this time, he is believed to have secured the
medical degree, of which he subsequently made use. Louvain and Padua have
both been named as the source of it. He reached London almost literally
penniless in 1756, and appears to have been occupied successively as an
apothecary's journeyman, a doctor of the poor, and an usher in a school
at Peckham. In 1757 he was writing for the _Monthly Review_. The next
year he applied unsuccessfully for a medical appointment in India; and
the year following, 1759, saw his first important literary venture, _An
Enquiry into the State of Polite Learning in Europe_. It was _pub._
anonymously, but attracted some attention, and brought him other work. At
the same time he became known to Bishop Percy, the collector of the
_Reliques of Ancient Poetry_, and he had written _The Bee_, a collection
of essays, and was employed upon various periodicals. In 1761 began his
friendship with Johnson, which led to that of the other great men of that
circle. His _Chinese Letters_, afterwards republished as _The Citizen of
the World_, appeared in _The Public Ledger_ in 1762. _The Traveller_, the
first of his longer poems, came out in 1764, and was followed in 1766 by
_The Vicar of Wakefield_. In 1768 he essayed the drama, with _The
Good-natured Man_, which had considerable success. The next few years saw
him busily occupied with work for the publishers, including _The History
of Rome_ (1769), Lives of Parnell the poet, and Lord Bolingbroke (1770),
and in the same year _The Deserted Village_ appeared; _The History of
England_ was _pub._ in 1771. In 1773 he produced with great success his
other drama, _She Stoops to Conquer_. His last works were _The
Retaliation_, _The History of Greece_, and _Animated Nature_, all _pub._
in 1774. In that year, worn out with overwork and anxiety, he caught a
fever, of which he _d._ April 4. With all his serious and very obvious
faults--his reckless improvidence, his vanity, and, in his earlier years
at any rate, his dissipated habits--G. is one of the most lovable
characters in English literature, and one whose writings show most of
himself--his humanity, his bright and spontaneous humour, and "the
kindest heart in the world." His friends included some of the best and
greatest men in England, among them Johnson, Burke, and Reynolds. They
all, doubtless, laughed at and made a butt of him, but they all admired
and loved him. At the news of his death Burke burst into tears, Reynolds