and about the exploits of Peterborough and Stanhope, the surprise
of Monjuich, and the glorious disaster of Brihuega. This man
must have been of the Protestant religion; but he was of the
aboriginal race, and not only spoke the Irish language, but could
pour forth unpremeditated Irish verses. Oliver early became, and
through life continued to be, a passionate admirer of the Irish
music, and especially of the compositions of Carolan, some of the
last notes of whose harp he heard. It ought to be added that
Oliver, though by birth one of the Englishry, and though
connected by numerous ties with the Established Church, never
showed the least sign of that contemptuous antipathy with which,
in his days, the ruling minority in Ireland too generally
regarded the subject majority. So far indeed was he from sharing
in the opinions and feelings of the caste to which he belonged,
that he conceived an aversion to the Glorious and Immortal
Memory, and, even when George the Third was on the throne,
maintained that nothing but the restoration of the banished
dynasty could save the country.

From the humble academy kept by the old soldier Goldsmith was
removed in his ninth year. He went to several grammar schools,
and acquired some knowledge of the ancient languages. His life
at this time seems to have been far from happy. He had, as
appears from the admirable portrait of him at Knowle, features
harsh even to ugliness. The small-pox had set its mark on him
with more than usual severity. His stature was small, and his
limbs ill put together. Among boys little tenderness is shown to
personal defects; and the ridicule excited by poor Oliver's
appearance was heightened by a peculiar simplicity and a
disposition to blunder which he retained to the last. He became