Page:Cousins's Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature.djvu/175

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Dictionary of English Literature
163

Johnson, Burke, and Reynolds. They all, doubtless, laughed at and made a butt of him, but they all admired and loved him. At the news of his death Burke burst into tears, Reynolds laid down his brush and painted no more that day, and Johnson wrote an imperishable epitaph on him. The poor, the old, and the outcast crowded the stair leading to his lodgings, and wept for the benefactor who had never refused to share what he had (often little enough) with them. Much of his work—written at high pressure for the means of existence, or to satisfy the urgency of duns—his histories, his Animated Nature, and such like, have, apart from a certain charm of style which no work of his could be without, little permanent value; but The Traveller and The Deserted Village, She Stoops to Conquer, and, above all, The Vicar of Wakefield, will keep his memory dear to all future readers of English.

Summary. B. 1728, ed. Trinity Coll., Dublin, went to Edin. 1752, and to Leyden 1754, travelled on foot over large part of Continent, reached London 1756, and wrote for magazines, etc., and after publishing various other works produced The Citizen of the World in 1762, pub. Vicar of Wakefield 1766, Deserted Village 1770, and She Stoops to Conquer 1773, d. 1774.

There are many ed. of G.'s works by Prior, 1837, Cunningham, 1854, Prof. Masson (Globe), 1869, Gibb (Bohn's Standard Library), 1885. Biographies by Prior, 1837, Foster, 1848-71, Washington Irving, and others. See also Boswell's Johnson, and Thackeray's English Humorists.


Goodall, Walter (1706?-1766).—Historical writer, b. in Banffshire, and ed. King's Coll., Aberdeen, became assistant librarian to the Advocates' Library in Edin. In 1754 he pub. an Examination of the Letters said to have been written by Mary Queen of Scots, in which he combats the genuineness of the "Casket Letters." He also ed., among other works, Fordun's Scotichronicon (1759).


Goodwin, Thomas (1600-1680).—Divine, was b. in Norfolk, and ed. at Camb., where he was Vicar of Trinity Church. Becoming an Independent, he ministered to a church in London, and thereafter at Arnheim in Holland. Returning to England he was made Chaplain to Cromwell's Council of State, and Pres. of Magdalen Coll., Oxf. At the Restoration he was deprived, but continued to preach in London. He was the author of various commentaries and controversial pamphlets, was a member of the Westminster Assembly, and assisted in drawing up the amended Confession, 1658. He attended Oliver Cromwell on his deathbed.


Googe, Barnabe (1540-1594).—Poet and translator, b. at Lincoln, studied at both Camb. and Oxf. He was a kinsman of Cecil, who gave him employment in Ireland. He translated from the Latin of Manzolli The Zodiac of Life, a satire against the Papacy, and The Popish Kingdome by T. Kirchmayer, a similar work; also The Foure Bookes of Husbandrie of Conrad Heresbach. In 1563 he pub. a vol. of original poems, Eglogs, Epytaphes, and Sonnettes.


Gordon, Adam Lindsay (1833-1870).—Poet, was b. in the Azores, the s. of an officer in the army. He went to Australia,