(1735-1774)
A well educated Irishman with a medical degree and little skill or taste for medicine, Oliver Goldsmith found himself in London, trying to make it as a periodical contributor when he made his first break through with a book of satirical essays, The Citizen of the World (1762). The book opened doors and provided the financial means wherewith to pursue his writing career while he practiced medicine. He published The Traveler in 1764, and then The Deserted Village in 1770. He published his two most famous works, comedies, The Good-natur'd Man and She Stoops to Conquer in 1768 and 1773 respectively. Throughout his life in London he worked as an apothecary's assistant, and between that and his writing, he made a fair living. However, gambling habits and bad money management made life difficult for him. Thankfully he was a better writer than he was a physician, for reports suggest that his own personal misdiagnoses of a kidney problem may have caused his death.
(Compiled by Joey Franklin)