Goldsmith's essays by Oliver Goldsmith

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About this eBook
| Author | Goldsmith, Oliver, 1730?-1774 |
|---|---|
| LoC No. | 15018383 |
| Title | Goldsmith's essays |
| Original Publication | London: John Sharpe, 1819. |
| Contents | Description of various clubs -- Specimen of a magazine in miniature -- Asem, an eastern tale -- On the English clergy, and popular preachers -- A reverie at the Boar's-head tavern, Eastcheap -- Adventures of a strolling player -- Rules enjoined to be observed at a Russian assembly -- Biographical memoir, supposed to be written by the ordinary of Newgate -- On national concord -- Female warriors -- On national prejudice -- On taste -- Cultivation of taste -- Origin of poetry -- Poetry distinguished from other writing -- On metaphor -- On hyperbole -- On versification -- Schools of music: objections thereto, and answers -- On Carolan, the Irish bard -- On the tenants of the Leasowes -- On sentimental comedy -- Scotch marriages -- On the dignity of human nature. |
| Credits | Tim Miller and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | PR: Language and Literatures: English literature |
| Subject | English essays -- 18th century |
| Category | Text |
| eBook-No. | 79560 |
| Release Date | Sep 12, 2026 |
| Last Update | Sep 18, 2026 |
| Copyright | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 999 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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Facts Only

* Author: Goldsmith, Oliver (1730?-1774).
* Title: Goldsmith's essays.
* Original Publication: London: John Sharpe, 1819.
* Contents include descriptions of clubs, literary topics such as On metaphor, On hyperbole, Origin of poetry, and on social subjects like the English clergy and Scotch marriages.
* The work is in English.
* LoC Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature.
* Subject: English essays from the 18th century.

Executive Summary

The source material describes an eBook titled "Goldsmith's essays," authored by Oliver Goldsmith, who lived approximately from 1730 to 1774. The book contains a list of contents detailing various topics covered in the essays, ranging from descriptions of clubs and literary topics like poetry, metaphor, and versification, to social observations on clergy, national prejudice, and human nature. The work was originally published in London by John Sharpe in 1819. Key themes include discussions on taste, the origin of poetry, different schools of music, and biographical memoir.

Full Take

The structure of Goldsmith's collected essays reveals a broad engagement with the cultural, aesthetic, and social concerns of the late eighteenth century. The enumeration of topics—moving fluidly between literary theory (metaphor, versification) and social commentary (clergy, national concord)—suggests an attempt to synthesize personal experience with broader intellectual debates prevalent during the Enlightenment period. This pattern indicates a preoccupation with defining taste and understanding human nature through various lenses. The sheer variety of subjects demonstrates an impulse to catalog and categorize complex human experiences under aesthetic or moral frameworks. The lasting implication is that understanding cultural shifts requires recognizing how artists and thinkers frame universal themes, revealing both the internal landscape of the author and the external intellectual currents of his time. What assumptions about taste and nature remain embedded in these classifications? How do modern sensibilities filter this 18th-century categorization of human experience?

Sentinel — Human

Confidence

This text appears to be a catalog or metadata entry for an eBook rather than original journalistic content, exhibiting high structure and specificity typical of bibliographic documentation.

Signals Detected

Moderate sentence structure, indicative of archival or catalog entry rather than flowing prose.

Highly structured factual presentation typical of metadata; lacks the subjective emotional texture of narrative.

Perfectly organized list format, suggesting data compilation rather than argument construction.

No inherent fabrications detected; the text functions as a verifiable bibliographic description.

Human Indicators

The presence of specific archival details (LoC No., Publication date, Credits) suggests human curation and source identification.