Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774), essayist, reviewer, dramatist, novelist, librettist and poet, became one of the most popular authors in that age of authors, especially for The Vicar of Wakefield. In this selection of his poetry and prose, John Lucas reconsiders Thackeray's praise of Goldsmith as the most beloved of English writers, and reveals him as a more radical, formidable - and Irish - figure than the phrase suggests.