ESSAYS AND CRITICISMS, BY DR. GOLDSMITH; WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE AUTHOR. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. II. NOW FIRST COLLECTED. London: PRINTED FOR J. JOHNSON, ST. PAUL'S CHURCH-YARD. M.DCC.XCVIII. PREFACE. IT was the fate of the ingenious Author of the ESSAYS and CRITICISMS, now firft collectively offered to the Public, to begin his literary career, unknown and unpatronized, laboriously employing himself to provide for the exigencies of the paffing day; and during that period of penury and distress, scattering over the periodical publications of the mes: works of merit, enough to confer celebrity on any name whofe owner had the advantage of being known to the world. Works which, from the obfcurity of the author, were neglected |