that love of vulgar display, and those habits of rude and boisterous merriment, of which, in after life, and in polite society, he could never entirely divest himself. The knowledge of his profession, which he gained during the same period, was probably not very great; and, after an attendance of two years on such classes as at that time constituted a medical course, he left the University without a diploma. It is said that his departure from Edinburgh was hastened by a circumstance which is in perfect accordance with his character. He had inconsiderately become surety for one of his idle companions, to a greater amount than his slender means enabled him to cover; he was therefore arrested at the suit of one Barclay, a tailor, his friend's principal creditor. From this difficulty he was extricated by the good offices of his fellow student, Dr Sleigh, and another friend; but the disgrace of an arrest, and perhaps the apprehension of other demands being made upon him on his friend's account, made him anxious to put in immediate execution a plan, which had already met with his uncle's sanction, of paying a visit to the Continent, and finishing his studies at one of the foreign universities. He accordingly engaged a passage in a Scottish vessel bound for Rotterdam, where he arrived after a tedious voyage and a narrow escape from shipwreck.† He immediately proceeded to Leyden, where, by his uncle's liberality, he was enabled to carry on his medical studies, especially in * Anecdotes of Dr Goldsmith in Dodsley's Annual Register, 1774, signed G. (Griffin?) Letter to Mr Contarine. The vessel in which he had engaged his passage, was obliged by stress of weather to put in to Newcastle, where Goldsmith, and some of his fellow passengers, (Scottish Jacobites,) were put under arrest. Here he was detained for a fortnight: meanwhile, the vessel proceeded on her destination, but was wrecked at the mouth of the Garonne, and every soul on board perished. the two important branches c anatomy and chemistry; in which latter science, under Professor Gaubius,* whom he mentions in his correspondence as the most efficient teacher in the University, he made considerable proficiency. At Leyden he remained for about a year; but it is uncertain whether it was here or at Louvain, † or, as some affirm, at Padua, ‡ where he afterwards spent some time, that he took his degree of Bachelor of Physic, which was confirmed to him by the University of Oxford, in 1769, and which was the only medical degree he ever obtained though the title of Doctor, which courtesy allows to every medical practitioner, was that by which he was known among his contemporaries, and is still designated. Before he left Leyden, his fatal propensity for gaming had again reduced him to pecuniary difficulties, from which he was extricated by the liberality of his friend Dr Ellis, afterwards clerk of the Irish House of Commons. Such, however, was his inconsiderate extravagance-though upon the present occasion it almost disarms censure, on account of its generous motive that the money which he had borrowed from his friend, to enable him to leave Holland, was all expended on some costly flowers, which he bought from a Dutch florist, as a present for his uncle.§ So great, indeed, was his genius for getting into difficulties, and so little did he profit by experience, that, as he himself afterwards candidly confessed, "there was scarcely a kingdom in Europe, in which he was not a debtor." || He was now (1755) once more, without money and without prospects, left to shift for himself. Under such circumstances, which were by this time become * Gaubius was the favourite pupil of the celebrated Boerhaave. Life of Goldsmith, 8vo. 1774. § So Dr Ellis. Dr Percy. * tolerably familiar to him, his passion for travelling never failed to return, though, one would have thought, with the worst possible prospect of being gratified. The expense of travelling did not, however, present so insuperable an obstacle to Goldsmith, as it might to one of a less sanguine temperament. He was much better qualified, partly by constitution, and partly from habit, for enduring adversity, than for improving his better fortune; and he now resolved, with a magnanimity which deserves our admiration, to perform the tour of Europe on foot, with no other resources besides a tolerable suit of clothes, a spare shirt in his pocket, and a German flute. This resolution he actually put in practice, without any assistance from his friends, except a small supply of money, which Mr Contarine contrived to forward to him in Italy. He himself has described a similar exploit of the celebrated Baron Holberg, who was originally of very humble rank, and who had to encounter many difficulties in the earlier part of his life. Whether his example suggested the idea to Goldsmith, is doubtful, but the description which the latter gives of the Danisn writer's adventure, is so minutely applicable to his own case, that we cannot resist the temptation of transcribing it. "His ambition was not to be restrained, or his thirst for knowledge satisfied, until he had seen the world. Without money, recommendations, or friends, he undertook to set out upon his travels, and make the tour of Europe on foot. A good voice, and a trifling skill in music, were the only finances he had to support an undertaking so extensive; so he travelled by day, and at night sang at the doors of peasants' nouses, to get himself a lodging."† * Dr Ellis. + Inquiry into the Present State of Polite Learning. It is an undoubted fact, that in this very manner Goldsmith himself travelled over the greater part of the Continent. He had a competent knowledge of French, knew a little Italian, and by means of these, and his acquaintance with Latin, he generally contrived to make himself understood in the several countries which he visited; but his great resource was his German flute His knowledge of music was not indeed very scientific or extensive; what little he knew, was principally by the ear; * yest his performance, such as it was, generally procured him a ready welcome at the cottages where he sought a night's hospitality, especially among the hones oft boors of Flanders, and the light-hearted peasantry of the South of France. When he approached a town, where his rude minstrelsy would have had to encounter severer critics, and a competition at once degrading and formidable, he abandoned his flute, and had recourse to h is scholastic powers. At many of the foreign univerities and monasteries, there is a custom of maintaining theses, on certain days, against any adventitious disputant. If the adventurer exhibit sufficient dexterity of reasoning to gain the applause of his judges, or, which is more * According to Sir John Hawkins, Goldsmith did not so much as understand the character in which music is written; in confirmation of which he tells the following story : —“ Roubiliac the sculptor, a merry fellow, once heard him play; and minding to put a trick on him, pretended to be so charmed with his performance, that he entreated him to repeat the air, that he might write it down. Goldsmith readily consenting, Roubiliac called for paper, and scored thereon a few five lined staves, which having done, Goldsmith proceeded to play, and Roubiliac to write; but his writing was only such random notes on the lines and spaces as any one might set down who had never inspected a page of music. they had both done, Roubiliac shewed the paper to Goldsmith, who, looking it over with seeming great attention, said it was very correct, and that if he had not seen him do it, he never could have believed his friend capable of writing music after him."-Hawkins's Life of Johnson, P. 418, B When frequently the case, if no one come forward to oppose him, he is entitled to claim a small gratuity in money, and a night's lodging.* Goldsmith's necessities, and perhaps his inclination for he was fond of disputing, and was at no time unwilling to support a paradox for the sake of argument-induced him frequently to enter the lists, and by this means he was enabled occasionally to secure a comfortable and honourable subsistence. Of his adventures during this pedestrian tour, he is supposed to have given a pretty faithful sketch, in his History of Philosophic Vagabond, in the Vicar of Wakefield. It is probable, however, that some of the incidents introduced into that narrative, and which have been admitted upon that ground alone as having actually occurred to Goldsmith himself, are purely imaginary. Among others, the circumstance of his having accompanied a young Englishman as travelling tutor, though the story has been repeated † with a grave circumstantiality whic notices the young gentleman's name and private history, has been denied upon good authority; and the character of the rich young attorney is at once so odious and so unnatural, that we do not regret to find this part of the story pure fiction. In It is not a little surprising that a man of Goldsmith's fine genius and ready talents should apparently have reaped little advantage from his extensive tour. that polish of manners, the easy breeding, and what is called knowledge of the world, which travel is generally supposed to be the best means of acquiring, he was, through life, miserably deficient. His writings discover no acquaintance with the manners, literature, peculiar * History of a Philosophic Vagabond, in the Vicar of Wakefield. + Annual Register for 1774. Namely, that of his most intimate friends. See Dr Percy. |