1763-4), at which period it will be remembered that he was living
near Newbery at Islington, and his publisher was paying for his board
and lodging.

Without, of