The Traveller, or a Prospect of Society_, made its appearance;
and in 1766 he gave to the world his famous novel, _The Vicar of
Wakefield_. His reputation as a writer was now established; he was
received into Johnson's circle and was a member of the Literary Club;
Reynolds and Burke were proud to call him friend. In 1768 he had his
comedy, _The Good Natured Man_, produced at Covent Garden Theatre,
where it achieved a fair measure of success and brought him in L400.
In 1770 he repeated his triumph as a poet with _The Deserted
Village_. He wrote a _History of Animated Nature_, a _History of
England_, and a _History of Rome_, all compilations couched in that
easy style of which he was master. He also wrote a _Life of Parnell_
and a _Life of Bolingbroke_. Finally, in 1773, his great comedy, _She
Stoops to Conquer_, was staged at Covent Garden, and met with
wonderful success. A little more than a year later Goldsmith died of
a nervous fever, the result of overwork and anxiety, and was buried
in the burial ground of the Temple Church. His unfinished poem,
_Retaliation_, a series of epigrams in epitaph form on some of his
distinguished literary and artistic friends, was issued a few days
after his death, and added greatly to his reputation as a wit and
humorist, a reputation which was still further enhanced when, in
1776, _The Haunch of Venison_ made its appearance. In the latter year
a monument, with a medallion and Johnson's celebrated Latin epitaph
attached, was erected to his memory in Westminster Abbey.

Goldsmith's renown, great in his own day, has never since diminished.
His essays, his novel, and his poems are still read with avidity and
pleasure; his comedy is still acted. It is his statue that stands
along with Burke's at the entrance gate to Trinity College, Dublin,
the _alma mater_ seeking to commemorate in a striking manner two of
her most distinguished sons by placing their effigies thus in the
forefront of her possessions and in full view of all the world.
Personally, Goldsmith was a very amiable and good-hearted man, dear
to his own circle and dear to that "Mr. Posterity" to whom he once
addressed a humorous dedication. He had his faults, it is true, but
they are hidden amid his many perfections. Everyone will be disposed
to agree with what Johnson wrote of him: "Let not his frailties be
remembered; he was a very great man."

Edmund Burke (1729-1797), born in Dublin, the son of a Protestant
father and a Catho