The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes | Page 3

quaintness and their clever ingenuity than for
their attractiveness to both parents (who, it must not be forgotten, are
more often the real buyers of children's books) and the young people
for whom they were written, and they are in themselves most
entertaining and amusing reading. This group of little books possesses,
moreover, another characteristic that is sufficiently remarkable of itself
to be noticed. While they all evince a real genius for writing in a style
suited to the capacities of little folk, there is a nameless something
about them which, far more than is the case with thousands of other
books for the young, is calculated to enforce the attention and excite the
interest of "children of a larger growth."
Now one of this little group, "The Lilliputian Magazine," is attributed
in the British Museum Catalogue to Oliver Goldsmith; and so strong is
the family likeness in all the books I have mentioned, that I cannot but
believe they are all by the same hand--a belief which I think will be

shared by any one who will take the trouble to compare them carefully.
But I should advise him to rely on the Newbery editions alone, for
grievously garbled versions of nearly every one of these books have
been issued from many different houses throughout the country.
Many authorities have supported the view that Goldsmith was the
author of "Goody Two Shoes." Conspicuous among them was
Washington Irving, who says, "It is suggested with great probability
that he wrote for Mr Newbery the famous nursery story of 'Goody Two
Shoes.'" It is said also that William Godwin held this opinion; and I
believe there is authority for stating that the Misses Bewick, the
daughters of the celebrated engraver, who illustrated an edition of the
book for T. Saint, of Newcastle, understood from their father that it was
by Oliver Goldsmith.
But let us turn to the book itself and see if it furnishes any evidence on
the point. The very title, with its quaint phrasing, shows no common
genius, and as Washington Irving says, "bears the stamp of his
[Goldsmith's] sly and playful humour." As the book was published in
1765, it would most likely have been written just at the time when
Goldsmith was working most industriously in the service of Newbery
(1763-4), at which period it will be remembered that he was living near
Newbery at Islington, and his publisher was paying for his board and
lodging.
Without, of course, claiming that similarity of idea in different writings
necessarily betokens the same authorship, I think the parallels that are
to be found in this little book, with many of the sentiments in Oliver
Goldsmith's acknowledged work--to say nothing of the almost
universally recognized likeness to Goldsmith's style that is found in
"Goody Two Shoes" may fairly be considered as throwing some light
upon the question.
The most striking of these parallels is perhaps that furnished by the
curious little political preface to the work--a preface which is quite
unnecessary to the book, and I think would only have been inserted by
one who was full of the unjustnesses at which he was preparing to aim
a still heavier blow. In describing the parish of Mouldwell, where little

Margery was born, an exact picture is drawn of "The Deserted Village,"
where
One only master grasps the whole domain And half a tillage tints thy
smiling plain;
And where
---- the man of wealth and pride Takes up a space that many a poor
supplied: Space for his lakes his park's extended bounds, Space for his
horses, equipage, and hounds.
And by this and other tyrannies, and being also
Scourged by famine from the smiling land,
for he was "unfortunate in his business" at about the same time, Sir
Timothy accomplishes his aim, and
Indignant spurns the cottage from the green.
Ruined by this oppression, poor Mr Meanwell is turned out of doors,
and flew to another parish for succour.
Where, then, ah! where shall poverty reside To 'scape the pressure of
contiguous pride?
Sir Timothy, however, suffers for his injustice and wickedness, for
"great part of the land lay untilled for some years, which was deemed a
just reward for such diabolical proceedings."
Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates
and men decay.
Miss Charlotte Yonge, to whom I shall refer again, lays upon this: "If
the conjecture be true which attributes this tale to Oliver Goldsmith, we
have seen the same spirit which prompted his poem of 'The Deserted
Village,' namely, indignation and dismay at the discouragement of
small holdings in the early part of the eighteenth century."[C] Indeed, it

may well be that we have in this preface even a more true picture of
Lissoy than that given in the poem, which, as Mr