Oliver Goldsmith war ein irischer Schriftsteller und Arzt, der für seinen Roman Der Pfarrer von Wakefield , sein pastorales Gedicht The Deserted Village und seine Stücke The Good-natur'd Man und She Stoops to Conquer bekannt ist. Unter dem Einfluss von Buffon verfasste er eine umfangreiche Naturgeschichte: A History of the Earth and Animated Nature, die postum 1774 erschien und bis Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts mehrere Auflagen erfuhr. Das achtbändige Werk erlangte in England eine ähnliche Popularität wie Brehms Tierleben als „der Brehm“ in Deutschland. Wikipedia
„Eine Tugend, die immer beschützt werden muss, ist nicht die Schildwache wert.“
Der Landprediger zu Wakefield, übersetzt von W.A. Lindau, Dresden 1825, S. 52 books.google https://books.google.de/books?id=ve0Glvb-mj4C&pg=PA52&dq=schildwache "That virtue which requires to be ever guarded is scarce worth the sentinel." - The Vicar of Wakefield (1766) ch. 5
„Gesetze schinden die Armen, und die Reichen beherrschen die Gesetze.“
Der Wanderer
"Laws grind the poor, and rich men rule the law." - s:The Traveller, or, A Prospect of Society (1765)
Act II.
The Captivity, An Oratorio (1764)
“By the living jingo, she was all of a muck of sweat.”
Quelle: The Vicar of Wakefield (1766), Ch. 9.
“Remote, unfriended, melancholy, slow,
Or by the lazy Scheldt, or wandering Po.”
Quelle: The Traveller (1764), Line 1.
Elegy on Mrs. Mary Blaize, st. 1.
The Bee (1759)
“A nightcap decked his brows instead of bay,
A cap by night — a stocking all the day!”
Description of an Author's Bedchamber (1760).
“Cheerful at morn, he wakes from short repose,
Breasts the keen air, and carols as he goes.”
Quelle: The Traveller (1764), Line 185.
“His best companions, innocence and health;
And his best riches, ignorance of wealth.”
Quelle: The Deserted Village (1770), Line 61.
Quelle: The Vicar of Wakefield (1766), Ch. 1, opening lines.
“The hawthorn bush, with seats beneath the shade,
For talking age and whispering lovers made.”
Quelle: The Deserted Village (1770), Line 13.
“We sometimes had those little rubs which Providence sends to enhance the value of its favors.”
Quelle: The Vicar of Wakefield (1766), Ch. 1.
“Let us draw upon Content for the deficiencies of fortune.”
Quelle: The Vicar of Wakefield (1766), Ch. 3.
“In all the silent manliness of grief.”
Quelle: The Deserted Village (1770), Line 384.
“The true use of speech is not so much to express our wants as to conceal them.”
No. 3 (Oct. 20, 1759).
The Bee (1759)
“He calls his extravagance, generosity; and his trusting everybody, universal benevolence.”
Act I.
The Good-Natured Man (1768)
The Citizen of the World (1760–1761), Letter XV https://books.google.it/books?id=cIELAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA44.
“Our Garrick's a salad; for in him we see
Oil, vinegar, sugar, and saltness agree!”
Quelle: Retaliation (1774), Line 11.
“The bashful virgin's sidelong looks of love,
The matron's glance that would those looks reprove.”
Quelle: The Deserted Village (1770), Line 29.
“Pride in their port, defiance in their eye,
I see the lords of humankind pass by.”
Quelle: The Traveller (1764), Line 327.
“As writers become more numerous, it is natural for readers to become more indolent.”
No. 175, Upon Unfortunate Merit.
The Bee (1759)
“Don't let us make imaginary evils, when you know we have so many real ones to encounter.”
Act I, Scene 1 http://books.google.com/books?id=sZloXETcr24C&q=%22Don't+let+us+make+imaginary+evils+when+you+know+we+have+so+many+real+ones+to+encounter%22&pg=PA21#v=onepage.
The Good-Natured Man (1768)
“Sweet Auburn! loveliest village of the plain.”
Quelle: The Deserted Village (1770), Line 1.
Variante: A man severe he was, and stern to view;
I knew him well, and every truant knew:
Well had the boding tremblers learned to trace
The day's disasters in his morning face;
Full well they laughed with counterfeited glee,
At all his jokes, for many a joke had he;
Full well the bust whisper, circling round,
Conveyed the dismal tidings when he frowned;
Yet he was kind; or if severe in aught,
The love he bore to learning was in fault;
The village all declared how much he knew;
'Twas certain he could write, and cipher too.
Quelle: The Deserted Village (1770), Line 199.
“A flattering painter, who made it his care
To draw men as they ought to be, not as they are.”
Quelle: Retaliation (1774), Line 63.
