The journalism of Tobias Smollett and Oliver Goldsmith:Attributions for the Critical Review

THE attributions proposed here of seven articles to Tobias Smollett, which appeared in the Critical Review during the period 1758–60, take into account elements to be found elsewhere in his oeuvre, and primarily distinctive linguistic and rhetorical expressions, and parallels of thought.Several of these newly attributed pieces contribute to our understanding of Smollett’s modus operandi. Among the reviews are lengthy articles on Jonathan Swift’s The History of the four last Years of the Queen (CR 5, 249–60), and on Oliver Goldsmith’s An Enquiry into the present State of polite Learning in Europe (CR 7, 369–72).The re-attribution to Goldsmith of the review of Ralph Church’s edition of Spenser’s The Faerie Queene (which was initially proposed by Prior, but rejected by Friedman, and more recently by Dixon and Mannion) relies on the presence in the article of notable parallels with Goldsmith’s style and thought.The attribution to Goldsmith of the review of Ebenezer Macfait’s Remarks on the Life and Writings of Plato, which appeared in November 1760 (CR 10, 357–63), implies that he collaborated with Smollett at the Critical Review for longer than was previously thought.