[The Vicar of Wakefield" was published in March, 1766. Towards the end of May a second edition was called for, and the third appeared on the 25th of August. The work immediately. secured friends among every description of readers, and has long been considered one of the most interesting Tales in our language. From the numerous testimonials which have been borne by distinguished writers to its extraordinary merits we select the following:

Mrs. Barbauld.

"One of the most pleasing novels of a modern cast is The Vicar of Wakefield.' It is on this work that the author's talent for humor most successfully displays itself. Many of the incidents are irresistibly comic. Such are the gravity and self-importance of Moses when he produces his bargain of spectacles with silver rims; the expedition to church upon Blackberry and Dobbin; the family picture which was too large to enter the doors; the slyness of the Vicar in overturning the cosmetic, while he pretended to stir the fire; and the schemes and plottings of good notable Mrs Primrose with her gooseberry wine. We are at once touched and diverted with the harmless vanities of the whole group, joined with innocence and benevolence. The character of the Vicar somewhat resembles Parson Adams, and perhaps still more, the author's village pastor,- A man to all the country dear! His kind feelings towards his family, the affecting tenderness with which he receives again his repentant daughter, his hospitality and flowing benevolence, with his behavior in every scene of distress, make him a pleasing and venerable character, and are evidently painted by a man, who strongly felt the enthusiasm of virtue and piety."-British Novelists, vol. xxiii.

Sir Walter Scott.

"Whatever defects occur in the tenor of the story, the admirable ease and grace of the narrative, as well as the pleasing truth with which the principal characters are designed, make The Vicar of Wakefield' one of the most delicious morsels of fictitious composition on which the human mind was ever employed. The principal character, that of the simple pastor himself, with

all the worth and excellency which ought to distinguish the ambassador of God to man, and yet with just so much of pedantry and literary vanity as serves to show that he is made of mortal mould, and subject to human failings, is one of the best and most pleasing pictures ever designed. It is, perhaps, impossible to place frail humanity before us in an attitude of more simple dignity than the Vicar, in his character of pastor, of parent, and of husband. His excellent helpmate, with all her motherly cunning and housewifery prudence, loving and respecting her husband, but counterplotting his wisest schemes, at the dictates of maternal vanity, forms an excellent counterpart. Both, with their children around them, their quiet labor and domestic happiness, compose a fireside picture of such a perfect kind, as perhaps is nowhere else equalled. It is sketched indeed from common life, and is a strong contrast to the exaggerated and extraordinary characters and incidents which are the resource of those authors, who, like Bayes, make it their business to elevate and surprise; but the very simplicity of this charming book renders the pleasure it affords more permanent. We read The Vicar of Wakefield' in youth and in age,—we return to it again and again, and bless the memory of an author who contrives so well to reconcile us to human nature. Whether we choose the pathetic and distressing incidents of the fire, the scenes at the jail, or the lighter and humorous parts of the story, we find the best and truest sentiments enforced in the most beautiful language; and perhaps few characters of purer dignity have been described than that of the excellent pastor, rising above sorrow and oppression, and laboring for the conversion of those felons, into whose company he had been thrust by his villainous creditor. In too many works of this class, the critics must apologize for, or censure particular passages in the narrative, as unfit to be perused by youth and innocence. But the wreath of Goldsmith is unsullied; he wrote to exalt virtue and expose vice; and he accomplished his task in a manner which raises him to the highest rank among British authors. We close his volume with a sigh that such an author should have written so little from the stores of his own genius, and that he should have been so prematurely removed from the sphere of literature, which he so highly adorned."-Prose Works, vol. iii. p. 258, edit. 1834.

Washington Irving.

"There are few writers for whom the reader feels such personal kindness qs for Oliver Goldsmith. The fascinating ease and simplicity of his style; the

benevolence that beams through every page; the whimsical yet amiable views of human life and human nature; the mellow unforced humor, blended so happily with good feeling and good sense, throughout his writings, win their way irresistibly to the affections, and carry the author with them. While writers of greater pretensions and more sounding names are suffered to lie upon our shelves, the works of Goldsmith are cherished and laid in our bosoms. We do not quote them with ostentation, but they mingle with our minds; they sweeten our tempers and harmonize our thoughts; they put us in good humor with ourselves and with the world; and in doing so they make us happier and better men.

"The irresistible charm this novel possesses, evinces h. w much may be done without the aid of extravagant incident, to excite the imagination and interest the feelings. Few productions of the kind afford greater amusement in the perusal, and still fewer inculcate more impressive lessons of morality. Though wit and humor abound in every page, yet in the whole volume there is not one thought injurious in its tendency, nor one sentiment that can offend the chastest ear. Its language, in the words of an elegant writer, is what 'angels might have heard and virgins told.' In the delineation of his characters, in the conduct of his fable, and in, the moral of the piece, the genius of the author is equally conspicuous. The hero displays with unaffected simplicity the most striking virtues that can adorn social life; sincere in his professions, humane and generous in his disposition, he is himself a pattern of the character he represents. The other personages are drawn with similar discrimination. Each is distinguished by some peculiar feature; and the general grouping of the whole has this particular excellence, that not one could be wanted without injuring the unity and beauty of the design. The drama of the tale is also managed with equal skill and effect. There are no extravagant incidents, and no forced or improbable situations; one event rises out of another in the same easy and natural manner as flows the language of the narration; the interest never flags, and is kept up to the last by the expedient of concealing the real character of Burchell. But it is the moral of the work which entitles the author to the praise of supereminent merit in this species of writing. No writer has arrived more successfully at the great ends of a moralist. By the finest examples he inculcates the practice of benevolence, patience in suffering, and reliance on the providence of God."

Goethe.

"I found Herder's conversation very useful in making me acquainted with the most modern compositions. Among these productions he pointed out The Vicar of Wakefield' as an excellent work.

"A protestant clergyman is perhaps the finest subject for a modern Idyl that can be found. He appears, like Melchizedec, to combine the characters of priest and king. Devoted to agriculture, the most innocent of all terrestrial conditions of man, he is almost always engaged in the same occupations, and confined to the circle of his family connections. He is a father, a master, and a cultivator; and by the union of these characters, a true member of society. On these worldly, but pure and noble foundations, his higher vocations rest. To him belongs the privilege of guiding men in the path of life, of conferring his spiritual education, of sanctifying all the remarkable periods of his existence, of instructing, fortifying, and consoling him; and when the consolations of his present state become insufficient, of revealing to him the hopes of a more favorable hereafter. Let us imagine such a man, animated by the purified sentiments of humanity, strong enough not to sink under the pressure of any event, and thus rising above the crowd, of whom neither purity nor firmness can be expected; let us ascribe to him the qualities necessary for his functions, perfect serenity, indefatigable activity, characterized by the anxious wish not to lose a moment of doing good,-and we shall have the model of a good pastor.

"Add to this the necessity not only of living within a narrow circle, but of passing occasionally into a circle still inferior. Let us endow him with goodhumor, a forgiving temper, constancy, and all the qualities that distinguish a decided character. Let him also possess excessive indulgence, and a degree of patience in enduring the faults of others which affects the heart and yet provokes laughter; and we have a perfect representation of our excellent pastor of Wakefield.

"The picture of this character in the course of the pleasures and pains of life, the still increasing interest of the fable, by the union of what is natural with what is uncommon and singular, make this romance one of the best that has ever been written. It has likewise the great advantage of being completely moral, and even Christian, in the purest sense; for it represents probity rewarded, and perseverance in virtue strengthened by perfect confidence in