Oliver Goldsmith

Oliver Goldsmith ( born November 10, 1728 in Smith Hill House in Elphin, Roscommon, Ireland; † April 4, 1774 in London) was an Irish writer and physician who for his novel The Vicar of Wakefield (1766), his pastoral poem The Deserted Village (1770 ) and his plays The Good - natur'd Man ( 1768) and She Stoops to Conquer (1773 ) is known. Under the influence of Buffon, he wrote an extensive natural history: A History of the Earth and Animated Nature, published posthumously in 1774 and until the early 20th century underwent several editions. The eight -volume work gained a similar popularity as Brehm's Animal Life as "the Brehm " in Germany in England.

Goldsmith was the son of an Anglican cleric and earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1749 at Trinity College in Dublin. He studied theology and law, and later medicine at the University of Edinburgh and the University of Leiden, where he then worked as an assistant to a pharmacist. Constantly in need of money, Goldsmith produced massively for the publishers of London. With careful work, however, he gained the friendship of Samuel Johnson, with whom he founded "The Club".

In County Westmeath north of Athlone on the N55 lies the " Gold Smith County ," which is named after him. The " County " names here but no political administrative unit in the conventional sense, but is a purely tourist designation.