SILHOUETTE OF GOLDSMITH
(Ozias Humphry)
In front of Dublin University is a bronze statue of Goldsmith by J. H. Foley, R.A., erected in 1864.** Of this there is a good engraving by G. Stodart. On the memorial in Westminster Abbey erected in 1776 is a medallion by Joseph Nollekens.
** Goldsmith’s traditional ill-luck pursued him after death. During some public procession in front of Trinity College, a number of undergraduates climbed on the statue, with the result that the thin metal of the poet’s head was flattened or crushed in, requiring for its readjustment very skilful restorative treatment. The Editor is indebted for this item of information to the kindness of Mr. Percy Fitzgerald, who was present at the subsequent operation.
APPENDIX B
DESCRIPTIONS OF NEWELL’S VIEWS OF LISSOY, ETC.
In 1811, the Rev. R. H. Newell, B.D. and Fellow of St. John’s College, Cambridge, issued an edition of the Poetical Works of Goldsmith. The distinctive feature of this lay in the fact that it was illustrated by a number of aquatints ‘by Mr. Alkin’ (i.e. Samuel Alken), after drawings made by Newell in 1806–9, and was accompanied by a series of ‘Remarks, attempting to ascertain, chiefly from local observation, the actual scene of The Deserted Village.’ Some quotations from these ‘Remarks’ have already been made in the foregoing notes; but as copies of six of the drawings are given in this volume, it may be well, in each case, to reproduce Newell’s ‘descriptions.’
LISHOY, OR LISSOY MILL.
The west end of it, as seen from a field near the road; to the north the country slopes away in coarsely cultivated enclosures, and the distance eastward is bounded by the Longford hills. The stream ran from the south side of the mill (where it is still of some width though nearly choked up), and fell over the once busy wheel, into a deep channel, now overgrown with weeds. Neglect and poverty appear all around. The farm house and barn-like buildings, which fill up the sketch, seem to have no circumstances of interest attached to them (p. 83).
