Oliver Goldsmith

1849. Washington Irving was the first American literary artist to earn his living solely through his writings and is considered to be the Father of the American Short Story. Irving wrote this biographical sketch of the poet Goldsmith from his estate, Sunnyside, near Tarrytown, N.Y. See other Irving titles available from Kessinger Publishing. Oliver Goldsmith (10 November 1728 - 4 April 1774) was an Irish novelist, playwright and poet, who is best known for his novel The Vicar of Wakefield (1766), his pastoral poem The Deserted Village (1770), and his plays The Good-Natur'd Man (1768) and She Stoops to Conquer (1771, first performed in 1773). He is thought to have written the classic children's tale The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes (1765).