20 OCTOBER 1928, Page 52

More Books of the Week

(Continued from page 547.) In the Collected Letters of Oliver Goldsmith (Cambridge University Press, 7s. 6d.), Professor Katherine Balderston gives us the result of new explorations. The chief matters on which the author throws light are Goldsmith's relations with his family, the production of She Stoops to Conquer, and the abandonment of his proposed East Indian voyage. It is the first of these which will have the most interest for the general reader. Brother Maurice suddenly descends on Oliver and desires to be offered a career. " In a letter I wrote him," Goldsmith says, " I desired him by no means to come up ; but he was probably fond of the journey." As Maurice showed no inclination to master the difficulties of spelling and grammar, it was hard for his brother to do much for him. He advised him to abandon the idea of being a gentleman and take to cabinet-making ; and it is to Maurice's credit that in the end he followed his brother's advice.

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