that last resting-place. The epitaph on Goldsmith in
Westminster Abbey runs: "He left no spheres of writing untouched or
unadorned by his pen. Noble, pure, and delicate, his memory will last
as long as society retains affection, friendship is not devoid of
honour, and reading wants not her admirers." Intimately we are guided
most of all by those whom most we love. The eyes may close, but not
the life. There is the knowledge of loving power wielded on the heart
by those whom men call dead. There is a soul in men rising beyond
visible activities; its story is not told in the recognised deeds of a
career and their outward record. Beyond the acknowledged actions and
admitted attainments, there stays the prevailing essence. The glory of
Christianity is seen in its illuminating stars, living everlastingly.
Through grace and gentleness, Goldsmith was one in that long train in
which shine Sister Dora and St. Francis of Assisi.

Oliver Goldsmith was the most pure and suasive spirit of his age. To
this day his gentle touch and soothing spell, by that magnetic power
that flows through purity of sympathy, still sway the heart. His
charming radiance and pure, divine delight move and master those who
admire and honour this all-loving soul and most graceful writer. In
reading his works, there is for all, and there must ever be, that
sense of compassion and that absolving perception which must have
moved the finer feelings of those who lived in his own time, and
actually knew the man himself. Not less does his purifying power, with
its elevating inspiration, survive. It is a silent and unseen, but
still a lofty, a lasting, and an impressive influence. Lovers of
Goldsmith feel friendship and affection for the moving and immortal
spirit of the man. His works need no learned commentary. The common
heart is their sufficing commentary.

CHAPTER IX

THE POET AND THE ESSAYIST

Successful in every sphere, it is as an essayist that, amongst the
immortals, Goldsmith sways signal and supreme distinction. As a poet,
not less than as a playwright, he triumphed in his own, and inspired
and influenced the coming age. As a biographer, he readily gained
contemporary celebrity, both through the sympathetic understanding of
his heart and the delightful facility of his literary style. In his
own time, he occupied, through the high and undoubted merits of his
works, an eminent position amongst the historians. The appealing force
of his power i