Worldly Wisdom

Abstract

Dear Sir,

Your punctuality in answering a man whose trade is writing, is more than I had reason to expect; and yet you see me generally fill a whole sheet, which is all the recompense I can make for being so frequently troublesome. The behaviour of Mr Mills¹ and Mr Lawder² is a little extraordinary.³ However, their answering neither you nor me is a sufficient indication of their disliking the employment which I assigned them. As their conduct is different from what I had expected, so I have made an alteration in mine. I shall, the beginning of next month, send over two hundred and fifty books,⁴ which are all that I fancy can be well sold among you, and I would have you make some distinction in the persons who have subscribed. The money, which will amount to sixty pounds, may be left with Mr Bradley as soon as possible.⁵ I am not certain but I shall quickly have occasion for it.

In The Collected Letters of Oliver Goldsmith, ed. Katharine C. Balderston (Cambridge: University Press, 1928) pp. 56–66. Editor’s title.