Oliver Goldsmith's Reputation in Ireland, 1762-74

Abstract

O LIVER GOLDSMITH left his native Ireland in 1752 at about the age of twenty-two and never returned. He spent his short but exceedingly productive literary career in London, where he won considerable recognition. This recognition was not limited to London but extended across the Irish Sea, as the large number of Dublin editions of Goldsmith's works indicates.' In order to document and appraise Goldsmith's reputation in his native land during the period of his London successes, I shall examine in paper eleven Irish periodicals for the period 1762-74, deposited in the National Library of Ireland, the Trinity College Library, and the Public Record Office, all in Dublin, and the Linen Hall Library of Belfast. The Irish periodicals show that Goldsmith's comedies were the most widely known in Ireland of his many works. There were advertisements of The Good Natur'd and She Stoops to Conquer by their various Irish publishers, announcements of productions of the two plays, and reviews, both favorable and unfavorable. William Sleater in Dublin gave notice in his Public Gazetteer on April 14, 1768 of his publication of The Good Natur'd and carried the play in his publishing list until March 29, 1774, the last issue of the newspaper I have seen. Sleater advertised the work as a play selling for 6d. until October 1770, when The Good Natur'd lost its status as a play for 6d. and became a farce at 3d. By November 2, 1771, however, it had regained in Sleater's list its status as a play at the higher price. The Good Natur'd was not produced until May 1770, when George Faulkner's Dublin Journal announced on May 15, 1770 that a Comedy, (never acted in Kingdom) called the Good-natured Man would be presented at the City Theatre in Capel-street, Dublin, on May 17, 1770 for the benefit of a popular actor, Mr. Lewes. Faulkner announced another presentation of the play on February 3, 1773 at the Theatre-Royal in Crow Street, Dublin. Two newspapers in Cork, William Flyn's Hibernian Chronicle2 and Phineas and George Bagnell's Cork Evening Post, reported the first performance in Cork of The Good Natur'd on July 6, 1773 at the TheatreRoyal. She Stoops to Conquer was received with greater enthusiasm in Ireland. Faulkner's Dublin Journal and Thomas M'Donnel's Hibernian Journal show that the play was presented at the Theatre-Royal in Crow Street, Dublin, on April 12, 14, 21, and 26, 1773 and at the City Theatre in Smock Alley, Dublin, on April 13, 21, and 24, and May 1, 18, and 28, 1773. When the theatrical season began in the fall after the summer holidays, the Smock Alley Theatre staged the play once in September, three times in October, four times in November, and four times in December. During the next year the comedy was given at Smock Alley seven times before Goldsmith's death on April 4, 1774. She Stoops to Conquer was also presented in the provincial theaters of Ireland during 1773. Henry Joy's Belfast News-Letter and General Advertiser reported performances of the comedy on September 17, 20 and 22, 1773 at the Belfast Theatre. The Cork Evening Post for June 28, 1773 announced that the Theatre-Royal in Cork would produce this present Tuesday the 29th Inst. a Comedy (never acted here but once) called She Stoops to Conquer. The first performance may have been reported in the newspaper for June 4, 1773; issue is missing from the file in the National Library of Ireland. Both the Cork Evening Post and