In the succeeding six years he sent to the press some things
which have survived and many which have perished. He produced
articles for reviews, magazines, and newspapers; children's books
which, bound in gilt paper and adorned with hideous woodcuts,
appeared in the window of the once far-famed shop at the corner
of Saint Paul's Churchyard; "An Inquiry into the State of Polite
Learning in Europe," which, though of little or no value, is
still reprinted among his works; a "Life of Beau Nash," which is
not reprinted, though it well deserves to be so (Mr Black has
pointed out that this is inaccurate: the life of Nash has been
twice reprinted; once in Mr Prior's edition (vol. iii. p. 249),
and once in Mr Cunningham's edition (vol. iv. p. 35).); a
superficial and incorrect, but very readable, "History of
England," in a series of letters purporting to be addressed by a
nobleman to his son; and some very lively and amusing "Sketches
of London Society," in a series of letters purporting to be
addressed by a Chinese traveller to his friends. All these works
were anonymous; but some of them were well-known to be
Goldsmith's; and he gradually rose in the estimation of the
booksellers for whom he drudged. He was, indeed, emphatically a
popular writer. For accurate research or grave disquisition he
was not well qualified by nature or by education. He knew
nothing accurately: his reading had been desultory; nor had he
meditated deeply on what he had read. He had seen much of the
world; but he had noticed and retained little more of what he had
seen than some grotesque incidents and characters which had
happened to strike his fancy. But, though his mind was very
scantily stored with materials, he used what materials he had in
such a way as to produce a wonderful effect. There have been