Oliver Goldsmith

The action of She Stoops to Conquer (1773) is largely confined to a night and a day in Squire Hardcastle's somewhat dilapidated country house: Young Marlow, on his way there to meet the bride his father has chosen for him, loses his way and arrives at the house assuming it is an inn. The prospect of meeting the genteel Miss Hardcastle terrifies the diffident youngster; but the serving-girl Kate - in fact, Miss Hardcastle, who chooses not to clarify the misunderstanding - immediately catches his fancy and cannot complain of a lack of ardour in her well-born suitor. After a series of trifling confusions and the inevitable eavesdropping-from-behind-a-screen, all is resolved so pleasingly that the comedy has been a favourite with amateur and professional companies and their audiences for over 230 years.

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. Goldsmith's "wit, civility of tone and adroit handling of form" express, Lucas argues, the author's intelligence, integrity and concern for a society that he saw disintegrating into competing interests. The introduction, detailed notes and afterword on the contemporary context present a Goldsmith whose moral seriousness is as necessary to 21st century society as it was to his own.

Charming satire of the sentimental comedies of the day has entertained audiences since 1773. A young lady poses as a serving girl to win the heart of a young gentleman too shy to court ladies of his own class. Many delightful deceits, hilarious turns of plot must be played out before the play concludes happily. Notes.

Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price The best-loved English comedy of the 18th century, a lighthearted farce full of entanglements and misunderstandings, all set over the course of single, eventful night. Oliver Goldsmith's play She Stoops to Conquer was first staged in London in 1773. This edition of the play, in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series, is edited and introduced by Trevor R. Griffiths. She Stoops to Conquer is a set text for OCR Drama GCSE, OCR English Literature GCSE, EdExcel Drama GCSE and for AQA English Literaure A/AS-Level.

Engelsk roman fra 1700-tallet om landsbypræsten dr. Primrose og hans familie, der ved skæbnens ugunst bliver ramt af en række ulykker, men overvinder dem alle

Marlow mistakes Kate's house for an in and treats her father like an innkeeper. With her brother causing mischief, her father insulted and the mother plotting a marriage nobody wants, it's not wonder Kate has to stoop the conquer.

When Dr Primrose loses his fortune in a disastrous investment, his idyllic life in the country is shattered and he is forced to move with his wife and six children to an impoverished living on the estate of Squire Thornhill. Taking to the road in pursuit of his daughter, who has been seduced by the rakish Squire, the beleaguered Primrose becomes embroiled in a series of misadventures - encountering his long-lost son in a travelling theatre company and even spending time in a debtor's prison. Yet Primrose, though hampered by his unworldliness and pride, is sustained by his unwavering religious faith. In The Vicar of Wakefield, Goldsmith gently mocks many of the literary conventions of his day - from pastoral and romance to the picaresque - infusing his story of a hapless clergyman with warm humour and amiable social satire.

The Chinese philosopher named Lien Chi Altangi writes a series of travel letters to his friend from London. Through these witty letters, this book shows both England's most ridiculous customs and its defining characteristics. It uses a foreign traveller as the naive narrator of a contemporary social satire.