Goldsmith

OLIVER GOLDSMITH (?1730 - 1774)

Goldmsith spent two weeks late in 1753 in the Newgate gaol, then part of the Newcastle town wall, where Newgate Street meets Gallowgate. According to his own account, the ship on which the luckless poet was sailing to the continent was driven by a storm into the Tyne, and the authorities held him on suspicion of travelling to join the French army. Goldsmith writes:

As we were all very merry, the room door bursts open, enters a sergeant and twelve grenadiers and puts us all under the king's arrest... I endeavoured all I could to prove my innocence; however I remained in prison with the rest a fortnight, and with difficulty got off even then.

It may well be that the prison scenes in The Vicar of Wakefield owe something to this uncomfortable experience - though the Newgate gaol was very well appointed as prisons went and was praised by reformers. On the other hand, some have accused Goldsmith of romancing over this episode; the ship which he said had gone down with all hands off Bordeaux has not been traced. It has been suggested that Goldsmith was actually jailed unromantically for debt in Sunderland.

Myers Literary Guide:	The North-East
OLIVER GOLDSMITH (?1730 - 1774) Goldmsith spent two weeks late in 1753 in the Newgate gaol, then part of the Newcastle town wall, where Newgate Street meets Gallowgate. According to his own account, the ship on which the luckless poet was sailing to the continent was driven by a storm into the Tyne, and the authorities held him on suspicion of travelling to join the French army. Goldsmith writes: As we were all very merry, the room door bursts open, enters a sergeant and twelve grenadiers and puts us all under the king's arrest... I endeavoured all I could to prove my innocence; however I remained in prison with the rest a fortnight, and with difficulty got off even then. It may well be that the prison scenes in The Vicar of Wakefield owe something to this uncomfortable experience - though the Newgate gaol was very well appointed as prisons went and was praised by reformers. On the other hand, some have accused Goldsmith of romancing over this episode; the ship which he said had gone down with all hands off Bordeaux has not been traced. It has been suggested that Goldsmith was actually jailed unromantically for debt in Sunderland.
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