Goldsmith's humour deserves equal praise for affording amusement without
animosity or indelicacy. With regard to the former, his satire is so
general that it cannot inflict any wound; and although he may have
slightly erred in one or two passages on the latter score, he condemns
all such seasoning of humour, which is used, as he says, to compensate
for want of invention. In his plays, there is much good broad-humoured
fun without anything offensive. Simple devices such as Tony Lumpkin's
causing a manor-house to be mistaken for an inn, produces much harmless
amusement. It is noteworthy that the first successful work of Goldsmith
was his "Citizen of the World." Here the correspondence of a Chinaman in
England with one of his friends in his own country, affords great scope
for humour, the manners and customs of each nation being regarded
according to the views of the other. The intention is to show
absurdities on the same plan which led afterwards to the popularity of
"Hadji Baba in England." Sometimes the faults pointed out seem real,
sometimes the criticism is meant to be oriental and ridiculous. Thus
going to an English theatre he observes--
"The richest, in general, were placed in the lowest seats, and the
poor rose above them in degrees proportionate to their poverty. The
order of precedence seemed here inverted; those who were undermost
all the day, enjoyed a temporary eminence and became masters of the
ceremonies.
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