in advices that a party of
twenty-thousand Austrians, having attacked a much superior body of
Prussians, put them all to flight, and took the rest prisoners of
war.

"_Berlin._--We have received certain advices that a party of
twenty-thousand Prussians, having attacked a much superior body of
Austrians, put them to flight, and took a great number of prisoners
with their military chest, cannon, and baggage."

The Chinaman observing the laudatory character of epitaphs, suggests a
plan by which flattery might be indulged, without sacrificing truth. The
device is that anciently called "contrary to expectation," but
apparently borrowed by Goldsmith from some French poem. Here is a
specimen.

"Ye Muses, pour the pitying tear,
For Pollio snatched away;
O, had he lived another year
He had not died to-day."...

He gives another on Madam Blaize--

"Good people all with one accord
Lament for Madam Blaize,
Who never wanted a good word
From those who spoke her praise."

The Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog terminates in a stroke taken from
the old epigram of Demodocus--

"Good people all, of everysort,
Give ear unto my song,
And if you find it wondrous short,
It cannot hold you long.

"In Islington there was a man,
Of whom the world might say,
That still a godly race he ran,
Whene'er he went to pray.

"A kind and gentle heart he had,
To comfort friends and foes,
The naked every day he clad,
When he put on his clothes.

"And in this town a dog was found,
As many dogs there be,
Both mongrel, puppy, whelps, and hound,
And curs of low degree.

"This dog and man at first were friends,
But when a pique began,
The dog to gain some private ends,
Went mad, and bit the man.

"Around from all the neighbouring streets
The wondering neighbours ran,
And swore the dog had lost his wits,
To bite so good a man.

"The wound, it seemed both sore and sad
To every Christian eye;
And, while they swore the dog was mad,
They swore the man would die.

"But soon a wonder came to light
That showed the rogues they lied,
The man recovered of the bite,
The dog it was that died."

The fine and elegant humour in "The Vicar of Wakefield" and "The
Deserted Village," has greatly contributed to give those works a lasting
place in the literature of this country. Goldsmith attacked, among other
imposters, the quacks of hi