Dalziels' Illustrated Goldsmith

Oliver Goldsmith was the rare 18th-century writer who could make you laugh at aristocrats and cry for a country vicar in the same sitting. This illustrated collection gathers his three masterworks: the novel that defined sentimental fiction, the poem that earned him admission to the Literary Club beside Johnson and Reynolds, and the comedy that still cracks open the pretensions of the upper classes. "The Vicar of Wakefield" follows a clergyman whose optimistic benevolence is tested by ruin, debt, and a daughter stolen away, but Goldsmith's gentle irony prevents sentimentality from curdling into saccharine. "She Stoops to Conquer" inverts the comedy of manners by showing that the real absurdity lies in those who mistake affectation for refinement. Young Charles Marlow cannot speak to women of his own class, so Kate Hardcastle disguises herself as a barmaid to win his heart: a premise that allows Goldsmith to skewer both the snob and the snobbery. Together, these works reveal why the 18th century loved this Irishman who wrote with equal ease about poverty, philosophy, and the endless follies of people pretending to be better than they are.