The author of the bailiff scene in the 'Good Natur'd Man' was quite
capable of inventing for the nonce the tragedy of the unbaked pasty, or
of selecting from the Pilkingtons and Purdons of his acquaintance such
appropriate guests for his Mile End Amphitryon as the writers of the
'Snarler' and the 'Scourge'. It may indeed even be doubted whether, if
'The Haunch of Venison' had been absolute personal history, Goldsmith
would ever have retailed it to his noble patron at Gosfield, although it
may include enough of real experience to serve as the basis for a 'jeu
d'esprit'.
l. 4. -----
"The fat was so white, etc." The first version reads --
'The white was so white, and the red was so ruddy.'
l. 5. -----
"Though my stomach was sharp, etc." This couplet is not
in the first version.
l. 10. -----
"One gammon of bacon". Prior compared a passage from
Goldsmith's 'Animated Nature', 1774, iii. 9, 'a propos' of a
similar practice in Germany, Poland, and Switzerland.
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