Oliver Goldsmith

Goldsmith was born in St. Andrews, N.B., the son of a loyalist official. When he was but two years old his family moved to Halifax where he received a rudimentary education from his father. After sampling a wide variety of occupations he entered the Commissariat at Halifax as a volunteer and continued until his death to be a successful colonial administrator. In 1825 The Rising Village, an imitation of his great uncle’s The Deserted Village, was published in London, but the invidious comparisons made by the critics destroyed his interest in the writing of poetry. He died in Liverpool, England.

Fils d’un fonctionnaire loyaliste, Goldsmith naquit à St-Andrews (N.-B.). Il avait deux ans lorsque sa famille déménagea à Halifax où son père lui donna une instruction rudimentaire. Après avoir occupé divers emplois, il entra à l’Intendance d’Halifax et fut, jusqu’à sa mort, un bon administrateur colonial. Il publia à Londres en 1825 The Rising Village, imitation de The Deserted Village de son grand-oncle, mais les odieuses comparaisons des critiques tuèrent son goût de la poésie. Il mourut à Liverpool, en Angleterre.